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SEO - Search Engine Optimization

How Much Advertising Does Google Control? And Why Should it Matter to You?

Its amazing in just under about a decade and a half the growth of Google as the one of world's largest advertising platform.  This of course, has coincided with the move away from traditional print advertising and the worldwide acceptance of the internet as the go-to place for information. What are some brief takeaway for business owners?

How Big is Google's Advertising Platform?

This includes Adwords, Doubleclick and other Google properties.  Let's put it into perspective:

1.  Google receives almost $5 of every $10 spent on online advertising worldwide. Its total income from advertising last year was over $29 billion. To put this number in perspective, the total advertising revenues of all US newspapers combined last year was less than $22bn. And the major US television networks (excluding cable and local stations) earned  $21.7 billion in advertising.  (-indra de lanerolle).

2.  As far as online advertising goes, ZenithOptimedia has issued a report that tells us this:  Google controls44 percent of global online ad revenues.  AKA:  Way ahead of its competitors and the dominant online force (including Android/mobile).

What does this mean for business owners?

There's good news and bad news:

1.  Bad news:  The days of set it and forget it are over.  Remember when you could just put an ad in the newspaper?  Or had to meet once a year with the Yellowpages guy to update your ad?  Those days are over (See picture to the right).  People search for EVERYTHING online.

What does this mean?  Businesses have to either:

A.  Learn how to market their website and business online, which means paid search, organic search, local listings, social media and constantly changing and adjusting things.

Or if you don't have the time (or desire) to do this:

B.  Learn enough so you can understand some of what goes into online advertising so when you hire a professional internet marketer who can know enough to hire someone who is actually knows what they're doing and won't rip you off (very difficult) and will get you the calls, emails and leads you need to keep your business growing.

The Good News:

If you find a professional to help you OR learn how to market your site online yourself you can:

1.  Beat out your competitors not just because you outspent them for the largest Yellowpages ad.  No, online advertising whether paid or organic search rewards the smart advertisers.  It is not always he who spends the most wins, but he who understands (or hires someone who understands) how to market their business online wins.

2.  Get extremely qualified calls, leads, emails.  After all people aren't just picking up the paper or yellowpages.  They typing in very specific terms.  If you come up in the search results instead of your competitors for those terms.  They will call you.

Bottom line is this:  Businesses need to at least start putting into motion how they'll market their site either by doing it themselves or hiring a pro.  This begs the question:  How can you find the right person to hire for marketing your website.  You should call or email us ; ) !

Failing this, our next post will be about how to hire an Internet Marketing pro who will help your business and not just take your money.  This is a very requested subject, due to the number of people we've talked with who have been ripped off and the number of accounts we've taken over that had very poorly done marketing work.  What are you thoughts on the above?  Stay tuned...

Google +1 and the Effect your Adwords Campaigns

With all the buzz surrounding the launch if Google Plus (+1) a great question to ask is:  How will this affect my Adwords campaigns?   This article will address a couple of things regarding this.  (Please note info from the Adwords help file on Google +1 is in italics.)

It has to be admitted with Google being the planet's largest advertiser, with most of its profits coming from advertising and revenues from it in the tens of billions of dollars.  So any change is rightly watched closely by tens of thousands of paid search advertisers and the businesses' account they manage (Including us).

You've probably already seen the little +1 button in both paid and organic search queries.  The simple idea is that people can click on that button and when people in your Google Plus network do, you either see a number or them.  This may add weight to whether you click on the ad, in a similar way that for instance a blog post with a Facebook like button with hundreds of likes may influence a searcher to read that post vs. one without many likes. In a somewhat similar way the +1 button, it  "lets users recommend the content they like on the web, helping to improve Google search for their friends and contacts"  (Google quote). Here's a picture of what this looks like ( You can see the little +1 icon in both the ads & organic results):

Also according to Google:  "When users click the +1 button for a particular webpage, their names and profile pictures will appear as part of personal annotations in their friends and contacts’ search results. Users will see their names and pictures beneath the ads and organic links associated with the webpage."

Of course when reading the above its clear that Google +1 can influence a searcher to click on one ad over another.  Depending on how Google +1 does and how many people adopt it, it may affect how your ads do or don't do.

This is all pretty straightforward.  But the thing that needs to be understood is what Google next says on the help file page in Adwords:

"Whenever possible, the +1 button is associated with a site’s final landing page. This means a user can recommend a webpage by clicking the +1 button on that page, or the +1 button next to a Google search ad or search result associated with that page. For example, if a user +1's an organic search result with the same final landing page as your ad, the +1 count associated with both the organic search result and the search ad will increase."

This is where it gets a little more interesting, having the Google +1 clicks associated with the final landing page.  But not just for organic or just for paid, but for both.  So for instance if someone clicks on the plus one button for your paid ad and another clicks on the Google +1 for your organic listing, both clicks count to up your +1 count.  Why is this interesting?

There's been alot of debate on whether if you rank well organically for a particular keyword, should you also bid for that keyword in Adwords to show up both in paid and organic for that search.  Some people say yes, showing in both places reinforces in the searchers mind you're the site they need to visit.  Some say its a waste of time to paid for something you already rank well for organically.

But as for Google +1, if it does indeed take off, having your site show up in both organic and paid and having the paid ad send the user to the same page as the organic page may result in a higher Google +1 count, and maybe more authority and searches to your site.

 In addition, we know Google is tracking plus one in Google Analytics and it seems likely they may use how many +1's your pages have to indicate relevancy and maybe even ranking.  And when it comes to quality score in Google Adwords we certainly could seem them using how many +1's your ads get as an additional factor in determining quality score.

That's alot of caveats but its something to keep an eye on.  Perhaps the final thing that is possibly confusing is this:  A searcher types in a search query.  They see the search results with the plus one icon.  Are they going to click on that icon when their not sure if its the page they're looking for?  It would seem like you'd just click on the link to find the page you want and once you're there its unlikely you'll go back to the search page to click on the +1 icon.  This means to get those +1 votes, you'd need to have the Google +1 icon on each page of your site like you have the Facebook Like button.

What do you think:  Will Google +1 be as big a factor as some think in how your Adwords campaigns perform?

Stop! Do This BEFORE You Start a Link Building Campaign

Before You Start Link Building:

Before you start a link building campaign, you need to decide what keywords you will include in your anchor text.  What is anchor text?  The anchor text is the hyperlinked text that when clicked on sends the user to your site.

Anchor Text- The Key(words) to Great Links & Rankings

Most people wrongly just have the site linking to them decide this.  This ends up with them having their website address hyperlinked or the words click here.  While getting links is great, this is the WRONG WAY to have your link put on a site.  While a link from a trusted site will help your website you need to have the correct keywords as the anchor text.  These keywords are the keywords you would like to rank for on Google.

 Why is this the case?  Google search technology is rapidly getting smarter and smarter.  It can more or less "read" (loosely used) the text of a link and compare the page its linked to for relevance.  So if a link says Greenville Used Cars and leads to a site that is about Greenville Used Cars Google says, "this page is about Greenville Used Cars", so when people type "Greenville Used Cars" into Google, I will show them this page as a top result, and not their competitor that also sells used cars in Greenville but has as the anchor text."  See the picture below to get the idea:

Courtesy SEOMoz

Another example:  Let's say you have a painting company in Lake Norman area north of Charlotte, NC your anchor text may be:  Lake Norman Residential Painter, not (or whatever your site is).  But how do you know which keyword phrase or phrases to choose for the anchor text of your links?  Take a little time to do some keyword research to find out the actual terms people are typing into Google to find your product or service.  You can use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.

In Deciding Which Anchor Text to use for you links, remember these DOs & Don'ts:

Don't make the anchor text too broad, like "residential painter", "painter", "house painter", or you will be competing with every residential painter in the country and won't show up on.

Don't use just one phrase for your anchor text (such as "Lake Norman Residential Painting") if you are a large site or target multiple main keywords. Use a phrase for a number of links and then a phrase for another number of links (like "Lake Norman Pressure Washing" if you were a painting contractor that also does pressure washing.

Don't use keywords that may have possible obvious multiple intents such as "Lake Norman Paint", "Paint Lake Norman", etc. because this person may not want a professional painter but rather just where to buy paints.

DO choose anchor text that is relevant to what you sell or do. Don't use anchor text such as "Lake Norman Landscaping" when your site is about window cleaning. Your links should be from sites relevant to what you do to a site that matches the anchor text.

DO Remember, links are a vote of confidence. You wouldn't believe the recommendation for an excellent Italian restaurant from a person who hates Italian food. But you would from a person born and raised in Rome. Google also doesn't give as much weight to links to sites that aren't relevant, but on the positive side it does to sites that are authorities and relevant to what your site is about.

DON'T have keywords that are either too broad in scope or too narrow.  Choosing a keyword phrase such as "Lake Norman Professional House Painter Custom Painting" for your anchor text is to specific. You're looking for a keyword phrase that people actually type into Google enough times a month that they will visit your site, but not one that is way too competitive.  Again, see the picture below to get the idea:

Courtesy SEOMoz

Does this sound like alot of work even before you start the tedious but important work of actual link building?  How do you do this Keyword Research?  Are you worried you'll get it wrong and not choose the correct keywords?  To be honest, you should be.  Because if you choose the wrong keywords and your competitor chooses the right keywords for their anchor text, they will show up higher in the Google search results page in most cases.

For a fantastic, in depth article about link building, please read:

17 Ways Search Engines Judge the Value of a Link (from

 Shameless plug:  If this is way above your head or you have absolutely no desire to do it, hire a professional internet marketer.  Depending on your budget, you can hire him/her straight out, or for just a few hours of consulting or training to show you how to do this (yes, we do both).   But please do the above BEFORE starting your link building campaign.  Failure to do the above initial keyword research can result in frustration and much time wasted.

What are your thoughts on link building, and using the right anchor text.  Let us know!

INTJ: The Ultimate Personality Type for Online Marketing & SEO?

In getting to know a number of Internet Marketers, the first thing you notice is the wide variety of personalities.  Some are extremely outgoing people persons.  Others are very introverted and shy.  Still others are very process oriented.  And finally some just do marketing "by the seat of their pants" and say they love the excitement of it.

This is all well and good but if you're someone who is going to hire someone to market your website and business online what really is the best personality type to hire?

After all you want someone friendly, professional, someone who is able to communicate what is being done in a way that you can understand.  But in the end you want results.  Higher rankings, more sales, more customers, more profits, etc.  You don't want someone ruled by emotion and who is not able to sit in an office for any length of time and get the work done.

What is the best personality type for Internet Marketing?

Let the Myers-Briggs Personality Types be your Guide

You've probably heard of the Myers-Briggs Personality Test.  About 70 mulitple choice questions will let you know which of the 16 personality types you are:  ENFP, INTJ, and introvert, extrovert, logical, creative, etc.   If you're not farmiliar with it, please Google it and take the test.  It's quite eye opening to say the least.  Have your wife, husband or kids take it too.

Our Completely Biased Opinion as to the Best Personality Type for SEO & Online Marketing

Our owner has often wondered why he enjoys systematically improving websites, totally happy to set up a complete system for doing this, being extremely thorough and methodical.  The reason?  He is probably the perfect personality for an Online Marketer.  In fact, after you read the explanation for his personality you will see the obvious advantage.

We could say an unfair advantage versus other online marketers, one that would certainly benefit all who use our services.  But it's not like a person can take credit for their natural occuring personality traits, perhaps no more than for their blue or brown eyes.  Some people are artistic, some are logical, etc.  So here it is:

INTJ - The Mastermind

Intellectual conceptualizer, a system builder who brings clarity and objectivity to decision making. Excels at seeing the big picture and finding solutions to complex problems. Has a talent for deductive reasoning.  Rare, comprise less than 2 % of the population. They love:

  • Fair performance measurement
  • Autonomy
  • New projects or learnings
  • Strategizing
  • Control
  • Opportunities for creativity
  • Things to perfect

Famous Masterminds (INTJ):

  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Lance Armstrong
  • Stephen Hawking
  • Peter Jennings
  • C. S. Lewis
  • Colin Powell
  • Ahhnold! Schwarzenegger
  • Nikola Tesla
  • Sir Isaac Newton

Even more eye opening is the longer definition below ( credits: adapted from the Book Please Understand Me II by Dr. David Keirsey).  Read through this and see if this is not the personality type that you want working on your SEO, PPC, Analytics and Online Marketing campaign:

Portrait of the INTJ - Keirsey's Rational Mastermind

All Rationals are good at planning operations, but Masterminds are head and shoulders above all the rest in contingency planning. Complex operations involve many steps or stages, one following another in a necessary progression, and Masterminds are naturally able to grasp how each one leads to the next, and to prepare alternatives for difficulties that are likely to arise any step of the way. Trying to anticipate every contingency, Masterminds never set off on their current project without a Plan A firmly in mind, but they are always prepared to switch to Plan B or C or D if need be.

Masterminds are rare, comprising no more than one to two percent of the population, and they are rarely encountered outside their office, factory, school, or laboratory. Although they are highly capable leaders, Masterminds are not at all eager to take command, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once they take charge, however, they are thoroughgoing pragmatists.

Masterminds are certain that efficiency is indispensable in a well-run organization, and if they encounter inefficiency -- any waste of human and material resources -- they are quick to realign operations and reassign personnel.

Masterminds do not feel bound by established rules and procedures, and traditional authority does not impress them, nor do slogans or catchwords. Only ideas that make sense to them are adopted; those that don't, aren't, no matter who thought of them. Remember, their aim is always maximum efficiency.

In their careers, Masterminds usually rise to positions of responsibility, for they work long and hard and are dedicated in their pursuit of goals, sparing neither their own time and effort nor that of their colleagues and employees.

Problem-solving is highly stimulating to Masterminds, who love responding to tangled systems that require careful sorting out. Ordinarily, they verbalize the positive and avoid comments of a negative nature; they are more interested in moving an organization forward than dwelling on mistakes of the past.

Masterminds tend to be much more definite and self-confident than other Rationals, having usually developed a very strong will. Decisions come easily to them; in fact, they can hardly rest until they have things settled and decided. But before they decide anything, they must do the research. Masterminds are highly theoretical, but they insist on looking at all available data before they embrace an idea, and they are suspicious of any statement that is based on shoddy research, or that is not checked against reality.

So there you have it:  The ultimate personality for Internet Marketing:  The INTJ Mastermind.  The person you want working for you.  What do you think?

Quick Ways to Explain SEO to Clients

We've all met with a potential client to see if they can benefit from online marketing.  All too often, they may with good intentions ask a few questions on how things work.  How does Google figure out which sites rank the highest, how Adwords works, etc.

You might try to answer their question but notice in under a minute that their eyes have totally glazed over.  Is there a better way to help them understand?  One way that could be very helpful is using a couple of new videos that Google has put out.  Emailing your prospective clients links to these videos can really help them- and you- out alot as far as being on the same page.

I showed these videos to a friend and the first words out of their mouth is "now I kind of get how Google works and kind of what you do". What do you think?  Does prepping a client with relevant videos help you to explain things better?

The videos can be found on this page:

Here are the two videos:

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What are the challenges you face managing a B2B software company?

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Brian P. Christie replied:

Thanks for the inquiry. As an early stage company navigating new territory to advance commerce and knowledge sharing for online communities, we face lots of challenges and a major one is finding the right terminology to describe our business approach. People often characterize our business as a “white-label service” (can be branded by other organizations), or that is “SaaS” (Software as a Service) and as you indicate, “B2B” (Business-to-business) in contrast to “B2C” (Business-to-Consumer). Since we currently work with many associations and professional societies, they are keen to learn that Brainsy offers them "non-dues revenue” opportunities and also that we create "member value.”

Despite the many labels and descriptions that are commonly used, I find them all to be somewhat limiting. Rather than call ourselves a “B2B” company, I think Business-to-Ecosystem or “B2ECO” may be more appropriate because the “ECO” represents one big “B” partner (our association client), lots of small “b” (their members), and often lots of “C” (the customers of their members). So in essence, we’re working to support a whole ecosystem of entities that interact with us -- but mainly each other – and THAT can be a challenge.

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Paper presentation at AutoSens in Brussel, September, 19th

19 September 2018 Back

Dr Andreas Kohl will present "Innovative laser sources for lidars in autonomous vehicles - advantages of 3D flash lidars and hybrid flash lidars ". His presentation is part of the "Lidar Rapid Fire" session that takes place at 4:20 pm on Wednesday.

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Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Looking for ordinary ideals of Americana is like searching for consistencies in the Affordable Care Act statute.  They simply don’t exist.  The valued conviction of one American vastly differs from that of another.

One may celebrate adventures in mysticisms.  Another may find inspiration sitting in a NASCAR grandstand.  While a third struggles to free himself of the orthodox hobgoblins that suffocate his soul.

In the more respectable newspapers, the story of the national struggle is told with delicate regularity.  The news is professed from the locus of the two party political system…any diverging views are carefully sifted out.  What’s reported is only what the story editors allow to pass through their single micron particulate filters.

We’re told a never ending Marxian tale of the evil rich exploiting the noble poor.  Even worse, we’re led to believe that clowns like John F. Kerry know exactly what the heck they’re doing.  Plus we’re led to believe that what they are doing is in our best interest.

Occasionally the madness is too immense for even the major networks, and their carefully scripted plots, to ignore.  Nonetheless, we find the ongoing claptrap to be miserably altered from the America we see and experience when we step out our front door each morning.  Moreover, we find the abundance of thought polluting newspeak and commonsense destroying political correctness to be insulting and intolerable.

Shared Conviction

We’re confident that, despite being told what to think, people are capable of figuring things out on their own.  They don’t need a government website to tell them to bite an aspirin and call 911 if they have pain in their chest.  In fact, from our observations, people can accomplish remarkable things when they need to.

One fellow may build a better mousetrap after failing for years.  Another may finally get the guts to open his own barbershop.  A former high school slacker may grow up to win father of the year.  You can never underestimate someone with a burning desire to succeed.

When it comes down to it, the American experience is for each individual to make of it what they will.  Along the way, and despite their best efforts, no one escapes from getting kicked in the face every now and then.  But even in the worst of times, there’s always something to be grateful for.

Perhaps that’s what makes Thanksgiving Day unique in American culture.  It doesn’t matter if you bow down before the God of the bible or the god of NFL football.  More than any other holiday, people celebrate Thanksgiving with a shared conviction.

The point is, even the most ungrateful person can pause one day a year to give thanks…even if they believe they deserve more.  However, for some it’s a daily life or death proposition…

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Charle Street, in Costa Mesa, California, is a home for desperate men…where lifesaving ego deflation is administered, hope is born, and miracles come to pass every day.  If you happen to find yourself there you are in dire need of what Carl Jung first called “a spiritual experience.”

Stenciled on the meeting room wall is one of life’s essential axioms…

“Grateful people are happy people and those that aren’t, aren’t.”

The meaning of this is quite simple to understand.  Yet its outcome, for those willing to practice it, is quite significant.  For with just a little daily gratitude even the most down and out discover there’s always something to be happy about.  And even in the worst of times, there are always things to be grateful for, if just a moment is taken to consider them.

Thanksgiving Day is a time to say thanks, gather with family, and have a satisfying feast.  Life ain’t all bad when you’re down here with the rest of us.  We hope you made the most of it.

MN Gordon
for Economic Prism

Return from Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell to Economic Prism

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Ukraine intends to stop importing gas by 2020 – PM Groysman

20:13, 09 September 2016
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The Ukrainian prime minister reaffirmed the government would continue its policy of developing own production and the eradicating corruption in the oil and gas sector through the elimination of shady schemes and ensuring publicity in oil and gas production.

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Grimly Forward

© Russell Smith, 2012

© Russell Smith, 2012

4 responses

  1. occultoantonio

    Have a good days, mate.

    December 28, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    • You too, friend!

      December 29, 2012 at 9:10 pm

  2. Craiova Hoteluri

    Hey there, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues.
    When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer,
    it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you
    a quick heads up! Other then that, amazing blog!

    June 16, 2014 at 10:51 pm

    • Thanks for the kind words and the words of warning! Best wishes, Russell

      July 20, 2014 at 8:57 pm

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Breaking News

Helping Indonesia

The following is an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government:

For many years, Indonesia's Aceh province has been the scene of fighting between government forces and radical Islamic separatists. But today, the province on the island of Sumatra is the destination for a virtual army of relief workers from many countries, including the United States. James Kunder is the U.S. Agency for International Development assistant administrator for Asia and the Near East:

"We have established partners on the ground, N-G-O's, so we're also working with those nongovernmental organizations. The U-N agencies, which have their own substantial programs, like UNICEF, like the World Food Program, like the World Health Organization, also have assessment teams going out. We're trying to coordinate this range of international assessment teams."

Aceh was near the epicenter of the undersea earthquake that caused giant tsunamis, or tidal waves, that took the lives of more than one-hundred-thirteen thousand Indonesians. Nepa Andriani, an Indonesian high school student, told the Washington Post newspaper she has never seen so many foreigners before. She said, "They can help the Acehnese people." And, Irfan Junaidi, a columnist for Republika, an Islamic newspaper published in Indonesia, wrote that the U.S. troops in his country are "very sweet and humane." He adds, "There's nothing wrong with that."

The Indonesian government estimates that as a consequence of the tsunamis, more than eighty-percent of Aceh province's roads were destroyed, less than one percent of the sanitation infrastructure is working, eighty-percent of electricity-producing facilities were destroyed, and nearly eighty-thousand phone lines remain damaged.

The United States is committing three-hundred-fifty-million dollars to help the survivors of the tsumanis in Aceh and elsewhere. As the people of this devastated region "struggle to recover," says President George W. Bush, "America will be there to help."


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© 2019 Opportunity International Education Finance functions under its US and UK affiliates. Opportunity International United Kingdom is registered as a charity in England and Wales (1107713) and in Scotland (SCO39692). Opportunity International United Statesis a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

Opportunity International EduFinance and BRAC partner in Liberia

By Faye Ruck-Nightingale

Opportunity EduFinance and BRAC have partnered to bring Opportunity’s Education Quality programme to BRAC Liberia schools. The Opportunity-BRAC partnership will bring school leadership and teacher professional development, alongside a variety of training materials and resources for school improvement, to the 33 schools managed by BRAC in the Partnership Schools for Liberia (PSL) programme[i]. PSL is a pilot programme run by Liberia’s Ministry of Education and 8 selected non-state school operators to provide every child in Liberia with access to high-quality education.  The 33 schools managed by BRAC Liberia are in remote locations within the Lofa, Nimba and Grand Gedeh counties. This is an exciting opportunity for EduFinance to bring its expertise and resources to another country in West Africa, and to work with BRAC to impact over 7,500 children with improved education quality.

Liberia school leader training

The Opportunity EduFinance-BRAC Liberia partnership launched in March this year with Opportunity running an Introductory training session to 66 educators and 40 BRAC staff in Gbarnga (approx. 200km from Monrovia). The aim of the partnership is to enhance BRAC’s work in helping their 33 PSL schools improve the quality of education they provide in the rural communities they serve.  Additionally, it will enable BRAC to transfer its learnings and utilise Opportunity’s resources to reach more schools in, and potentially beyond Liberia. BRAC’s Country Representative for Liberia, Mainuddin Ahmed said:

“We’re really excited to be working with Opportunity EduFinance to ensure their expertise and tools reach primary school children in rural Liberia and to improve the quality of education on offer in our PSL schools. We know this collaboration will strengthen the services we are delivering to the people of Liberia and provide opportunities for staff at both organisations to share learning.”

BRAC Liberia, part of BRAC’s global network, is a development organisation dedicated to alleviating poverty by empowering the poor through grant-funded programs. BRAC’s mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. BRAC Liberia was established in 2008, its programmes currently reach across 10 counties in Liberia including operating the 33 public primary schools in the PSL programme, and 30 community based early childhood development centres. Liberia has the lowest school enrolment rate in the world, with four out of every ten children not in school (that’s almost 1 million out of school children). And those children who are in school often have poor learning outcomes due to limited resources and large numbers of pupils per classroom[ii][iii]. As well as operating schools BRAC Liberia runs programs in microfinance, small enterprise, agriculture, poultry & livestock, health, empowerment, and livelihoods for adolescents.

Liberia school leader training

Opportunity EduFinance’s Education Quality programme is supporting BRAC Liberia’s PSL schools through three key function areas: i) Senior Leadership Professional Development: 6 development modules covering topics such as building a successful school; school administration, governance and leadership; pedagogy and approaches to effective teaching & learning, and child protection. ii) Pathways to Excellence school development guide: Opportunity EduFinance’s comprehensive self-assessment tool covering 31 domains of excellence for schools to assess themselves against. The guide leads into structured school development planning with access to learning materials for each topic area. iii)  Clusters and reporting: BRAC Liberia schools working in clusters will be guided by BRAC staff through Opportunity’s training resources for school leaders and teachers.  Surveys and reports will be uploaded on tablet based surveys and collated centrally to form regular dashboards of activities and progress in school improvement.

This is Opportunity EduFinance’s first venture into Liberia and first project working with public sector schools, Andrew McCusker Head of EduFinance said:

We’re thrilled to be partnering with BRAC Liberia, and look forward to seeing how our Education Quality programme can help BRAC’s PSL schools to improve the quality of education they offer their communities. We bring to the programme best practice from international experts, exposing schools in Liberia to new approaches to pedagogies, new teaching methodologies, and processes for better school management and administration."

The partnership will run for 18 months. The next step is delivery of Opportunity EduFinance’s Senior Leadership Professional Development training in June for the leaders from BRAC’s 33 schools. Andrew McCusker added:

"We are also delighted to share the experiences from our field teams in Africa with BRAC Liberia staff; it is through our local teams that we learn, develop and improve to help thousands more kids get a better education.”

Opportunity and BRAC look forward to watching and learning from the progress of this partnership and the impact it has on schools and children in Liberia.

Click to learn more about BRAC Liberia and Opportunity Education Quality.

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Case Studies

Double E is a solutions provider. The company engineers and applies its products with over 40 years of industry experience behind it, generating thousands of success stories. Please find a few examples of how Double E has helped customers below.

Wrapping Paper Maker Converts Shafted Turret Winder into a Shaftless Turret Winder

One of the largest wrapping paper makers in the country sought the help of Double E regarding core extraction issues they were having on one of their production lines. This line was using a turret winder with strip shafts. The line was running a combination of 3" and 6" cores. The machine's operator had trouble handling the 55-60 lbs. shafts when the rewound roll was removed from the press. Roll changeovers were taking a long time. The customer's primary pain for this application was concern for operator safety.

Double E provided the customer with two 3" PC-4000 Pneumatic/Mechanical Core Chucks and two 3"-6" Step Idlers for the PC-4000. One pair of each was mounted on each arm of the turret winder. The PC-4000 was chosen because the application requires a positive grip chuck. The rewind stops and starts frequent¬ly. Because both 3" and 6" cores are run on this printing line, Double E also provided the customer with two 3"-6" adapters for the PC-4000 chucks.

The chucks were installed in mid-2007 and have been working well since. According to plant engineer at the production facility, "the chucks are working great and roll pro¬cess time has improved. All safety issues have been resolved." Now, the operator does not need to remove a 60 lb. shaft during changeovers. Double E and the customer have converted a shafted turret winder into a shaftless turret winder. This conversion resulted in a safer, more efficient work environment.


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Fuji San Arrives

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Fuji San arrives in Australia, immediately clashing with another icon. Two icons can't be on the same page withoiut some trouble....

A parody of Hokusai's famous Red Fuji.

Edition 22 Awagami Kozo paper

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Buy my work direct from this website using PayPal and your credit card, or you can contact me by email to arrange an alternative. More Information about the prints and shipping is below.

Buy directly using secure credit card payment on Pay Pal. The Buy Now button will take you to the Pay Pal website, where you can complete your purchase. Once completed you will be returned to my site. The exchange is entirely handled by Pay Pal's secure system and none of your credit card details are revealed to me at any stage.


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Physician Led EHR Discussion and Demo

With so much information out there about EHRs (Electronic Health Records) how can you get the real deal?

Ask someone you trust. Like a physician!

I’m sure many of you have been inundated by tons of sales literature and sales calls urging you to make a decision about an EHR. You’re probably wondering how you are going to sift through the information overload and find a solution that really works specifically for your practice.

We have a suggestion.

Watch a demo led by a physician and ask him questions about how he did it. We also invite all Nurse Practitioners to join in!

Join Our Physician Led EHR Discussion and Demo

Get the facts from the best source. Hear how a fellow physician is using an Allscripts EHR to seamlessly integrate practice specific workflow, maximize productivity and achieve meaningful use. Discuss the tips and tools used to ensure successful transition to electronic health records and more. Join the discussion and ask YOUR questions.

Date: Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010

Time: 6:30 PM CST (7:30 PM EST)

Length: One hour

Call us at 888-885-4422 or CLICK HERE to register!

This entry was posted in Allscripts MyWay Demo, EHR Providers, Physician Led Demo, Podiatry EHR Demo, Stimulus Incentives. Bookmark the permalink.

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Poll Update

Obama Health Care Law: Favor/Oppose - Oppose 42%, Favor 40% (Kaiser/PSRA 8/18-8/24/16)

Population 1,211 Adults
Margin of Error ±3.0 percentage points
Polling Method Live Phone
Source Kaiser FF
This poll asked respondents 1 question tracked by HuffPost Pollster. Read our FAQ.

As you may know, a health reform bill was signed into law in 2010. Given what you know about the health reform law, do you have a generally favorable or generally unfavorable opinion of it?

Asked of 1211 Adults
Very favorable 19%
Somewhat favorable 21%
Somewhat unfavorable 14%
Very unfavorable 28%
Don’t know/ Refused 17%


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Barb Caffrey's Blog

Writing the Elfyverse . . . and beyond

Posts Tagged ‘free poems

Just in Time For Halloween, New Poems and Stories at the TTB e-zine!

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OK, sometimes I just have to rhyme…

Folks, do you want some new and absolutely free reading material? Especially from me? (As you’re here at my blog, I’m going to assume the answer is an enthusiastic “yes.”)

Well, look no further. I have a story, “To Exist within Memory,” and a poem, “Break the Dark Lens,” up at the Halloween 2017 edition of the Twilight Times e-zine. (I abbreviated it above as TTB e-zine because it’s part of Twilight Times Books.) In addition, there’s also a chapter reveal for my most recent novel, the LGBT-friendly CHANGING FACES, and there’s an author interview by Mayra Calvani as well — so if you have ever wanted to know more about me or my writing, here you go.

portrait in garden

Mind, if you like what you have read with regards to CHANGING FACES, you can go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and pick up an e-book copy for just ninety-nine cents…and I do hope you’ll consider doing just that.

So go check out the TTB e-zine. Read some free stuff. Then go pick up your copy of CHANGING FACES today, and get to getting…who said every treat on Halloween has to be full of calories, hey?

Written by Barb Caffrey

October 31, 2017 at 8:33 pm


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Barb Caffrey's Blog

Writing the Elfyverse . . . and beyond

Posts Tagged ‘Stefan Szymanski

Women Co-Authors are “Disappeared” by NPR, and the World Shrugs

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Folks, I am really upset right now.

NPR recently interviewed two authors, Silka-Maria Weineck and Stefan Syzmanski, for their radio show “All Things Considered.” The reason? Well, it’s World Cup season (championship soccer, as the US would call it; championship football, as everyone else does), and Weineck and Szymanski wrote a book called It’s Football, Not Soccer (and Vice Versa): On the History, Emotion, and Ideology Behind One of the Internet’s Most Ferocious Debates. The book sounds fascinating, and I would’ve loved to hear what Ms. Weineck had to say…except that NPR host Anders Kelto scrubbed all of her interview, and then compounded his error by attributing their co-written book to Szymanski alone.

That is what prompted the following letter to NPR’s ombudsman.

You see, as a female author myself, I know that if I had written a book with someone, and then only my co-author was named after I’d done an interview also, I’d be going ballistic right now.

Ms. Weineck isn’t too happy, either. (Take a look at this article if you don’t believe me.) And I don’t blame her at all.

Anyway, here you go with my letter to NPR:

I am deeply unhappy that in a recent on-air segment for “All Things Considered” host Anders Kelto did not name both authors of the book IT’S FOOTBALL, NOT SOCCER (AND VICE VERSA), instead only naming the male co-author. Refusing to name the female co-author was wrong and shameful, and further compounding his error by refusing to initially name her in the printed piece on your website (which was later corrected) is extremely disheartening.

I look to NPR for balanced coverage. And if there are two authors of a book, the only way to get balanced coverage is to talk about — and to — both co-authors, unless one is not available. In this case, the female co-author, Ms. Silke-Maria Weineck, was indeed available, and had spoken to the on-air host for thirty minutes by her account (I read it at the, BTW), and yet none of her quotes were used. So your host, Mr. Kelto, was willing to talk with Ms. Weineck, but apparently not willing to use any of her quotes. Or even properly attribute the book to both her and her co-author, Mr. Szymanski, for that matter.

I am extremely frustrated that Ms. Weineck’s voice was silenced. But I’m even more frustrated, as a female author myself, that another female author was marginalized and “disappeared” in this way.

I believe NPR should rectify this problem immediately by talking with Ms. Weineck and working out some way of compensating her for this egregious error.

And please, please, for the love of little green apples, never make this type of mistake ever again. Because it is sickening.

Now, to the men in the audience:

I know most of you would never behave as Mr. Kelto did. (Most especially, the male authors wouldn’t.) But this behavior still must needs be challenged, as it shows the problem we female authors still run into from time to time. (I can’t believe this is the only time NPR has done something like this, either, and they’re supposedly the “liberal bastion” of radio — or at least, by their own charter, are supposed to promote equality and fairness. And what could be more fair than properly attributing a co-written book to both authors?)

(Mind, if you only think about how much you would hate it, if only the female co-author were named instead of you, maybe you’ll understand…such is my hope.)

The reason I am writing this blog, though, is very simple. You men need to realize that the women in your life, especially the creative women, are often discounted or dismissed. (It’s always wrong, too. A creative person is a creative person is a creative person, whether the person is male, female, trans, queer, intersex, or Martian.)

Without realizing that simple fact, the good men out there cannot work against this type of abhorrent behavior. As I do hope you will do, because it needs doing.

And if you, too, want to write to the ombudsman and complain that the female co-author’s name should not have been “disappeared” from the broadcast? Here’s a link.


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Writers Write

I have a cedar chest full of drafts of this book. Last week, Cherry compared them to O’Keeffe’s variations of Jack in the Pulpit. I wish. Tonight, I loaded the inkjet with fuel and printed another, sans pages one through twenty-five. I ran out of paper. This baby is Courier, 12 pt., double-spaced.

There’s something about holding a manuscript in your hand. It’s different from seeing font on a screen. Things you never noticed scream out at you. I’m hoping anyway. I’m also hoping not to drop the behemoth on my toe.

I put away the workbook for a while. I’m going rogue. Probably rogue in longhand. I bought Waterman cartridges. Tomorrow, I’ll splurge on another ream of twenty pound multipurpose white.

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August Goals

August 6, 2018

Does anyone else feel like this summer has flown by and it’s basically time to celebrate New Years? I can’t be the only one.

July was full of gorgeous weddings and a much needed time of rest with my family. We are still recovering this week from our 12-hour road trip turned 24-hour semi nightmare drive home though, and I don’t think there is enough coffee in the world today! Pennslyvania is no joke with their storms and construction.

Overall though, I’m so excited to jump into fall planning and dreaming up things for my 2019 couples. Early summer next season is just about fully booked, and engagement session season is happening in earnest starting this week! I cannot wait to get to know my couples even more and enjoy these warm days while they last.

Personal Goals for August

  • I picked up two pretty FREE wingback chairs before we left that I need to reupholster, so I’ll be watching a ton of youtube videos on how to do that this month!
  • Refinish Morgan’s dresser, also a thrift shop find and just needs a new stain! I forgot how much I hate sanding so I need to keep my eyes on the finish line.
  • Fix kitchen floors. This is a project we’ve wanted to do anyway but Shep gave us a little bit of a push by destroying part of the linoleum while we were gone. Hopefully, the wood floors underneath aren’t too bad! Our dogsitter felt so bad but #thatpuppylife
  • Schedule a date with Andy that isn’t the movies.
  • Create a home base for the kids to drop bags, shoes, etc before school starts.
  • Plan a birthday party for Bailey.
  • Read or listen to two non business books.

Business Goals for August

  • Book 2 2019 weddings
  • Create August and September blog schedule
  • Convert pricing guide PDF to print and online format.
  • Clean office (must put on the list during wedding season or it gets out of control!)
  • Read one business-related book.

Phew! Taking things day by day this month because September looks scary with everything going on. What are your goals this month? Should I blog my DIY projects??

One of our camera selfies during our day on Nantucket. Not too bad for balancing on a pier right??

Happy August friends!

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Elman Wall’s Summer Budget Highlights

Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 8 July, after watching the Chancellor deliver the widely anticipated first Conservative Budget since 1996, the Elman Wall Tax Team scrambled together, like would-be journalists attempting to meet their deadlines, to create a brief summary of their key tax points and the most important elements for you and your business and how the measures George announced will affect you.

To read the Elman Wall Budget Summary PLEASE CLICK HERE.

We even managed to beat the Chancellor’s own email summary with a few minutes to spare!

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact one of the Elman Wall Tax Team on 020 7600 5667 or alternatively, email Russell.eisen@elmanwall.co.uk.

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Tag Archives: classroom interaction

Feedback: the most important part of any exercise?

When you’re preparing a lesson you probably give a lot of thought to the tasks and exercises you plan to include. But how much thought do you give to what happens (or should happen) between the exercises? In my latest post for the British Council Teaching English blog, I consider the importance of feedback and look at some different ways to do it.

Read the post here.

Photo Credit: Sean Davis via Compfight</a> cc</a>

1 Comment

Filed under classroom ideas, Differentiation, Planning, Teaching methodology, Working with groups

The wonder of wait time!

  How would you like it if your students:
– Gave longer answers?
  – Answered more often?
  – Gave more confident answers?
  – Weren’t afraid to challenge or add to   o
ther students’ answers?  – Were willing to discuss and offer alternative answers?
For all these benefits, why not try new and improved
‘Wait Time’TM?

Actually, I doubt any teacher would need a heavy sales technique to be persuaded to ‘buy’ this idea. These are the benefits which Rowe (1974) found to increasing the amount of time teachers wait after asking the class a question. Typically, she found, teachers wait no more than 1.5 seconds after asking a question before they jump in and rephrase it, or even answer it themselves. By waiting at least 3 seconds, she concluded, all the above benefits ensued.
Her research wasn’t in a language classroom, but Nunan (1991) came to similar conclusions, as did Scott Thornbury in 1996.

Of course, the questions asked need to be those which warrant giving the extra time to think. In other words, more open and higher level questions, rather than very closed or display questions. This is important, because when teachers lengthened wait time when asking lower level questions (Riley 1986), student achievement and motivation actually went down. No doubt they just thought the teacher was half asleep!

But, there is also evidence (Swift & Gooding, 1983; Tobin 1986) that when teachers started consciously giving more wait time, their own skills improved. They tend to ask fewer questions, but make them higher quality- asking for more thought and higher level thinking skills.

As well as wait time after asking a question, there have also been found to be benefits in pausing briefly after a student offers an answer. This gives them time to add any further thoughts, or even for another student to add something or contradict.

And why stop there? As Stahl (1990) points out, there are plenty of other moment in the classroom when silence can be golden. He refers to ‘think time’ rather than ‘wait time’, as he feels this better describes the purpose of such times (for both teacher and students) Stahl lists eight categories of periods of silence:

1 Post teacher question wait time (this is discussed above)
2 Within students’ response pause time (not jumping in when a student hesitates- and/or not allowing other students to do so)
3 Post students’ response wait time (allowing a few seconds when a student has finished giving an answer will enable them to add something if they want to, and allow other students the chance to consider what has been said and respond to it.)
4 and 5 Student and teacher pause time (that there should generally be a culture where it is acceptable to stop for a moment and consider what you are going to say)
6 Within teacher presentation pause time (That while a teacher is presenting some information, they stop for a short time, just to let the information sink in and give time for students to absorb it).
7 Student task completion wait time (This seems obvious, but I have a tendency to ask students to work in pairs almost automatically. Here the suggestion is to set a specific amount of time for students to work in silence, individually)
8 Impact pause time (Using a short pause to grab attention; making students wait in anticipation for the next piece of information)

Of course, especially at first, it can feel really uncomfortable to leave any silence in the classroom. In my experience, however, it is worth a bit of initial discomfort to experiment with this idea.
Alternatively (or additionally), rather than simply waiting, you could of course, give students something concrete to do with the wait time:

• Try getting students to write down an answer first. If it’s a closed question, they could write the answer on a miniwhiteboard (or piece of paper) and hold it up when they time has finished. You could then nominate a learner to explain the reasons for their answer.

• Let the students discuss the answer in pairs before nominating a student (or pair) to give their answer to the class.

• Before carrying out a feedback slot on, say, a reading comprehension task, allocate different questions to different students and ask them to spend a little time thinking about why they chose the answer that they did, so that they are ready to explain their reasoning to the class.

At different times in my teaching life, I have been recorded teaching. While it has never failed to be a gruesome experience watching (or even listening to) myself, it has to be said that there is no better way of really examining what is actually happening in your classroom. Why not try it, and see what kind of wait time you are giving and the impact of it when you do give more?

Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology. Prentice Hall

Rowe, M.B. (1974). Wait-time and rewards as instructional variables, their influence on language, logic and fate control: Parts I and II. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 11, 81-84 and 291-308.

Stahl, R. J. (1994). Using ‘Think-time’ and ‘Wait-time’ Skilfully in the Classroom. ERIC Abstracts, report number EDO-SO-94-3

Swift, J. N., & Gooding, C. T. (1983). Interaction of wait time feedback and questioning
instruction on middle school science teaching. Journal of Research in Science Teaching,
20(8), 721-730.

Thornbury, S (1996) Teachers research teacher talk. ELT J, 50 (4): 279-289.

Tobin, K. (1987) The Role of Wait Time in Higher Cognitive Level Learning. Review of Educational Research, 57 (1), 69-95.

Filed under Teaching methodology


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A previous post about the name Goliath prompted a few inquiries about my personal views on religion and the Bible. That topic is too broad for one post, but looking at a common claim regarding Christianity that “the Bible is the perfect word of God” seems to be a good place to start.

As someone who has read three different translations from front cover to back cover, I can say with little doubt anyone making this assertion is either trying to deceive those around them or has been deceived themselves. This is not a conclusion arrived at lightly or lacking “proper context”. When it comes to belief,  for me and many others, it’s not a choice. It’s better described as a compulsion based primarily on evidence and supplemented with convincing arguments. For example, I can’t decide to believe the world is flat. Even if my life (or eternal soul) depended on me accepting that claim, I would need to see very convincing evidence. When it comes to the Bible, the same applies.

For clarity, this is strictly assessing very specific passages in the Bible to highlight the most indefensible writings. The belief in a god or any personal connection an individual believes they have with a higher power is not in question. This is also not claiming that everything in the Bible is fake or made up. Most religious texts (including the Bible) contain portions are historically accurate, but certain parts being true does not mean everything in them is true. Keeping that in mind, the most efficient way to reveal the flaws is achieved by studying the text and flagging verses into four categories: cruel, plagiarized, false, and silly.

Part 1: The Cruel

The Israelites kill women and children prisoners, but spare enemy virgin girls “for themselves”.

17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

Numbers 31: 17-18

One thing that has always baffled me about religion is the obsession with virginity. After defeating the Midianites, the Israelite army takes the women, children, as prisoners. Moses (who had been speaking with God) becomes angry and demands they kill the women and children prisoners but keep the virgins “for themselves” (what exactly were they doing with those virgins?). God never stops or rebukes the cruel and callous murders committed. At no point does the Bible imply these actions were wrong or even frowned upon. As expected, there is no shortage of apologists fumbling to justify this story. After reading these “explanations” it becomes clear the only thing more depraved than the details of this story are the rationalizations given.

“Complaining about Jehovah’s order to destroy innocent children is a vain gesture when one realizes that the children were spared an even worse fate of being reared as slaves under the domination of sin. Instead of having to endure the scourge of a life of immorality and wickedness, these innocents were ushered early into the bliss of Paradise. If the male children had been allowed to mature, they most likely would have followed the pagan ways of their forefathers, and eventually would have taken vengeance on the Israelites” (Full article)

Apologetics Press

Sadly, that is not a satirical website, I encourage everyone to read the full article. They  legitimately claim killing children was a moral act because they would have lived a sinful life. None of the boys could live because they might have wanted to take revenge upon the Israelites for killing their entire nation. The logic which allows anyone to claim the truly evil act would have been allowing children to live is nothing short of sick, twisted, and outright dangerous. They also make the case that all women had to be killed because earlier (in Numbers 25) some Midianite women convinced some of the Israelites to convert their religion and worship Baal of Peor. If anyone believed that death is an appropriate punishment for apostasy/encouraging apostasy it would follow that the specific women who did this should be killed but to say this justifies killing all women? Completely absurd.

They are not alone in defending this passage

“…But this idolatry, though bad enough, was accompanied by the pagan and licentious practices of the pagan women who were seducing the people of God. This would ultimately result in the destruction of Israel as well as the destruction of the messianic line. This is why God ordered the destruction of this nation. It was pagan, participated in vile and grotesque sins, was idolatrous, and was posing a serious threat to the national identity and sanctity of Israel.” (Full article)

Matt Slick  President and Founder of the Christian Apologetic Research Ministry.

“It was in mercy that the children were taken. But God ordered their extermination, lest they would become a polluting influence to His people and His own people would be dragged down into the same moral pits that these people were living in. God used the children of Israel as His instruments of judgement to destroy an exceedingly vile group of people.” (Full article)

– Charles Ward “Chuck” Smith -Founder Calvary Chapel

Apparently, many Christians think death for encouraging apostasy and potential future sins is in line with a perfect deity. I often wonder if Christians using these bizarre justifications to defend clearly evil passages of the Bible would accept the similar defenses for various violent and cruel passages from the Quran given by Muslim apologists as proof that their text is the perfect word of an holy deity. In my experience the answer is no, but I digress.

God orders the Isrealites to kill women, children, infants and livestock

3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

1 Samuel 15:3

Here’s another scenario where women, children, and babies are killed. This time at God’s direct command. Matt Slick and Chuck Smith are back in action attempting to justify the killings

“God lawfully has the right to execute judgment upon anyone. The Bible says that all people have sinned against God and are under his righteous judgment. Therefore, their execution is not an arbitrary killing nor is it murder…When God authorizes the nation of Israel to wipe out a people, it is a lawful execution due to their rebellion and sin against God. Furthermore, such an extermination can be seen to be merciful by delivering the young into the hands of the Lord and possibly saving their souls by not giving them time to become “utterly sinful”. Additionally, further generations that would have arisen from the perverse culture, are likewise prevented from coming into existence and spreading their sin.” (Full article)

Matt Slick -President and Founder of the Christian Apologetic Research Ministry.

“History tells us how exceedingly wicked and vile the Amalekites were.
1. They were a cunning and cruel race of people.
2. Their religious and moral practices were so vile that in time they would have self destructed with venereal diseases.
3. Evil has a way of proliferating very rapidly, they could soon infect God’s children.”
– Charles Ward “Chuck” Smith – Founder Calvary Chapel movement

It’s impossible to ignore the underlying implication that people can be killed to prevent them from sinning in the future and/or causing others to sin. The idea that any rational person can claim it’s an act of mercy blows my mind. I must stress, this is not satire. These are not fringe extremists, they are respected “intellectuals” in religious circles who seem to go largely unchallenged. Even if one were to grant the absurd premise, neither of them address the killing of livestock which was certainly unwarranted as the animals lacked the necessary capacity to be guilty of the current and potential future sins the humans were accused of.

God allows slavery

God gives direct, explicit approval to own slaves coming from other nations.

44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

Leviticus 25:44-46

The last sentence protects fellow Israelites from being ruled over ruthlessly, but does not protect the foreign slaves. Many southerners in the United States including Rev Thornton Stringfellow  used this passage to show slavery was perfectly moral and permitted by God himself. Remarkably, God chose to not forbid slavery which could have been a simple “do not own another person as property” command with a follow up to ensure voluntary servitude could still be allowed. The clear “do not…” style commands were done with many things that God supposedly felt needed to be unambiguous to ensure they did not happen. Examples include cutting your hair (Lev 19:27), wearing clothing made from both wool and linen (Deut 22:11), getting tattoos (Lev 19:28), allowing a sorceress to live (Ex 22:18). This seems to be a huge oversight from a supposedly omniscient being. This passage seems to be something from the mind of a human living in the primitive biblical culture.

Defenders of this passage such as Bodie Hodge and Paul F. Taylor at Answers in Genesis blatantly lie by saying

“Verse 44 discusses slaves that they may already have from nations around them. They can be bought and sold. It doesn’t say to seek them out or have forced slavery. Hence, it is not giving an endorsement of seeking new slaves or encouraging the slave trade.” (Full Article)

Bodie Hodge and Paul F. Taylor at Answers in Genesis

One must only read the verse to see “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.” This is not past tense and the fact that they are not being commanded to actively seek out slaves does nothing to address the issue: they are permitted to buy slaves and make them property for life. Other feeble defenses given in the article require some mental gymnastics, highlighting passages in other parts of the Bible such as Exodus 21:2-6 which allows for Hebrew indentured servants to go free after 6 years if they want to (but allows their master to keep their wife and kids which is outright cruel). However this rule applies to other Israelites who voluntarily chose to become a bond-servant and not foreign slaves so the concerns with Lev 25:44-46 remain unaddressed.

An alternative attempt to justify this comes from Wayne Jackson

Hebrew law was not designed to violently disrupt the master-servant relationship of the ancient world in an abbreviated period of time….No one, who considers all the evidence, and puts the matter into a proper historical perspective, can legitimately fault the biblical record with reference to the issue of human bondage. (Full Article)

-Wayne Jackson – Christian Courier

I respectfully submit that legitimate fault can indeed be found with the way the Bible deals with slavery. The suggestion that God was trying to use incrementalism is not in line with his nature. He knew what was righteous and good, and what was evil and put into place extremely black and white laws that disrupted many of the norms at the time including not sitting on a chair after a menstruating woman sat on it (Lev 15:19-23) not eating shellfish (Lev 11:9-12), killing homosexuals (Lev 20:13), exiling men who do not cut off portions of their genitals (Gen 17:14), killing those who worked on the sabbath (Ex 31:12-15) there is not shortage of really silly acts that God had no problem commanding the Israelites to adhere to with strict punishments for disobeying. Slavery should have been at (or at least near) the top of this list.

Subjugation of women

Paul openly espoused sexist views in the new testament saying

11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

1 Timothy 2:11-14

Similar sentiment is repeated in 1 Corinthians 14: 34-38 but to ensure churches uphold this ridiculous teaching the bible states

37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored

1 Corinthians 14: 37-38

On every topic (including Biblical one) there are countless women with valuable insights. They can and should be allowed to teach everyone. To argue anything otherwise is sexist, full stop. Christian apologists insist on rationalizing this by pointing out that women can still teach children.

“But, notwithstanding this prohibition, good women may and ought to teach their children at home the principles of religion… Here are two very good reasons given for the man’s authority over the woman, and her subjection to the man, v. 13, v. 14. Adam was first formed, then Eve; she was created for the man, and not the man for the woman” (Full Article)

Matthew Henry– English minister and Bible commentator

The ability to teach children at home is irrelevant and does nothing to make this passage less sexist. Others point to Esther, Ruth, Phoebe, and other women God used in an attempt to show the verse didn’t mean all women, only the women in that particular church. This argument falls flat because the claim is not that God doesn’t speak to or use women. The issue is that Women are barred from having formal positions of leadership over men in church. None of the women in the Bible God used had an official position over men in the church.

Wayne Jackson has looked at many of the individual cases and shows why, from a Biblical perspective modern Christians can not disregard the prohibition of women from church leadership concluding

Some in the body of Christ are militantly pushing for a broader role for Christian women in preaching and leadership activities of the church. They no longer respect the authority of the Bible and feel free to adapt the church to their personal preferences or the whims of culture…Meanwhile, those who respect the authority of the Holy Scriptures will continue to honor women in harmony with the instruction of the New Testament. They will not degrade godly Christian ladies by imposing upon them roles which are not ordained of God. (Full article)

-Wayne Jackson – Christian Courier

Others use 2 Timothy 3:6-7 to claim some gullible women in the church were being deceived into wickedness and still insist the verse only applied to women in a single church. However reading the entire chapter reveals this is a prophecy of the last days, and not describing the current situation of a specific church.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.”

2 Timothy 3:1-9

The full text clearly does nothing to support the claim that the women in this church were particular problematic.

Dr. Douglas Moo wrote the most thorough examination of the passage I am aware of, taking into account the original language and other verses is of the opinion

“These restrictions are permanent, authoritative for the church in all times and places and circumstances as long as men and women are descended from Adam and Eve.” (Full article)

Dr. Douglas Moo – Author & Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College

While the article suggests that there is nothing wrong with the sexist teachings of the verses, I urge everyone who reads this to see these passages for what they are and reject the inherent sexism contained in the verses, as well as the application of the teachings in many modern places of worship.

 Heavy-handed capital punishment

God orders death as the punishment for the most innocuous actions. The full list is too long to include here, but a few examples are listed below.

It should come as no surprise that Christians defend even these passages.

“Before attempting to answer the questions raised by our text, we must begin by establishing a fundamental premise: CAPITAL CRIMES REFLECT A GIVEN SYSTEM OF VALUES… If it happens that we are troubled by what God has condemned as worthy of death, then we must recognize that our value system must be “out of sync” with God’s… The first tension raised by our text was the fact that capital punishment seems to be prescribed for offenses which are not all that serious. The solution to this dilemma is to be found in our first principle. PRINCIPLE ONE: GOD VIEWS EVERY SIN AS A CAPITAL CRIME, WORTHY OF DEATH…PRINCIPLE TWO: GOD’S LAW REFUSED TO DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN SINS AND CRIMES…PRINCIPLE THREE: THE CAPITAL CRIMES OF LEVITICUS 20 ARE VIOLATIONS OF GOD’S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL.” (Full article)

Robert “Bob” Deffinbaugh – Dallas Theological Seminary graduate. Pastor/teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel

Basically, every sin is deserving of death, so commanding death for any given sin is part of God’s perfect nature and not cruel. This raises so many questions such as why only certain sins were outlined as being worthy of death, while others (such as owning slaves) were permitted. I feel the need to once again point out this is an extremely dangerous line of reasoning and is the very defense used to justify suicide bombings and modern cruel/inhumane rituals currently being practiced in the middle east. We should all reject these passages and justifications as damaging and having no place in society yesterday, today, or ever.

Part 2: The Silly

To be clear, the following stories are also incredible cruel. They are classified as silly because the details are so over-the-top it’s difficult to have a serious conversation about the moral implications.

God sends bears to maul kids who were teasing his prophet for male pattern baldness.

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

2 Kings 2:23-24.

For some reason, Sunday school classes typically never get around to studying this particular passage. However, there are “legitimate” attempts by sites like Answers in Genesis to defend this story. The argument is that in the original language the “kids” referred to might have really been young adults, short men, or adults of low standing in society. It’s also claimed that the wording leaves open the possibility that not all of them died in the attack. This explanation fails to even address the point. Changing the kids in the story to adults does nothing to make it any less laughable. Even assuming some survived the attack, an explanation is still needed for how getting bears to maul humans is a reasonable punishment for teasing a man for losing his hair.

God sends lions to kill people who refuse to randomly maim his prophet.

35 By the word of the Lord one of the company of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me with your weapon,” but he refused. 36 So the prophet said, “Because you have not obeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.” And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him.

1 Kings 20:35-36

This cheery tale is another example indicating that God loves sending wild animals to kill people for trivial reasons.

***EDITOR’S NOTE – Lions and bears but no tigers? Lame! At least give me a liger.***

For context, the prophet was trying to disguise himself as a soldier who had been through battle and thought real battle damage would make his deception more credible. It is easy to see why a reasonable person would have reservations upon receiving a request to slash up their fellow man. Simply claiming the Lord said it was cool may not be enough. Perhaps a better approach would have involved getting the garb of a soldier or putting bloody clothing on. If real battle damage was needed, the prophet could have self-inflicted the wounds since it is unlikely the forensics of that time were advanced enough to discern self inflicted wounds from real ones. It’s difficult to take this story seriously enough to have an intellectual conversation about it. I haven’t seen any in depth articles or sermons attempting to explain this particular story, but general commentary for can be found on Bible Hub.

God kills a man who was trying to prevent the Ark of the Covenant from falling over

They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act;therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

– 2 Samuel 6:3-7

Brian Ricks from The Religious Studies Center released a full write up attempting to defend this lovely passage inspired by earlier works of Elder Neal A. Maxwell. He points out that in Exodus 25:12–14  instructions were given to transport the ark by carrying it with staves, and that in Numbers 4:15 only the Kohathites were permitted to transport it. The conclusion is that because Uzzah was not a Kohathite and was using oxen to transport the ark instead of using staves to carry it, he was in direct defiance of God, and deserved death. The problem with this justification (aside from the excessive punishment for deviating from the arbitrary rules) is that at no point is it clear that Uzzah was even aware of the previous instructions given to Aaron and Moses (long before he was even alive). Subsequent verses after Uzzah’s death show that even David (who regularly spoke to God) seemed to be unaware of these rules and was angry/confused by God’s decision to kill Uzzah. There is nothing to indicate Uzzah had any evil or rebellious intent. But none of that even matters. Having the conversation about how much anyone in the story knew shows a lack of perspective, since it assumes touching a structure or using an Ox to carry it is deserving of capital punishment.

Countless other examples exist, including when God threatened to smear poop in the face of those who disobey him (Malachi 2:3),  threatened to smite people with mildew (Deuteronomy 28:22, Amos 4:9, 1 Kings 8:37, 2 Chronicles 6:28), and in Mark 11:12-14, 20-21 Jesus got upset that a fig tree did not have fruit and cursed it, which caused the tree to whither and die (20-21) even though verse 13 explicitly states that figs were out of season!

The silly stories contained in the Bible and the laughable attempts to justify them are not in short supply. Rather than doing mental gymnastics to find the “deeper meaning” of smearing feces on people, a better response is to chuckle and move on.

Coming Soon- Part 3: The Plagiarized

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Legionella and Legionellosis - Introduction
Home > Resources > Webinars > Legionella and Legionellosis - Introduction

Legionella and Legionellosis - Introduction

20 FEBRUARY 2019

Date: Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Time: 9:00am-10:30am (Pacific); 11:00am-12:30pm (Central) 12:00pm-1:30pm (Eastern)
Instructor: Dr. Michael Berg, EMLab P&K Laboratory Director
CEU's: See below
Cost: Free

Legionella bacteria, the causative agent of legionellosis, are commonly detected in fresh water including manmade water systems such as cooling towers, hot and cold water supply systems, pools and spas. This organism poses a significant threat to human health, particularly for individuals with weakened immune system due to age or medical conditions. New guidelines and regulations in recent years have put new emphasis on water management, treatment and testing protocols to reduce or eliminate exposure to Legionella bacteria. In this presentation we will provide introductory information to better understand the causative organism of legionellosis, its ecology and pathology. We will also discuss water risk management and sampling as well as modern methods and technologies for the detection, enumeration and remediation of Legionella bacteria.

Topics include:
• ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188-2015
• CDC Toolkit
• New York legislation

• Design and execution of a sampling plan
• Laboratory analytical methods and interpretation of results

• Recommended action thresholds for contamination
• Methods and applications for eradicating Legionella contamination

Continuing Education Units (CEU's):
• ABIH: This event contains 1.5 technical contact hours and may be eligible for ABIH CM credit (see ABIH website for CM credit criteria).
• ACAC: This course is accepted for ACAC RCs
• BCSP: This event contains 1.5 technical contact hours and may be eligible for BCSP Recertification points (see BCSP website for Recertification criteria).
• BCRSP: This event contains 1.5 technical contact hours and may be eligible for BCRSP CM points (see BCRSP website for CM point criteria).
• HIABC: 1.5 MRCs

NOTE: To receive a certificate of attendance, you must attend the live webinar and complete the survey within 24 hours after webinar ends (see link in "Thank you" email sent an hour after the webinar ends). PDF certificates are emailed within 1 week after the webinar.

Looking for a past certificate? Open a quick and free account at https://emlabpk.simplecert.net.


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Are Security and Customer Experience Mutually Exclusive?

As online transactions increase in volume, so do customer expectations of a seamless online experience. As a consumer, you don’t want to jump through hoops to complete your transaction. But on the other side of the coin, as transactions increase, so does the risk of online fraud. The merchant or payment provider is required to consider the fraud risk and put in place security measures to prevent their businesses making losses.

How do vendors juggle the customer requirement for a fast and effective online transaction with the business requirement to prevent fraudulent attacks?
Customer experience and security are often considered to be at polar ends of the spectrum. Creating a smooth customer journey and also preventing 100% of fraud is difficult at the best of times. At SXSW 2014, Edward Snowden challenged startups to combine exceptional user experience with privacy at the inception of a
product stating: “The tools that exist to enable secure end-to-end encryption are not very polished. You have to choose between a service that is easy-to-use and reliable and polished, and a tool that is highly secure and impossible for the average person to use.”

According to TRUSTe 2014 report on privacy, 74% of internet users are more worried about online privacy than in 2013. Also, more than 9 in 10 people worry about their privacy online and on social networks. A Harris Interactive poll last summer found that 7 in 10 people will not download an app they do not trust. Most organisations give users notice on how they manage fraud and use consumers’ data in this context somewhere in their terms and conditions. Yet how many of us actually read these lengthy terms and conditions? We also have many recent examples where users simply are not informed by organisations as to how their information is or has been used, like the recent Facebook experiment. All this does is simply erode trust and the internet needs trust to operate and grow.

In 1980, a US organisation called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development first published their seven Privacy Guidelines. However in 1980, there was no World Wide Web, mobile phones, social networks, wearable tech or ‘big data’. These are the privacy regulations we are still supposed to be adhering to today and the notice and consent requirements of those laws have fallen way behind today’s technology.

The lack of modern guidance makes it difficult for companies, merchants and payment providers to navigate the right path of security and privacy, especially when they are trying to acquire more customers and create a seamless online experience. And it is particularly difficult across borders; a privacy process that is deemed acceptable in the US may not be in Germany or the UK. Equally, it is difficult to know if customers actually care and it seems to divide them, which is no good if you have a ubiquitous product that you want to sell to everyone. Baskets are being abandoned because of too much security or concerns about how their personal information is going to be used.

The good news is that more guidance is coming. In 2013 (updated March 2014) Microsoft and Oxford University’s Oxford Internet Institute (OII) published a report outlining recommendations for revising the 1980 OECD Guidelines. Their report makes recommendations for rethinking how consent should be managed in the internet age.

Noting that expecting customers to manage all the notice and consent duties of their digital lives in circa 2014 is unrealistic if we are using rules developed in 1980. This report paves the way for merchants to start understanding how they might manage user consent today with the new technologies that are available. This is going to be helpful for many companies, because more information about what their customers like and do not like enables them to create better-targeted and more compelling products. Without it could mean they find it harder to create a successful ongoing relationship with their customers.

So, does the customer experience and security requirements
need to be mutually exclusive?
The answer is no, but gone are the days when one or two customer on-boarding journeys would suffice. User journeys will need to become more sophisticated, taking advantage of new technologies that enable security but
only collect the proportionate amount of customer data to do so. These more sophisticated journeys will dynamically re-route customers based on risk in real-time. Merchant and payment providers will need to start thinking about putting their customers at the heart of their product development and test how real customers move through their transaction journey. Too often the product is tested but the customer journey is created in a vacuum without real customer input.

In the future, organisations will need to better engage and educate their customers on the personal data they need to complete a transaction, how they use this data and why. This transparency should lead to less abandoned baskets and more fulfilled orders. How companies embrace this customer empowerment will be key in the critical balance of security, privacy, user trust and the holy grail of customer experience in the future.


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I want it to take a second to say hello, and welcome you to our Empirico family.
I know you're going to LOVE your products, and recommend Empirico to your friends!.

Since we announced our Grand Opening on social media, our sales have been CRAZY...  Thank YOU!

Here's exactly what I wanted to remind you of:
First, you will see a charge from Empirico on your credit card statement

Second, Please check your inbox for Emails--if we send you anything other than your order confirmations and tracking/delivery updates--it's going to be a BIG opportunity you won't want to miss!

We just sent you your order confirmation via email.  Please check and make sure you received it.  If you don't see your order confirmation email within the next 30 minutes, and please check your Spam Folder.  If it is not there, please e-mail us at:

Your order will be processed within 2-4 business days
and we will email you a shipping receipt as soon as it leaves our warehouse to let you know, its on the way!

Thanks again!

               From all of us here at Empirico!


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Microbial Makeover's LAB-Work:Lactofermentation in Practice, 1 Norby Road, Saturday, 27. July 2019

This 3-hour, fully hands-on workshop will teach you all you need to know about lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and how to use them to make delicious, probiotic, lactofermented dishes. Guided by our expert Tasha Alison, you’ll learn—and do—every step in the process of making two scrumptious dishes: kimchi and lactofermented seasonal vegetables. As if that weren’t enough, you’ll also get to take them home with you! During the workshop, Dr. Steve Fountain will also provide insight into the science behind lactofermentation, and its place in the Microbial Makeover’s SEED Strategy.
For more information about Microbial Makeover workshops, visit microbialmakeover.com
Change your microbes * Change your life

Saturday, 27. July 2019, 1 Norby Road, Microbial Makeover's LAB-Work:Lactofermentation in Practice

Making Great Presentations

Making Great Presentations

Monday 09. March 2020
The Joy of Stats

The Joy of Stats

Monday 25. February 2019
The Joy of Stats
Tuesday 26. February 2019
The Joy of Stats
Thursday 28. February 2019
Football Carnival for Beginners
Saturday 23. March 2019
Distilled Masterclass - Beefeater
Thursday 21. March 2019
Distilled Masterclass - Tanqueray
Thursday 11. April 2019
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Study Day: Pharmacological Approaches to Symptom Relief in Palliative Care, North Devon Hospice, Thursday, 28. February 2019

This course aims to facilitate and enhance the personal and professional development of nurses and allied health professionals across all care settings engaged in palliative care. Throughout the day we will explore evidence-based practice of the management of complex symptoms in advanced disease. Participants will acquire advanced holistic assessment skills relevant to palliative care.
To be able to assess and manage symptoms for people with palliative needs
Learning Outcomes
To be able to perform a holistic assessmentTo be able to identify different types of painTo understand different pharmacological approaches to:

Pain management

Nausea and vomiting

To know how and when to refer to specialist services.
Entry requirements: Suitable for registered healthcare : Registration from 9.15 am. Course runs 9.30 am – 4 pmDates: Thursday 28th February 2019, Thursday 25th April 2019 and Thursday 24th October 2019.
Booking terms and conditions can be found on our website, please familiarise yourselves with these before reserving your place on this Study Day session.
How can I contact the organiser with any questions? Email: education@
Do I have to bring my printed ticket to the event? No
Is it ok if the name on my ticket or registration doesn't match the person who attends? Yes
What if I want to cancel?  If you wish to cancel your booking you will need to give 5 working days notice, as per our booking terms and conditions. Failure to give 5 working days notice or non-attendance will incur a £50 fee per person to cover administration costs, unfortunately as we are a charity this fee is non-negotiable.
Is my registration fee or ticket transferrable? You can transfer your ticket to another person or to another event, please see full terms and conditions on our website.

Thursday, 28. February 2019, North Devon Hospice, Study Day: Pharmacological Approaches to Symptom Relief in Palliative Care

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jadedynasty - Game news

Maintenance on January 15

a month ago

On January 15 all Jade Dynasty Mobile servers will go offline for 2 hours. Maintenance will start at 6:30 a.m. and will approximately finish at 8:30 a.m. GMT (1:30 - 3:30 a.m. NY). Please, quit the game and don't try to log in during this time.

We apologize for any inconveniences.

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Dhaka, Sunday, 17 February 2019
Bangla Insider

Why Suborna got nomination?

Published on : 10 February 2019, 12:50 PM
Why Suborna got nomination?

The event happened in 1980. Ziaur Rahman’s BNP was in power. A drama on our Great Liberation War was scheduled to be made for Bangladesh Television. The producer of the drama was late Zia Ansari. Suborna Mustafa was called for acting in the drama. It is not necessary to mention how popular she was at that time. In one word it can be said, she was ruling the entertainment industry. She was a superstar then. Another notable actor late Humayun Faridi was determined to share the screen with her. He was also called for the meeting organized over the drama. The storyline was created based on our Liberation War. Suborna Mustafa was supposed to play the loving role for a freedom fighter. She was directed to deliver a dialogue to her lover, "Zia is our leader. He ordered us to fight for the country. You should join the war and free our country." But Suborna Mustafa refused to deliver that dialogue. She clearly stated to the producer, "Ziaur Rahman was never our leader. Suborna Mustafa will never act in such a drama that distorts our history." She instantly left the shooting area.

She is always like that. If she doesn`t like the script, she directly declines it without any hesitation. She never compromises with good works. She has such infamy reputation.

The next event took place in 1984. Dictator Ershad was in power. Bangladesh Television was scheduled to air a drama on Victory Day. Barkatullah was the producer. Mustafa was scheduled to share the screen with Raisul Islam Asad. In a dialogue, they were supposed to say `Bangladesh Zindabad`. When she noticed it, she refused to act in the play without any hesitation. She directly said, "Call me when you get that courage to direct a play on Liberation War that would chant Joy Bangla."

Prime Minister came to know about these incidents somehow. Suborna Mustafa has never been active for Awami League’s politics. But yet she has possessed a clear stand over Bangabandhu and our Great Liberation War. And the Prime Minister knows it well. The PM has utmost respect to those people who have firm position over ideology even if they are not involved with politics directly.

When the question of Suborna Mustafa`s involvement in Awami League was questioned after the announcement of her name yesterday (Saturday), the PM said, "It is not necessary to do Awami League’s politics." She gave examples citing above incidents and said, "I always evaluate those who fight against the distortion of the history."

BanglaInsider/ SM


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Best Western Etoile Residence Imperiale Hotel Paris

Best Western Etoile Residence Imperiale Hotel Paris
Between the business distric of LA DEFENSE and CHAMPS-ELYSEES, in front of the convention center gateway MAILLOT come and discover the hotel BEST WESTERN RESIDENCE IMPERIALE. Entirely air-conditioned this hotel with its 37 rooms offers you quality services.

155 avenue de Malakoff 75116 PARIS
from ROISSY CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT take the motorway A1 towards PARIS city center then take the peripherique ouest and after 8 miles get out at PORTE MAILLOT. Turn around the big round about first right towards TROCADERO into the AVENUE MALAKOFF
A private car park at cost is available underneath the convention center (100 meters).
free under 12 years when sharing parent's room. Must be requested upon booking.

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