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Christmas, New Years and New Beginnings!

Opening gifts

Christmas was so much fun this year! The girls were finally well and so excited.  They really got into unwrapping gifts this year and that was a blast to watch.  We were fortunate to have Christmas Eve at my folks house (Mimi and Papa Hansen) and then Christmas Day at the Coys (Nana and Papa).  The girls were absolutely spoiled by Santa.  It was like nothing I have ever seen before.  People always ask me if we buy three of everything.  Well, in some cases yes…In other cases, its the choice of their grandparents.  They got three of these cute cars and three big rocking horses on springs!  They got lots of clothes, toys, books…everything a 22 month old could ask for and so much more.

cozy coupes

Three amigos in their new cars!

Mimi and Papa with girls at xmas

Mimi and Papa with the girls.  Someone of the three is never up for a picture 🙂

Vaccum cleaner and Avery

Avery with the Minnie Mouse vacuum.  They love cleaning supplies.  Gotta put them to work more often 🙂

Emmie first gift

Our sweet Tink, Tink. Little Bug. She has so many names she won’t know her name is Emily.

Some funny things the girls are up to these days are as follows:

1. DSC_0640 They are chatting up a storm.  The funniest…Everyone of the sisters’ names are Emmie.  Camdyn is Emmie, Avery is Emmie and I am not sure Emmie knows she is Emmie.

2. They love boots.  Love putting them on themselves.  I think Emily is asleep right now with her boots on.  They got two more pairs for Christmas.

3. They still don’t sleep much.  There is really nothing funny about this to Mommy and Daddy.

4. They are doing pretend play more.  We got them a play kitchen for Christmas.  They also love to dress up in shoes and tutus.

5. They are learning to love each other and share more.  We see more hugs, laughing between each other, and sharing of toys, books, juice and pacifiers.

6. They love music, Elmo, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Minnie Mouse, Abby and they love dancing…when you hold them and dance with the music on TV.

Challenging times with sleep are the toughest thing right now.  We hope it gets better when we move this month to our new house. They will each have their own room for the first time! Praying it goes well.

New Beginnings Update:

No, I am not pregnant.  That would not be funny.  We have enough family to go around.  But, I am proud to announce that Bryan and his business partner Jason sold their company, Mega Fluids, on the last day of the year!!  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are so proud of Bryan.  They were purchased by a large company called Canadian Energy Services/AES.  Bryan will now work for this company for a minimum of three years.  He may not be his own boss anymore but it was an amazing opportunity he could not pass up.  Not too shabby for two 30-something guys who started a business just five years ago! Way to go DADA!

Bryan and Jason shaking hands

Jason and Bryan after signing The Deal!

Bryans signing day1

2 thoughts on “Christmas, New Years and New Beginnings!”

  1. Amazing on all counts!! Congrats on selling the business and on three beautiful little girls!
    It looks like they had a blast at Christmas!

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Pet Heat Safety Tips
Pet Heat Safety Tips

Pet Heat Safety

We all enjoy spending the warmer months exploring the outdoors with our favorite furry companions. But with temperatures rising very quickly, be sure not to put your pet in harms way. Check out some heat safety tips for keeping your pets cool and safe during the hot summer months.

Never leave your pets in the car

Heat Safety

Even on warm, sunny days, the inside of a car heats up quickly, even with windows cracked. Never leave your animal alone in a parked car. If you see an animal in a car on a hot day and cannot locate the owner, call 911! Then, stay by the car until help arrives.

Watch out for hot pavement!

Dark pavement easily absorbs heat when the weather is very sunny and hot. Avoid pets walking on pavement for extended periods of time as this captured heat from the pavement can warm an animals body and potentially burn paw pads. To see if pavement temperature is too hot, place your bare hand or bare foot on the pavement. If the pavement is too hot for you, it is too hot for your pet!

Provide cold water and shade

If you must have your pet outdoors or must house our pets outside, provide them with a shaded shelter, and always make sure they have plenty of cold water.

Be practical

As much as we love spending time with our pets, we need to keep their safety a priority. Leave your pets at home if you plan to be outdoors for extended periods of time, if the weather is too hot, or if your activity level will be too intense for your animal. It is better to be safe than sorry.

A dog’s normal body temperature is 101 to 102.5 degrees. If her temperature reaches 107 degrees, she can suffer brain damage or even death.

Heatstroke symptoms include: excessive panting, a sudden stopping of panting, salivation, an anxious or staring expression, weakness, muscle tremors, red tongue, blue lips, vomiting, collapse or coma.

If your dog show symptoms of heatstroke, immediately do the following:

  • Move the dog to a cool, shady place
  • Pour cool water on him and offer him some water to drink
  • Fan him vigorously to promote evaporation
  • Rush him to the veterinarian

DO NOT apply ice, since it will constrict blood flow and inhibit cooling.

Intense heat can cause the same problems for pets as it does for humans, including overheating, dehydration, sunburn and heatstroke.

For more ways to help keep pets safe, download and share our Pet Heat Safety flyer to alert others of the dangers and severity of hot weather for pets.

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Okiwi Bay

Okiwi Bay is located in the Rai Valley on the northern coast of the south Island approximately half way between Nelson and Havelock. The locals describe it as, ‘a quaint little drinking village with a bit of a fishing problem’.

My brother picked this for our final stay before returning to Christchurch. We arrived around lunch time and sorted out our cabin. Then off to explore this gorgeous little village. The only retail therapy in town is at the caravan park, which has as a tiny general store with a few basic supplies. Don’t expect to get your weeks shopping there though. I think they sell a few chocolate bars, ice creams, milk, and possibly they may sell some bait too. Being a village with a bit of a fishing problem, i guess that’d take care of the important stuff for the regular holiday makers.

After almost two weeks of clear blue skies, and hot summer’s days, the weather while in Okiwi Bay was overcast with low cloud. Clearly, swimming was out of the question.

cloud hovered low over the hills
A pretty little bay
It would have been a lovely day for boat fishing
Now I know what to do when my agapanthus drop their flowers

The bay on one side of us, and this little water way on the other
And a bridge leading you to a walk track

Its a shame we only had one night here. Definitely the prettiest place on our trip, I would have liked a few days to wind down and relax. I’m sure Paul would have appreciated tossing a line in the water too. Perhaps next time…..

The Abel Tasman walk

After a couple of days in Christchurch we headed north to begin our three day guided walk of the Abel Tasman National Park, approximately 36kms walking in total.

We had a couple of overnight stops on the way, and a few short stops to visit places of interest. Paul walked down to capture this next photo – I was busy trying to fend off a very friendly bee. Note to myself – don’t wear blue when visiting NZ, the bees think you’re a flower, or so I’m told.

A pretty place (shame about the friendly bees)

Then onto our pick up point in Motueka where we sorted our luggage ready to begin our three day hike. There’s a tidal crossing towards the end between the Awaroa lodge and Totaranui, and the tides weren’t going to be favourable for us at this crossing if we were walking the track from start to finish, or from finish to start. Instead we started somewhere around the middle. A boat trip took us to our starting point approximately a 7km walk from Awaroa lodge, our first nights accommodation.

A well maintained, fern lined track
Looking down on turquoise bays

A bit of a beach trek and we arrived our first nights accommodation and were allocated our rooms. We were ever so surprised to discover ours was the room at the top left – only the best room in the place. How lucky were we!

Our room – top left

view over the bay from our room

We had been told we could do as little or as much of the walk as wanted. Paul’s a lot more capable than me, so he managed the full hike. I only did around 1/3 of it in total.

I chose only to do the first part of our 2nd days walk,  approximately  7km. The tide still wasn’t right for us to walk across the crossing, but fortunately the water was deep enough for us to be transported across by barge to begin day twos walk – around 17kms for those completing the whole walk.

Despite being told we could walk it at our own pace, the pace needed to meet the boat at Totaranui was considerably faster than my natural bush walking pace. I was to stressed at trying to keep up that I found it hard to enjoy any of the sections I did complete. I’ve never enjoyed walking with experienced bush walkers and this walk has only re-enforced my desire not to share a bush walk of any length with anyone other Paul. Paul understands my limitations and, although he’s able to walk considerably faster than me, he also doesn’t mind matching his speed with mine. We both manage to enjoy walking together without pressure, and without stress when on our own.

With a lot of prompting to speed up the pace from our guide we did manage to meet the boat at Totaranui, with more than a few minutes to spare. Phew! (didn’t enjoy that much). The boat then dropped me at our second nights lodgings, and continued on with the rest of the walkers to the previous days’s starting point for commencement of the walk in the opposite direction.

Even if I couldn’t stop and relax to appreciate the views, the walk as seen through Paul’s camera lens did offer some pretty sights.

The track wound up and down between pretty bays

 Arriving at our lodge around 5 hours before the rest of the party allowed me to enjoy the solitude, and wonder at our room allocation. Yes, again the best room in the house. Apparently we were the first ones to book, and the rooms are allocated on a first in, first served basis.

Torrens lodge – our room on the top left (again the best room in the house)
View from our window – what did we do to deserve this

The next day the walking group left around 9am. I waited until lunch time when a water taxi took me to meet the walkers at their lunch stop. From here I walked with them to the walks completion.

Nearing the end
The start of the Abel Tasman walk – or in our case, the finishing point

A coach met us to take us back to the office in Motueka where my brother and sister-in-law met us to take us back to our digs.  The walk is labelled as one of New Zealand great walks. The track is well maintained, winding through shady forest landscape and overlooking gorgeous turquoise bays. For experienced bushwalkers I’m sure it’d be a pleasure. For me, well I enjoyed the accommodation, and apart from that all I can say is – seeing that coach at the end – what a pleasure that was!

A little bit more about the Avon River – Christchurch NZ

The Avon River

I love this little river, and little it is – as far as depth goes anyway. Meandering from it’s source in the Western suburb of Avonhead, and winding it’s way gently through the suburbs to the Central Business district of Christchurch, I doubt the water would reach above knee-deep at any one point.

Shallow, and narrow

Perhaps that’s why so many Christchurch children have spent some of their childhood paddling their own canoes down it’s tranquil waters. It’s safe.

$12 will hire you one of these for an hour

As children we would make our way to the Antigua Boat sheds on a warm summer’s day. The cost of hiring a kayak (or single canoe as I’ve always called them) was very cheap. Goodness, it’s still only $12 an hour. Did we bus into Cathedral Square and walk out to the sheds, or did we cycle from home? I really don’t remember, but I suspect we probably cycled. That’s what kids did in the 1960s. We wouldn’t have locked our bikes up either, we didn’t need to. What a different world it is today for kids.

There’s double canoes, family row boats, or you can even hire a Punt with it’s own skilled Punter to propel you slowly along the water.

They didn’t have these when I was a kid

The river is lined with weeping willows, their long, gentle fronds reaching into the water and forming little curtains for canoeists to steer their vessel behind so as to  hide from a fellow friend – such are the games that children play. If you’re like me, you could mistakenly believe that a tree as prolific as the weeping willow on the banks of the Avon belong, and have always belonged there. How surprised was I to read about their origin.

The weeping willows can be traced back to a cutting taken from Napolean’s grave

What a surprising piece of history that was. I’ve tried to find out if, not being a native tree, is the weeping willow is a menace. I haven’t been able to find anything to indicate they’re  any cause for concern. Phew! Thank Goodness. Along with the Cathedral, the weeping willows lining the of the banks of Avon river just seem to belong there don’t you think?

I couldn’t imagine the river without the willow’s fronds gently sweeping the water’s surface
So tranquil – what a pleasure!

Akaroa – The Giant’s House (for my good friend Toni)

Akaroa Harbou

Situated on a deep harbour just 75 kilometres from Christchurch lies the French settlement of Akaroa. The drive around Banks Peninsula to get there offers some stunning hilltop views with gorgeous bays dotted every which way you look. Once there, you’ll encounter a small village with streets bearing french names, a gorgeous harbour and a veritable feast of things to do, places to stay, and delicious food options. It was one of my favourite destinations when I was a teenager, and remains one of my favourite New Zealand destinations to this day. It’s no wonder it’s a favourite port of call for the multitude of cruise ships traversing the New Zealand coastline.

We’ve walked the streets before, canoed on the harbour, and picnicked in many a park. This time there was something new, something we hadn’t seen before – The Giants House.

The most colourful house and garden ever

Located a short up hill walk from the village at 70 Rue Balguerie, lies what must surely be the happiest and most colourful garden on earth. Full of unique sculptures and incredible mosaics, I’m not going to say anymore. I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

A steep, pretty, garden walk up to the entrance doesn’t begin to hint at what awaits
A close up of that grand piano

There were plenty of mosaic seats on which to rest

Circus troopers
Topiary, and colourful flowers – there wasn’t a leaf out of place
Another circus figure (or perhaps it’s the mad hatter)
This one is definitely for my friend Toni. Anyone who knows Toni would think of her when seeing this

Believe me when I say you just have to go to this place. It needs to be on the very top of your list of ‘Must sees’ in Christchurch and the surrounding area. It’s art at it’s most colourful. I have only shown you a snapshot of all that is to see at the Giant’s House. Don’t forget, you won’t regret it – put it on your list. What a delight to visit this amazing place full of so many amazing works of art. One of life’s memorable pleasures for sure!

A very different Christchurch

We arrived into Christchurch on a February afternoon to a warm family welcome on a bright summers day. The first evening was spent  eating, drinking, chatting and catching up – as you do….

After a good nights sleep the sight seeing began. First thing on the agenda was to visit Christchurch’s city centre. Nine years on from the devastating earthquake that took 185 lives and seriously injured another 164 people, an unrecognisable city greeted us.

First stop on my brothers personally guided walking tour was Antigua Boat sheds. The colourful sheds are still standing after nearly 140 years I’m pleased to say, and the river remains relatively unchanged.

Antigua Boat Sheds
Weeping willows line the peaceful meandering Avon river

Many days during my childhood school holidays were spent rowing down these tranquil waters. Single person canoes were the thing, and to this day I’m still a single person canoe person. I can’t get the rhythm that’s needed to share the rowing in a double canoe. So literally – I like to paddle my own canoe!

Next onto a restored Bridge of remembrance. I believe this was severely damaged in the earthquake, and restoration has only been completed within the past year.

The newly restored Bridge of Remembrance

Eventually we arrived into the centre of town, the Cathedral Square. The square centre of the city has always been known and spoken of using the Cathedral for identification. We never caught the bus to the square, it was always, The Cathedral Square.

The once proud cathedral now stands steeple-less and in ruins

The whole of the square,  once clearly bordered by rows of solid buildings roughly at right angles to each other and forming a square, is now stark and airy in comparison. There’s space – lots of space now where shops, movie theatres, and peoples lives and livelihoods once stood.

It’s eight years on since the devasting earthquake on 22 February 2011. The rebuilding of Christchurch is clearly underway, evidenced by the multitude of high cranes towering everywhere you look. Equally as clear is that the rebuilding is a slow process, and sadly, that the city  will never be the same again.

Everywhere we went throughout the south island we were met with signs of what to do in the case of an emergency. We’re all familiar with the usual fire emergency warnings posted in hotels etc. All of these emergency warning notices in NZ now list three things, fire, earthquake and Tsunami. Earthquakes are now accepted as an almost weekly occurrence, and, I gather,  the general consensus is that the worst may not yet be behind them. Yes, the city has changed, and so to have the people. You just can’t live with that constant threat without it changing you to some extent.

But I digress, back to the cathedral. Apparently there’s been several years of discussion and argument as to whether or not the iconic cathedral was to be restored. It’ll be a monumental task, but the decision has been made in the favour of restoration. I’m pleased!

Pics from the cruise

We loved the Blu restaurant, with it’s two massive sculptured rose walls, it’s chandeliers, it’s modern port hole multi coloured wall, and its small menu (changed nightly). We also loved the flexibility of this restaurant with no need to pre-book. Some nights we ate early and went to the late show, other nights we went to the early show and dined afterwards depending on our mood on the night.

Amazing sculptured rose.
Big sparkley chandelier

The small menu changed each night. The food was superb, as was the service.

An example of one night’s offerings.

Some days we ordered breakfast in our room (a free service). Eating it on the balcony, how good was that! Other days we had breakfast in our Blu restaurant.

Breakfast on the balcony

First port of call after two days at sea was the Isle of Pines. We’d heard nightmare stories of people on other ships queuing for hours to get a place on the tenders to be taken to shore. I must say the Celebrity Solstice provided an impressively efficient service. I don’t think anyone would have waited longer than 15 minutes – we certainly didn’t.

Tenders crossing two and fro ferrying passengers throughout the day.

One side of the Island had a bit of a reef system ideal for snorkelling. We had forgotten our own snorkelling gear so had to hire some on the island. It was worth a look.

Snorkellers exploring the coral reef near the caves.

Then back to the main swimming beach, with it’s pleasantly warm water on the ship side of the Island.

Main swimming beach with the ship anchored close by

Next days port of call was Mystery Island where we booked a guided snorkelling tour. It was deemed to be ‘extreme’, and only for experienced snorkelers. It’s always a bit of a worry when you book something that’s listed as being for ‘experienced’, as one never knows what the benchmark is that delineates the difference between a novice and someone with experience.  As it turned out it did involve a lot of swimming to keep up with our guide, but we managed easily enough. The only hard part was climbing back into the boat – never easy climbing a flimsy boat ladder from out of deep water. None of us found that easy, but with much pulling and pushing we all managed.

Snorkelling at Mystery Island

There was loads of brightly coloured fish, and coral. Deep below us we saw a couple of rather large reef sharks that may have given cause for concern had our guides not warned us they prefer to keep a comfortable distance, and will swim away if we get to close.

Pretty coral

Next stop was Loyalty Island, another lovely swimming beach. Apparently there was another lovely snorkelling spot there, but we opted for a short swim this time, then lay under the coconut palms for a while before returning to the boat.

The crew provided a welcome treat for all the returning passengers after each beach stop, a lovely drink of iced water, and a cool wet face cloth for a cool, refreshing wipe down. What a pleasure!

Iced water, and cool iced wash clothes – most welcome after a few hours in the water.

Our last stop was Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia. It lived up to it’s reputation of having nothing much there worth photographing or writing about. Some passengers did an Island tour and I believe they found it to be quite amazing. Perhaps we should have done the same, but we felt we’d had our share of swimming and snorkelling. Maybe next time…..

Then our return to Sydney.

The last two sea days on the cruise left some people on board, including some of the crew a little under the weather as we sailed back towards Sydney in the wake of Cyclone Debbie. The seas were rough with the high swells tossing the big ship around as if it was a small boat. The top decks and pools were closed I believe. I never went up to look myself – it wasn’t a place one would have wanted to be in such rough conditions.

On the second to last night sleep was a bit elusive for most on board, including us, as the ship crashed and rocked towards home. We berthed on time to a wet and rainy Sydney. Then our flight back to WA in time to drive home for a night in our own bed. As with any trip away, it’s always nice to come home again.

Will we cruise again – maybe? We enjoyed a lot of it, some of it was disappointing. It was certainly relaxing. We have friends that love cruising. Perhaps one day we’ll do a cruise with them if we can find one that appeals at the right price. That’s if I haven’t proved myself to be too much of a party pooper for them to want to cruise with.

Bingo on Celebrity Solstice

On sea days the ship has A Bingo session. There’s a considerable sized jackpot for the last of four games, That will only be won should anyone get a full card within 45 calls.

We’ve played twice despite the high cost. I don’t really know why – I guess it’s because it’s one of the few organised activities on board that reassembles a board or card game, and I love a good board or card game.

It cost $39 US dollars for one board with three game squares, $49 for two, and for $59 you get an additional paper set of three to play on the fourth and final game.

Yesterday the first game everyone was playing for a line. There was one winner who won $147 US. The second game was played for the outside corners. This time there were two winners who shared $177. The third game was for the four inside corners, three winners shared $206. The fourth game for the full square had two winners who shared $235. The full card was won only well after the 45 calls required for the jackpot. You’d have to be really, really lucky to win the jackpot, possibly more chance of winning lotto.

Today there’s a bigger prize for the fourth square, around $1000. One fellow cruiser said that’s at least $6000 on other ships for every session, and bigger again on the final day. The attendance has dropped each day I believe. Probably today, being the last day will see the numbers jump up again though, especially as the weathers grim, and the sea rough, not a good day for outdoor activities.

I’m undecided if I’ll consider playing again today. My sense of sensibility says, ‘don’t do it’. Sometimes I’m not that sensible though, so most likely I’ll play for one final time. ‘Stupid is as stupid does’, comes to mind!

The cruising party poopers!

We’re nearing the end of our nine day cruise. After our last port of call today (Noumea) we have two sea days left. We’ve taken lots of photos but won’t be able to post them until we arrive home and can download to our laptop.

So – what are our thoughts?

Mixed feelings. The first two days we were both alternating between thinking, ‘this is the life’, and, ‘is this the life for us’? The next two days we were thinking, ‘Mmmm, could get used to this’, and now – well, sort of back to the original feelings of the first two days.

We are very spoilt in living where we do, and in travelling in our caravan. We can arguably be on one of the best beaches in Australia (and possibly in the world) within a couple of minutes from our home in the summer (and for free). Taking our caravan north to Broome in the winter months brings more of the same. So, the South Pacific islands, although gorgeous, don’t have the same impact on us as they do on people who are starved of turquoise waters and white sand vistas.

Saying that though, we did enjoy our swims on our three Island visits. Noumea, today’s port of call, not so much. It’s a bit grungy and frightfully expensive. We were among the many passengers who did a courtesy couple of laps on the hop on, hop off bus before heading back to the ship for lunch, where we remained for the rest of the day.

On board there is lots to like, but also a counter balance of things not so impressive. Our cabin is lovely, the bed comfortable, and the balcony roomy. The meals are superb, as is the service. We’re not so impressed with some of the on board entertainment. There’s a night time show which lasts about 40 minutes – some have  been good, others rate a bare OK. There’s afternoon quiz sessions which we enjoy, so does everyone else. People end up sitting on the floor because it gets so crowded. There’s movies, we went to our first today. There’s music and dance bands scattered randomly around the ship. Each singer or band usually only plays for around 45 minutes.

So, that’s the entertainment we like, which doesn’t account for many hours in a day. After that, there’s pool games, bandeokie (kareoke done to a live band), silent discos and a few other things that we have no interest in. By far though the vast majority of the entertainment on board is presentations followed by upselling – other cruises, diamonds, watches, handbags, art auctions….. all sorts of things that they call entertainment, but in reality it’s just gimmicky marketing. The casino is also clearly a big money maker, its hugely promoted, and is very well frequented.

We’ve ended up getting some playing cards and a crib board and are playing crib in the evenings after dinner and the show. Guess we’re just party poopers!

Waiting to cast off.

We’ve been on board Celebrity Solstice since just after 11am. Whilst Internet is still available I thought I’d add a little post of first impressions along with some photos. However, I’m wishing I’d packed our laptop. Apologies if the format is a little different and the photos smaller. The IPad is proving a little difficult.

Firstly, our stateroom. We’re on the 11th floor, and whilst in port have a lovely view over the harbour and the Opera House from our balcony.

View from our balcony

Our room is spacious and the bed king size. I had expected the room to be a lot smaller than the on line photographs had shown it to be. What a pleasant surprise, it’s exactly how was shown in the promotion photographs, and feels quite oppulent compared to my expectations.

More than enough room

We were welcomed on board with a glass of champagne, and shortly afterwards were offered an upgrade on our existing drinks package. Offer accepted, and promptly taken advantage of with a G & T each with our lunch, and later whilst on the sundeck, a Peroni for Paul, and Piña Colada for me.

Shortly we will be attending the safety demonstration, but in the meantime our bags have just been delivered, so I’d better go and help Paul unpack.

Must say – from first impressions I think perhaps I’m going to enjoy this!


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What Does Your T-Shirt Say?

What Does Your T-Shirt Say?
May 3, 2019 Dr. Karl Benzio

May 3, 2019

What Does Your T-Shirt Say?

Transformational Thought

We see t-shirts telling us “Just Do It” and “No Fear.” We read bumper stickers that question and mock authority. Every day, television programs encourage disrespect and rebellion. Movies trivialize God and make fun of Christians. The news is filled daily with drastic evidence of rebellion through abortion, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, legalizing marijuana, and murder. Sadly, these are all-to-common signs of our times.

Because of our me-centered nature, the need to be in charge really starts to control our minds. It bleeds insidiously into every nook and cranny of our daily motives, pursuits, and decisions. Satan certainly wants to push that me-centered mentality and we get sucked into his strategies and traps so easily. We’ve lost sight of the only real authority worthy of our respect and reverence as we pursue being the all-knowing one, protecting our needs and comfort above all else, insisting that our agendas turn the course of events.

Respect, reverence, and fear have become offensive words in our society. A lack of concern and respect for each other or for those in authority have led to disorganization, relativism, devaluing, rebellion, immorality, hatred, and even bloodshed. This lack of respect for mankind combined with other distorted attitudes about people and life is traced to a lack of knowledge about God and a lack of true reverence for Him. To reverence the Lord means not only treating God and His message with awe and wonder, but also having a fear of being out of His will and not having His protection, guidance, and blessings.

What are some ways we can show our respect and reverence for God? Noah did it by persevering in obedience for 100 years, building an ark amid very difficult circumstances. The lives of Joseph and Daniel are great testimonies of reverence and respect for God when it would have been “easier” to cave in to another master. On the other hand, we can be like Jonah, and run the other way when God’s plan doesn’t match the one we contrived with our finite wisdom and minimal planning.

Today, begin to put God first in your life … to have regular devotional times with Him … to live your day-to-day life in a way that honors Him. In the activities of this day, are you respecting and honoring God’s provision, authority, and instruction for your life? Each of us can define one area of life in which we are not honoring Him. Dissect it a bit today. Why are you ignoring His instruction and going in the other direction? Make one small change in your strategy and see what happens. People who don’t know Jesus often judge Him by what they see in His followers. What do they learn about Jesus from your life? Whether you wear a message of respect and reverence, or you wear disrespect and me-first on your t-shirt and in your heart is your decision, so choose well.

My Father and my Lord, it is my desire and goal to please You in everything I do. I know I have fallen short of this goal. Please help me to live in such a way that others will consistently sense Your love, and will want to know You and honor You. Help them see me honoring Your way and experiencing the blessings and fruit it brings me so that they yearn for You. Help me confess aloud when I do wrong to someone, so they see what Your way really is. I pray this and all prayers through your Son and my savior, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say – AMEN!

The Truth

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism. Colossians 3:22-25

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20

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Dolomite Sand Production Line Stainless Steel

Circular vibrator sifter for crushed quartz sandvibratory sifter screen separatorvibrating round separatora vibratory sifter is a screen separator is a screening machine that vibrates around its centre of gravity.Vibrating of screens is don.Including stainless steel, mild steel, copper, etc, are enhanced by various types of.


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Efficiency Durable Impact Limestone Crusher Price With Iso Ce Approved

-zhengzhou widely used high performance cone crusher with.High efficiency cone crusher supplier with iso ce approved shanghai road bridge machinery co.,ltd.Is a high quality supplierfactory on mobile cruser jaw crusher, and certificated by global market certification.Iso and high efficient low-cost limestone impact crusher.


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LYKE Blue Night Men Spray 200ml

  •  Fresh, Woody Aromatic Scent
  • Men Spray
  • 200ml
  • Made in Turkey
SKU: LS-00054 Category: Tag:

Lyke Blue Night is a reflection of elegance, freedom and is a fragrance that makes men want to go off to conquer the world.

This fresh, woody aromatic scent opens with a sparkling note of lemon, orange, grapefruit jazzed up with pink pepper, nutmeg and peppermint. A warm note emanates from the heart, thanks to cedarwood paired with vetiver, dry notes, ginger and floral hint of jasmine. Patchouli, frankincense, sandalwood and labdanum closes the composition.

It is made in Turkey and available in 200ml.

Additional information

Weight2 kg
Dimensions16.3 × 5.6 × 11.2 cm

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Shopping in Lincoln

Shopping in Lincoln has so much to offer, from chain stores to independent boutiques, and farmer’s markets to antiques – there is plenty to choose from!

If you are wanting something a bit different, then head to Bailgate, Steep Hill and The Strait (in the Cathedral Quarter/ Uphill Lincoln). Here you will find fantastic independent shops, boutiques, florists and art galleries – not to mention some of the best hotels, cafes and restaurants in Lincoln.

High Street and Waterside

If you want your shopping in Lincoln to be more mainstream, then head to the High Street and the Waterside Shopping Centre. You’ll find all the usual High Street names, plus a few excellent independents.

St Marks

St Marks is a large retail park towards the bottom end of the High Street, just below the level crossing. It has plenty of big names, including Debenhams, Lakeland, Argos and BHS at Home and has a large car park – making shopping in Lincoln become that bit easier!

Lincoln Markets

Lincoln has several great markets – from traditional permanent markets, to farmers’ markets, to local artists’ markets, to the Lincoln Christmas Market. You’ll be spoiled for choice when you come shopping in Lincoln!


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How to Install python-nmap Library in Linux

In this tutorial, I will teach you how to install a python library which helps in using nmap port scanner. The library is called python-nmap.

What is nmap

"Nmap (Network Mapper) is a security scanner originally written by Gordon Lyon (also known by his pseudonym Fyodor Vaskovich)[1] used to discover hosts and services on a computer network, thus creating a "map" of the network. To accomplish its goal, Nmap sends specially crafted packets to the target host and then analyzes the responses."

Read more about nmap on wiki page and Nmap Commands.

Install python-nmap in linux

1. Open a new terminal and use the wget utility to download the python-nmap library.

how to install python-nmap in linux

2. Once the download is finished extract the content with the tar utility.

tar xf python-nmap-0.1.4.tar.gz

how to install python-nmap in linux

cd python-nmap-0.1.4

how to install python-nmap in linux

python install

how to install python-nmap in linux

Verify if the python-nmap library is installed properly.

how to install python-nmap in linux

how to install python-nmap in linux

On Ubuntu and Debian distributions install python-nmap, use:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-nmap

How to use python-nmap

1. Open a new terminal, and run python with the following command.

2. Import the nmap module.

import nmap
test = nmap.PortScanner()

3. Use the following line to scan your localhost for opening ports

test_scanner = test.scan('','80')

4. Print the test_scanner variable

>>> test_scanner
{'nmap': {'scanstats': {'uphosts': u'1', 'timestr': u'Fri Dec 20 21:33:55 2013', 'downhosts': u'0', 'totalhosts': u'1', 'elapsed': u'0.12'}, 'scaninfo': {u'tcp': {'services': u'80', 'method': u'syn'}}, 'command_line': u'nmap -oX - -p 80 -sV'}, 'scan': {u'': {'status': {'state': u'up', 'reason': u'localhost-response'}, 'hostname': u'localhost', u'tcp': {80: {'state': u'closed', 'reason': u'reset', 'name': u'http'}}}}}

As you can see from the above output a nested dictionary is printed on the screen. It has information about the host status, command-line arguments and port state.

5. Use the following piece of code to get information about the command used by nmap in our example.

Here is the output.

u'nmap -oX - -p 80 -sV'

In this article, we learned how to install python nmap on Linux. This library helps network administrators to scanning tasks and nmap scripts. Please let us know your suggestions.

Oltjano Terpollari 3:00 am

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1 Comment

  1. File "", line 1, in
    File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/nmap/", line 137, in __init__
    raise PortScannerError('nmap program was not found in path')
    nmap.nmap.PortScannerError: 'nmap program was not found in path'


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Manage Your Credit Cards to Reduce Payments

Stay Positive.

Rather than making getting out of debt, which is no fun, your goal, set a positive goal like gaining financial health and creating wealth or saving to buy a home.  Set an achievable time for achieving a goal.  Write your goal down and plaster it everywhere to keep it in front of you.  Focus on the benefits you will derive by reaching your goal, not the sacrifices you are enduring.

Withdraw money you have in the bank and send it to the creditor at the top of your list.
It makes little sense to have money in the bank earning 3% when you are paying 18 – 21% in interest on credit card debt.

Note: Do not liquidate your IRA or company retirement accounts as the tax penalties are so high and you will be jeopardizing your retirement to such an extent that it is not worth it.

Negotiate the lowest rate credit card that you can.
Get as much credit as you can provided that:

  • You are not increasing the mount you owe.
  • The interest rate you are paying now is lower that the rate you have been paying.
  • Switch cards every 6 months if necessary.

Read the fine print on the new card.  Low introductory rates only apply for a limited period of time.  After the “teaser rate” is no longer in effect, the rate may increase even higher than the rate you are currently paying.  In other cases, the low rate may apply only to new purchases, not to existing balances you transfer from other cards.

About luxpropertygroup

Lux Home Group consists of FULL TIME real estate professionals in the Phoenix area. Real Estate is not only our job, it is our passion. So, if you are interested in buying, selling, or renting a home in the greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area, or you would like to get involved in the fabulous world of real estate sales or investing, give us a call at 480.442.1442 or email us at If you just want to hang out with some super fabulous can call us for that, too.

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Re: Working with JavaFX

Le 6/12/2015 23:36, Cecil Westerhof a écrit :

> I did not invest a lot in Swing. As I understood it new applications
> should be written with JavaFX instead of with Swing. That is not the case?

Oracle supports both frameworks, JavaFX doesn't deprecate Swing. So feel
free to use the one that suits best your needs, you can expect them to
stay for a long time.

> But my Java version is 7. Is something going wrong here?

The default runtime is still Java 7. You can switch to Java 8 by using
update-java-alternatives. For example:

    sudo update-java-alternatives --set java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64

> But for Java 8 I need to install unstable packages I understood. Or am
> I mistaken?

openjdk-8 as found in unstable has been rebuilt for Jessie and is
available from the jessie-backports repository. This backport is
perfectly suitable for a stable environment.

> That explains it: the Debian distribution of Java is different as the
> Oracle one.

Indeed, Oracle bundles several things that you'll find in separate
packages in Debian (openjdk-<n>-jdk, visualvm, openjfx, icedtea-web)

Emmanuel Bourg

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Our World |

10 Offbeat Stories You Might Have Missed This Week (5/19/18)

Now that the weekend is here, there is some time to wind down and catch up on the news of the week. You can click here to learn about all the serious, important stuff.

This list is all about the strange and quirky happenings that made recent headlines. We’ll be exploring some events that set the online world on fire and a few interesting discoveries about animals. This week was also a study of man’s ingenuity, whether it’s directed toward a life of crime or building the world’s fastest shed.

10 Yanny Or Laurel?

Back in 2015, the online world got into a tizzy over a simple picture of a dress. Some people saw it as blue and black (its actual colors), but others saw it as white and gold. Following the confusion came a series of explanations from experts and laymen alike regarding the possible reasons behind this bizarre phenomenon.

A new controversy is tearing apart the Internet this week, except this time it comes in audio form. It is a short clip that just says one word over and over again, and people can’t decide if they hear “Yanny” or “Laurel.”[1]

The clip was featured on Reddit and blew up from there. Already, some experts have chimed in with possible explanations, although there doesn’t seem to be a consensus yet on one particular element which is causing the audio dissimilarity.

Psychology professor David Alais from the University of Sydney says the different sounds are confusable due to similar timing and energy content. He believes age could play a factor, as older people lack high-frequency sensitivity. Assistant Professor Lars Riecke from Maastricht University agrees, saying that the “secret is frequency.”

Professor Hugh McDermott from Melbourne’s Bionics Institute sees frequency playing a part, along with other factors such as visual cues or unconscious preference based on personal history. So, the question remains—are you a Laurel or a Yanni?

9 Thanos Arrested In Toronto

Photo credit: Twitter

Thanos has finally been thwarted. But it wasn’t by the Avengers or by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Rather, it was by Toronto police sergeant Noel DeGuzman.[2]

Okay, so it wasn’t the real villain but rather 42-year-old local Frank Coraci wearing a detailed Thanos costume. And he wasn’t actually arrested; he was just posing for a picture to impress the sergeant’s daughter. Coraci thought a quick stroll down Yonge Street was a good way to cheer up the people of Toronto following the recent van attack that took place on the same street. Before he knew it, people were lining up to take selfies with the Mad Titan.

Soon enough, this attracted the attention of the police. Initially, Coraci thought he was in trouble, but the constable turned out to be a Marvel fan. A quick conversation between the two led to the arresting photo-op that later went viral online.

8 Pet Dog Turns Out To Be Bear

Photo credit: News 1st

Two years ago, Su Yun from Kunming in the Chinese province of Yunnan went on vacation and bought a puppy to bring home. She thought he was a Tibetan Mastiff. Only now did her family realize that Su Yun actually brought back an Asian black bear.

Tibetan Mastiffs are among the largest dogs in the world. Full-grown males can weigh over 70 kilograms (155 lb). However, the Chinese family realized something might be amiss when their “dog” reached 113 kilograms (250 lb) and kept growing. At that point, he was eating a box of fruits and two buckets of noodles every day.

Further suspicion was raised by the animal’s propensity for walking around on its hind legs.[3] When the Yun family realized what they had on their hands, they decided it was probably not a good idea to keep an adult bear around the house. They contacted authorities, and the animal was relocated to the Yunnan Wildlife Rescue Center.

7 Time Travelers Invited To Stephen Hawking’s Memorial Service

Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018. His memorial service will take place on June 15, after which he will be interred at Westminster Abbey between Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Recently, the Stephen Hawking Foundation announced that time travelers are welcome to attend the services.

Undoubtedly, this is a nod to the professor’s sense of humor. Specifically, it references a famous story when Hawking hosted a party on June 28, 2009, but didn’t send the invitations until a day later to ensure that only time travelers would attend. Nobody took him up on his offer.

People questioned why the foundation made the announcement before the memorial. Surely, the whole point of the gag/experiment was to invite time travelers after the event happened. However, it is possible that this was the original intention. A travel blogger was the first to notice that while signing up for the online ticket raffle to attend the service, you could select a birth year going up to 2038.[4] After reporters made inquiries, the foundation eventually confirmed that time travelers may attend, although they specified that none had yet applied.

6 Marsupial Becomes Endangered Due To Too Much Sex

Photo credit: AFP

The antechinus is a small, shrew-like marsupial found in Australia. It is typically known for its overactive love life, which is often characterized by semelparity—a single reproductive event that usually leads to death. And now it seems that this feverish lifestyle has officially placed two species of antechinus on the endangered species list.[5]

During mating seasons, both antechinus males and females move from one partner to another and engage in sex that can last up to 14 hours. There are no courtship rituals. The goal is to mate with as many different partners as possible. The whole event lasts for two weeks. During that time, the males’ testosterone levels are so high that they constantly produce the stress hormone cortisol. Eventually, the cortisol reaches toxic levels, which breaks down the immune system. The antechinus then suffers from organ failure, bleeds internally, and dies.

Both species, the silver-headed antechinus and the black-tailed dusky antechinus, were documented by mammalogist Andrew Baker in 2013. In that short span of time, population numbers dwindled, and Dr. Baker believes that external factors such as reduced food sources and invasive predators also contributed toward their endangerment.

5 Fastest Shed In The World Sets New Record

Photo credit: Straightliners

Over the weekend, beachgoers at Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire, Wales, witnessed a new record being set for the fastest shed in the world.

The motorized structure reached 160 kilometers per hour (101 mph), shattering the previous record of 129 kilometers per hour (80 mph), which it also held.[6] This was thanks to a powerful 400-brake-horsepower engine from an Audi RS4. In total, owner Kevin Nicks spent over $17,500 turning a run-of-the-mill garden shed into a speed freak.

This all started back in 2015, when Nicks’s Volkswagen Passat broke down. He wanted to do something different, so, naturally, this resulted in a shed on wheels. It took a year of hard work and £5,000 before his creation was roadworthy. Initially, the 53-year-old gardener had no intention of beating records. He just wanted something to take his daughter to school and pop down to the shops. However, when the opportunity arose to race his shed, Nicks managed to break the then-current Guinness world record, but he also blew up his engine.

The racer spent the last two years repairing and improving his vehicle to get it ready for the land speed event at Pendine Sands.

4 UPS Suffers Involuntary Change Of Address

A Chicago man was charged last week with fraud and theft of mail after a brazen scheme which saw him receive thousands of pieces of mail intended for shipping giant UPS by simply changing the company’s address at the post office.

This is the latest in a line of “I can’t believe that worked” scams, which usually make for interesting reading as long as you are not one of the victims. Dushaun Henderson-Spruce, 24, submitted a common change-of-address form with the US Postal Service (USPS) on behalf of UPS and relocated the organization’s headquarters to his own apartment on Chicago’s North Side.

This happened back in October, and it wasn’t until late January that postal officials caught on to Henderson-Spruce’s scheme. The carrier who had him on his route said that he had been delivering “voluminous” amounts of UPS mail for months. He had to leave it in a special USPS tub outside the tenant’s apartment. Later, postal inspectors recovered 3,000 pieces of mail and learned of ten UPS check deposits totaling $58,000 made in Henderson-Spruce’s account.[7]

In a media interview, the defendant said he received the mail as the result of a mix-up, possibly due to having his identity stolen.

3 Chimps Keep Tidier Beds Than Humans

According to a study from North Carolina State University, chimpanzees, our closest evolutionary relatives, have cleaner sleeping arrangements than humans, with far less fecal, oral, and skin bacteria.

Unlike people, who tend to sleep in the same bed regularly, chimps make new nests each night in the treetops. This seems to be the essential difference, since up to 35 percent of bacteria found in human beds comes from our own bodies.[8]

Researchers swabbed 41 chimpanzee beds in Tanzania while also vacuuming for arthropods in 15 of them. Not only did they find almost no aforementioned fecal, oral, or skin bacteria, but they also located far fewer parasites than expected. In total, only four individual specimens of ectoparasites were found across all searched nests.

2 Mother Changes Son’s Name To Match Misspelled Tattoo

Photo credit: Johanna Sandstrom

Thirty-year-old mother of two Johanna Giselhall Sandstrom from Kyrkhult, Sweden, wanted to do something special as a declaration of love for her two children, Nova and Kevin. Like many other people, she decided to get their names tattooed on her body. Everything went smoothly, or so she thought. When she got home, Johanna realized she was proudly displaying her love for “Kelvin.”

A quick Google search of “tattoo fails” will show that misspelled words happen way more often than you would think in the industry. Johanna went back to the tattoo parlor, but there was little that could be done at that stage other than offering her a refund. The artist showed her the designs beforehand, and she approved them with a passing glance.

The only option at that point seemed to be a visit to a tattoo removal clinic. However, when they discovered that it would require multiple expensive treatments, the family decided on a new course of action—they changed the boy’s name to “Kelvin.”[9] Now, the Sandstroms say they prefer the new moniker because it is more original.

1 Scientists Discover Oldest-Known Oxygen In The Universe

Billions of light-years from Earth, in a galaxy far, far away, astronomers have detected traces of what they believe to be the oldest oxygen in the universe.

The observations were made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile’s Atacama Desert, a radio telescope capable of capturing clearer images than the Hubble Space Telescope and at further distances. The international team of researchers used ALMA to zoom in on an extremely distant galaxy called MACS1149-JD1. There, they detected signals of ionized oxygen emitted 13.28 billion years ago.[10]

Lead author Takuya Hashimoto, researcher at Osaka Sangyo University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, said, “This detection pushes back the frontiers of the observable universe.” However, astronomers are getting more excited about the implications made by the oxygen’s presence.

This oxygen was formed roughly 500 million years after the Big Bang. However, the gas can only be created inside stars, which means that it is a clear indicator of primordial celestial objects. Scientists examined the color of the galaxy and believe the oldest stars in MACS1149-JD1 formed 250 million years after the Big Bang.

This brings us closer to uncovering the cosmic dawn—the period when the universe transitioned from a hot, dense, homogenous state to the one filled with stars, planets, black holes, and all other kinds of celestial objects. Like study coauthor Richard Ellis described it, this is the “Holy Grail of cosmology and galaxy formation.”

Read more offbeat stories you might have missed from May 12, 2018 and May 5, 2018.


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You've got a choice: Get pulled over by the cops and pay a fine OR be proactive and avoid a ticket by allowing the great state of New York to pay FOR you.

We're talking about your peeling license plates. They're a problem. Unfortunately, they're YOUR problem. But, good news: there IS help. You're not in this alone. The Empire State is waiting to help out. But you have to make the first move. Otherwise, the Department of Motor Vehicles says you can be ticketed for having illegible plates.

According to a DMV official, these poorly produced plates are being monitored very carefully as it is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Further more, said DMV official also made it clear that no vehicle owner will have to shell out cash for new plates if they indeed are peeling.

Straight from the DMV:

As a courtesy to our customers, there is no charge for replacing peeling plates, however, customers must pay a statutory $20 fee if they want to keep their existing plate number. While plates are more likely to be subject to peeling as they age, the number of returned plates is minimal compared to the nearly 14 million New York plates on the road. In addition, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which contracts with vendors to produce license plates, continues to monitor for production issues and implements changes when appropriate.

So, go take care of your peeling plates. New York State can pay now or YOU can pay THEM later.


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Litigation Lawyers in Marietta

In Marietta, Georgia, a civil deposition is a part of the discovery procedure in civil litigation.

Discovery, in Marietta, Georgia is a very essential step in the civil litigation process. It is when all of the relevant evidence is gathered by both sides, and, generally, each side must disclose that evidence to the other.

One of the most effective ways to receive information relevant to a lawsuit in Marietta, Georgia is to conduct a deposition of a party who you believe to be privy to that information. A deposition is a Q&A session between an attorney representing one of the parties to a lawsuit, and someone who has knowledge relevant to the lawsuit. This can be one of the parties, or a witness. The individual being deposed is sworn in, and must answer all of the questions presented to them under oath. An attorney representing the other side can object to lines of questioning, on every grounds that would be valid during in-court testimony. The purpose of this is mainly to get the objection on the record, but if it proves to be a major sticking point, a judge can rule on the objections later. If any questions are found to be invalid, the questions, and their answers, will not be shown to the jury during trial. This is much more effective than simply instructing the jury to disregard a question and answer they've already heard.

Conducting A Civil Deposition in Marietta, Georgia

In Marietta, Georgia, the main reason to conduct a deposition, as opposed to having someone testify in court, is to save time. After days of depositions, the jury can be presented with just the relevant testimony, if the case goes to trial. Furthermore, it's a good idea to conduct a deposition if there's any reason to believe that the witness will not be able to show up to court to testify, due to bad health, or any other reason.

Civil Depositions in Marietta, Georgia, can take a very long time to be completed, normally lasting several days, and occasionally going on for weeks. So, people who are called to give depositions in Marietta, Georgia should be ready for some considerable inconvenience.

Because of this fact, the law in Marietta, Georgia permits witnesses who are appearing for depositions to be compensated for the expense associated with it. This includes reimbursement for gas, lodging, and food. They can also be paid a certain amount of money for every hour they testify, to compensate them for their time. However, this money can only be conditioned on the witness showing up and giving truthful testimony. Trying to condition it on the witness testifying in a particular way ceases to be compensation, and becomes bribery, which is a crime.

If you are being deposed in Marietta, Georgia you absolutely must answer all the questions truthfully and completely, to the best of your knowledge. You are under oath, and if you lie, and are caught, you could be prosecuted with perjury, which can carry jail time.

How Can A Marietta, Georgia Lawyer Help?

If you're a party to a Marietta, Georgia lawsuit and are obligated to appear at a deposition, one would hope that you've already retained a lawyer by this stage in the proceedings. Your attorney will have a lot of advice for you, which you should of course follow.

If you're not a party to a lawsuit in Marietta, Georgia, but have knowledge about some of the facts that are at issue in a pending case, you might still be contacted to appear in a deposition. In that case, you likely don't need to hire a lawyer.


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Many in the church think that our final destiny is heaven. It seems like that’s what Jesus promised when He said, “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also” (John 14:3). But that is not the end of the story, because in Revelation, John declares that the place Jesus is preparing will ultimately come “down out of the new heaven from God to the new earth ” (Rev. 21:2) Scripture doesn’t conclude with God’s children floating on clouds up there, but with God living with His saints down on a new earth.

Image result for pictures of the new Jerusalem descending from heaven to the new earth

For the Jews, Jerusalem is:

1. The home of God on earth. David sings “praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion” (Ps. 9:11a). Asaph calls on God to remember “Mount Zion, where you have lived” (Ps. 74:2c) and God Himself concludes the prophecy of Joel with the cheer, “The LORD dwells in Zion!” (Joel 3:21).

2. The place where God will defeat the powers of evil. Zechariah prophesies that God will destroy all of His enemies at a climactic battle in Jerusalem (Zech. 12:1–914:12–15). Joel prophesies “Blow the ram’s horn in Zion, sound the alarm on My holy mountain! All the inhabitants of the earth will tremble, because the day of the Lord has come, because it is near” (Joel 2:1). Amos adds, “The LORD roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:2a). Isaiah declares that “the Lord of Hosts (shall) come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for its hill” (Isa. 31:4c).

3. The source of blessing for the world.  Psalm 46:4 states, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High.” Ezekiel 47 adds that this river, which begins in the temple, runs from Jerusalem all the way to the sea. The sea then carries its new fertile, fresh water to the ends of the earth. He writes: “By the river upon its bank, on this side and on that side, shall grow all kinds of trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade nor shall its fruit fail. They shall bring forth fruit according to their months, because their water issues out of the sanctuary. And their fruit shall be for food and their leaves for medicine” (Ezek. 47:12).

God’s City

All of the O.T. prophets were shown Jerusalem would eventually be restored. Even before the carnage began, Isaiah announced that God would keep His promise. “Good news” would eventually come to Jerusalem, for “the glory of the LORD will be revealed” there—in a way that no one would expect (Isa. 40:1-11). God’s glory was revealed when the Son of God came to earth. Jesus recognised the importance of Jerusalem, and He was “steadfastly set to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). There, He defeated the powers of evil before the dwelling place of God. His death provided life-giving water for the world. John records Jesus saying, “He who believes in me, … out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” John then explains, “By this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in him would receive” (John 7:38-39). The Spirit came to Jerusalem on Pentecost, where the life-giving water of the gospel bubbled up, streamed into Samaria and finally poured “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Those who are washed will join Jesus when He brings His new Jerusalem to the new earth.

New City

John’s Revelation consummates the biblical focus on the new Jerusalem. Its descent from heaven means:

  1. God is with us. John writes, “And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, “Look! The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. They shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev. 21:3). Three times in this verse, John says that God will live with His people. The biblical story doesn’t end with God taking us up to live with him, but with God coming down to live with us. He is Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23).
  2. Evil has been vanquished forever. Jesus will return and “wipe every tear” from our eyes. “Neither shall there be any more sorrow nor crying nor pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4b). This perfect bliss will continue forever, for “No unclean thing shall ever enter” the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:27).
  3. The entire world flourishes under the blessing of God. In spectacular fulfilment of Ezekiel’s vision, John declares that a river of life will flow “from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street” (Rev. 22:1b-2a). Its waters will nourish the tree of life, which bears monthly fruit, and leaves that heal the nations. Every nation bears the scars of their bloody attempts to achieve peace and prosperity. Their wars will continue until the end, when Jesus brings His kingdom of peace to earth and reigns over our world from the new Jerusalem. John closes his letter, and the entire Bible, with the only appropriate response: “Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20b).


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Miracle of Life Change

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So, you’ve been ‘born again’…now what? You were made for intimacy, beauty, impact and adventure, but you still struggle to break old habits and keep your temper in check. Is it really possible to become more like Christ? It is! In this series, Chip explores how life-change really happens, even in the midst of frustrating, painful or mundane circumstances. Don’t give up!

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Inslee: ‘likely’ spread of COVID-19 declining in Washington, will not lift many Stay Home order restrictions by May 4th

Governor Inslee addressed the State live Tuesday evening April 21st to layout his plan for Washington’s COVID-19 recovery, including when the economy may start to reopen.

Out of the gate Inslee warned they will not lift many restrictions under the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” before May 4th, the stay home extension date imposed earlier this month.

The governor did say a health official did tell him it is ‘likely’ the spread of COVID-19 is declining in Washington. He said they would let the public know when the restrictions could be lifted “just as soon as we know.”

No firm dates were offered during the speech. A news release stated, “Depending on health projections for the spread of the virus, some distancing restrictions may be in place for weeks or months to come.”

“In the coming days, we will receive additional health modeling projecting the course of this virus,” Inslee said. “We hope it will give us cause to begin lifting certain restrictions.”

Inslee said the data may allow them to lift restrictions on elective surgeries, as long as PPE is available; allow for more outdoor activities; allow a limited return of construction with safety measures in place.

Inslee described the reopening of Washington as the turning of a dial rather than the flipping of a switch and warned it is contingent on a steady decrease of the spread of COVID-19.

According to the governor’s office, “It will be guided by science and informed by our public health needs, our ability to mitigate impacts, and the response of Washington communities.”

The Governor’s Recovery Plan includes:

1) Widely available testing for individuals who may have contracted COVID-19, tracing for those who have come into close contact with COVID-19 positive individuals, and isolation or quarantine for individuals who could transmit the virus.

For the governor’s contact-tracing plan to work, the state needs to be processing between 20,000 and 30,000 tests a day. Due to testing supply issues, the state has not been able to process more than 4,000 tests per day since the crisis began.

2) When parts of Stay Home order are lifted, the state will provide guidelines so businesses can operate safely. After the order is lifted, workplaces will continue to look and operate differently until a COVID-19 vaccine is available. Continued physical distancing, teleworking and other measures will continue to be necessary to keep workers and customers safe.

3) Recovery assistance – a safe return to public life will require increased social and emotional supports, food and housing security, educational and child care support, internet infrastructure and equitable access to services.”

The governor said he will appoint three leadership groups to advise on each of the three parts of his recovery plan: public health, economic recovery and social supports.

Governor Inslee during 4/21/20 public address on COVI-19 recovery plan

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There is no shortage of accounting software solutions for your business. Software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing, and other technological innovations are adding more dimensions to technology decisions. Choosing the right solution that will meet the needs of your business now and in the future while also providing a necessary level of security is crucial. We can analyze the nature of your business and financial transactions, current technology, future business plans and emerging needs to identify and implement a software solution that is flexible enough to grow and change with your business.

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As a true business partner, we are available to help you deal with any business problem or opportunity. We stand ready to engage in business consulting projects to help you make the right decisions for the future of your business. Whether you face questions related to expanding, selling or restructuring your business, we have the necessary business acumen and analytical capabilities to help you make the right decisions.

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The business entity—LLP, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc.— that you select for your business has enormous financial and tax implications. It is important that you make the right decision. We can explain each choice and its implications. As your business grows and changes, the type of business entity you choose may need to change also.

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Estate matters affect everyone. By taking proactive steps today, you can ease the way for your heirs during a very difficult time. We can work with your legal counsel to help you to structure your estate and trusts to minimize taxes and ensure the smooth transition to your heirs. We are available to handle all estate and trust tax-related matters.

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Financial statements are an important tool for management decision making. Financial statements also represent your business to lenders, partners, potential buyers and other interested parties. We  will work closely with your key personnel to develop and finalize accurate and timely financial statements.

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An IRS audit can be an intimidating and complex process. If you or your business face an IRS audit, we can bring to bear years of experience in dealing with tax matters and IRS audit procedures to ensure that you are properly represented when dealing with the IRS and other tax authorities.

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Our Management Advisory Services focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your business and its operations. We  can provide support in business planning, mergers, acquisitions, and other advisory support. Contact our office to learn about the full range of services we provide.

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Constantly changing federal, state and local laws and tax regulations make payroll management an ongoing challenge for business owners. Our payroll services professionals are well versed on these laws and regulations. We can proactively alert you to material changes that will affect your business and your employees while also keeping payroll running smoothly no matter how large your business and your employee population become.

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Retirement planning is critical in these uncertain times. Whether you are developing a retirement plan for yourself or choosing a retirement plan to offer to your employees, we can help you evaluate the available options. Our focus is on helping you to make the choice that is most appropriate for your own financial situation. If you are choosing a retirement plan for your business, we will base our recommendations on the unique characteristics of your business and your employee population, as well as the legal and compliance issues related to each type of plan.

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Kiss Daniel Changes Stage Name To Kizz Daniel

Kizz Daniel

Kiss Daniel Changes Stage Name To Kizz Daniel

Popular Nigerian singer – Kiss Daniel may have quietly tinkered with his stage name.

The reason for the new development could be linked to his legal battle with his erstwhile record label G-Worldwide from last year. The Emperor Geezy owned music imprint has issued legal order restraining Kiss Daniel from using his stage name. According to G-Worldwide ‘Kiss Daniel’ had been trademarked by the label which prevents the singer from performing with the name.

Apparently, even though Kiss Daniel may have won the legal battle with his former label, he won’t be able to perform under the moniker as he lost the trademark right.

In a less dramatic way, the “Yeba” crooner has switched it from Kiss Daniel to Kizz Daniel. The adjustment is merely changing the double s to a double z. The singer who now goes by the name Kizz Daniel has made same changes to his social media accounts.

However, no official word about the name change from Kizz Daniel’s camp has been heard.

Check the photo below;

Kizz Daniel

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Local Search

Video Deep Dive: Google Critic Reviews, Ranking and New Rich Snippet Review Guidelines

By September 2, 2016 4 Comments
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This is the 30th installment this year of our Deep Dive Into Local series. For the week ending Monday, This is the 30th installment this year of our Deep Dive Into Local series. For the week ending Monday, August 8th, Mary Bowling and Mike Blumenthal shared their thoughts about the previous week in local. The complete video, including links and commentary on critical happenings of the previous week is posted in the Local U forums (paywall). In the second half of that video, they take a deeper strategic and tactical dive into one interesting area that caught their attention during the week.

In this discussion Mary and Mike discuss Google’s new critic reviews & Top 10 Lists showing in the Local SERPS, their use as a ranking signal and Google’s newest rich snippet review guidelines.

Mike: With that, I wanna switch into the Deep Dive where we’re going to be talking about Google’s Critic Reviews & Top 10 Lists. Late last week, they announced the inclusion of expert opinions and top 10 lists in the local search results. I wrote about it at my blog. It’s interesting to me because it expands the concept of reviews beyond consumer crowdsourced reviews, to more rarefied, critical reviews, and also top 10 lists from trusted sites.

If you remember, a number of months back Barbara Starr, did an article on structured data and the SERPs at Search Engine Land where she discussed Google’s entity ranking algorithm patent. And in that patent Google noted, quite clearly, that the system of entity ranking may combine professional critic reviews and user reviews of restaurants — giving more weight to the professional reviews and less weight to user reviews. I think that time has come. I think there’s a lot of … Google perceives a lot of value in a Zagat review or a Serious Eats review and is giving them their due.

Simultaneously, of course, in an “it’s all about me” moment, Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp tweeted how unfair it was because now Yelp results were further down the page and they were [offering] such good content and meaningful results. Clearly, Google is looking for alternative sources for data. There is no reason that Yelp can’t get into the top 10 lists, or they already are, but couldn’t get into the critic review business as well.

It’s interesting at a number of levels to me, though. One is that they are clearly giving a benefit to certain pre-selected sites that they’re testing this with — Thrillist, Gotham, Serious Eats, there’s a couple top 10 list, top 10 best or whatever. There’s a couple sites that they’re giving this preference to. Anybody can sign up to join, but it’s right now on an exclusive basis, although they will expand.

They’ve also sent out a number of new guidelines around this new critic review. They’ve expanded the concept of critic review. Originally, it was from just movies and books, and it’s now been expanded to local businesses, which is interesting. And I think will spawn a number of local business critical review sites.

Mary: Mike, do you … when I think of critic reviews, you know, I think of restaurants and, as you say, books and movies. But what other types of businesses get critic reviews on a consistent basis?

Mike: Right. Well, at this point, I don’t think that there are a lot, but I think hotels get some, you know, vacation spots get some. I can envision boutique-type stores rising to the level of critical review. You know, a shopping site saying to you this local…this business [is good]. I don’t know that every business would necessarily get a critic review, but I do see it as possible that local news sites could get into this segment beyond restaurants. That’s all. I don’t know. I’m hypothesizing here, I don’t really know. But I could see some value in boutiques and tourist destinations, that kind of thing. I don’t know if it will happen. Right now, it’s primarily around, like you said, restaurants.

Simultaneously, with this release of this in the SERPS, they … they released a new Local Business Review Guidelines. Rich snippet guidelines have always been sort of general and didn’t include local businesses. For example, there was a period where you weren’t supposed to include third-party reviews with rich snippets, then it was okay when they removed it. But now, they’ve come out with an explicit set of Local Business Review Guidelines, which I think are interesting:

“Snippets must not be written or provided by the business unless they are genuine, independent, and unpaid editorial reviews.” I’m not sure quite what that refers to. But “Reviews must allow customers to express both positive and negative sentiments. They may not be vetted by the business or restricted by the content provider.”

So for example, GetFiveStars this is something we’ve had a feature in the works to move towards sort of where a business will still be allowed to filter their reviews if they want to. But if they want to become certified as a rich snippet review then they’re gonna have to agree to publish the negative reviews. So we have that feature coming, for example.

“Do not include reviews that are duplicates or similar reviews across many businesses from many different sources,” i.e., you can’t take one testimonial and apply it to a bunch of locations. And then finally, the final rich snippet [guideline] that I thought was interesting was only in … this one again, came and went and now it’s back again: “Only include reviews that have been directly produced by your site, not reviews from third-party sites or syndicated reviews.” In other words, Google doesn’t want local sites showing Google or Yelp reviews in rich snippets anymore.

You asked the question earlier, “How is Google going to enforce this?” Some of it, I think that they will. They do have an index. They will be able to identify a review as duplicate. In other words, they know that this review is at Google or Yelp and they see it on your site. They can identify that. So there are some algorithmic ways. I think initially, they may not enforce it. They may see how much abuse there is. They may track the abuse and then build an enforcement mechanism at a later point. I think that’s typically what they do. But it’s a good question.

Mary: So do you see this as being aimed at possibly some gray hat-type review platforms? Do you see it being aimed at big brands more than little brands? What do you see this trying to clean up?

Mike: Right. So I see it across the board. Right? There are review sites like GetFiveStars that allows an owner to filter reviews as a way of getting them comfortable with their review scene. And we also allow an owner to not filter reviews. So some of our clients choose not to filter reviews and they push all reviews out. We encourage that, right, but we leave it to the business to choose.

And then there are review sites, for example — legitimate review sites — that syndicate Google and Yelp reviews as a rich snippet landing page content, and that behavior is gonna change. So I think that Google is looking for original content. Makes sense, right? Looking to make sure that the reviews meet the FTC requirements of showing both positive and negative. Makes sense. I mean they’re looking to provide some ethical and tactical guidance to clean up the world of reviews.

So it isn’t just gray hat, I think it’s everybody. I think reviews are easy to get excited about and easy to not maintain a high standard on. And I think Google is stepping into that breach on some level. Whether they’ll succeed or not is another question.

Mary: Yeah. Easy to make rules, a lot harder to enforce them.

Mike: Yes, really you should know that, Mary. Particularly when you apply the rule to me! It’s like who me, I follow a rule? Ha!

All right, so any other questions about the rich snippets guidelines?

Mary: No. Just, you know, kind of a mention that I see them being abused on local sites all the time. And, you know, the best way for Google to enforce those rules is to take away the reward, and they’re not doing that yet.

Mike: We do see it taken away periodically on some member sites. I don’t know how broad based that is.

With that, I just wanna make two mentions. One, you mentioned White Spark’s upgraded to their citation finder. Darren will be a speaker at Local U this fall in New Orleans, October 21st. He’s gonna be doing a session on citation building for enterprises, which should be interesting. And then these Local Business Review Guidelines will be discussed by David Deering who is also gonna be at the Local U Advanced, October 21st in New Orleans. So keep your eyes out for that.

With that I’ll say goodbye, thank you, and we’ll see you next week.

Mary: Thank you. Bye, Mike.

Mike Blumenthal
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  • Ross Dunn Ross Dunn says:

    Hi Mike, thanks for sharing this information. At the beginning of the video you appear to be segueing from an earlier conversation. Is that portion of the video available somewhere such as in the paid forum? Just wondering what I am missing and how to watch it. Thanks!

    • Mike Blumenthal Mike Blumenthal says:

      @Ross yes the full video is available in the news section of the forum. We do one every week so that you can get all the critical local updates in 20 minutes.

  • Andy says:

    This is one time I wish I could be in new Orleans *been once before, shortly after the big/est flood – nice folks 🙂

  • stefanov says:

    “Snippets must not be written or provided by the business unless they are genuine, independent, and unpaid editorial reviews.” But how google will recognize this. Most of the people didn`t have the behavior to write

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LOQR at MoneyLIVE Spring 2020

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We’re glad to announce that our CEO, Ricardo Costa is one of the speakers at the Preconference Evening: Introducing the FinTechs, which will take place next week, on the 9th of March at MoneyLIVE Spring 2020, in Madrid.

In partnership with the Spanish Association of Fintech and Insurtech, the FinTech night before the event is dedicated to exploring the best and brightest start-ups in the European market.