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5 tips to attract startup funding

Entrepreneurs pitching for investments should work on key areas such as showcasing quality of team, having clear exit plan for investors, and be open to suggestions and adapting business plans, industry players say.

Startups need to be able to effectively communicate their strengths and immediate execution plans in order to maximize their chances of securing funding for their ideas, market watchers note.

This is especially timely advice given the upturn in investor confidence would result in more startups entering the market, noted Peter Tan, CEO of Double Arrow Ventures. Citing the latest the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index, he noted that confidence has rebounded from its slide over the past three quarters of 2011 to hit its highest point in more than a year. The index measures the confidence level of venture capitalists on a quarterly basis regarding the venture environment in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next 6 to 18 months.

With that in mind, industry players provided ZDNet Asia with their top tips on how startups can effectively pitch their businesses for funding.

1. Showcase conviction, quality of team
Entrepreneurs should prepare to highlight the strengths of the team members, because this is the most important consideration for angel investors, according to Michiel Wind, CEO of Crystal Horse Investments.

He pointed out that one of the key areas startups have to emphasize on is to show they had the right work and education background, and that they are fully committed to the project. "[The company will also have to be] knowledgeable, passionate regarding their business, focused, and available fulltime," he added.

One "no-no" for his investment firm is founders allocating high wages for themselves. "Founders have a big chunk of equity and should keep the monthly burn-rate low," Wind stated.

2. Attention-grabbing elevator pitch
A startup should have an attention-grabbing elevator pitch, noted Desai Arcot Narasimhalu, director of the institute of innovation and entrepreneurship at Singapore Management University (SMU). "This should be a concise description of the innovation or company in 15 words, preferably in 10," he explained.

Willson Cuaca, co-founder and managing partner at venture capital firm East Ventures, added that for pitching, companies should "just explain the most important aspect of their product in a single line".

The SMU director also called on entrepreneurs to be prepared to back up their elevator pitch with the information that potential investors might ask them. These could include questions on the market size, how it plans to scale up, profit margins, and ideas to handle future competition.

"Convince the investor why [your project] is worthy of his investment vis-a-vis the other proposals he may be considering," said Narasimhalu.

Cuaca added that some startups did not think their plans through. "Some of the founders have a big vision, and they explain too much of their long-term vision instead of the immediate execution plan," he said.

3. Clearly-articulated exit strategy
Startups will also need to be able to illustrate how and when investors can get their money back as a means to attract funding, pointed out Johnathan Lee, vice president of commercialization and ventures at Cradle Fund.

"A lot of startups just think of doing an initial public offering (IPO) as a way to exit. Realistically in my experience, that is not easy, and only about 1 out of 20 companies can achieve that," he said.

He added it would be more feasible for companies to position themselves as acquisition targets.

4. Be open to investors' suggestions
Startups should also be open to changes to their business models and accept that their ideas are not always perfect. "You need to be confident, but not arrogant," said Narasimhalu.

He added that he had encountered many startup founders in the past who were overly defensive and treated investors as enemies or vultures.

"Do not refute or belittle suggestions from a potential investor. He is investing his money into your company and whatever he says is in the interest of your company," the SMU director advised.

5. Research valuation and timing
A realistic valuation will be important as potential investors may lose interest if offered an unreasonable price, Cradle Fund's Lee advised.

Agreeing, Narashimalu noted that startups can consider several methods to evaluate a company's worth, such as value by proxy or using a price-to-earnings ratio.

He added that timing was also important, not only in terms of judging investor sentiment but also the company's own maturity. "Startups should consider other options such as going for debt in return for capital if they have collateral to raise the debt."

"It is wise to use either free government grants or some early capital from friends and family before transitioning into equity for capital. It is unwise to go for equity for capital too early, given that they would not have built up sufficient valuation of their company," Narasimhalu said.

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Government keeps web-monitoring plan alive

The coalition intends to pursue plans to track web-communications data and hand it over to security agencies, despite pre-election promises to cut back on surveillance

The coalition looks likely to forge ahead with the previous government's plans to intercept web communications, despite pre-election pledges from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to reduce surveillance of citizens.

A passage in the newly released Strategic Defence Security Review (SDSR) outlined a plan to monitor messages, with reference to new technology.

The government will "introduce a programme to preserve the ability of the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to obtain communication data and to intercept communications within the appropriate legal framework. This programme is required to keep up with changing technology and to maintain capabilities that are vital to the work these agencies do to protect the public", it said in the security review, published on Tuesday.

Specific details of the plans are not immediately available, a Home Office spokeswoman told ZDNet UK on Thursday. She declined to say whether the government planned to monitor all web communications.

"The premise is similar [to the previous government's plans]," she said. "[The SDSR indicates] an intent to take forward a programme of work."

The previous Labour government formulated a plan to have ISPs, social-networking sites and other communications service providers collect traffic data on all web communications under the Interception Modernisation Programme. The scheme aimed to gather information on the sender, recipient, timing and location of every email and other message sent via the web. The data, harvested using deep-packet inspection, was to be stored in a manner to allow law enforcement and the intelligence services to track any individual and to see with whom they were communicating and when.

In January, the Home Office announced that it had fused two of its teams. One was to look at traditional interception such as phone tapping, and the other was to look at the interception of new technologies. The group is called the Communications Capabilities Directorate (CCD).

The SDSR shows that the CCD is being provided with resources, with the level of funding to be announced in the future, the Home Office spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Before the election in May, Conservative Party policy was to reduce government surveillance. In a position paper written in September 2009, called Reversing the rise of the surveillance state, then-shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve pledged to protect personal privacy.

Grieve said in the paper that an incoming Conservative government would set about "immediately submitting the Home Office's plans for the retention of — and access to — communications data to the Information Commissioner for pre-legislative scrutiny".

In September 2009, the Liberal Democrats said that the Conservatives' plans to cut back on surveillance of citizens were not stringent enough.

The Information Commissioner has not been consulted on any interception plans since the coalition government took power in May, according to a spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The commissioner, Christopher Graham, is concerned that such plans may be disproportionate, he said.

"The Commissioner's... key concern is whether the case has been made for the project," said the spokesman for the UK privacy watchdog. "On the face of it, the proposal seems disproportionate when any perceived benefits that might be gained from retaining this data are set against the risks to privacy involved. He looks forward to meeting with officials at the Home Office to establish whether or not his concerns have been addressed."

Security and forensics expert Peter Sommer said that privacy is extremely difficult to maintain when capturing web communications.

"With analogue communications, you can separate out data [ie. who is speaking to whom] from intercept content," said Sommer. "If you start to capture a multiplicity of web protocols, you have to capture the whole stream before you separate out the details you are entitled to collect."

Police and the intelligence agencies have a system of self-authorisation when it comes to collecting communications-traffic data. However, they need to get authorisation from the Home Secretary if they want to look at the actual content of a communication.

One of the problems with intercepting web protocols is that you cannot tell what is traffic data and what is content before it is intercepted, said Sommer, which leads to the danger of self-authorisation by law enforcement agencies.

Government web-interception plans were likely to revolve around one of two scenarios, said Sommer, who is an observer at Eurim and on the advisory council for the Foundation for Information Policy Research think tank. In the first scenario, communications service providers could capture all traffic from all customers and hold it for a minimum of six months, against receiving a request from law enforcement. In the second scenario, data could be collected by the providers, siphoned off to a database run by GCHQ, and passed out to law enforcement according to specification.

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Take a letter, Siri. Can my iPad handle long-form dictation?

The iPhone has long been pretty good at interpreting short text messages dictated into the microphone, but a recent accident forced this writer to revisit long-form voice dictation on iOS.

Voice dictation, the technology that listens for words spoken into a microphone to interpret them into digital text, tends to yield mixed results -- producing flawless text one time and then ridiculous output the next. It's hard for mobile devices to be taken seriously when it comes to dictated entry.

Siri took on the ability to convert the spoken word a while back, and while it's been moderately effective for the short entries that are typical of text messages, it has delivered inconsistent results with long dictation from the beginning. For accuracy, longer dictated entries need to be analyzed in context with the words around them -- and that effort can quickly fall apart.

Having tested voice input on many mobile platforms over the years, I had no intention of re-testing Siri's version; but a broken arm changed my resolve. Going from prolific writer to one-handed wordsmith left me with no option but to seriously test voice input on the iPad Pro, my primary work system. I needed to see whether Siri's voice input technology had improved sufficiently to make it a viable option for me.

In a word -- almost.

Integrating voice input into Siri makes it available system wide, and that's handy. Whether dictating search terms, text messages, or longer text, the ability is always at hand. System apps can use voice dictation by clicking the microphone icon in the text entry box. The same icon can be tapped on the onscreen keyboard.

Once the Siri audio waveform appears, the system is listening for voice input to interpret. It will continue to listen for speech until either hitting the Done button or a short pause in speech occurs.

Siri tries to show the real-time interpretation but often lags behind the spoken word. Text eventually appears after input is stopped. In practice Siri does a better job interpreting short passages like text messages. I refer to this type of dictation as "fractional context" as Siri doesn't get lost trying to piece together long passages. I typically input several sentences in a pass to aid in my writing process.

Siri especially does a good job with personal names, although it sometimes misses some that it has routinely gotten right in the past.

For my intended use of dictating long-form writing I find accuracy to vary depending on ambient background noise. Siri often confuses the background noise with my dictation, and makes a mess with the interpretation when it happens. Training Siri to better handle my voice doesn't seem to help this. Fortunately, major errors like this are easy to spot in editing, although a lot of work to fix.

Dictating longer entries requires a complex methodology to help Siri make the best of it. This involves dictating text much like you'd read it from another source. Slow and steady is the key, devoid of pauses that stop the inter-operation. My method of writing doesn't work this way and thus the accuracy is consistently around 80 to 90 percent. This is better than when I first tested Siri dictation a while back, but not as good as touch typing,

But I am finding it to be an improvement over one-handed typing, so it's a partial success.

See also:

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How the 80/20 Diet Can Help Improve Your Health

How the 80/20 Diet Can Help Improve Your Health

As you begin your adventure into nutrition, whether you are simply looking to clean up your day to day intake or start an official diet plan for weight loss, one concept that you need to know about is the 80/20 rule.

While not everyone needs to use this to be successful, many people find it definitely helps make the process of healthy eating less stressful and more enjoyable.

Let’s go over what you need to know about the 80/20 rule.

What Is The 80/20 Rule?

The 80/20 rule basically states that you should be ‘on’ the plan around 80% of the time, which then allows you time to have freedom and flexibility the other 20% of the time.

Most people when they first start out on a healthy eating plan expect themselves to be 100% healthy 24/7.

Sadly, this only leads to failure, as no one can be perfect no matter how much they try. The 80/20 rule takes this into account and ensures that you don’t have to.

The Benefits Of Using The 80/20 Rule

So how does this benefit you?

First, it helps keep you more psychologically sane. If you expect perfection from yourself, this is placing a high level of stress on you at all times, which could lead to you cracking and going on an all out binge. By having 20% of the time when you may fall off the plan – and having that be your plan, this puts your mind at ease entirely.

Second, it also helps give you some psychological relief from food cravings. If you are craving a cinnamon bun for instance, that’s fine – eat it during your 20% time and then stick with the diet the rest of the time. By using this rule, food is never off limits entirely. It’s only off limits until later. This can really go a long way towards making your diet more manageable.

Another way in which the 80/20 rule helps out is by improving your relationship with food. When some people put a whole list of food items entirely off limits, labeling them as ‘bad’ foods, this can start a sort of obsessive, unhealthy frame of mind where you could be putting yourself at risk for an eating disorder of sorts.

By allowing the less than healthy foods in your plan 20% of the time, you will come to see that you won’t gain all the weight you lost back by indulging slightly, which can help keep you more mentally at peace with the overall notion of eating and what it entails. Sometimes dieters who are too strict start to get unrealistic in what they think will happen if they do eat a slice of cake or pizza. It’s not the end of the world!

Finally, using the 80/20 rule can actually help speed up your weight loss. This is because cheating on your diet from time to time can actually be a good thing and help boost your metabolic rate, ensuring optimal progress.

Sometimes when people stick with a very low calorie diet plan for far too long, this results in their metabolic rate becoming very slow. That in turn brings weight loss to a screeching halt.

By having those high calorie foods now and then, you will shock your body, sending your metabolic rate soaring and speeding up the overall rate of fat burning taking place.

So as you can see, using the 80/20 rule comes with many advantages – too many to pass up.

Be Honest!

Now, while this all sounds great, make sure that you are honest with yourself about the 80/20 divide. Some people will start to relax a little too much and soon 80/20 becomes more like 70/30 or even 60/40.

If this starts to happen, you will find that you are no longer seeing results on your plan as it’s simply too much time spent off your diet plan. Keep yourself accountable. The Weight Tracker Fitness Journal is a great tool to help you document your food and/or weight loss journey! This way, you can better monitor exactly what you are doing and ensure that you are on track to maximum success.


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201, Stafford, 9, Handin Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore - 560042

Closed Now - 10:30 AM To 07:30 PM

A dream wedding experience starts with the perfect wedding gown. Look and feel beautifully bridal with an elegant and affordable wedding dress from our collection of over 100 wedding gowns. Graceful bridesmaid dresses always complement the bride's wedding gown, wedding theme and décor. The bride, attendants and guests will delight in the selection. Add those finishing touches by choosing an accessory to complete your look. Choose from our range of veils, tiaras, flower pieces, hair pins, brooches and more.

Price Range

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Why The Bridal

  • Have a bridal gown tailored just for you and add some traditional glamour with matching viel, sleeves and train or simply give your gown a look that's uniquely you.
  • Also Specializes in Cocktail Dresses, Gloves, Veils, Tiaras, Bouquets etc.

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June 15, 2016 - 18:49
Drupal Development

Drupal E-Commerce Solutions

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Have a secure, flexible and mobile friendly
ecommerce site up and running in two weeks.

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We provide a wide range of Drupal services starting
from Consulting to Support and Maintenance.
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services and web development.

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E-commerce with Drupal Commerce

Drupal Commerce is a Commerce Platform with a powerful WCM backend

Magento Vs Drupal Commerce

An e-commerce site requires detailed product description, reviews and comparisons. It is imperative that the content is revamped on a regular basis, to retain interest and customer loyalty. This can be easily incorporated by the site owner who opts for a Drupal based website.

Content Strategy Diverse content with deep relationships, taxonomies and categories Basic site content or blog for catalog/ product content
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Platform functionality Open, flexible feature set and custom application foundation Feature set with sole focus on commerce
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Create brand awareness of your products using social media integration across various media portals. Zyxware helps you to implement consistent marketing strategies for your ecommerce site. Deliver a great digital experience to customers using social, mobile, analytic and cloud hosting services.

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With Drupal 8’s multilingual capability, a wider audience can be reached. Drupal has evolved into a powerful content management platform. One of its attractive and compelling feature is multilinguality. With Drupal 8, multilingual capability is taken to the next level.

Retain your site visitors by segmenting and offering products that interest target clients using Acquia Lift integration. Acquia Lift is completely automated, based on unique machine learning algorithms that calculate the right digital experience to deliver to each user.

Drupal E-commerce Solutions and More

With a focus on developing, promoting and establishing your e-commerce business, we build scalable and secure e-commerce solutions that leverage powerful Drupal CMS.

Front-end development, Mobile App Development, Mobile Site Development, Multisite Installations, Performance Tuning and Optimization, Security Reviews, Site building, Support, Theming and Upgrades.

Digital Marketing

We provide SEO optimization, site audits and reviews and make sure your business has excellent online presence.

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Replace outdated UberCart module with dynamic, feature rich Drupal Commerce module for e-commerce sites. Drupal Commerce provides a more user friendly experience to visitors and site administrators of ecommerce websites.

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Drupal Commerce is built from the ground up to integrate with Drupal Core while Magento is a standalone e-commerce platform that will need a decent CMS to build on. The problem with integrating two different platforms like Magento does, is that any extension to this will not be as functional without a lot of additional work. The flexibility and security offered by Drupal Commerce is unmatchable.

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One of the compelling reasons for Drupal’s popularity as a CMS for web development is that it is open source. There are no licensing cost and no dependency on proprietary organisations. A huge contributing community of Drupal developers add to the exponential growth of the software and its development.

Using Drupal, we can build highly secure web applications. For e-commerce sites, payment transactions can be further secured using third party integrations like Riskified.

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 Sr. Java Developer - SO# 2454126
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Sr. Java Developer - SO# 2454126
Ref No.: 17-26008
Location: Beaverton, Oregon
Job Title: Sr. Java Developer - SO# 2454126

Description/Comment: Must Have Skills:
• Strong experience in J2EE, RESTful Web services
• Should have good knowledge on AWS

Job Roles / Responsibilities:
• Should have practical experience in managing and leading application reliability practices for consumer facing web and mobile experiences
• Ability to work across teams to continuously analyze system performance in production, troubleshoot consumer reported issues, and proactively identify areas in need of optimization
• Must have experience with developing and driving real time monitoring solutions that provide visibility into site health and key performance indicators
• Should have good understanding of IT service management (Incident, Problem, Change and Knowledge management
• Ability to work within a technical team of support engineers through day to day operations and critical incidents
• Should have prior experience with agile methodologies, performance engineering and automation tools
• Highly confident and capable in reporting and communicating high value metrics to leadership. Deep understanding of the business landscape and how site reliability influences our consumers.
• Minimum 1-3 years’ technical experience working with consumer facing (e-commerce) software applications in the Cloud using AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud
• Basic understanding of DNS, Networking, Virtualization, Linux, Windows
• Basic understanding of most of the following: Service Now, Jira, Jenkins, Splunk, New Relic, EM7
• Familiarity with some of the following coding languages: Java, Node.js, JavaScript, Scala, Python, Go
• Background with ITIL or Lean a plus


text:
The Gangster

Based on the novel Low Company. One of the most peculiar film noirs of the 1940s stars Barry Sullivan as a small-time hood who suffers a mental breakdown as his big plans begin to crumble. Beautiful Belita is the slumming society girlfriend who only fuels his paranoia.
A wide selection of free online movies are available on Movies123 . You can watch movies online for free without Registration.


text:
War Dragons Enters Second Phase of Global Growth with Android Launch and National TV Campaign

Partners with J.J. Sedelmaier and Wexley School for Girls

SAN FRANCISCO — (BUSINESS WIRE) — April 14, 2016 — Pocket Gems is announcing today that its top-grossing mobile game War Dragons is now available on Android and is launching a national TV commercial with renowned animator J.J. Sedelmaier (Beavis and Butt-head, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Saturday TV Funhouse on Saturday Night Live). These things combined mark the start of War Dragons’ second phase of growth, which will significantly increase the game’s global player base.

War Dragons has been steadily climbing Apple’s top-grossing charts since launching last April. The game has also built an incredible community in its first year with more than 183 million battles fought and 13 million dragons bred. With the Android launch, War Dragons will have cross-platform capabilities, allowing players to form alliances or attack anyone, whether they’re on iOS or Android.

“War Dragons’ first year was all about refining the game to make it as kickass as possible. We’ve drastically improved everything from the art to the multiplayer components, and it really shows,” said Harlan Crystal, Pocket Gems’ founder and product lead on War Dragons. “As we enter our next phase of growth, we wanted something different for our first big TV spot and we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”

The commercial, titled Dragon Days, takes viewers back to a simpler time when dragons and humans co-existed peacefully… and then burns it all to the ground. The tongue-in-cheek spot seamlessly contrasts the cheesy morning cartoon style of the ‘90s with War Dragons’ rich 3D graphics. Renowned animator, J.J. Sedelmaier, was chosen as the project’s creative director due to his sharp sense of humor and visionary comedic work. The commercial will begin airing nationally this month.

"Who wouldn't jump at the chance to contrast the children's programming we all grew up watching with the intensity of the gaming realm?! On top of that, this was a wonderful chance to combine two animation techniques that have been fighting each other for decades anyway," said Sedelmaier.

The creative agency, Wexley School for Girls, brought its considerable talent to the commercial with Ian Cohen serving as chief creative director. For the animation and production duties, acclaimed creative studio Fellow LA was brought onto the project. Tying it all together thematically, the commercial’s distinctive song was penned by GRAMMY Award winners Adam Schlesinger and Steven Gold.

War Dragons is now available in the Google Play store here.

“Since War Dragons launched, our community has been clamoring for an Android version, so it was really important that we got it right,” said Priyanka Jindal who oversaw the game’s Android expansion. “We’re really happy with the results and are very excited to make this game available to many more people around the world.”

About War Dragons:

Launched in April 2015 for iOS devices, War Dragons is a 3D Real-Time Strategy game with weekly tournaments, hundreds of dragons to collect and real-time PVP. Pocket Gems built War Dragons on its proprietary Mantis Engine, which contains full native support for 3D graphics with a small memory footprint optimized for mobile devices. It was designed specifically to handle the connectivity issues generally associated with mobile networks while still having true synchronous multiplayer. Pocket Gems built the Mantis Engine to ensure that War Dragons could achieve a high level of visual fidelity and the smooth, cross-platform online performance gamers demand.

About Pocket Gems:

Founded in 2009, Pocket Gems is a leading developer of original mobile games and interactive entertainment. As one of the pioneers in games for smartphones, Pocket Gems’ titles have been downloaded more than 200 million times across iOS and Android. The Pocket Gems team has grown to 200 people based in San Francisco. To learn more about War Dragons, visit www.wardragons.com.

Pocket Gems
Kenny Johnston, 602-999-1890
PR & Communications
Email Contact

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In Malaysia, services are provided by Deloitte Malaysia and its affiliates.

We have a long tradition of excellence stretching back to 1968 with the founding of KassimChan & Co. Today, Deloitte Malaysia has over 1,800 professionals, including more than 130 Partners and Directors, located in 8 offices across the country.

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Manchester Metropolitan University

Research Centres

Through our wide range of research centres, we bring together staff, students and real world partners to make sense of the key challenges facing contemporary business and law.

By bringing together a treasure trove of resource in a creative environment, we seek to spark innovation in teaching, research and knowledge exchange that can really make a difference.

Our research centres are action-orientated and entrepreneurial as well as scholarly. They are passionate about working with a wide range of stakeholders to build a useful evidence base and facilitating practitioners to use that evidence to build a sustainable future.


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South Dakota: July 18 to July 30, 2016

Custer State Park is fabulous!

When we started planning out our trip to South Dakota, we asked people who had been there what would be worth seeing. Everyone would enthusiastically start listing the multiple things to do. They were not kidding – there are so many attractions that are absolutely breathtaking and have a rich history behind them. We spent most of our time in the southwest part of the state, but managed to see a few additional things as we hightailed it back east to be on time for a family wedding.

It took us most of the day to drive from Medora, North Dakota down to  Chris’ Campground in Spearfish, South Dakota. The sites were a bit close together but the location was great and there was two swimming pools. The park was well taken care of and I thoroughly enjoyed the little petting farm – especially the baby goats!

Spearfish was a great base since it was near several of the places we wanted to see.

Town of Deadwood

We took a day trip to Deadwood, which originally started as a mining town in 1876 after the U.S. expedition led by George Armstrong Custer gold confirmed that gold was in the Black Hills. (It’s a whole story in itself about how settlers with gold fever broke the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie and came in droves, which along with the railroad and decline of bison, led to the Native American’s loss of land and way of life.) Early on the city was practically destroyed by a couple of fires and a flood. Each time the Jewish community led the effort to rebuild the town. At one point, Main Street’s level was raised but a few of the lower buildings are left as seen by the photo on the upper left. At the end of Main Street there was once a Chinatown only some wall ruins of it remain.

I was sort of disappointed with Deadwood. I guess I expected sort of preserved, historic “old town”,  while some of the old buildings remain, most of them are used as casinos and  tourist shops. We did see some attractions in Deadwood that were worth the time we spent there.

Adams Museum

The Adams Museum was full of lots of artifacts and educated us on the history of the Deadwood. The photo above left, shows the shoes of one of the towns’s prostitutes. They really don’t look too different than what ladies wear today.

Deadwood Cemetery

Mount Moriah Cemetery is up on a hill that overlooks Deadwood. It is the final resting place of  Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.  Wild Bill was shot in the bank while playing cards in one of the Saloons in town. Years later, Calamity Jane asked to be buried left to him when she died.

Broken Boot Mine

Broken Boot Mine is at the edge of Deadwood. A very enthusiastic guide (a local high school student who’s favorite class is speech) gave us an interesting tour and then we got to pan for gold. We found a few itty bitty specks.

Aladin Wyoming

We took another day jaunt into Wyoming to see Devil’s Tower  and on the way stopped in the town of Aladdin. It happens to be for sale for only a million and a half dollars. From the sign that was by the door, it looks like someone would get a lot for their money. The stuff for sale in the store was a hoot and there was lots of biker apparel as well.

Devils Tower

Devils Tower in Wyoming was amazing! It’s made of volcanic rock that was left standing after the sandstone around it wore away. We took the trail  around it and admired the colorful Native American prayer offerings and saw some wild life as well.

Restaurant Devils Tower

We ate lunch at Trip Advisor’s #1 out of five restaurants in the area, Devils Tower View Restaurant.  It’s broasted chicken was pretty good, but I liked the bearalope and jackalope mountings on the wall even better!

High Plains Museum

The High Plains Western Heritage Center is located right in Spearfish. It was crammed full of  items that explained the culture and history of the area. The view out the window lets visitors see Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana all at the same time. I especially loved the original Spearfish to Deadwood stagecoach. Apparently a guy riding shot gun on the coach got killed when it was robbed.

Sturgis, the location of the famous motorcycle rally that happens every August, is just a short drive away from Spearfish. It’s a tiny little town but thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts descend on it during the event.

Just outside of Sturgis is Fort Meade. Today there is a VA hospital on the grounds but it was built in 1878 to protect mining towns like Deadwood. It is the place where the few survivors of the 7th Calvary straggled back after the Custer’s defeat at Little Big Horn. There is a small museum there that shares several of the fort’s stories. One tale that grabbed my attention was the story of Marcus Reno. The son of  fort commander Samuel Sturgis, was killed with Custer. He had a huge dislike for Reno who never was able to come to Custer aid. Sturgis accused Reno of peeking through the window at his daughter and things did not go well from there…

We left Spearfish and moved to Crooked Creek Resort and RV Park which is between Hill City and Custer so we would be closer to some other things we wanted to see. It was a great location, but once again, the sites were pretty tight. We did enjoy that the George S. Mickelson Trail ran along the back of the campground. We walked and biked on it several times during our stay.

Custer State Park

We loved beautiful Custer State Park.

Needles Highway

We drove along the Needles Highway which is in the park and were awed by the rock formations.

The second scenic drive the park offers is the Wild Life Loop.  We were not disappointed because we saw lots of critters such as this pronghorn and…

A bunch of buffalo and…

Cute little prairie dogs and …

Wild mules!

Mt. Rushmore

We spent a day wandering around Mount Rushmore. There is a museum and walks around the monument and to out buildings. I thought it was interesting that is was conceived by local politicians as a way to drive tourism to the area. The first idea was to have the faces of heroes of the American West—Red Cloud, Lewis & Clark, and Buffalo Bill Cody carved in the mountain, but sculptor Gutzon Borglum wanted to pick the faces of his favorite presidents. Needless to say, he got the final say.

The Crazy Horse Memorial was really impressive. It’s totally funded by private donations. In the 1940’s, Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota chief asked sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski if he would consider carving a mountain with Crazy Horse’s image to show the world that Native American’s also had heroes. Ziolkowski and his family ended up devoting their lives to the project which has never been finished.

crazy horse building

Family members continue to run the museum and complex which aims to protect and preserve Native American culture.

Jewel Cave Hike

Jewel Cave is located a few miles outside of Custer.  We tried for two consecutive days to take a cave tour, but by the time we got there, the tickets were sold out.  We ended up taking a couple of trails instead. The “Walk on the Roof Trail” was only 1/4 mile long.  The “Canyons Trail” was 3 1/2 miles and that much more challenging. It took us through Lithograph Canyon which was very pretty, but then we got to Hell Canyon. Sadly, the forest in still trying to come back from a devastating forest fire that burned over 83,000 acres in 2000.

Hill City Train

On the last day we were in Hill City we took the 1880’s Train to Keystone and then back again. It took about an hour each way and the commentary and scenery were great.

On the way back east, we stopped a few times to see some tourist sights we felt we couldn’t miss.

Wall Drug

After seeing about a hundred signs advertising it, there was no way that we couldn’t stop at Wall Drug. This family drug store started in 1931 has grown to be one of the most visited tourist spots ever. It was as campy as we had heard it was, but a lot of fun to see. It also had the best bison burger I ate while in either North or South Dakota.

Wall has something else besides their famous store – the National Grasslands Visitors Center. It’s got a great display area and ranger talks are offered at different times of the day. We heard one at 5 pm on the history homesteading which was very interesting.

Minute Men National Site

We woke up super early to get in line for tickets to the tour at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.

D1 site

There are a limited number of tours of Delta-01 during the day and only six people are allowed per tour. D-1 was  one the launch control facility for missiles placed on the South Dakota plains during the Cold War.

After we saw the underground bunker at D-1, we drove a short distance to Delta-09 to see a missile silo. People drove past these sites everyday for years and few knew there were there. Russia did however, and the fact that they were pointed right at them probably helped keep world peace through fear of retaliation.

1880's Town

After leaving the missile site we continued east on I90 until we got to Exit 170. We stopped to see 1880’s Town.  It’s a collection of historic buildings that were moved there. In 1971, Richard Hullinger built a gas station there. Little by little he acquired the buildings and as time went on, it became a tourist attraction.

Dances with Wolves

Besides a ton of Native American and settler relics, there is a whole display of props that were in the movie Dances with Wolves.

Corn Palace

Our last fun stop in South Dakota was The Corn Palace in Mitchel. It’s a concert venue that has murals made out of everything from an ear of corn like the husks, seeds, silk, and tassels. It has displays inside about the corn industry.

I also have to share that we ate at a great Mexican restaurant in Mitchell called El Columpio. I’m mentioning it because the service was great and the tacos were the best I’ve had since being in San Diego.

Then, the fun and games were over since we had to hurry back home to pick up Grandma for a family wedding! Of course it was well worth it and gave us a little respite before we went out west again to Wyoming and Montana…

Just for fun, here are some links to some other Yates social media sites:

facebook small       instagram       pin (2)      brown hair (2)    twitter-icon      DSCN0506

3 thoughts on “South Dakota: July 18 to July 30, 2016

  1. Julie and Roy, Thanks for sharing your adventures with the rest of us. Some of these places I first visited as a kid. I’m not sure whether I’m impressed more with your adventures or your documentary skills; great commentary. I’m eager to read about your most recent trip. John & Lola

    1. So glad to share! I’m always behind in posting our adventures. We can’t wait to hear which places you saw as a kid and compare memories! Looking forward to catching up with you two later this fall!

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Monday, 15 May 2017

Cancer sucks - Meet an amazing lady who survived.

Cancer sucks, it can be a killer, but for one woman it became a challenge.

Karen is kindly offering two free paperbacks -  Anyone who comments on this blog will be entered for a chance to win Karen's Giveaway.

Margaret Kazmierczak meets Karen Ingalls
Meet Karen Ingalls at her FB event

Hi Karen, thank you for accepting my invitation to talk to my readers about your book Outshine.

Thank you, Margaret, it is a pleasure to be here.

Karen just to let my readers know before we start you are a cancer survivor.

Yes, I am.

Margaret Kazmierczak meets Karen Ingalls
Karen Ingalls

So you developed cancer, can you tell us what your reaction was?

When anyone hears the word cancer it creates fear, anxiety, and sometimes panic. This is true no matter the language, culture, religion, or nationality. When I heard, "I am sorry but the tumor is cancerous" I also felt fear and thought my life was over. This lasted about two days but as I asked questions, did research into ovarian cancer, and turned my fear over to God then I began to see the cancer as one of several challenges I have had to face.

Interview with Karen Ingalls

Why do you use the word challenge, Karen?

I prefer to use the word challenge because it does not signify negativity, but an opportunity. Just as the athlete trains for the competition, I saw my training as putting my body, mind, emotions, and spirit in optimum condition to live with cancer. I have always been the health nut of the family choosing to eat few red meats, little processed foods, and lots of fruit and vegetables. I have always exercised or been involved in yoga. Meditation or deep prayer has been a daily (or more) event.

Your positive outlook appears to be key in dealing with your diagnosis.

Well, I am a retired registered nurse who specialized in holistic counseling in my private practice as a nurse counselor. I offered the client therapeutic massage, healing touch, biofeedback in addition to the one on one counseling. I pursued these same modalities for myself and after the diagnosis I added Qigong, Reiki, and nutritional advice.

Interview with Karen Ingalls

I am sure the readers would like to know a little about your earlier life.

Since I was a preteen I wrote short stories, poems, and nightly wrote in my diary. I found this to be very helpful in dealing with my alcoholic parents and abuse from my stepfather. In the 1950’s there was no programs, information, or sources for those of who were being abused. It was a family secret!

How has writing helped with your recovery Karen?

I wrote and journaled for my healing and continued doing it right up to today. I did not think I had any gift for writing so I did not share it with anyone. One of the positive things that came out of my cancer diagnosis was the publication of my award-winning book, Outshine: An Ovarian Cancer Memoir. This is the story of my cancer journey which anyone who hears the words you have cancer will relate to it. Cancer is cancer is cancer. Even though our specific cancer might be different and there may be some variations to our journeys, we do walk similar paths. It is my hope that my ways of training for this challenge, or coping will help others.

Interview with Karen Ingalls

Being a nurse you are obviously aware of the symptoms but can you tell the readers of other less known indications.

Yes of course, I also wrote the book Outshine to bring awareness about this lesser known and too often deadly disease. Every female, no matter her age, needs to know the symptoms and act on them. Briefly, the most common symptoms are:

*abdominal or pelvic pain,
*indigestion or feeling full sooner than normal,
*painful intercourse,
*changes in urination or bowel habits,
*unusual vaginal discharge, to name the most common symptoms.

If these symptoms persist for two weeks it is imperative to see a physician and demand a transvaginal ultrasound and a blood test called a CA125. These tests are not expensive and they are all that is available to help diagnose ovarian cancer at an early stage.

What is your advice for any woman who may be concerned about Ovarian Cancer?

Too often physicians do not consider ovarian cancer initially when the patient presents with any or a couple of these symptoms. It is imperative that the woman know and share her family history and be proactive. Gilda Radner was sent from physician to physician until her cancer was so advanced she died young. This still happens today. Physicians, nurses, and every woman needs to know about ovarian cancer.

Margaret Kazmierczak interviews Karen Ingalls

Does this cancer only affect women over 60?

This cancer is not just for women over 60 years old. There have been diagnoses of preteens, those in their teens, twenties, thirties, and on up. Did you know that Olympic gymnast, Shannon Miller was diagnosed at age 34, Gilda Radner was 42, Maureen Connolly the tennis champion was 34? A teenager in Florida was diagnosed at the age of 18, a 7 year old, and even an infant were diagnosed with rare forms of ovarian cancer.

How can we help more women be aware of this condition?

I hope you will share this information with everyone. It is only through knowledge and action that we can save the 14,000 lives that are lost every year just in the United States alone. Please feel free to contact me at my website or email listed below if you have questions or require more information.

Karen, your approach to Ovarian Cancer, can it be used in other instances?

Yes of course Margaret, no matter if your challenge is related to health, relationships, finances, abuse, addiction, or any other number of events my holistic approach can be of help to the reader. I talk about such things as meditation or deep prayer, exercise, diet, imagery, and laughter to name just a few. I hope the reader will find the necessary ways to cope with the stress or challenge in his or her life.

I would like to ask you if you would share an excerpt from your book Karen, is that possible?

I would be delighted to.

Thank you, Karen, it has been a great pleasure to talk to you. I hope many readers will be encouraged by your testimony.

If you would like to chat with Karen then please pop over to our event on Facebook.

An Excerpt from Outshine:

Chapter 3

Prayer and Love

It’s said that as tears flow out, love flows in. I believe that to be true. For the next two weeks, a lot of love flowed in. Jim and I sobbed until our throats and stomachs ached. The week was painfully difficult while we waited for answers; informed our kids, family, and friends; and I made preparations for surgery and recovery. It was the start of a journey that would have us enter hell and then travel various peaks and valleys of hope, fear, ministry, doubt, prayer, and an ever-closer relationship with God and each other. I have always believed in God, even though I was raised in a home where there was no talk of God, Jesus, or the Bible. We never went to church, grace was only said when my stepfather’s family was at our house for a meal, Easter was about the bunny rabbit, and Christmas was about Santa Claus.

My grandmother, Edith, was the one who taught me about God, all religions, and how Jesus was her Savior. In my junior year of high school, the abuse had escalated to a point where I knew my life was in danger. I left my mother’s house in Long Beach, California, to live with my dad and his wife in Hollywood, California. Starting in my preteen years, Dad and I had become very close. He did not know about the abuse, because I was scared to tell him the “secret.”

The move meant changing schools, making new friends, and seeing very little of my mother and two sisters. Both sets of my grandparents had always been very important to me, and now they were even more so. Both Dad and my grandparents provided the stability, strength, and spiritual and religious beliefs I needed. It was an ending and a beginning, frightening and safe, confusing and sane, nightmare and dream, sadness and happiness.

A classmate invited me to the youth group at her church every Wednesday night. So began my journey in truly knowing and accepting God into my life through Jesus the Christ. My faith has never stopped growing, and it was the foundation for which I found the strength and courage to face what lay ahead.

The time before my surgery gave Jim and me an opportunity to come to a new level of grief. We talked about the power of prayer and how our love could see us through anything. Prayer and love had already seen us through some difficult times with family, careers, and our own relationship. We were overwhelmed, too, with the love and support we received from family and friends.

Every message in a card, whether written by Hallmark or the sender, touched my heart and soul in a completely unexpected way. I learned a lesson in life that any birthday, sympathy, or get-well card might be very meaningful and powerful for the receiver. Therefore, cards need to be selected and sent with the ministry they are intended to have. Too many times in the past, I have sent cards without paying close attention to the words inscribed. I must get this in the mail, was my thought as I quickly selected a card after barely scanning the verse. That was not ministering to others. Rather, it was being too self-absorbed in my own busy-ness.

Being on the receiving end of so many special cards opened my eyes and heart. As the days brought us closer to the surgery, I learned that friends are one of the most cherished gifts I appreciate. One morning, I joined my dear friend, Charlotte, for a cup of coffee. We had met twenty years ago when we worked together in the hospital’s epilepsy unit. Sharing the same philosophy of life and nursing, we quickly formed a deep friendship. We talked about my upcoming surgery and the unknown challenges that lay ahead of me. She helped me deeply explore and discuss my true fears. “I think my greatest fear is for Jim,” I said. “How will he be if I die?”

For over twenty years, we had lived each day as if we would live forever, though we had buried his parents and said goodbye to other relatives and friends. “Jim and I have such a close bond, it’s like we’re one. We’re best friends, besides loving each other so deeply and profoundly.” Charlotte took my hand and said, “Jim is a survivor. He’ll go through his stages of grief and will miss you terribly, but he’ll survive just because of his love for you. He knows that’s what you would want.” After a few minutes she added, “Besides, none of us knows when we’re going to die. Just because you might have cancer does not mean you are automatically going to die from it.”

Karen is kindly offering two free paperbacks - read below to find out how to enter.

Leave a comment below to be eligible for one of two free paperback copies of my book, Outshine. All proceeds from each of my books go to gynecologic/ovarian cancer research.

If you wish to buy a signed paperback copy at the special price of $3.99 for any of my books, please contact me at kareningalls1941@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support. Thank you, Margaret for this opportunity to share about ovarian cancer and healthy ways to cope with any life-threatening or lifealtering event.

You can contact Karen at any of the following sites:

http://www.amazon.com/Outshine-An-Ovarian-Cancer-Memoir/dp www.ourshineovariancancer.blogspot.com http://www.kareningalls.blogspot.com http://plus.google.com/+KarenIngalls1941
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-Ingalls http://www.outshineovariancancer.com

Other books by Karen Ingalls:

Novy’s Son http://www.amazon.com/dp/BO1BO2VQY
Davida: Model & Mistress of Augustus Saint-Gaudens http://amazon.com/Davida-ModelMistress-Augustus-Saint-Gaudens/dp

Disclaimer - Any of the views expressed in this interview are solely the participant's and not necessarily endorsed by the interviewer.

You have been reading an Interview with Karen Ingalls hosted by
Margaret Kazmierczak

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Sunday, 14 May 2017

Read all about it Blog Tour and Giveaway: For Love & Honor Jody Hedlund

For Love and Honor Banner

Click here to purchase your copy

About the Book

Author: Jody Hedlund

Book: For Love & Honor

Genre: Young Adult Historical
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Lady Sabine is harboring a skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed?
Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have?
As Lady Sabine and Sir Bennet are thrust together under dangerous circumstances, will they both be able to learn to trust each other enough to share their deepest secrets? Or will those secrets ultimately lead to their demise?

My penny's worth...

Margaret Kazmierczak reviews For Love & Honor by Jody Hedlund

For Love and Honor is set in Medieval England, where superstition abounds. The Aristocracy own patches of Land and defend them with their own army. Keeping peace with one’s neighbour is important and at times skirmishes break out over a matter of honour.

Margaret Kazmierczak reviews For Love & Honor by Jody Hedlund

Enter the Heroine Lady Sabine and the Hero Sir Bennet. Both characters have a great sense of humour which hides their real emotions. Lady Sabine hides a blemish that if seen could put her life in danger and therefore wears a pair of long gloves to hide it. Sir Bennet is charming, handsome and a gentleman, but he is uneasy about marrying for money. Indeed money seems to hinder his mindset rather a lot. I felt like saying, "get over it" lad and move on, there is a woman to woo.

Then there is the Dowager, now she is a woman not to tangle with. Her intentions and conniving are delicious. Is there nothing she won't do to get her own way?

Margaret Kazmierczak reviews for Love & Honor by Jody Hedlund.

Historical accuracy

Eager to begin this book I dived into its pages. Then I began to sink - Carriage's in Medieval England, with compartments under the seats?

I have to admit that this image had me scrolling through Google to find pictures. Being English I dislike inaccuracies in books written by Authors from another country. It took a while but eventually, I found a carriage of sorts. It was like a farmers wagon, heavily made of wood, with side seats and a frame of sorts over the top covered with material. But no door as depicted in this book.

In my mind, from the description, all I could think about were carriages in use in the days of the highwaymen. And yes the same happened when bandits arrived on the scene, again my imagination summed up the classic highwayman of old England. For days the ebook remained unopened, then I remembered that I had agreed to do an honest review for the Author. Picking it up again and burying the previous images I continued - and I am so pleased I did...

The meat on the bones

Accepting an invitation to visit Sir Bennet, Lady Sabine and the Dowager set off from their home to his Castle with different motives.

Constant self-doubt badgers Lady Sabine during her visit while a chivalrous Sir Bennet fights between duty and love. Sabine asks why the handsome Sir Bennet, who could have any lady in the land, would want to spend his time with a plain Jane like her?

Chapter after chapter the main characters pick daisy petals - he loves me, he loves me not like in the Disney fairy tales.

Margaret Kazmierczak reviews For Love & Honor by Jody Hedlund

Which Character spoke to me the most?

I can’t make up my mind which character I liked the most, Sabine for her strength or Bennet for his honourable nature. Or perhaps the Dowager who would do anything for her Granddaughter. The first two charm and frustrate the reader at the same time. Sacrifice is the main theme running throughout and both characters have their own fair share of it.

The flow of the book

I did find I struggled at times with the character changes at the beginning of the chapters. Now reading at a pace and eagerly turning the pages I would be Sabine one moment and then have to switch to Bennet. Having said that it was interesting getting inside their heads and hearing from the other perspective.

Margaret kazmierczak reviews For Love & Honor by Jody Hedlund

What did I like about the book?

Once it started to run, I enjoyed the teasing between Sabine and Bennet. The workings of The Dowager's mind, out to get her own way, flowing in and out of the pages like a motherly hen; and Bennet's mother who too is looking for a suitable outcome. Then the blemish that could destroy everything, so neatly hidden by a glove, but ever rearing its ugly head wanting to be accepted and finally Sabine's desperate desire to be loved for who she really was.

My conclusion

This is a good book for emphasising the importance of honour in love for young adults. The role model depicted by Sir Bennet has almost been ditched by young men today along with the emphasis that women deserve to be respected. The book tackles the pull of early love and how the heart, emotions and physical attraction can be a challenging mountain to climb. Apart from the love story, there is action, reaction and superstition to entertain the reader.

Would I recommend this book?

Personally, I think this book would be a great read to get young people talking about today's relationships. There is plenty of meat to chew on and in the end whether the lad gets the girl or not it is a good moral story. I would, therefore, recommend it and shall award it 4 stars as I liked it. Oh, that carriage and the highwaymen, I still can't get the image out of my head - but that is my problem!

Margaret Kazmierczak reviews For Love and Honor by Jody Hedlund

A word of thanks

Thank you, Jody Hedlund, for writing this book and bringing a moral dilemma into action.

*Thanks to Celebrate Lit for a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are my own.*

About the Author

Jody Hedlund. Web - Copy

Jody Hedlund is a best-selling and award-winning author who loves fairy-tales and happily-ever-afters. She makes her home in Midland, MI with her husband and five teen-aged children. When she’s not writing another of her page-turning stories, you can usually find her sipping coffee, eating chocolate, and reading.

Guest Post from Jody Hedlund

Is Chivalry on the Brink of Extinction?
By Jody Hedlund
With the release of Fifty Shades of Grey movie and its popularity, I can’t help but wonder about the long-term consequences that such ideology will have on how people view relationships.
Already, too many couples struggle to maintain happy, healthy relationships. In fact, it’s become almost a weekly occurrence to get news of another friend or acquaintance who is dealing with a spouse cheating or leaving.
Mutual respect, loyalty, honor, and self-sacrifice have become out-dated, forgotten, or tossed aside in place of short-term pleasure that often leaves people feeling hollow and empty.
I honestly can’t help wondering where chivalry has gone, and not just the man-doting-on-the-woman chivalry. But mutual chivalry, the kind where each person in the relationship puts the other in high esteem, uplifts them, and makes a concerted effort to protect and cherish (both emotionally and physically).
Has chivalry become antiquated in our modern society? And even if it has, should it be outdated and on the brink of extinction? Should we be making more of an effort to reclaim mutual respect in relationships?
The kind of respect that does things for someone with no thought of getting anything in return.
The kind of respect that is graciously honest about problems instead of sneaking around and being unfaithful.
The kind of respect that is willing to sacrifice and see the needs of others instead of demanding our way and our own needs be met first.
As my teenage children enter into dating relationships, I worry about the influence of movies like Fifty Shades of Grey. I worry that they’ll see dysfunction as the norm. I worry that they’ll settle for a lot less than they should in their relationships. I worry that they won’t even know the meaning of chivalry.
Of course, we’re having candid conversations about all of these issues. Of course, my husband and I attempt to model mutual respect. And of course, I’m praying my teens work on growing their own character so that they can be strong and ready for whatever they might face.
But one of the things I’ve done over the past couple of years is write a young adult (YA) series that is aimed at some of these very issues The third book, FOR LOVE & HONOR, just released this spring (and can be read as a stand-alone). Since the story is set in medieval times amidst castles, knights, and ladies, chivalry is already a huge part of that era.
More than giving readers a glimpse of chivalry, however, I hope the book sparks some discussion about what it means to have healthy, respectful relationships. The book contains reader questions at the end that youth groups, moms and daughters, or friends can use together.
It’s not just another dating book. Instead, it’s a fun and entertaining story that can hopefully facilitate discussion regarding what it means to truly demonstrate chivalry in our relationships.

So what do YOU think? Is chivalry on the brink of extinction? What are some ways we can make sure that we don’t lose it?

For love & Honor Celebration Tour
To celebrate her tour, Jody is giving away all three books in the Noble Knights Series!

Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries!

    1 winner will be selected.

Blog Stops

May 4: A Greater Yes

May 6: The Scribbler

May 8: Book by Book
May 9: A Path of Joy
May 11: Radiant Light
May 12: Pause for Tales
May 12: Just Commonly
May 13: Bigreadersite
May 14: God1meover
May 15: thewitsabout
May 15: Baker Kella
May 15: Remembrancy

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text:
Youngkyoon Jang, Ph.D.

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Contact: youngkyoon.jang[at]

I am a senior (postdoctoral) research associate in Visual Information Laboratory (VIL), which is part of Department of Computer Science of University of Bristol (UoB). I work with Prof. Walterio Mayol-Cuevas and Dr. Dima Damen. I received my Ph.D. degree from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) under supervision of Dr. Woontack Woo.

My research explores novel natural user interface technologies that aim to overcome challenges in interactions between humans and computers in a wearable AR/VR environment, specializing in understanding human behaviours, understanding scene and identifying users based on gesture interaction, mobile & wearable computing, and visual computing. Besides my research background in computer science, I draw on a diverse set of skills, including machine learning (particularly Deep Learning, Random Forest), AR & VR, video (including IR, color, and depth images) processing, computer vision, and biometrics.

Full C.V., Last modified on 21/05/2018, [Web Viewer], [File Download]

Research Statement, Last modified on 22/12/2017, [Web Viewer], [File Download]


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My Neighbor Totoro

‘My Neighbor Totoro’ is one of the most popular Hayao Miyazaki films.  The movie was released in Japan in 1988.  Wow, it was more than 20 years ago.  But then it was not successful in terms of the box office at all.  Next year it was broadcasted on TV and became very popular.  Now its super natural character ‘Totoro’ is the symbol of STUDIO GHIBLI.  And we can find Totoro everywhere.

Totoro-shaped bread with a chocolate filling I got from a nearby bakery

in Toy Story 3

My Neighbor Totoro was raised as a favorite movie by famous film directors Akira Kurosawa and John Lasseter.

About Yuki

I am a new face of the professional tour guide
This entry was posted in art, character, food, Japanese life, pop culture and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to My Neighbor Totoro

  1. Kyra Nelson says:

    I remember watching Totoro all the time as a kid! Cool bread.

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瓦西里•康定斯基 (1866-1944)

During the month of December, Artprice looks back at some of the art market’s key figures in 2017. This week we focus on May and June which saw particularly dense activity on the high-end market and lots of new records. $57.36 million: new record for Constantin Brancusi On 15 May 2017, Constantin BRANCUSI’s superb golden […]

It’s Top 10 Friday! Every other Friday, Artprice posts a theme-based auction ranking. The Top 10 this week focuses on London, where the best sales of Impressionism and Modern art take place. The London art market is one of the most active in the world. Not only do tens of thousands of artworks change hands […]

One week after Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art sale in London, it was Christie’s turn to test the same market at its 27 June sale in King Street. And like its rival, the event produced a resoundingly positive result… The latest auction results from London are very encouraging after the sharp falls in turnover last […]

After a dramatic fall in revenue at their London sales in June 2016 (-47% at Sotheby’s and -39% at Christie’s), Sotheby’s 2017 figures are somewhat better and include a couple of major new auction records… On the supply side, the trend we saw last year at London’s prestige Impressionist & Modern Art sales was confirmed […]

2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, one of the five museums of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, located in the Spanish Basque Country. Famous for its flexible architecture in glass and titanium designed by Frank Gehry, the museum attracts visitors both for the quality of its monumental […]

更新 2018年05月25日: (德国)的瓦西里•康定斯基 (1866-1944)是出生于1866的艺术家。 他在本站上的最早一笔成交记录为 水彩作品，于1983年在Christie's 拍出。最新一笔记录则为于2018年拍出的水彩作品。他在Artprice.com艺术家关键数字及市场趋势是依据2.900笔成交结果所作的分析。 特别是：绘画, 版画, 照片, 水彩作品, 挂毯, 主题. 艺术家瓦西里•康定斯基 (1866-1944)的作品：8，即将上场拍卖。 ，您可以在Artprice.com交易广场向您推荐艺术家的拍品 4 , 由8 Artprice网上商铺拍出。

使用此网站即表示您接受使用cookies进行更好的、更有系统性的分析。 更多详情， 隐私权保护 OK


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Technology Services

technology computer and internet

Technology Services

Originally due last June, the document (and its delayed publication) grew to become a flashpoint for education-advocacy and college-expertise teams. They argued the findings had been urgently needed to tell ongoing coverage debates over the destiny of federal applications meant to increase home broadband entry and shut the “homework hole” afflicting students with out dependable internet service exterior of school. Department of Education on students’ access to digital studying exterior of faculty is now public. In 1976, practically three decades after the publication of Wiener’s guide Cybernetics, Walter Maner noticed that the moral questions and problems considered in his Medical Ethics course at Old Dominion University usually became more sophisticated or significantly altered when computer systems got concerned.

In recent years many VoIP systems have turn out to be as easy to use and as convenient as a standard telephone. The benefit is that, because the Internet carries the voice visitors, VoIP can be free or cost much lower than a traditional telephone name, particularly over long distances and especially for these with all the time-on Internet connections corresponding to cable or ADSL. VoIP is maturing into a aggressive various to traditional phone service.

There are many alternative Internet Service Providers, a few of the hottest embrace Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable. Some of these components embody value, kind of internet connection you need, speed, buyer support, types of devices you utilize, and cancelation insurance policies. Wi-fi hotspots are one other form of internet connection during which a wi-fi entry point, such as a router, has a direct connection to the web and permits individuals to attach wirelessly via the usage of wi-fi. Although they aren’t used very a lot at residence, wi-fi hotspots are often used at places such as restaurants, motels, and airports. Many eating places such supply free wi-fi to entice prospects, whereas others have a payment for using their internet.

Johnson’s e-book Computer Ethics was the primary major textbook in the field, and it quickly became the first text utilized in computer ethics programs provided at universities in English-speaking nations. For more than a decade, her textbook set the computer ethics research agenda on matters, such as ownership of software program and mental property, computing and privacy, duties of computer professionals, and truthful distribution of expertise and human energy.

Working off your exhausting drive is how the computer industry functioned for decades; some would argue it’s still superior to cloud computing, for causes I’ll explain shortly. In the only phrases, cloud computing means storing and accessing information and packages over the Internet as a substitute of your laptop’s exhausting drive.

Another negative with broadband over fiber is that the cables are very sensitive. This signifies that cables can not be installed on telephone poles or underground.

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2021-39
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for September 2021
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-177
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


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 Online casino » Blog Archive » Gratuitous Internet Gambling Dens

Gratuitous Internet Gambling Dens

by Alex on August 8th, 2018

Gambling in gambling halls is no longer the distinctive entitlement of aristocratic society. Web Casinos have not only unlocked the entrance to all who are seeking to bet for money, but also has created the development of gratis internet gambling halls for everyone who are seeking to wager just for fun.

Gratis net Casinos are as a rule supported by money-making gambling dens. The tiny overhead costs of operating internet Casinos leaves enough funds to run free gambling dens. This can function to the gambling hall’s benefit later, as they can lure gratuitous users to bet for real money.

Complimentary Online gambling dens allow players to enjoy games like one armed bandits, video poker, bingo, roulette and lotto, with offers of exclusive bonus games and tournaments. The gamblers also get a chance to compete with people from all over the world.

Although Free web gambling dens are a form of excitement for many, they also provide a chance to be a master of and comprehend the the score of a game. With little to squander, players can take chances and often make mistakes while bettering their methods on how to gamble and how much to gamble.

The land based casinos would no way provide the ability to bet for gratis. The idea of gambling for gratis has formed with the breakthrough of internet gambling dens.

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Wednesday, 4 November 2020

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Here in  England we go back into lockdown tomorrow. Many of you are already there. At times like these we need someone to lift the spirits, someone who can sound chirpy when they are far from home or want to be left alone. I know just the woman - the great Calypso Rose.

Both today's tracks are from Rose's "Far From Home" album, which came out in 2016 when she was a mere stripling of  76. She's released a couple more records since and seems to be going from strength to strength. I was lucky enough to see her about 15 years ago on a double bill with the legendary Mighty Sparrow. She was, and still is, quite phenomenal.

"Far From Home" - Calypso Rose

"Leave Me Alone" - Calypso Rose (with Manu Chao)

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Project 365

too old to die young

Day 93 – Shark infested waters

Day 93, 093/365, Bokeh, Project 365, Strobist, project365, six, Sharkfin Inlay, Jackson Rhoads, Jackson Guitars, Frets, Ebony Fretboard, six, ourdailychallenge, blue background, CTB,

After not having done a Guitarshot for a while now, I though todays topic (’six‘) would be an ideal chance to get back at it. I shot the head before, so I’m now working my way down the neck towards the body (oh boy, I can’t what for the comments on this sentence…). unfortunatly I wasn’t able to get six inlays, those are called sharkfins by the way, in the frame, but at least I got six strings.

50mm – f1.8 – 1/250 – ISO 100

Strobist Info:
SB-80dx (diffusor – 1/64) into big umbrella, SB-80dx (14mm – 1/32) on background 2 CTB Gels, camera and flash triggered via PocketWizard Plus II Transceivers

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Apps >

Group SMS Pro (old Pro SMS)

Group SMS Pro (old Pro SMS) is designated to become "killer app" for texters and professional uses.

  • Save & reuse sent history
  • Send to groups and individuals (very convenient with different choice in contact picker synced with Google contacts/groups, see setting for more info)
  • Send SMS from a .CSV or .TXT files and can configure according to your file format, typically compose from MS Excel. Please see a sample file in Help section below.
  • Create and manage unlimited templates
  • Support pre-defined keyword: $name, $first_name, $now, $next5min, $next15min, $next30min, $next1hour, $next2hour, $tomorrow, $nextweek
  • Support user-defined keyword (ex. $prodName, $place)
  • Option to delivery report and save sent SMS to Inbox
Note that SMS fee is charged by your telephone operator!

    • Template: In the main view, you will see a list of templates.
      • Send by template: click in a template.
      • Add/delete/edit/edit title: focus on a template then press menu button, or press and hold a template in the list.
      • Add macro: During edit template, please menu button to add a pre-defined macro.
    • Predefined macros
      • $name: Contact's name defined in your address book.
      • $first_name: Contact's first name defined in your address book
      • $now: time when SMS is sent (ex. 20 Feb 2010), change it format in settings.
      • $next5min: now plus 5 minutes
      • $next15min: now plus 15 minutes
      • $next30min: now plus 30 minutes
      • $next1hour: now plus 1 hour
      • $next2hour: now plus 2 hours
      • $tomorrow: tomorrow from now
      • $nextweek: next week from now
      • Please email me or comment on this page if you find any useful macro.
    • User-defined macro: A macro start with $ sign and end by any of following sign " ?,.;". When you please "send SMS" button, BulkSMS will ask you the value of a user defined macro.
    • Send SMS from .CSV file: In the main view, press menu button and select "Send from .CSV file" to send an CSV file. A CSV browse dialog will appear helps you to choose a .csv file. Click on a .csv file to preview SMS list before press "Send SMS" button. Here is a sample file which works with following settings (by press Menu/Settings/CSV Settings/)
      • Encoding: depending on your file, default setting is "System Default" (recommended)
      • Default Folder: path to your CSV folder, this improve file browsing
      • Separator: set to ";" (Semicolon)
      • Quote: set to empty ""
      • Skip Lines: set to "1" (one)
      • Preview your CSV content: check to preview before sending (recommended)
      • Sender Position: set to "1" (one)
      • Content Position: set to "2" (two)
    • Settings
      • Delivery Report (checked/unchecked)
      • Contact Selector: define how to select a number when a person has multiple numbers
      • Save sent SMS to Inbox: If you send a batch of hundreds SMS, this may help you opt-out your SMS after sending!
      • Future Time Format: define format for future time keywords. ex in 5 min or 13h5 (i.e. now+5min)

      • Default CSV comma sign: CSV comma is included in your CSV file, please open with a text editor to know what is your seperator comma between a phone number and a message
      • Default CSV folder: where CSV Send command jumps in.
    Bao Le Duc,
    May 9, 2010, 9:46 AM


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Complete Funding
& Investing Solutions

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For over 20 years ABG has dedicated itself to providing funding solutions to federally insured domestic depositories nationwide. Our extensive experience in this field gives us the opportunity to communicate and design both Investment and Deposit programs that meet our clients' needs and accomplish their goals.

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ABG Services, Inc. offers a variety of financial services to their respected clients, along with financial institutions nationwide. Some of these offered services include:

Investor Programs

With our Investor Programs, you can count on ABG Services to provide premium rates, flexibility, buying power and the security of having your money insured by the FDIC. Feel secure investing with us.

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Funding Programs

At ABG, our Funding Programs offer multiple funding choices, the ability to deliver deposits in various increments and our customized programs are tailored to each individual client. Get a program that works for you.

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What's New

Happy New Year from all of us at ABG!!!

We at ABG wanted to wish you and your family a Happy, and Healthy New Year!  This past […]


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Acne treatment Acne treatment

The Best Way to Get Rid of Acne & Blackheads

The Best Way to Get Rid of Acne & Blackheads The Best Way to Get Rid of Acne & Blackheads

Acne is a skin condition that causes blackheads, whiteheads, zits, pimples and cysts. Blackheads are a type of comedone. Comedones occur when the opening of a hair follicle is clogged by dead skin cells, oils and sometimes bacteria. If the comedone is open at the surface, it is a blackhead, according to Treatments, which take four to eight weeks, work by speeding cell turnover, fighting bacteria, and reducing oil and inflammation.

Step 1

Wash your face with an antibacterial soap twice a day; however, if you have extremely oily skin, it's fine to wash more often, notes the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology. Don't scrub too hard, as vigorous scrubbing can worsen acne.

Step 2

Apply a topical acne treatment. Over-the-counter treatments containing resorcinol, benzoyl peroxide, sulfur, lactic acid and salicylic acid, which are available as lotions, spot treatments and washes. These products may dry the skin and cause flaking, but unless this is extremely troubling, treatments should be continued.

Step 3

Allow blemishes to heal without picking at them or popping them. This ruptures the top layer of the blemish and may cause an infection or scarring.

Step 4

Keep bacteria and dirt off blemishes by keeping inanimate objects and your hands off them. If you must touch blemishes, wash your hands and sanitize whatever object will be touching the skin.

Step 5

Put on only non-acnegenic or non-comedogenic cosmetics and skin care products. Then your pores won't get clogged with the products.

Step 6

Shampoo your hair daily or as often as possible. Oils from your hair can transfer to your skin and worsen acne.

Step 7

Wear loose clothing if your acne touches it. Tight clothing rubs against the blemish and can irritate it. Also, sweat contains bacteria, so clothing that keeps sweat against the skin should be avoided as bacteria can worsen acne.

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“There's a time and a place…there's a space and a race…one day soon you and I will meet and know we face our fate,” Maqua whispered to the two women as they slept. And so, their story begins….

It would be so easy to end all the pain here and now.

Amanda Lawson stared into the murky depths of the Susquehanna River as she rested her elbows on one of the two rock walls of the narrow footbridge that spanned it. A seemingly endless flow of tears coursed down her cheeks as the water‘s mesmerizing movement urged her to surrender and become one with its icy coldness.

She studied the length of the bridge as she idly wondered if she could manage to climb over the wall.

Suddenly a shiny penny peeking out from between two dandelions and a small patch of grass nestled close to the wall caught her attention. Time seemed to stand still as she gazed at the object.

“Someone said that when you find a penny, you've been kissed by an angel,” she reminded herself as she sighed and picked up the coin. She made a decision.

“I've never taken the easy way before…why start now?” she whispered aloud.

Her feet were numb and her legs ached as she walked with determination back toward her vehicle. Once she got to her car, she turned back, certain that she heard the water calling her name.

No, not today.

She got in and flipped the switch to heat the seats. She knew the heat wouldn’t do much to ease the pain, but there was some degree of comfort in the warmth. Opening her fist, she looked at the coin, and shook her head at her own weakness before flicking it into an ashtray filled with other pennies. She moved the gearshift into drive and eased the vehicle away from the river and its insistent beckoning.

There were other routes to get to her home, but for almost two years she had always taken the same one. Her eyes scanned the side of the road until she saw the dilapidated billboard near where a small white cross stood. The tires of her vehicle crunched on the gravel as it came to rest on the shoulder. All that was left of the billboard was a spate of red scripted letters spelling out EVIL along with a pair of cow's eyes and the barest hint of black, which had once been a cow nose. At one time, Middleville Dairies had been a thriving business but now it was only a sign—a sign that, if one thought about it, read evil eyes.

The sign marked the one-mile point from her house, and it also marked the place where her happiness had ended.

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Pacer Ventures

Pacer Ventures, a Lagos-based VC firm in collaboration with Founder Institute plans to launch a trustfund for new African startups worth US$3 million that are dedicated to solving major problems in Africa. The funding for African start ups hopes to focus on expedient sectors for development in Africa which includes healthcare, financial inclusion, education and agriculture.

Pacer Ventures, which has already begun to support and promote early-stage founders by participating in seed rounds, has a strategic relationship with the Founder Institute to identify startups, and said the new fund’s focus will be on verticals expedient to development in Africa, including healthcare, financial inclusion, education and agriculture.

The raised fund has an average cheque size of US$100,000, though non-financial support will also be on offer. Pacer said support founders on every step of their journey, with technical and financial skills, team building, access to markets, resources, and networks.

“We see a huge opportunity to support early-stage founders making meaningful contributions to their local economies and communities,” said Gbemi Akande, managing general partner at Pacer Ventures.

“We are providing much-needed funds to founders leveraging mobile penetration to solve problems at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ across the continent.”

This article is sourced from:


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Disques Africambiance

Disques Africambiance together with Les Disques Samson were the first vinyl labels uniquely dedicated to music from Cameroon. Previously Cameroonian artists had been released on shellac discs by Philips, Fiesta, Nigerphone, Africavox, Pathé, Le Chant du Monde, and the Congolese labels Ngoma and OPIKA. It is very likely a number of the vinyl singles in the Africambiance AA series, released in 1967 and the following years, had been released priviously on shellac discs. In an interview published in Bingo (Paris) in 1974 the assiko artist Jean Bikoko Aladin is quoted for saying, that he signed his first recording contract with Africambiance in 1959, then left the company and signed another contract with Les Disques Samson in 1965. By 1967 he was recording for Africambiance again.

Before the existence of locally based record companies, one the best way to reach a wider audience was via the recordings made by the Cameroonian national radio. Jean Bikoko Aladin made his first recording “Diwanda lem le Jean Lonha” for the radio in 1953. Impressed by Bikoko‘s guitar playing and the enthusiastic audience response, Samuel Mpoual, recording engineer at Radio Douala, made the first recordings with Jean Bikoko Aladin for the Disques Africambiance label in 1959. The label was a partnership between Samuel Mpoual and businessman Joseph Tamla who had stores in Douala, Yaoundé and Bafoussam. The discs were recorded at the studio at Radio Douala and the master tapes were then sent to a pressing plant in France.

Information for this recreated catalogue includes vinyl releases from 1967 to 1974. The first and only  Africambiance vinyl album Le Cameroun Danse was released in 1967, the same year the AA vinyl singles vent on sale. The tracks on the album were also released later on vinyl singles, i.e. AA 18, AA 20, AA 29, AA 34, AA 44, AA 45, AA 47, AA 48 and AA 51.

The tracks on AA 56 to AA 62 featuring Jean Bikoko et son ensemble fédéral 67 would appear to have been recorded in 1967. But it cannot be taken for granted that all vinyl singles with a number higher than AA 62 were recorded and released in 1967 or later. I.e. AA 76 with Cercul Jazz was most likely recorded in 1965-1966 when the Brazzaville based band played for 6 month at a hotel in the district of Jos in Douala and later stayed another 2 months in Yaoundé.

Christian Mouelle: Jean Bikoko  guitarist compositeur  A batons rompus.
Bingo (Paris), no. 261, octobre 1974 : 30-32.
Matthew Lavoie: Jean Bikoko Aladin The King of Assiko.
Voice of America website, African Music Treasures, uploaded 16th September 2009. LINK

Africambiance AA 44

Africambiance AA 103

The distribution company C.E.D.D.I.  (owned by Ngoma in France ) also distributed Africambiance

Front cover – Africambiance AA 1001 – 30 cm vinyl album P1967

Labels – Africambiance AA 1001

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