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Gordon & Rees partner Ronald Alberts and senior counsel Jessica Wolff of the Los Angeles Life Health and Disability Group won a bench trial in an ERISA long-term disability case. The Plaintiff filed an action for long-term disability (“LTD”) benefits against Aetna Life Insurance Company (the claim administrator and insurer of the LTD plan) and ADP TotalSource, Inc. (Plaintiff’s employer and the LTD plan administrator). The court held a trial on the administrative record on March 4, 2014 and later issued a well-reasoned order affirming Aetna’s denial of LTD benefits and granted judgment in favor of Defendants on December 29, 2014.
The court’s order also addressed two issues that are of particular importance in ERISA cases: The admission of evidence outside of the administrative record and the applicable standard of review in light of a recently enacted California insurance code provision.
Alberts and Wolff, as well as the client, are pleased with the outcome and welcome the court’s well-reasoned opinion regarding the extrinsic evidence and standard of review issues that are still evolving in the California District Courts.


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The FY 20 school budget process is entering its final phase and will go before the School Board for formal adoption on Thursday April 4 before it is presented to Town Council later in the month. However, the groundwork for this budget began at least six months ago.
Starting in the fall of 2018, the School Board and Town Council held two joint public workshops with the goal of improving the way the two elected bodies work together, especially with regard to budget. There was a renewed commitment to respectful and cordial behavior, and an understanding of the independent roles of each group, neither overseeing the other but linked together in their charges to do their best for the citizens Cape Elizabeth. As suggested at those workshops, a joint School Board – Town Council subcommittee, made up of the Superintendent, Town Manager, School Board Chair, School Board Finance Chair, Town Council Chair, and Town Council Finance Chair, was formed in order to improve communication and the flow of information. To date there have been two budget subcommittee meetings and a communicated desire by all parties to continue to meet beyond budget season. These meetings have been positive and productive with all parties sharing information, goals, concerns, and ideas. This effort toward effective, respectful communication and collaboration has had a tremendously positive impact on the budget process.
Later in the fall, the Needs Assessment Committee was formed to evaluate the school buildings and decide whether or not professional evaluation and study was warranted. The committee was made up of community members, parents, students, teachers, administrators, Town Council members, and School Board members. The Superintendent and Town Manager attended and facilitated the committee meetings. After multiple meetings that included information gathering tours of the three school buildings and intense questioning and discussion, the committee voted unanimously to recommend that the School Board include the cost of a Needs Assessment in the FY 20 budget.
While the Needs Assessment Committee was doing its work, the School Board asked Colby Co. / Scott Simonds Architects to prepare a revised proposal for a Needs Assessment. This new proposal, with a cost of $189, 060, was roughly $50,000 less than the previous proposal yet still included the critical structural and system/utility investigations, meetings, and reports with prioritized projects. To see the scope of the project proposal and what it does and does not include, go to the school department website and click on the Needs Assessment link.
• Maintaining and improving the high quality of education for every student.
•Clear and continual communication throughout the budget process.
The original request version of the FY 20 budget was then methodically and purposefully examined at a series of five workshops. We began with presentations from each building administrator and department head with cost center reviews that included enrollment, staffing, projects, needs, mandates, program reviews, and program proposals. Board members and members of the public were encouraged to submit questions and comments at the conclusion of these presentations and throughout the series of workshops. These questions were collected and compiled, then sent to the appropriate people. The questions were also shared with the Town Council. The next step in the review process was a presentation on the state funding formula and our state aid estimate (ED 279). Administrators presented the answers to the previously submitted questions, responded to follow up questions, and engaged in thoughtful discussion. Knowing that staff salaries and benefits together are the greatest driver of the school budget, the board devoted quite a bit of time over multiple meetings to the study of our historical and current enrollment – not just the numbers but the needs of the student population, as well as how and why we staff our school department the way we do. We examined data on class sizes, student teacher ratio, teacher load, and our own class size policy guidelines. The Superintendent presented information on Federal education mandates that helps explain why staffing and building costs have grown even while enrollments are flat or in decline. Not only are schools mandated to employ many more specialists now (in comparison to just ten or twenty years ago) to allow all students to access their public education, those specialists needs rooms and spaces in which to work.
Upon careful review of the expenditure side of the budget, the Board gave guidance to the Superintendent that it would like to see a reduction in spending, lowering from 7.8% to 6%, with an attendant tax impact to citizens of roughly 5.1%. The Superintendent met with the administrative team, and together they brought back a revised budget with a 6.09% spending increase. Among the cuts from the original version of the budget were some new staffing positions as well as current positions, efficiencies or deferments of facilities projects, cost-saving collaborations with the town, and adjustments to book, equipment, and supply lines. The positive outcome was that educational and facilities goals could be met with this updated proposal and the tax impact to the community was reduced to a little over 5%.
On the revenue side, in late February there was good news for Cape Elizabeth: our state subsidy estimate was an increase of $407,000. Three straight years of steep, cumulative cuts in funding (-$730,000 for FY 17, -$527,000 for FY 18, -$899,00 for FY 19) forced the school department to tread water at best, and make some unsustainable cuts. The projected increase in state subsidy, although not getting us anywhere near back to where we were prior to the cuts, allowed for some forward progress toward our goals. In late March, the final piece of the school revenue puzzle fell into place when we received information regarding health insurance range of increases. Having budgeted for a 10% increase, we were pleased to hear that the top of the increase range was 7%. That equated to a $104,485 savings for the school department. The School Board decided to use roughly $47,000 to reduce the expenditure budget and bring the spending increase down to 5.9% and thus reduce the tax increase to 4.9%. The remainder of the cost savings, roughly $53,000 would be used to increase the contingency line in order to fund a possible need for increased ELL staff, possible Kindergarten staff, or other needs that arose. Any funds in the contingency line not used at the end of the fiscal year move into the unassigned fund balance and may be used to augment the revenue side of the next year’s budget and thus decrease tax impact. While there was discussion of other ways to use the health insurance cost savings, such as trying to figure out which spending reductions previously submitted could be moved back into the budget, the board ultimately chose to be conservative by slightly increasing contingency funds and reducing spending and thus tax impact.
Throughout all budget workshops, citizen input was welcomed at the beginning and end of each meeting, as well as via email. The board was gratified to have many people attend or watch the workshops online and participate in the process through sending emails or speaking at meetings. The board wishes to extend its appreciation to everyone who watched and participated.
The School Board is pleased to continue to offer high quality education to all students while being fiscally responsible to the community.
IHBAC: Child Find - The policy was updated to reflect the requirement that the district provide Child Find within 30 days of the school year or within the first 30 days of enrollment for transfer children.
DN: School Property Disposition - The committee revised the policy with two changes. The dollar threshold to trigger Board was raised from $500 to $2000, and a provision wherein the Board directed the sale or donation of surplus property was removed.
GCFB: Recruiting & Hiring of Administrative Staff - The board adopted a revised policy that removed an outdated reference to the State's five year goals, and is in line with the Maine School Management Association's sample policy.
JRA: Student Education Records & Information - The board adopted the Maine School Management Association's sample policy, which reflects updated legal requirements regarding permitted disclosures of student records.
IHBEA: Program for Students with Limited English Proficiency - The committee discussed updating the policy to reflect the current terminology of "English Language Learner" and also to reflect the current roles of the Superintendent and Lau Plan Coordinator in the Cape Elizabeth School District.
FF: Naming of School Facilities - The committee discussed the need to update the policy on naming school facilities to allow for an appropriate information gathering, public input and decision making process around such naming. The committee will seek further input from the Board at the next general business meeting.
KHC: Distribution of Non-School Materials - The committee discussed this policy in the context of the high volume of requests to distribute non-school related materials to students. The committee is working on updates to the policy that will provide for fair application of the policy and limitation of distribution and display of non-school related materials.
All policies are posted on the CESD website in the School Board section policy tab.
Policy Committee meetings occur once per month and are open to the public. The next policy meeting is scheduled for April 30th at 3:00 in the Jordan Conference Room.
Thursday, April 4th, Regular School Board Business Meeting, 6:30PM - 8:30PM, Town Hall Chambers.
Tuesday, April 23rd, School Board Workshop, Agenda TBD, 6:30PM - 8:30PM, CEHS Library.
Wednesday, April 24th, School Board FY20 Budget Presentation to Town Council, 7:00PM - 9:00PM, Town Hall Chambers.
Thursday, April 25th, School Board FY20 Budget Presentation to Town Council Wrap-Up, 7:00PM - 9:00PM, Town Hall Chambers.
Tuesday, April 30th, Policy Committee, 3:00PM - 4:30PM, Jordan Conference Room, Town Hall.
Monday, May 6th, Town Council Public Hearing on Budget, 7:00PM - 9:00PM, Town Hall Chambers.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


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The Chat3D editorial team have been chasing our next guest expert for months. You have probably seen his fascinating work on Shapeways, 3D Hubs, Pinshape or any other major 3D printing platform. You may have come across one his invaluable tips and advice on the 3D printing forum. And now we are thrilled to announce that 3D scanning and additive manufacturing expert Andrew Bougie is taking over #Chat3d on Thursday, November 17 at 8pm GMT!
After more than five years at ScanSource, Andrew has recently moved on to a new challenge, co-founding Digitize Designs. His team is composed of 3D printing enthusiasts with expertise in 3D scanning, modeling, reverse engineering and more! Digitize Design portfolio spans across a range of sectors including virtual reality, digital archiving and rapid prototyping – find out what they have been up to lately.
Andrew’s passion for making doesn’t stop with 3D printing. He is also a photographer and 3D modeler who loves to play with small electronics projects, hard woodworking, video editing and he loves it all. Find our more about his fascinating projects here or download his fascinating design from Thingiverse and Pinshape.
Andrew is putting his 3D expertise at your disposal on Thursday, 18th at 8pm GMT! Ask your questions using #chat3d and follow our Twitter and Facebook pages for recap and updates!
You can connect with Andrew via Instagram and Twitter or check his Youtube videos.

industry_corpus2: Manufacturing


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Kuassa release a new rack extension to their Efektor range, the Efektor CP3603 Compressor.
Completing your virtual pedalboard with our Efektor series, now introducing: KUASSA CP3603 Compressor unit. This unit is a result from endless research of many compressor pedal, a lot of characteristics, and finally we narrowed down everything into one st unit that can represent many other compressor pedals in a straightforward package.
Guitar players. Bass players. They are the same. They love long sustaining notes. A Compressor is the one thing that should help with that desire. It is an effect that is not always sounds too obvious, but when taken away, it’s surely will be missed. A compressor will suppress the loudest part of incoming audio signal, based on the specified threshold. Following the ‘compression’, it will increase the softer signal, narrowing the dynamic range thus delivers a more consistent overall level. And please take note, although this unit is designed specifically for guitar and bass players, you can also use it on any other instruments as well. Well, why not?
VCA: Stands for “Voltage Controlled Amplifier”. It’s fast, modern, and sounds very clean.
FET: Stands for “Field Effect Transistor”. Known for its aggressive behavior and also adds distinct color to the resulting sound.
OPTO: Shorts for “Optical”. It has the slowest reaction, but gives more characteristics and tightness to the result.

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


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Noted Assamese actor Zerifa Wahid pledged to donate her eyes at the Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya here on Saturday.
Zerifa is the brand ambassador for the hospital’s eye donation campaign.
Pledging to donate her eyes, Zerida called upon people to come forward and follow suit as it not only helps two people to see this world “but it also gives a feeling that a part of you is still alive after death”.
“Public awareness about eye donation is almost negligible,” she said.
The actor said she has plans to produce a short educational documentary about eye donation with the help of other personalities and Nethralaya as part of her commitment to educate people in this field.
Zerifa said she is in touch with many people who have pledged to donate their eyes and also help popularise the cause, which has not been properly done so far.
The hospital managing director Harsha Bhattacharya said there is great demand for cornea in the country but the number of people donating their eyes after death is very little which is leading to a yawning gap between demand and actual donations.
Khalsa Centre, North East chairman Capt P P Singh who has been spreading awareness about eye donation, called upon the Centre to pass the Human Organ Donation Act so that more organs like kidney, liver besides eyes are available from unclaimed bodies in case of accidents.
Singh also called upon the Assam government to make facilities available for organ donation in Guwahati at the earliest.

industry_corpus2: Health & Medicine


text: Step up your kegel exercise plan with the Level 2 Silicone Kegel Toner. Designed to offer moderate resistance, the VNEW Silicone Kegel Toner is made of body-safe phthalate-free hygenic seamless silicone that's soft to the touch. The anatomical design of the VNEW Silicone Kegel Toner ensures comfort even during prolonged use.

industry_corpus2: Sports


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This year national real estate news has focused mostly on the high demand and incredibly low inventory that plague markets across the country. Buyers, however, have cause to celebrate some good news coming their way, as mortgage rates continue to settle down.
Four of the past five weeks have seen continued settling of mortgage rates, with the average 30-year, fixed mortgage now at 4.55 percent, down from 4.57 percent just a week earlier, and the average 15-year, fixed mortgage rate a 4.04 percent, the same as last week.

industry_corpus2: Real Estate & Construction


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Bryan came to the marsh (he called it the creek) at what is today Huntington Beach State Park to catch stone crabs for his family and for friends like Miss Addie McIntyre. Stewed crab was a staple in his diet, and he believed crabmeat had a restorative effect for one who was ill.
"The house we stay in be a two room house with one of these end chimneys, and it be over there cross the King's Road on Miss Addie McIntyre place. She been sick in bed for four weeks, but she mendin some now. She been mighty low. She feed on crabs what I bring her from the creek, and sometimes it help a little bit, but not too much."
There are about a thousand different kinds of crabs, but the stone crab is noted as the best tasting of the crabs that are consumed. It is a crustacean and lives within a hard shell. The body is broad and more or less flattened, and the five pairs of walking legs are jointed. As if that were not enough, the stone crab has snapping claws that are exceptionally strong. This story of Bryan is justifiable proof of the power of the claws of a stone crab.
Stone crabs live in holes which they hollow in the marsh mud. Those who look for these crabs can immediately identify their holes. As they burrow into the mud on the bank of the marsh when the tide is low, they throw up behind them seashells and debris that had been deposited there by rising tides. Each stone crab's hole is encircled in a mixture of shells and mud.
Bryan could spot a stone crab's hole quicker than a bullet could hit its mark. I mean, he'd lust reach right down into the hole and pull out the crab, and he acquired a surefire technique of getting the crab without the crab snapping his fingers.
"The crab holes." he once explained, "been same long as my arm. I worked my hand down the hole slow, and when I feel like I be gettin near the crab, I dig my fingers down in the mud.
Then I yank out a passel of mud, and the crab be in that mud. I always go in the hole that way, and get what I want. It not be too much trouble. Most people use a long wire, with a hook on the end, but that be a pack of foolishness. I lust reach in and get em.
After filling his bucket, Bryan would go home and pick the meat out of the body and claws. His mother really knew how to stew crabs. She'd put the crabmeat into the stewpot and add a little pepper and salt and a mite of nutmeg. Then she'd add the yolks of two broken up eggs, some crumbled-up biscuit and a spoonful of vinegar. While the crabs were stewing, she'd make a pan of fresh biscuits that were just right for sopping.
Man, when you sopped those biscuits in the stewed crabs, now that was real eating!
One evening Bryan came to the marsh and extended his arm into a crab hole. It was getting late, and he didn't use his usual precaution in taking the crab. Suddenly, the claws of the crab clamped down on Bryan's middle finger and nearbout cut it off. But the crab held on. Bryan let out a hollar that was heard nearly to his home across the King's Road. He flailed around in the air, jumping, screaming, yelling, but the crab would not let go.
The old crab lust clamped his claws tighter. Bryan, his whole arm down in the hole, pictured the crab, his eyes on their short stalks, looking amused at his catch.
After awhile, Bryan got tired and he couldn't scream quite so loudly. His yells became more of a mournful wail than a shrill cry, and his face lay on the marsh mud. By this time it was getting late, really late, and although Bryan told himself that there was nothing to worry about, he knew in his heart of hearts it would take a world of luck to save him. The tide would be coming in soon, and unless the crab turned him loose, the tide would rise over his body. When the tide went back out, he'd be nothing more than a limp corpse, Or maybe a stiff one. He didn't know which.
Bryan continued to wail, but no person heard him. A creeping chill began to possess him, and he peered over the marsh to the trees. He could see a lamp in a cottage in the trees. Everything was quiet, except for the incoming surf. Even the dogs were quiet. Not one howled. It came to Blyan's mind that no one was going to save him. And the crab never once lightened its grip on the boy's finger.
A grim sense of blackness, and the hopelessness of fate, seized the soul of the weary boy gripped in the tongs of the crab's claws. Bryan had gotten himself into trouble, and there was downright nothing he could do in self-defense. What have I done! he asked himself. How did I get into this mess! His voice was little more than a squeak, small and thin, but still human.
"Help me. For God's sake, help me." As the tide came closer, he thought that if the rising water took his life, God would take him to the land of Canaan where he and Joshua were having a happy time.
The tide came in, then went back out. Daylight came. That was when the body of Bryan was found. He was taken to Heaven's Gate Church, and a funeral was held. Bryan was buried at the edge of the marsh, where high-tide waters would cover his grave, since the family superstition ruled that the sea must again receive its own dead or it would claim a new victim.
One night after all the chores were done around the seaside homes, a thunderstorm rolled in. Black clouds skudded just overhead and rolling thunder shook the earth. Moss hanging from the live oaks blew every which way, and rain came in sheets. In all of this, a voice was heard. "Help me. For God's sake, help me." It was believed to be the voice of Bryan.
If you walk the beach at Huntington Beach State Park, and dark clouds come in from the sea, and the color of the ocean changes from blue to gray, and the surface of the water turns choppy, and the soft warm air turns chill, listen. You may hear the voice of Bryan. It's during the storms on that beach that he comes back, still begging someone to release him from the claws of the stone crab.

industry_corpus2: Agriculture & Fisheries


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MOJITO DESIGN products respect the new european standards as reusable and realized with recyclable raw materials. materie prime riciclabili.
Our respect for the mbiente but they went to search new materials that keeping the characteristics of our products but that at the same time reduced the environmental impact.
We have therefore introduced new polymers containing raw materials carried out by renewable sources in replacing thems obtained by synthetic sources as traditional polymers.
REDUCTION OF RESOURCES CONSUMPTION FROM FOSSIL SOURCES PRESERVING THEM FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
This our proposal to give a contribution to environmental sustainability.
The new European directive limits (and in some cases forbids) the use of plastic for the production of disposable tableware.
The European Commission has approved the new rules to combat the spread of the 10 single-use plastic products "that most pollute the beaches and seas of Europe". Pearl ear cleaning sticks, cutlery, plates, straws, beverage mixers and balloon rods should be made exclusively with sustainable materials. "Faced with the constant increase of plastic waste in the oceans and seas and the consequent damage - the EU executive says - the European Commission proposes new rules for the 10 single-use plastic products that pollute the beaches and seas Europe and for lost and abandoned fishing gear These products account for 70% of marine waste ".


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Brandon Weathers was driving on a bitter cold night on December 30, 2017 when he saw a young boy lost, alone and cold. The temperature was -1 and the boy was only wearing a sweatshirt. Brandon quickly pulled over to help.
"I need to call my momma," the 10-year-old said as he ran onto the bus.
Once the boy was safely inside the bus, Brandon contacted dispatch to alert them of the situation. As they waited for help to arrive, Brandon and another passenger talked to the boy and tried to comfort him.
MCTS Security Officers quickly arrived and also checked to make sure the boy was not hurt. Security officers took the boy to their vehicle to stay safe and warm until police arrive.
Authorities say they boy was more than five miles away from him home. Thanks to Brandon the boy was safely reunited with his family.

industry_corpus2: Media & Journalism


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There are occasions when you look at an online casino and recognise some of the casino games and in particular casino slots from a different online casino and wonder whether they are in some way in cahoots. There is a possibility that they are in some way connected but more likely is that they have simply chosen to use the same casino software. When online casino gambling first started the selection of casino games was quite limited which meant that the casino software was fairly simple but as online gambling at casinos has become more and more popular the range of games has expanded and the complexity has increased considerably. This has led to the formation of specialist firms whose sole purpose is to write the software for casino games. They then market their products to the various online gambling companies with the result that the same game can be found at different online casinos. This is certainly not a problem and can in fact be a huge advantage when it comes to the casino slots known as progressive jackpot slots. In these casino gambling games every spin of a slot contributes a very small amount to the jackpots. The amount per spin is a fraction of a Euro cent but it can build up over time to a massive amount and some of the jackpots regularly run into the millions of Euro. If just one online gambling provider was carrying the casino slot in question it might take a very long time for the jackpot to build but with the same game appearing at several online casino sites it builds much faster.
Most online casinos choose to use a single casino software supplier but there are no rules which state that this must be the case and indeed several online casinos use multiple casino software providers. This may not be clear in many cases unless you happen to know which casino software writer provides which casino slots but at Instacasino.com you can actually select your casino slot according to the software supplier as there is a series of tabs along the top of the home page which are the software suppliers. By clicking on those a full section of casino slots provided by that supplier will appear. Others such as All Irish Casino will display the casino software provider when you click onto a casino slot. The most common casino software companies that you are likely to come across are MIcrogaming, NetEnt and Playtech although there are plenty of others who present very decent casino games in the line up. One such company is Amatic Industries who have been in the gambling industry for many years but previously focussed their attention on cabinet style slot machines that you might find in clubs or casinos or of course on cruise ships. They have now expanded and have gone into the world of online casino slots software often based on the same games that are also in the cabinet games. One of the favourite online casinos of gambling.ie is in fact casinocasino.com and they use Amatic Industries software exclusively. The brand name is Amanet which is presumably a combination of Amatic and Internet. The casino slots on offer do tend to be more simple possibly reflecting on the history of the company but this in no way detracts from some very entertaining casino slots such as Hot 27™. This is a very simple three reel slot with three symbols showing but with 27 winning lines there are plenty of wins to be had. In case you haven’t worked it out, 27 winning lines means that the symbols can appear anywhere on the screen and be part of a winning line but it must be from right to left. If you are fortunate enough it is possible to have 27 winning lines at a time. Another nice feature of this casino slot is that you do not need to back a number of lines as you might at other slots; you simply stake per spin and all 27 lines are in play.
Gambling online at a casino cannot be done without the casino software but the choice of which casino games you want to play is probably more important than the actual software company. Having said that, there are casino software suppliers which in the opinion of gambling.ie do have a better range of more interesting casino slots than others. One of those is NetEnt or Net Entertainment to give them their full name. This casino software supplier has come up with some interesting features one of which is known as Sticky Wins™. This can be found at the casino slot called Jack Hammer™ or Jack Hammer 2™ which in turn can be found at All Irish Casino or any other online casino that features NetEnt casino software. The slots are five reel style slots but do not have reels in the normal sense of the word as all fifteen symbols which are visible are independent. The Sticky Wins™ feature is always in play and what happens is that when you have winning combination those symbols involved in that winning combination are held and all other are spun again. There is a good chance that will result in an improvement of the win as more of the same symbols appear. When this happens the process repeats itself again and again until no improvement is made whereupon the highest win or wins are paid out. There are also wilds involved which further increase the chance soft the win improving. The same casino software supplier has also a different take on the independent symbol concept in Gonzo’s Quest™ but in that case the winning symbols are replaced while all others are held. In this case there is a win multiplier involved but again there is no need for the player to do anything as it all happens automatically. Again that casino slot can be found at the excellent online casino called All Irish Casino.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


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The Universal Swivel Bracket mount offers excellent stability and security for your game camera. While the Universal Swivel Bracket was developed with hunters in mind, many of our customers find it to be the perfect mount for outdoor security purposes. Installation is easy, as you will see from this video. The bracket is installed in a matter of minutes and ready for you to fit your security box.
In this video you will see the new CamlockBox swivel mount. The mount allows you to mount your camera to a tree and adjust it at any angle in which you wish. This mount is great for mounting high in the air with the camera pointing downwards in rafters or buildings. It has holes in the sides for bungee straps or python cables. There are also holes in the top and bottom for lagbolts.
In this video we will demonstrate how to mount a CAMLOCKbox to secure your trail camera. This particular box is for a Bushnell Trophy Cam, but the method for installation is basically the same for all camera security boxes. In this demonstraion you will see the CAMLOCKbox mounted for typical deer camera installation - around waist height and pointed straight in front.
This video is great for new camera owners who have never installed a security box before. Take a look at the video to see the simple steps to a successful installation and you're all set!
If you have any questions about any of the products demonstrated in these videos, or any other product on our website, please contact our trail cams Help Team.
Don't forget to bookmark this page and come back from time to time for more videos.


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After a narrow 3-2 victory over Malaga on Saturday afternoon, Zinedine Zidane appeared in the press room but seemed more concerned with the January transfer window than the action he had just overseen.
With Los Blancos not having their best season in 2017/18, there's long been rumours that the squad will need freshening up, something reporters were keen to stress after another laboured showing.
"In the winter market there will be no exits," he said.
The Estadio Santiago Bernabeu has't been the happiest of places for Real this season, but the win was vital according to the coach.
"We started the game well and scored the first goal quickly, which is important," he continued.
"But everything changed and the second half was very difficult.
"We're happy with the result even though there were other things that were not as we wanted.
"We like to play here [at the Santiago Bernabeu]."
Malaga, like others before them, made life difficult for the hosts, but Zidane preferred to accentuate the positives.
"When the rivals come here, they play their lives," he said.
"We have to be positive because we've won three points and I'm sure we'll make things better.
"What we'd like now is to play seven good games in a row."


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Muslim girls at Swiss schools must attend swimming lessons including both boys and girls, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled, rejecting a case filed by two parents who wanted their daughters exempted from the classes on religious grounds.
“Accordingly, the children’s interest in a full education, thus facilitating their successful social integration according to local customs and mores, prevailed over the parents’ wish to have their children exempted from mixed swimming lessons,” the Strasbourg court said.
The ECHR stated that “very flexible arrangements” had been offered to the family, including allowing the girls to wear burkinis during lessons and change clothes without boys in the room.
The girls’ parents, who are Swiss citizens of Turkish origin, filed the case in 2012, alleging that the school’s insistence violated article nine of the European Convention on Human Rights, which addresses the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. Under Swiss law, only girls who have reached puberty are allowed an exemption.
Switzerland’s highest civil court in Lausanne had ruled on the case in 2012, also finding that the obligation to attend the lessons was not an unacceptable attack on religious freedom.
The couple has three months to appeal the ECHR’s decision.
Swimming lessons are mandatory in schools in Basel and many other places in Switzerland.
The Tuesday ruling is the latest in a series of swimming pool-related sagas unfolding across Europe in recent months. A swimming pool in Vienna made headlines in September for denying two burkini-wearing Muslim women entrance, citing health and safety rules.
Mayors across France also found themselves embroiled in controversy last summer, as many towns attempted to ban burkinis. Prime Minister Manuel Valls supported the ban, stating that the Muslim swimwear was “not compatible” with French values.


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The can lineup we have at the brewery this weekend is absolutely madness!
We’re open Fri/Sat/Sun with our new hours.
We’ll also be pouring all three sessions at the Atlantic City Beer Festival - we’re bringing 4 beers which will all be on tap all three sessions!

industry_corpus2: Others


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Electronic music with an urban feel. I.T., smartphones and business topics.
PC Tech at Hospital in Philadelphia. IT Consultant for my Company "PanfurWare LLC".


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Erik Kulick is the owner, founder and chief instructor of the True North Wilderness Survival School. He drew upon his passion for the outdoors and his almost thirty years of teaching experience to found True North in 2011. Growing up as a backpacker and paddler, Erik has taught for regional and national outdoor programs, including the L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery School. He has spent the last ten years focusing his training on wilderness survival in various programs and has studied under Byron Kerns, a former US Air Force SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) instructor.
Erik also works in emergency medicine as a National Registry Emergency Medical Technician, a Wilderness EMT, and a Pennsylvania certified EMS Instructor. He is also a Wilderness Emergency Care Instructor for American Safety & Health Institute, and a BLS Instructor for the American Heart Association. Erik teaches at the Center for Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He runs a series of programs which trains EMS providers, physicians, and law enforcement in wilderness medicine and survival skills. Erik is a member of the National Association of EMTs and the Wilderness Medical Society, where he is also a candidate for Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM). Erik also actively serves in the Allegheny County EMS system helping the residents of various communities.
With a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters in Business from Duquesne University, Erik draws upon his experience from the corporate world to help individuals and organizations maximize their potential. Erik is a registered Merit Badge Counselor with the Boy Scouts of America serving the Laurel Highlands and Westmoreland-Fayette Councils.
With this all audio folder I have only some experts which have matters upon the large amount of the surviving things. That wish will soon to come true upon the all sounds and the sermons have good to hear is likely to be so much lucky.


text:
Prime Minister, Theresa May has announced a change in the law enabling heterosexual couples to choose whether they want to marry or enter into a civil partnership.
The current system, which only allows heterosexual couples to marry or remain unmarried, was found to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights in June of this year.
The Government says that the change will provide greater security for unmarried couples and their families.
There are currently more than 3.3 million unmarried cohabiting couples in the UK, nearly half of which have children. Unmarried couples of not have the same legal rights as those who are married or in a civil partnership, despite the fact many couples believe they do have the same protections as married couples.
The Government will now consider the technical details before the law is formally changed, however, Equalities Minister Penny Mordant promised the change would happen “as swiftly as possible”.
If you wish to speak with our experienced team of family law solicitors in Devon please don’t hesitate to call us on 01392 207020.

industry_corpus2: Law & Justice


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According to the bio on Wikipedia: "Cay Van Ash (born in Sussex, England in 1918; died in Paris, France in April 1994) was a Professor of English Literature at Waseda University in Japan and a writer.
In 1935, the 17-year-old pedalled his bicycle to interview his literary hero Sax Rohmer. The two struck up a friendship. Van Ash lived with the Rohmers for 15 months while Rohmer taught him the mechanics of writing. He was employed as Rohmer's secretary for a number of years before moving to Japan in the 1950s. They continued to correspond until Rohmer's death in 1959.
In 1971, Rohmer's widow Elizabeth contacted Van Ash to help her complete a biography of her husband, Master of Villainy, which was published the following year.
Whilst teaching in Japan, Van Ash was licensed by the Rohmer Estate to write a continuation Fu Manchu novel, Ten Years Beyond Baker Street (1984). Set in April 1914 in Sussex, it featured Dr. Petrie calling Sherlock Holmes out of retirement after Nayland Smith is abducted. A second novel, The Fires of Fu Manchu, set during the First World War, followed in 1987. A third novel, The Seal of Fu Manchu, was announced in 1988. At the time of his death in 1994, Van Ash and his wife were living in Paris where he was researching the novel's setting. The manuscript was unfinished at the time of his death and is now believed lost.
Van Ash taught at Weseda University from 1961 until his death."

industry_corpus2: Literature & Emotions


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Mark is an experienced Technology consultant aligned to our Digital and Technology practice. With a passion for Technology, Mark has delivered a range of assurance and management engagements to a diverse set of clients across multiple sectors.
Mark has worked in a variety of roles in the technology sector across his career to date. Most recently, he worked for KPMG in the CIO Advisory practice, working with senior executives and IT Leaders to define strategic goals and help manage and deliver transformation projects.
Mark is particularly passionate about Cloud and Integration technologies, for which he was a key contributor to KPMG’s centre(s) of excellence. Mark is also interested in more recent digital technologies which are having a great impact to all organisations as they grapple the next ‘wave’ of technology and all the opportunities, and challenges it brings.
Outside of work, Mark enjoys socialising, particularly going to concerts and comedy gigs, as well as travelling and playing sport. He also enjoys playing computer games and researching the latest gadgets and end user technology. Mark is a keen football fan – supporting Brentford – and playing socially in 5-a-side teams when he can. Mark’s other hobbies include playing golf and going skiing whenever the opportunity arises.

industry_corpus2: Technology & Research


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Joy, tasting is believing, and I tasted! Wish I had some right now!
You are becoming quite a creative baker.
Love you and it was good talkin’ with you today!
This would be as a pie crust, too! Have you ever tried that??

industry_corpus2: Hospitality & Catering


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Company law 28.06.2012In general, it is not complex or time-consuming to establish a company in Denmark. Provided the capital required for the establishment is in place, the company may be formally established on a day-to-day basis.
Company law 28.06.2012The outline concentrates on the management of the Joint-stock Company and the Limited Liability Company being the most commonly used forms of companies in Denmark.
Employment and labour law 20.06.2012Compared to many other European countries, the Danish labour market is quite dynamic. It is relatively simple to carry through changes in employment and to dismiss employees.
Business contracts 20.06.2012The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) has been part of applicable Danish law since 1990. However, at the ratification Denmark declared not be bound by Part II of the Convention regarding formation of the contract. This is now to be changed.


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The Puerto Vallarta countryside in Western Mexico is one of the most unique ecological environments in the entire country. The city is positioned between three different mountain ranges, creating the unique and diverse plant and animal wildlife that is found just a few miles from the city center of Puerto Vallarta. The north side of the city has a more deciduous forest type of wildlife and the east and south side feel more like a sub-tropical jungle.
The Juntas de los Veranos, where you will find our Canopy Adventure Tours, is one of the tropical forests of Puerto though, located about 1600 meters above the sea, Los Veranos is considered a Tropical Deciduous forest. This basically means that the forest is most alive and thriving during the rainier months of the summer when the forest sees an average of 70 inches of rain.
The type of plant wildlife you can expect to find in Los Veranos include the massive Capomo trees whose seeds are processed and used to make decaffeinated coffee. Other plants you will walk past on your canopy adventure include vanilla vines, all kinds of orchids, Strangler Fibs, rubber trees, palms, bamboo, and the plants that are used to produce tequila, agave planets.
Los Veranos is also filled with over 400 species of tropical and migratory birds. These include the Tropical Kingbird, the Great Kiskadee, Amazonian parrot, the Blue Footed Booby, the Hooded Oriele and many more. These are the types of birds you see in pictures of the rainforests, with prominent beaks and brightly colored feathers. The land trotting animals you can expect to spot around Puerto Vallarta and in Los Veranos include the white tailed deer, pumas, jaguars, rabbits, skunks, badgers, coyote, margays, wild boars, jaguarondi, armadillos, and various kinds of iguana.

industry_corpus2: Travel & Geography


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Amelia V. Anderson (The Voice in Tania) has studied under Constance George and Aleta Chappelle. Performances with Triangle Theatre include Ancestral Voices, The Real Inspector Hound, Relative Values, Light Up the Sky and Doubt. Amelia performed in Any Number Can Die for the ACC and in the Snarks’ productions of Morning’s at Seven, The Cemetery Club and Tartuffe. She provided the voice for the witch in "Chasing Unicorns" (an animated short) and the cell phone in Phone Six (a short play written by Constance George and shown in the Short Play & Musical Festival). She’s enjoying being a kindly person on a night of mayhem, murder and screaming queens.
Lee Avant (Voice of the Female News Reporter in Tania) is an actor and a Michelle Obama impersonator. She’s performed on stage in New York and Los Angles, including performances at Playwrights Horizons, the Kraine Theatre, and the Wow Café Theatre. Television credits include, "One Life to Live" (ABC) and "The Tenderloins" pilot (with the cast of Impractical Jokers, TruTV). Lee starts shooting her first feature film role this fall in "#SetLife," directed by Dana Verde. She holds a BS from Emerson College and is very excited to be working with one of her favorite directors, Kiebpoli Calnek once again.
Dionna Eshleman (Regan McNeil/Host) is so excited to join White Rabbit Productions for Scream Queens and Crazed Fiends for her NYC debut! She graduated from Temple University in 2014 with a BA in Theater with a concentration in Musical Theater. Dionna most recently worked with the Omaha Theater company on their national tour of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse as Garland/Grammy. Some of her favorite roles include Ilse in Spring Awakening, Barbara in Black Coffee and Isabelle/Sabine in The Liar. When she isn't on the stage, Dionna loves to cook, explore the city, and make people laugh. Visit her website www.dionnaeshleman.com to keep up with all of her adventures!
Kate Fallon (Carrie White/Host) is delighted to be performing for the first time with White Rabbit Productions at the Kraine Theater. She graduated from Adelphi University with a BFA in Theatre, but also spent time studying with the London Dramatic Academy. Kate's recent credits include: I Love Myself - The Musical at The Players Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing at The 133rd Street Arts Center, and The BBQ at 13th Street Repertory Company. She has also toured nationally in Robin Hood for The Hampstead Stage Company and performed as a voice over artist for Audible.com as a book narrator. Kate would like to thank her friends and family for their unending love and support.
Amanda Garcia (Donna in The Beast of Both Worlds) is so delighted to grace the stage once again after playing the saucy Fraulein Kost in Cabaret. Amanda spent three seasons with Oldcastle Theatre Company, having played Margo/ Connie in Northern Boulevard as well as Mrs. Hopkins in My Fair Lady and Carol in Black Comedy. She has also been fortunate enough to perform with the Actors Express at Oldcastle Theatre Company. She’s a proud graduate from AMDA in NYC!
Wesley Goodrich (Blacula/Host) is extremely excited and honored to be a part of Scream Queens and Crazed Fiends. He has also portrayed such roles as Orlando from As You Like It (NYU Steinhardt’s Looking For Shakespeare Program), Daryl from Those We Thought We Loved (Education @Roundabout), The Recruiter in Mother Courage, Friar Laurence in Romeo & Juliet, and Al Lewis from The Sunshine Boys. In addition, Wesley has directed and written two one-act plays for Edward R. Murrow High School’s Director’s Workshop. Wesley is currently studying Directing at Pace University. Wesley would like to thank God, his parents, and close friends, as well as the entire cast and crew of this amazing show.
Gladys Hendricks (Teresa in Trumpets Sounding Over Harrisburg) had her acting epiphany two years ago, shortly before graduating from the UW Madison with a degree not even remotely related to theater. She is currently a student at the Acting Studio where she recently made her New York stage debut in their festival A Midsummer Night’s Madness (Johnna in Naomi in the Living Room). She is absolutely thrilled and deeply grateful to have been invited into this celebration of her favorite holiday.
Jesse Rose Krebs (Ellen Ripley/Host) has a flair for the thrills and has come from Alaska to pursue her dream in New York. She graduated from Circle in the Square Theatre School and is part of the Theatre 68 Company as well as the Girl Be Heard Company. She'd like to thank this cast and crew for helping her fulfill her dream of being a scream queen right here on stage! Lots of love.
Charlie Leeder (Werewolf in The Beast of Both Worlds, Vine in The Questioning) was last seen as the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and composer for the children's band "Joy and the Toys." An active local musician, playwright and actor, Charlie wrote the longest running play in the history of New Hope, Pennsylvania, A Catered Affair, which ran for sixty weeks at the Tow Path Dinner Theatre. Audiences may remember him as "Charlie the Answer Man" on the television show "Meadowlands Marquee." His most recent project is the completion of a full length movie, "The Gentle Present," which was based upon his play, and had its original production at the Mill Hill Playhouse in Trenton, New Jersey. Charlie is happy to be making his debut appearance with White Rabbit Productions.
Nitin Madan (Sam, Father & Mother in and that is What The Devil Said) is thrilled to be back this year at the creepiest Halloween celebration in town! Convinced that a lack of curiosity is certain recipe for death, Nitin’s aim has been to keep the mind creatively stimulated for fear of mortal doom by boredom. When not acting for the Theater, Film and the Web, Nitin makes films, mostly about artist(e)s and the unholy demons that reside within them. A graduate of Columbia University’s Film program, and a proud palindrome, Nitin has recently formed his Digital Media production company, Knit-inK, that produces content in New York and India. Nitin can be seen now in the web series The She-nazty Show, and in the Indian feature film Chasing Moksha early next year.
Steven Martin (Adrian in The Beast of Both Worlds) graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Recent credits include Nick in Mourning Glory, Guildenstern/Fortenbras in Hamlet, Turkle in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Basil/Papa Pittman in Blackfootnotes, Master Chavros in The Renaissance Dueling Play, Cornwall and other multiple roles in King Lear, Homey 2 and Brother 2 in The Tragedy at Hood 14542. Steven would like to thank God, his friends and the cast for making this production an amazing experience.
Sue-Ellen Mandell (Pearl in In the Name of the Camera) graduated from New York’s High School for the Performing Arts, was a theater major at Hunter College, a speech/language pathologist, a community theater actress and then …. Whoops! … a retired speech/language pathologist returning to the New York theater scene….Yay! Sue-Ellen has acted in many regional and off-Broadway productions. (Favorite roles include: Martha: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Ouisa: Six Degrees of Separation and Blanche: A Streetcar Named Desire. She also appeared in the New York International Fringe Festival, the Capital and Syracuse Fringe Festivals, and the 2015 Fresh Fruit Festival. Other projects include independent and student films, and the webseries “Classic Quiche Café,” “BE Bettina and Elaine” and “Giving.” Television work includes the Home Shopping Network, two episodes of "Celebrity Ghost Stories," and episodes of Investigation Discovery, Deadly Devotion and Poisoned Passions.
Sara Minisquero (Michelle in The Date) is an Emerson College, Theatre Studies BA graduate. Recent credits include the premiere of Linoleum's Hard as Emily, written by Joanne DiSimone and presented as a part of John Chatterton's Midwinter Madness festival, Things That Go Bump In The Night Halloween event by White Rabbit Productions/Genesis Productions as The Girl in The Greenhouse, associate producer and makeup FX. This is Sara's third Saad-Ali piece, after starring in a staged reading of Old Men are Full of Sh!t as Rose and as Dinah in Canaan. Other company credits include Act-Out Rep's Othello at the Narrows botanical garden as Emilia and fight captain, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Quince), The Tempest (Trinculo), As You Like It (Phebe) and Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio). Sara can also be spotted in a number of GRETH Productions titles, including "Meat Me In Plainville," "Sink Hole," and the Supercute! music video for "Dumb Dumbs". Most recently, Sara is set to appear in "Neverland! the Webseries," as an actor and makeup specialist. Thanks!
Shaun S. Orbin (McKenna in Stalker Nun) has performed in New York for over 10 years, appearing in pretty much everything you've never heard of and doing a phenomenal job at it. His performances have been called "...a young Bill Erwin" by Outerstage.com and "...passable, I guess" by most others. Best roles include Liver Lips Louie in Guys and Dolls, Sebastian in The Tempest, Destin Powers in Unburdened, and an awful lot of background for TV and film. In addition, he worked extensively with Tempest Productions, a non-profit Children’s theatre, performing as well as teaching clowning and puppetry. Shaun also does set design and works in construction. He dedicates this to his wife Cory and daughter Clover, the best things in his life.
Samantha Randolph (Kim in In The Name of the Camera, Susan in Bite Curious) is a Brooklyn-born actor, singer, dancer, playwright, and aspiring poet, with great enthusiasm and passion for everything she does!! Samantha played Sara in Call Upon last Ocotber, part of Things That Go Bump in the Night. Other favorite off-off Broadway credits include The Smoker and the Blue-Haired Chick (Roy Arias Theatre), On The Porch One Crisp Spring Morning (City College), Seussical (Rosetta LeNoire Musical Theatre Academy), and Geri' Pimpin (Manhattan Repertory Theatre). She made her directing debut last fall with the premiere of Bright.Apple.Crush, which also performed at Manhattan Repertory Theatre. When not performing, you can catch Sam listening to jazz music, reading poetry, playing piano, and watching classic movies. Much love to the hard-working parents, true blue friends, and to her teachers for their never ending support and making her the professional that she is today!

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text: The song’s melody was adapted from an original composition by Chinese flutist, Zhou Wei. Furyu was performed by the ensemble in front of an audience of 14,000 at Copp’s Coliseum, Hamilton, for the closing ceremonies of the 1998 Canadian Figure Skating Championships. Two shinobue (or shinobue and shakuhachi), are accompanied by hyotan (gourd shakers), miya daiko and uchiwa daiko.


text:
The text Rachel Rose looks perfect on a dark background, but what if the background was white? That may cause a problem because you can never predict what a user will upload.
...or make a dark overlay on the image. There many ways you can do, and they all rely on making changes to the image. But what if instead of changing the image, we could change the text color?
"Well, why not?" is what I told myself when this thought crossed my mind recently. So let's explore how to do that in this post.
I have created a simple page to demonstrate this problem. If you wanna learn as you go, just clone this repo.
Once cloned, use this commit to check out the unsolved problem.
So currently, we have a webpage that has two types of backgrounds: dark and light. It also has two buttons to switch between them. This is how it looks like in the beginning.
To achieve this, we will use the canvas. The idea is to load the image in the canvas and then we will fetch each and every pixel of the image. The color of each pixel will be then converted into its RGB value. So if you average the three values, you will get the lightness of that pixel (read more here). The values will be between 0 (darkest) and 255 (brightest). So by comparing this for each pixel, we will get if the image is dark or not.
Great, now as we understand the algorithm, let's write some code.
First, make a function that will load src from the background into a hidden img element.
avg now has the average RGB value of each pixel. Next, add the average of all the pixels and divide that by total pixels in the image to get the average brightness.
Let's use this function to check if the image is dark or not.
But something is missing. Aha, some style!
Hope you guys liked this small experiment and learned something useful from it. There are many ways to achieve the same results, so feel free to comment below if you have one. You may or may not want to use this in your real projects, but I am thinking of making an npm package, to take this to the next level. If you wanna join, DM me @sarthology or just comment below.
Okay guys! Will see you next time. Thanks for reading this.
There are hacky CSS ways to do this, though I'd never suggest using them.
I'm really not familiar with CSS, what exactly is hacky about it?
It's these 3 lines that I don't like.
setting the contrast high so we just get black and white.
But it doesn't know where the text is over the image, so it gets the colours from the top left corner.
Nah, that's not hacky, that's brilliant.
Grayscale? Such a cool idea.
And contrast to finish. Perfect. Why is any of this hacky?
"But it doesn't know where the text is over the image, so it gets the colours from the top left corner." -- Ahhhhh.... and that's where the hack hits the fan.
Far from perfect. The isDark function is extremely naive. For example - if the image has a patch of light or dark that lines up with the text, and the rest of the image is of the opposite 'lightness', you are going to end up with unreadable text again.
That's also doable, using the same concept and some more work in canvas.
Would it be possible to identify the subset of pixels that represent the area under the text from the image data? Then we could reapply the algorithm to a smaller size making it significantly less complex. My main concern with the original implementation would be the cost of scanning a high-resolution image. The profiling algorithm could probably be best applied after the upload on the upload service itself and store the profiling data with the image then we can just fetch the image and it's profiling data and don't have to scan it on client's device.
Totally awesome! I faced this issue quite alot, always fixed it using a darker overlay on the image ( the easy way ). Would totally like to join on the npm package. But i am wondering what would happen if its a high res image. Would it take a while to go through all the pixels ?
Well, in current example both images used are of huge resolutions.So they take approximately same amount of time as browser take to render it.
For other inspiration, you might want to check the 7 Rules for Creating Gorgeous UI by Erik D. Kennedy. The article first released back in 2014, but I think it's still relevant until today.
I'd suggest a shadow/outline for most practical uses.
For one thing, you are calculating the average of the whole image.
But imagine if most of the image is white, while exactly where the text goes is a black rectangle?
Then you have to calculate that exact position.
But what if that area is striped?
@link2twenty 's "hacky" CSS solutions will probably be more performant AND more effective, being able to invert the image color with the text.
I'd never really thought about the fact that averaging the R G & B values of a color would get the lightness. It makes sense, it's just never something I'd thought about. Great write up.
This is amazing!!!! How fun. I really enjoyed the entire turorial and learned a lot. Very well explained and made perfect sense. Thank you!
Great article. Thanks - I learned a lot.
Any way to do this using CSS filter?


text:
It sounds like a simple assignment: track down the mysterious Star Wraith and put an end to its rampage. But when Travis Archer and his team of inept soldiers find themselves the most wanted people in the galaxy - hounded by assassins, terrorists and their own military - they realize the Wraith is just a symptom of a much larger problem.
Finding war raging between one army intent on destroying an entire species, and another that will destroy the galaxy, Travis must put aside his fears and his past to uncover the truth behind it all. To become the hero he's always imagined.


text:
by T.A. Sinclair and "Hesiod"
Works and Days, by T.A. Sinclair and "Hesiod"
Works and Days by T.A. Sinclair and "Hesiod"


text:
Classic Signs creates distinctive signs and banners to fit every need. Our experienced sign makers have served the Central Coast for nearly 40 years.
and are experts in designing the perfect sign or banner for your budget.
Our ultimate goal is: Happy and satisfied customers.


text:
In one checkout aisle, customers see nothing but cigarettes. The other aisle is lined with mini liquor bottles.
"They're super cute. My kids always say they want one," complains Amy Cates, and not just because she's a concerned mom who does her grab-and-go shopping at this convenience store. Cates serves as the community readiness and resiliency integrator for U.S. Army Garrison Italy, in Vicenza, and it's her job to monitor health on base - a slice of America where you'll find both a 24/7 fitness facility and a Burger King drive-through.
Looking at the stats, Cates says, "I wouldn't pat us on the back." Out of a force of 3,150 soldiers stationed in Italy, 11.4 percent are obese, 23.2 percent use tobacco and 8.4 percent suffer from a sleep disorder. What's even more worrisome? These numbers are better than the overall U.S. Army average.
That's why the military - just like you - is thinking about how to get healthier in the new year and beyond.
After a comprehensive site assessment this month, Vicenza will develop an action plan to address its needs. That could mean a variety of things, including an expansion of its bike lane network, more social media promotions rewarding healthy behavior, revamped menu labels and the introduction of healthy vending machines.
These base makeovers are setting the scene for the launch of Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F), a larger initiative - a decade in the making and still pending final approval - that strives to radically change how the Army prepares service members. The proposal includes the introduction of a new field manual for training, plus the creation of Soldier Performance Readiness Centers (SPRC, pronounced "spark"), which will be state-of-the-art fitness facilities staffed by experts who can educate and offer real-time feedback on proper form, psychological well-being, nutrition and more.
An SPRC is not exactly a gym, says Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, who commands the Center for Initial Military Training at Virginia's Fort Eustis, which is behind H2F. He compares it to the way the Army cares for equipment. "What we don't have is a range to improve yourself," he explains.
A better understanding of human performance is part of the impetus behind H2F, Frost says. But the initiative is also a reaction to the current American population, which is not nearly as fit as in previous generations. Frost says it's a challenge to fight when tens of thousands of soldiers - or, as he calls them, "our primary weapons system" - are non-deployable because of weight problems and injuries.
Folks signing up to serve were once in peak condition, Frost says. "I like to say that 15 to 30 years ago, we were marinated steaks," he explains. "Now it's frozen steaks. And sometimes you've got to get the cow, slaughter it and process it."
One emerging issue is that soldiers are entering with poor bone density, explains Michael S. McGurk, director of research and analysis at the Center for Initial Military Training. Put them through a rigorous fitness program, and they're likely to get hurt, he says. That's obviously no fun for them, and it's not cost-effective for the military. In response, his team has created the Performance Readiness Bar, a chocolate-flavored snack that sneaks in vitamin D and calcium supplements.
Soldiers can look forward to sampling that in the coming years - along with a revamped fitness test, which sits at the heart of the H2F initiative.
For nearly 40 years, the Army has graded service members on just three exercises: push-ups, situps and a two-mile run. That turns out to be a pretty lousy way of judging how prepared soldiers really are for combat, McGurk says.
And they know it, notes Maj. Nate Showman, a former exercise instructor at the U.S. Military Academy who's now deputy operations officer with the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) at Vicenza. These are paratroopers who load heavy stuff onto planes and then jump out of them. Showman says soldiers are often confused by the situation. "They say, 'This is what I'm tested on, but that is what you need me to do,' " he explains.
The newly proposed Army Combat Readiness Test keeps the run and modifies the push-ups. (Instead, they're "T push-ups," which means you finish each rep by lying flat on the ground, and reaching your arms out to the sides.) It adds a three-rep dead lift, a medicine ball throw, a hanging leg tuck, and a series of sprints - some of which must be completed while dragging and carrying weights.
Tapping into strength and power as well as muscular endurance better mirrors real-life demands, says Showman, who helped with some of the research. It's also in line with a fitness program that leaders in Vicenza created last year and have been pushing internally. Called SPEAR (Soldier Performance Education for Advanced Readiness and Resilience), it's heavy on instruction, nutrition and sports psychology, and incorporates a broader range of movements, including tire flips, Olympic lifting and agility drills.
The goal? "Prevent injury and get back to the fight," says Maj. Nate Hathaway, 173rd surgeon, who notes that most soldiers haven't had access to this kind of specialized education before.
With the arrival of H2F, increased resources will make it standardized throughout the force, which is why Frost believes the impact can be enormous. "To do this yourself, it's hard," he says.
Guess it helps to have an Army behind you - and fewer mini liquor bottles beside you.


text:
32% of students in Bridgeport live in poverty.
This is really our core program. Selected high school juniors who spend 15 weeks focused on SAT prep and 15 weeks in their senior year focusing on College Readiness, Career Preparation and Financial Literacy.
Getting into college is the first step. Once students graduate from our high school mentoring program, they receive a $2,000 scholarship ($500 per year for 4 years) to help them pay for their college textbooks and other related college expenses. The Daniel Trust Foundation Scholarship, while significant, only covers 42% of the student’s needs. We’re working on doing more to offset this disparity and to allow more students the opportunity to pursue higher education.
Teachers can have an incredible impact on a student’s trajectory, on their future. I learned this lesson firsthand. One of the things that makes Daniel Trust Foundation unique is that we ask our scholarship recipients to nominate and honor teachers who have made an big impact in their lives. Teachers who are nominated receive an achievement award and a $250 honorarium to help them supplement out of pocket expenses. Lots of teachers overcome budget shortfalls by decreased educational spending by using their own money. While undeniably noble, this does not seem very fair.
How and why did you start the business?
If we’re being honest, I feel like this business started me. It’s more of a mission—one that came from my own experience as both a Rwandan genocide survivor and eventually a Bridgeport high school student who struggled academically. I could not even speak English, let alone grasp the implications of my academic path, the importance of standardized testing, or the cost of college.
But this isn’t actually about me anymore. It’s about all the kids living in poverty who need to be lifted up, given a chance to start making choices, to stop making excuses.
What is the one thing you would say to a High School student who is reading this?
[Long Pause] I would say believe in yourself. If you don’t, no one else will. If you DO believe in yourself and make choices that are in line with dedication and purpose, then everyone else will believe in you too. Trust me. When you take charge of your own life, regardless of what anyone else tells you, then I truly believe that anything is possible. Actually, I know anything is possible. First hand.
I don’t say this last part lightly, or share my experience as a way of competing with the hardships of others, but with the most humble and appreciative sense for the human struggle: If I was able to overcome the odds stacked against me and find a path that was initially just about surviving, long before it was about academic and professional success, then YOU can too. All of you.
How has coworking at B:Hive helped your business?
My business was really born here. The seed for the idea was planted way back when, but the business took root here in downtown Bridgeport. Coworking has afforded me a wonderful opportunity to share an office with lots of other motivated entrepreneurs. We obviously all benefit from the shared expenses and the use of a space that is great for working, meeting and events, but what we really share is the spirit of this place, what it means to be working alongside others pursuing success, as opposed to all of us working anonymously from home, or quietly from coffee shops.
Everything! We’re going to grow our platforms, working diligently to increase program availability beyond Bridgeport and New York. Eventually, my fantasy is to bring these kinds of opportunities home to Rwanda. That would really be full circle for me.
Learn more about Daniel Trust, his foundation, and programs.


text: Grouper (Red) fishing in Fort Myers varies slightly throughout the year. High season is January to September. Low season is October to December. There is no closed season.


text:
If you love our baby Tahoe blanket and wish you could have one too, your wish has been granted. Great for students going off to college, wedding showers & anniversary gifts.
Our oversize Tahoe blanket is big enough to share (measuring 50" x 70").
It is made of the same ultra fine microfiber yarns as the baby Tahoe and is finely sheared on both sides for the softest of touch.
Personalize with a single initial, Monogram or name.
This is a special order item - please allow additional time for delivery.
Note: "Hannah" was a custom order using two Milan font versions (Milan 2 & Milan 1). "McKinlee" uses a combination of different Grace Font versions. The swooshes are all different, so names will have different looks. If interested in these swirly fonts, I will be happy to send a proof with your name.


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Prashanth steps in for Akshay Kumar!!
Can director Mani Ratnam repeat the Iruvar magic?
Azhiyatha Kolangal (aka) Azhiyatha Kolangal is a Tamil movie with production by Unknown, direction by Unknown. The cast of Azhiyatha Kolangal (aka) Azhiyatha Kolangal includes Prakash Raj, Revathy.


text: This 2015 California field blend is rustic and chewy, with intense dried berry, mineral, cedar and fresh earth flavors. A blend of Carignane, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet would pair well with slowly braised meats and stews. You are bidding on twelve 750 Milliliter bottles.


text: This volume is a major contribution to the trans-national debate on public relations research and communication management. It presents dominant concepts and findings from the scientific community in Germany in English language. At the same time, the compilation contains a selection of the most influential and relevant approaches from European and international researchers. Editors and contributors are renowned academics from all over the world. This books honours Guenter Bentele, one of the international spearheads of public relations research, and gives academics, students and communication managers a focussed insight into the field.


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Dammam – Saudi Arabia: The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), the multilateral development bank focused on the energy sector, today published its annual MENA Energy Investment outlook. The report forecasts that the MENA region will see a number of critical energy projects pushed through over the next five years, despite the uncertain geopolitical backdrop. Around $345bn has been committed to projects under execution while an additional $574bn worth of development is planned.
The overall economic outlook remains similar to the forecasts estimated this time last year, with growth of around 3.2% forecast for both 2018 and 2019. Global investment in the industry is expected to pick up and parts of the MENA region are expected to see a corresponding improvement in investment. Saudi Arabia is expected to lead the way, but the uncertainty over the possible re-imposition of sanctions on Iran mean that it may struggle to attract the foreign investment it needs to develop its industry. Iraq is also facing challenges, despite the improving security situation.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE represent 38% of planned investments, with $149bn and $72bn respectively, over the outlook period, as both countries look to boost their upstream oil and gas sectors. For Egypt, the main focus isramping-up of gas production and meeting rising power demand. Planned investments in the country are $72bn, with the power sector making up over 50% of the total.
Elsewhere planned projects in Kuwait stand at $59bn over the same period, with over 50% in the oil sector. More specifically, the country intends to increase oil output to 4m b/d within the next few years. Similarly, in Algeria planned projects stand at around $58bn with the Hassi Messaoud Peripheral Field Development accounting for a significant portion of investments in upstream oil. The country will seek to invest in upstream oil and gas to meet its target of increasing production by 20%. However, low fiscal buffers and competing pressures on revenue may impact Algeria’s efforts to execute its ambitious capacity expansion plans.
Other major investment in the oil and gas sector will be made in Iran, with an estimated $67bn in planned projects in the coming period, and Iraq, at $47bn. Oil investments account for $27bn with the ENI-led Zubair and the PetroChina-led Halfaya, two of the largest upstream development projects in the country. However, the outlook for those countries is much less certain, with a significantly higher degree of political risk.
Another challenge to growth is the rising cost of capital, as some governments will find it harder to attract foreign investment. However, supported by its high reserves, and low debt to GDP ratios, the GCC was successful in issuing record debt of over $50bn in 2017, surpassing the previous year’s record of $37bn. Saudi Arabia represents the bulk of this, with over $21bn of debt raised, followed by Abu Dhabi and Kuwait with $10bn and $8bn respectively. Oman ($8bn) and Bahrain ($3bn) also tapped the international market.
Finally, the regional geopolitical environment remains fragile, and persistent conflicts in the region are creating instability that deters investors and causes them to become cautious in investing in the entire region.
The MENA Energy Investment Outlook report is published annually by APICORP and offers insight into the region’s most strategically important industry. Providing unique estimates for both committed investments and planned investments, it delivers a highly accurate indication of the execution likelihood of a given project. The publication is part of APICORP’s range of specialised research products catering to the needs of energy professionals in the private and public sectors and the wider financial community around the globe.

industry_corpus2: Power & Energy


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Vienna Hot Dogs Portland Archives - Burgers, Dogs, & Pizza, Oh My!
“Someone” dropped me an email last week saying I should visit Wayne’s; the mail probably came from an insider since it included a bevy of photos, as well. Some of the pix were really great, unfortunately, they have people in them, so I couldn’t use them w/o permission.
I like hearing from restaurants, actually, it gives me the impression that people have the impression that these posts actually account for something. (pause while the writer laughs hysterically).
But as a frequent reader, you know I love Chicago dogs and Chicago beef sandwiches, particularly from the godfather vendor of all such things, Vienna Beef Company in Chicago.
So I wondered over to Wayne’s to scarf down a Chicago beef, and a side of “Wrigley” fries (chili/cheese). I have noticed the place on the few occasions I drive up or down MLK. Usually the only time I am in that area is when Mrs. BDB is feeling nostalgic for the Big Easy and barks “I need Popeye’s Red Beans!” And the MLK Popeye’s is the closest (3 days drive) to our house in SW.
As I approached Wayne’s, I remembered one of the reasons I had not stopped by. Parking is dear in that neighborhood, tho I am not sure why. Be prepared to either get lucky and get a spor right away, or circle the block a few times, if you are not arriving by Tri-Met.
I walked in shortly after opening, placed my order and waited. And waited. And waited. About 25 minutes. My guess at first was that employees don’t arrive with ample time before opening, but in fact, my food was delivered shortly after I saw a guy leave with a huge take out order. Inked up girl behind the counter, you could have politely told me “it’ll be awhile,” and I would have been happier.
The beef sandwich comes w/ your choice of any or all of the following: grilled onions, sweet peppers, mozzarella cheese, or giardiniera. I passed on all, preferring the taste of the beef all on its own. Inked up counter girl did ask me if I wanted it “wet or dry,” and that’s a nice Chicagoism. I went with wet, meaning the roll was dipped in the au jus prior to assembly. One other nice touch I liked was there was a pool of jus in the bottom of the paper tray, with the sandwich split in half and perched vertically. So I had a juicy end to bite into, or a little extra for dipping, if that was my want. It was.
The sandwich was as good as any – from an authorized Vienna vendor, and it had some subtle differences between it and the same sandwich served by Chicago Windy City Hot Dogs in SW Portland.
I won’t compare either to Michael’s Italian Beef, which is good for what it is, he cooks his own beef, which he says is “better than any in Chicago,” but for me, that’s kind of like saying “Wow, that Frank Sinatra Jr concert was amazing! It was just like listening to his old man!” And then there’s that old personality thing, which I won’t get into.
Subtle differences – only a persnickety guy like me would care about. Chicago’s sandwich is slightly bigger than Wayne’s; the rolls at both places are great, but Wayne’s has a definite edge, it’s very reminiscent of Leidenheimer”s bread in New Orleans, which is arguably the best sandwich roll outside of any Francophone country.
It would appear to me that Wayne warms his beef in the au jus either longer than Chicago Windy does, or at a hotter temperature, which produces a slight variation in the texture That’s neither good or bad, just depends on your personal taste.
I didn’t have fries at Chicago Windy, the chili cheese fries at Wayne’s are pretty darned good. I assume the chili is from Vienna as well, and the shredded cheese, well that could have been anybody’s from anywhere. Serves the purpose. The fries themselves were hot, crisp, slightly thicker than shoestrings, and had a little peel on them. Nice.
About “snap.” I read a couple of other reviews after I wrote mine, initially, one guy was griping about the dogs didn’t have “snap.” He must have had a Vienna natural casing in Chicago, which they also make. I prefer them, too. But less than 4% of the hot dogs sold in the US are natural casing dogs. Wayne’s is smart to go with Vienna skinless, which will appeal to the largest number of people.
If you’re from Remulak and hungry for mass quantities, Wayne’s will sell you 30 dogs, buns, and condiments for $105. That’s a weekend of grazing for me, but you might like it for a party. He also has a little Vienna adorned cart for rent (see below).
I’ll be back. Wayne’s has apparently been spawned from a hot dog cart somewhere north of the Columbia River, which in turn became a story in Warren, wherever that is. Not sure if this is location #2 or replaced Warren.
Menu online, don’t judge Wayne’s by their website, tho! Menu. The good news? No matter which side of the river I am on, I can get a Chicago dog or beef!


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Epic Games' wildly popular battle royale title, Fortnite, is getting a beta release on Android on August 9, however, this will initially be exclusive to Samsung devices. As detailed by CNET, Fortnite will be available to download on Samsung Galaxy S7 phones and above, which means the S7, S7 Edge, S8, S8 Plus, Note 8, S9, S9 Plus.
Fortnite’s upcoming launch on Android devices will bypass the Google Play store and will instead be offered directly to players through Epic Games’ own website and app.
As a games machine, Oculus Go looks decidedly ordinary. The lack of Oculus Rift’s motion-sensing controllers that allow me to reach into game worlds renders this a kind of semi-virtual reality experience, a lesser product that shortchanges VR gaming as a concept.
HTC's next iteration of its Vive VR headset, the Vive Pro, is coming soon. Following its reveal earlier this year, HTC has now confirmed both a price and release date for the headset, along with a promotional offer to encourage early adoption. And with the introduction of a new model, HTC is slashing the price of the existing Vive.
AMD has come out strong this year with Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs, and the company continues to roll out more versions of its new processors. The 1900X is the 8-core/16-thread CPU on the sTR4 socket and X399 platform, and it's now the cheapest option in the Threadripper family at $550.
Surprise: There’s a new set of legendary Pokémon now live in Pokémon Go. The roving legendary dogs of Johto — Entei, Suicune and Raikou — can now be found in Raid Battles worldwide.
Logitech, known for its robust lineup of PC gaming peripherals, unveiled two new headsets that opt for minimalist designs: the G433 7.1 and the G233 Prodigy.


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Two Soviet-era nuclear generators which sparked a huge international hunt in Georgia may not exist, authorities admitted on Monday.
The Strontium 90 generators were believed to be hangovers from the Soviet military presence in Georgia.
Dozens of experts took part in a two-week search of 550 square kilometres (200 square miles) of land in the west of the country, some of it so remote that they had to travel on foot or on horseback.
Children living across the river from Oldbury Power Station may be far more likely to die of leukemia.
A leading expert claims new evidence gathered around the power station in South Gloucestershire could undermine the whole nuclear industry.
The study says that children living across the River Severn in Chepstow are 11 times more likely to die of leukemia than the national average.
US scientists want British parents to keep their children's baby teeth to help them test a link between nuclear power and cancer.
They claim that children who live near nuclear power stations could be at a greater risk of cancer, and that the teeth will reveal how much radioactivity they have received.
The Czech Republic has agreed that its Temelin nuclear power plant will undergo a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) in line with EU requirements before fully coming on stream. Pressure for the change was exerted by the European Commission after vigorous allegations by neighbours Austria and Germany that the plant did not match western standards. The first of the power station's two 981 megawatt reactors has been running at test levels since 10 October.
The Bulgarian government has agreed to close four of the six nuclear reactors at its Kozloduy plant by 2006 at the latest, the European Commission said today. The accord means all eight reactors classed as dangerous and "unupgradeable" that are located in countries due to join the EU will be decommissioned within a decade.
The EU has repeatedly stressed that the closure of the four Kozloduy reactors by 2002 would be a condition of Bulgaria's eventual entry into the bloc. But the Bulgarian government recently passed a law which would have seen the last reactor decommissioned only in 2010.
In the Stockholm suburb of Agesta, a small rock hillock rises amid pine forests and horse farms. It might be just another playground for Scandinavian climbers but for one startling feature: Protruding from the top of the mound, like a missile peeking from a silo, is the conical tip of a nuclear reactor cooling tower.
Thirty years ago, this 65-megawatt reactor buried 50 yards deep and capable of sizable plutonium production was a key component of a vigorous Swedish program to develop a nuclear bomb option, a project that at its Cold War height secretly employed 350 scientists and technicians at the Defense Ministry.
A plan to upgrade two nuclear reactors in Solvakia may force Western governments to stop dithering over nuclear safety in Eastern Europe.
Ever since the reactor at Chernobyl exploded in 1986 spewing radioactivity over more than 20 countries, Europeans have lived in fear of another large-scale nuclear disaster. That fear grew when the Iron Curtain fell, revealing the full extent of the problems with nuclear plants in the former Eastern bloc. It also fuelled a fierce debate: should Soviet-designed reactors be shut down or could they be made 'safe'?
Swiss voters in the region of the dismantled Lucens reactor have passed a proposal to return the site to civilian use. Lucens, Switzerland's first nuclear plant, was permanently shut down only one month after it began operation, after a partial fuel meltdown in 1969. The unit was an 8.5-MWe gas-cooled heavy-water reactor.
Residents of the canton (state) of Vaud approved a proposal for the final phase of decommissioning, ending the legal obligations to monitor the site.


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MK Builders has the expertise to assist you with most every project related to your home; kitchens, bathrooms, whole house remodel, additions, electrical, and plumbing.
MK Builders in a licensed general contracting company in San Rafael. We serve Marin, San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa counties. We are known for quality craftsmanship, reliability, and value. We offer free estimates for all your home construction needs. National Association of Home Builders – Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS). California Licensed General Contractor, #880745. More than 30 years experience.


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Snow’s Citrus Mandarin Orange Dark Chocolate Sauce & Mandarin Orange Fruit Spread + your choice of one other bottled product.
Recipe Sheets, Custom Holiday Gift Card & Shipping Fees Included.
If you would like your order shipped on a specific date, please include this date in the “Shipping Date” field above and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
Our printed holiday gift card reads: ‘Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year.’ Or, include your own personal message in the “Custom Gift Card Message” field above and we will put that on a gift card for you.


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Take Inventory of Your Strengths - What are your current strengths and how have you added value to your clients through your place of employment or business? If you can't answer these questions with clarity or certainty, a career assessment can help you develop a framework to discover your true passion, personal, or vocational traits.
Develop a Contribution Plan - Once you’ve discovered your passion and strengths, create a plan to determine the contribution(s) and impact your passion and strength will make in the lives of others.
Invest in Your Strengths – When you invest in yourself, your strengths will come into fruition and grow stronger as you elevate others. You can read books, periodicals, take an online course, enroll in a non-credit course, or join a networking group. Just don't tell yourself you don't have time or money to invest in your greatness.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


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Mukono. Three registered Opposition political parties are in talks to unite ahead of preparations for the next election, their leaders have said.
The parties are the Democratic Party (DP) led by Mr Norbert Mao, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by Mr Micheal Mabikke and People’s Development Party (PDP) led by Mr Abedi Bwanika.
Mr Mabikke’s SDP is an offshoot of DP, formed when Mr Mabikke disagreed with his erstwhile colleagues in DP, while PDP is what has provided the umbrella for Mr Bwanika’s ineffectual three shots at the presidency, starting with the 2006 election.
Mr Bwanika and Mr Mao have been openly critical of the Dr Kizza Besigye, who has been the FDC presidential candidate for three times, and the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
In the last election, Mr Mao’s DP and Mr Mabikke’s SDP threw their weight behind former prime minister Amama Mbabazi, while Mr Bwanika pursued the presidential seat for himself.
“The engagement is about working together to form a powerful political bloc so that we can win and continue maintaining pressure through collective action on the government,” Mr Mao said on Thursday.
He said after concretising their cooperation with PDP and SDP, they will look to build a wider partnership with the other Opposition parties ahead of the 2021 elections.
Dr Bwanika confirmed the talks, saying the main objective is to cause political change.
“We want to identify and agree on candidates because 2021 is not very far, and to come up with power action committees to structure power that are involved in this engagement,” Dr Bwanika said.
Mr Henry Lubowa, the secretary general of SDP, also confirmed the engagement.
“We want to create favourable structures to oust the ruling regime because Ugandans want change, and we as leaders want to ensure this happens without bloodshed,” Mr Lubowa said.

industry_corpus2: Politics & Administration


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Leeds International School, Negombo inaugurated on 5th January 2017 and is situated at No.454, Colombo Road, Negombo. This branch is the 10th branch of Leeds International School network which was established for the convenience of many students in and around Negombo.
Leeds International School, Negombo is committed to equip the students with skills, experience and confidence to achieve their best and to provide a safe, well-disciplined and nurturing learning environment.
Every child is guided and encouraged to become an independent learner, fulfilling their potential in all areas of their learning.
LIS Negombo comprises of both local and foreign students. With this setting, a student can expect to gain academic knowledge in the presence of a cross-cultural environment while enhancing communication skills.


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← Poll: Going to the Board Meeting on Tuesday?
There was a full house if not a full quorum, as Trustee Don Nurge was away from town, at the November 8th 2011 BCSD Board of Trustees meeting. The monthly School Board meetings are a great place to learn first hand what is happening in our schools and in the district as a whole.
If a person can’t attend the actual meeting, all of the available webcasts are posted at blaineschools.org. It’s also a place to formally voice one’s opinions, concerns, and requests to the Trustees to be considered and responded to by these individuals who are entrusted with the oversight of our school district.
During last night’s meeting, Liv Jensen, Paul Hartzel, Erik Ruggeri, and Owen Scanlon each completed and submitted a “Request To Appear Before The Board” form prior to the start of the meeting. The Public Comment begins at 8:20 minutes into the webcast of the meeting.
Mr. Scanlon, an architect by profession, stated that we have lost an entire generation of architects due to lack of employment. He opined that perhaps this new math is just what we need and “maybe we should give it a go.” Each of these speakers full remarks are available for view in the webcast and their remarks will be included in the official minutes of the meeting.
At October’s School Board meeting, requests were made during the public comment time for independent legal review of BCSD compliance with School District Policy and Idaho Legal Code when purchasing the new math textbooks. In this month’s meeting, two agenda items addressed these requests.
Patricia McLean – Director of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, in her Curriculum Report gave a detailed review of the Math Textbook Adoption Process. Her full report begins at 49:42 minutes into the webcast of the meeting. Key points in her review include the exhaustive measures undertaken by the Math Task Force and Math Committee Members to search for and select textbooks. A primary criteria was that the texts prepare students for the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) assessment tests, which will be implemented in 2014. One of the concerns Blaine Parents have had is that these texts alone will not fully prepare students for the CCSS assessments. In her review, Ms. McLean stated that the School District recognizes the need for supplementation. She stated that Blaine County teachers are already experts with the subject matter that these texts leave out and that their expertise enables teachers to fill in the holes as needed. Ms. McLean and district staff are working toward creating a consistent math system throughout the county.
Of note in Ms. McLean’s review is the fact that Dr. Jon Brendefur, director of the Idaho Mathematics Initiative, will be coming back to Blaine County in just less than two weeks to further train teachers and to instruct parents at one of the Parent Math Nights district administrators promised to arrange. I am looking forward to hearing and learning from Dr. Brendefur again – as I’m sure many others are as well. A Parent Math Night is scheduled for Monday, November 21st.
Chairman Guthrie went on to address the request for independent legal review of BCSD compliance with Idaho Legal Code. The Board obtained two legal opinions, one from the Idaho Schoolboard Association and the other from their local counsel. Both opinions state that no violation of Idaho Code occurred. Both of these opinions are available upon request through Board Clerk, Laurie Kaufman.
Additional comment was then made by Trustees Kathryn Graves, Paul Bates, and Shawn Bennion. All the school Principals were in attendance and each was asked for his opinion on the current state of mathematics in Blaine County. These comments can be viewed in the webcast. Many of the parents and teachers in attendance then excused themselves from the rest of the meeting.
“It is my understanding that it is also District Policy to have a written curriculum before textbooks are adopted. I don’t understand why there is not yet a mathematics curriculum written. I speak as a parent who has been involved in my school, but has not been involved on a district level, so there’s probably something I’m missing. But I don’t understand why a curriculum is not yet written and why it was not written before the textbooks were adopted. It appears to me from my narrow perspective, from my very small view at Hailey Elementary that teachers floundered with the new materials because they had no new written curriculum and no benchmarks to aim toward. I respectfully request that in the future there be a written curriculum in a subject before textbooks are adopted.
I thanked the Trustees once more for the opportunity to speak, be heard and have concerns addressed. I thanked them for including the public to be part of the process.
Communication Goals – Heather Crocker, Communications Director.
All were of interest, especially the Woodside Elementary School Report, and I learned much at this meeting. I joined the Hailey PTA Board as a way to be involved and to better know what happens within the school. I plan to continue to attend School Board of Trustee meetings. Of course I’m interested in the education of my two children, and I’m also interested in the education of all the students in Blaine County. The education they receive now directly effects the adults they will become in the future. And who isn’t interested in the type of neighbors one will have?
I am tired of being misled from this repetitive statement “She stated that Blaine County teachers are already experts with the subject matter that these texts leave out and that their expertise enables teachers to fill in the holes as needed.” In my experience of observing and looking at the traditional math worksheets that come home as to “fill in the holes” are worksheets that the teacher does not go over, yet just handed to the students to complete in class or at home and these worksheets are remedial math practice sheets.
Nothing of traditional math is covered in class, and the remedial math worksheets are back a grade level. I have seen the documentation that Investigations math requires that no traditional math is to be taught! It is stated as a rule! Parents are being misled and don’t have time to worry about it because most parents are too busy working, some 2 jobs, just to stay alive in this struggling economy, they don’t have time to go to all these meetings and do their own research if this math curriculum is the right path. This Investigations math is not a bad math program, it is the way it was brought on, rushed, untrained, uninformed parents and teachers and the continuous misleading comments. If some teachers are getting the old textbooks out to continue filling in the holes then thank goodness for them, but not every teacher is doing this.
This Investigations would be a great additional course, in addition to the traditional math at a more aggressive pace. It seems if you teach both traditional and the new math then maybe the students would understand the traditional math faster and absorb it better at a more aggressive pace!! If you really want the parents and public to be involved and state their opinion then you should consider acting upon their requests and using their ideas so that we don’t feel like we are just blowing smoke to the wind.