text:
We Want You to Know What’s Going on at THES!
But we’re not sure of the best way to reach you. Please help us improve our communication by taking a couple of minutes to answer a few questions. Thanks!
Pre-K & Kinder Orientation- Next Week!
Know any prospective Pre-K or Kinder Thunderbirds? Help us spread the word to friends and others in the neighborhood that it’s time to register! Pre-K and Kinder Orientation will be held April 3rd at 8:10 am. Check out the registration information page for lists of what to bring to register.
We’ve Made it to 45%!
As was announced last week, Ms. Robertson has decided that she will be retiring as Principal at the end of the year. We wish her the absolute best, and stay tuned for opportunities for us all to honor and thank her! AISD has a very quick timeline to find her replacement and they need ALL of our input to help find the best match for the children, teachers, staff, and parents in our wonderful school community.
Please plan on attending the Principal Profile Meeting on April 5th 6:00-7:30 in the Travis Heights Elementary School Cafeteria. Childcare will be provided. All parents, caregivers and community members are encouraged to attend!
At this meeting, you will learn about the Principal Selection Process, how to be involved and, most importantly, help to identify the characteristics that our school community feels are a priority for our next Principal. At this meeting we will develop our Principal Profile to inform the district during the hiring process.
Please come and share your thoughts about what is important in our next great THES Principal!
The five week Love and Logic Parenting series begins tomorrow, Thursday, March 29th in the Cafeteria 8-9am. Childcare and Spanish translation available. See flyer for more details.
Tomorrow (THURSDAY, MARCH 29) is Book Character Day!
Come to school dressed as your favorite book character! Short on ideas? Here are two links I found that can help get those creative juices flowing.
This one is cool because the list is divided up in simple clothing ideas that you are likely to have on hand.
Here is an exhaustive list of 100 character ideas.
Super excited to see all the characters at school!
Volunteers Light the Way for Learning!
We couldn’t do it without you! Please join us next Friday, April 6th at 8:15am in the Cafeteria for an appreciation breakfast to say thanks for all you do!
Join us Saturday, April 7th to help clean the school grounds for Spring.
3/29- Last Day of Prime Time!


text: obsessed with these pieces from poppy. particularly fond of this tortoise crystal pendant necklace. it's a must. check out their entire collection. insane beautiful pieces at really great prices.

industry_corpus2: Others


text: The story is the devotee of the god who day and night pray for the welfare of her husband. The devotee B V Radha did not get enough love from her husband and therefore she worships the god a lot. Mahadeshwara Pooja Phala perfectly shows the High level of cinema culture during the 80s. Watch Mahadeshwara Pooja Phala movie online.

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text:
I have gone through the benefits of Digital Prototyping at the design and engineer (Benefits Of Digital Prototyping At The Design And Engineer Stage) and the test and validate stage (Benefits Of Digital Prototyping At The Test And Validation Stage); but now we are now at the final step of your design process!
It is important to now consider how DP can be implemented and help you in your manufacture and production stage. You may not have previously thought that DP could help you at this stage but with the Autodesk Digital Prototyping solution anything is possible (ok maybe not anything!).
Let's focus on your factory layout.
With factory space at high cost you want to be making the most out of it, so you want to be effectively utilising the space that is available to you. Autodesk Factory Design Suite will help you do just this, in Factory Design Suite Ultimate you can experience AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Mechanical, Autodesk Factory Design Utilities as well as Autodesk Navisworks to name a few.
The package will assist you to design and communicate the most efficient manufacturing layout by creating a digital factory model. The software is able to evaluate multiple layouts to determine the best plan for your factory before any equipment is installed.
Simply you can visualize complete manufacturing facilities, industrial machinery, factory floor models, and production lines in a single environment.
With Autodesk Navisworks you are able to import project schedules from planning applications which enables you to simulate and visually communicate construction schedules whilst your factory/factory floor is being put together.
This is vital as it will run through a number of what if scenarios so that you can lower the risk of any accidents occurring from your factory being inadequately laid out.
Effectively using the DP elements of this suite will save you time when laying out your factory and shorten the period from production to the shop floor – therefore saving you cash and earning you money a lot quicker.
If you haven't already realised from my three posts the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping will save you time and money. Which as a result will drive profitability in your business and create a product that can make it to the shop floor in less time than in a traditional design processes.
For any reason that you still aren't sure here is significant fact that might persuade you to enquire with us about DP - an independent study performed by the Aberdeen Group has found that companies using Digital Prototyping found that they made 1.6 fewer prototypes than those not using DP and 38% found that they got their products to market quicker when using DP1.
To discuss your Digital Prototyping needs and to drive productivity in your business call us on 023 8086 8947.
1 - Aberdeen Group (2008) Complementary Digital and Physical Prototyping Strategies: Avoiding the Product Development Crunch.

industry_corpus2: Manufacturing


text:
Three years later, in 1971, at the Genoa Boat Show, their first model, a wooden motor-sailer, was greeted with great acclaim. This 10-metre yacht, equipped with both sails and an engine, was particularly comfortable and safe for leisure cruising. Their intuitive flair enabled Ferretti Yachts to figure on the list of the world’s most prestigious boatyards.
In 1975, the Ferretti brothers decided to abandon cars altogether in order to commit themselves fully to the nautical world and the next decade saw the great leap forward – the switch from sail to engine power.
In 1982 the first Ferretti motor-yacht made its debut and the company began producing boats for sport fishing, with an open and flying bridge, bearing witness to all the revolutionary changes that have transformed today’s boat-building industry: the stern bridge, the up-and-over salon windows that open onto the cockpit and the internal corridor from the salon to the flying-bridge.


text: Join your fellow Big XII alumni for a series of "Third Thursday" happy hours. The event will be held at Yard House (126 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA). This is a great way to meet new people and do a bit of networking with your fellow alumni.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


text:
As a young nonagenarian, I feel fully entitled to air my view that the world is in too much turmoil. If it isn't man-made tragedies causing death and destruction, it is nature's fury doing the same, cyclones, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. It has been a year dominated by floods across every continent of the globe, even in the unlikeliest of countries like Saudi Arabia. Floods now have a tendency to come in a flash, without warning, making them another weapon of mass destruction.
Alignments across the world too seem to be in transition, and fault lines are deepening. Dialectics are innate to our philosophy and metaphysics, but presently, I am thinking of the Hegelian brand of dialectics that relate to society and history — the thesis or the reigning idea, its antithesis, which contradicts or negates the thesis, and the ultimate synthesis which resolves the contradictions between the forces. Society is always in a state of flux, but gradual changes do accumulate and lead to crises, that become major milestones for real change, resulting either from a clash of ideas, or a synthesis of them.
I'm not quite sure at what stage of social or historic dialectics we are, but I feel concerned about some kind of Armageddon hanging over our heads, inching closer, as Islam's latest hijacker, the ISIS, shows its savage, gruesome face. Bloodshed, beheadings, intolerance and brutality are overtaking Islam's interface with the rest of the world, and the fallout is spilling over to the secular, democratic political structures of Christian Europe and other countries with Muslim populations. Even within itself, the new Islam preached by the rabid ISIS, persecutes non Sunni sects like the Shias, Ahmadias, the Kurds, and wants either to coerce them to their version of Islam or exterminate them. Vast tracts of West Asia have been turned into killing fields, as the most brutal, bloody battles rage between the Sunni ISIS and the rest of the world, reminiscent of invasions of Ghazni, Ghori and Timur, to name some of the cruellest. The civilised part of the Muslim world is watching in exasperation at this new Islamic interface, a complete blasphemy of true Islam, that refuses to interface with anyone but itself.
I am at a loss to understand why a large section of modern Muslim intellectuals, rationalists and enlightened opinion makers are silent at the rampant abuse of Islam proliferating in the world. It was Islamic Arab scholars who brought Greek learning back to the world after the Dark Ages. After political consolidation of numerous divergent tribes during its early centuries, Islam was a religion that encouraged learning, knowledge and libraries. The rot started in the 13th century, when a mad Khalifa ordained the destruction of all books and literature except for the Holy Quran. Scholarly works of great Muslim intellectuals like Avicena and Averroes, who had reintroduced Aristotle to Europe, were burnt to ashes. But it was the Wahhabis, who during the 18th century hijacked Islam and brought it to the archaic condition that it has been reduced to. Wahhab, an evil Saudi Arabian preached that all Mushrikeen had forfeited their right to live on this planet. His definition of the word included Jews, Christians, Shias and all non Muslims. He gave Pakistan his evil progeny called Maulana Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami. The ranting hysterical Bilawal Bhutto of Pakistan is his current satanic avatar in a Pakistan desperately trying to find a positive identity.
Islam has to modernise and interpret itself to live in contemporary times with the rest of the world. Presently, it is being converted into a religion that does not know how to tolerate a belief other than its own; which does not allow debate or discussion; where there is no freedom to question; where questioning becomes labelled as blasphemy. Modern Muslim intellectuals and opinion leaders must rise up to the occasion, and start a movement encouraging Islam to become more inclusive, and to live in peace with other faiths and religions. These saner voices should become more audible and explain the true essence of the faith, which is consistent with a life guided by reason and logic and inspired by love and charity. This is what secularism is all about. It is a ridiculous hypocrisy for Muslims in India who hate anyone labelled rightly or wrongly as non secular, but imbibe nothing of secularism in their own life and conduct. That some beliefs and practices which came into existence in the clime and circumstances of 15 centuries ago are unalterable can only be the faith of unalterable fools. Mankind has to go through a transition from religion to metaphysics to science. No Prophet of any religion knew of the law of gravity, our earth revolving round the sun, electricity and the magic of atoms and electrons. Muslims must recall that Islam tolerated and welcomed Mutazilites, who loudly affirmed the supremacy of reason when in conflict with the Holy Book or Hadith. Remember that an express article of the Constitution of India 51-A (h) mandates that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of enquiry and reform.
Meanwhile, India is at the threshold of a new strategic axis, the contours of which have been indicated within record time of the BJP government assuming power. It would appear that the Japan-India-Israel-US axis has every chance of becoming reality soon. India has started talking with a certain firmness with China, despite their stale old tactics of embarrassing India with hostile behaviour at the borders each time there is a diplomatic occasion between both countries. Narendra Modi continued his diplomacy and investment economics with the Chinese President, in a spirit of firmness and nonchalance, even as the Chinese army was indulging in their usual shenanigans in Ladakh. The Chinese would no doubt be relooking their geo-political strategy towards India, especially after Modi's whirlwind visits within the subcontinent to Bhutan and Nepal, where the Chinese control sizeable subversive elements targeting India; his highly successful visit to Japan; and of course, his rock star visit to the US, where he has developed a special rapport with President Barack Obama.
Pakistan continues to be in deep trouble. The Pakistan Taliban have come out in open support of the ISIS; Imran Khan's rally against Nawaz Sharif is said to be ISI supported; Bilawal, self styled Prince of Pakistan, was screeching some gibberish, like a boy possessed, that every inch of Kashmir belonged to him. Clearly, nothing of his long years of Oxford education or debating etiquette has rubbed off on him.
Pakistan has also failed to recognise the new India under Narendra Modi. Like China tries to blight every India-China event with an embarrassment, Pakistan diverts attention to India and Kashmir by starting some escalation at the border whenever it is under severe political stress at home. Several theories are being floated for their recent unprovoked attacks, this time not at the Line of Control, but at the international border. First, that the friendly Kashmir border is too closely guarded, and will become inaccessible after snowfall very soon for them to push in jihadi infiltrators. Therefore divert attention by attacking the international border at Jammu, Sambha, and RanbirSinghpura, inhabited mostly by Hindu and Sikh refugees, and push them in. Second, habituated by the lukewarm responses that they were accustomed to during UPA rule, they thought that they could swing it as they had done in the past, and attract attention to India being a hegemonic neighbour. They did not anticipate the character and nationalism of the new Prime Minister and government who responded with redoubled strength and made the Pakistan army run for cover and beg for flag meetings, which were refused until they conformed to civilised international behaviour. Third, it has been said that the border clashes were meant to deter the huge foreign investment that is waiting to be infused in India, after the Prime Minister's successful foreign visits. Fourth, it is expected that the BJP will make huge gains in the J&K elections that are due shortly, and border clashes involving loss of life and property can dampen their chances. And lastly, as was expressed by a BSF officer, the intensity of the attacks at the border came soon after India defeated Pakistan in the hockey match at the Asian Games!
Pakistan is confused. Like China, they are not accustomed to the new Indian leadership that can make China cancel its visit to Pakistan after our NSA visits China; to a Prime Minister who does not even mention Kashmir in the US, and a UN which turns down their attempt to make it into an international issue; and an India which refuses flag meetings until attacks against it from Pakistan stop. All of this resulted in Pakistan reportedly muzzling its press about border clashes.
Modi's responses have been just right. Even when he was campaigning for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, he assured our countrymen that he was monitoring every move at the border, and that everything would be fine soon. "Today, when bullets are being fired on the border, it is the enemy that is screaming," the PM said, adding "the enemy has realised that times have changed and their old habits will not be tolerated". As reported by a Delhi newspaper, "The volume and intensity of India's return fire is much higher than the usual calibrated response the Pakistanis have come to expect." The nation has full faith in what Modi has said. And Pakistan must see the new reality.
This is impressive; we want more Brohi's like your ex partner who went could not guarantee your safety sent you back. Religious intolerance is tied to education, particularly global education rather regional. Your stance on black money and openly disagreeing with PM and Congress is commendable. Your stance on Delhi killing in 1984 is clearly shows the mind of a man in court of law rather than one of, in a narrow street of revenge.

industry_corpus2: Politics & Administration


text:
We can imagine the ending of a story a thousand times and have a certain idea of it because the end was already inscribed in the many signs that we have found and interpreted. But when that ending really arrives it's always different. We knew that little Marco would grow up to be a man, and when one day we realized that that beautiful "child" of ours was no longer there, our emotions and tears were all different, and beautiful. We have predicted and said endless times that our bad actions would lead us to the end, but the day we really took the books to court, it was all different, with pain and real tears that we had not been able to foresee. We had prepared our last day in community until the last small detail, but when we really closed the door of the room behind us for the last time and crossed the doorway forever, what happened in the depths of our hearts was totally new; we could not know either the taste of the last bread eaten with our companions, or the nostalgia for heaven that accompanied us throughout our life. We didn't know, we couldn't know, we didn't have to know it in order to try to make that impossible flight. We can and must prepare for it, we can and must accept the idea of the certain arrival of the angel of death with gentleness, but when it really happens the angel of death will not be as we have dreamt, and we will be surprised that while living our life we have also learned to die. But we could not know this in advance, otherwise it would not have been the greatest gift.
For forty years Jeremiah had seen, heard and said that Jerusalem would be destroyed, her citizens killed and all survivors deported. But the day that the Babylonian army really entered the city, when the temple was destroyed, women, men and children were really killed, was surely a different day for him, a certainly more painful one. The prophets, unlike us, do not rejoice in seeing the corpse they have announced floating in the river, they do not say "I told you” with malignant satisfaction. They die twice: when they announce the end, and when they see it accomplished before their eyes, experiencing it in their own flesh. “In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. (...) The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 39:1-2;8). After the city fell, King Zedekiah tried to escape to save his own skin (39:1) - how many times we have seen it again throughout history! But he is captured near Jericho, and subjected to the most atrocious torment. “The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon” (39:6-7).
In the general chaos, Jeremiah ended up in prison again, among the Jews destined for deportation to Babylon. After capturing Zedekiah, the Babylonians left a Jew, Gedaliah, who was not of the Davidic dynasty, as governor of the "rest" who remained in the country: “Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time” (39:10). It’s one of the not so rare cases when being poor becomes a sign of providence. The humble are exalted and the rich are sent away empty-handed. As for Jeremiah, whose fame as an anti-resistance prophet was also known among the Chaldeans, “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command ... saying, »Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you«” (39:12). The captain of the guard said to Jeremiah: “»Now, behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well, but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go. If you remain, then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan ...« So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go” (40:4-5). Jeremiah is liberated and he also receives a gift. We don't know what this gift was, but it is still significant to encounter the gift at the end of a central episode in Jeremiah’s story. Gifts are very serious things, they are at the heart of life and death. The Bible knows this, and places a gift inside a liberation, as a sacrament of a decisive choice. We have confined gifts to the field of the non-necessary and, often, useless; the Bible doesn’t: it places it in its rightful place, at the crossroads between freedom and slavery.
Jeremiah is now in full freedom to choose where to go. His recognition by the Chaldeans had earned him the privilege of being able to decide about his own fate. Going to Babylon would have meant protection and security, perhaps a place in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. However, “Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land” (40:6). Jeremiah decides to stay; he uses the privilege of freedom to remain among his own people, among the poor. Why? Maybe he hoped in Gedaliah, a member of a friendly family of his (26:24). Or perhaps he stayed because his conscience or the voice simply told him to remain in the devastated country, among the remnant made up by the poor - the true prophets are at home only among the poor. The only way you can decide to stay in a devastated and desolate land is because you feel that you have to stay in it. Many people flee, others are "deported" elsewhere by life. Someone, one person, however, remains. When all that remains of the community that had been the great dream of youth, the promised land is but a heap of rubble, there are always many who flee, but someone decides to stay. He cannot explain the reasons that make him stay, he only knows that he must remain - imperatives of the soul exist on earth. Perhaps he doesn't even choose to stay: he just stays and that’s all. Perhaps because of that strange fidelity to the land, inscribed in the chromosomes of the heart, which he inherited from his parents and grandparents, who had taught him with the magisterium of dignified poverty that fidelity is more destiny than choice, it is a mutation of the flesh, it is a call of origin. Because life is a serious thing, and you have to get to the end, learning the magnificent art of the "Stabat". He doesn't know why, but he remains, he doesn't leave like and with the others, when, being Jeremiah, he could have done so. Staying when one could leave has an immense moral and spiritual value, it is a very precious common good. Cities would remain destroyed and in ruins forever if there was no one who decides to stay even if they could leave - if there wasn't at least one such person. It’s among these people who are capable of remaining in the destroyed cities that the true prophets of our time should be sought: in the long and silent faithfulness in the middle of ruins.
There have always been cases of hosts killed by their guests. But much more numerous are the hosts who were blessed and made better by their guests. Humanity became more human every time when the pain and fear for the murderer guest in the neighbouring house did not kill our freedom to open our door with confidence and generosity to the unknown guest arriving. Throughout history, the real winners were not the Benjamites from Gibeah (Judges 19-21), nor Polyphemus, even if their shadow keeps reappearing and threatening people all too often. When we welcome a guest into our house, we open our hearts and our table, we cannot always know if those entering are "angels" (Hebrews 13:2) or Ishmael the murderer. Gedaliah paid with his life for his choice of hospitality. He preferred to risk his encounter with the other, he was not prudent, he did not believe what Johanan had said. But that sacrifice of his allows us to indignate ourselves, to condemn Ishmael and to strengthen the good reasons for hospitality.
It is not the good stories with a happy ending that strengthen the deepest collective moral conscience of peoples. The most important ethical norms are formed in the continuous exercise of approval and indignation of people and characters that we have never met, starting with the fairy tales of childhood (the flesh and blood people around us are not enough to form our feelings: we also need a reality intensified and extended by the great biblical word and literature). The people that stops reading and telling their great stories is navigating itself towards the greatest kind of famine: that of empathy and indignation, the pillars supporting every good and righteous common house, and every human heart. A mortal wound of a righteous person brought about by an agapically imprudent act becomes a nail driven into the rock wall to continue the moral climb of the world, to a height that the sum of a thousand prudent actions without wounds does not reach or even touch - Christianity did not invent the agape: it recognized and exalted it. We were able to perceive the special resurrection of Christ because the Bible had resurrected many righteous people by cherishing their crosses and narrating them for centuries under the tents. Gedaliah did not die forever: he re-lives every time we read the Bible, smell his innocent blood, and recognize him in the victims of the earth. And then we continue to open the door.

industry_corpus2: Literature & Emotions


text:
Restaurant Brands has signed a master franchise agreement with Yum! Foods to continue operating the Pizza Hut brand in New Zealand. The new agreement will last for 10 years and will allow Restaurant Brands to continue to run marketing and operations for the brand, support existing independent franchisee-owned stores and develop new stores. It will remain in charge of day-to-day administration of the brand.
In recent years Pizza Hut has been selling low-volume stores to independent franchisees – 33 of 98 countrywide remain under the control of the company.
Yum! Brands owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell and is the world’s largest fast-food restaurant company. Restaurant Brands is New Zealand’s largest fast-food restaurant company, owning the local licenses for KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Coffee and Carl’s Jr. The company’s shares have increased in value by a third over the past year, last trading at $7.97.

industry_corpus2: Hospitality & Catering


text:
Learn more about the fix mount upgrade kit for Philips IntelliVue MX400/MX450/MX500/MX550 monitor.
ITD part no. TS.0635.999 Kit includes: Universal adapter; Adapter plate for Philips IntelliVue MX400/MX450/MX500/MX550.

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


text:
Just got back from a last foray into Lower Manhattan. It’s so otherworldly down there, a classic case of “life imitating art.” I think it would be the more beautiful if it weren’t so tragic, or at least so emblematic of tragedy.
I’ve been down there the last three nights, taking a different route each time. Never, have I seen so many stars in the New York sky. Each time the dead traffic signals begin around 33rd Street or so, until you realize the Avenues are still lit but the cross streets are wholly dark, both street and building. At first it’s odd to find yourself among others who automatically stop at crossing signals (if anyone in NY ever actually stops for them) that are cold dead. Down to 23rd Street there is intermittent light, but below that the whole area is dark, dark, dark. Yet everywhere – everywhere, without exception – there are people. Sometimes it’s an individual approaching and passing you by, other times it’s a group of people at a dark corner.
I made my way over to the Lower East Side to check on the relative of a friend, and by then the loss of power must have been affecting cell tower or repeaters, because phone service was nonexistent. Also, normally anywhere in New York, when you browse for nearby Wi-Fi networks you get a long list, but now there were none at all. It was the same everywhere, east side and west. A few hours later I decided to head back up into the light, but I went back last night with a camera. I had no tripod, so I was reduced to using the pointed tips of wrought-iron fence posts, parked cars, bicycles or garbage cans, or sometimes trying to stand impossibly still for the exposure, but I was never really able to get a proper nighttime shot of the dead landmarks normally blazing with light. One of my favorite buildings in New York is the Met Life tower, an enormous stone building with a huge clock on each face standing at 23rd and Lex, and is normally almost blinding in the night sky over Madison Square Park, shining bone-white in the night. It’s a ghost in the darkness now, lit last night at least by the waning moon above. I went back briefly again tonight, ostensibly my last night in New York, just to experience it again.
But I and so many others up here are so fortunate not to have lost more than some time to Sandy and her aftermath. I’ve met many people up here who have simply checked in to a hotel as a group, briefly, to shower and charge their phones, or to come to their Midtown offices to work before going home to the dark. They’re scared. The first night held an excitement and a relief that physical damage in Manhattan wasn’t any worse, and a sense that we had all experienced something historic together. Last night was Halloween, and the first break in the clouds. By tonight, the novelty is beginning to wear off. I’ll be glad finally to get on a plane tomorrow, and to wonder from the sky how long it’ll take before anything like normal returns here.

industry_corpus2: Travel & Geography


text: You’ve been on that big, complicated project where management is using one methodology or another to determine to decide what you’re working on. What if you were in charge? What if you had a really important project and it was up to you to allocate resources and manage time? In this session we’ll talk about different ways of getting the most out of the time you have available for the most important project you manage.


text:
We have a huge selection of compact tractors to choose from, based in the south west we are the number one seller of compact tractors in Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset.Compact Tractors Tregatta Cornwall.
Wellbeing first – notwithstanding their sizes, minimal tractor is awesome machine and might be unsafe to oversee. Buy a conservative tractor which has rollover shield and other inherent security highlights, similar to safety belts alongside mechanical off buttons. Compact Tractors Tregatta Cornwall Make certain to modify the safety belt to discover it fits you easily. Ensure additionally that you can achieve effectively all controls. Look at all the foot wheels to guarantee the simple activity and not impeded. Check your line of vision when you are situated to guarantee you can see everything around the machine. Lights also security signs must be in legitimate place in the little tractor.
Buy front-end loader on the off chance that you are intending to move stone, mulch, soil and other mass materials with your tractor. The burden and additionally the installations for this must be required to custom fit in your tractor, so it will bode well to buy a loader which is outlined intentionally to your tractor that is straightforwardly from the maker.Compact Tractors Tregatta Cornwall.
Pick other accommodating frill, similar to raise mounted cutting edges utilized for moving snows or keeping up rock drives. Posthole diggers may help you quickly in introducing wall. Tillers and furrows are helpful to plant specialists. Roughage forks may help you in moving vast parcels of feed. Minimized tractors might be furnished likewise with escavator extras utilized as a part of small burrowing employments.Compact Tractors Tregatta Cornwall.


text:
Individuals who smoke are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or dementia than nonsmokers or those who smoked in the past, according to a new study.
Researchers followed nearly 7,000 people age 55 and older for an average of seven years. Over that time, 706 of the participants developed dementia.
People who were current smokers at the time of the study were 50 percent more likely to develop dementia than people who had never smoked or past smokers.
The report is published in the September 4, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Smoking could affect the risk of dementia through several mechanisms, according to study author Monique Breteler, MD, PhD.
“Smoking increases the risk of cerebrovascular disease, which is also tied to dementia,” Breteler said.
Oxidative stress occurs when the body has too many free radicals, which are waste products produced by chemical reactions in the body.
“Antioxidants in the diet can eliminate free radicals, and studies have shown that smokers have fewer antioxidants in their diets than nonsmokers,” Breteler said.
The researchers also looked into how smoking affects the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease for people who have the gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, called apolipoprotein E4, or APOEå4. They found that smoking did not increase the risk of Alzheimer’s for those with the APOEå4 gene.
But for those without the APOEå4 gene, smoking increased the risk of Alzheimer’s. Current smokers without the Alzheimer’s gene were nearly 70 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than nonsmokers or past smokers without the Alzheimer’s gene.

industry_corpus2: Health & Medicine


text:
Studio Wé continually develops and delivers new experimental courses and trainings aimed at supporting internal teams and individuals.
Service Design x Org is a short course series designed to introduce the principles, practices and processes of how to do Service Design within organizations.
Speculative design workshop dedicated to creating and enabling future visions of work facing companies, policymakers & citizens.
Our courses are also offered within embedded coaching and training programs within organizations.


text:
Short post today. Go and read this paper: Academic urban legends (Rekdal 2014). It’s open access, and an easy and fascinating read. It unfolds a tale of good intentions gone wrong, a chain of failure, illustrating an important single crucial point of academic behaviour: read what you cite.
I recently posted on RTFS (Read The Fu.king Source) a short while ago at dinosaurpalaeo. It is a real problem that neither authors nor reviewers relly check them.
Here’s the post Heinrich is referring to.
thanks, Mike! I haven’t mastered c&p on my cellphone yet.
I also had wondered whether someone would swiftly take Rekdal to task for an unsubstantiated citation; but it hadn’t occurred to me that he might have planted such a thing as a deliberate test of readers! Sneaky!
Thanks Mike, an entertaining read.
On a related note, I was reading over a graduate student’s manuscript pre-submission (This happens a lot – I check out other people’s stats, and have a reputation for a mean first paragraph.) and remarked that they had not cited the foundational literature where appropriate, instead citing a later (in some cases, century-later!) paper that itself cited the original source. The student told me that they _had_ cited the original sources, but their advisor told them to take them out and replace with something with a more recent date. Tricky situation, since the advisor is co-author.
I sent this student the spinach article.
The student was horrified: is anemic, and the doctor had recommended spinach!
So, between the physician and the advisor, this student is totally f***ed, and learns this all in one paper!
All I can say is, with the younger authors, please remember it isn’t always about the author’s *character.* Some of them seem to be poorly advised, and/or powerless to argue. I recommend simply correcting these types of error, and leaving out assumptions and moralizing.
I would, and have, cited the original work, and then added “see (blah) for a recent account”. The long original paper in question is from the 60s published in a book series, and someone extracted the basic definitions and explained them concisely with elementary examples and put it on the arXiv in 1998. Since the details are fiddly, it’s always worth giving not just due credit (and the original author is very sensitive about this), but a reference that is available to all.
Thanks, David, that seems like precisely the right solution. I will adopt it henceforth.
There is a trap in there. If you read the abstract, and skip the words “appears to have” you will get a message that is diametrically opposite to what I say in the article itself: That the decimal point error probably never occurred.
There is a large number of tweets and comments about the “Academic Urban Legends” article out there, and quite a few of them, despite my sincere effort to contribute to debunk the urban legend about the decimal point error, actually do the opposite: They retell the “fact” of the decimal point error that made the world eat more spinach – with a link to my SSS article.
These tweets are written by people who have quickly and superficially read the abstract, and not the article itself, and they can serve as good examples of yet another academic shortcut that can help spread academic urban legends: basing ourselves on superficial reading of abstracts/titles and not the content of the article itself.
Perhaps I should have written the abstract somewhat differently, but to be honest, I am glad I didn’t. There are so many layers of irony about iron in spinach. Why not add another, and equally revealing one?


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I have only built a few points in 16mm, so only really have my smaller scale days to fall back on, but perhaps I can add a couple of points (!) The first is that life is much easier if you build a jig. Use an offcut of melamine faced chipboard (a bit of the fitted kitchen will do just nicely . . .). Glue down card spacers so that sleepers slot into place.
One thing that I an others have learnt over lots and lots of years is that ramin is not the best stuff for sleepers. Like card, it is almost a paradox - use softwood sleepers instead. Something hard and dense, with a low natural resin/oil level like ramin likes to eventually succumb to rot (and particularly, splitting),because it doesn't like absorbing preservative. Redwoods and oak have their own preservatives built in. But softwood seems to do the business apparently indefinitely because it absorbs glops. Now I have to say that we are talking really long term here. Ramin will last for 15-20 years quite happily, given TLC. But why pay for that when softwood sleepers that have been out of doors for 60 years at least are still giving good service. Added to which, it is a lot easier to put a pin in softwood. You may well feel happy if a sleeper lasts for a certain length of time. But, as I seem to keep repeating, it is frightening how quickly that time suddenly nips by. I claim no originality for this hardwood versus softwood sleepers thing: it has kept resurfacing since the 1900s. Somewhere around the CDR I have several sleepers that are pre WW1. I've found that the big thing is NOT to use creosote. It smells realistic on a warm day, which I like, and it burns with a wonderfully appalling clag in one of my industrial applications. Other than that it has no virtues: it's no longer even particularly cheap compared to other jollops. I seem to have found happiness with coloured fence gunge at a fiver for lots of it. It is kinder on the environment.
For many yonks I used old engine oil as a wood preservative, very happily - particularly on my bit of 5" gauge track. The price was right. And yes, I used to get plenty of warnings about it being carcinogenic and would probably give me foot and mouth disease. But the fence post glop is kinder to adjacent plants and certainly kinder to the small creatures that wander our gardens. What are we trying to do ? - we are aiming to maintain the integrity of the structure of wood. We best do that by excluding damp and little nibbling things. There is the action of physically excluding moisture - and the action of killing any spores or nibblers who are anti-wood. Almost anything will suffice, provided that it is applied at intervals that are close enough. Creosote is noteworthy for having a shorter active life than many other things. Mistakes in the past have convinced me that it is a mistake to use paint - or anything that forms a skin. Best quality yacht varnish, for example, is excellent for those who look forward to hard work in coming years.
Creosote is now banned in some other countries: some US states included. But I'm not really a natural ecologist. My objection to it is that it isn't very durable compared to alternatives. One alternative for preserving structural timber and sleepers is to consider getting the wood tanalized. I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap this process could be, compared to the cost of the preservative that doesn't need to be used for years. I wish I had gone this route years ago.
Yes, dress cut ends of tanalized wood. I was with our local MES when another 1/3rd of a mile of track was added. The sleepers were cut from lengths of tanalized timbers. Those raw ends, combined with 4 screw holes in each sleeper ensure that they rotted quite quickly. The thing to have done would have been to cut them to length, drilled 'em and then dunked 'em. Subsequent events elsewhere verified this.
On my line with many 3ft rad curves I cut the sleepers to widen the gauge to at least 34mm. Sounds drastic but it works and I can get an 18 coach train round a 270 degree 3 ft rad reversing loop.
I use a pair of pincers to slice the sleepers and then re-pinned them in place.
While not experienced with the Peco setrack, one of the things about flexitrack is that when it is bent, particularly to small radius, it does tend to come in, and reduce the gauge a fraction. This is exactly the opposite to what you need on a curve, where the gauge is often slightly increased in both full size and model sizes to give increased flange clearance. Set track should be much better in this regard.
I run a number of 45mm commercial layouts, using LGB track, and I have found that LGBs advice to use set - track curves for all small radius curves, and only use Flexitrack for wide and transition curves is absolutely right. You get better and more reliable running this way, and far less wear.
The latter is important to me as in commercial service, the locos I run often do several thousand actual kilometres per year - 12-14 hours per day, 7 days per week - the wear is considerable!


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Hiring Full Time CDL A Delivery Drivers! Food Service delivery experience preferred.
To apply, please call or text Kristie at 859-371-2915. Apply online at: https://intelliapp.driverapponline.com/c/staffmark. Please select Cincinnati as your office location.


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You can trust The Denture Specialists to provide many forms of new dentures, in addition to performing repairs to the existing dentures of clients in and around Belle River. All stages of denture and partial denture creation are expertly completed in our local clinics. This includes design, fabrication, insertion, and custom fitting. We can provide a complete range of denture types, fully customized for our Belle River clients. These include full, implants, immediate and partial dentures, to promote and maintain your oral health.
Partial dentures are often recommended for our Belle River patients to replace one or more missing teeth. We are well equipped to make a removable partial denture, within our local clinic, customized to your unique dimensions to re-establish your natural bite. Partial dentures can also keep your natural teeth from drifting or tilting into spaces left by absent teeth, as well as help you speak certain sounds more clearly, and restore your chewing ability.
The selection of material options available, you can feel confident that there is a perfect partial denture for your needs. We can make them from all plastic, or cast alloy, or lightweight titanium, and if you need to avoid metal or plastic due to allergies, or want to avoid metal clasps on the teeth, we can also make them from flexible vinyl. Your partial denture can even be designed to be held in place with implants, for extra comfort and security.
Count on The Denture Specialists to use only materials which are beneficial and healthy for the mouth. Visit us in Wallaceburg & Chatham-Kent, at our two convenient denture clinics.
If you are considering a new partial denture or existing denture repairs, in the Belle River area, you are welcome to come into one of our clinics, where our Denturists can assist you to choose the best budget conscious option to meet your denture needs.


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BbyB is a new Belgian chocolate brand.
Using their own secret formula they create some of the finest chocolates ever made in Belgium.
The BbyB brand is non-conformist in every single way. That is why this brand will surely swing the perception about Belgian chocolates into a new dimension.
Brandhome has been tasting their success for some years now!

industry_corpus2: Agriculture & Fisheries


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Hello all and seasons blessings upon all you boggers. This is the last blog of the year and here at Treehouse HQ, Emily Catherine Illustration wishes you all a wonderful Christmas and very best wishes for the spanking new year ahead.
First of all a massive thank you for showing love, excitement, sharing, commenting, parodying and generally following the opening of each window on The Ultimate Pop Advent Calendar. The response has been both funny and touching and I appreciate every single comment. So biggup yer sens.
Me licking Pharrell in his Sprout Hat.
To celebrate Christmas I have released a special edition of my 'Paloma Yourself Together and Have Faith' print in a different colourway. She's not on the website yet, but if you are interested please get in contact. I have limited run of fourteen currently.
The red hive, the gold earrings the teal top.... classic Yuletide Paloma. Risograph print executed by the brilliant Dizzy Ink.
Work-wise this month has been very busy with private commissions which I cannot show you as they are gifts and therefore a secret. So, we're a bit thin on the ground for exciting work news. Which is okay, because it means I'll have to fill up the blog with far more interesting and exciting stuff. I'm going to treat it a bit like the last day of school, where you get to wear what you like and bring in your favourite items to show people.
Love the eyes. Not mine. The bear's. I don't know who made this bear, but it made my day to sit on it.
Same pose for everything?! Weird.
Now, normally, I would never use the blog to directly promote other's projects, as I like to think that I support all my fellow independent businesses on social media as much as I can, however, I am making an exception here. If you haven't heard of Cappo, that's fine. If you don't like Hip Hop, that's fine. If you think that this is a shameless plug of his new single, fine. But wait... Firstly, Cappo is an astonishing artist, from Nottingham no less, so he is worth discovering. Secondly, his new single is ground-breaking, assuredly, and he is also the nicest, most polite, self-effacing man I have ever met. But thirdly, I am in his new music video which is being aired on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve at midnight. His single 'O.O.B' is available now on itunes and you can hear it at https://m.soundcloud.com/ynr-productions/cappo-oob with his new album is out in the new year. Please show some love and support to this incredible talent.
Cappo's new single O.O.B is available on itunes now.
As we all know, Christmas is a time of giving thanks and spending time with those you love. Whilst I cannot list everybody individually, I would like to thank my friends, family, colleagues and organisations who have loved me, helped me and made me laugh this year. I am humbled by how lucky I am to know you/ have met you and I'll never be complacent about that.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Peace.
Photo Credit to Jason Nurse. Thank you for making me smile from India!
Emily Catherine signing off for the last time from Treehouse HQ in 2015.


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Choose one art activity from the many offerings that we have on our “Classes and Offerings” page. If you don’t see something your party will like there, please don’t hesitate to reach-out to us. Our teachers are experienced in a variety of art skills; we will find the perfect creative activity for you.
*Gift bags include the following: palette of watercolors, brush, small notebook, and a whimsical eraser that doubles as a puzzle. All in a colorful organza gift bag.


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Diversity studies minor—Take courses offered through the humanities department that explore gender and culture.
Women in Engineering Learning Community—Live with like-minded female engineering students interested in programs and activities that provide support for their careers.
Excelling the Student Experience of Learning (ExSEL)—These programs are designed to help you succeed and achieve your academic goals.
Learning Centers—Sign up for what you need. Long-term, short-term, or team learning with your peers. You can boost your grades or catch up when you've fallen behind.
Succeed in class and remember to enjoy the local area. You're living in one of the most beautiful college towns in the country!


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Ottawa-Computers.com is an online computer services directory dedicated to the Ottawa area. It contains a repository of businesses and services linked to the computer and information technology industry.
Whether you're looking for computer repair, website design or anything computer related, we'll have it listed in our directory in order to simplify your search.
The acceptance into our directory is all done manually to prevent spam and out-of-market listings. To submit your own Ottawa computer listing, fill out the Submit Listing online form and, if it validates our verification process, it will be added within 48 hours. We reserve the right to deny new listings, delete current listings or modify any information submitted, as necessary.
For Ottawa SEO purposes (Search Engine Optimization), we offer direct links to your website for a small one-time fee. Monthly and yearly banner advertising is also available for added exposure and SEO linking advantages. Please see the advertising page for details.
For services not related to computers, you can visit the Ottawa Business Directory and submit your listing for free. For used computer parts and other classified ads, you can browse the HowBazaar.ca Ottawa Classifieds website. It also accepts business listings with an automatic renewal system for permanent inclusion.
All approved listings will stay listed permanently in our directory. If you find a business that is no longer in operation, please let us know and we'll remove it.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact the Ottawa-Computers.com administrators. Although not computer related, we'd like to send a special thank you to the following Ottawa businesses for their contribution in making this free web service possible: Ottawa Eavestrough, Ottawa Paving Services, and Ottawa House Cleaning.


text: We hear the Five Naughty Ghosts scary rhyme being played in the other room and we see the Five Naughty Ghosts Jumping In The Bed, from a peep hole. Which means, Halloween isn’t too far away! Maybe they’re warming themselves up for the dance and play that’s to come their way. We also hear lot of other scary nursery rhyme being played one after the other, from their collection of scary Halloween songs.


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There are two styles of electric ranges: the cabinet type and the single oven type. In the former the oven is elevated to a comfortable working height; in the latter the oven is low, necessitating stooping. If there is plenty of room in the kitchen the cabinet range will prove the best selection, but when space is limited, as in small apartments, the single oven type can be used; moreover this type of range is somewhat less expensive.
There are two kinds of electric range units, or heaters, the open coil unit, or radiating type and the enclosed coil unit, or contact type.
In the former, the cooking units, or hot plates, or as they are sometimes called, lids, disc heaters, or elements, are exposed in such way that the time necessary to bring them to cooking heat is only about three and a half minutes. At the same time they are rather hard to clean and great care must be taken that foods do not boil over upon them or that grease is not spilled in the units, because it is difficult to clean them thoroughly without injury. In the second type of range, the heating units are enclosed, the top of the range being like that of the ordinary coal range in appearance, with discs, or lids, which may be lifted for cleaning as needs be. Because of this covering it takes a little longer to bring the units to the cooking point, approximately four and a half to five minutes. On the other hand, the solid top retains the heat and the amount of current needed to carry on the cooking is less than in the open coil unit, and therefore equalizes the extra time needed in bringing the units to cooking heat over the three minutes necessitated by the open coil units.
Notwithstanding extra care the open coil unit is liable to oxidize, or rust, necessitating an occasional renewal of units after four or five years' use. On the other hand, the enclosed coil unit cannot oxidize or rust so rapidly as the open coil, and therefore has longer life. Electric ranges equipped with the open coil units are less expensive than those of the enclosed coil units, so in the end, notwithstanding a possible renewal of units, if the open coil type is purchased, the cost will be approximately the same.
The oven should have rounded corners and be adequately ventilated and equipped with a drop door.
The range should be of comfortable cooking height, the selection varying from thirty-one to thirty-five inches.
There should be no waste space.
The oven should be easy to clean and free from cracks.
There should be no parts left unfinished, because of the liability of rusting and the difficulty of cleaning.
The range should be finished complete in japan, with nickel trimming and white splashers, which act as danger signals for dirt.
The electric range needs as much care as a range of any other type. All water should be wiped off as soon as it is spilled. Grease should be immediately cleaned off, and there should be waged a constant war on rust. The oven should be refinished every six months with aluminized paint, which anyone can apply. This may be obtained from any hardware store, where full directions for its use will be given.
The electric range has several distinct advantages over the coal and gas types. It is absolutely accurate, and, when once established, the cooking time never varies. A loaf of bread that will bake in fifty minutes to-day will bake in exactly the same time to-morrow, provided the current is managed in the same way. In order to give the units time to come to cooking heat, it is necessary to think ahead a little more when using an electric range. It will take an oven from thirty to forty minutes to reach baking temperature, and because of this slowness, it is not possible to put many foods into the cold oven, as can be done in many gas ranges.
The oven which is insulated to retain heat makes possible many economies. , After once being heated, it can be kept hot with a small amount of current, just enough to supply the heat lost by radiation, and advantage can be taken of all the latent heat, even after the current is turned off, in the drying of bread crusts, parsley, celery tips, etc. It is an interesting fact that the shrinkage of meat in the electric oven is less than when either gas or coal is used, probably because the meat is seared over more quickly on account of the direct top heat, and therefore the juices are retained in greater amount. Also, the electric oven furnishes the cleanest heat, for because of the ventilator no fumes collect and there is, of course, no danger of tainting the food as there is with coal, or ordinary gas. Probably the point that appeals to most women about the electric range is that there is practically no heat coming from it, so that the kitchen does not become over-heated. This is true, not only with the oven, but with the top of the range with regard to the heat units. At the same time there is no dust, dirt, burned matches, and rare possibility of fire. Certainly there is no danger of the baby's being burned!
The cost of operation depends entirely upon the cooking rate for current in the city where the range is used. Careful figures show that the average family will consume approximately 125 killowatts per month. At the present writing over 3,500 central stations or electric light companies, are giving a cooking rate of five cents or less per killowatt hour to their customers. The cost of operation, as with any range, depends largely on the carefulness of the housewife. If care is taken to reduce the current when possible, to take advantage of latent heat, and to turn off the current as soon as the cooking is fin-ished, the cost of operating, when current sells for two cents per killowatt hour, will be aproximately the same as gas, when the latter sells for ninety cents per thousand cubic feet, or coal when the latter sells at from $7.50 to $9.00 per ton.
As with the gas or coal range, the utensils have considerable to do with the economical running of the electric range. Aluminum furnishes the quickest medium of transferring heat. A clover-leaf (or triple) utensil, whereby three foods can be prepared at one time, over one unit; an adequate steamer, flat-bottomed utensils and a goodly equipment of casseroles and oven dishes will be found great conveniences. Methods for steaming and for preparing meals in the oven are given in the chapter, the Short-Cut Preparation of Meals, and may be applied to the electric range as well as to that of any other type.
Some ranges are equipped with automatic cooking attachments for turning on and off the current. These have a certain appeal and work for a limited time, but they are liable to get out of order.
The average housewife is confused by the terms used by the "trade." A little study of the following definitions of terms frequently used in connection with the sale, operation and demonstration of the range will prevent confusion.
Unit. The name given to the electric heater used either in the oven or on the cooking top. It is sometimes called "the hot plate," "disc," "element," etc.
Switches. The controlling mediums by which the units are turned on or off.
Fuses. The protecting plugs located near the controlling switches. These are so constructed that any excess current or abnormal condition will cause them to cut off the current automatically. In other words, they are an automatic safeguard.
Main Switch. The heavy or large switch installed in the wire leading to the range.
Pilot Light. An indicating lamp that burns only when the current is on; usually placed at or near the main switch.
Socket. A term applied to a lamp socket, or outlet, on the side of the range, to which may be attached an electric iron, toaster, or any auxiliary apparatus.
Lead Wires. Two or three wires projecting from a part of the body of the range to which the main entrance wires are attached.
Service. A general term applied to meters, switches and wiring installed by the central station.
Killowatt Hoar. The number of watts (measures of current) consumed by an electric heater during an hour. All rates are figured on the killowatt hours consumed, just as gas is figured on the cubic foot.
Terminals. Equipment for connecting heating units to wires - terminals come in two forms and are called plugs or connections.


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Over the past 20 years, researchers have increasingly accepted the fact that different types of experiences can alter the structure and function of the brain over time. In an article published in the Journal of Cognitive Psychology, APS Fellows Judith Kroll (Pennsylvania State University) and Ellen Bialystok (York University) highlight bilingualism as one experience that can have a profound impact on lifelong neural and cognitive development and functioning.
The failure to integrate research examining the cognitive and linguistic consequences of bilingualism has led to the perception that the effects of bilingualism are somewhat specific and isolated, when, in truth, it causes profound changes to the way the brain functions.
Unfortunately, several methodological issues have impeded research into bilingualism’s influence on cognitive and neural behavior and development. Bilingualism research has taken a componential perspective, studying the structural and cognitive influences of bilingualism by breaking them down into a few measurable components. This approach has led to an overly simplistic understanding of the broadly based reorganization that occurs in the bilingual mind, as well as to a failure to recognize the many contextual components that lead to complex changes in brain structure and function.
Researchers have also adopted a dichotomous view of bilingualism, categorizing people as either monolingual or bilingual. But bilingualism is not a categorical variable. Bilinguals vary multidimensionally in social, cognitive, educational, and linguistic ways. The influence of bilingualism, therefore, needs be studied in the context of a dynamically interacting system, rather than as a categorical assignment.
In spite of these issues, advances have been made in our understanding of how bilingualism shapes cognitive and neural functioning. Research examining language processing in bilinguals has shown that information about both languages is activated whenever a bilingual person listens, reads, or plans to speak one language. This cross-language activation is seen in both novice and highly skilled bilinguals and is seen at multiple levels of language processing — from lexicon to phonology to grammar.
Cognitive investigations of bilingualism have indicated that bilinguals inhibit the language they are not currently using during word recognition and production. Surprisingly, these studies have indicated that it is the native language that tends to be inhibited rather than the second, nonnative language, suggesting that the native language actually changes to accommodate the second language.
The control systems used in inhibiting and switching between languages are those generally used in selective-attention and nonverbal executive-control tasks, Bilingualism leads to more efficient use of these systems over time, which may explain why bilinguals show advantages over monolinguals in nonlanguage tasks that utilize these processes. These consequences of bilingual experience are often more pronounced in older adults as they manifest when ageing has caused the brain to become less efficient and rich in resources.
While there is still much to learn about how bilingualism affects the mind and brain, the effects are clearly not specific and isolated. They are wide ranging, resulting in neural, cognitive, and linguistic changes that last a lifetime.
Kroll, J. F., & Bialystok, E. (2014.) Understanding the consequences of bilingualism for language processing and cognition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 23(5), 497-514.
Speaking more than one language also enables greater understanding of other cultures and points of view. It forms a solid foundation for compassion, empathy and a desire to embrace the whole human race. It is its own foreign student exchange program. While math and science have their place, it is in the humanities that peace is cradled.
Fascinating. Does American English and Texan English count?
In my current daily life, I have to used at least three language at work place and my job require me to multitasking at all time. In an occasion, one colleague came to my desk to ask for a lock code (code is c309x). I was on a phone call at the time so I pick a pen and wrote (x309c) on the piece of paper. Is there any explanation? And does the brain work different between a person who speak two languages and another person who speak five languages? Because I do speak five languages including two dialect fluently.


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Bright days are ahead for wearables.
The worldwide wearables market will grow 15.3 percent by the end of this year, according to a Monday forecast from market researcher IDC. Shipments of wearables will reach 198.5 million units by the end of 2019, and 279 million units by the end of 2023, the firm predicts.
Much of that growth will be driven by the rapid increase of watches, ear-worn devices and wrist bands, IDC says. Greater adoption in health care will also contribute to growth.
“Wearables stand to play an important role in digital health, constantly collecting important patient data while also giving patients the ability to self-monitor,” IDC research director Ramon Llamas said in a press release.
Watches made up just over 44 percent of the wearables market in 2018, and they’ll account for a larger share in the years to come, IDC says, reaching 47.1 percent in 2023. Apple will lead the charge, the market researcher predicts, and WatchOS will make up 27.5 percent of all watches in 2023. Hybrid watches and kids’ watches will also see growth, though it won’t be as extreme.
Hearables, or ear-worn devices, will account for 31 percent of the wearables market in 2023. The inclusion of smart assistants will give them a boost, IDC says.
Wristbands will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.7 percent, but growth in relation to dollar value will drop with a -4.1 percent CAGR as average prices go from $51 in 2019 to $42 in 2023, IDC says. The market will continue to be dominated by brands like Huawei and Xiaomi.
Connected clothing, a segment of the market that’s mostly been popular in China but is gaining ground elsewhere, will make up 3.1 percent of the wearables market in 2023, according to IDC. It’ll mostly consist of step-counting shoes and devices with similar capabilities.
Wearables, which were once the subject of gloomy forecasts, have since seen more positive outlooks. In September, IDC predicted smartwatches would make up nearly half of the wearables market by 2022.
What is the difference between marginal benefit and marginal cost?


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The Housing Authority Department of Finance is responsible for budgeting, appropriating, obligating, and expending funds. This Department operates according to HUD regulations and Generally Accepted Accounting Standards.
The Finance Director is responsible for the day-to-day activities of the Finance Department.

industry_corpus2: Finance & Economics


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While development of the main building continues, space is available in our refurbished Community Hut.
We regularly run our own events, from art classes to small gigs, and lots of other groups also use the space every week - from board meetings to yoga classes!
The Community Hut has 2 rooms of the same size - approximately 7.5sqm x 7.5sqm. Capacity for each is around 30 seated. The maximum capacity for both rooms together is 60.
Room 1 has non-slip, mop-able flooring and Room 2 has carpet. Between the two rooms there is a small kitchen area and disabled toilet. Wheelchair access to the hut is via concrete ramp. There is a pay and display car park.
The cost of the rooms is £10 + VAT per hour per room.
We have a projector and screen available for hire at a small cost.
For enquiries or if you would like to view the rooms, please contact us on bookings@therockfieldcentre.org.uk or by phone on 07483 308140.
To make a booking, please download the booking form below and return it to the email address above.


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Learning from your parents' estate planning | J. Kevin Tharpe, P.C.
On behalf of J. Kevin Tharpe, P.C. on Thursday, October 18, 2018.
You're part of the sandwich generation, thus named because you have young kids of your own and you are also taking care of your elderly parents. No matter where you turn, someone needs help and assistance.
It's not easy. You love your family, but you run into all sorts of challenges. What can you learn from this experience? Can taking care of your parents help you discover some things about your own estate planning tactics?
As you get the paperwork together, one issue that you may run into is that your parents do not have a will. Did you know that this is true for 64 percent of people in America? That's nearly two-thirds of the population. It means that the odds are very good that your parents never drafted one.
If you catch this fast enough, you can help them through it. When it drags on for too long, though, it can create problems. Did your parents really have the mental capacity to draft a will near the end of their lives? Do your own siblings feel that you are using undue influence to make the will act in your favor when you're really just trying to help? If your parents pass away without a will entirely, do you have any idea how your family is supposed to sort things out?
These are all good questions to ask, and they can show you the importance of writing your own will as soon as possible. You suddenly see just how critical this is. You know that you do not want to put your own children in this same situation.
Another issue you may find is that your parents never really saved up money for long-term care. Maybe they just did not realize how expensive it would be, and what they saved isn't enough.
For instance, one study found that a single year in a nursing home, with just a semi-private room, could cost between $36,850 and $112,400. Obviously, the costs could be vastly higher if your parent also needs special medical care, medications, extra assistance and the like. So, if your parents saved up $200,000 and thought it would be enough, the reality is that they could drain their life savings entirely in just a few years.
Going through this with your parents can show you the true cost of that late-life care. It also, once again, shows you the advantage of planning early. This is especially important if you want to protect your estate so that you can pass it on to your kids.
As you can see, you need to know all of your legal options, both for your parents and for yourself.


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One of the most common signs of obstructive sleep apnea is loud and chronic (ongoing) snoring. Pauses may occur in the snoring. Choking or gasping may follow the pauses.The snoring usually is loudest when you sleep on your back; it may be less noisy when you turn on your side. Snoring may not happen every night. Over time, the snoring may happen more often and get louder. You're asleep when the snoring or gasping happens so you likely won't know that you're having problems breathing or be able to judge how severe the problem is. Your family members or bed partner often will notice these problems before you do.
Another common sign of sleep apnea is fighting sleepiness during the day, at work, or while driving. You may find yourself rapidly falling asleep during the quiet moments of the day when you're not active. Even if you don't have daytime sleepiness, talk with your doctor if you have problems breathing during sleep.


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Ghost is simultaneously an attempt to mesh blogging’s roots with the state of the art. Eschewing PHP, Ghost is a Node.js app built upon the Express framework. All of the blogs I’ve visited thus far that are running Ghost have been very speedy, a feat that is difficult to pull off with WordPress, in my experience.
WordPress is the most popular blogging software today, powering a majority of the top one hundred blogs. Like many of the systems that are popular nowadays, it’s dynamic. The server pieces together pages on the fly when they are requested, pulling content from the database, processing it, and wrapping a template around it before sending to the user’s browser.
Back in the earlier days of blogging, things were different. Most of the popular content management systems that blogs ran on were static page generators, like Movable Type, the package that previously held WordPress’s throne, before a price increase caused a mass exodus in 2004. Movable Type stores your content in a database, like WordPress, and it has an administration panel where you manage your content and adjust settings. But that’s where the similarities end. Instead of assembling pages dynamically, the blog engine compiles them into static HTML pages ahead of time, so the web server can just throw them back to users instantly. It’s a lot easier on the server that way, which can result in a snappier web site and less chance of your site going down from a social media bump.
This is, of course, something of a simplification. Many WordPress users, especially those with larger sites, use caching plugins like W3 Total Cache to have the best of both. The dynamic model is used, but frequently-accessed pages are statically cached for performance.
How many times have you heard the phrase “it has a steep learning curve” in reference to something that is supposed to be difficult? This commonly-used phrase sounds good, but isn’t really logical. Because it’s wrong.
A “learning curve” is a visual device used to illustrate the average rate of learning for a skill or tool. Essentially, it is a line chart that shows the learner’s level of proficiency and how it changes over time.
Take a look at the two following charts. The first one illustrates a steep learning curve, while the second shows a more gradual slope. If you take a look at the labels on the axes, you’ll note that the steep curve shows the “knowledge” unit is increasing at a faster rate. That means something with a steep learning curve is easier than something with a gradual slope. Make sense?
Scrivener is a neat Mac application (soon to be available for Windows) for writing long-form content. It’s designed with novels, screenplays and nonfiction works in mind. It helps you organize your notes (templates are included for things like character profiles) and assemble your manuscript.
The developer of Scrivener has a great deal for NaNoWriMo participants. You can download a fully-functioning trial of Scrivener 2.0 for Mac or a beta of the Windows version, and use it throughout NaNoWriMo. If you complete the full 50,000 word quota, you get a coupon for 50% off a Scrivener license. If you don’t manage to meet the goal, you can still get a 20% discount if you use a coupon code. It even comes preloaded with a NaNoWriMo novel template with the word count goal set to 50,000 words (and a tool to export a scrambled version of your novel for NaNoWriMo’s word count tool).
It’s almost November, which means this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is almost upon us. Participants have 30 days to write 50,000 words. Sound like fun?
Seeing as many of you are bloggers, it’s not too great a leap to assume that some of you might be interested in trying your hand at fiction. What better motivation than a deadline and Internet Fame and Glory™?
Have an idea for a novel? Register at NaNoWriMo.org and try to clear your November calendar of time-consuming distractions. If you set aside some time each day to write at least 1666 words, and don’t slack off during your writing time, the project shouldn’t keep you from doing other things.
I’m probably going to give NaNoWriMo a try this year, finally. What about you?
Here’s an easy way to write a blog post that will rank well in search engines and net you some quality traffic: solve a common problem. Find the answer to an issue that plagues many people interested in your niche. Supply a solution in a to-the-point post. Providing you picked a title that contains the sort of keywords frustrated searchers would be entering, it shouldn’t take too long for you to start ranking.
You may get lucky and have a major increase in traffic, or you could just make a smaller group of people very happy. (Which might lead to repeat visits…) If you do this a few times, the traffic will add up. Having ten posts that bring in 200 visitors every month is better than one post that brings in 1,000.
As an example, observe this recent post. As soon as Apple released iTunes 10, Twitter was abuzz with complaints about a minor design “improvement” that was made. Luckily, there were a couple of Terminal commands that would revert the change, for Mac users at least. I ended up writing a quick blog post with the solution and a small rant about how Apple was blatantly disregarding their own design guidelines. In a few hours I was on the Google result page for “itunes 10 vertical buttons,” and at the top of it within a day or two. I’ve done this plenty of times, and it has incrementally boosted my numbers.


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Recruiters and marketers have much in common. Check out our infographic which shows 11 main similarities between recruiters and marketers. If you want to be a successful recruiter, you should start thinking more like a marketer!
What do recruiters and marketers have in common?
Recruiters and marketers have very much in common, and similarities are getting more and more obvious every year. With that, recruiting trends are changing dramatically.
➡ Download our free eBook: 15 Recruiting Trends You Should Implement in 2019!
Why are recruiters’ and marketers’ jobs so similar?
The labor market is way different than it used to be a few years ago. The economy has recovered from the crisis, unemployment is much lower across the world, technology has advanced, new roles and positions have emerged, gig economy is at its peak.
As a result of these changes, candidates’ behaviors have changed as well. Consequently, employers have to adapt to these new trends by implementing innovative recruiting strategies.
The same way marketers promote and sell products and services, recruiters have to sell their job openings. Marketers’ goal, when promotion products and services, is to make their ads and promotions as attractive to potential buyers as possible.
Same is with job openings. Recruiters need to have a well-planned job promotion strategy and apply the best job advertisement practices in order to attract job candidates.
Before marketers even start planning their marketing strategies, they have to define their buyer persona. Why is this important? In order to attract buyers, marketers need to send them personalized messages, create personalized content and deliver personalized ads and promotions. This is impossible without knowing who their ideal customers or buyer personas are.
Besides defining buyer personas, marketers need to be well aware of what value their products and services bring to potential customers. They have to define the benefits and advantages of what they have to offer compared to their competitors. Take for example, McDonalds and Burger King. Their main advertising strategies are to differentiate themselves from one another and make fast food lovers choose their food over competitor’s.
In order to attract candidates, recruiters need to have a clearly defined Employee Value Proposition - set of values that employer offers to their employees. There are 5 main blocks of EVP (see the picture below). The first 2 blocks might be the 2 most important EVP factors in the past. Today, however, employers focus more on the last 3 blocks as they have become more important to job seekers.
While they search for a certain product or service, customers go through a journey called buyer’s journey. In general, the harder buying decision, the longer the journey. Marketers are well aware of all stages of their buyer persona’s journey when researching and buying products and services.
Changing and choosing jobs and new employers is a hard decision to make. Consequently, candidates go through a long candidate journey that consists of 6 main stages: Awareness, Consideration, Interest, Application, Selection and Hire.
In order to send the right message, to the right candidates at the right time, recruiters have to be aware of the stage in which their candidate persona is.
When promoting products and services, besides knowing in which stage of the buying process their buyer persona is, marketers also have to know which channel of communication to use. Customer touchpoint is a representation of any kind of a connecting with customers throughout their candidate journey.
Social Media advertising is an important marketing strategy for every marketer. Why? Because potential buyers spend a lot of their time on Social Media on a daily basis.
Well, job candidates do as well. Promoting job ads and Employer Band on Social Media has become a must-have recruiting strategy. Unlike job boards, Social Media is a great way from increasing brand awareness and getting in front of both active and passive job seekers. In addition, recruiters more and more use Social Media to source job candidates.
Managing relationships with customers is in the center of many marketers’ success goals. This is true not only in the pre-buying stages of the buyer’s journey, but also after the purchase happens. A proper, timely and relevant flow of information between the marketers and buyers is crucial for every company’s success.
Same is with candidates. Successful recruiters build relationships with job candidates throughout their journey which significantly increases candidate’s experience and satisfaction. As a result, recruiters get awarded with much higher offer-acceptance rates and reputable Employer Brand.
Marketers know that pitching their products and services to potential buyers is not enough anymore. They now need to be able to create informative and relevant content and offer it to the potential buyer. Depending on the stage of a customer’s journey, marketers need to know exactly what type of useful and relevant information their buyer persona may find useful.
Recruiters have also started applying inbound recruiting methods to their talent acquisition strategies. Creating useful tips for job seekers, holding informative webinars, organizing local educational events, creating videos with employee testimonials, writing blogs with employee stories and interviews, creating job description infographics...are all examples if inbound recruiting content.
The brand is very important when it comes to selling products and services. Companies with a more popular brand have to put much less effort when trying to sell it. These brands have their influencers who have a huge impact on fans buying decisions.
The situation with employers is no different - they also need to plan, develop and implement an employer branding strategy. Recruiters say that Employer Brand and reputation have a huge impact on their ability to attract and hire talent. The stronger the brand, the more talent wants to join. Here are just a few stats about why Employer Branding plays such an important game when it comes to successful hiring.
Marketers measure every step of their marketing strategies. There are so many different marketing tactics today. To be able to understand which ones are working and which ones are not, marketers need to continuously measure their efforts.
With the emergence of new HR technology, this is now possible in recruiting as well. Successful HR professionals measure every step of their recruiting and hiring efforts in order to make better hiring decisions. While cost, time and quality of hire were the most important metrics in the past, many new recruitment metrics have emerged.
Canva, Buffer, SEMRush, HubSpot, Salesforce, Mailchimp...are just some of the must-have marketers’ tools. Without these tools, marketers simply can’t do their jobs properly, and their productivity suffers.
Even though this may sound scary to many recruiters and HR professionals, new technologies are coming to HR as well. This technology, however, will not replace humans, as some people are scared about. They will simply make recruiters more productive and more competitive. Different type of HR software such as Sourcing tools, CRMs for recruiters, Recruitment Marketing platforms, Video Recruiting tools, modern Applicant Tracking Systems, Referral tools are just some of the examples.


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Our gala event at the Doubletree in South Burlington was a great success! Thanks to all who participated, and a special thanks to South Burlington City Council Chairperson Helen Riehle for her inspirational comments on our project.
Anyone who has ever made a large purchase, a car, home, etc., has done a feasibility study. It might not be a formal one but the steps are the same. You think about the benefits of the purchase, weigh them against the costs, consider the alternatives and potential risks involved and only then make a decision to move forward. While there are many examples of successful arts facilities like the one we are imagining for City Center, there are examples of failures too. A quality feasibility study can help create the former and avoid the latter.
Professional feasibility studies are comprehensive and require hundreds of hours of research, interviews and writing to complete. We have a fundraising target of $30,000 to support the expense of this study and enough has been raised to begin work. But we need more help. Please consider contributing.


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Yes, however we’ve found that folks very often mistake letterpress printing as a similar process to silkscreen printing. If you are trying to print posters on a budget, your project is not a good fit for letterpress printing. Posters via letterpress are going to be expensive. Plate material is charged by the square inch and lots of plate cost goes into a poster size piece. Just the cost of the plate for one color at 18 x 24 will exceed $200, not including any paper, setup and wash up costs.
Do you edition art prints?
Yes, we print for many designers and artists that hand number and resell their prints. (We generally do not do the hand numbering, but can for an additional cost).
What kind of artwork works for posters?
Text, line work, small graphics, less dense patterns, etc If you have big floods of color, you should read our SOLID AREAS OF COLOR DISCLAIMER.
Our largest sheet size is 21 x 28. This is extra large for letterpress! We can plate a continuous area up to 19 x 25 inches.
What can I do to keep cost down?
Plate a smaller image area on a larger sheet size. If you let us know your image size as well as your final poster size we can provide a more accurate cost. Request an estimate.


text: Proven Realty, in Collaboration with Lunnen Real Estate Services & Jeff Lunnen Are Pleased To Offer This Property. 4550 SQ FT Home/Shop on 4.68 Acres. The house is 2100 SQ FT which includes 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath Home With Open Floor Plan, Including Custom Kitchen Cabinets, Functional Layout, Modern Design, All Appliances and Oversized Garage For All Your Storage Needs. The Property has Rural Views, but is Close to Town!

industry_corpus2: Real Estate & Construction


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Several species of birds are commonly referred to as roosting birds. Included among these in Indiana are the blackbirds, starlings and grackles, as well as crows and vultures. These birds flock together during fall, winter and early spring, often forming huge roosts in urban areas. Their presence is often problematic because of potential health, economic and nuisance problems.
These large blackbirds are characterized by long, keel-shaped tails and yellow eyes. Male grackles often appear iridescent purple. They are about the size of a small crow and are very common in Indiana. Grackles are frequently seen feeding in fields, lawns, golf courses and orchards. They nest wherever there is adequate cover such as trees in parks, yards, woodlots, orchards and marshes. Grackles are omnivorous, which means they feed on a variety of plant and animal matter. Insects make up the bulk of their diet during the spring and summer months, while grain, grass seeds, pet food and fruits provide food during the fall and winter.
Individual grackles normally do not pose much of a problem; however, when they flock together and roost in trees near homes, parks or other public facilities, they can often pose a public health hazard or nuisance. Several diseases, particularly the respiratory ailment histoplasmosis, are indirectly transmissible from birds to humans. Many of these diseases are spread from the accumulation of bird droppings under the roost site. The droppings also will damage the finish on cars and kill grass and other ornamental plants. Grackles are noisy birds, often making a disturbing and obnoxious racket. Grackles may consume or destroy farm crops such as citrus, tomatoes, watermelons, cabbage, lettuce, grain, corn, peaches, figs and cantaloupes.
Starlings are smaller than grackles (about the size of a robin) and have short, square tails. During the winter, adult starlings are speckled with light dots, but they become more iridescent and less speckled during the breeding season. Juvenile starlings are a dusky, gray color.
Starlings were introduced into New York from Europe in the late 1800s and have since spread across the entire country. They are common in urban and suburban areas and nest in any suitable hole or cavity in bird houses, buildings and trees. Like grackles, starlings eat a variety of foods, but prefer seeds and fruits. They also will feed on insects during the spring and summer when insects are numerous.
Like grackles, starlings tend to congregate and roost together in flocks. Starling roosts in urban or residential areas can be a source of disease. Starlings also can cause a considerable amount of damage to gardens and orchard crops such as grapes, strawberries, apples and cherries. They are aggressive birds and often drive away desirable song birds. They may nest in bird houses intended for purple martins, woodpeckers or bluebirds.
Blackbirds and cowbirds also will flock together in huge roosts. The diseases and damage that they can cause are similar to those caused by grackles and starlings; therefore, their presence in urban areas is often objectionable. Female cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. As a result, the host bird raises the cowbird young often at the expense of their own young.
American Crows are the only crow native to Indiana. It is the largest of all the crow species, and while it resembles the common raven, its bill is noticeably smaller, and it lacks the shaggy throat feathers of the raven. Crows are very social and roost together in extended family groups at night during the fall and winter. They will range several miles during the day in search of food, returning to the roost at night.
In addition to roosts where resident numbers may extend into the thousands, creating problems common with other types of roosting birds, American crows are known to cause extensive damage to agricultural crops and natural resources, including predation of the young of other bird species.
Indiana is home to a large population of turkey vultures, as well as a few localized populations of black vultures. Turkey vultures are larger, with up to a six foot wingspan, and a very noticeable featherless pink head. They are easily spotted from the ground by their two-tone wing feathers and their distinctive flight. Turkey vultures hold their wings in a slight V-shape, rocking from side to side as they glide, rarely flapping their wings. They are social, found frequently in extended family groups from late summer through winter. Black vultures are fairly uncommon in Indiana, keeping mostly to the southern tier of the state. Easily discernable from the turkey vultures, they can be noted from the ground by their shorter wingspan and heavier flight pattern, as well as a black or gray featherless head. Black vultures are more aggressive than their counterparts, and while turkey vultures tend to be solitary hunters during the warmer months, black vultures often travel in large groups at all times during the year.
Damage by turkey vultures is generally limited in scope, and is commonly reported as birds roosting in trees or on large utility structures or communication towers. Rarely, the birds will pick at shingles and other roofing materials. The most frequent conflict comes from the mess that turkey vultures leave behind at a chosen roost in the form of droppings and regurgitations. Black vultures tend to be more commonly associated with predation on young livestock, and are very difficult to disperse. Flocks of vultures will attack young animals that are only hours or days old.
Several things can be done to discourage roosting birds. It is important to begin control measures as soon as it is evident that the birds are beginning to form a roost, because it is very difficult to displace the birds after the roost has been well established.
The use of frightening devices has proved to be the most successful method of dispersing bird roosts. Persistence and proper timing are essential. The majority of the birds will arrive at the roost about an hour before sunset each day so persons involved in the activity should be in position and ready before the first birds start to arrive. Frightening methods should begin when the first birds start to arrive and continue until dark. This procedure should continue for several evenings in a row, or until all of the birds have been moved.
Most frightening devices scare the birds away with loud noises. Since most cities have ordinances against noise-making devices, check with the police department for current regulations before using them. Neighbors near the roost site also should be notified.
These devices are 12-gauge shotgun shells that contain firecrackers. When discharged, the firecrackers are launched about 200 feet into the air before they explode. The shells should be fired so that they will explode underneath or in front of the flock of birds approaching the roost. The purpose is to produce an explosion between the birds and the roost. The last few minutes before dark, when the birds are still moving, is a critical period when the most firepower is needed.
These devices are fired from a 15mm flare pistol. Noise bombs are firecrackers that travel about 75 feet before exploding. They should be used in the same way as the shell crackers. Whistle bombs are similar to noise bombs but do not explode. In addition to their whistling sound, they produce a trail of smoke and fire which can be well seen just before dark. Racket bombs make noise in flight but do not explode.
Distress and alarm calls of starlings and blackbirds have been used alone and in conjunction with other frightening devices to successfully move bird roosts. These tapes are available from many sporting good stores. The calls can be played on a standard cassette tape recorder, but the use of large speakers will make the sounds more effective. The tapes should be played as the birds attempt to enter the roost and should remain on for as long as the birds are in the vicinity. Propane exploders, air horns and other loud noise-making devices can be effective in dispersing roosting birds. Like other methods, they should be used from the time the first birds arrive until dark.
Flashing lights, streams of water sprayed at the roost, hawk or owl decoys, and helium-filled balloons all have been used as frightening devices. Their effectiveness is enhanced when they are used along with auditory devices. Decoys or effigies can be used on vulture roosts to discourage congregating.
Thinning roost vegetation to make it less attractive to birds often produces longer lasting results than using scaring devices. When possible, thin the roost vegetation after the birds are dispersed to discourage their return. Thinning the vegetation one time, however, is not a permanent solution to the problem. A regular vegetation maintenance program must be established.
Brown-headed cowbirds, common grackles, red-winged blackbirds, rusty blackbirds, Brewer’s blackbirds, and crows may be taken (killed) if the birds: are committing or about to commit depredations upon ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife; or are concentrated in numbers and in a manner which constitutes a health hazard or nuisance.
Individuals with nuisance wild animal control permits can assist homeowners with nuisance roosting birds. The names of licensed nuisance wild animal control operators and additional information can be obtained from the Indiana Wildlife Conflicts Information Hotline at 1-877-463-6367.