text:
Ultra Durable In-House Swiss Cloned Movements

Our Swiss replica watches comes with genuine Swiss made movements that are been developed and manufactured in Switzerland exclusively by Watch factory. All our movements are calibrated and tested within COSC certification limits and lubed with 5 different types of Swiss lubricants. They are designed with improved parts for heavy, long lasting use and they are the best choice even for military grade watches. A genuine movement is used as a sample and it’s completely disassembled for cloning. movements are 100% same to original and you can install them inside a genuine case, install a genuine dial and hands on them.

Rolex Cloned Swiss Made Movements

Even if your watch is opened by a jeweler it will be almost impossible to authenticate it! Our Swiss replica Rolex watches won’t only pass as a genuine on the outside but they are even replicated on the inside with our unique Swiss cloned Rolex movements. Even a well-trained jeweler will be taken in by the visual accuracy and say it’s a genuine Rolex. The movement motion of 28.000 vibrations per hour is the same fine sweep seconds hand motion as on the real Rolex.

We use special ferromagnetic alloys in the construction of our Swiss clone movements in order to combat the effects of magnetism and offer you a true Anti-Magnetic watch. These Swiss replica watches are so rare that no one knows about them. Consider yourself lucky that you found Now it’s your chance to get an inside-out undetectable Rolex Swiss replica.

Waterproof Swiss Replica Watches Swiss replica watches are professionally sealed to keep out day to day dirt with ABYSS Deep-Sea water Sealants and unique double core silicone synthetic ”O” Rings. These are made from polymer neoprene and fluorocarbon synthetic silicon which is far more resistant to cracking, corrosion and aging compared to natural rubber. Most Replica watches on the internet are fitted with simple rubber sealants which offer poor water resistance.

Made for the Deep Sea

Our Diver models come with patented ABYSS Deep-Sea Water Seals, Working Helium Release Valve and are waterproof tested and certified to a staggering 300 meters! The helium valve is to ensure that the watch can withstand the changes in pressurization inherent in diving.

Individually tested and waterproof certified!

All diver Replica watches are professionally sealed and pressure tested to 300 meters! Here at we perform some of the most extensive water resistance testing’s and we offer the highest level of quality control. When buying a replica watch you can rest assured that your individual watch has been thoroughly tested and certified before it’s been shipped to you.

Solid 904L-316L Stainless Steel

All replica watches are made from the identical metal that the genuine manufacturer uses. Our replica Rolex watches are forged from solid 316L or 904L medical grade super alloy stainless steel as a genuine Rolex and offers the same anti-corrosion properties.  904L steel has a higher nickel discharge and so higher resistance to sulphuric acid, rust and outstanding overall corrosion resistant properties and hardness.

Using the same steel as Rolex we achieve identical sheen on polished or satin brushed finish and every component of our Rolex replica watches is interchangeable with genuine Rolex parts.

Except Rolex all our Swiss replica watches are made by the exact same steel type that the Swiss manufacturers use for their genuine watches. This is the high grade 316L stainless steel that does not oxidize, which prevents the watch from rusting, and it is also magnetic resistant to corrosion from seawater and acidic liquids.

Identical Construction Swiss Replica watches are manufactured to the exact same dimensions as the original watch using incredible precision down to a nanometer! All watch parts inside or out of are interchanged with the genuine part. Whatever markings, engravings or features a genuine watch have you will also find on Swiss replica watches. They weight and feel exactly the same as the original watch.

Using the same steel as the genuine watch ensures that our Swiss replica watches have the identical metal color sheen on all polished or satin brushed finish surfaces and the same smooth feel and temperature conductivity behavior as the genuine watch.  All our replicas undergo a final inspection to ensure the overall Swiss build quality.

DLC Scratch Protectant Finish

All Swiss replica watches are applied with an anti- allergic protectant finish micro DLC coating (Diamond Like Coating) that hardens protects all the steel/gold parts of your watch against scratches, corrosive chemical fluids, soap, shampoo, sweat, saltwater etc.

DLC coating adds a higher hardness degree to the metal surface. 904L Steel is rated to 490 Vickers, 18K Gold to 400 and our DLC coating boosts the resistance up to 7,000 Vickers. With our DLC finish our Swiss replica watches are 13x more scratch resistant than even the genuine 904L Rolex! DLC coating is chemically bonded to the metal surface and it’s 100% transparent. Only a few microns thick it doesn’t affect the look or feel of your watch but it increases the durability so it will look as new for a lifetime!

Solid 18k & Platinum Wrapped

Unlike simply gold plated or PVD replicas, Swiss replica watches feature real solid 18k gold and platinum layers wrap with Titanium Nitride layers in base. This unique “Heavy Wrap” process is NOT to be mistaken with gold plating! The gold on our watches is twice the gold content found even on a genuine Swiss Brand gold wrapped watch and so it can be polished without fade. In fact your watch will look and feel like a real solid 18K gold watch, that not even a jeweler can tell the difference and it will even test positive to an 18K gold test!

Heavy Wrap is 100x more durable to simple gold plating or PVD, all of our gold watches are Heavy Wrapped with multiple layers of pure 18k Gold. It takes 4 days to apply Heavy Wrap, as each layer of solid 18k gold must cool before the next layer can be applied. The end result is that your watch looks and feels like a real 18k solid gold watch and has the identical weight as the original gold watch.

Maximum Brightness by SuperLuminova™ replica watches use multiple layers of SuperLuminova™ luminous coating for illuminating markings on watch dials and hands. SuperLuminova™ works like a light battery and after sufficient activation by sunlight or artificial light, it will glow in the dark twice as long as that of standard luminescent materials.

Our Rolex Swiss Replica watches are equipped with the new blue luminescent SuperLuminova™ Blue glow that lasts up to nine hours with uniform luminosity throughout.

Solid Ceramic Bezel and Case exclusively uses Isocera Ceramic by Cerasuisse that is 30% lighter than steel, 100% anti-allergenic, 100% unalterable and 100% rust-proof. This ceramic is light weight, scratch resistant, durable, and smooth to touch.

It achieves an extreme hardness level up to five times greater than steel and its color remains unaffected by ultraviolet rays. Our ceramic watch bezels and cases will look brand-new for a lifetime.

Sapphire Crystal – Smoothsap II Smoothsap II sapphire crystal is the second-hardest transparent substance on earth after diamond making it the perfect durable scratch-resistance surface to the watch dial.

Our Rolex sapphire crystal includes a 2.5x Cyclops date magnification lenses and a small laser-etched Rolex crown at the 6 O’clock which is virtually invisible to the naked eye. All date magnifications on our Swiss replica watches are 100% correct on every model and we use a both sides coated anti-reflective Sapphire crystal on certain models.

Moissanite Diamonds

With a refractive index of 2.65-2.69, Moissanite exhibits more brilliance than diamond! Moissanite is regarded as the ultimate diamond substitute because it shares 99.99% of the qualities of a real diamond. Every Moissanite diamond is hand-faceted by our master gem cutters to emulate the identical natural shine brilliance and spark found on a real diamond.

With its amazing fire and brilliance that will last forever, this unique created gemstone is making a spectacular statement at a fraction of the cost.

100% Identical Inside & Out Swiss hand crafted replica watches are indistinguishable to a genuine watch both inside and out. Swiss precision ensures that every dial, marker, engraving and numbering is 100% replicated down to an accuracy of a nanometer!

All replica watches are engraved with all the correct serial numbers which can be cross referenced. Solid 18k gold hour markers are used on Rolex replicas to prevent tarnishing! Laser precision text engravings and correct day-date fonts are used on each replica model. The Rolex symbol is stamped from an 18-carat gold strip and then sandblasted, blanked and polished.

Complete Box Set With Papers

Every Swiss replica watch comes with a luxury wooden clone box set. These complete box sets include an outer box sleeve, wooden or leather finish box, watch booklets, leather pouch, seal tags, product pamphlet, authenticity papers and international warranty card.

Everything is replicated from the genuine box set and you will be impressed by the quality of our box sets. With our Swiss made replica box sets your gift will sure look like a genuine watch and not a cheap replica.


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
About Us

Syncrude Good Neighbours grants assist Fort McMurray traveling soccer team

Feb 14, 2019

Jo-Jo Hill is proud to be born and raised in Fort McMurray. She's also happy to raise her family here. A second generation Syncrude employee, Jo-Jo is aware of the benefits available to employees, such as Good Neighbour volunteer and busing grants.

Syncrude employees continue to inspire each other to make safety personal

Jan 31, 2019

Sometimes a simple gesture can have a big impact. For Angela Yarkie, her safety inspiration came from seeing fellow employee Mike Caldwell write the names of his family members on his work gloves as a personal reminder to work safe.

Sustainability Report

The sustainability report provides an overview of our performance in the areas of finance and economic contribution, stakeholder and employee engagement, community investment, health and safety, and environmental stewardship.

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2019-09
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for February 2019
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-151-171-77.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.15 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 0.11-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


text:
Synonyms for openhanded

Synonyms for (adjective) openhanded

Synonyms: big, bighearted, freehanded, openhanded, bounteous, bountiful, giving, handsome, liberal

Definition: given or giving freely

Usage: was a big tipper; the bounteous goodness of God; bountiful compliments; a freehanded host; a handsome allowance; Saturday's child is loving and giving; a liberal backer of the arts; a munificent gift; her fond and openhanded grandfather

Similar words: generous

Definition: willing to give and share unstintingly

Usage: a generous donation


text:
Home > Shop by Brand > Gamakatsu > Gamakatsu Treble Hooks >

Gamakatsu Magic Eye Treble Short Shank Round Bend

Gamakatsu Magic Eye Treble Short Shank Round Bend

Starting at: $6.99

Quantity in Stock:Out of Stock

Description Technical Specs
Gamakatsu's award-winning and customer-pleasing Magic Eye Short Shank Treble Hook enhances the performance of hard baits. Developed for the discerning hard bait angler, when rigged, the Short Shank hook points run parallel to the bait creating a perfect balance point. This is the ideal treble hook for optimal lure performance. Swing the odds in your favor and replace those factory trebles with Gamakatsu Magic Eye Short Shank Treble Hooks today!
  • Terminal Tackle
  • Treble Hook
  • 6 Per Pack
  • Color: NS Black Finish
  • - This symbol will appear if an item is out of stock. Click to submit your email and you will be notified when the item is back in stock.

Average Rating: 5 of 5 Total Reviews: 1 Write a review »

  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
April 10, 2018
Reviewer: Anonymous Person from Clinton, MA United States

Was this review helpful to you?

Shop By Brand

Brand's H

Brand's I

Brand's N

Brand's O

Brand's Q

Brand's U

Brand's V

Brand's W

Brand's X

Brand's Y

Brand's Z


text:
Home > Shop by Brand > VMC > VMC Wacky Hooks >

VMC Weedless Wacky Hook

VMC Weedless Wacky Hook

Starting at: $4.09

Quantity in Stock:Out of Stock

Description Technical Specs
The Wacky Weedless sports a finesse hook with a wire weed guard that lays into the hook, allowing the bait and hook to seamlessly swim through vegetation. Turned down, resin closed eye positions the bait properly for maximum action and no slip-offs.
  • 5 Per Pack
  • - This symbol will appear if an item is out of stock. Click to submit your email and you will be notified when the item is back in stock.

Average Rating: 4 of 5 Total Reviews: 1 Write a review »

  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
October 3, 2018
Reviewer: Marco Bernardes from New York, NY United States

Was this review helpful to you?

Shop By Brand

Brand's H

Brand's I

Brand's N

Brand's O

Brand's Q

Brand's U

Brand's V

Brand's W

Brand's X

Brand's Y

Brand's Z


text:
So I came across this rig because of my brother from another Polish mother, Piotr from TacticalTwo, is always showing me the latest in Polish gear like some form of gear guru/vice encourager. My bank account suffers enough already. One fateful click on a link he sent, and I had a look at the Direct Action website, product guide and realised one thing: I needed to get my hands on some of their gear.

So, with the internet at my fingertips, I set about ordering some of this, rather pricey, kit. Let’s get to it and undress this product for all to see!

What’s in the box?

Amazing packaging. The product in a clear plastic, resealable bag, which in turn was in an absolutely cracking Direct Action box–with company logo, an image of a soldier on the front, and a target silhouette on the back–so you can actually use the boxes constructively after opening the product up and not just throwing it away!

Direct Action packaging

Initial reaction to product

Uber lightweight, high quality with precise workmanship on the construction of the chest rig. Very comfortable to wear and use straight away. It has become my new favourite chest rig without a shadow of a doubt. Upon first inspection of the rig, we were marvelling at all the little features it has and how much of a quality product it is.

Direct Action Tiger Moth Chest Rig Direct Action Tiger Moth Back

Build quality and main features

The first thing we noticed and had to comment on is the build quality. Lightweight, precise and durable. Excellent finish and handicraft. Made from laser cut Cordura 500D with a softshell construction, it’s pretty damn Gucci. Now let’s see what you actually get for your money.

Direct Action Tiger Moth Magazine Pouches Direct Action Tiger Moth Double Magazine Pouches

I was drawn to the 4x rifle mag pouches, pretty much immediately. One of the main reasons for purchasing this rig was for its capacity – magazine pouches can be made to be single or double mag carry ability by adjusting the bungee cords on the underside of the chest rig. Massive bonus and gives you a great choice of what you want to carry. Behind these pouches is the Velcro sealed, rubberised tab opening admin pouch. Ideal for putting a map, documents or even a key and valuables in there, keeping them safe and tight to your body.

Direct Action Tiger Moth Document Compartment

There are laser cut MOLLE loops along the front and side of the chest rig which means you can fully customise what you want to add. Be careful not to add too many pouches and make it into a heavy duty rig–the object of this rig is to keep it lightweight. The shoulder straps are easily adjustable, and the attention to detail is immense. The buckles are stitched over with material to prevent them from tapping against other plastic items you may be carrying and just another one of the little details that keeps things “tight” and makes the chest rig so great.

Direct Action Tiger Moth Shoulder Straps Direct Action Tiger Moth Padded Buckles

There is a high seated, H-brace that sits between your shoulder blades and holds all the straps in place and doesn’t let the rig budge. There is also a row of MOLLE to enable adding a small pouch.

Direct Action Tiger Moth H-brace

There are single MOLLE loops on either side of the mag pouches, allow you to put a single PALS pouch on the rig–in my case a single pistol mag pouch on the right (Direct Action) and a radio pouch on the left. This way I have everything I need to carry on a small, light, tough chest rig. The best thing about this rig is how it fits to your body’s frame and doesn’t get in the way of anything.

Direct Action Tiger Moth Direct Action Tiger Moth Direct Action Tiger Moth

So what is great about this chest rig? I have already mentioned its lightweight, minimalistic yet varied load carrying ability, MOLLE loops everywhere for attaching extra pouches and being extremely versatile with what you want to do. The feel of this rig on the whole just gives the product a very positive and functional vibe. You can tell from just picking it up that you have an awesome piece of merchandise.

I had a hard time with this one. Not being biased or anything, but I couldn’t find any major snagging points in all honesty. The only one I could really see as an inconvenience are the shoulder straps. This came from actually using the rig at one of our local sites, to test my new loadout, on a really hot day. The material for the shoulder straps is so finely cut and hard along the sides, (still perfectly wide enough for load bearing), but depending what combat shirt you are wearing under your chest rig, the straps can rub on your shoulders. Perhaps because it is brand new it hasn’t been broken in yet, or I hadn’t adjusted it quite right, but either way I have bought some shoulder pads to go with it. Tests to follow.

Direct Action Tiger Moth

In terms of radio cable and camelback tube management, you are provided with a few straps and loops on the shoulder harness, these are a bit on small side and getting radio connectors through or camelback tube is not easy. I attached a couple D-rings and had to tidy up my cables manually and was therefore left a bit wanting. It would be good to have a few bigger loops and a couple more of them on the rig. With it being so small and light, it’s actually hard to tidy your cables/tubes in place, as it is not a plate carrier that has a million and one fixing and securing options. However, there are a couple loops on the inside of the rig which do help bring cables into place. Perhaps I need to have more of a play with the cable side of things to rearrange it.

Direct Action Tiger Moth

The lightest and toughest chest rig I have ever owned. Excellent if you are wanting to tone down the equipment you carry. Just make sure you keep it lightweight. Very usable, practical and a serious bit of kit. Ideal for contractor/PMC loadouts for airsoft days or if you plan on getting in and out of vehicles a lot. I think in the airsoft world, this is a product for people who have been airsofters for a while and are really looking to level up on their equipment quality–this gear is used for real operators, in real combat situations–not just at your local airsoft site. That’s why the build quality is top notch – it is built to last. So yeah, it’s not on the cheap side of things, but definitely worth the money as far as I can tell! You can get it from the Direct Action website for €174.90 including VAT. Get some!

Direct Action Tiger Moth


text:
Go Ahead and Show It to Me But I Know It’s Still Too Small

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Tumblr
Share on Google Plus
4 February 2009

All right. What do you want now? Really, you should stop trying to impress me and asking me to look at it. You look so ridiculous when you beg. And I’ve told you a million times that you’re penis is way too small. I’ll look at it just one more time for you.

Now, unfasten your pants and pull them down around your knees so I can have a good look. Let me get closer so I can carry out a real inspection. Hmmmm. No, it still looks completely pathetic in size. Are you kidding me?? Why do you put me through this? You can’t do anything with that tiny little cock of yours.

Turn to the side then and let me have another look. Hmmm… Okay, now stroke it for me. That’s right. I want you to tug on that puny penis right in front of me and show me what you’ve got. Make it as big and long and hard as you can. I’ll let you know just what I think of it then…

Want to be the first to hear of new posts like this one?
SIGN UP now to get the special treatment with pics and updates delivered right to your inbox.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


text:
HR Minute

Employers Beware: Overtime Rules are Set to Significantly Increase Number of Protected Employees

It may come as a surprise to many employers that a huge, federally mandated change to compensation requirements is just around the corner. Last year, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, the intent of which is to expand the federally mandated overtime protections to millions of new employees. As a consequence, many employers who previously had no cause for concern with respect to overtime compliance, will now find themselves under the ambit of the rules.

With the 60-day notice and comment period well behind us, all that remains is for the DOL to issue the final rule and set a date for compliance (which will likely fall toward the end of 2016 or early 2017). Those who have reviewed the comments to the proposed rule are suggesting that, despite a fair amount of pushback by employers, the final version will be largely be consistent with what we have already seen. What does that mean for employers?

Primarily, the proposed rule is an effort to expand overtime protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Prior to its issuance, the minimum salary amount required was $455/week, or $23,660 per year. Once the rule takes effect, however, this amount will likely more than double, and experts are estimating it will soon include employees making less than an $970/week, or $50,440 per year. Recall that overtime protection is characterized as “premium pay” in the amount of at least 1.5x the employee’s regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a week. For employers with even just a few employees below the threshold, this change could represent a substantial cost of labor increase.

Further, many employers operate under the erroneous assumption that, because they pay their employees a salary, the overtime regulations do not apply to them. Wrong.

The so-called “White Collar” exemptions, upon which most employers avail themselves to avoid paying overtime premiums to their salaried employees, actually contain three distinct elements. Each element must be satisfied in order for the employee to be properly “exempt” from the mandated FLSA overtime pay. The elements are as follows:

  1. The employee must, of course, be paid on salaried basis that cannot vary based on the quality or quantity of the employee’s work;
  2. The employee must be paid the salary minimum (soon to be an estimated $970/week); and
  3. The employee must primarily engage in work that is characterized as “executive, administrative or professional” in nature. Each of these categories have guiding criteria.

Failure to meet any one of these three elements results in an employee that is eligible for the mandated premium overtime pay. Employers should take this opportunity not only to ensure compliance with the salary level test, but also to confirm that their employees properly fall under the duties requirement (executive, administrative, or professional) delineated by the exemption.

The proposed rule also includes an indexing requirement that will likely lead to additional compliance efforts on the part of employers. Beyond the one-time raise in salary minimum contemplated by the rule, the DOL is also proposing to annually adjust the rate to be on par with the 40th percentile of all salaried employees. This marks a dramatic shift from previous salary level increases, each of which were aided by a notice and comment period from the public, and the lengthy period of time that typically accompanies substantive changes to DOL regulations. In other words, employers will now need to revisit the compensation structure of many of their employees on a yearly basis in order to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

Notwithstanding the pushback the DOL received from employers during the notice and comment period, the government appears poised to adopt the foregoing changes within the next 12 months. Employers should take action now to establish a plan of compliance both in anticipation of the initial application of the new rule, as well as to ensure continued compliance with each annual adjustment to the minimum salary level.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to blog updates via email


text:
Bankruptcy Law Center of Thomas R. Burns

Thomas R. Burns, Esq.
Fox Plaza
1390 Market Street
Suite 200 – Mezzanine Level at the Regus Business Center
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415-543-9900
Fax: 415-543-9449
Email: tom@tburnslaw.com

Addressing your debts and considering bankruptcy can be a confusing and very stressful experience. We offer sound legal advice and dependable assistance. We will go above and beyond the call of duty to make the bankruptcy filing process as easy as possible for you.
Our bankruptcy lawyer, Thomas Burns, has extensive experience in bankruptcy law and always has our clients’ best interests in mind. To discuss your situation and options personally, call today (415) 543-9900 and schedule a free consultation

Bankruptcy Experience: For more than 23 years, we have helped thousands of clients. When we represent you, you can expect sound legal advice and smooth proceedings. Bankruptcy is all we do.
Customer Service: We are committed to customer service. We respond promptly to calls and emails from our clients.
Competitive Rates: We offer payment plans in many cases.
Flexibility: There is no single approach to solving debt problems. We will develop a personalized plan that meets your needs.
Free Bankruptcy Consultation: The purpose of the consultation is to enable us to help you evaluate all options before making a decision. Because you are working with a small firm, your experience with us will be personal. We will take the time to answer all of your questions before you decide which course of action to take.


text:
• Ms. Foster
    Christy  Foster

    (205) 342-6904        Email

    Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education from The University of Alabama in 1992

    Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education from The University of Alabama in 1994

    Certification: P-6th

    2013-Present Big Sandy Elementary
    2001 - 2013 Taylorville Primary

    1997 - 2001 Englewood Elementary

    1992 - 1997 Brookwood Elementary

     I am so excited to be a part of the Tuscaloosa County School System.  This is my 25th year to teach.  WOW!  Time flies when you are having fun!  Most of these years have been in kindergarten with a few in first and second.  Teaching young children is a blessing.  I am so fortunate to have a job that I absolutely love.  I am thrilled to be teaching the first Pre K class at Big Sandy!  I am so honored to have this opportunity.
    I was born and raised in Tuscaloosa.  I have two beautiful and sweet girls (Abbi and Christin), and a wonderful son-in-law (Forrest).  We spend a lot of time together along with the rest of our family.  We love to get together to eat, play cards, watch Alabama football games, travel, and laugh (a lot).  We are members of First United Methodist Church.
    I enjoy going to church, going to the beach, watching movies, shopping with my girls, decorating, and working in my classroom.   My favorite color is pink.  My favorite stores are Target and Hobby Lobby.   My favorite dessert is chocolate cake or banana pudding.   My favorite children's book is The Velveteen Rabbit.   Some of my favorite things to do are going out to eat lunch with my family on Sundays after church and getting a yummy cup of coffee with my girls when we are out shopping or running errands.


text:
Booo to the NYCDOE, New York Times, and others who will publish teacher data reports

Boooo to the NYC DOE, NY Times, and all of the other media outlets that will publish value added data reports for NYC teachers—and I don’t usually talk like that.

Bill Gates, who suddenly decided to speak up on the issue (even though he’s been a huge part of the development and use of value-added data systems across the country), explains the problems with this plan pretty well in his NY Times op-ed, Shame is not the solution. (Wait, who is this guy and why should people listen to him now? Oh yeah, a super rich business man. I guess he has all the cred.)

Gates’ main point is that “we are just beginning to understand what makes a teacher effective.” (Who is the “we” here—and effective to what end?) He argues, “Value-added ratings are one important piece of a complete personnel system. But student test scores alone aren’t a sensitive enough measure to gauge effective teaching, nor are they diagnostic enough to identify areas of improvement. Teaching is multifaceted, complex work,” he says.

The NY Times also explains that there are many issues with the validity and reliability of the data including a huge margin of error, also explained by Jose Vilson here. Basically VAMs are in an experimental stage. There is nothing tried and true about them and the standardized tests that VAMs are actually attempting to report on are an extremely narrow and equally flawed measure of student learning.

Finally, I just don’t know what anyone is hoping to accomplish by publishing value-added data reports on teachers. In 2010, when the plan was first introduced and fought, I posted about this, comparing the practice with that of a teacher who fears her students haven’t paid enough attention to the lessons and so she gives the whole class a “Gotcha”-style pop quiz. Though this tactic might occasionally work to catch some students’ attention, it is more about punishment than teaching—more to prove a point than to improve the situation. (Imagine the pushback from students if said teacher then published the pop quiz scores for the entire school community as definitive measures of students’ intelligence.)

Is it appropriate to compare the NYC DOE’s relationship with NYC teachers and a teacher’s relationship with his or her students? I think so, in the sense that both are in leadership positions. Both the DOE and teachers have a mandate to make leadership decisions that will increase student success rates.

But instead, here’s what we will see as a result of the publishing of these reports:

  • the creation of unsafe working conditions for teachers (Remember the star teacher in LAUSD, highly valued by his students and community, who committed suicide after his poor VAM’s were published.)
  • increased incentive to “teach to the test”
  • increased risk in doing anything other than teaching to the test
  • sadly, as we’ve seen time and again, increased incentive for cheating on the test
  • incentive to leave high-needs schools, especially those that serve ELLs who have the most unfair burden of taking the same tests in English after just ONE year in the country (this is for shame); teachers leaving their positions in high-needs schools will create even less stable conditions where they are most needed
  • strong incentive for teachers to teach untested subjects
  • possibly increased competition among teachers, since the VAMs rate us in relation to our peers and use a kind of bell curve
  • confusion for parents and an awkward range of emotions (while I’d love to see parents across the city advocate for the public education their children need—and some are—I’m not sure how this empowers them; most parents I talk to want to see far less testing and more extracurricular activities for their children; parents are aware that their children’s teachers vary in their skill levels; in some cases, the reported VAMs might match their own impressions of teachers and in other cases they won’t; so what does a parent do with that information? I can’t see how it’s helpful)

These are not positive outcomes for students, the teaching profession, or for parents at a time where there is, in fact, plenty of forward motion in NYC public schools. Enough people have spoken up to make that clear. For shame, NYC DOE. For shame, NY Times, NY Daily News, and others who will jump at the chance to do something bad just to watch the big splash.

Related categories: ,


text:
Start Your Fitness Journey

Health, Mind, Body, & Soul

Sign Up Today!

Brownies What you need: ¾ cup yogurt (Greek – Vanilla) ½ cup cocoa powder ¼ cup skim milk- could also sub for almond milk ½ cup oats ½ cup Stevia or Truvia 1 egg 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 1 tsp. baking powder 1 pinch of salt To Make: Bake in an 8×8—simply combine all of… read more

Protein Ice Cream

A great night time recipe for those of you with protein/fat at bed time! Mix 1 scoop protein powder + water (cold) do not add to much slowly add to get a frothy consistency. Then add in a pinch- and I mean a small pinch of Xanthan Gum. The gum gives it a very thick… read more

Breakfast Bars

I have been struggling with the post Christmas blues and getting out of bed to get a workout in, kids lunches packed, and breakfast made in time for school seems to be impossible these days! So this weekend I decided to make some simple, high fiber, all natural breakfast bars! What you need: 2 1/2… read more

Mini Guilt Free Pumpkin Bites

Mini Guilt Free Pumpkin Bites What you need: ¼ cup almond flour ½ cup pumpkin puree 1 whole egg 2 tbsp Nut butter 6 drops stevia OR 4 tbsp stevia in the raw 1 tsp vanilla ¼ cup chocolate chips- unsweetened (I use Lillys brand) To Make: Combine all of the above and mix until… read more

STOP the Cravings!

Cravings! Yikes- I hate it when that “sudden” craving comes over me and I feel helpless! I want to satisfy it without sabotaging all my hard work. Below is a list of Craving Kickers that wont sabotage your hard work: For the sweet tooth craving that comes over you mid-afternoon and is making your life… read more

Powered by Top Rated Local®


text:
Sign up
Tech Capital

MySale swings to a loss in first half as Australian sales tax changes wreak havoc

Australian sales tax changes forced online companies to charge a 10% levy on overseas purchases worth less than A$1,000
online shopping
MySale expects to post a small underlying profit this year

Australian online retailer MySale Group PLC (LON:MYSL) slumped to a loss in the first half of its financial year amid “challenging trading” conditions.

The AIM company, which owns websites in Australia, New Zealand, South-East Asia and the UK, endured a rough six months, during which it had tried to put up prices of some goods, but ended up slashing them below the original price in order to prop up demand.

READ: MySale shares crash after poor festive trading

It also blamed product mix and inventory issues as it swung to a A$5.0mln underlying loss in the six months ended 31 December, down from a profit of A$5.5mln a year earlier.

Revenue took a beating, too, down 17% to A$126mln – a 17% fall from the A$152mln it racked up in 2017.

The biggest issue for MySale and other online retailers was the disruption caused by sales tax changes in Australia, which forced firms to charge a 10% levy on overseas purchases worth less than A$1,000.

Of more concern is the fact that some foreign sites selling global brands into Oz have allegedly not been charging GST, essentially undercutting the local competition.

MySale, which warned on profits back in December, has been working to cut A$10mln a year from its cost base which, in combination with a pick-up in margins, should result in a “significantly improved performance” in the second half.

Small profit this year

As such, the £30mln company expects to deliver a “small underlying EBITDA profit” overall this year.

“Whilst performance during the first half of the year has been disappointing, we have taken immediate action to address the issues,” said chief executive Carl Jackson.

“Our previous plans to streamline and automate the business have been accelerated and these actions are already delivering results. The changes to product strategy are materially underway and will be completed in the second half.

He added: “Whilst we have experienced a short-term dip in revenue and profitability, we anticipate the actions initiated will deliver a positive underlying EBITDA in the second half and for the full year.”

Shares fell 11.5% to 20.1p in early deals on Friday. The stock has lost more than 80% of its value over the past year.

Register here to be notified of future MYSL Company articles
View full MYSL profile View Profile

More members, more money for MySale

View All

Related Articles

© tech Capital 2019

Tech Capital, a subsidiary of Proactive Investors, acts as the vanguard for listed tech companies to interact with institutional and highly capitalised investors.
Headquartered in London, Tech Capital is led by a team of Europe's leading analysts and journalists, publishing daily content, covering all key movements in the Technology market.


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
EVDO Isn't A Third Pipe: Sprint Follows Verizon Wireless With 5GB Caps

from the thanks-for-nothing dept

Well, this is unfortunate. Every time people want to pretend that there's "real" competition in the broadband market beyond DSL and cable, you hear them talk about 3G wireless services like Sprint and Verizon Wireless' EVDO. Of course, Verizon Wireless caps its EVDO service at 5GB/month -- go over that and it will cut you off. Sprint, however, remained customer friendly and having sold people "unlimited" plans, stuck to that plan and let folks use EVDO as much as they wanted to. I'm one of those customers, and have been a big fan of the service. When I travel, I use it constantly. It's convenient, reliable and more secure than WiFi. While it's not often, on heavy travel months, I almost certainly pass that 5GB barrier. Yet, now, according to Gizmodo and Phonescoop, Sprint is implementing its own 5GB cap. You can make all sorts of arguments about why it needs to do this -- or point to the fact that (eventually) it will have a WiMax network available (though, not for a while). But, in the meantime, a bunch of us were told that we were buying "unlimited" service. 5GB is hardly unlimited, and it's rather ridiculous to go back and change the deal after the company had already sold it to us. Either way, any time someone suggests that EVDO is a "third pipe" competitor to DSL or cable, remind them that it's an extremely limited third pipe with rules that change with almost no notice.

Filed Under: bandwidth limit, evdo, third pipe
Companies: sprint

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

  1. icon
    chris (profile), 21 May 2008 @ 6:39am

    Re: recourse

    no. the FCC is owned and operated by the telecommunications industry. you are allowed to cry about your situation, but not too loudly.

Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Subscribe to the Techdirt Daily newsletter

Comment Options:

  • Use markdown for basic formatting. (HTML is not supported.)
  • Remember name/email/url (set a cookie)

Follow Techdirt
Techdirt Gear
Show Now: Takedown
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Chat
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Recent Stories
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.


text:
Visit the all-new Tech Night Owl Store
  • Explore the magic and the mystery!
  • The Tech Night Owl's Home Page
  • Visit the all-new Tech Night Owl Store

  • Newsletter #453 Preview: Consumer Reports Again
    Shows How Not to Convert PC Users to Macs

    August 3rd, 2008

    So Microsoft promises to do its best to work with its PC maker partners and somehow give Windows users more of a taste of the Mac experience. Once again, the Redmond giant isn’t so much interested in bettering Apple with its products. It’s only too happy to come a little closer, if it can.

    That assumes, of course, that its concept of just good enough is really an improvement. After all, haven’t they been trying to do that for over 20 years? It’s not as if they succeeded by developing superior products. But a promise and a little bait and switch has served them well and afforded them long-term dominance over an entire industry.

    Now with Macs ascendant after being counted out as a tiny niche player for so many years, you have to wonder what’s being done to combat those popular Mac versus PC ads. Will Microsoft deliver a counterpunch, or just make another unfulfilled promise?

    This is not to say that third parties aren’t helping Microsoft, even if their methods aren’t so overt. But they might at times seem far more calculated, and sometimes they are, well, inadvertent.

    Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.

    | Print This Article Print This Article

    Leave Your Comment


text:
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Trailer Details The Forge DLC’s New Co-op Features

Spread the love

Shadow of the Tomb Raider drops its first DLC story expansion, The Forge, next week, and Square Enix has dropped a new trailer detailing one of it’s most exciting new features – co-op play. Check out interviews from the developers, and footage of the new tag-team tomb raiding action, below.

The Forge’s new challenge tombs can be tackled either solo or co-op, which presented a new challenge for the game’s developers says Eidos Montreal senior producer Mario Chabtini.

square-enix-h1-2019-01-square-enix-logoRelated Square Enix H2 Financial Results Show Sinking Sales and Profits

“When it comes to co-op, you need to take into account the other player, so it gets more complicated. You need to account for that in terms of the level art, design, the VFX, the sound, so the other player always knows what’s going on.”

It also sounds like the new tombs will provide unique experiences for those who play co-op…

“By playing with another person, you’ll be able to access other places in the level, so in terms of traversal, you’ll benefit from having another player help you gain access to these places.”

The Forge is part of Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s “Paths” season pass, which will eventually deliver seven new adventures, each of which includes a new story, missions, challenge tomb, weapon, outfit, and skill. The full season pass will set you back $30, or you can buy each individual Path for $5. Here’s the official description for The Forge:

In The Forge, Lara must brave the lava-flooded Forge of the fallen gods to uncover the secrets of Kuwaq Yaku. Throughout her journey, Lara will uncover details about a friend’s ancient legacy, and overcome a danger long thought to be lost in flame. The Forge delivers a brand-new challenge tomb, playable in both solo and co-op. Players who complete the challenge tomb will be rewarded with the Grenadier skill, Brocken outfit, and Umbrage 3-80 weapon.

What do you think? Excited to raid tombs with a friend? I’m always on the lookout for good co-op experiences, so I’m definitely intrigued.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is available now on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. The Forge drops on November 13.

fbq(‘init’, ‘1503230403325633’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);

Source link


text:
Fixing AI Discrimination

Fixing AI Discrimination

It is hard to believe that machines can discriminate. We hate discrimination. Discrimination is a phase of racism even when done by machines. As you walk on the streets of Lagos, you can easily notice Nivea advertisement sign-posts promising Nigerian women how a cream will make their skins “visibly fairer”. Apparently dark skin is not good enough.  That is a data point for the internet. If Nigerians prefer whiter skin, Google has taken note. That means beauty must be white in Nigeria.

Simply, if you ask Google and machines to judge in a beauty contest in Nigeria, it may call it for girls with fairer skin since it has datasets that many Nigerian women are using creams to turn their dark skins to white ones. AI (artificial intelligence) uses data and that data informs what it thinks is normal. Usually, the largest cohort of the datasets shapes its constructs of normality.

This company makes dark skin to become fairer and many Nigerian girls are believers

If you make a chatbot and feed it 20,000 messages with 19,000 of those messages racist and crude, the likelihood that the bot will see racism as being normal is there. That is why it is very easy to train any Twitter bot to be anything you want: saint, racist, etc. Just feed the data you want and over time, that bot correlates the most data as the new normal. Unless there are breakers in the design, there is nothing you can do about it, if you really want a near-natural bot.

That bots can be stupid does not make it right: developers have to find ways to mitigate that problem. Among many options, one easy way is to find a way to generate “balanced data”. For Africa, if we do not generate contents, allowing Silicon Valley, Paris and London to feed the new species of AI with only data from the Western World, the AIs will see them as the normal data. In other words, if the bot sees out of every 20,000 photos of girls, only 100 are dark-skinned, it may not necessarily capture dark photos as being normal. The system will default to white photos as the normal state. In some extreme cases, it may simply throw away the dark photos as totally non-human. Mitigating that problem will be feeding say 11,000 white and 9,000 dark photos. With that balanced datasets, the AI will have a better equilibrium.

That reminds me of a training I went while in the industry on IP protection. We were told to respond to email conversations via email instead of asking the person to talk things over. For example, if someone writes you capturing a statement like “I saw that Intel used this design and has a patent on it, there is a way I can get around the patent”. You do not tell your subordinate to see you for you to explain. It is better you write “Please if the design is patented, leave it and explore other designs”. The problem with talking it over without documenting is it that if bad things happen and there is litigation, what will make it to court is the written evidence. That is what the AI searching the emails will be fed with.

While that analogy: Africa and the black race will have to generate its own datasets to ensure machines can use same as they build the new data economy. Even if we are complaining of the obvious AI discrimination, without generating data, nothing will change. If you allow one cohort of people to be writing, talking and generating data, Google and the rest will think that the world is simply about those cohorts. That is why Amazon Alexa, a personal assistant AI, struggles with my Nigerian accent: it does not see that version of English a lot, so it is abnormal in its own world. It is not necessarily discriminating against me, it is just using datasets they have fed it to deconstruct my communication. Unfortunately, I am not sure they have any datasets from Nigeria.

Africa needs to create data to balance the game. Complaining on how machines dehumanize us will not fix the problem. It will only get worse unless we are ready to participate as technology creators and not just consumers who merely consume whatever they package for us.

Sure, that does not stop the makers from making sure decency rules in the market with circuit breakers to prevent situations where humans are classified as animals. No excuses on such failures!

---Visit our Store for my books, cases, notes, etc. Now, enjoy our consolidated subscription for all contents (past, present and future).
-- We offer Advisory Services (tech, strategy & Africa).

Share this post

One thought on “Fixing AI Discrimination

  1. Nice to see someone finally sees what I am trying to say to the AI community. Nigeria and blacks in general is underrepresented and its definitely going to affect us in an unforeseen future. I’m an AI researcher and developer. If you’re reading this and you are interested in having our own open-source data for Nigerian or blacks in general. Please do hit me up here
    Datasets relating for both NLP and computer vision.

Post Comment


text:
Albert Paul Remillard, 83, of Harwich passed away at his home surrounded by his loving family on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.

He was the beloved Husband of Mary (Sinopoli) Remillard for 59 years.

He was a resident of Harwich for 25 years. Albert was born in Worcester and he resided in Auburn and worked at George Meyer Co. as a manager until he retired to Harwich.

His greatest enjoyments were working in his wood shop, donating his time to the Harwich Food Pantry, and playing with his grandchildren and great grandchildren. He served in the United Sates Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theatre as a gunner on a Patrol Torpedo boat.

He is survived by two sons, Paul Remillard and his wife Dianne of Littleton and Albert Remillard and his wife Claudine of Spencer; 8 grandchildren, Jason and his wife Amy, Kristina and her husband Chad, Michelle, Adam, Catherine, Philip, Allison, and Mary; five great grandchildren, Grace, Benjamin, Nicholas, Chad and Caleb; and his sister, Alice Barley of Shrewsbury; and daughter-in-law, Debra Remillard.

A Funeral will be held on Friday, October 30 at 9:30 AM at the Morris & O'Connor Funeral Home, 58 Long Pond Drive, South Yarmouth, MA. A Funeral Mass will follow at 11:00 AM at Our Lady of the Cape Church, Stony Brook Road, Brewster, MA.

We want to also give a special thanks to the VNA hospice Lucie, Margo, David, and Judy for their love, care and compassion. He always gave his best for his family and others. We will greatly miss him. Donations in his memory may be made to Family Pantry, 133 Queen Anne Road, Harwich, MA 02645.

To post an online condolence or for more information, visit www.morrisoconnor.com


text:
'Ordeal by iPlayer' for Agatha Christie fans desperate to see Innocence whodunnit

Bill Nighy in Ordeal by Innocence
Bill Nighy plays the widowed Leo Argyll in BBC One's Ordeal by Innocence  Credit: James Fisher/Mammoth Screen/ACL

The BBC’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation, Ordeal by Innocence, sparked three burning questions. Whodunnit? What was the motive? And why do we have to wait a week until the next episode?

Some viewers used to the instant gratification of Netflix and Amazon were dismayed to discover that the three-part drama is going out in weekly instalments.

Ordeal by Innocence was originally scheduled over three consecutive nights at Christmas. But the arrest of cast member Ed Westwick over allegations of sexual assault, which he denies, meant the production had to be re-shot with a new actor and pushed back to Easter.

Social media was awash with anguished cries from people desperate to ‘binge-watch’ the BBC One thriller and find out who killed Rachel Argyll (Anna Chancellor), with one fan dubbing the lengthy wait “ordeal by iPlayer”.

An average of five million people tuned in to Easter Sunday’s launch episode.

The scheduling highlights a dilemma for the BBC, which is battling to keep hold of younger viewers.

The corporation warned last week that “as the trend shifts towards on-demand viewing, the BBC risks being overtaken by competitors”, with 16-24 year-olds now spending more time watching Netflix than BBC channels.

Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s director of content, said at a screening last week that Christmas is a time when families sit down in front of the television for several nights in a row, but Easter is not - hence the decision to schedule it weekly.

Executives also banked on viewers being so hooked by the murder mystery that they are prepared to come back in a week’s time, with the wait adding to the suspense.

Alice Eve as Gwenda in this Sunday's episode of Ordeal by Innocence Credit: James Fisher/Mammoth Screen/ACL

While the biggest BBC drama of the year, McMafia, was also a weekly fix, recent offerings Hard Sun and Requiem were made available as iPlayer box-sets.

Requiem’s writer, Kris Mrksa, told Radio Times that his show lost something when it was made available on-demand.

“When everyone is watching it at the same time, you do get the conversation the next day: ‘What is happening?’ ‘Do you think they are a villain?’ That kind of thing.

“That conversation does unfold more naturally when everyone is fixed to a particular viewing time so I think it’s kind of sad to lose that as one does if you go out on iPlayer. Having said that, it’s hard to argue with the fact there’s a significant proportion of the audience that want to consume their TV that way,” Mrksa said.

The appeal of Agatha Christie spans the age range, and older viewers are more likely to prefer weekly appointment viewing.

The most recent data from Ofcom found that 59 per cent of over-65s prefer a series to be released in the traditional manner, compared to 36 per cent of 16-24 year-olds.

The BBC director-general, Lord Hall, is aware that the corporation must serve both audiences. “We are not in a position where we say, ‘It’s all over for linear TV,’” he has said.

Last month’s acclaimed Sky Atlantic drama, Save Me, was scheduled in weekly instalments but made available on demand from day one.

More than one million people watched the six-part series in less than a fortnight, and almost 700,000 devoured it in the first week alone, making it Sky’s most rapidly-binged box-set release.


text:
Principal Investigator: Maria (Mia) Ong

Funders: National Science Foundation

Website: http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/activities/ceose/mini-symp-pres/Women_of_color_stem_Oct2009/presentations.jsp

A mini-symposium took place in Arlington, Virginia, October 27-28, 2009 that focused on paving pathways to success for women of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through perspectives on experiences, research, evaluation and policy in higher education and careers. Participants worked together to advance a research and policy agenda promoting women of color in STEM fields. Speakers at this conference included Dr. Tina Tchen, the Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls and the White House Director of Public Engagement; Dr. Evelynn Hammonds, Dean of Harvard College; and Dr. Joan Burrelli, Senior Annalyst, Science Resources Statistics National Science Foundation. TERC coordinated the symposium and has prepared a conference report.

The presentation slides are available for download here and the summary report is available for download here. Also see Findings from the 'Inside the Double Bind' Synthesis Project: Empirical Research on Women of Color in STEM, 1970-2008

The National Science Foundation has made this project possible through grant number OAI-0953861.


text:
In the early summer of 2016, two real estate agents, Derek Andrews and Tom Struckhoff, met by working on the same deal together. They hit it off and learned that each of them had special skills in different areas of real estate. Then it dawned them- what if they formed a team that would allow their clients to receive expert service no matter what the situation might be?

The rest is history. They gathered up their resources to put together one of the most comprehensive and helpful real estate service in the industry. Terra Firma Realty continues to provide outstanding service to its clients before, during, and after the sale. Derek and Tom always go the extra mile for their clients and provide solutions real estate and non-real estate related.

  • Tom Struckhoff

    Tom Struckhoff
    Tom Struckhoff is an accomplished Los Angeles Area agent who brings a strategic yet personable approach to the buying and selling process. Tom has worked in every type of business environment from a Dow Jones 50 corporation to a Silicon Beach startup. Drawing from years of experience in sales and management, Tom has built a reputation for his friendly client care, proven ability to negotiate the best possible value whether representing seller or buyer, and assisting his customers until they have completed their transition to their new property. Living in various parts of Southern California for over 15 years has gifted Tom with extensive knowledge of the different cities and neighborhoods across the Greater Los Angeles and Orange County Areas. The types of sales Tom specializes in are single family homes, investment properties, multi-family, commercial-retail, mixed-use, hotels, development deals, and luxury estates.
  • Derek Andrews

    Derek Andrews
    Derek Andrews is a Los Angeles native. His family owned a famous jazz nightclub where Derek learned about serving customers the way he would want to be served. Derek carried that attitude with him when he switched to the real estate industry back in 1994. Derek has sold over one thousand properties for a variety of clients – homeowners, banks, lawyers, investors, etc. His clients come back to him time and time again due to his diligent attention to detail and his warm personality. Derek likes to treat each client’s sale or purchase as if it were his own and makes sure no matter whom he is representing, that they are treated fairly and given the best possible deal. With so many transactions under his belt, Derek knows techniques in negotiating and contract writing that few Realtors are familiar with. He is also an investor and landlord himself and can provide firsthand experience to formulate a real estate solution for his clients. Therefore, Derek is an invaluable resource for what we do at Terra Firma Realty.
  • Michael Reyes

    Michael Reyes, a Los Angeles native, grew up in the real estate business and has been personally mentored by the Terra Firma team giving him invaluable hands on experience on what it takes to serve excellence to each and every client. Being a UCLA educated and stand out athlete Michael is not new to pressure and competition as he prides himself on fighting for his clients with 24/7 availability. Michael strives to be one of the most successful and hardest working young agents in the Los Angeles community. Using his knowledge and vast network Michael promises his clients he will always get the job done with the utmost respect, honest, and professional manner. With Terra Firma Realty, Michael plans on having continuous success for many years to come and making an everlasting impact on the Southern California Market helping every client reach their California Dream.
  • Emma Andersen

    Emma Andersen brings her passion for social media management to the Terra Firma team. Her ability to inherently comprehend the complex nature of digital marketing and strategically align multiple social media platforms make her an invaluable addition to the group. Originally from Denmark, Emma brings her global experience in content production, brand management, and sales. She has a keen sense of online culture and what drives audiences to read more of a piece, or investigate further into a product or service. Emma believes that community engagement and brand consistency/recognition are the most important components in maintaining an active clientele base and creating new business.


text:
Labels for Wedding Drinks

Labels for Wedding Drinks

Just in time for the speeches, signature drinks are distributed to make a toast. Of course, these are no regular wedding favors – They come with self-made labels, and a straw. Our tip: Provide plenty, because sometimes the speeches may take a bit longer ...

  • Small champagne bottles (piccolos, if possible with unprinted crown caps)
  • printed label templates
  • printed paper with color gradient
  • scissors
  • motif punch butterfly (7 cm)
  • paper straws
  • satin ribbon in pink and gold (3 mm wide)
  • tesa® Double-sided adhesive tape

This is how we do it:

Collect all items and let's start!

Step 1

Cut out the labels from the printed template.

Step 2

Apply double-sided adhesive tape along the short sides of the labels.

Step 3

Remove all original labels from the bottles. Now, peel off the protective film from the tape on the new labels and glue them straight and crease-free onto the bottles.

Step 4

Punch out butterflies from the paper, and fold the wings slightly upwards. Stick a small piece of double-sided adhesive tape on the back, remove the protective film, and glue the butterfly onto the bottle.

Step 5

Tie straws to the bottlenecks using the ribbons.

Step 6

DIY Labels for Wedding Drinks

Related products


text:
Posted on Tue 26 June 2018

Read Time: 1 minutes

Butterflies Along The Eagle Segment

Author: Geoff Gimse

Category: photo

© Geoffrey Gimse. Built using Pelican. Except where noted, all photos are my own. Other images used on this site are in the Public Domain and available from Openclipart, or have been purchased for use via The Noun Project.


text:
Item # 9844k2spltbn19zz-k2-splitboards

K2 Split Bean Splitboard Package 2019

Free 2 Day Shipping

(Contiguous US only)

*Available for US Shipment Only.

Description: K2 Split Bean Splitboard Package

The 2019 K2 Split Bean Splitboard Package is made for those who earn their turns and transforms any zone into a wide open wave. At only 144cm, this board is lightweight and maneuverable, to keep you lapping your secret stash spot all day long. The profile is flat in the tail and in-between the bindings, then rockered in the tip, to create an unbeatable surfy feel. The sintered base is extremely powerful and fast, which will keep the rider ripping downhill all day long, just remember to keep it waxed for the longest durability. This package features pre-cut skins, binding mount pucks, and heel risers, just get your bindings and you're ready to rip. Take your adventure wherever the snow calls, with the 2019 K2 Split Bean Splitboard Package.

Key Features of K2 Split Bean Splitboard Package:
  • Directional Rocker Baseline
  • BAP Core
  • Biax Glass
  • Sintered 4000 Base
  • Splitrack Inserts
  • Package Complete with Board, Skins, Risers, Hardware, and Mounting Pucks
Length (cm) 144
Effective Edge (cm) 101.5
Tip Width (cm) 33
Tail Width (cm) 31
Waist Width (cm) 28.1
Sidecut (m) 7.5

There are no reviews for this item. Write Review

Start typing your question and we'll check if it was already asked and answered. Learn More
No questions have been asked about this item. Be the first!

Sign Up For Sales, New Product
Offerings & Deals

Call Us

CALL US - 1-800-409-7669

We're Here To Answer
Your Questions

Call Us


text:
Skip to main content
February 17, 2019

Permit private ownership of rhinos

A conversation between a Zen master and his student went like this:

Student: “Where will you go after 100 years?”

Zen master: “I will change into a horse or a donkey.”

Student: “And then?”

Zen master: “I’ll go to Hell.”

Student: “But you are a man of great goodness and wisdom, why would you go to Hell?”

Zen master: “If I don’t go to Hell to teach you, who will?”

This week those we pay to protect our wildlife sent us to Hell. And the reason was as bewildering as the destination we were sent.

Tourism CS Najib Balala had earlier offered his Kenyan masters a one-way ticket to Hell for asking him to resign following the death of 10 rhinos after their relocation to a newly established sanctuary in Tsavo East Park. The last of the 11 black rhinos died on Monday.The irony is that the translocation was to save the rhinos. But as President Herbert Hoover would say, “This was a social and economic experiment which was noble in motive but far-reaching in purpose”.

As taxpayers, Kenyans have demanded an explanation. But we are asking the wrong questions and that is why the CS has all the right answers. This has enabled him to exonerate himself and blame others, culminating in the suspension and demotion of some Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians involved in the translocation.

The right question we ought to be asking is why we continue to entrust the State to protect our wildlife, a job they have been performing dismally. The Kenya Wildlife Service Strategic Plan documents that in 1970, the rhino population was 20,000. Thanks to poaching, this number has dwindled to only 540. This is despite protection measures such as translocation, hunting bans, sanctuaries and prohibiting illegal trade.

However, this should surprise no one. Because as surely as dawn follows night, where there is a demand for any commodity, a market will rise to meet it. And no amount of prohibition, however well meaning, can effectively prevent it without negative unintended consequences. For instance, in Vietnam, rhino horns can fetch up to $100,000 per kilo. So with this kind of returns, what would be the incentive to protect the rhinos in the wild?

Do you know why nobody worries about the extinction of chicken or cows? It is because they are not managed by the State. The free market has the magic bullet to ensure rhinos and other endangered wildlife species are as ubiquitous as the sand on the seashore. And that magic bullet is called private property rights.

Property rights refer to the legal ownership of specific property and forms the basis for all market exchange. They help to protect and conserve the value of resources, thereby providing an incentive for owners to efficiently use and maintain them. When property rights are well-defined, secure and transferable, they motivate the owners to take into account the cost of their actions on future availability, typically resulting in efficient allocation of resources. This is why cattle or poultry keepers will invest in breeding, feeding, treating and protecting their livestock.

I, therefore, submit that the government should permit the private ownership of rhinos. When ownership and management of wildlife is exclusively vested in the State, it suppresses innovation, competition, research and development, which greatly contribute to positive outcomes of species and habitat conservation.

One, when a rhino is dehorned without killing it or cracking its skull, it only takes three years for the horn to grow back to its full size. This means it is quite feasible to harvest the rhino horns without decimating the wildlife. And the current economic value of rhinos will incentivise the rhino farmer to nurture, protect and conserve the rhino at his own, not the taxpayers’ cost. This will ultimately increase the welfare of the rhino because they will treat it as a renewable resource, while leaving the taxpayers with more disposable income in their pockets.

Two, private ownership of rhinos will automatically see an end to poaching because the harvesting of rhino horns will be conducted legally without killing the rhino. This will enable the efficient reallocation expensive costs of protecting the rhino, which include translocation that has yielded the opposite intended results. This will also solve the problem of dwindling rhino populations because traders will undertake a voluntary exchange with the rhino farmers, just like they would when buying a camel. Farmers would also breed more animals, thus creating a demand for the parent stock and sell the surpluses to other farmers leading to the establishment of new colonies. This will also bring the rhino horn market towards an equilibrium because the supply of horns will be sufficient to meet the demand, thus lowering its price.

Three, legal rhino horn sales will boost the GDP of the country exponentially than any number of tourists can. And this will be done without burdening the taxpayer with tourism marketing campaigns costs. In the process, this will stimulate other economic activities such as attracting more domestic and foreign tourists to the rhino farms, employment of private vets to treat the animals, growing of fodder, packaging and transportation for the horns and overall employment in the rhino farms.

Unknowingly, Balala was sending us to a realm he was already occupying. With the death of 11 rhinos hanging over his head, there could possibly be no other habitation for him. And like the Zen Master, we ought to oblige him. Because as his paymasters, if we decline to join him, who will teach him that reckless words and actions have consequences, and that the only way to save the rhino is to privatise it, if we don’t?

My unsolicited advice to the Tourism CS is, an intelligent man should never miss an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.

Man will always be in hell as long as he is in charge - Anthony T. Hincks

Poll of the day


text:
Dev headshot

Devanand Janki

Artistic Director

Dev is a New York-based Director and Choreographer who grew up spending summers at The Bingham Camp. His career spans all facets of the performing arts – theatre, opera, ballet and corporate entertainment.

He began as a performer, appearing in numerous productions including Broadway’s Miss Saigon. Cats, The King & I, and Side Show. For the past 15 years, he has been a freelance director, working regionally and in New York on over 50 shows including Aladdin, Junie B. Jones, Man of La Mancha, Rent, The Full Monty and Off-Broadway’s Zanna Don’t for which he won the Lucille Lortel Award.

His passion has always been creating new work for the stage. He is excited that The Bingham Camp, which inspired so much of his own creativity, is now a home for other theatre professionals. He looks forward to sharing their work with the community in the years to come. www.devanandjanki.com

Dennis Corsi

Director of New Works

Dennis Corsi is a director passionate about developing new works. He is the Creative Director of Script Match, a web app connecting playwrights and producers. Dennis is the video director at B • OUT, an LGBTQ media company, where he is directing the new television series In Pursuit. Dennis is a dramaturg for NYMF and is on their selection committee for new musicals. Select theatrical directing credits: The Commedia Cinderella (Theatre Row - winner of Off Broadway Alliance Award), The Fierce Urgency of Now (Fresh Fruit Festival - winner Outstanding Production), Gruesomely Merry Adventures (Winterfest - winner Best Director), Siren's Den (Gene Frankel), Junie B. Jones (Theatreworks USA), Dust and Ash (Samuel French OOB), and bare (Michigan State University). @corsidennis | www.denniscorsi.com

Dennis headshot
Ernie Fimbres

Ernie Fimbres

General Manager

Off Broadway: Soul Doctor, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; The Deep Throat Sex Scandal; Hells Bells - Regional credits: Big, the Musical, Hedda Gabler, Trouble, a Rock Musical - World Premier, Seussical the Musical - NYC, Nat’l Tour, Molly Sweeney, Scapino, 40 is the New 15 -World Premiere, As Thousands Cheer, The Kid From Brooklyn Los Angeles/Chicago, Death of a Salesman Los Angeles, Frost and Fire-A Dance Concert Los Angeles, LA Philharmonic Tchaikovsky Concert Los Angeles Disney Hall Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate, Gilligan’s Island, The Musical Sherwood Schwartz among others. Always Goodness. A proud member of Actor’s Equity.

Rachel Kwiecinski

Design and Marketing Associate

Rachel Kwiecinski received her BA in theatre from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and her MA in Shakespeare from the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK. Upon returning to Chicago, she worked with Adventure Stage Chicago, as the Production Script Assistant for the world premiere musical Hazel at the Drury Lane Theater, as an educator with the WIP Training Center, with the Bingham Camp Theatre Retreat as an arts admin intern and gave a presentation at the BroadwayCon 2018.  Currently, she is the Administrative Manager for the Improv Playhouse in the Chicago suburbs and the Design and Marketing Associate for Live & In Color. Rachel is also an artist, drawing and painting in her spare time.

Abigail Grubb

DEvelopment Associate

Abigail is a New York City based director and administrator. Hailing from the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, she has always been fascinated by the tradition of storytelling and the power that art has. She received her B.A. in Directing and Arts Management from Marymount Manhattan College. She has worked and interned with companies such as  Atlantic Theatre Company, The New Group, Clubbed Thumb, and Mill Mountain Theatre. Select directing credits include: The Authorized Practitioner, Doug and Ava Say 'I Love You', Back Bog Beast Bait, Shivaree, Abroad, and At Home.


text:
Interesting Research on Pets – What You Didn’t Know

      Comments Off on Interesting Research on Pets – What You Didn’t Know

Tips To Buy The Right Dog Food If you’re a first time pet owner, then most likely you’re at loss when the time comes that you have to buy dog foods. Going to a pet food store may be both confusing and overwhelming most especially when you try looking for the best food supplies at the best price. If you’ve acquire a new pet just recently and have no clues on how to be a responsible dog owner, here are useful tips must be considered when buying food for them. Number 1. Buy quality pet foods – it is important to buy dog foods of high quality from the very beginning. This will help you save cash in the future. You need to know that health problems are usually related to poor nutrition as a result of inappropriate or low quality foods. Number 2. Avoid free feeding your dog – what this mean is that, you should avoid leaving plenty of foods for your dog. Refilling their bowl has to be done only when it’s out and as you are doing so, your pet can avoid being obese and save money as you’re buying less food.
On Dogs: My Thoughts Explained
Number 3. Check the pet store for freebies and promos – to give you an example, if you are about to buy 10 bags of food from a particular shop, will you be able to get a free bag if you’re a member? You may also check ads for coupons that you can use with your purchase for additional savings.
On Dogs: My Experience Explained
When you’re buying dog foods however, there are several things that you must be aware of like for instance: Dog’s age – it is very important that you provide your dog with the right food that is appropriate for their age. Health history – you need to be aware of your pet’s health history thus, it will be crucial to have regular visit to your vet. To give you an example, you have to avoid buying dog food that has ingredients or anything that your pet is allergic of. Not only that, if your pet is suffering from medical condition, his/her vet may recommend special diet for such. Body condition – say that your dog is overweight, it needs a special diet along with different nutrition compared to an underweight dog. If your dog is in good shape otherwise, then you need be advice to simply maintain their condition and health. Food preference – it is essential as well that you take into consideration the food preferences of your dog whether they like wet food, dry food or a mix of two.


text:
Dieppe Raid

During the Second World War, on 19 August 1942, the Allies launched a major raid on the French coastal port of Dieppe. Operation Jubilee was the first Canadian Army engagement in the European theatre of the war, designed to test the Allies' ability to launch amphibious assaults against Adolf Hitler's "Fortress Europe." The raid was a disaster: More than 900 Canadian soldiers were killed, and thousands more were wounded and taken prisoner. Despite the bloodshed, the raid provided valuable lessons for subsequent Allied amphibious assaults on Africa, Italy and Normandy.

Dieppe Raid
Bodies of Canadian soldiers of the Calgary Regiment lie dead on the beach at Dieppe, France, following the disastrous Allied raid there on 19 August, 1942.
World War II, Map

Testing Fortress Europe

By the summer of 1942, Canada had been at war with Germany for nearly three years, but its army had yet to see any action, except during the failed defence of Hong Kong. Thousands of fresh Canadian soldiers waiting in Britain were eager to get involved in the fight against Germany.

The British and Americans were fighting in North Africa, but the Soviet Union was pressuring the Allies to invade Nazi-occupied western Europe, to ease the burden on the Red Army struggling against Germany's invasion of Russia.

The Allies weren't yet ready for a full-scale assault on mainland Europe. Instead, Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, wanted to mount commando-style raids against occupied France as a way of harassing the enemy. Churchill and Royal Air Force commanders also believed that such raids, supported by Allied aircraft, would draw the Luftwaffe, the German air force, into battle — thus wearing down the Luftwaffe and drawing its planes and pilots away from the Russian front.

Louis Mountbatten, a senior British naval officer and relative of the Royal Family, had been appointed to advise British commanders on the relatively new military tactic of using co-ordinated naval, air and land forces in "combined operations" attacks. Mountbatten proposed a raid on the town of Dieppe — to probe German defences on the coast of France, and to test the Allies' ability to mount an amphibious assault, using combined forces, against Adolf Hitler's "Fortress Europe." The plan was to take Dieppe, hold a perimeter around the town, destroy the harbour facilities, and then withdraw by sea.

2nd Canadian Division

Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar and other senior Canadian army commanders endorsed the plan, and offered up troops for the raid. Not only were Canadian soldiers stationed in Britain itching for a taste of combat, but domestic opinion at home was eager to see the Canadian Army finally involved in the European war.

Launched across the English Channel from southern England, Operation Jubilee (as the raid was called) involved more than 6,000 soldiers — 4,963 of them Canadian, plus 1,075 British troops, 15 French nationals and hundreds of airmen and sailors from Canada, Britain and the United States.

The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, led by Major-General J.H. Roberts, formed the bulk of the infantry assault force. As Roberts told his troops before the raid — "Don't worry men, it'll be a piece of cake," — a comment that would haunt him for years afterwards.

Dieppe Raid
Infantrymen of The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada boarding landing craft before the raid on Dieppe on 19 August, 1942.\r\n
Dieppe Raid
Canadian soliders board landing craft for their run-in to the beach, during the raid on Dieppe on 19 August, 1942.

Tragedy on the Beaches

In the early morning hours of 19 August, the Allies arrived off the French coast on a naval task force of 237 ships and landing craft. Although the shoreline of Dieppe itself is relatively flat, the town is bookended on both sides by high, chalky-white cliffs rising directly from the beaches. From these cliffs, heavy German guns and machine guns situated inside concrete bunkers guarded the port and its surrounding beaches.

Map of the Dieppe Raid

The Canadians assaulted Dieppe at four designated sections. At Blue Beach, below the village of Puys (1.6 km east of Dieppe), troops of The Royal Regiment of Canada and The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada arrived late in their bid to take out enemy artillery and machine. From the start the enemy pinned down the Canadians and shot them up until the raid was over.

On the other side of the town at Green Beach, by the village of Pourville (4 km west of Dieppe), the South Saskatchewan Regiment arrived on time and in the dark. Unfortunately, the part of the unit tasked with reaching a radar station and anti-aircraft guns to the east of Pourville landed on the west side of the River Scie, which ran through the village. These troops had to cross the river on Pourville's only bridge, which the Germans ferociously defended. Ultimately, both the South Saskatchewans and Cameron Highlanders of Canada were pushed back.

At Red and White Beaches directly in front of the main port, the Essex Scottish and Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI) regiments landed without their armoured support, the 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment (the Calgary Tanks), which was late. The enemy, from higher ground and in the town's beachfront casino, hit these units hard. Some infantry managed to get off the beach and enter Dieppe, but the Canadians also failed to achieve their objectives here.

Dieppe Raid
A painting by Canadian war artist Charles Comfort, of the Allied raid on Dieppe in 1942.

On a ship offshore, Maj.-Gen. Roberts, believing that more troops had made their way into Dieppe than was true, sent his reserve unit, the Fusiliers Mont-Royal, to take advantage. This regiment was also destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Calgary Tanks that did arrive onshore were restricted in their movement, many becoming bogged down by the shingle beach (consisting of large pebbles, known as chert). Some tanks made it into the town, but their guns were unable to destroy the enemy's concrete barriers that lay in their path. Those tanks that survived the assault provided covering fire for the force’s evacuation.

Dieppe Raid
Wrecked Allied tanks and landing craft lie strewn across a beach at Dieppe, France, following the failed raid there in 1942.

High Costs

The raid was over by mid-day. In nine hours, 907 Canadian soldiers were killed, 2,460 were wounded, and 1,946 were taken prisoner. That's more prisoners than the Canadian Army would lose in 11 months of fighting during the Northwest Europe campaign of 1944-1945. Fewer than half the Canadians who departed for Dieppe made it back to England.

Dieppe Raid
Allied soldiers taken prisoner by the Germans at Dieppe, France in 1942.
Dieppe Raid
German soldiers guarding Allied prisoners, following the raid on Dieppe, France in 1942.

The British lost 300 men killed, wounded and taken prisoner, and there were 550 Allied naval casualties.

In the air battle overhead, the Royal Canadian Air Force lost 13 planes and 10 pilots, out of 106 Allied aircraft and 81 airmen lost overall.

Only British commandos, assigned to subdue coast artillery batteries to the east and west of Dieppe, enjoyed some success. And for the Canadians, the day was not without heroism. Honorary Captain J.W. Foote of the RHLI, and Lieutenant-Colonel C.C.I. Merritt of the South Saskatchewans both received the Victoria Cross, the British Empire's highest award for military valour. Foote, a chaplain, helped care for wounded troops under fire. Merritt bravely led his men over the Pourville bridge and later commanded a rearguard that allowed some troops to escape. Both were taken prisoner.

German casualties were light, other than the 48 aircraft lost after the Luftwaffe was drawn into battle.

Dieppe Raid
Canadian survivors of the Dieppe Raid, upon their return to England on 19 August, 1942.
Dieppe Raid
Canadian survivors of the Dieppe Raid, upon their return to England on 19 August, 1942.
Dieppe Raid
A Canadian soldier with a German prisoner who was captured during the Dieppe Raid.\r\n

Critical Lessons

Allied commanders knew the raid was risky. But none imagined it would be such a terrible failure, with so much loss of life. The planners believed the element of surprise would allow landing troops to overcome German defenders and occupy the town, before withdrawing. Little thought was given to the importance of air superiority and the need for overwhelming firepower, including artillery support from naval warships. The assaulting infantry had only light destroyers firing at the Germans from offshore; no battleships or cruisers were made available for the raid, nor heavy bombers overhead.

Instead, strategists put their faith in the power of tanks. Tanks had spearheaded the German blitzkrieg across Europe in 1940. Two years later, tanks were seen as providing a crucial advantage in modern warfare. More than two dozen tanks would land on Dieppe's beaches beside the infantry, and this, planners said, would make all the difference. However, of the 29 tanks that attempted to land, only 15 made it off the beaches and reached the town's promenade. Their guns were not powerful enough to knock out German fortifications.

Said Second World War historian Terry Copp: "Army planners were still mesmerized by the vision of tanks as the decisive weapon of war, and surprise as a substitute for overwhelming firepower."

Despite its failure, the raid provided valuable lessons for the Allies. It erased the idea that surprise and tanks were enough to succeed in an amphibious assault against occupied France. Two years later, the D-Day landings would be backed up by massive naval artillery support, dominance over the skies, and heavy firepower — three essential factors missing at Dieppe.

Dieppe also made clear the difficulties of assaulting a well-defended port, as well as the need for better intelligence on beach conditions and German defences, better communication between infantry on the beach and commanders offshore, and the need for specialized landing craft and tanks able to overcome beach obstacles. These lessons would be implemented in later amphibious assaults in North Africa, Italy, and Normandy.

The sacrifices of Canadians at Dieppe are well remembered. Few Canadian military engagements have been as attentively researched and documented by historians.

Today, the town of Dieppe is filled with maple leaf flags and Canadian symbols, and its seafront promenade holds a park and several memorials to the regiments that came ashore in 1942. The Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery also holds the graves of 944 Allied servicemen and women, including 707 Canadians.

Perhaps the finest tribute to the men who fought and died at Dieppe is the official report on the battle in 1942 by the German army: "The enemy, almost entirely Canadian soldiers, fought — so far as he was able to fight at all —well and bravely.

Book a Speaker

Further Reading

  • Robin Neillands, The Dieppe Raid: The Story of the Disastrous 1942 Expedition (2005); Mark Zuehlke, Tragedy at Dieppe: Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942 (2012); David O'Keefe, One Day in August: The Untold Story Behind Canada's Tragedy at Dieppe (2013).


text:
hope meade

Hope Meade

Teaching Artist - Current

Artist Statement
I believe that seemingly everyday objects such as mugs, bowls and plates, have the power to transform individual and communal spaces. I create functional, wheel thrown ceramics, focusing on strong and simple organic lines and shapes. My inspiration comes from from the forms of trees, mountains and rivers. also from the communities where I live, work, and worship through my conversations and relationships with people. The work I make is intended to bring joy, to create welcoming spaces, and to help people slow down. I feel my work is complete when it has become part of people's everyday lives, their daily rituals and their self care.

Hope Mead is a potter and educator living and working in Camden, NJ. She is the 3rd generation of potters in her family, with both her mother and grandmother being ceramic artists and art educators. She received her BS in Art Education from Messiah College. She has been working in clay since her childhood but began to throw on the wheel more seriously in her Junior year at Messiah College and has been hooked ever since. She teaches ceramics locally with BuildaBridge International, Spiral Q, Claymobile and in her own studio. She believes in creating opportunities for all people to express themselves and to find joy in working with clay.  Hope has recently begun specializing in firing woodfired anagama kilns in rural Pennsylvania. She has shown her work regionally and nationally. Hope works on both specialized commissioned work and unique handmade items being sold online at local craft events and boutiques.


text:
Avocados, Beer, Chilli Peppers And Tequilla: Expect Soaring Prices Under A Mexican Border Tax

While the White House floated, then quickly backed off, a proposal for a 20% tax on Mexican imports to “pay for the wall”, in addition to collecting an approximate $10 billion per year in tax revenues, there would be a notable flipside to a tax that would raise prices on Mexican imports by up to 20%, and would immediately affect a wide range of agricultural goods. Mexico exported $21 billion of food and drink north of the border in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making Mexico the 2nd largest supplier of agricultural imports to the US.

By:  Tyler Durden

This article first appeared at ZeroHedge

Of note, Mexico is by far the biggest supplier of avocados to the US. A trade war with Mexico would mean guacamole could become more valuable than gold.

Some other examples:

  • Fresh vegetables — Imports of tomatoes, onions, chili peppers and other vegetables totaled $4.84 billion. That’s more than four times what was purchased from Canada, the next biggest importer.
  • Fresh fruit — $4.28 billion of shipments, including raspberries, strawberries and avocados. Mexico sells more than twice as much fresh fruit to the U.S. as the No. 2 importer, Chile.
  • Wine and beer — Hold that Corona? Mexico led this category, importing $2.7 billion, almost $1 billion ahead of its biggest competitor, Italy.
  • Snack foods — With $1.72 billion of imports, Mexico is No. 2 here, although Canada sells roughly twice as much into the U.S.

In total, in 2015 Mexico exported some $316 billion in goods and services to the US, among which vehicles ($74 billion), electrical machinery ($63 billion), machinery ($49 billion), mineral fuels ($14 billion), and optical and medical instruments ($12 billion). Under a border tax, US based buyers of any Mexican imports would seen almost instant 20% passthru surcharge.

On the other hand, food exporters to Mexico would benefit from not paying taxes. As Bloomberg notes, despite running an overall trade deficit with Mexico, U.S. food and drink exports to its southern neighbor don’t lag far behind, at $17.7 billion for 2015. The U.S. typically carries a trade surplus with its southern partner in years when grain and oilseed prices are high, as they were for most of the previous decade. Mexico was the biggest buyer of U.S. corn, soybean meal, rice and dairy products in 2015.

Lindsay Graham –  who this afternoon reminded Trump that Mexico is America’s third largest trading partner, and that any tariff we can levy they can levy – probably put it best when he said:

This article first appeared at ZeroHedge


text:
Do Guests Reviews of Your Jersey Shore Home Really Matter?

    ferz 1-8-16In today’s digital world online reviews are becoming more and more prevalent. Consumers are turning towards review sites to help in everything from choosing a place to stay while on vacation, to what products to buy at a local store. More than likely your future guests will read reviews about your property and make a decision based on what others who have stayed there before had to say.  Yes, guest reviews of your Jersey Shore vacation home matter.

    Reviews left on online sites by others have quickly become a trusted source. One negative review could leave you losing business, but on the other hand positive reviews of your home can quickly increase bookings.

    If there is a negative review left about your vacation home, the way you respond to it can make a world of difference.  Do not ignore it. Always respond to negative comments in a professional manner which will show potential guests that you care and do want to be attentive to their needs.  Address their concerns and let them know that you are making changes to rectify the situation. This allows other potential guests to see that you are involved and care about their experience.

    To build reviews on your property kindly email your guests with a personalized email a few days after their stay thanking them for choosing your vacation home, and let them know how much you would appreciate them submitting a review on your home.

    Let the professionals at the Ferzoco Group help you sell or buy a home along the Jersey Shore. Our job is to make your tomorrow better than today. Contact us today via email or give us a call at 609-264-6762.

    If you are ready to find your dream home along the Jersey Shore check out our current featured listings here.

    Trackback from your site.

    Leave a Reply


text:
Supported Camel Pose (Ustrasana) with Blocks

Camel Pose (Ustrasana) opens the hips, stretching hip flexors and the front of the body while expanding the abdominal region and chest. It stretches and strengthens the shoulders and back, improving posture, and can help to relieve lower back pain.

Full Camel can be difficult for many students, but modifying it by adding the blocks for additional height makes it easier to transition into over time.

Supported Camel Pose with Blocks: How to Do it Step-by-Step

Step 1

Begin standing on the shins with your knees below your hips. Place the blocks lengthwise on either side of your ankles.

Step 2

Press your shins into your mat and keep the hips over the knees while slowly reaching back toward the blocks. Press your hands down onto the blocks and open the chest up and out, keeping the core strong and engaged.

Step 3

If this is comfortable, try gently dropping the head back and extending the front of the neck.

Step 4

To come out of this pose, first bring the head up, then slowly release the blocks and bring your hands to your lower back while you gently straighten your spine.


text:
HENDERSON, Ky. - An afternoon wreck near Zion in Henderson County sent a grandmother and her granddaughter to the hospital Thursday afternoon.

According to the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, the accident happened at about 2:09 p.m. in the 8000 block of Kentucky 351.

"Once on the scene, deputies learned that the accident was due to the van driving off of the roadway into the ditch," according to a news release.

"The van collided with four culverts before coming to a stop. The driver of the van has been identified as 62-year-old Deborah Johnson from Bluff City, Kentucky. Johnson had her granddaughter in the vehicle with her. Both individuals were transported to Methodist Hospital for their injuries."

Along with the Henderson County Sheriff's Department, other responding agencies included Zion Fire Department, Spottsville Fire Department and Henderson EMS.

Read or Share this story:


text:
playing with lines

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Products Used:
~~NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
~~Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Zero
~~MAC Clarity
~~Mac Fig. 1
~~Inglot Matte White
~~Glide On Pencil in Flipside
~~elf eyebrow kit in Dark
~~L'Oreal Telescopic Clean Definition Mascara
~~Random false lashes

I have to confess a sick love for this look. I'm not sure when I'll wear it next but I just have to!
20 York Street said...

That is crazy talent!

Soooo cool! I wish I can do that! WOW!

Follow @20YS on Twitter : @20YS
Follow @20YS on Facebook: TWENTY YORK STREET

Latest Instagrams

© Good Red Herring. Design by FCD.


text:
Wearable Candles

By Objects with Purpose

Starting at $35

* Required Fields

Add to Wishlist

Natural, hand-poured candles that double as a moisturizer. This wax burns at a low temperature turning it into a warm and soothing body butter and massage oil when lit. When cool, it is a solid perfume.

  • Made in the USA: California
  • Materials: Hand-poured eco wax (a natural product derived from coconut)
  • Ingredients: Coconut wax/oil, palm wax/oil, apricot wax/oil, and essential oils
  • Eco wax is 100% organic, non-GMO, bio-degradable, pesticide-free, ecologically sound, socially just, and completely sustainable. Ecowax is internationally recognized as fair trade and kosher
  • Grosgrain ribbon detail. Gift boxed
  • Medium contains 1 wick, Large contains 3
  • Burn time: Medium: 30 hours; Large: 50 hours
  • Dimensions: Medium: 2.875" diameter; Large: 3.875" diameter
  • Weight: Medium: 0.31 lb.; Large: 0.69 lb.

30 Reviews (4.5 out of 5 Grommets)

Sorted by Rating

Purchased this for my daughter. Took a little while to arrive, but she loves it.

Love and Purpose

Lovely fragrance and enjoyable massage oil to soften skin.

Beauty all Day

I enjoyed the aromatic in my home and the massage oil fragrance on my body.

Wearable Candles...Love, Love, Love

Bought this candle as BD gift for DD. She was so happy with the candle and the fragrant smell that filled the room when she opened it........without even burning it. Sits beside the kitchen sink and after washing dishes, using it on hands is the best. Would definitely recommend.More > < Less

Wearable candles

I use this as a perfume and a room freshener. I have gotten many compliments as people ask what fragrance I use. The candle burns a long time. I love the fragrance.More > < Less

Items 1 to 5 of 30 total

Objects with Purpose - Natural, Wearable Candle

About Objects with Purpose

Awaken the Senses

Ianthe Mauro’s love for candles dates back to her school days in Boston in the 1970s, when her teacher would light a candle each day and encourage students to focus on the beauty and strength of its flame. Ianthe continued to make candles a part of her daily life, but she worried about the toxic contents of some varieties. She was inspired to create her own line of nontoxic candles, with a unique twist: Ianthe’s candles are designed to be worn.

Each of her candles is hand-poured with a clean-burning wax that contains organic coconut, apricot, and shea butters, along with a proprietary blend of essential oils for fragrance. The wax burns at a low temperature, so you can use it as soothing body butter when it’s warm (perfect for moisturizing and massages) and a solid perfume when it’s cool. Her scents are sophisticated and appealing, including the soothing Fight or Flight, laced with jasmine and vanilla; vibrant Dahlia, with rose and lychee; Gifted, which combines white tea, fig, and tobacco in an alluring blend; and Archetype Rising, a meld of peony, cucumber, and firewood. All of the elements—from the organic butters, essential oils, and cotton wicks to the glass containers and reusable muslin packaging—come from U.S. suppliers.

We’re accustomed to lighting candles to add ambiance to a room. Ianthe’s company, Objects With Purpose, takes the candle-lighting experience even further. You can light a candle, massage the warm wax into your skin, and enjoy the scent throughout the day. For yourself or someone special, it’s a thoughtful, positive gift for the senses.