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Diving in the Bahamas

With over 700 practically untouched islands, scuba diving in the Bahamas is most enjoyable on a liveaboard. Find Spanish galleons, blue holes, underwater caves and caverns bustling with marine life both large and small. Warm, clean waters bring a variety of sharks, whales sharks, groupers, rays, turtles and dolphins.

Scuba Diving in the Bahamas, a group of 700 pristine islands and nearly 2,500 cays where the Western Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea, is to experience scuba diving like no where else in the world. Find sunken Spanish galleons and proud maritime history, tidal blue holes, underwater caves and caverns and bustling reefs teeming with diverse marine life and big animal encounters with sharks and dolphins.

Bahamas scuba diving exposes you to the island nation’s famous warm, clean waters and prolific underwater habitat. Because the islands and dive sites can be spread out quite far, scuba diving liveaboards may be the best way to experience the underwater worlds of the Bahamas. Many of the top dive sites are too far to access by a single day boat tour.

Diving in the Bahamas FAQ

Things to know
  1. What marine life can I expect to see in the Bahamas?
  2. What are the best dive sites in the Bahamas?
  3. What's the best time to dive in the Bahamas?
  4. What's the recommended experience level for diving in the Bahamas?
  5. How do I get to the Bahamas?

What marine life can I expect to see in the Bahamas?

Scuba diving in the Bahamas has become a number-one destination for big animal encounters with each dive site bringing an opportunity to come face-to-face with 600 pound Goliath Grouper, 40 foot long whale sharks, spotted-eagle rays with wingspans of 6 feet and a variety of curious shark species. Vibrant coral reefs and walls are just the beginning as Bahamas dive sites will also expose you to a large variety of fish and invertebrates, conch, dolphins, rays and sea turtles as well as the invasive lionfish. The Bahamas is famous for its Hammerheads, bulls, tiger, lemon and reef sharks and became a shark sanctuary in 2011. “The March of the Spiny Lobsters” takes place a few times each year to divers delight. And no scuba diving trip to the Bahamas is complete without spotting the Nassau Grouper — the national fish of the Bahamas.

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What are the best dive sites in the Bahamas?

EXUMA CAYS: - Scuba diving in the Exuma Cays will reward divers with an intriguing combination of shallow reefs and colorful walls. The Exumas are an archipelago of 365 cays and islands 35 miles southeast of Nassau. Considered a unique geographical feature, diving in the Bahamas offers the only tidal blue hole experiences in the world such as the Angelfish Blue Hole off of Stocking Island where the crystal blue shallow waters turn to dark-turquoise almost instantly as the seafloor drops to 100 feet. At other Exuma dive sites, swift drifts may carry you along the vast beds of coral reefs bustling with large schools of brightly-colored fish. Find sharks lurking about while diving Amberjack Reef and don’t miss the Austin Smith wreck, the 400-foot Mystery Cave blue hole or Thunderball Grotto named for the James Bond film shot on location.

TIGER BEACH: - This shallow sand flat is the most reliably consistent spot in the Bahamas for shark encounters. An hour off the coast of the West End of Grand Bahama Island, this rarely visited area of the Bahamas allows for scuba diving exploration and passive shark observation at a relaxed pace. The shallow waters allow for great photo ops of Caribbean Reef sharks, Lemon Sharks, Hammerheads, Bull sharks, Oceanic whitetips and, of course, the Tiger sharks for which the dive site is named. Divers often encounter dolphins as well. Extra weight is often recommended on this dive to help divers anchor to the sandy bottom without churning it up and obstructing the view or rousing the sharks. Sharks are not an immediate threat to humans, however, they deserve a high level of respect and inexperienced divers may or may not be ready for the rush that comes with so many circling sharks.

AUSTIN SMITH WRECK: - Every wreck dive has a tale to tell. The Austin Smith, named for a Bahamian marine killed in a 1980 attack, was a 90-foot Bahamian Defense Force patrol decommissioned in 1995 and destined to become an artificial reef and dive destination off the coast of San Salvador. Unfortunately for San Salvador, the ship sank while being towed and now rests in 60 feet of water on a flat coral bottom off the coast of the Exuma Cays. Now abundant with marine life and astounding regrowth of brilliant corals and delicate sea fans and sponges, visibility typically reaches more than 100 feet. Marine life is expected to continue to thrive in the area thanks to the accidental mishap with the Austin Smith. Diving the Austin Smith is only possible by dive boat and mooring buoys help prevent any damage to the beautiful dive site by boat anchors.

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What's the best time to dive in the Bahamas?

The light blue waters of the Bahamas create a relaxing scuba diving experience. At 80 degrees Fahrenheit year-round and 340 days of annual sunshine, there is no bad time to explore the beautiful Bahamas, however, the summer months from June to October are considered hurricane season but do also ordinarily see the calmest seas. The dry season months from November to May could have slightly choppier waters but are considered the best dive season. Those susceptible to cold may enjoy visiting during the months of June to August when, generally, no wet suit is needed because of the warm water temperatures. February and March are most successful for bull and tiger shark sighting while April and May are most common for Oceanic whitetips.

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How do I get to the Bahamas?

The Lynden Pindling International Airport, located in the capital city of Nassau, is the largest airport. Freeport Grand Bahama International Airport on Grand Bahama and the George Town International Airport on Exuma also both receive several international flights. More than 50 smaller, domestic airports are scattered throughout the island cluster. Flights are most commonly available on Air Canada, Copa Airlines, British Airways and Caribbean Airlines as well as many American carriers such as American Airlines and JetBlue. Flights directed through the United States commonly leave from Atlanta, Georgia; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; or Miami, Florida.

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Legislation in Mississippi could close down state’s only abortion clinic

The State of Mississippi has one abortion clinic, which currently is in jeopardy due to legislation.

Photo credit: Stu Seeger on Flickr

This legislation adds the following provision:

All physicians associated with the abortion facility must have admitting privileges at a local hospital and staff privileges to replace local hospital on-staff physicians.  All physicians associated with an abortion facility must be board certified or eligible in obstetrics and gynecology, and a staff member trained in CPR shall always be present at the abortion facility when it is open.

This bill passed the house on March 13 and the Senate on April 4. While the bill certainly does not outlaw abortion on its face, it could effectively shut down Mississippi’s only abortion clinic. Governor Phil Bryant intends to sign the bill.

Senator Dean Kirby, chair of the Public Health and Welfare Committee, said, “This doesn’t make any reference as to whether abortions are legal or illegal in Mississippi. None at all. It just says you will be a board certified OB-GYN and have an admitting hospital.”

These measures will protect the medical well-being of women, something that Governor Bryant supports. “It is critically important, I think, to make sure we’ve got a certified physician there for that very complicated procedure, and if a complication does occur, that they have admission privileges or rights to a local hospital. … [I] Look forward to signing it.”

How can this legislation effectively shut down the abortion clinic? According to Fox News:

Diane Derzis, the owner of the clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, said its physicians are OB-GYN certified but only one has admitting privileges. She said clinic doctors live out of state because they have been stalked and threatened. And most hospitals will not grant such privileges to out-of-state physicians.

This is not the only pro-life legislation in Mississippi.  In fact, several pro-life bills have been recently introduced. Lt. Gov. Reeves voiced his support: “These are strong, common-sense pro-life bills that will not only end abortion in Mississippi but will enhance efforts to protect children from abuse[.] … I appreciate the hard work by these senators to shape laws that make Mississippi an even safer place for children.”

The Guttmacher Institute in Washington reports that 2,770 abortions were performed in Mississippi in 2008. When this bill is signed into law, children’s lives will be saved. Thank you, Mississippi, for standing up for the unborn!

What is Live Action News?

Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective. Learn More

Corrections or Questions

For corrections, or questions, please contact the editor at [email protected]

GUEST ARTICLES: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email [email protected] with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!

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Home >Technology >News >The rise of India's no-code developers

NEW DELHI : Early this year, Reeturaj Kamal, an entrepreneur based in Gwalior, had a brainwave. It might be a good idea, he thought, to create a local version of Urban Company, the app that allows you to book the services of electricians, cleaners and plumbers.

If the people of Gwalior are able to easily book and access such services, there would be demand for his app. There was a minor glitch, however. Kamal, who runs a tuition centre in the city, didn’t know how to code and was reluctant to spend on a developer as well.

“I’m not a computer engineer, but I know a few things about computers. I need to know some things for the coaching institute, like taking online classes etc," he said.

In a journey typical of many tech enthusiasts, Kamal took to the Internet to find a solution. And he found one, on YouTube, in the form of a platform called Appy Pie. He paid 1,499 to join the platform. Three days later, he was ready to publish a fully functional, albeit rudimentary, app on the Google Play Store, which services phones operating on the Android operating system. The app—Sab Kuchh Milega—is a simple platform that allows service providers to list their contact details, which users can then use to call them. It has services ranging from calling an auto-rickshaw to electricians, plumbers, water tanker services, water purifier repairs and more. Kamal said he’s working to add more services, and integrate new features, such as payments.

“There’s no need for coding here. You just follow the instructions and keep adding (the modules) you need," said Kamal, who spent two to three nights and finished building his app. The customer support team at Appy Pie helped him list the app on the Play Store. Between Appy Pie’s membership fees and Google’s Play Store publishing fees, he spent about 5,000 to get his app up and running.

Rise of no-code and low-code

Ed-tech platforms might tell you that your child needs to learn coding to become the next Mark Zuckerberg, but the tech industry itself is working to make coding obsolete. Appy Pie is just one amongst a plethora of new platforms that fall in the “low code" and “no code" industry. The trend is not new. But the extent of capabilities and sophistication of the tools are.

Content platforms such as Wordpress have long helped writers publish online without knowing any HTML coding. Web development platforms with WYSWYG (what you see is what you get) editors, such as Wix, came next, allowing anyone to build and publish a full-fledged website. Platforms specific to use cases, such as Shopify, which allows anyone to set up an e-commerce platform, have also become big. And now, platforms that allow anyone to develop, publish and manage apps with no knowledge of computer code are gaining traction. The evolution of this space and the forces it will unleash will have consequences for web developers, tech companies and indeed anyone who wishes to publish an app.

Appy Pie, for instance, is a no-code platform, which means you require no coding knowledge to build an app. A low-code platform is slightly more complex and companies running such platforms usually offer additional developer support to take care of the technical aspects of app building. But both have one central goal—push the complexities of coding under the hood and make app development as intuitive as every-day computer functions such as drag and drop, copy-paste. Do you want to choose the background of your app? Just pick the colour you like from a palette. No need to meddle with cascading style sheets (CSS). Do you need a payment mechanism set up? Just drag and drop a module, and so on.

Numerous such platforms have now come up. These include Bubble, Webflow, Glide, Makerpad, and Thunkable, among several others.

“When someone writes code, they have to understand the syntax of the (programming) language, how to use various principles of that language, and so on," said Gautam Nimmagadda, Founder and CEO of Quixy, another home-grown no-code platform. “In a no-code platform, if you know the output you desire, and the process that you want to be followed for that output, you’ll be able to build (the app) through a process of drag-and-drop and selections," he added.

These platforms represent the latest in the evolution of one of the earliest breakthroughs in the world of computing—the graphical user interface (GUI), an innovation that enabled the personal computing revolution. The buttons, links, icons, etc. that we click or tap on are all examples of a GUI. Whenever we click on something, a complex program is executed under the hood. The GUI just eliminates the need for the user to write those codes or commands.

“Our (platform’s) essence was primarily to add these different building blocks, which a person can actually drag-and-drop and combine," said Abhinav Girdhar, founder of Appy Pie. “In our game, when a person is able to create an app and installs it on their phone, that’s the ah-ha moment for them," he added. In February 2021, Gartner projected a 22.6% growth for the low-code development technologies market over 2020, rising to $13.8 billion by the end of the year.

“Low-code application development is not new, but a confluence of digital disruptions, hyper automation and the ‘composable business’ has led to an influx of tools and rising demand," wrote Fabrizio Biscotti, research vice president at market research firm Gartner, in the February 2021 report. The rise of the trend has also been helped along by the pandemic and the need for businesses to shift to remote operations as well. For instance, many restaurants seeking to avoid the hefty fees that delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy charge, want to build their own platforms. In April this year, Girdhar was seeing $2 million worth of transactions on Appy Pie’s restaurant platform, he says.

Girdhar says Appy Pie grew by about 85% in terms of revenue last year, and expects to grow by another 60% this year. Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs account for 90% of its customers. Gartner’s report predicted that half of all new low-code clients will come from business buyers that are outside the IT function by end-2025.

“The economic consequences of the covid-19 pandemic have validated the low-code value proposition," said Biscotti. “Low-code capabilities that support remote work functions, such as digital forms and workflow automation, will be offered with more elastic pricing since they will be required to keep the lights running," he added.

But these platforms have their limitations too. No one platform can fulfil every user’s requirement. And for sophisticated app development and refined user experience, there is still no replacement for proprietary code. But the speed at which the capabilities of such platforms are evolving is what makes the space worth watching. “Every no-code platform in the world is evolving, and at a rapid pace, because of the kind of demand we’re seeing. Not every feature that is desired is possible on no-code platform(s), so the idea everyone has is to solve most of the problems businesses have," said Quixy’s Nimmagadda.

Integration with other services is a big part of solving for functionality. Girdhar said his platform is already integrating tools built by firms such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Salesforce. These allow developers to integrate features and services that no-code platforms can’t necessarily provide on their own.

Further, platforms have their own development queues as well, and keep adding features that their customers are asking for. The idea is to focus on abstracting as much of the coding from the app development process as they can. Quixy for instance, is focused on B2B use cases, while Appy Pie’s Girdhar said his platform is driven by small and medium sized entrepreneurs.

But being driven by small businesses doesn’t mean big ones don’t see value in such platforms either. A large US-based footwear firm used Appy Pie to create a marathon app for its employees, while the National Health Services (NHS) in the United Kingdom has also used the platform for internal purposes, Girdhar said.

Low-code platforms

While individuals may depend on no-code platforms to provide for the lack of coding skills, businesses don’t have that problem. Businesses therefore depend more on low-code platforms, which still require a little bit of technical knowledge. Having low-code platforms allows them to reduce cost and decrease time to market.

“We want a solution which is fast to market, fast to deliver value and has easy integration. If we developed these solutions by ourselves since we have the tech capabilities, it will take us a lot of time before we see the end goals," said Kumar Digvijay Singh, vice president, technology, at Innoviti Payments Solutions. “That is where these (low-code) platforms come into the picture. They have great UX/UI readily available, which the teams can use, and with a little modification they can fit in with our existing systems," he added.

Innoviti Payments Solutions provides payments solutions to merchants. Its clients include Reliance Retail, Titan, INOX, Indigo, Walmart and more. On June 15, the company said its low-code solutions will be able to onboard 100,000 local mobile dealers in the next three months, which would give it over 50% market share in that segment.

Innoviti wanted to build systems like zero-cost EMI, buy-now-pay-later and more into the offline payment terminals that its solutions power. Through traditional means, it would take the company two weeks to a month to configure them into all the payment terminals that use its solutions. A low-code platform achieved the same in two to three days, said Singh.

On May 26, Microsoft said it had used one of the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) programs available today to create a low-code programming tool for its customers.

The product, which is called Power App Ideas, was built using the General Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT-3) AI model developed by research company OpenAI. It allows users to simply write down what they want to do into a text box, with the AI suggesting the commands they would need for it.

Deepak Pargaonkar, vice president, solution engineering at Salesforce, said that people aren’t looking for complex development cycles anymore. He said that building low-code platforms is a natural progression for what tech companies have been doing so far.

Salesforce, a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) tools, also added low-code development tools to its next generation platform.

Templated experience

The growth of low-code and no-code platforms is also fuelled by two distinct trends in software development—one on the front-end and the other at the back-end. On the front end, platforms in certain categories tend to mimic each others’ architecture and functionalities. Food delivery apps, e-commerce apps, streaming apps and news apps all have a degree of sameness. This makes it easy to build templates for these categories. On the back-end, the rise of code repositories such as Github has meant that a lot of software development for a while has involved borrowing standard code blocks. Much of the work of a software developer is to integrate blocks of code written by others into a framework that suits the need of the present application.

Does this mean software developers will soon be obsolete? That’s a complex question. People don’t need engineers to develop apps for them anymore, but Salesforce’s Pargaonkar pointed out that businesses will still need to build the technology behind these low-code and no-code platforms. Just like companies hire employees who specialize in Salesforce’s platform and SAP’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, they might hire employees who specialize in specific low-code platforms.

But any innovation that goes beyond the bounds of established norms will still require human intervention and can’t really be automated. Advanced technologies such as blockchain, AI and more will require talented engineers to come up with true innovation, but for everyone else, there’s a platform. You may be able to build your own Facebook, but you will never be able to replicate its powerful AI algorithms using low-code tools.

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Cleopatra: Facts & Biography

A marble bust of Cleopatra
A marble bust of Cleopatra is on display in the Altes Museum in Berlin, Germany. (Image credit: Marcus Cyron / Creative Commons.)

Cleopatra VII, often simply called “Cleopatra,” was the last of a series of rulers called the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years. She was also the last true pharaoh of Egypt. Cleopatra ruled an empire that included Egypt, Cyprus, part of modern-day Libya and other territories in the Middle East.

Modern-day depictions of her tend to depict a woman of great physical beauty and seductive skills — indeed, her romantic involvements with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony have been immortalized in art, music and literature for centuries. However, a number of ancient records, as well as recent historical research, tell a different story. Rather than some sort of sex kitten, they tell of an intelligent, multilingual, female ruler who affirmed her right to rule Egypt and other territories.

Her “own beauty, as they say, was not, in and of itself, completely incomparable, nor was it the sort that would astound those who saw her; but interaction with her was captivating, and her appearance, along with her persuasiveness in discussion and her character that accompanied every interchange, was stimulating,” wrote Plutarch, a philosopher who lived A.D. 46-120 (Translation by Prudence Jones).

“Cleopatra was no mere sexual predator, and certainly no plaything of Caesar,” writes Erich Gruen, a professor emeritus of history at University of California Berkeley, in an article in the book “Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited” (University of California Press, 2011).

“She was queen of Egypt, Cyrene and Cyprus, heir to the long and proud dynasty of the Ptolemies … a passionate but also very astute woman who had maneuvered Rome – and would maneuver Rome again – into advancing the interests of the Ptolematic legacy.”

A troubled dynasty

Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. into a troubled royal dynasty. The Ptolemies were descended from a Macedonian general who had served under Alexander the Great. Although they had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, their kingdom was eclipsed by the power of Rome and there was a great deal of internal dissension that eventually led to Cleopatra fighting against her own brother.

Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII and a mother whose identity we do not know. Ptolemy XII (reign 80-58 B.C.) was under a great deal of pressure from the Romans and struggled to hold onto power.

“Ptolemy XII was heavily dependent upon the Romans and as their ‘friendship’ put an increased strain upon the Egyptian economy, his rule came under increasing scrutiny from the Egyptian elite,” writes Sally-Ann Ashton, a keeper at the University of Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, in her book “Cleopatra and Egypt” (Blackwell Publishing, 2008). In 58 B.C., Ptolemy XII was exiled and a woman named “Cleopatra Tryphaena” (a different Cleopatra) became ruler of Egypt, dying not long afterwards. She was succeeded by another woman named Berenice IV.

In 55 B.C., with the support of the Romans, Ptolemy XII was put back on the throne and took his 17-year-old daughter Cleopatra (VII) as his co-ruler. After the king died in 51 B.C., he said in his will that Cleopatra should share the throne with her brother (and husband) Ptolemy XIII.

Ptolemy XIII and his advisers refused to acknowledge this arrangement and fighting broke out between them, with Cleopatra being forced to flee the royal palace. It would be Julius Caesar who helped Cleopatra regain her throne.

Caesar and Cleopatra

Caesar was about 30 years older than Cleopatra, and his arrival in Egypt was something of an accident. He had been fighting a civil war against the Roman general Pompey.

After a series of defeats, Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 B.C., hoping to win support from Ptolemy XIII. The young pharaoh decided that Pompey was more trouble than he was worth and had him executed.

When Caesar landed with a small body of troops in Alexandria, he was presented with Pompey’s head — something that he was said to be unhappy about. For reasons lost to history, Caesar decided to stay in Egypt and deal with the dispute between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra. It could be because Rome depended on Egypt for its grain supplies and a stable Egypt was seen by Caesar as being in Rome’s interest.

Ptolemy XIII tried to convince Caesar to acknowledge him as sole ruler of Egypt and barred Cleopatra from seeing him. Cleopatra, however, managed to sneak into the palace in Alexandria and successfully plead her case to Caesar, something that surprised and enraged Ptolemy XIII.

“Ptolemy XIII had gone to bed that night a happy lad, secure in the knowledge that his sister, trapped at Pelusium, would be unable to plead her case before Caesar,” writes Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley in her book “Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt” (Profile Books, 2008).

“He woke up the next morning to find that his sister had somehow arrived at the palace. She was already on the most intimate of terms with Caesar and had managed to persuade him to support her cause,” she writes.

“It was all too much for a thirteen-year-old boy to bear. Rushing from the palace he ripped off his diadem and, in a well-orchestrated public display of anger, the crowd surged forward, intent on mobbing the palace.” However, “Caesar would not be intimidated. Before a formal assembly he read out (Ptolemy XII’s) will, making it clear that he expected the elder brother and sister to rule Egypt together.”

Caesar had saved Cleopatra and returned her to power. The two became intimate and had a son known as Caesarion (although Caesar was said to have been hesitant to acknowledge that the child was his). Ptolemy XIII later died in a failed rebellion and was replaced as co-ruler by his and Cleopatra's younger brother Ptolemy XIV, who Cleopatra would eventually have killed. Cleopatra also had her sister Arsinoe IV killed.

Being the mother of Caesar’s son gave Cleopatra greater power, and the child became Cleopatra’s co-ruler.

“With a son by her side, Cleopatra VII could abandon any thought she might have had of adopting the role of a female king and could develop instead a powerful new identity as a semi-divine mother: an identity that had the huge advantage of being instantly recognisable to both her Egyptian and her Greek subjects,” writes Tyldesley.

Cleopatra had already become a goddess toward the end of her father’s reign. “But now she was to be specifically identified with Egypt’s most famous single mother, the goddess Isis.”

A relief of Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, is carved into the Temple of Dendera. (Image credit: Public domain.)

Antony and Cleopatra

With the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. on the Ides of March, Cleopatra found herself in an awkward position. Ancient writers say that she was in Rome when the assassination occurred and she quickly returned to Egypt.

A civil war broke out between forces led by Antony and Octavian against those who had organized Caesar’s assassination. After they prevailed, Octavian, renamed Augustus Caesar, ruled the western half of the empire while Antony controlled the east.

After Antony took power in the east, he summoned Cleopatra to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) to question why she had not given support to his troops while they were fighting Caesar’s assassins.

Cleopatra said that she had assembled a fleet to attack the assassins but it could not reach the battlefield in time.

“Antony, struck by her intelligence as well as her appearance, was captivated by her as if he were a young lad, although he was forty years old,” wrote Appian, who lived in the second century A.D. (translation by Prudence Jones). “The acute interest Antony had once shown in all things suddenly dulled; whatever Cleopatra dictated was done, without regard for the laws of man or nature.”

Battle of Actium

In the years leading up to the Battle of Actium, Antony and Cleopatra forged a close bond and had three children together, including the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene in 40 B.C.

Meanwhile, relations between Antony and Octavian frayed and the two gradually slid into a civil war. In 32 B.C., the two officially went to war, with Octavian putting much of the blame, rightly or wrongly, on Cleopatra.

The leaders in Rome “voted to pardon and praise his (Antony’s) supporters if they would desert him, and they unequivocally declared war on Cleopatra,” wrote Cassius Dio who lived A.D. 155-235. (Translation by Prudence Jones)

At “the temple of Bellona, they performed all the rites for declaring war according to custom, with Octavian acting as priest. In word, war was declared on Cleopatra, but in fact the declaration was aimed at Antony.”

Although Antony held a numerical advantage on land, the war was decided on the sea and ultimately by an engagement fought near Actium in 31 B.C. on the Ionian Sea. What happened during the battle is a mystery. Ancient sources claim that Octavian and Antony were at a standstill when Cleopatra, for some reason, fled the battle, leading to Antony’s forces being routed. Whether this is true or not is unknown.

Ancient writers say that while Antony’s ships were heavier and could hold more troops, Octavian’s ships could maneuver better and had more experienced crews.

Death of Cleopatra

The battle sealed Antony and Cleopatra’s fate. With Octavian in control of the sea, he landed troops in Egypt and marched on Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Although Antony managed to win a minor battle on land, he and Cleopatra were essentially trapped.

Antony, hearing falsely that Cleopatra had killed herself, decided to kill himself. According to Plutarch, Antony said of Cleopatra that “I am not pained to be bereft of you, for at once I will be where you are, but it does pain me that I, as a commander, am revealed to be inferior to a woman in courage.” He stabbed himself but he did not die right away. Instead, he was found wounded and taken to Cleopatra, where he would die with her.

“When she received him into the mausoleum and laid him on a couch, she tore her clothing over him, beat her breast and scratched it with her hands, covered her face with his blood, called him her husband and master, and almost forgot her own misfortunes as she pitied his,” wrote Plutarch.

When Octavian entered the city, Cleopatra tried to reason with him; however, it became apparent that she would be taken to Rome and paraded as a sort of war trophy, a fate she found intolerable.

After two failed attempts to commit suicide “she dressed herself in her richest attire, as was her custom, and settled herself next to her Antony in a sarcophagus filled with aromatic perfumes. She then put snakes to her veins and slipped into death as if into sleep,” wrote Florus in the second century A.D. (Translation by Prudence Jones).

The tomb and bodies of Cleopatra and Antony have never been found. Even if Antony and Cleopatra were allowed a proper burial it was common for tombs to be plundered in antiquity.

It's a love story so epic that Shakespeare saw it fit to be the subject of one of his tragedies. They met in 41 B.C. at the height of turmoil in the Roman Republic; she, an Egyptian queen, seduced him, a powerful (and already married) general, into a romantic and tenuous political alliance between their territories. The alliance would prove sour when future emperor Octavian convinced the Roman senate that Marc Antony was power-hungry and bewitched by Cleopatra, declaring war on his former partner in 31 B.C. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide during the war rather than be captured. (Image credit: Artist: Lawrence Alma-Tadema)

Her children's fates

Octavian had Caesarion killed but spared the lives of the three children Cleopatra had with Antony. They were sent to live with Octavia, the sister of Octavian, who at one point was married to Antony.

While two of them died in childhood, a third, Cleopatra Selene, survived and was married to Juba II, a protégé of Octavian who became ruler of Numidia, a client kingdom of Rome in northwest Africa in what is now Algeria. She brought Egyptian art as well as Greek language and culture to that kingdom.

The last pharaoh?

Although Cleopatra is often considered to be the last of the Egyptian pharaohs, we know from ancient inscriptions and art that the priests of Egypt did not believe this.

In 2010, researchers reported that a stele erected at the Temple of Isis at Philae in 29 B.C. has Octavian’s name written in a cartouche, an honor reserved for a pharaoh. Future Roman emperors (such as Claudius) would also be depicted as pharaohs in Egypt.

Although Cleopatra was dead, and her dynasty was at an end, Egyptian priests refused to let go of the idea that Egypt had a pharaoh as ruler, even though the country was being incorporated into the Roman Empire as a province.

“(The priests) had to have an acting pharaoh, and the only acting pharaoh (possible) under Octavian was Octavian,” said Martina Minas-Nerpel, a reader at Swansea University, in an interview that was published in The Independent newspaper. “The priests needed to see him as a pharaoh; otherwise, their understanding of the world would have collapsed.”

Was Cleopatra black?

Scholars are not certain of Cleopatra's appearance, and the question of whether she was black is an open one. The identity of Cleopatra's mother and paternal grandmother is uncertain.

"Cleopatra was of course part Greek, but it must also be noted that the suggestion she was part African is not based on wishful fantasy alone but on the fact that we do not know the identity of the mother of Ptolemy XII (Cleopatra's father)." writes Sally-Ann Ashton in her book.

Owen Jarus

Owen Jarus
Owen Jarus writes about archaeology and all things about humans' past for Live Science. Owen has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto and a journalism degree from Ryerson University. He enjoys reading about new research and is always looking for a new historical tale.


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António Lobo Antunes makes his return to Porto to converse about his literary works

Livraria Lello has the honour of opening its 2020 Author of the Month programming with one of the most renowned names in Portuguese literature.

António Lobo Antunes appears at Livraria Lello on 15 February to converse with João Luís Barreto Guimarães, the Porto poet and plastic surgeon, about his works and literary career that now stretches back over four decades. At the end, there is an autograph session.

The author of Memória de Elefante and O Cus de Judas thus makes his return to Porto, a city that he has not visited for some years.

António Lobo Antunes has a vast portfolio of published novels and five volumes that bring together the opinion articles published weekly in Visão magazine. It was for his literary works that he has picked up various awards, including the Camões Prize in 2007, considered the most prestigious honour in Portuguese literature. In addition to his highly successful literary activities, he graduated in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon before being called up as a military doctor and serving in the colonial war in eastern Angola between 1971 and 1973. He then specialised in Psychiatry.

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ožujak 2020

UPDATE 2020-03-16

OUR GOAL: “To secure health and help keep the economy running!"

In brief:

- All companies of the WALTER GROUP will continue operations!
- All of our staff can be reached as usual by email and (mobile) phone!

- We take the necessary measures to ensure health and safety of our employees and business    partners!

The WALTER GROUP has a strict business continuity programme for such situations which is part of our SHEQ (Safety Health Environment Quality) crisis management set-up. We follow the guidance provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and national authorities such as the Foreign and Interior Ministries in Austria. We obey and try to exceed any restrictions imposed and take the necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of our employees and business partners. Our organisation is prepared to work from home; remote working areas (ie. home office) have already been implemented.

LKW WALTER still organises full truck load transport by road and Combined Transport throughout Europe and to/from Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and vice versa. Due to constantly external changing factors (governmental measures, driving bans, waiting time at borders etc.), we ask for your understanding that variations in service levels, longer transit times and price volatilities are possible.

The situation is dynamic and developing day-by-day. We will do our outmost to maintain operations as close to normal as possible. Many thanks to all our staff and the drivers for their extraordinary commitment and performance in this unprecedented situation! Keep well and fit!

Management board of the WALTER GROUP Holding AG


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Porto city guide and local travel tips

Porto, Portugal

Welcome to Porto! A vibrant city of picturesque streets, grey buildings, honest smiles and romantic aura.

Porto, still sometimes known in English as Oporto, is not only the second largest city in Portugal but also a city of great historical past and listed as UNESCO’s World Heritage. The narrow and labyrinthine streets of the old city centre will take you back in time while the cool and vintage neighborhoods will make you discover the new trends and the unique atmosphere of this historical yet modern city.

Winner of the “Best European Destination Award” in 2012, Porto is a city of contrasts: authentic and historical in its legacy, traditional and cosmopolitan in its attitude, adventurous and warm in its spirit. This is the city made famous by its nectar: the Port Wine.

Explore! The sinuous alleys of the old city centre where clothes hang on the balconies, colouring your walk. The cool and hip neighborhood where designers set new trends. The legacy of Portuguese explorers and the works of art of modern and contemporary artists. The picturesque streets where people smile and greet you when you walk past. And, of course, the seaside and the Atlantic views.

Porto Travel Guide

getting to porto   porto where to sleep   porto restaurants cafes
porto nightlife   porto what to see and do   porto museums and heritage
   transports in porto   porto travel info

Porto Tours and Experiencies


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Group home resident accused in attacks has violent past

Steve Lieberman
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A 23-year-old man accused of sexually attacking a fellow resident at a group home for people with mental illness then trying to blow the house up had other violence in his past.

Ethan Jiminez-Colon

Ethan Jimenez-Colon, who described himself as a rapper named "Etho the Destroyer" online and in social media, spent four months in state prison for felony assault more than a year ago after violating his initial probationary sentence.

Thomas Zimmerman, the chief operating officer for Loeb House, which operates the group home, said the placement of a parolee at a group home is not unusual and takes place after the person is evaluated by a team of mental health experts from the involved agency and law enforcement representatives like probation officials.

In this case, the evaluators found Jimenez-Colon could live in a group home setting after being released from the Fishkill Correctional Facility, and he was placed at Lukens House at 78 Demarest Road in West Nyack.

"We feel terrible about the whole situation," Zimmerman said. "Thank God, the most worst thing didn't happen."

Zimmerman said he could not discuss Jimenez-Colon's specific case but agencies like Loeb House, which is licensed by the state Office of Mental Health and has a contract with Rockland County, face a juggling act when deciding whether to serve people with mental illnesses who have criminal histories.

"This is where all providers struggle," Zimmerman said. "A lot of these individuals have histories from the legal system. We accept people who don't have a severe history of violence. They cannot be a threat to themselves or other people."

Zimmerman said Jimenez-Colon's arrest has Loeb House re-evaluating its procedures with such placements.

A state Office of Mental Health spokesman, Benjamin Rosen, said he could not discuss Jimenez-Colon's case, citing state and federal privacy laws. However, he said, the state Justice Center and the Office of Mental Health "may undertake investigatory actions and require a provider to take appropriate and immediate action to protect the safety of individuals under their care."

In Jimenez-Colon's case, a Rockland County indictment handed up Wednesday accuses him of breaking into a female resident's bedroom through a window and attempting to rape her on May 28 between midnight and 5 a.m. The next night he is accused of sexually assaulting her, then turning on four stove burners and lighting the oven in an attempt to blow up the house. The 23-count indictment includes 13 counts of attempted murder because 10 residents and three Loeb House staff members were inside the house.

Jimenez-Colon is being held without bail in the county jail.

He was convicted of second-degree assault in Rockland in 2011 for punching another person during a fight and was placed on five years probation. He was sent to state prison Nov. 2, 2012, for a maximum of two years for violating probation on the assault charge and was released March 5, 2013, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Jimenez-Colon boasted about his nine months of sobriety in an April 27 Facebook post.

He wrote: "All i know is that I'm happy and thats all that matters. I haven't had this much control over my life in a while and i know I'm not above others for my choice but i don't plan on ever going back to the stupid decisions i did in the past."

On May 10, he wrote that "shooting a gun is really fun."

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How can you help your child improve their academic performance?

All children are curious about the world and love to learn. But the teaching methods may not suit them. Some, more and more numerous, do not follow this inevitable rhythm: they like to learn, but not continuously. Others, champions of computer technology or fans of television documentaries, are bored at school! All of these suffer from being constantly put in difficulty. Because of their poor school results, they feel devalued, including in relation to their family. The role of parents is to reassure them to help them overcome a temporary failure.

Spend time on homework

Often, due to a lack of good organization, students have the feeling that the school never leaves them: as soon as they have finished an assignment, another one comes up. And since they only want to go and play, they don’t really focus on what they’re doing… So they spend three times as much time there as necessary. Teach them to estimate the time it actually takes for them to do their homework correctly. Thus, they will discover with pleasure that their evenings and weekends are no longer entirely devoted to school tasks.

Finding the right way of working

You can’t get good grades if you don’t know your lessons! However, most children do not know how to do it … It’s up to you to help your child to discover which memory is his  :

Auditory (he remembers when reading aloud);

Visual (by looking);

Scriptural (by copying).

He will choose the method which is most suitable for him and will regain confidence in his intellectual capacities.

Some children, claiming that what they are studying is difficult, ask for the assistance of a parent, as if the latter were going to learn for them! It’s a way to stay small. But just as a child dresses alone, washes, or eats by himself, he must gradually acquire his autonomy in school work.

Restore self-confidence

Very often, the improvement of a child’s emotional relations with his parents but also with his teacher (s) transforms a situation that seemed blocked. So don’t hesitate to meet the teachers.

If in-class your child lacks self-confidence, he counts on you to encourage him with positive words. Be careful not to set your requirements too high.

There are several practical solutions you can use:

Supervised and supervised studies: the children do their work in the presence of an adult capable of helping them, and of explaining what has not been understood in class;

Home support: sometimes the presence of an ib tutor who supervises the school work helps the child. The difficulties disappear when the explanation is exclusively intended for him;

Speech therapist: certain blockages in relation to numbers or reading are overcome with a few speech therapy sessions, chosen in agreement with the child;

Psychotherapy: The use of a psychotherapist may be necessary when the child has lost his bearings and panics before any new task to accomplish.

Each case is to be treated separately. The important thing is that your child does not take himself for the dunce of the class. Do not forget to congratulate him from time to time and to remind him often of the esteem you have for him!


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Knights Inn London

COVID-19 Info: Given the rapid change with COVID-19 (Coronavirus), we recommend that you check with businesses directly regarding their most up to date operations. Health officials continue to be the best source of information during this time. We encourage you to follow @MLHealthUnit on Facebook and Twitter for up to date information and visit their website:
If you are a business or employee, we have compiled some helpful information and resources found here

Knights Inn London

  • Telephone: 519-451-5840
  • Toll Free: 800-843-5644
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London
  • Knights Inn London

Please check with individual businesses directly for their current operations that might be temporarily changed due to circumstances surrounding COVID-19.

Knights Inn London is a pet-friendly property, offering many budget-friendly amenities like free daily continental breakfast, free Wi-Fi, 24-hour front desk service, guest laundry facilities and free parking. Guest rooms feature a 32-inch flat-screen LCD TV, microwave and mini-refrigerator, and adjoining rooms and suites with jetted hot tubs.

Other Amenities include:

  • Toilet paper
  • Towels
  • Private bathroom
  • Toilet
  • Free toiletries

  • Alarm clock

  • Microwave
  • Refrigerator

Media & Technology

  • Cable Channels
  • Telephone
  • TV

  • Vending machine (drinks)
  • Wake-up service
  • Fax/photocopying(Additional charge)
  • Laundry (Additional charge)
  • Wake Up Service/Alarm Clock
  • 24-hour front desk

  • Air conditioning
  • Heating
  • Private entrance
  • Carpeted
  • Family rooms

  • Amenities:

    • 24-Hour Front Desk
    • Complimentary Breakfast
    • High Speed Internet Access
    • Pet Friendly
  • Accessibility:

    • Wheelchair Accessible
    • This facility is wheelchair accessible

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HK Army KLR Goggle - Blackout White

We have run out of stock for this item.

The HK Army KLR Goggle system is the most comfortable, innovative, and customizable goggle in the history of paintball. The KLR Goggle system features an optically correct, high-definition, UV\IR shielded dual-pane thermal lens, dual-density overmolded face shield, PVTLock quick-change lens retention system (Patent Pending), and high-density compression molded earpieces.

Composed of a robust blend of thermoplastic elastomer, the design of the KLR facemask protects critical areas of the user, while still promoting supreme breathability and freedom of movement. Featuring three co-molded HDPE inserts, the KLR Goggle System can be customized to fit any customer's aesthetic desires.


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Skip to main content

Boeshield T-9 Lubricant

Boeshield T-9 Lubricant
  • Size: 12oz aerosol
  • Size: 1oz drip
  • Size: 4oz aerosol
  • Size: 4oz drip
$3.99 - $18.99
Please select options
*IMPORTANT Please Note: Warehouse products typically arrive within 3 business days. Add items to cart to see fulfillment options. Once order is placed, you'll be notified when products are ready for pickup, have shipped or to arrange delivery. We are currently offering curbside pickup, free bike delivery & free shipping on orders over $50.

- Developed by the Boeing company for lubrication and protection of aircraft components
- Dries to a thin waxy film that clings to metal for months
- Law prohibits ORM-D materials from shipping by air

Part Numbers

Option UPC MPN Store SKU
12oz aerosol 738481900129 T90012 BOE3783865L
1oz drip 738481900013 T90001 BOE33218840P
4oz aerosol 738481900044 T90004 BOE36141157L
4oz drip 738481901041 T90104 LUB33392266Z


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After hitting heavy with heads-on the first Boom Bap Archives sample set, the Sonic Mechanics fam are back with their second instalment. Like Vol.1, they've linked up with beatmaker, Cousteau, who once again gets low with his '90s inspired hip-hop stylings. More dope loops, patches, hits, and SP and MPC drama this time around, as his dusty crates get mined for choice sample fodder. And more of that Dilla swagger, as he busts out his classic hardware setup to give you that crunchy funk he's known for, over 2.15GB including 226 WAV loops and a staggering 305 one shots for your sampler. Classic material for days, then.

Future Music Magazine Verdict

Original Source Future Music Magazine

Instruments Effects And More

Hundreds Of Plugins Exclusive Deals Leading Online Shop

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Lorient Gift is a treasure trove of pretty presents from handbags to accessories, to home ware & giftware.

Located on the Main Street of Greystones in beautiful  County Wicklow..

Featured Collection !

"Wonderful shop with really creative gifts. The customer service is really good although you buy online. Thanks for everything!!"

Cristina Crespo - Google Review

"Fabulous gift shop especially if you want something unusual."

Finola Brady - Google Review

A lovely gem. You"ll definitely find something . Great selection and excellent price point."

Bronagh Bonner - Facebook


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I joined the ranks yesterday and started a facebook page.  I admit I don't really know how to use it or what I am doing, but it is time I learned.   I have found people I seldom to never see anymore so it is nice to see some of hte things they are doing.  I am still seeking comments on my web site.   I find the suggestions helpful even if you don't see your suggestion fixed right away.

Leave a Reply.


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Happy 2014! -- Have you set your goals?

Do you know your goals?It is so hard to believe, but the last moments of 2013 are behind us.  The reality is that each day we start over with 24 hours and have the opportunity to make choices to better our lives each day.  However, it seems that at the beginning of a new year, we reflect just a bit harder.  I'm fine with that.  If you've ever been out to dinner with me, you know that I've got a soft spot for restaurant servers and bartenders.  Many moons ago, I used to be one.

I'll tell you how long ago it was.  I used to work at Applebees inside of Mall St. Matthews.  Which doesn't even exist anymore.  It was a great experience.  I was fairly shy and it was the type of job that forced me to talk to people.  The other servers were all very welcoming and friendly and I'm still in contact with several of them to this day.  While there I had a manger named Gill who challenged me at the beginning of every shift to set my goals.  How much in tips did I want to generate?  Gill knew that by setting a goal, I would set an attitude and a work ethic for the night.  I would have a measuring stick to determine if I had a successful night or not.  I would have a finish line to strive for... I would know which direction to kick the ball!

In most of my endeavors I brought the goal making mantra with me.  I no longer make daily goals, but monthly and yearly goals are still part of my routine.  But I stopped holding myself accountable to the goals.  The list was too loose.  It had no teeth.  If I didn't reach a goal, I just carried it over to the next month.  Or worse, the following year.  Part of the reason for that is I was missing Gill.  I'm self employed.  There is no one else for me to report to.  Gill isn't there anymore to remind me to stay focused and keep my eye on the prize.

My wife and I sat down the other day and created goals in 7 different categories.

  1. Professional Development : How can I become better at my job?
  2. Financial : How much do we want to earn and contribute to savings?
  3. Health and Wellness : How can I become healthier?
  4. Relationships : How can I strengthen my relationships with my family, friends and spouse?
  5. Personal Growth :  How can I be a better and happier person?
  6. Spiritual : How can I grow spiritually?
  7. The Home : What projects need completing that will increase our quality of life?

I won't bore you with all of my goals, but I wanted to share with you the categories that we used.  I'd encourage you to sit down and create your own set of goals for the new year.  One thing I'm trying new this year is placing my goals as my desktop background so that I see them each day.  I'm also going to organize an accountability group.  I know I have lots of friends who wouldn't mind giving me a ring and asking me how I'm doing on my goals.  I plan to do the same for them and others.

Finish Line Realty has its own set of goals.  The three most important and public include.

1.  Like my buddy Jason Falls - I want to write and share more with you.  The adage that the three things that matter in property: location, location, location is so entirely true.  National media can't begin to scratch the surface and share what is happening here in our local market.  Even our local media has trouble zeroing in on things besides the numbers and how they relate nationally.

2.  We're bringing in more agents.  For the past 2.5 years we've been working behind the scenes generating systems, marketing tools ( like our text message system, websites, etc ), and building a brand that other agents can be proud off.  2014 is the year that we invite other agents to see the benefits of aligning themselves with us.  Interested?  Get in touch!

3.   You're going to see some video from us.  I'd like to say you will see a lot of video from us, but I want to be realistic.  Approaching a new medium means we should probably wade into the process slowly and get our feet wet first.

Have a safe and prosperous new year one and all!

To close, I'll leave you with a sneak peek  -- here is our intro video that we've developed!

Post a Comment


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American Airlines Admirals Club

LAXTerminal 4 (Inside Security)

Enjoy personalized service, comfort and exceptional amenities. The ability to stretch out. To unfetter. To peel away. Treat an Admirals Club lounge as an oasis of peace - away from all of the airport hustle.

Top Complimentary Amenities

Spirits & Liquor
Beer & Wine
Flight Monitors
View more amenities

Important Information

  • The Admirals Club adheres to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and uses enhanced cleaning measures. A face covering is required, but can be removed to eat or drink. Capacity and offerings may be limited due to CDC guidelines or local orders or restrictions. Modified food and drink service includes: complimentary pre-packaged snacks, disposable single-use glassware, full-service bar, touchless menus with signage and QR codes (physical menus will be available upon request), self-serve areas will remain closed.
Los Angeles International AirportLAXQLA, Los Angeles, California, United States
Located in Terminal 4 (Inside Security). On the Concourse Level across from Gate 40.
    Travel times are estimates and are not guaranteed. Airports may require you to re-clear security and immigration control to reach the lounge. Clearing security might require a boarding pass departing from the terminal. For lounges inside security or immigration, you must first check your baggage and obtain your boarding pass.
    OutstandingNice but they close at 12:45am, so I had like 20 min for $60 because no one said anything and I thought I had until 1:30am. Waste!
    AnonymousMarch 21st, 2019
    Worth a DetourVery nice lounge. Do be careful though, only Bud Light is complimentary. The optional food menu is also not complimentary and not worth it. My "flat bread" was cardboard and not worth $10.
    AnonymousFebruary 23rd, 2019
    OutstandingThis lounge is massive. Super clean and furniture appears to be new. Plenty of seating. Nice long bar. Basic food options for free and + food to buy. A+ for domestic lounge.
    damo January 3rd, 2019
    OutstandingPeople are awesome, especially Margarie at check in. Food is typical Admiral variety, but paid items are reasonable for an airport. Complimentary booze is available. Lots of seatings with plugs.
    AngelaSeptember 20th, 2018
    View all 12 reviews

    Can I make a reservation?

    American Airlines Admirals Club does not currently accept reservations. We are working on it and hope to have it soon.

    Can I purchase access?

    American Airlines Admirals Club is reserved for passengers with specific credentials such as elite status, premium tickets, or other access methods that are required for entry.View accessible lounges in Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

    Get LoungeBuddy for iPhone

    • Create a trip and let LoungeBuddy tell you which lounges you already have access to.
    • Don’t have access? No worries – you can purchase instant lounge access in seconds.
    Download on the App Store


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Operated Backhoe Rental - The Right Tool for the Job

We rent operated backhoes for all kinds of jobs in San Bernardino, Riverside, LA County and other locales in southern California. One of the reasons our customers choose Lourenco Backhoe is the versatile heavy equipment options we offer, including the 4-in-1 bucket on our CAT 420F.

Multi-Purpose Buckets for CAT Backhoe Loaders offer excellent versatility by enabling one work tool to do the job of many. This bucket is ideal for material handling, clamping, grading, leveling and grasping irregularly shaped objects.

So whether you are doing demolition, trench digging, construction grading, or more, we have the right backhoe for the job. Call us today for a FREE quote and learn how Lourenco Backhoe can make your next project easier.


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Janice Dangles

Meet your new fave statement studs! Intricate textured detailing and with gorgeous pastel shades, you'll find yourself reaching for this time and time again. Love this design? It also comes in Camila Dangles.

  • handmade in Melbourne
  • hypo-allergenic stainless steel posts

By Berjique

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Recently viewed


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‹ Back to listings

Early 19th Century Gilt and Patinated Bronze Rhyton with Chimera Rams Head #2801

Extremely well cast and rare gilt and patinated Grand Tour bronze rhyton with chimera rams / lions head.

French circa 1825.

The rhyton, of cornucopia form, being black patinated bronze with the head, foliage and rim gilt and partially polished. The horn being supported by gilt scrolled acanthus leaf and intwined by trailing foliage with an egg and dart rim, the rhyton head resembling a rams / lion head raised on a stepped rectangular patinated base with decorative gilt detailed mould.

In excellent original condition having a wonderful colour and patination.

Width: 6 1/4 inches - 16cm
Height: 6 inches - 15.5cm
Depth: 3 1/2 inches - 8.5cm

Delivery of products is based on weight. Some products are not available for delivery, and will be collection only. For more information on delivery costs, please click here


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"Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." - Jesus the Messiah

Join Jesus in the Everyday

Lovedmonton Membership
Connect with the church in your area
Lovedmonton has exclusive neighbourhood groups set up on our site that enables you to quickly connect and communicate with fellow disciples in your neighbourhood. Making the invisible church, visible!
Join Jesus on His mission with His body
Being on mission in the everyday stuff of life is a big part of following Jesus. Lovedmonton helps connect you with fellow disciples who are already on mission in your area that will support and encourage you to join Jesus on his mission.
Grow in Faith and Numbers
Making disciples is the supernatural overflow of being a disciple. Our aim is to help you grow in your faith, gifts, and most of all be founded in the gospel. In so doing, disciples will be added to the flock!
Every Fisherman has their Tackle Box
Lovedmonton members gain access to a vetted resource list. This includes books, videos, audios, and documents all to help equip you for the mission.
Every Success Story has a Mentor
Everyone can gain access to the gym and get an exercise plan but what makes the difference and helps you get results is a personal trainer. Lovedmonton has a mentorship system built into it. All to help you navigate the mission field that is your life. You can’t do this alone, and neither can we.
To Become a Lovedmonton Member
  1. Sign up to this site & create a profile
  2. Subscribe to Membership Plan to receive benefits
  • Member Blog
  • Everday Followers of Jesus Group
  • Hood Specific Networking
  • Free Missions Resources
  • Wholesale Pricing Books


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Fortune magic ring that works

Most powerful fortune magic ring that really works instantly for all changes in life. How to change your life with these powers

In life we have many things that we want to archive but we find it hard to reach all these goals. Today am here to bring change in life using my spells

I am called PRINCE HARRY the only trusted and powerful healer who is capable of making all your wishes come true

Are you looking forward to getting rich?. Here i will turn everything and i make you rich overnight. With me everything can happen immediately

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Almost Human

In a not-so-distant future, a human cop and an android partner team up to protect and serve.

Released: 41497
Rated: TV-14
Year: 2013-2014
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Actors: Karl Urban, Michael Ealy, Minka Kelly
Languages Available: English

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Prime Suspect

About Jane Timoney, an iconoclastic female detective who has to make her bones in a tough New York precinct that is dominated by men.

Released: 40808
Rated: TV-14
Year: 2011-2012
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Actors: Maria Bello, Brían F. O’Byrne, Kirk Acevedo, Peter Gerety
Languages Available: English

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Game Day No Bean Chili

Cold weather, football, and friends all day it’s time for a big old pot of chili! If you are paleo or don’t eat legumes it might be something that you miss terribly. But fear not because this paleo version whips up just as easy and is delicious!

  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped

  • 1 medium white onion, chopped

  • 1/2 medium red onion, chopped

  • 1 clove of garlic minced

  • 2 lbs ground pork or beef or any combination of ground meat

  • salt, pepper to taste

  • 1 small container white mushrooms, quartered

  • 2 cans diced tomatoes

  • 1 packet of red fork game day chili seasoning

  1. In a large stockpot, on medium heat, sauté the bell pepper, onions, and garlic for 2-3 minutes.

  2. Add the ground meat, season with salt and pepper, and cook until browned.

  3. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until mushrooms are slightly softened.

  4. Add the diced tomatoes and the red fork sauce.

  5. Simmer on medium-low for about 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.

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Research Assistantship Opportunities

Listed below are some graduate assistantship opportunities. This list is not guaranteed to be complete and up to date. Don't be shy about asking faculty if they have open assistantships.

Prestigious Ph.D. Assistantship in Electronics

There is an opening for a prestigious PhD assistantship beginning fall 2019 in an area of heterogeneous integration of 2D materials with 3D compound semiconductors for opto-electronics/nanophotonics applications. The annual assistantship @$25,000 includes tuition and non-resident fee exemptions. Students with BS preferably MS in Electronics/Electrical Engineering or equivalent discipline are encouraged to apply for consideration. Very high GPA, GRE score, TOFEL and course work in both experimental, and analytical, numerical techniques will be preferred. Research involves both device fabrication coupled with developing device models using analytical and numerical techniques for analysis and design of electronic/photonics integrated circuits. Contact Dr. Srivastava ( and for application apply on or before 15 May 2019.


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CUBIT COLUMN: High school football district titles bring joy during uncertain times

Alexis Cubit
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Smyer coach Scott Funke instructs Gilbert Gil (20) during a District 2-2A Division II game on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, against Sudan at Bobcat Stadium in Smyer.
Alexis Cubit, Lubbock A-J sports writer

When the UIL decided to keep football in the fall and stagger the classifications, it drew all kinds of emotions and reactions throughout the state.

Some understanding, while others, not so much.

This season hasn’t been without a roller coaster of emotions in whether or not it was a good idea to continue playing. There hasn’t been a week yet where a school hasn’t had to cancel or postpone a game due to positive COVID-19 tests. That kind of uncertainty is emotionally draining and creates an unhealthy amount of anxiety.

Yet, here we are at the end of the regular season for Classes 1-4A and there’s a certain amount of happiness and relief that overcame several schools last Friday.

Within the Lone Star Varsity coverage area, three schools were officially crowned district champions: Shallowater, Estacado and Smyer.

On paper, you congratulate each of them for the feat. But digging a little deeper, you’ll find the journey each took to get there. That’s the part that deserves the real celebration.

In the past, Smyer isn’t a program that’s been known for its success.

Before Bobcats coach Scott Funke arrived in 2019, the last winning season the team had was in the early 2000s. The former Venus offensive coordinator built on last year’s 6-5 record and helped add a new chapter to the record books.

Now, the Bobcats head into the final game of the season at Ropes with a 6-3 mark and District 2-2A, Division II championship. It’s the program’s first 11-man district title and first overall since 1993.

That moment Friday after the Bobcats’ 56-19 win over Sudan was long-awaited and well-earned.

“As a coach, it’s kind of an anxiety-riddled season just because you never know,” Funke said. “It’s just the unknown and you try to control what you can control, but we’re human, too, just with the pandemic and you never know what’s going to happen.

"I wouldn’t say it’s a relief, but it’s kind of an exhale because we’ve had this goal since the beginning of the year, and actually, since we came back to workouts in the summertime because we knew we had a chance to have a good team.”

Some of the current players’ parents were on the 1993 team, so both trophies were hoisted on the field Friday night.

“There’s a lot of teams that are evenly matched in our district, and we were going to have to play well through district play,” Funke said. “We’ve been telling them that all year that you have a chance to make school history. You have a chance to put your name up there.”

Adding to the legacy

Estacado’s bumpy ride to a second straight district championship has been well-noted.

The Matadors struggled offensively, but didn’t break down. After a rough non-district schedule, the squad bounced back and put itself in a position to reach its regular-season goal.

Even after a loss to Borger, which broke the Bulldogs’ 15-game losing streak, Estacado didn’t let it snowball and battled to a 26-20 win over Perryton the next week. The Matadors cemented at least a share of the district crown with a 41-24 victory over district rival Levelland.

Success through adversity

Class 3A, Division I, No. 3-ranked Shallowater may have finished the season unbeaten, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have their share of struggles.

Losing star running back Josh Easley, who was a key part in last year’s offense, could cause any team to slip a little. Pair that with having to shut down the program for two weeks due to a positive COVID-19 case and there is no way a head coach can figure out how a team will respond.

The Mustangs, however, took it all in stride and were unshaken until the very end, capping the regular season with a 42-6 win over Slaton. It marked the third time in four years securing the title, but the feeling never gets old with this year’s team having the chance to make a strong postseason run.

In this age of COVID-19, we’ll never know what is the right thing to do in regards to whether or not big and small schools should’ve been separated or in what season to have sports, if at all. There will always be legitimate talking points for most opinions.

But maybe, just for a moment as you take in the sights and sounds of Friday night, remember that for those two groups of kids on the field: it was worth at least the attempt.

Brownfield poised for strong run

Sheryl Swoopes is one of the most famous Brownfield alums.

She’s a notable member of the Lady Cubs’ strong tradition of girls basketball. Even as recently as last year, the squad was young but kept up with Shallowater and Idalou, making District 2-3A even tougher.

The volleyball program hasn’t been as strong, but Wayland Baptist University alum Mallorie Ellis looks to be changing that. In her first season as a head coach, Ellis, a former Lady Cub netter, led Brownfield to its first-ever 11-0 start. The team then used that to pocket a co-District 3-3A championship with Denver City then won the seeding match over the Fillies for the No. 1 spot going into the playoffs.

The Lady Cubs got off to a strong start in the postseason, winning the bi-district match over Anthony, 25-9, 25-20, 25-18.

They have all the pieces with strong hitting from twins Deja and Tia Johnson with the defensive expertise of Madison Hord.

The trio is hoping to guide Brownfield (24-2) as it is set to go for an area championship against Childress at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Tulia.

Girls hoops begins this week

If you are a subscriber to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and/or follow Lone Star Varsity on social media, you saw our preseason girls basketball material.

So, you know that the season is set to begin this week.

Last season was a strong year for area teams with two state champions being crowned in Class 3A Shallowater and TAPPS 4A Trinity Christian. Both programs are on target to be just as strong this year. That’s not including other programs like Idalou, Brownfield, Frenship, Lubbock-Cooper and Lubbock-Christian High School, among others, that are on target to improve this season. The Tigers and Lady Wildcats lost impact players Maci Maddox and Shaylee Stovall, respectively, both of whom signed on with Division II Lubbock Christian University.

Still, both teams bring back enough experience to continue their winning ways.

The Caprock Classic, nor any tournaments will happen this year, due to the UIL’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. So we won’t get to see the Fillies compete with big schools or have the majority of the LSV area teams in one place.

There are sure to be other COVID-19-caused adjustments at various points, as well, but we’re still guaranteed to see strong performances and nail-biting games along the way.

That's certainly something to look forward to.

Alexis Cubit covers high school sports for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Her weekly high school column is set to run Tuesday’s throughout the football season. You can reach her at (806) 766-2166 or by email at


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Tips for Stress-Free Dog Nail Trims

Does trimming your dog’s nails feel like a wrestling match? Or do you opt to outsource the job to your vet or groomer in order to avoid the trauma? Believe it or not, dog nail trims don’t have to be a struggle. With a dog-friendly approach, you can turn this important dog grooming process into a day at the spa.

Lori Nanan, a certified dog trainer and the creator of “Nailed It: A Canine Course In Nail Care,” stresses that it’s never too late to change your dog’s reaction to nail trims, even if your dog has a history of sitting through uncomfortable pedicures.

That said, the more time your dog has had to develop a negative association to nail cutting, the longer it’ll take to change your dog’s perception of it. Helping her feel relaxed during dog nail trims requires patience, a methodical approach and an understanding of what your dog is trying to tell you as you work.

A Tip on Nail Tips

Many pet parents worry about trimming dog nails because they think they have to cut until the nails are, as Nanan puts it, “stubby little nubs.” A more realistic goal (and one that can help to prevent cutting the “quick,” or the nail’s blood supply) is to trim them until they’re just above the floor. Nanan says, “This is because dogs actually do use their nails for traction and we don’t want them slipping and sliding all over the place.”

Cutting dog’s nails with a precision tool will help keep your dog’s nails the proper length. An easy-to-use blade, like the Safari Professional nail trimmer, allows for the accuracy necessary to make a quick and clean cut.

Helping Your Dog Feel More Comfortable With Nail Trims

As you begin the process, pay attention to what your dog is saying to you, as responding to your dog’s body language will help him become more comfortable with the business of nail trims.

Some signs of discomfort are obvious, like repeatedly trying to move a paw away. Others are more subtle, like if your dog keeps yawning as you work. If at any point your dog is signaling that you’re moving too quickly, put the dog nail clippers away and finish up for the day. Trying to keep going despite your dog’s discomfort might derail any progress you’ve made.

The following suggestions provide an overview on how to cut dog nails and will enable you to work through the process with your dog as a team.

Start Young

Nanan suggests beginning body-handling exercises when your dog is still a puppy. Gently familiarizing your dog with all aspects of nail trims, from the equipment to the way you’ll be manipulating his feet, can help your puppy understand that it’s not scary or painful.

Nanan says that pairing basic exercises with delicious dog treats can also make the process less threatening. For example, show your dog a puppy-sized nail trimmer, like the Li’l Pals dog nail trimmer, and immediately follow up with a high-value treat so that your puppy starts to make a positive association to the tool. “Remember, this is important, as your dog will need this type of care for his lifetime, and making it stress- and fear-free is crucial,” she adds.

Stress Is Not Defiance

“Recognize that your dog is not giving you a hard time. He or she is having a hard time,” Nanan says. Reframing your dog’s reactions to nail care and actually seeing the process from his perspective will help shift how you approach trimming your dog’s nails.

A dose of empathy can help you understand that nail care can be scary for some dogs and that your dog isn’t being willful or stubborn when he reacts to the process. Nanan adds, “Acknowledging that often gives us the opportunity to see things through our dog’s eyes, slow down and try a new approach.”

You Are Your Dog’s Advocate

Rather than outsourcing your dog’s nail care to your vet or groomer, cutting your dog’s nails at home enables you to keep your dog in their comfort zone and make the process as stress-free as possible. Pet professionals have busy schedules and might resort to handling that helps get the job done more quickly, but doesn’t take your dog’s comfort into account.

Dr. Joanne Loeffler, DVM and Fear Free Certified Practitioner at the Telford Veterinary Hospital in Telford, Pennsylvania, cautions that dogs and cats both have extra nerve receptors in their paw pads that help protect them while walking.

These receptors make them more sensitive to their paws being handled than other parts of their body, which means that if they try to pull away during a nail trim and instead are held down, the dog will either become more fearful because he can’t get away from the uncomfortable handling, or the dog might go into fight or flight mode. Dr. Loeffler stresses, “Just because the animal is not fighting does not mean they are happy with the procedure.”

Dog nail trims done at home can progress at a leisurely pace as you make sure that your dog is fully comfortable with each step of the process. Plus, Nanan points out that trimming dog nails at home is a major cost saver over the lifetime of your dog.

Consider Your Tools

If your dog has had a negative experience with a particular trimming tool, switch to something else. Nanan suggests that it’s easier to build a new positive association to a tool instead of trying to undo a negative one.

For example, a dog who has had a bad experience with dog nail clippers might be more comfortable relearning the process with a different tool, like Dremel’s 7300-PT dog and cat nail grinder kit. Rather than cutting the nail off, which could lead to an accidental deep cut, a dog nail grinder acts like a nail file and slowly grinds the nail to the desired length.

Cut Carefully

One of the scariest parts of cutting dogs’ nails is the possibility of cutting the blood vessel inside the dog’s nail. Not only is it painful for the dog, but nicking the quick usually means a fair amount of bleeding.

Having a plan to stop bleeding if you accidentally clip the quick of the nail is important. You can use stypic powder and pressure, or if you are in a bind, baking flour works also. These nails can bleed excessively, so you should hold pressure for a full two minutes before relieving pressure and then applying the stypic powder.

Miracle Care Kwik Stop styptic powder also contains benzocaine to help block the pain and stop bleeding. Remedy Recovery is another popular styptic powder that works in seconds and does not contain alcohol.

Nanan cautions, “Don’t be tempted to just start trimming. Be conservative. If your dog has dark nails, shine a penlight on them so you can see the quick and not guess. Make your motto, ‘Slow is the new fast.’” If you commit to keeping your dog comfortable, cutting your dog’s nails can actually become a bonding experience for you and your dog.

Article By Victoria Schade
From: PetMd

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Hello 2017!

I moved this blog from Linode to Digital Ocean this weekend, using a combination of GitHub, Ansible and good old fashioned sysadmin (me) sitting in front of a terminal. I also upped my security game, as you’ll notice by the nice https:// in the URL and lock in your browser. I’ll have more details later, but it has me feeling very in control of my personal digital destiny.

Which makes me want to blog. So Hello 2017! Expect to see more posts here in the near future.

2015 Year In Review

It is good to sit back and reflect sometimes and with today being New Year’s Eve, I thought it would be good to look back on what I have been doing this past year in 2015.

My wife Monica and I had our seventh son, Mario! He is super cute and huggable. He and the other boys keep me grounded and humble. Bonus: the company I work for is pretty family-friendly, I got to take a few weeks of Paternity Leave.

At work, I transitioned from leading a single Android team to leading several iOS teams. We shipped brand new, redesigned and modernized versions of our Capital One Mobile for iPhone and Capital One for iPad apps plus several monthly updates afterwards. I’ve now become what Lara Hogan from Etsy calls a “meta-manager” and I hope to find some time to write about that more in 2016.

I also helped to find ways for Capital One to invest back into the developer community. I think the Mac and iOS developer community was already strong but I want to make it even better. So we sponsored:

  • CocoaPods
  • Women Who Code
  • James Dempsey and the Breakpoints Live at WWDC
  • WWDCGirls
  • Swift Summit San Francisco 2015

I also organized the seventh annual iOSDevCampDC, along with Natasha (the Robot) Murashev, Jimmy Sambuo and Toria Dacus. We had some awesome speakers, but probably the most unique thing about this year’s is that the majority of speakers were female. I’ll have to revisit this in a future blog post as it deserves more time and attention. Plus I promised Cate Huston that I’d write about it sometime.

I also had a lot of fun with my hobbies, mainly playing video games with my kids (aka father-son bonding time) and watching eSports. I participated in the Alpha and Beta of Heroes of the Storm (currently our favorite multiplayer game in the house) and attended the action-packed and eSports celebrity-filled StarCraft II archon mode championship held at Red Bull Battlegrounds DC with my oldest son Diego, Jimmy and another coworker Cary.

I also spoke at a few events, including iOSDevCampDC, ModevCon, Android+Glass Meetup, Modev Coders Only and some internal events. I presented on a variety of topics including Swift, Frameworks and Kotlin. I’m working to encourage others to present as well. I’m organizing Modev Coders Only now and and it’ll meet monthly in 2016.

Before I go, I thought I should mark some stats for the end of 2015:

  • StackOverflow rep: 8,055
  • Twitter followers: 1,588

Well that’s it. I had much more to say in my unabridged blog post, but I think I’ll spread out that content over several posts. Hope that everyone else had a good year and hopefully 2016 is even better! Happy New Year everyone!

Fully Baking this Blog

Brent makes a plea for “fully baking your blog.” Another way to put it in the Mac community is to make sure your website can stand up to being “Fireballed” (verb) – when John Gruber links to your post and brings a deluge of traffic onto your website, bringing it crashing down like a house of dynamically generated cards.

I used to use Movable Type – which was nice but made me endure long generation times.  Hopefully that has improved since then.

Now I’ve installed WP-SuperCache on this blog as well as my company Happy Apps Blog (which are both powered by self-hosted WordPress). I think that’s probably the best compromise for self-hosted blogs without rolling your own blog software. It also allows you to continue using native clients like MarsEdit.

For some other sites that I host, like NSCoderNightDC, iPad DC and iPhoneDevCampDC that don’t change often, I think static files are indeed the best.

Blog Reboot

Twitter – that’s one word for where a lot of my writing energy has gone.  It’s such an easy way to get out a few words and there’s no pressure to be perfect.

Then again the pressure to be perfect really comes from myself.  But lately I’ve been feeling more of a pressure to write down more of my thoughts and that’s overriding that perfectionism.  So here I am again, this time armed with the latest and greatest MarsEdit 3.0.4.

Of course, every good story has some conflict.  Tonight I realized that my blog had been hacked.  It seems like there were some spam links that were hidden in the page. The only things I did notice was that:

1. Sometimes my theme would get reset.  Not a huge deal but annoying.

2. Every once in a while a new WordPress user would register for no reason.

3. MarsEdit couldn’t my recent posts, instead offering up a -32700 error.

Fortunately that last error got me to Daniel Jalkut’s helpful support forum which helped me find the answer: the wordpress.net.in spam injection hack.

So a quick backup, removal of the old site, and installation of WordPress 3.0.1 and this blog is back in business, now spam link-free.  It’s kind of like encountering the Blue Screen Of Death and hitting Control-Alt-Delete.  A Blog Reboot.

Now I remember why I use Apple products.  So is there a more hack-proof blogging engine out there that will preserve old WordPress entries?

Lessons Learned: Blank page of death after upgrading to WordPress 2.7.1.

I had the blank page of death problem when logging in to my blog after upgrading to 2.7.1. What this means is that after I logged in, I would just get a blank white page with no page source.

To workaround this, I was tediously moving the akismet directory or the plugins directory to login and then moving it back afterwards.

I finally fixed it by looking in the plugins/akismet/ directory and found an akismet_mmddyyyy.cache file and deleted it.

Lesson learned: Delete *.cache files in your plugins/akismet/ directory whenever you upgrade your WordPress blog.

UPDATE (2009-06-18): This problem happened again and I solved it by deleting any .* files in the plugins/akismet/ directory. Specifically, I found .akismet.bak.php and .readme.cache.php.

Lessons Learned: WordPress Comments Disappearing and Spam

Today I emailed my favorite coffee company Beanetics to ask them to have a repeating order of coffee and to remind them that I have the #11 Google hit for “beanetics.” OK its not #1 like it used to be, but it still good. While I was checking the permalink for the post, I noticed that all the comments were missing even though it said that there were 2 comments on the post.

I went to login and it didn’t let me in. I had this problem before so I renamed my wp-content/plugins directory. I logged in and there were 0 comments in the system! Yikes! All my WordPress comments had disappeared!

I went into the wordpress MySQL database and when I typed in “select * from wp_comments;” it replied back with the ominous but helpful: “table wp_comments marked as crashed.” Alright, I think we can fix that. I typed in “repair table wp_comments;” and it reported that all was well again.

I went back into my Comments admin and found that there were 10,445 spam comments! 10,445 – spam is bad but I didn’t realize it could crash your WordPress comments bad.

Alright so after verifying that all my approved comments were back, I had lunch. I came back two hours later and found I had 100 emails – all for pending spam comments. Oops – I had disabled the Akismet spam filter when I renamed my plugins directory earlier.

OK so to make sure this doesn’t happen again in the future:

1. I went to Plugins / Akismet Configuration and checked the box “Automatically discard spam comments on posts older than a month.”

2. I went to Comments / Spam and pressed the button “Delete All Spam”. That should tidy up the wp_comments table and the entire WordPress database quite a bit.

How to fix a corrupted WordPress comments table

I logged into my WordPress admin panel and saw these ominous warnings:

'./your_wordpress_database/wp_comments' is marked as crashed and should be repaired.

Uh oh. That doesn’t seem good. I went to one of my blog posts and it said the same thing. OK no need to panic. I run my own WordPress on a virtual private server and also administer my own MySQL databases.

The solution is remarkably simple:

  1. Run the mysql client. mysql -u your_wordpress_user -p
  2. Switch to your WordPress database. use your_wordpress_database
  3. Issue the command repair table wp_comments

If your WordPress 2.1 is slow…

I just debugged a strange issue with this WordPress 2.1 blog. It’s running 2.1.2 to be exact, but I think the problem manifests itself with all 2.1.x versions. My site was running really slow – 40-50 seconds per page load. I had just moved it to this new host which is also running a few Rails apps. The Rails apps were running *fast*, so it wasn’t the box.

I checked top and it showed the box was fine. I bounced Apache and MySQL. Still slow. I tried static pages – those were fine. I tried a phpinfo page – that was fine.

I googled and googled and finally found this WordPress thread: [resolved] Update a post and blam.. every pageload is 20 seconds. The solution? I had to add www.luisdelarosa.com to the /etc/hosts file. I guess WP 2.1 has some sort of reverse DNS code in it.

So – if your WordPress 2.1 site is slow, add your blog’s hostname to the /etc/hosts file. You could also backtrack to WordPress 2.0.1. I’ll have to look into moving over to Mephisto sometime.

Back from a blogging vacation

I’m still here… Just been taking a vacation from this blog. Sorry to be a dinosaur in your NetNewsWire or other RSS reader. More details soon. :)

Poor Man’s FeedBurner

I wanted to get an idea of how many subscribers I had to my new blog MacHappy. It’s a blog I started to talk about Mac stuff and also the Mac apps I’m writing which I call Happy Apps.

I thought about using FeedBurner, but I really like hosting my own feeds. Plus I haven’t had the need for their wide array of services yet…except for the readership count.

So back to figuring out how many subscribers / readers for a blog. MacHappy is on WordPress and its feed is at http://www.happyapps.com/blog/feed/, which means that the feeds all have “/blog/feed” in the URL. If you’re got a WordPress blog, you’ll have the same sort of setup. This blog is hosted on Movable Type, which is a bit different since usually you have atom.xml or whatever you call your feed template (usually ending in .xml). I’ve actually got two feeds here: a feed for everything and a feed just for Eclipse.

Then you download your log file from your ISP.

Then run this nice series of piped commands (for WordPress): grep /blog/feed yourLogFile | awk ‘{print $1}’ | sort | uniq | wc -l

(for Movable Type): grep .xml yourLogFile | awk ‘{print $1}’ | sort | uniq | wc -l

And for my eclipse.rss feed, something like grep .rss yourLogFile | awk ‘{print $1}’ | sort | uniq | wc -l

You should get a nice integer back, hopefully a nice big one. :)

It’s not exact since the same person could be checking from multiple locations throughout the day, but I think I’ll be using this to keep track of the trend.


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Swedish Wood Therapy Cup

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The luxury finishes story

A look into our capabilities and what makes us who we are.

Our story starts with a clear focus on growth, value and a passion for innovation.

Luxury Finishes; a member of the Flags-TC International Limited Group of Companies, continues to provide an array of clients in different sectors, from administrative and office buildings, retail and hotels, to residential apartments and homes with fine-finishing and complete fit out contracting solutions.

Our connection with the TC group gives us the experience and the know how to develop the ultimate functional solutions that satisfy the specific needs and requirements of each project, with every client, in every sector.

Check out our Corporate video for a brief look into what makes us who we are.