text:
Our premium Fort Myers office space is located at 12553 New Brittany Boulevard.
Take advantage of this Fort Myers virtual office building's exceptional access to major highways, airports and mass transit. Your new office also offers excellent proximity to accommodations for your out of town clients. You will make an impression on your clients with a company address in this class A building conveniently located in the central business district in the City of Fort Myers.
Enjoy the low expenses and convenience of telecommuting while giving your business the prestige of a downtown Fort Myers presence. With Opus Virtual Offices you can forget about the overhead associated with a traditional office lease and concentrate on running your business. Opus will provide the live receptionist, office infrastructure and state of the art technology you need.


text: Following on from last season's event, this season's event will be bigger and better. See well known Hobart celebrities pitch their baseball prowess against local players. This will be followed by East V West and I have it on good authority the East won last season!! There will be children's activities and I believe a jolly guy in a red suit may drop in. More details as they are finalised. PS can Mayor Kristy Johnson get through the celebrity game without being injured?!!

industry_corpus2: Sports


text:
A special thanks to Lampyridae who saved me the bother of finding the right thread. When you report off topic stuff (via report to mod) giving the place you suggest that we move things to? Really helps a lot and is really appreciated.
If the primary purpose of the domes are access to natural sunlight/outside view without a spacesuit, with plants in it for primarily psychological/aesthetic benefits (even if they are also edible plants), then they probably don't have to be all that large.
More, smaller domes might be better - less structurally demanding, and if the smaller domes have a higher glass-to-framework ratio, they might *feel* just as open if not more so.
If the domes are a primary food production area, though, you'd probably want them larger.
I renew my objection to any "window" exposed directly to a line of sight leading to the atmosphere on Mars. That atmosphere will hardly slow or filter or burn up incoming rocks or radiation of any kind, leaving a necessity for complex support and emergency repair systems as well as thicker and more complexly produced glass, itself.
I think the Mars atmosphere would stop micrometeorites. Larger meteorites probably are not common enough to worry about; even if the rate is 1000x what it is on Earth, what percentage of buildings on Earth have ever been damaged by meteorites?
Especially since the concept here seems to be domes as a fairly small portion of a mostly subterranean Mars colony ... they will not be very large targets.
Mirrors can be used to bring light and images (properly erected) to properly protected windows, but I have seen no evidence that lack of external lines of sight is the kind of psychological problem that has been evinced in theses parts.
I don't think there would be any way to get that evidence... You really don't have situations on Earth where people have no access to natural light/outdoor views for longer than, say, a nuclear sub tour of duty - except maybe some prisons with poor conditions, and that's not even close to a representative psychological sample.
Referring to the ISS or to the LEM isn't of much help as both of those are horrendously expensive and not easily translatable to hectare size exposures.
I do think plastics are likely to be the way to go... I wouldn't be surprised if bioplastics end up being an extremely important tool for a Mars colony (since you could skip most of the complex industrial infrastructure). By the time we get to manufacturing structural elements on Mars, bioplastics and genetic engineering technology will likely be a lot more advanced.
While it's not near term, at some point you might even get to engineering the organisms to grow in the open, unpressurized... Mars atmosphere has enough CO2 to support photosynthesis, and the thermal environment isn't beyond what some lichens can handle (lichens living at Mars pressure/temperature has actually been demonstrated).
I'm curious how much difference it would make if the glass wasn't flat but was domed. For eg, doming it inwards (towards the pressure) would put some of the force in compression. AIUI, glass has a compressive strength better than two orders of magnitude higher than its tensile strength.
I still mean a mundane outward curving shape, but the individual glass panes would curve inwards, to convert tensile forces on the glass into compressive force. (The frame is still tensile.) I'm curious if it would make glass more viable.
outward curving shape, but the individual glass panes would curve inwards, to convert tensile forces on the glass into compressive force.
Good point. But you could have an outermost pane that's unpressurised and flat.
Would look like one of the walls made from beer bottles :-) Perhaps no much good for looking out but ok for light.
Glass both inside and out may need a protective coating from dust and scratches.
The dome did survive the fire, that happened in 1976, and is still used today, but with an open structure. I want to stay away from exaggerated concern so there are certainly ways to mitigate this. But glass doesn't burn :-) so that's solving the problem at the source.
It does make for some lovely symmetries from the interior.
I wonder if using small batch processes we might be able to mass produce glass that was tougher than classic soda glass. I'm thinking small panes less than 1 foot across. These would not be safe from sabotage but should survive most likely accidents. Smaller panes would make the result of the break like the one shown less dramatic.
Is there any way to make the laminate for Laminated Glass?
My understanding is polyvinyl butyral (PVB) or ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) are primarily used on Earth, and you can produce Polyethylene relatively easily on Mars.
Could that be used? or would you need more.
I suggested glass safety film a few pages ago. Surprisingly thin, just a few mills, and it is very tough. Simply stuck to the glass. It could come from Earth at first, then be produced locally.
Assuming you're building a glass dome that has buildings in it like we usually see in SF, one way to reduce the amount of glass required is to make the buildings tall enough that they reach the roof. Those sections where they are effectively part of the roof are made of opaque materials, steel, concrete. You could cut down on the glass requirements by 50% or more. With walkways and such you can make more use of the "open to sky" volume. Alternatively you could make more use of the roof space if you have buildings. Real estate development being what it is, I guess you'd see a bit of both.
We've also previously suggested (in the Envisioning Amazing Habs thread, I suspect) hanging buildings from the frame. The weight of the buildings is much less than the outward force from the atmosphere, but reduces the load on the frame a little. Similarly, to run tensile structures from the frame to the foundation, to warp the pressure vessel into a more useful shape, then hang buildings off those tensile "pillars".
Maintenance safety hazards aside, isn't a tall dome useful in itself? Isn't a a high air mass and distance from particle impacts beneficial towards radiation protection?
Maintenance safety hazards aside, isn't a tall dome useful in itself?
Except you aren't starting with a dome. A dome isn't a natural shape for a pressurised volume. So if you want to distort your pressure-vessel into more of a dome-like shape, you are going to need tricksy engineering voodoo.
You don't think the shuttle involved engineering witchcraft? You were not paying attention.
Geodesic dome with small panes.
Small panes undergo much lower stress, and the breakage of a pane is much less important.
Nodes further away are covered by a concrete dome with a window line. Ground is removed.
This is the industrial area of the colony, and the dome houses the cafeteria.
Given the updated radiation transport models with pion dose contribution, I think we're going to need at least 6m of regolith cover to achieve satisfactory radiation protection. Once the effect of atmosphere is taken into account 1m or so may do nothing or maybe even make things worse. I haven't found any papers testing the updated HZTERN models with regolith, but anything more than 20g/cm^2 of aluminium starts counteracting the shielding and 70g/cm^2 makes things worse than if there were no shielding at all.
Currently we use comparisons between atmosphere to simulate regolith depth, but pions have a short decay path and would probably not show up at kilometres of very low density shielding like they would for a metre or so of shielding.
This might be a half baked idea, or one that's been discussed already, but what about building a dome within a soil retaining dam filled with a heavy gas like sulfur hexaflouride or a suitably dense easily in-situ produced gas. Gas phase might be easier than liquid phase at these pressures, though it wouldn't provide anywhere near the same counter-pressure.
it would make suited excursions a bit easier in the immediate area outside the hab within the dam for construction or repairs.

industry_corpus2: Aerospace


text:
Get your expert high-quality articles on R M Motosport Inc published on multiple partner sites.
R M Motosport Inc, Victoriaville.
Share your R M Motosport Inc, Victoriaville experience.

industry_corpus2: Automobiles


text: This complex is located 300m from the beach, 1.5km from the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes and 2.5km from the Acropolis of Rhodes.Facilities and services include an outdoor pool, children's pool, restaurant, bar, elevator, wireless Internet access, room service and 24-hour reception. Apartments feature air conditioning, TV, telephone, kitchenette, safe (extra charge), hairdryer and balcony/terrace. ** Please note that some of the above facilities may be closed due to weather / seasonal conditions. Address: 28th October str 13, 85100 Rhodes, Greece.

industry_corpus2: Hospitality & Catering


text:
...I've finally been sitting down and stepping my machine through it's paces with a combination of Prime95 and RMClock to determine just how well my processor actually binned before being labelled an ML-class part, especially since it was originally sold before they officially acknowledged MT-37 as even being possible, let alone available. So the sheer fact it ran at 2.0Ghz at 35 Watts meant they stopped testing and binned it immediately.
2.0Ghz @ 1.450 Volts @ 24 Amps for about 34.8 Watts of total power draw.
0.8Ghz @ 1.000 Volts @ 24 Amps for about 24.0 Watts of total power draw.
2.0Ghz @ 1.250 Volts @ 24 Amps for about 30.0 Watts of total power draw.
0.8Ghz @ 0.950 Volts @ 24 Amps for about 22.8 Watts of total power draw.
No huge savings at the low end... but good god I have a damn good chip for it to pull off only 30 watts at 2.0Ghz. I'm going to go for 1 hour of Prime95 Blend before I call this final, but it bombed out at 1.225 Volts instantly and 0.900 Volts just as instantly. 0.925 Volts resulted in some odd musical glitches as I was running WinAMP in the background for an audible 'system lockup detector' but that might have been as I was running a streaming radio station so I'll re-test at 0.925 once I've verified my peak power level.
Then comes the monotonous testing of the other 11 stepping levels I'll have defined, with their requisite 1 hour per level.
And sadly all this will be for nothing, as the Linux Athlon-64 stepping driver sadly only supports the 4 'officially documented' levels (Max, Max-0.2Ghz, Max-0.4Ghz, and 0.8Ghz) for the CPU. I find this amusing, actually, that nobody's modified the driver to support highly-granular stepping like the RMClock utility does. My one attempt at doing so resulted in numerous lockups becuase I simply don't understand what the code is really doing.

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


text:
Finding the right treatment program can be an overwhelming process.
We work with clients and their families to design customized programs, then walk them through the entire recovery process. We offer complete Case Management, including travel and admissions logistics, financial consultation and insurance application assistance, family and employee communication (when appropriate) and the establishment of appropriate aftercare programs.

industry_corpus2: Health & Medicine


text:
I only twice set eyes on Jeremy Hardy. When the Birmingham Six were released he was the MC at the London Concert celebrating their release and his wit amazed me. There was nothing showy about it, no prepared gags, blue jokes nor gimmicks, but spontaneous intelligence.
The next time I saw him was at a Mass for the murdered Solicitor Rosemary Nelson. All the Queen’s Horses all the Queen’s Men have been unable or unwilling to apprehend or charge anyone with her killing, the twentieth anniversary of which falls next month.
I don’t think that Mass was recorded in THE TIMES nor the congregation listed. But it would not amaze me if, in the files of a State which has thousands of Buggers in GCHQ and seven hundred extra MI5 operatives recently deployed In Belfast, the congregation is listed.
You may be sure that Hardy was not at the Mass to get his name in THE TIMES, nor to get Brownie Points inHeaven. I don’t think getting Rich, Famous, and a comfortable seat amongst the Elect featured in his agenda.
But he was dedicated to fair play and showed solidarity with those who were denied it, irrespective of who they were, where they were, and he did so without fanfare.
I learn from his Obituary in THE TIMES, that he re-mortgaged his house to go bail for Roisin McAliskey when she was imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of terrorism. And I can’t help contrasting his humanity with that of the entertainer Ann Widdecombe of “Strictly Come Dancing” notoriety. Widdecombe, as Home Secretary, was responsible for manacling Roisin McAliskey to her bed during childbirth. Unlike Widdecombe, Hardy didn’t claim to be a religious believer.

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text:
These were the words written by William Shakespeare and spoken by Jaques in As You Like It at the beginning of his famous speech on the Seven Ages of Men. It is wonderful to see our young actors taking different parts in the plays they perform and really entering into these characters. In life they will have to step into numerous roles and play their parts well.
Class Four under the direction of Mrs Farrelly and with help from parents, staff and friends produced a wonderful performance of The Magician’s Nephew; the first story in The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. The play script was adapted from the story by Mrs Roscoe some years ago and interpreted freshly this time around. The students’ diction was excellent and there were some wonderfully comical cameos throughout the performance. The teamwork, engagement and personal development of the whole class was evident. Although these plays take an enormous commitment of time and energy, they have a lasting impact on the students across many spheres.
As a school we are fortunate to have such a talented staff who can turn their hand to productions like this. Thank you also to the parents, without whose support, such ventures would not be possible.
Term 2 at Ficino School will be finishing next Friday 6 July. Term 3 will start on Monday 30 July.
A reminder that bookings for the holiday programme, running from Monday 23 July – Friday 27 July, are now open. Please refer to the email you received to make your online booking – or check the link.
Note – bookings are accepted on a first come, first served basis.
Time trials are being run at Snow Planet this Sunday 1 July. Recreational skiers are welcome to join us and trial for NIPS. Note there is no need to have any racing experience to take part in the NIPS.
Please refer to the email that was sent out on Thursday this week.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


text:
Do you know that aside from gaining a professional certificate, there are other advantages if you are looking forward to studying professional courses in a Nigerian university as a graduate.Sometimes it happens to be very easy that graduates of these professional courses get employed before others who studied other courses. It doesn’t automatically depicts that other courses are bad or that you can not build a solid career out of them.
The main reason why most people study these professional courses is to get professional certificate. Also know that there are bodies that supervise the training of these courses. These courses are: law, accounting, pharmacy, medicine, engineering.
Taking up professional courses in Nigerian universities help graduates to be better exposed and fit for jobs anywhere in the world.


text:
fifteen years old, is walking ruminatively in the garden of her substantial country home on the edge of London. Her mother is dead, her father is 'something in the City', whence he travels each day by train, and her chief companion is her governess, a pleasant enough lady but 'of few original ideas, no fancies, a reserved manner, and a well regulated mind'.
“It's me” said the girl, naturally ungrammatical at such a moment.
Clarice's longed-for adventure, as she smuggles Olga into her bedroom and becomes complicit in her plan to go to Scotland. It seems that her parents live in India, where her father is a colonel in a Highland regiment and, rather than stay with her grandmother, who lives in a castle in Scotland, she had been sent to a boarding school in Yorkshire. It was not quite Dotheboys Hall for girls, but she hated it and had run away, although, being a scatterbrain, she had got on the wrong train and had ended up hiding in the garden of Clarice's suburban home down south.
does not fully summarize thirteen-year old Olga's intrepid but thoughtless determination to do things her way and this story of her secret stay in the Clavering household amounts to a succession of crazy escapades that put at risk Clarice's comradely efforts to hide her. At the same time, Clarice's trust in Olga's tale is compromised when she learns that an agony column in The Times is advertising a servant-girl's theft from a school in Yorkshire of money and jewels which may correspond to similar possessions in a bag that Olga is carrying. How can Clarice remain loyal to the girl for whom she has conceived a great affection while avoiding telling lies or denouncing her as a thief?
its pacing, its convincing household scenes, the credibility and differentiation of its charactes are such that one may also wonder why it fell from grace. Indeed, it may well still be entirely forgotten had it not been for the intervention of that great artist, Gwen Raverat, who had loved the book as a child and who was responsible for persuading Macmillan to bring out a new (very slightly altered) edition in 1936. This she illustrated herself with a plethora of superb wood engravings which place the book in the top rank of illustrated stories for children. Macmillan relinquished rights to it in 1953 when Duckworth were able to issue a new edition and Persephone brought it into the twenty-first century in 2002. It still remains too little known.

industry_corpus2: Literature & Emotions


text:
The World Bank said Tuesday that â€œswift and positive actionsâ€ taken by Rwanda government are part of the reason the country maintains a decade-long period of strong economic growth and claiming for the third year in a row the title of the fastest growing economy in the EAC.
The Bank said in the latest Rwanda Economic Update that government intervention has â€˜successfully steered Rwanda towards a steady growth and positive outlookâ€™. According to the report, Rwandaâ€™s economy has grown by a robust 8 percent in 2012.
The World Bank foresees a broadly positive outlook for Rwanda, with growth projected at 7 percent in 2013 and 7.5 percent in 2014. According to the report, this projection assumes gradual recovery of aid in the coming period.
â€œThe aid shock has demonstrated not only the Governmentâ€™s prudent macroeconomic management capacity, but also the vulnerability of the economy to the volatility of aidâ€, said Yoichiro Ishihara, World Bank Senior Economist for Rwanda, in a statement.
The report states that the strong growth in 2012 is attributed to a resilient private sector performance especially in the services sector with trade, telecommunication and transport generating about 40 percent of 2012 real GDP growth.
The report uses data gathered by the statistics office to examine the reduction in poverty and inequality in Rwanda over the past decade. According to the report, the fraction of the Rwandan population living below the poverty line dropped from 59 percent in 2001 to 45 percent in 2011. The report found that almost half of the reduction in poverty can be attributed to developments in agriculture, especially the increase in agricultural production and the increased commercialization of agriculture, witnessed by the rising share of harvests that are sold on local markets.
The report also asserts that diversification of livelihoods towards non-farm activities has been an important secondary driver of poverty reduction in Rwanda over the past decade. â€œWe are happy to continue supporting Rwandaâ€™s efforts to channel its impressive growth into shared prosperity for Rwandaâ€™s citizens,â€ said Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Manager for Rwanda.
According to the report: â€œfurther increases in agricultural productivity will likely be the main driver for poverty reduction in the decade to come, especially if combined with increased business activity related to the boom in agricultureâ€.
It observed that currently, the main agricultural programs do not cover the entire territory, and substantial rewards could be reaped from scaling up these programs. In addition, given the importance of the rural nonfarm sector in terms of welfare and job creation, the report says that creating an enabling environment where informal household enterprises can thrive would likely to raise rural standards of living and play a significant role in absorbing the rapidly growing labor force.
Rwandaâ€™s growth is compared to East African Community (EAC) partners Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania.

industry_corpus2: Finance & Economics


text:
You are here: Home / Tutorials / FreshCut SVG Bundles / Ice Cream Preschool Learning Activity Your Kids will LOVE!
Let your child be creative with this adorable Ice Cream Preschool Learning Activity! Cut out all the elements with your Cricut Machine and mix and match for hours of entertainment!
When I made these, I really thought that I was only going to entertain my 3-year old for a couple minutes. I mean, these are freaking adorable, but kids can be fickle. Yeah, no. My son has literally played with this Ice Cream Preschool Learning Activity for HOURS! I ended up placing all the printables in a bag and he still carries it around and plays with it all day. When he can’t find it, he frantically asks for his bag. I’d say this is a parenting WIN right here!
I made these using my Cricut and the latest files from the Fresh Cut SVG Bundle! The bundle includes over 60 designs and it’s over 90% off this week – just imagine all the Cricut Projects you can do with this bundle! I think these ice cream files would make insanely cute iron-on tees.
The printable activities are completely FREE, so scroll down after you read the instructions and click on the download button for 9 pages of create your own ice cream printables!
Turn on the Laminator and press the HEAT button so it heats while you complete the next step. It’s ready when the light turns on.
Download the PDF File, then print them on white cardstock.
Place one printable in a Laminator Sheet and place the folded edge of the laminator sheet into the laminator and let it run through. Repeat for all the pages.
Now, upload the Ice Cream SVG Files to Cricut Design Space. Tip: Learn more about how to upload an SVG File to use with your Cricut.
You can either cut the images out on Color Cardstock or FLATTEN the images and print and cut. Tip: Learn more about creating Print and Cut Images Files from SVG Files.
Send the files to the Cricut, then select the right material.
Place your material on the mat, load it into the Cricut, then press the CUT button. Repeat for all the files.
NOTE: At this point, you can also laminate the ice cream printables and cut around the edges. While I’m sure you can cut them with the Cricut Maker, I didn’t try it because I wasn’t expecting my son to love it so much – so I’m not sure of the settings. You want to be careful cutting really thick materials, especially custom items. It could mess up your machine and void your warranty.
If you don’t have the Fresh Cut SVG Files, you could also use this printable to draw on with crayons or laminate them and color on with expo markers. I also think it would be fun to make your own stickers with Cricut Vinyl – really the possibilities are endless with this preschool activity!
Another great idea I had that I haven’t had time to do…use a three hole punch on the laminated sheets and tie them with ribbon. It’s a much better solution than a plastic bag…but my 3-year-old is super attached to his bag at this point and I’m afraid of his reaction to change. Everyone says it’s the terrible two’s, but there’s really nothing more terrifying than a threenager. I don’t have teenagers yet, so maybe I’m wrong!


text:
Hi! If we haven’t worked together before, please choose a “Let’s Connect!” time slot. Once we get to know one another we can discuss the best option for you or create a customized plan. ALL appointment types are available to YOUTH & ADULTS.
EVERGREEN Monthly SUBSCRIPTION for 46 lessons to last you all year long (4 sessions per month). This is the best choice for consistency, safety, and customization. In-depth learning, physical practice, meditation and process work designed especially for you. Yoga to embody who you are and empower you to function your best inside the studio and out in the world! ($315/month).
CORPORATE classes are generally 45-75 minutes depending on the needs of the organization. Quarterly and yearly contracts are available with variable pricing. One session is $120 for up to 15 people.


text:
A post by Bogus Magus at the Maybe Logic blog notes that G. Spencer-Brown, author of The Laws of Form, has turned 90. The post reminds us that Robert Anton Wilson's Schroedinger's Cat trilogy frequently quotes Brown's book.
The Laws of Form is philosophy and mathematics, but is it alchemy? A paper, "An Esoteric Guide to Spencer-Brown's Laws of Form," asserts that, "the work can also be read with an esotericeye, which is to say, with a sensitivity to the form and nature of spiritual experiences." He adds, "What I would like to do in this commentary is show that within the LoF are a number of coherentrelations to principles that are rightly considered esoteric: they are hidden, but very important whenconsidering actual spiritual development. Of course as a whole LoF can be taken as a cosmologicaltreatise, and in this sense could be read alongside works such as those by Ibn Arabi, Nagarjuna, LaoTzu, or Eckhart, among many others." The paper is here, and I thank Arthur Hlavaty for pointing it out to me.
Just to let you know that G Spencer-Brown passed away 25th August 2016 (aged 93) and was buried 29th September at Brookwood Cemetery, UK.
I had the honour and privilege of reading the Heart Sutra at the non-denominational service ("Form is emptiness and emptiness is form ... "


text:
Nadiad is a town which is predominantly known because of its temples. There are some very important temples here, some that are regarded as seats of religious sects. Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Vadtal is one such temple near Nadiad that ranks as one of the most important temples in the region.
Located in the village of Vadtal is the Shri Swaminarayan Temple. The village is very close to Nadiad at a distance of 14 kms. Built in the year 1824 this temple is the headquarter of the Shri laxminarayan Dev Gadi. Such has been the influence of the temple that the place is also known as Vadtal Swaminarayan.
The temple is a beautiful structure that fills one’s senses at the very sight of it. The lotus shaped temple is pure architectural brilliance and there are nine domes in the inner temple. The pillars of the temple are made of wood and the colourful wood carvings on these pillars are a sight to behold. Shri Brahmanand Swami played an instrumental part in the building of the temple as it was constructed under his supervision.
The Swaminarayan Temple in Vadtal is home to a number of deities. The temple has been divided into three main shrines with each shrine being dedicated to particular deities. The central shrine of the temple is dedicated to Lakshmi Narayan and Ranchod Raiji. Then there is a shrine dedicated to Radha Krishna and Lord Swaminarayan on the right hand side. To the left of the central shrine are the deities of Vasude, Dharma and Bhakti.
The Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Vadtal stands because of the gesture of Lord Swaminarayan. When the devotees from Vadtal came to him on the occasion of Nirjala Ekadshi, on the twelfth day they made a request to Lord Swaminarayan to construct a temple devoted to Shri Krishna in Vadtal. The Lord wasted no time and ordered his disciple Shri Brahmanand Swami to work towards completing the wish of the devotees. The disciple got engaged in the task and oversaw the entire supervision of the temple. It took 15 months to build this beautiful temple. The idols in the central shrine were installed by Lord Swaminarayan himself and it was done with great celebration and chanting of hymns.
The temple has some history attached with the freedom movement as well. During pre-independence it became a regular platform for speeches for the Independence Movement. One of the epic moments was when Mahatma Gandhi delivered a speech in favor of non-cooperationfrom the premises of the temple in January 1921. Sardar Vallabhai Patel also used to visit the temple frequently with his father.
The Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Vadtal is a beautiful temple built in devotion to Shri Krishna. The surroundings of the temple are beautiful and calm and devotees can be seen flocking to this place to experience their moment of connection with the almighty.

industry_corpus2: Travel & Geography


text:
The estate plan of noted author Tom Clancy had three equal trusts, one for the children of his first marriage, a marital trust for his surviving second wife, and a family trust for the second wife and the daughter they had together. The trusts were funded from the residuary estate (whatever is left after paying expenses and any specific bequests), and Clancy’s will also called for estate and/or inheritance taxes to be paid from that same remaining fund. The personal representative of the estate (who also had drafted the will) proposed to pay half of the federal estate taxes due on Clancy’s $83 million estate from the trust for the adult children, the other half from the family trust. The taxes came to roughly $15 million.
Mrs. Clancy objected. Before his death, Clancy had executed a codicil to his will, to clarify that he intended both the family trust and the marital trust to qualify for the federal estate tax marital deduction. That suggests that the trusts for Mrs. Clancy should not be tapped to pay taxes, because assets that don’t share in the creation of the estate tax burden should not have to pay those estate taxes. To the extent that the widow’s share is used to pay the estate tax, the marital deduction must be reduced, which means still more estate tax, and a further reduction in deduction, and yet more taxes, in an extended circular computation. In fact, if Mrs. Clancy’s share is free from the tax burden, the actual estate tax due will drop by nearly a third, to roughly $11 million.
That’s what the probate court decided was proper, it’s what Clancy apparently intended with his codicil to the will. In a 4-3 decision, the Maryland Court of Appeals agreed with that conclusion in August. A savings clause in the codicil “explicitly directs that the personal representative not act to adversely impact the benefit of the marital deduction of the marital trust and the family trust.” Three dissenters believed that Clancy probably did not appreciate just how much that seemingly minor savings clause would upend the overall result of his estate plan.
The result is decidedly unequal for the five children. The child from the second marriage will get roughly one-third of the estate, undiminished by taxes. The share for the other four will be reduced roughly 40% for taxes, and then split four ways among them. Whether Mr. Clancy expected an outcome for his estate plan to have as many twists and turns as the plots of the books that he wrote remains an open question.
(December 2016) © 2016 M.A. Co. All rights reserved.

industry_corpus2: Law & Justice


text:
Locations of Iran (green) and Pakistan. Source: Wikipedia Commons.
High-ranking officials from Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement to promote cooperation in preserving the security of common borders nearly two months after terrorists abducted a number of Iranian border guards at a military post.
According to Tasnim dispatches, following a three-day negotiation between a number of Iranian and Pakistani security and political officials in Iran’s southeastern city of Zahedan, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on border security was signed.
The two sides agreed to boost cooperation in order to preserve the security of common borders and prevent fuel smuggling as well as human trafficking.
Preventing terrorists from crossing the common borders was another issue agreed between the two countries.
The Iranian side also called for the return of the remaining border guards, who were abducted by terrorist in October.
On November 22, five of the 14 Iranian border guards who had been abducted by terrorists returned home following consultations with Pakistani diplomatic and military officials.
The so-called Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group infiltrated the country from the Pakistani side of the border on October 15 and took hostage 14 border guards, local Basij forces, and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) members.
The IRGC Ground Force’s Quds Base announced in October that the local Basij forces and the border regiment forces stationed at the border post in Mirjaveh region in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan had been abducted after “acts of treason and collusion” involving an element or elements of the anti-Revolution groups who had infiltrated the country.

industry_corpus2: Politics & Administration


text:
I passed a policeman's hat. It was shortly after I passed a police car. I stopped. So did another car. We both walked towards it cautiously and stared at it. Then the other man announced himself as a retired police officer, so I let him pick it up. He was about to chase after the police car when it returned. I flagged it down, and the policeman set the lights flashing and pulled over. "Have you lost your hat?" I said. "Ah, thank you sir", he said, collected it and drove off.
Not sure how he managed to lose it. His driver's window was shut, and the hat had been on the far side of the road.
Managed to run into the clothes line this week. We have a length of fencing wire strung up on posts, and propped higher with some long sticks. Kiwi ingenuity; much better than the normal plastic variety. But I had taken down the props to let me mow underneath, and forgotten to put them back. Hence I ran into the wire. It hit the bridge of my nose, and I spun around and landed flat on my back. Pity nobody was there to watch; it must have looked quite spectacular. Now I have a slight red mark on my nose, but fortunately nothing else.
No planks or trees at all this weekend, although I did a bit more mowing and weeding. I'm trying to weed out the grass from the front steps, but it's too well rooted. So I've been pouring boiling water on it. Seems to work well - after a couple of days it shrivels up and comes out quite easily. Will take a few more kettle fulls to do it properly.
Bronwyn's birthday was this week, so I set up The Chocolate Fountain. You pour melted chocolate in the base, mixed with oil to thin it, and then turn it on so it gets pumped up the middle and runs down the outside. Very wasteful of chocolate, but a great hit with Rachael.
Bronwyn's also got her ears pierced, so she's recieved quite a few earrings. It's been a big step for her - for a very long time she was terrified (and that's not an excessive word) of needles and had to wear clip-on earrings at the wedding. But she went for it on her own accord, and now has some studs to wear until the holes settle down.
Spent about 7 hours at a joint concert in the central Salvation Army headquarters in Auckland. It was a joint concert between the brass band and the Salvation Army band. We had a rehearsal in the afternoon and a concert in the evening.
It was a really good concert. They had a very loud bass trombone, and I was directly in his line of fire. Quite impressive, but I think it took a while for my hearing to return afterwards. We played a few items each, and then three pieces to finish. And they were begging us for more afterwards!
One of the pieces was titled 'El Es El Senior'. I sat there trying to piece together my limited Spanish. They started playing a typical Spanish melody complete with castanets (well, woodblocks). Then they put the words up on the screen. I couldn't believe it. It was "He is the Lord (Send your power)". Really done well. I understand that band has been competing in the A grade, and they certainly deserved it.
Put more floorboards on the tree house this week. I think I've done enough for now - it's a lot more stable (and dry) in there now. Rachael and her friend have christened it the Cat Clubhouse, because her friend likes cats. Sarah isn't allowed.
Sarah got up really early, and I had to put her back in bed. Then the clocks went back an hour this weekend, so I'm rather tired at the moment!

industry_corpus2: Others


text:
Hello Aspirants!!! Great news for all the people of West Bengal State. Latest Employment News from the governmnet of West Bengal was recently issued and is grabbing the attention of all the Job hunters looking out for WB Govt Jobs. Officials of West Bengal State Health & Family Welfare Samiti have come up with WBSHFWS Recruitment 2018 Notification to engage candiadtes for 917 Medical Officer, Pharmacist Vacancies. Now according to the details provided in the official announcement contenders must be aware of the all the information regarding Eligibility Criteria like Educational Qualifications, Age Limitations and Age Relaxations, Application Process, Application Fee, Hiring Process, and Salary offered. So aspirants go through the below article entirely and gear up yourself to apply for the latest Govt Jobs in India.
The West Bengal Government invites applications through Online from all the eligible applicants. Now the essential dates for the WBSHFWS MO Job Openings 2018 which includes the Starting and the Closing Date are to be kept in mind until you apply. So the Opening Date to update your information on the Job Portal is 10th April 2018 and the Closure Date for the submission of the Online Application form is 21st April 2018. So make sure you make a move and start applying for WBSHFWS Recruitment 2018 Notification. For more Jobs go through our official website here. Also, you can check the Syllabus and Previous Papers for all the competitive exams from our blog.
Are you people interested in West Bengal Government Jobs? Then there is a fantastic opportunity for you people. Recently, West Bengal State Health & Family Welfare Samiti had announced the advertisement for 917 Medical Officer, Pharmacists Vacancies. Individuals who want to set their life in the Medical department can apply as early as possible.
Interested candidates for WBSHFWS Recruitment 2018 should aware of the postwise vacancy details. To make your search easy here we had updated the table which provided you the postwise vacancy details. For more info, visit the WB official site, www.wbhealth.gov.in.
Aspirants applying for WBSHFWS Recruitment 2018 should satisfy the below eligibility conditions as per the Notification. Also, should satisfy the age limit to apply for WBSHFWS Medical Officer Jobs 2018.
For Pharmacist: People applying for Pharmacist post must complete two years diploma in Pharmacy(D.Pharmacy)(Allopathic). And also the candidate should be a permanent resident of West Bengal and moreover should be able to speak, read and write in Bengali. Also, candidates completed B.Pharmacy and M.Pharmacy also eligible to apply for WBSHFWS Careers 2018.
Applicants must possess BHMS/BAMS/BUMS degree.Also, Must have completed a compulsory internship at the time of submission of application. Moreover, The candidate should be a permanent resident of West Bengal and should be able to read, write and speak in Bengali. And Persons holding MD in Homeopathy/ Ayurvedic/ Unani.
Applicants should attain the minimum age limits as per the requirement. The details are as follows.
Individuals who are going to apply for WBSHFWS Recruitment 2018 should have to pay the application fee which is non-refundable through Online Only. For more information, download WBSHFWS Pharmacist Notification 2018.
For SC/ST/OBC candidates application fee Rs. 50/-.
Other fee details please go to official notification.
Registered candidates for WBSHFWS Pharmacist Notification 2018 will be selected on the basis of Merit List. The final shortlisted candidates will have to join and need to submit the required documents as early as possible.
The following details are the essential dates for WBSHFWS Recruitment 2018. Every applicant must be aware of the important dates of the WBSHFWS Notification.
Starting Date for Submission of Application:- 10th April 2018.
Last Date for Submission of Application:- 21st April 2018.
The final shortlisted candidates will get the best pay scale from the government of West Bengal. Moreover, there may be a chance of getting the other allowances for reserved category candidates.The pay scale details are as follows.
Check for WBSHFWS Recruitment 2018 Notification for 917 Pharmacist, Medical Officer Vacancies.
Read all the details provided in the notification carefully.
Eligible candidates can click on the link to apply online for WBSHFWS Jobs 2018.
Firstly register yourself with the necessary details and acquire a User-Id and Password.
Using the login credentials, login to the job portal.
Fill all the mandatory fields on the online application form.
Pay the necessary application fee as mentioned in the official advertisement.
Take a Hard copy of the application form future reference.


text:
In this Cystic Fibrosis Foundation video, meet Carrie Giddens, a 30-year-old cystic fibrosis patient and her husband, Craig.
Also, learn more about how through IVF and surrogacy, the couple was able to achieve their goal of becoming biological parents.
Some patients suffering from CF are celebrities or became celebrities due to their fight against the disease. Learn more about Charles Michael Duke and his Wait for a Lung Transplant.


text:
A book for parents to read to their young children about the true meaning of Easter.
Beth was raised a Quaker and attended Baltimore Friends School. When her four children were young, she spent several years worshipping in the Anglican Church and taught Sunday school utilizing the Montessori-based principals of Sofia Cavaletti's Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. She now has her first grandchild on the way as well as two wonderful step-grandsons. Beth has worked in Dropout Prevention in Sarasota County, Florida, for 12 years.


text:
Welcome to FaveCentral, your local Brimson business pages. Top categories range from Brimson Public Services and Government to Brimson Art Galleries. Review businesses in Brimson, jump to nearby towns in Minnesota.
Brimson has 24 company profiles within 19 categories. Our Brimson users rated 15 of these Brimson companies as excellent or good and 9 companies in Brimson as average. Brimson business pages are currently viewed by 9 visitors.


text:
Like most cities Newark was divided into a few major groups the prominent ones in Newark being the Italian section, the Jewish neighborhood, a small Chinese area and the Portuguese neighborhood. The Portuguese neighborhood was referred to as "The Ironbound Section" because of the heavy industry situated there or as "Down Neck." There was a reason for the "Down Neck" name, though at this time I can't recall what it was.
The Chinese area was along Mulberry Street and consisted of about five restaurants and a few novelty shops. Most parts of Mulberry Street could easily qualify as "Skid Row." For that reason the Chinese area did not flourish as it did in other cities. It seemed to continually shrink and in the 40"s was just about gone.
The business district of the Italian section was mostly restaurants and grocery stores. As I write this I get a yearning for an Italian hot dog. This was a hot dog on a triangular piece of Italian bread smothered with deep fried potatoes, onions and peppers.
Pizza pies were a big favorite in the 30's but they were not called pizza pies. We always knew them as tomato pies or La Beetz. This must be an Italian word that I am sure is misspelled. A slice of pizza in those days sold for .05¢.
The Jewish neighborhood, mainly Hawthorne Avenue is described and referred to in many places on this web site. There is no need to elaborate again.
"Down Neck" was a great place to go as there always seemed to be a block party or a carnival in progress. It was a long walk to "Down Neck" and back but it was worth it. Sometimes we had no money and made the walk just to be part of the excitement. If we did have some change we would not spend it for bus fare. It made much more sense to spend it on food or drink or maybe for a roller coaster ride.


text:
Meet thousands of local Trevor singles, as the worlds largest dating site we make dating in Trevor easy! Plentyoffish is 100% Free, unlike paid dating sites. You will get more interest and responses here than all paid dating sites combined!
Start meeting new people in Trevor with POF!
And Now...For Something Completely Different!!
I am looking for my partner in crime..
Will go into survival mode if tickled..


text:
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America today revealed that their upcoming monster slaying action-RPG title, GOD EATER 3, will feature a special unique mission called Assault Mission, which will allow players to engage in eight player co-op when it is released early 2019 for the PS4 and PC. The previous games in the series allowed for a maximum of four player co-op.
This new gameplay footage showcases the game’s development team cooperatively battling against an Ash Aragami players will encounter in Assault Mission. The video also gives a glimpse of the many customization options players will have at their fingertips when the game comes out in early 2019.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


text:
The CAT exam is one of the most competitive exams in India. It is also one of the most important and sought after exams for aspirants wishing to pursue business and management degrees and diplomas from the premier institutes of the country. But what is it that makes it so competitive? The simple answer to this is the high level of accuracy achieved by the aspirants giving this exam in addition to the high number of people appearing for the exam every year.
The dilemma about CAT among aspirants is to either attempt all questions with a decent level of accuracy or attempt fewer questions with a high level of accuracy. It is suggested that the aspirants choose high accuracy over attempting high number of questions. It is the accuracy level in the questions you attempt that gives you a high percentile. So choose your questions judiciously and attempt them only if you are sure about them.
The reason for Accuracy being emphasised in the CAT exam is because the percentiles are relative in nature, an individual’s percentile depends on how he has performed vis-à-vis others. While an individual may have attempted 32 out of 34 questions with 60% accuracy level in a particular section, he still will not get a high percentile in that section because his accuracy is low. On the other hand, an individual who has attempted only 25 of the 34 questions with a 90% accuracy level will end up getting a higher percentile because of the high accuracy level. Therefore, accuracy becomes an important factor in the CAT exam and hence, drives competition as well.
It would be fair to say that accuracy drives competition in the CAT exam. The relative nature of the exam makes it binding on aspirants to solve the questions they attempt correctly or to only solve those questions whose answers they are absolutely sure of. This is because their competitors may follow the same strategy and race ahead of them. The aspirants with 99 and 100 percentiles are the ones who reached a higher accuracy level than the ones with 90 or 95 percentile.
CAT is an exam based on Accuracy and Time. Both these factors decide your eventual percentile. While accuracy is essential, accuracy within less time is more valued. The exam has sectional time limits, so the aspirant gets only a few minutes to tackle each question that he wishes to attempt accurately. This could be challenging as the pressure of the clock ticking can dent your accuracy level and make you more susceptible to errors. Once, through regular practice and Mock Tests, you learn the skill of identifying the right questions to solve, and do them accurately within the time limit, you will be on the path to achieving a high percentile.
Attaining a high accuracy level depends on the quality of your preparation. So if you cover everything and eliminate your weaknesses, there is no reason why you cannot achieve a high accuracy level.


text:
Recently, we purchased a new travel backpack for our family travels. We had been researching the best travel backpack brands for a while as there are a lot of options. I read various travel backpack reviews in order to decide what would be the best backpacks for our family’s current needs.
After years of travelling I know it’s important to ask yourself a few questions before rushing out to purchase a pack. Firstly, you need to consider who will carry the backpack?
What will you put in the backpack? Do you need a laptop backpack to keep your laptop safe or will one of the cheap travel backpacks do?
Another big consideration is the comfort factor, the best travel bags are usually lightweight and fit your shoulders and back comfortably, so you can get on with travelling without worrying about back and neck strain.
Click here to see the best travel backpack now.
To save you hours of research, I have compiled this guide to help you answer all these questions. I have gathered information on some of the top travel backpacks from the best backpack brands as well as their various features so you can choose one of the best backpacking bags for your needs.
2 Why and when is it best to travel with a backpack?
3 What to consider in buying the best travel backpack 2019?
Why and when is it best to travel with a backpack?
A backpacker is not just for young travellers staying in dorm rooms. A backpack is for various types of travellers who want the freedom of having their hands free and not having to wheel a bulky suitcase around.
Travelling with a backpack gives you flexibility, when you turn a corner and see a set of stairs or arrive at a hotel with no elevator. A backpack is the perfect type of bag if you travel with children as it allows you to have your hands free to hold a little one’s hands without trying to wheel a suitcase and keep the kids safe.
What to consider in buying the best travel backpack 2019?
Do you travel light? Are you physically fit? Do you need to carry a laptop or tent on your travels? What else do you need to know when looking to buy?
Travel backpack brands offer backpacks for all people and occasions, there is not a “one size fits all” backpack.
Whether you are looking for the best hiking backpack, the best daypack for travel or the best backpack for Europe or Asia, it is important to give yourself time to understand exactly what it is you need from a backpack, and the time to find it.
These days it is easy enough to buy backpacks online (when considering where to buy travel backpacks I do recommend online as it is usually the cheapest option), but when doing so remember to consider the size. Too small and you won’t be able to fit all your family’s things in, too big and you may have to check the bag in unnecessarily or pay for excess baggage.
It is also important to consider who will be carrying the backpack. A tall man and a petite woman have very different frames. I recommend you aim to find the best lightweight travel backpack that meets your needs in all other areas.
These days many travellers are opting for carry on only luggage and there are some great options out there for the best carry on luggage backpack. However, there are still just as many awesome bags with various compartments for those travellers who like to bring loads of stuff with them.
When purchasing a pack, consider whether you want a front loading or top loading bag. Basically, this means do you want to access your things via the top of the bag or the front. In my view, front loading packs are far easier, they are similar to a suitcase and usually have various compartments making it easy to locate your items.
Talking about compartments, when purchasing a new pack, consider what items you will carry and what things you may need to access quickly, and how often. A sleeping bag or change of clothes does not have to be as easy to get to as a rain cover, phone, camera, passport, tickets or laptop.
Internal compartments are important too, helping to keep things organised and easy to find when you need them. These days travellers are taking various technology with them and so there are some great packs on the market with compartments designed to keep these items safe.
Below in the reviews, there are some great options if you are after the best laptop backpack for travel. These packs have compartments designed to keep your laptop safe and secure whilst travelling as well as easily accessible.
Comfort is paramount when purchasing a pack and these days ergonomics are a priority for designers which means the best quality backpacks all come with comfortable straps.
A good strap system will spread the load of the backpack across your back, with most of the weight resting on your hips via the hip belt. Some backpacks come with pockets in the hip belt for snacks or small phones.
Key features for travelling outdoors are a water-resistant fabric, quick access to rain cover, water and snacks. If you are planning to use daily for work, study or commuting, a reflective strip or option of adding a blinking light might be important for you.
There is no one “best backpack in the world”, it must suit your needs. Keep this in mind when choosing and try not to get dazzled by features.
If you travel with a laptop, look for a pack with a built in laptop compartment. These compartments have padded sleeves which are designed to keep your laptop safe and secure whilst travelling.
Other packs have certain compartments for mobile phones, keys, passports, tickets and cameras.
The addition of carry handles give extra flexibility. Carry handles means you don’t always have to wear your backpack on your back, you may be able to stow your straps and carry as a traditional suitcase. Carry handles also aid in putting your back in overhead plane lockers as well as on buses.
A water resistant fabric is great for a backpack. It is one less thing to think about if it starts to shower, or you accidentally spill something on you backpack. It gives you that bit of extra time to find cover, or grab your rain cover to ensure your backpack and its contents are protected.
This Osprey Travel Backpack is designed to carry loads of up to 25 kg’s. It comes with a detachable daypack complete with laptop sleeve and a scratch free pocket for your eye wear. Made from Nylon Ripstop fabric, the Farpoint 55 is water resistant.
The main compartment is accessed via a large zippered panel, which can be secured with locks. The laptop and tablet sleeve is also lockable. Internal and external compression straps allow you to secure items inside the backpack and reduce the overall external size if required.
A considered design, the trademark LightWire frame suspension system transfers the weight of the backpack to the hip belt, keeping the strain off your shoulders. A frame sheet spreads the weight across the back. The Farpoint 55 gives you the option of stowing the shoulder straps and hip belt in a zippered compartment, streamlining your baggage for transport.
Osprey is a respected brand with good customer service. This is a good pack with well thought out features and comfort in mind.
The Kelty Redwing 50 Backpack is a simple backpack with less focus on features and more on comfort.
The suspension system for this pack allows for on body adjustments, by loosening all the straps before you put the pack on and tightening them while you are wearing the pack you ensure a customised fit.
The main compartment can be accessed from the top zippered panel, or via a larger zippered panel below the compression straps. Padded and ventilated back panel helps to keep you cool while wearing the pack.
The padded hydration sleeve doubles as a laptop pocket, so no dedicated laptop sleeve. You can carry tent poles or a fishing rod in deep side panel/pockets.
Some reviews have raised a disappointment at the lack of features, for example, no rain cover pocket at the bottom of the pack, no internal compression straps, no lockable zippers. However others rate this pack as the best 50L backpack available so it could be your perfect fit.
The Gregory Mountain J53 Backpack is a lightweight pack specifically designed for women.
The strap system designed to be comfortable for women, has cutaways on the shoulder straps, a contoured hip belt and padding at the breathable lumbar region. The hip belt has 2 small pockets for snacks or a small phone.
Able to carry up to 20 kg’s, this pack is suited to overnight or weekend trips. The trampoline style mesh covered frame is designed to provide an air gap between your back and the pack, keeping you cooler while on the move. The pack is top loading and has a large zippered panel to access the main compartment.
Removable or extendable top pocket, external compression straps and easily accessed rain cover, add to the flexibility of this pack. Great for weekend getaways or for those looking for the best hiking backpack for women.
The Osprey carry on backpack is packed with pockets and heaps of space, for a laptop backpack.
With a streamlined design and lockable zippers, reviews indicate this is good value for money. Described by Osprey as urban to trail, the Osprey Nebula is sturdy enough for travel, commuting or a sometimes outdoors trip. Key features include a blinker light attachment for cycling at night, a padded laptop sleeve which has separate zippered access, large organisation front pocket and a top grab handle.
Mesh pockets are great for quick access and a visual recognition, this pack has incorporated these at the sides and front and within the organisation pocket. The suspended mesh ventilated back panel keeps you cooler by creating some airflow between you and the pack. The removable hip belt gives you more options.
The hanging padded laptop sleeve keeps your laptop off the ground and close to your back for a more comfortable carry.
The Osprey Nebula is a great choice for those looking for the best small travel backpack.
The Swiss Ruigor 6147, sounds like a weapon! Not surprisingly this Swiss designed backpack is almost intuitive in its design.
Three zippered top openings give enough room to see what is in each compartment without being too big. The front organisation pocket includes small to medium pockets for pens and notebooks, a small zippered mesh pocket and key hook.
The middle compartment is perfect for books or folders. The laptop sleeve located in the back compartment accommodates a laptop or tablet up to 15.6 inches in size. Considered ergonomics, this pack has a breathable padded back, assisting in cool comfortable wearing.
Earphone port, reflective strip, safe pocket and glasses hook complete this backpack.
The Osprey carry on travel backpack has direct access to the laptop sleeve and gives you the option of purchasing Osprey’s trademarked Handle-It system to create a roll on luggage system, making this one of the best carry on backpack for international travel.
The Ozone Ultralight is made up of three main compartments, the front organisation compartment, main compartment and lower compartment. The front organiser pocket has a zippered pocket hidden inside, the main compartment includes a padded laptop sleeve and the lower compartment has been designed for shoes or camera gear.
Upper and lower compression straps help to keep items secure inside the pack, while ventilated harness and hip belt aide in keeping you cool, and can be stowed away. The stretch mesh pockets on either side are for bottles or sunscreen.
This pack has standard features presented well. If you are looking for a backpack that is a little bit bigger with an option of using the roll on luggage system, this is a great choice.
Not sure if you will need a backpack, or an extra backpack on your next journey? The Outlander Packable Lightweight Travel packs down to the size of a big burger when empty, so you can pop it in your main bag in case you need an extra bag during your travels .
This 35L backpack has a lifetime warranty, is made from rip proof water resistant nylon and comes with a free carabiner. A focus on durability is in Outlander’s interests keeping warranty claims down, reports that despite the price and packable feature, that this backpack is durable.
The simple design has a main compartment, a small front pocket and 2 side pockets for water bottles. The main compartment opens with a zipper in a traditional “U” shape to access the inside of the backpack easily. The small front pocket is also zippered designed for keys and wallet type items.
This is a good daypack option, big enough for snacks, camera, book, and more. A reasonable price and a great warranty.
We have this backpack ourselves and use it often. It is perfect for an extra day pack when we travel.
The Osprey Farpoint 70 travel backpack comes in 2 sizes, s/m 67L or m/l 70L and includes a daypack. Even better, it comes with a lifetime warranty!
Not classified as lightweight, this size backpack is for a longer trip, or a trip that requires a bit more gear. The inclusion of the daypack, easily zippered off the main pack, means you can carry minimal weight with you while you explore, and has a designated laptop sleeve.
Made from durable fabric, stow away straps for travelling, internal and external compression straps, padded handles and plenty of internal and external pockets. This pack is a solid choice for travelling.
The Kelty Redwing 44 Backpack is perfect for those who travel light and includes a padded hydration or laptop sleeve.
Upper side pockets and front pocket with organisation panel for small items you want to access regularly. Stretchy lower side pockets are great for water bottles, and a stash pocket at the front of the backpack is secured with a hook only for storing and grabbing a jacket or jumper quickly.
The main compartment can be accessed from the top of the pack via a small zippered panel, or similar to a suitcase opening, when the backpack is laid on its back, almost the entire front panel can be zipped open.
A simple design to spread the load across the back and onto the padded hip belt, this backpack is as comfortable outdoors as it is on a flight.
My husband has this pack and is a fan. It requires extra postage as it needs to come from the US but we found it worth it as this is a quality backpack from a great price that holds as much as possible while still being fine to bring onboard as carry on luggage.
The Osprey Women’s Aura 50 AG Backpack is a large pack and is receiving great reviews with regards to its comfort factors.
With a focus on designing a comfortable, larger sized pack for women, Osprey have delivered. A trademarked AntiGravity suspension system and curved design, the Aura 50 transfers the weight easily to the comfortable hip belt. This is so important for a pack this size. It is no good wearing this on day 1 of a 10 day trip and realising your neck and shoulders are paying for it.
The harness is adjustable while you are wearing the backpack, and the hip belt has pockets for snacks, phone or sunscreen. Plenty of pockets without being confusing, compression straps, lockable zippers and bottom sleeping bag storage.
This is a big pack that is well designed. If you are needing a bit more space and comfort is high on your priority list, this might be the backpack for you.
The Kelty Women’s Redwing 40 has been designed for women to take on short to medium length trips or for those that travel light.
Womens specific waistband and shoulder straps are contoured for comfort. A classic Kelty design, standard features included are the upper and lower side pockets, which can be used to store long items such as poles, or fishing rods. Considered design keep straps tidy while in use and you have the option of removing the hip belt completely.
The suspension system is ridged and light, and the straps and back panel are padded and meshed for cooling. However, this pack is sized, the shoulder straps are non adjustable, only accommodating torso’s 14-18 ½ inches in length.
Versatile enough to take on a plane or into the outdoors, this small to medium sized pack is a great addition to the Kelty range and one of the best 40L backpack options.
I own this myself and love it. I take it onboard all flights as carry on luggage yet it holds so much. I am able to take all my own luggage as well as the family’s toiletries, my laptop in the back insert and a huge bag of nappies as well.
It’s always super comfortable and I highly recommend it.
Read about the best carry on luggage and other travel related products here.


text: Hongnian Zhang has been interviewed by journalists around the world. Many of the articles are listed in the curriculum vitae page of the website. In the spring 2011, Hongnian appeared in a two part interview on Shanghai T.V.

industry_corpus2: Media & Journalism


text:
The 111217th positive integer is an odd prime number that follows the number 111216 and comes before 111218. One hundred eleven thousand two hundred seventeen is 6 digits long.
Q: Is 111217 a prime number?
Q: What is the negative number for 111217?
Q: What is half of 111217?
Q: What is a third of 111217?
Q: What is a quarter of 111217?
Q: What is the square root of 111217?
Q: What is 111217 times Pi?
Q: What is 111217 divided by Pi?
Q: What is the scientific notation for 111217?
Q: What are the divisors for 111217?
Q: What is the factorization of 111217?
Q: What is the sum of divisors of 111217, including itself?
Q: What is the sum of divisors of 111217, excluding itself?
The spelling of 111217 in different languages.
Q: What is the roman numeral for 111217?
Q: What is the digital capacity for 111217?
The number 111217 represented in different base number systems.
List the frequency of characters that make up the number 111217.
List of hash code values for 111217.

industry_corpus2: Math & Statistics


text:
AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2003 Nov;:753-757.
Objective: The objective of this experiment is to develop methods for aligning two representations of anatomy (the Foundational Model of Anatomy and GALEN) at the lexical and structural level. Methods: The alignment consists of the following four steps: 1)acquiring terms, 2) identifying anchors (i.e., shared concepts) lexically, 3) acquiring explicit and implicit semantic relations, and 4) identifying anchors structurally. Results: 2,353 anchors were identified by lexical methods, of which 91% were supported by structural evidence. No evidence was found for 7.5% of the anchors and 1.5% received negative evidence. Discussion: The importance of taking advantage of implicit domain knowledge acquired through complementation, augmentation, and inference is discussed.


text:
We believe that everyday objects can be transformed into art through the use of technology, electromechanics, and computers. Through various advances it is now possible to make mobiles dance based on weather predictions, coffee tables draw pictures in the unlikely medium of sand, and chandeliers follow the movement of plates on a dinner table. Smart phones and speech recognition provide an easy way to interact with these newly animated furnishings while data from the Internet can be used to artistically show anything from the weather, to stock prices, to Twitter sentiment.
At Atelier Automatik we handcraft customized art, furniture, and lighting along with clever mechanisms to create a unique experience in your home or office. We focus on carefully thought out design, impecable execution, and highly personalized creations. We are not interested in mass-produced experiences.
Our creations operate happily by themselves - they draw, move, and interact with their environment full time or on a schedule. Our installations can also be controlled with iPads, smart phones, computers, and even by the spoken word through Alexa. Some installations can even be controlled from anywhere in the world though an Internet connection.
These simple and intuitive interfaces allow your art piece to enhance any occasion. For example: custom words, pictures, and even lights can be displayed on the Sand Table. Our light fixture, Tentalux, allows each tentacle to be pointed at a different place and for the brightness to be set as well. These scenarios can easily be saved and replayed.
As a kid, Michael was programming professionally: parts of the CP/M operating system (before MSDOS and Windows), a top-ten selling video game, and investment management software. He built robots that could navigate, map, and talk long before this was commonplace.
As a self-taught software developer, artist, inventor, machinist, maker, and welder, Michael has designed and built many unique things, and he has always been experimenting at the intersection of art and technology.
Michael was the CTO of Goldman Sachs and CIO for Global Markets/Risk at Bank of America. He acted as Obama's interim CTO during his first campaign. He cofounded Gadgetoff, an organization that brings inventors together, and is also a U.S. Patent Holder. He has been a civilian advisor for the Department of Homeland Security.
By the age of eight, Asa Hillis was learning from craftsmen who inspired his affection for furniture design. These mentors served as impetus to pursue his passion of woodworking. He attended Rhode Island School of Design and California College of the Arts where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with highest distinction honors in the Furniture Program, was given the Ronald and Anita Wornick Award for talented wood artists.
Asa Hillis’s work is influenced by technical skills developed over a sixteen-year journey with mentors and makers such as Garry Knox Bennett, an international renowned furniture maker and Adam Savage, a special effects fabricator from the series MythBusters. Asa strives to incorporate truth to material principles that couple with his appreciation for creative, one-of-a-kind designs so that each piece is crafted with a timeless quality. He has a great love for wood and its grain pattern that continues to inspire and influence the outcome of his pieces. Asa is currently designing with different mediums such as metal, glass and electronics to expand the possibilities for his clients. No matter what material he is creating with he stays true to the principle, “quality over quantity”.

industry_corpus2: Technology & Research


text:
From Atlanta's Kim Zolciak to New York City's LuAnn de Lesseps to the latest would-be singer, New Jersey's Melissa Gorga, singles released by the Bravo reality stars have generated dramatically mixed results.
Since its premiere in 2006, the Real Housewives series has spawned six locations and just as many would-be singers -- to dramatically mixed results. The latest: New Jersey's Melissa Gorga, who premieres her "On Display" single this season.
The most successful song to emerge from the franchise? "Tardy for the Party" by Atlanta's Kim Zolciak, written and produced by fellow Housewife Kandi Burruss, which has sold some 101,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Factor in the piracy rate, and more than 1 million people own the tune -- despite Zolciak's questionable singing skills. The poorest performer: Michaele Salahi, one-half of Washington D.C.’s White House party crashing couple, whose “Bump It” moved a whopping 122 copies.
"These are fun, novelty records … not everything is a Grammy-nominated piece of work," says David Waxman, head of A&R at respected dance label Ultra Records, which signed and released two singles by New York Housewife LuAnn de Lesseps, including the autotune atrocity "Money Can't Buy You Class." He says "Tardy" influenced his decision to acquire the Countess LuAnn track. "She was popular on the TV show, the song was reactive, and we took advantage of it," says Waxman, adding that even with small profit margins, such tracks can have a long shelf life, re-emerging in reruns and syncs that could "cause a whole new surge."
Waxman won't divulge how much Ultra spent on Countess LuAnn, but he says the label did pay to promote the song to Top 40 radio, market the track and make a professional video. (Such expenditures could easily top $100,000.) “It's been an interesting relationship,” he muses.
"It's almost gimmicky now, like every Housewives show has someone trying to get a record deal," says Burruss, who points to one key difference in her motivation. "I'm a music-industry person first and a reality-show person second. [The show] is what I do for fun. They, on the other hand, do music for fun. I’m not so into it."
But even she can't deny the power of Housewives. Says Burruss of her show-born song "Fly Above": "I toured with Fantasia and Eric Benet, and every arena where I performed it, everybody got up and was singing all the words. You would've thought I had a major pushing it. And that's one thing about the show: You don't need the label. People know these songs. And that makes you feel good and appreciated."
Countess LuAnn "Money Can't Buy You Class"
Simon van Kempen "I Am Real"


text:
At Thali Outlet we offer the full range of Mozaik plastic silver, black and clear cutlery and utensils from cocktail parties to full dinner sets to serving and displays.
Dinner is a great way to get the family together. Serve up something special for your loved ones with a little help from Mozaik. We recommend using tableware that provides a timeless, classic look.
The Kitchen Island makes for a great table during a cocktail party! Allow guests to serve themselves by providing a variety of finger foods for them to choose from. Our wide range of products covers everything from Drinkware to Platters!
Make the most out of your Coffee Table by transforming it into a Fondue bar. Our Appetizer and Dessert products can help you create tiny treasures that your friends will love!


text: The Chopping Block, Chicago’s largest recreational cooking school and gourmet retail store, offers guests a large slate of demonstration and hands-on classes, as well as wine classes, private cooking parties and corporate team building events. Classes at the two locations cover cooking skills and techniques as well as seasonal, ethnic, healthy, vegetarian and weeknight cooking. A series of "boot camp" classes allows students to take cooking to the next level with an intensive week-long taste of professional culinary school style instruction. The Chopping Block’s retail stores feature professional-quality cookware and kitchen tools, plus an array of gourmet and ethnic ingredients and hand-selected food-friendly wines.


text:
Citadel of Amberwood – Heal head to toe. GRIN EAR TO EAR.
At Amberwood Care Centre, you’ll receive attentive, compassionate and highly specialized care from a licensed nursing team with one goal in mind: helping you live life to the fullest, the healthiest and the happiest.
Amberwood Care Centre is a post acute care facility in Rockford, IL. We specialize in the treatment of adults diagnosed with a variety of medical conditions associated with aging, injury, and psychological health.


text:
Small Daisy / Chrysanthemum - White – The Gift Co.
- HIGHEST QUALITY in the market - truely enchating.
- This beautiful small daisy flower is perfect for home, shops & office decorations.
- Definitely ideal flower arrangements.


text:
You are responsible for managing waste produced by your business, whether it is generated by commercial activity, such as construction, demolition or agriculture, or work at your home.
Waste management regulations outline a ‘duty of care’ which extends from when you produce the waste until it is collected by a licensed waste business. You must also check that the business dealing with your waste also meets their duty of care.
You must deal responsibly with your business’ hazardous waste, defined as anything containing a substance which is harmful to humans or the environment.
Examples of hazardous waste are asbestos, solvents, pesticides, oil, or equipment containing ozone-depleting substances, such as fridges.
Moving waste off your business premises.
Knowing how to handle, sort and store waste is complex, especially for hazardous waste, and your Mentor Environmental Consultant can provide the advice and support you need to make sure you are compliant with waste management regulations.
Our experts could lead you through environmental management systems to help keep you ahead of the latest legislation.
Our environmental consultants could talk you through what you need to know.


text:
I’m a writer who creates smart stories and experiences that connect and bring value. I have a unique combination of editorial and content skills, developed over a long career. The result is delivering powerful results.
This site for has evolved into a place where I share what I’ve learned from creating and managing content for millions of people and some of the world’s most powerful brands including Microsoft, Xbox, and AT&T Entertainment. It’s been pretty awesome.
“Craig is an exceptional writer/editor/producer. Extremely creative and amazingly talented, I’ve relied on Craig over the years for a multitude of story assignments. When we needed to be innovative to drive audience engagement, Craig always could come up with that ‘unique’ and ‘winning’ story angle."
My first check for a published piece hit the mailbox when I was 17 and I’ve been wrestling with words ever since. I’ve created content on just about every platform imaginable including web, mobile, TV, radio, games, and print. The next platform will probably be a dishwasher or microwave. I’m up for it.
It’s about the reader, stupid (Yes, an idea borrowed from Bill Clinton).
Writing started for me about the same time I realized I couldn’t do math -- well, more specifically, when shapes were introduced. This witchcraft called Geometry made no sense to me. Almost the same day math caused my eyes to cross, I started being praised for my ability to write.
• Leading the content and writing for an Xbox football video game that sold over a million copies.
• Writing a story for MSN that brought in over 40 million page views.
• Doing a talk-show with the legendary and infamous Morton Downey Jr. (hell of a nice guy).
• Being interviewed on national TV and radio stations across the country.
• Partnering with content legends such as Esquire, MTV, NBC, Fox Sports, The NFL on Fox and HBO.
• Setting the editorial strategy for a product with 20 million users.
• At the forefront of content revolutions on both web and mobile.
We live in the best time in history to make a living with words. This isn’t about syntax, grammar or the strength of your nut graph. This is the real world where the smartest don’t always win. You need a thick skin, a little talent and a lot of balls. It’s about who can survive the longest, weather the storm, and make the best decisions.
1987: Snuck into a Seattle Sonics NBA basketball game with a homemade high school paper press pass.
1995: Was a very mediocre disc jockey spinning overnight hits at a small AM station in Olympia, WA during the early 90′s going by both “Craig Cortez” and “Craig Kelly”. The freaks actually do come out at night.
1998: Co-hosted a radio talkshow with legendary and infamous Morton Downey Jr. (hell of a nice guy).
1999: Was on the phone with John Ritter’s manager for an interview when Talkspot.com went under. The dream interview.
2002: Auditioned Murdock from the A-Team for a voice-over role in a video game. It didn’t go well.
I've also been lucky enough to work with major content partners during my career such as MTV, Fox Sports, NBC, Esquire, Popular Mechanics, and Apple.


text:
What is the biggest reason that your customers buy from you? What are several reasons, any reasons why your best customers buy from you? You've heard me ask that before. It's important for you to know because it gives you the language to speak to other customers who could be your best customers. There's nothing quite like getting the language to find new customers from the ones who are already really good customers. BUT...that goes without saying and it goes without saying because you've heard me say that before. I want to take a different spin on that today.
The Why and The Buy is part of the Sell or Die Podcast Network. Subscribe to these other amazing network podcasts!


text:
website ( www.hotelbartolomeo.com ) for purposes, in a manner and as specifically explained below.
BARTOLOMEO BORSO SRL with limited personal data as required to obtain information on our services. Once registered, the personal data collected will be used only for the services indicated in the policy available.
The personal data you provide will not be disclosed to third parties. The personal data you provide may be disclosed for the management of your reservation to VERTICAL BOOKING SRL and VENEZIA.NET SRL and for the fulfillment of legal obligations to central and local public bodies to professionals for accounting and tax processing. If you would like more information about the subjects to whom the data are communicated, please contact us at info@hotelbartolomeo.com .
D.P.R. November 14, 2002, n. 313, on the subject of criminal data, the register of administrative sanctions depending on the offense and the related pending charges, or the status of defendant or suspect under articles 60 and 61 of the criminal procedure code. We recommend that you do not provide this information through our site. In the event that this is necessary, we invite you to send us, by registered letter, a specific declaration with the expression of your consent in writing to the processing of this information.
otherwise requested by the authority and subject to retention requirements established by law, or as indicated in this policy "measures of use of the site www.cadeiconti.com for particular sections of the website, or according to its explicit requests.
will be possible to verify personal data collected through this website and to have them corrected, updated or cancelled, or to exercise the other rights recognized by law, by writing or contacting the data controller at the following address info@hotelbartolomeo.com .
user. This information is collected for general and anonymous statistical surveys. Further information can be found in the cookie policies found on our website.
If the user of the www.hotelbartolomeo.com website decides to subscribe to our newsletter, he / she must communicate his / her personal data (for example e-mail address, etc.) by filling in the appropriate form in the "newsletter" section. The data collected will be processed for sending the newsletter and in any case as indicated in the policy provided at the foot of the registration page for the service.
deliberately keep personal information about underaged.


text:
Keep Akron Beautiful operates the Graffiti Wipeout System, a graffiti removal service for public property within the City of Akron. With one agency heading the program, residents, Akron Police and all city departments can quickly relay incoming graffiti reports to Keep Akron Beautiful.
Our agency was chosen to run the graffiti eradication system because of our ability to dedicate time toward its immediate removal within 24-48 hours, the key to successful graffiti prevention. We were also chosen because of our years of involvement with the national Graffiti Hurts® program provided by Keep America Beautiful, Inc., which supplies educational and programming tools to communities, schools, law enforcement and the media to reduce the incidence and severity of graffiti and tagging. Graffiti removal also coincides with our mission to improve Akron’s quality of life through beautification and responsible environmental management.
City employees agree having one agency head the graffiti removal operation (previously under seven different departments) will be more resourceful in fighting graffiti. "For many years the City of Akron and Keep Akron Beautiful have been looking for a solution to the graffiti problem in our community. This new eradication system will definitely make a noticeable difference in our neighborhoods and city," said Captain of the Akron Police Department, Daniel Zampelli.
“Consolidating all graffiti removal efforts to one department will increase efficiency and provide a database of information to assist our police force in combating gang and vandal activity,” said Randy Rose of Building Maintenance for Public Works.
KAB was awarded a $50,000 Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services grant to purchase a new graffiti abatement system called Accustrip. The Accustrip System® uses a blast of sodium bicarbonate to power wash all types of graffiti from all surfaces. The Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation supplied grant funds for graffiti removal media and safety supplies.
KAB removes graffiti on public property. The requests for removal service can be made by calling 3-1-1 or 330-375-2311. Keep Akron Beautiful will also remove graffiti from private property at a cost of $50 (sometimes more for larger jobs).
Anyone who spots graffiti on public property within Akron are encouraged to report it immediately so it can be eradicated immediately, which lessens the likelihood of it returning.
Pictures: Bruce Hubach from N.T. Ruddock Company delivering the equipment.


text:
wussup fellas and ladies....im new here. been rollin' my '04 srt4 for almost 2 years now. see ya around!
Welcome, Make sure to sign up for Super Off Topic!!
cool, you made the transition over to syndicate too. hey thanks marc04 for telling us about this forum on thurs. i look forward to seeing you guys again in a couple weeks and hopefully we can get more people together the next time we have a meet.
I made it 2 somehow I got lost between the Refresh button and the go button But I finally found it!
Welcome to all the new members in this thread!
But yeah we need to get an IE Meet thread going last one was cool real kick back.
like deathsite said more visable.
well, i dont want to be the one to say "its gonna be this day this place this time" cus i know some people will not be able to do certain days, so why dont we let it brew a little bit and see what day works best...i plan on going to the track on the 14th, so for ME the 13th would be great, that way i dont have to go back and forth. so my vote is friday the 13th...wow...scary...at wendys near victoria gardens...thats my vote. ill post a new thread and see what the community says.


text:
The way our brains work, our cognitive biases and inherent irrationality as well as the quality of our decisions and forecasts & predictions are a popular topic lately. There is a growing literature on these subjects that is very interesting. I recently read four of them and presented some insights to the team. Here it is in blog format and more detail for our followers! It's rather long(~2000 words) so make sure you have a good ten minutes before diving in.
How should we prioritize our tasks?
Which technology stack should we use for this project?
Will this candidate add value to our team?
Planning, hiring, technology, it’s everywhere. It’s also very relevant for personal decisions on finance, relationships, career etc. So this is relevant for everybody!
Taleb, a former stock trader turned scholar on uncertainty, coined the term Black Swan referring to rare & unpredictable events with huge impact. According to him these events determine the future and the little things that we try to predict are inconsequential in the long run. We should not try to predict the probability of Black Swans but be prepared for their impact to limit their damage or to even benefit from them. The advice is not to take big risks or make big predictions but to make a lot of smaller ones to spread a small share of your resources over many high risk & high return assets: the Barbell strategy. His conclusion is that we know much less than we think and even "experts" cannot predict the future but that things are easy to justify in hindsight. These days he is busy proving the misuse of statistics in research.
Our brain has two modes of thought: System 1 which is fast, instinctive, emotional and System 2 which is slow, deliberate, rational. System 1 is necessary for all the thousands of quick or even subconscious decisions we make daily but it also prone to cognitive biases & mistakes. So while humans are not as good at making decisions as we might think, we can train ourselves to recognize and avoid the pitfalls and the fallacies of System 1. Also an important part of the book is a description of "Prospect theory", which improves on the "Expected Utility Theory" by also taking risk & probability into account. This made Kahneman, a psychologist, winner of a Nobel Prize in Economics.
Silver, a statistician who moved from being a consultant to baseball analytics and then to political prediction has recently become something of a pop star with his success predicting elections in the US. According to him most predictors out there are either biased or using flawed statistics. Combining different and unique data sources(including others’ predictions) is likely to give you a lead over them. And in the bigger picture, prediction approached scientifically can improve our understanding and speed up learning in many areas of social and natural sciences. Like many others, he is also against using Frequentist statistics because it simplifies too much and commonly lends itself to misuse or misinterpretation. He advocates using the probabilistic approach of Bayesian statistics (which we have also recently gotten into at FindHotel). In such an approach good predictions require a good understanding of the domain and incrementally updating your understanding with new data points. Also, making money from poker is not as easy as it used to be.
“Experts are roughly as accurate as a dart-throwing chimpanzee“: This now popular term made Tetlock, a political scientist, rather (in)famous. He is also know for co-founding the Good Judgement Project which is sponsored by the US intelligence community to crowd-source and benchmark the predictive skills of regular people against those of the experts in politics & economics. Outcome: the top lay forecasters predict 30% better than intelligence experts with access to classified information. The book goes over the pitfalls of prediction and the traits of these “superforecasters”.
Instead of trying to evaluate if a candidate is good overall, evaluate him based on 4-5 quantifiable criteria.
Use targeted questions that will make it possible to objectively grade the criteria.
The result will be a more objective and hopefully better decision.
First look at the outside world, what does that tell you about your question?
Librarian. Easy, right? Actually, as there are significantly higher number of farmers than librarians (especially for males), Steve is much more likely to be a farmer! Getting lost in the details of the problem and ignoring the bigger picture is very easy.
Use "Reference class forecasting" instead. First find out how long similar (you can stretch this) projects took inside and outside your organization (as well as their outcome and resources at their disposal). Taking their average is a much better place start your prediction. Afterwards you can adjust this (up or down) based on your detailed planning or due to special circumstances regarding your organization.
Also, always ask “what could go wrong” before, and do postmortems afterwards.
Update forecasts & decisions as you get new information. Changing does not mean you were wrong, it means you are learning.
Measure them and evaluate their accuracy. Work on improvements based on that feedback loop.
If you don’t measure the accuracy of your forecasts, you will not know if you are any good and even worse you won’t improve. This is the sad situation in most of politics, economics and science.
We frequently update our forecasts for monthly revenue & profits as we get more data but we do not store these forecasts and measure their accuracy in a systematic way. Room for improvement!
It’s not easy to predict how long development projects take and we are no exception to this. Our Front-End team, with their PO, made great improvements though. By recording the forecasted time required for each sprint and measuring the outcome, they were able to significantly improve their accuracy over time. Now their sprint planning accuracy is near perfect!
The first number you see or hear has too much impact on your decision. It becomes an "anchor".
It’s not easy to ignore the anchor, but with discipline it’s possible.
Negotiation: The asking price/rent for a house is a very strong anchor. Even if the asking price is not realistic and does not fit your valuation, your offer is still likely to be more based on the asking price than your own valuation. In such a situation you are likely to just adjust the asking price down rather than offering your own valuation. The difference can be huge. The trick is to be the one setting the anchor, or to refuse to negotiate in the presence of an unreasonable anchor.
Discounts: Some cool item is discounted from $500 to $300? Great, go buy it! But you might be better of first evaluating if it’s really worth $300, let alone $500!
Question: Is the population of Sri Lanka more or less than 70M people? How much is it? Take a guess before Googling.
Anchor effect is even observed with relation to numbers that have nothing to do with the issue at hand. From Kahneman’s research: “participants observed a roulette wheel that was predetermined to stop on either 10 or 65. Participants were then asked to guess the percentage of the United Nations that were African nations. Participants whose wheel stopped on 10 guessed lower values (25% on average) than participants whose wheel stopped at 65 (45% on average)”. Incredible!
Anchoring effect isn’t necessarily only relevant for numbers. The same thing can be said for ideas, especially if they come from a person of authority.
Children of very tall parents are more likely to be shorter than their parents.
Students with the top grades in a test are more likely to have a lower average score in the next test.
If you’ve had the best pizza of your life in a restaurant, the next time you go there you are likely to be disappointed relative to your first visit.
And from our business: Our top destinations from February, are likely to perform significantly worse in March.
Usually happens when making decisions on a non-random sample and/or without enough data, which leads us to the next point.
The single biggest and easiest to fall into pitfall in data analysis. Making a decision based on a small data sample will lead to wrong decisions and waste your time.
It’s better to make no decision and wait rather than continuously chasing changing signals (more likely noise) which costs a lot of effort and likely leads to more bad than good decisions. Regression to the mean will come into play.
"How much is enough data?" is not an easy question to answer. We face this problem a lot since we are marketing hundreds of thousands of destinations, a very sparse data set. Probably the best approach is to use a combination of statistical methods, the historical behavior of the data and your domain experience to decide. And err on the side of caution. Even better, a simple model will beat the expert.
No matter how smart or experienced of a decision maker, analyst, recruiter etc. you are, you should depend less on your personal (and likely biased) decision when facing a decision and trust simple models where possible.
If you are lucky like us and have smart data scientists that can build complex machine learning models to make decisions, great! If not it’s not a problem. A simple model can be really simple such as “Only move to the next hiring stage candidates that scored at least an average of 7 and no score below 5 in any criteria”. Makes your life easier!
Follow Taleb on Facebook, he’s fun!
Participate in the Good Judgement Project, see if you have the makings of a superforcaster!
Check out our vacancies, we are looking for curious people!