I know I've done posts in the past that discuss more in depth the different ways I changed my habits to be healthier. But there's a particular piece that I didn't write about that I wanted to share with all the other moms who are postpartum or those who just want to be healthier.
If you know me, you'd know I'm definitely not a dieter. I don't do fads, I don't do fancy shakes. Everything needs to be pretty basic and normal. I also don't want to give up the things I enjoy: bread, ice cream, cheese… it goes on. If I'm being asked to "give something up," odds are I won't follow-through. Sound familiar? I'm sure many of you feel the same way.
Instead of giving up what I truly want and enjoy I've adopted a new rule. I call it, the "one cup" rule. Here's how it works. I still listen to my body and try to make simple changes, like having the veggie instead of fries at the restaurant, or eating mustard with a sandwich instead of mayo. However, when I'm having my "main meal" and it may involve something I usually go overboard on (pasta Alfredo, anyone?) I do the "one cup" rule. I can still have macaroni and cheese, but I can only have one cup. After that cup, it's veggies for me. I can still have a desert occasionally, but it's going to be one cup of ice cream.
exercise, and feel healthier and more alert.
you do it on purpose and don't feel like you're losing out.
Eat what you love – one cup at a time.
I remember the one thing I told myself when I had my son. I will do my best to stay healthy, I don't want stretch marks, and I will NOT have a C-section. All the things I told myself because I didn't want to "lose" the body I had grown to be so comfortable in. However, as new moms, we really don't get the choice of what we look like post- baby.
I was waking up in the OR after having Chase. We had to have an emergency C-section due to some complications. I felt relieved to have my baby, but I knew I had been cut open and feared what my scar would look like.
Will I ever feel the same?
Will I ever get to wear a bikini again or to look "normal" again?
Will my body "bounce back" or be less squishy?
Some women give birth, and they immediately look like nothing happened. I can tell you that that was not my experience, nor is it the experience of most. While I was very healthy before delivery, my body had been through Hell. I looked like I had been mowed over back a Mack truck. I couldn't bend because of my stitches or use the bathroom. I was pretty stationary for a while. I longed to hold my new son, but I also longed to be "me" again.
I think this issue of loving our bodies goes deeper than the scale. You've been in your body for a long time, you've grown comfortable in your own skin. Until pregnancy comes, and everything changes. Suddenly you're forced to make peace with a whole new body.
First, take the necessary time to heal. Don't push yourself beyond what you can handle. Enjoy a cup of tea when you feel weepy — your hormones have been all over the place and it's completely understandable that you may feel "off" for a while. Enjoy some Netflix and quiet times with your baby. Focus on healing — that's first.
Once you feel yourself again and heal (and have doctor approval), try to start walking your baby with the stroller. It usually feels impossible to leave the house at the beginning, there's just so. much. stuff. But invest in a great walking/jogging stroller.
Accept the things that are different and love the things that make you proud. I know when I had Chase my stomach line separated a little, diastasis recti. Even when I lost most of the weight, I noticed my stomachs width was wider. But I also got very strong arms. I carry a baby and his essentials and I became so strong. And so have you, and so will you.
Give yourself permission to feel less than perfect.
Once you're ready to lose the weight, and have talked to your doctor, refer to my pots on Losing the Baby Weight.
While facing that your body isn't quite the same, it's also true that it's not "destroyed". By eating right and exercising, a lot of the changes, they disappear over time. The platitude that "you're awesome and just gave life" didn't really work for me. I wanted to love myself and my son. So I focused on what I could control and how I could feel good about myself again. And so can you.
It is possible to love your body again, in time.
The phrases, "Thank God it's Friday" or "Oh, God, it's Monday" seem to plague us now more than ever. Even as working moms, sometimes we can lose sight of living and go instantly into survival mode — as if it's the same as "living". But truth is, it's not. And I think that having great energy and a sense of purpose or vision, go hand-in-hand.
Here are some tips that have helped me to maintain my energy and my sanity.
Have you ever thought about how you want your life to turn out? Sometimes we act like nothing in life is in our control, and then our life truly ends up looking "out of control". And while we aren't God and don't have all the power, there is something that is up to us. Our lives are what we make them. So have a plan, think about where you want to be in ten years, twenty years. What's the end goal? To build a family? To further your career or education? To build an orphanage in South Africa? Whatever the goal is, start your days with that end goal in mind. It'll give you vision on tough days when the laundry is overpowering and the children are screaming.
No one wants to do it. Everyone wants to eat all the junk and sit on the couch but still have tons of energy and a six-pack. Unfortunately, if you want the energy, you'll have to work for it. Find the pieces in your day where you can take a walk, take the stairs at work or push the stroller around. You get one body, there is only so much replacing a doctor can do. The more you move, the more you take care of yourself and put good nourishment into your body, the longer you'll be able to keep up that pace. Click here, if you'd like to read more about losing the baby weight. I know that I can get into a bad mood, get more headaches, or just feel lousy when I don't get proper nutrition and exercise. You're important — act like it.
You're not meant to do it all. I'll schedule in some down-time in my week. This is a time to paint your nails, read a book, enjoy a chat with a friend. It's imperative to refresh your soul as well as your body. It seems crazy at first, but these quiet times have become the thing that recharges me most. You cannot pour from an empty cup — take time to refill yours.
It's knowing where I want to ultimately end up, that helps me determine my everyday plans. I know where I want to be in my family, in my career, and health respectively. If you haven't sat down and had a meeting with yourself, do it. It's not about perfection or scheduling your whole life. But good things don't happen by accident. Raising good children, excelling professionally, and loving your spouse, they are a series of choices.
The dreams and desires I have for the future, determine my decisions for today. And so can yours.
To get your daily dose of inspiration & laughs click here —> http://eepurl.com/c8NEOb.


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Apple says its App Store hit records in 2019
The tech giant says app sales between Christmas Eve and New Year's in 2019 grew 16% over the past year.
Ian Sherr
January 8, 2020 3:00 AM PST
Apple's App Store continues to grow.
Angela Lang/CNET
Last year, Apple began focusing more on the products that are sold alongside its iPhones, such as subscriptions for its $4.99 per month Apple TV Plus video service and $9.99 Apple Arcade video game program. The company's App Store has also continued its characteristically strong growth, particularly during the holidays.
Apple said developers on its App Store earned $1.42 billion during the week between Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and New Year's Eve, a 16% increase over the same period in 2018. Those sales included individual purchases of various programs, like the popular $3.99 Facetune selfie manipulation app, purchases of in-app items like tractors to help work your digital farm or subscriptions to music and video services.
People's purchases on the App Store were so high, Apple said, that on New Year's Eve day, the company counted a single-day record of $386 million, up 20% from last year.
"We begin the new decade with incredible momentum and gratitude to our customers who have shown such enthusiasm for all of our services," Eddy Cue, Apple's head of internet software and services, said in a statement.
Now playing: Watch this: What will Apple release in 2020?
The company's announcements coincide with the second day of CES, the tech industry's largest trade show, being held in Las Vegas. Apple's skipped the show for more than two decades, instead opting to make competing announcements, hold its own events or even troll competitors at the event. This year, though, it did send its senior director of global privacy, Jane Horvath, to participate in a roundtable discussion with representatives from Facebook, the Federal Trade Commission and Proctor & Gamble.
Apple's announcement caps the past year it's spent launching and promoting its $4.99 per month Apple TV Plus video subscription service, $9.99 per month Apple News Plus program, video games through its $4.99 monthly Apple Arcade package and its branded credit card, backed by Goldman Sachs, to help pay for it all. The company hasn't announced any hard user data about those projects yet, but it sees momentum from the App Store as a sign it's able to convince people to open their wallets for something other than a new iPhone or AirPods headphones.
The company also announced the most popular apps of 2019. They included:
TikTok - Make Your Day
Gmail - Email by Google
Google Maps - Transit & Food
Amazon - Shopping made easy
Facetune
HotSchedules
Dark Sky Weather
The Wonder Weeks
AutoSleep Tracker for Watch
TouchRetouch
Procreate Pocket
Toca Hair Salon 3
Scanner Pro: PDF Scanner App
Color Bump 3D
Aquapark.io
BitLife - Life Simulator
Polysphere - art of puzzle
Roller Splat!
Amaze!!
Rebel Inc.
Up close with the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
Mobile Tech Industry Digital Media Apple Arcade Apple TV Plus Apple Music Apple Card Google Apple
Discuss: Apple says its App Store hit records in 2019

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Maps of Scrooby
Nottinghamshire VI.5 (includes: Blyth; Harworth; Scrooby; Styrrup With Oldcotes) - 25 Inch Map
Nottinghamshire VI.NW - OS Six-Inch Map
East Retford (Hills) - OS One-Inch Revised New Series
East Retford (Outline) - OS One-Inch Revised New Series
Sheffield, Sheet 9 - Bartholomew's "Half Inch to the Mile Maps" of England & Wales
Comitatvs Darbiensis
1 Karte : Kupferdruck ; 36 x 47 cm Valck; Schenk apud G. Valk et P. Schenk
Comitatus Nottinghamiensis, sive Nottingham Shire
1 : 240000 [Amstelodami] : [apud Joannem Janssonium]
Sheets 42-43. (Cary's England, Wales, and Scotland).
1 : 360000 Cary, John, ca. 1754-1835
Comitatus Darbiensis
UNIVERSI Derbiensis Comitatus Sheet 25
This map ofDerbyshire is from the 1583 edition of the Saxton atlas of England and Wales.This atlas was first published as a whole in 1579. It consists of 35 coloured maps depicting the counties of England and Wales. The atlas is of great significance to British cartography as it set a standard of cartographic representation in Britain and the maps remained the basis for English county mapping, with few exceptions, until after 1750. During the reign of Elizabeth I map use became more common, with many government matters referring to increasingly accurate maps with consistent scales and symbols, made possible by advances in surveying techniques. Illustrating the increasing used of maps in government matters, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth I's Secretary of State, who had been determined to have England and Wales mapped in detail from the 1550s, selected the cartographer Christopher Saxton to produce a detailed and consistent survey of the country. The financier of the project was Thomas Seckford Master of Requests at the Court of Elizabeth I, whose arms appear, along with the royal crest, on each map. Saxton, Christopher Ryther, Augustine
UNIVERSI Derbiensis Comitatus f.55
This is a map of Derbyshire by Christopher Saxton dating from 1577. It forms part of an atlas that belonged to William Cecil Lord Burghley, Elizabeth I's Secretary of State. Lord Burghley used this atlas to illustrate domestic matters. This map is actually a proof copy of one which forms part of Christopher Saxton's Atlas of England and Wales. This atlas was first published as a whole in 1579. It consists of 35 coloured maps depicting the counties of England and Wales. The atlas is of great significance to British cartography as it set a standard of cartographic representation in Britain and the maps remained the basis for English county mapping, with few exceptions, until after 1750. During the reign of Elizabeth I, map use became more common, with many government matters referring to increasingly accurate maps with consistent scales and symbols, made possible by advances in surveying techniques. Illustrating the increasing use of maps in government matters, Lord Burghley, who had been determined to have England and Wales mapped in detail from the 1550s, selected the cartographer Christopher Saxton to produce a detailed and consistent survey of the country. The financier of the project was Thomas Seckford Master of Requests at the Court of Elizabeth I, whose arms appear, along with the royal crest, on each map. Lord Burghley has annotated this map, adding several place names.The name of the engraver is not included but it is the work of one of a team of seven English and Flemish engravers employed to produce the copper plates for the atlas. Saxton, Christopher William Cecil, Lord Burghley
Geological Survey of England and Wales
1 : 409000 Anglie Ordnance Survey Office
An accurate map of Lincolnshire
1 Karte : Kupferdruck ; 68 x 51 cm Bowen; Hinton sold by J. Hinton at the Kings Arms in St. Pauls Church Yard
Lincolnia comitatvs anglis Lincoln-Shire
Dvcatvs Eboracensis pars occidentalis
1 Karte : Kupferdruck ; 39 x 47 cm Valck; Schenk venundantur â Gerardo Valk et Petro Schenk


Andre Ayew of Ghana reacts after scoring the winning goal, taking the Black Stars through to the quarter-finals at the Africa Cup of Nations.
If you had to pick two sides to emerge from Group C at the African Nations Cup prior to the tournament the smart money would have been on Algeria and Ghana.
In a pool that was expected to be evenly contested, the pair's recent experiences at the World Cup in Brazil, and their greater quality through the squad made them favourites.
And with two wins each in the pool phase, there is little doubt they deserved to go through.
South Africa were at times excellent, but hampered by naivety in defence and a coach in Shakes Mashaba who seemed unsure of his best XI and too fond of tinkering.
To use three goalkeepers in as many matches at the tournament is almost laughable, allowing none to settle in.
Mashaba will claim he was "giving everybody a chance" as he is fond of doing, but this is not a junior tournament or run of friendlies where such selections can be appropriate – this is Africa's biggest stage.
South Africa took the lead in all three of their games, but faded badly in the final 20 minutes as the pressure took its toll.
They were tactically out-thought and punished – although there are still matches to come tonight in Group D, it is unlikely any side in the competition will concede more than the six goals they shipped in three games.
"We need to go back to our basics of playing football, when to do things, how to do them, and where to do them," Mashaba said. "We need that ability to kill off a game, that is one of the things I am talking about when we say the basics.
"We needed to take our time, but we were knocking it back to them and that's where the problem was coming from."
Senegal too showed potential, but were ultimately undone by the clever Algerians in their final match.
The north Africans showed why they should be favourites to lift this title with a superbly organised display and excellent finishing ability.
Algeria coach Christian Gourcuff felt his side were fortunate in the Senegal game, but they were comfortable in the end and his words are likely more in the hope his players can lift their game further.
"We are not the champions and if we want to become champion, then we must improve," he said.
Senegal coach Alain Giresse suggested there would be a major shake-up of the side that would likely not involve him in the future.
"I am out of contract. My contract has finished. The road ends here for Senegal," he said. "There will be a lot of changes in and around the team. What happens next I don't know, but I know what I am going to do."
Ghana coach Avram Grant, on his first assignment with the team, will have felt a mixture of relief and joy as his side came from third to top the pool in the final round of games.
"We have finished first in the group of death, which is not bad," he told reporters. "After losing the first match we showed great attitude in the second and continued along the same lines."


Marketing your business is all very well, but what are you marketing?
As we looked at here, developing your marketing strategy should have given you some ideas as to what your clients are wanting to buy. By marketing to what your clients are wanting to buy, as we looked into here , you are already defining certain things about your business. But what about your competitors? How are they marketing, branding,and running their business? You need some business intelligence – don't just assume you know what is going on actually take the time to find out for sure!
Step one: Online Research. The great thing about the Internet is that you can now research a business to your heart's content, for the most part, online. Look your competitors branding, how do they sell themselves? Are their hours better than yours? Do they promote how low their prices are? Do they have much of an online presence at all? Is their style very informal, or very corporate?
Step three: Opinion of clients. Hopefully, when planing your strategy, you already figured a lot of this out already, but there is nothing wrong with talking discreetly some if your clients about why they like your business over your competitors. You might be surprised by the responses! What can this tell you about your business and your competitors?
Step four: Look at yourself and your plans. How does your business compare? How can you differentiate yourself? Maybe you need to be the low cost option in town? Maybe you need to be the premium option in town? How do your clients currently think of you? Are there simple things you can change about your business, now that you know all about your competitors, that will make a difference in the minds of your clients? These don't have to be huge changes, but the more you can neutralize and respond to what your competitors are doing, the more you will begin to control the marketplace and define what it means to be in that market.
Do you close for lunch? Do your competitors? Would your clients like to be able to come in during lunch? A staggered schedule could mean that you become the known as the business that is open and available at lunch time – that could be huge in the veterinary world, where if a pet is sick, and your client has to work, their lunch hour may be all the time they have! It is not a lot, but it is those little things that can start to differentiate your business.
Do you encourage communication? Do you make it easy for clients to come and talk to you? Do all the principles in your business have email addresses? Will they use them? Sounds strange, but the mere concept that businesses want to communicate with their clients – on the clients terms – can be seen as quite a radical concept.
If you have ideas along these lines feel free to add them in the comments section.
Next week: Get out of the building!
Great to see the ask your clients opinion point. Often so overlooked, by asking your clients what they would value a practice can then use that knowledge as a lens through which to frame their marketing approach. Looking forward to the next post.
Thank you for your kind words. I do believe that you have to communicate with your clients and find out what they need from your business. However, I do feel that you should not blindly implement clients ideas based on their wants. For example, clients may say that they want you to be open twenty-four hours. But what they actually need is for you to either be available for emergencies, or be open in the evenings and the weekends.
The implications of being open twenty-four hours, for example, or even how much they might actually use those hours of operation, are not at the forefront of the client's mind. As the business owner manager we have to filter those ideas or sort out needs from wants and respond accordingly.


As a west valley resident this is one of my favorite quick summer hikes because I can be done with this hike before 9am and it gets too hot. This hike has a sufficient amount of up and down to be a little challenging and the scenery is pretty good. Willow Spring flows year around, although it is typically barely a trickle into a puddle.
This loop starts on the Mesquite trail for about 4 miles, jumps on the Ford Canyon trail for about a mile, returns on the Willow Canyon trail for about 2 miles and then comes back on the Mesquite trail for 2 miles. The Mesquite portion of the trail is the most challenging, with a combination of large rocks and loose rocks.
The trails is fairly well maintained and well marked. Trail markers signifying MQ=Mesquite, WL=Willow, FD=Ford, GC=Goat Camp. You will cross all of these trails at some point. The signs are pretty clear, although the distances don't appear to be correct.
Hike: Start at the parking lot and head directly west to the well marked trailhead. You will cross junctions with several trailheads in the first 1/2 mile while still on fairly flat ground. After that you will begin a nice climb that continues for about 4 miles. After 2 miles you will reach the junction of the Mesquite & Willow Trails. You can go left for Mesquite or right for Willow. It doesn't matter since it's the same loop either way. I usually go left on Mesquite. Continuing on Mesquite for about another 2 miles until you reach the junction of the Mesquite, Goat Camp & Ford Canyon trails. Go right on Ford Canyon trail and continue on it for about .9 miles until you reach the junction of Ford Canyon & Willow Canyon trail. Go right on Willow and continue for 2 miles until you reach the junction with Mesquite again where you will go left and continue 2 miles back to the trailhead.
Willow Spring can be found shortly after getting on the Willow Canyon trail. You will begin descending and will notice a spot with a significant man-made rock wall/fence and a large galvanized steel watering trough. The trail heads left here but if you go right a very short distance you will reach the top of the canyon and the spring/puddle. I usually find this a good spot to take a break and have some breakfast.
White Tank Park is a great place to see desert wildflowers bloom in the springtime. A couple of years ago, after a wet winter, there were flowers chest high, as far as you could see.


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Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association
London charity 1111649. Welfare, housing, community, arts, environment.
About Fitzrovia London
Fitzrovia Advice Service
Bangladeshi Community
Older Fitzrovia
Fitzrovia News
Fitzrovia Festival
This page is about the charitable aims of Fitzrovia Festival. (For full details of Fitzrovia Festival please visit the Festival website.)
Fitzrovia Festival is a non-commercial celebration of Fitzrovia's life and history held in June every year. It was first held in 1973 and was billed as "The people live here festival". For three decades it was a street festival but in recent years it has become a smaller event but it is still a strident celebration of Fitzrovia's residents and the neighbourhood's life and history.
There are exhbitions, guided walks, and other events.
Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association organises Festival as part of its charitable objectives with the purpose of raising the profile of Fitzrovia as a place where people live, fostering a sense of pride in the community, and promoting the arts and an understanding of local history and conservation of its built heritage.
Unlike the media portrayal of the area as "upmarket" and "swanky", Fitzrovia is very mixed with the majority of people living in rented accommodation. There has been a history of community action since the 1970s and this continues today.
Visit the Fitzrovia Festival website for details of current events.
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c/o Flat 2, 19 Tottenham Street
London , W1T 2AN


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Q: How to make sure Java won't switch threads when in certain block of code? I have 6 threads accessing one common queue container, they have this in their run() method:
if (queue.size() != 0) {
    Element e = queue.remove();
    //code

It works as intended almost every time, however, once in a while thread switches just between the if check and remove() method, so some other thread gets the element and this thread gets a NoSuchElementException. How do i make sure that between those two lines of code threads won't switch?

A: The two main options are:

*

*making the two statements atomic, for example by using a synchronized block

*using a concurrent collection.

In your case, you could use a BlockingQueue which has several methods that could solve your problem (see the table in the javadoc). BlockinQueue::take seems to be a good candidate based on the information you have provided.

A: Assuming it's a BlockingQueue (which it should be to be properly thread safe) you should probably use poll(long,TimeUnit). This should atomically check if there is an element in the queue withing the time period and return it if there is one (or null if there isn't).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This is the final installment in my Marvelous Maxis series. An A-line skirt is basically a skirt that is narrow at the waist then subtly flares out toward the bottom, thus the "A" look. I have always been a fan of the A-line skirt because it is figure flattering, but still allows for room through the hips and thighs. It is also a great skirt to wear if you want some flare, but don't want a lot of excess material.
Today's skirt is from Dressbarn. If you are not familiar with Dressbarn they are a women's clothing retailer selling sizes 4-24. I hadn't been in a Dressbarn in ages, but then visited one with my girlfriend while I was back in NY a few months ago. I was glad I did. They have a fun and whimsical style with a variety of prints, colors and cuts in pants, skirts, dresses and tops. They also sell accessories like shoes, bags and jewelry. It took everything in my power to not spend more than I did!
I fell in love with the print on this skirt, knowing that I will be able to use it for spring, summer and fall. The skirt is a somewhat sheer material, but is fully lined so you don't have to worry about finding a slip to wear underneath.
The lining has knee high slits on both sides, making it easy to walk and sit without feeling bound in. Here is a pretty fuschia floral print.
I paired the skirt with a simple embellished orange tank top. This is a St. John's Bay brand which is found at JC Penney. My tank was thrifted. I tucked the top in, to keep a more figure flattering silhouette. Notice after I tucked it in, I pulled it out a touch, to allow the material to bag out to camouflage my bulges. We have to have a trick or two to hide our baggage!
Since the tank has all this bling, I decided to not wear a necklace. For accessories I just wore a multi-strand beaded bracelet, carried a small macrame bag and wore my lace up sandals. I bought these sandals at Meijer. Meijer is a grocery and clothing retailer here in the midwest. I was surprised to find out that their Massini clothing line is now backed by Stacy London of What Not to Wear fame. Meijer is trying to create a style for every body.
For a more dressy look, I swapped the casual tank for my glitzy taupe short sleeved pullover blouse. This piece was thrifted and is The Limited brand. The Limited is no longer available as they closed their stores back in January. You can see how I styled this blouse in last fall's Pantone series here.
I also added a gold clutch and gold Covington wedge sandals, Sears carries Covington brand shoes. I also added a fun pendant necklace.
Here are the two looks side by side.
I hope you enjoyed this series on maxi skirts. These skirts are a great option when you want to have your legs covered, but don't want to wear pant or hose. Do you have maxi skirts in your closet? How do you like to wear them? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a shopping link below, I get a few cents. If you purchase something through my site, I get a small commission. All opinions are my own.
Monday linking up with Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb. Tuesday linking up with Shelbee in the Spread the Kindness link up and Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish. Thursday linking up with Nicole of High Latitude Style. Friday linking up with Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style.


The "public hearing" sign at 640 Third Ave. S.W. got my attention as I was riding by the other day.
This old house near the entrance to Albany's Bryant Park is in pretty poor shape. Now the owners of the triplex rental plan to fix it up, get rid of some unauthorized alterations, and restore it as much as possible to the way it may have looked after it was built more than a century ago.
Pam and Kevin Ostby, of Needles, Calif., bought the place in 2011 for $15,000 because its trashy appearance made it hard to sell the renovated houses they owned on the rest of the 600 block of Third Avenue S.W. Now their plans to renovate this property, at 640 Third S.W., are pending before the Albany Landmarks Advisory Commission. The panel scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Oct. 5 in the council chambers at City Hall. The planning staff is recommending approval of the plans.
What caught my eye on the public hearing notice was the mention of vinyl windows, which used to cause the controversy years ago when they were proposed in the historic districts as a practical alternative to the wooden originals. This time, though, no problem. The Ostbys got two bids for installing 10 new windows. Wooden ones would cost nearly $6,500, and vinyl ones that look like the originals are $1,451. The planning staff agrees that wooden window frames, while preferred for historical authenticity, would be cost-prohibitive.
The Ostby's should contact Vintage Window Restoration, LLC at VINTAGEWINDOW.CHRIS@GMAIL.COM or Chris Gustafson 541-730-0236.
Most times restored windows with there sashweights look better, operate better, last longer and are less expensive than new wooden or particularly vinyl windows. I have 128 year old wooden windows in my house. I repaired some of them 40 years ago and they still work great.
I completely agree, wood windows work better and last longer than vinyl! Windows are the gateway to the soul of a house. I only briefly skimmed the Landmarks file, but it looks like almost all the windows were (illegally) replaced with vinyl by some shady previous owner. It looks like the owner is asking to replace the existing vinyl windows with different vinyl windows that match the size and placement of the originals. It is just too bad that since they are doing this they do not replace them with wood windows.
Vinyl windows are never a good idea for a historic home. Those $145 windows will look terrible and will not last. Seriously, why even bother "restoring" the home if they are going to use cheap vinyl windows? The windows will detract significantly from the home's "historic curb appeal". In addition, the vinyl window manufacturing process itself is unhealthy for the environment AND the workers involved. A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.
The key phrase there is "within limits". What is the point of having a historic district if the rules can be overturned? That pile of junk can still be renovated into a charming home, but now with the vinyl windows going in that will be much less likely. I paid much more than the Ostbys did for my own pile of junk that no one else wanted. Been there, still doing it. I am very disappointed in the LAC decision. When I was a commissioner, that decision would not have been made, I am quite confident.
I tend to agree with all of the above after taking a closer look at the house. Hopefully the cheap vinyl will be placed in approximately the location of and in the dimensions of the original windows. This should keep the weather out until ,in the future, some brave soul may be able to find or make wooden replacements for the vinyl. It's a great location with the waterfall and view of the park. If I was 20yrs younger and didn't live at 732 Broadalbin I'd be tempted.


The era of drone journalism is almost upon us. Camera-equipped flying devices will no longer be illegal for journalism in the United States come 29 August 2016. That's when the Federal Aviation Authority's Small Unmanned Aircraft Rule comes into effect. While some restrictions will still apply (the drone must weigh under 55 lbs. and be within the pilot's visual line-of-sight), the impact such footage could have on journalism is huge. In fact, environmental journalism may stand to benefit the most. From natural disasters to oil spills and protecting endangered species, drone footage is already helping scientific research and conservation. To get you inspired, we take a look at some examples of how drones are already making a positive impact on the environment.
In 2014, an underground pipe burst at a Duke Energy steam station north of Greensboro, North Carolina spilling close to 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. Using drone imagery, Wake Forest University's Energy Center created a 3D model of the coal ash spill in North Carolina, independent of the state regulators. The spill equated to 53 Olympic-sized swimming pools, making it the third-largest coal ash spill in the nation's history.
In November 2015, Greenpeace captured footage of the aftermath of two dams collapsing in Brazil. The dams were filled with mud mixed with mining waste made up of dangerous metals, which overtook a nearby mining community and led to the death of 17 people. The aerial footage captured one of the worst environmental disasters in Brazilian history.
Environmental activists have already been using drone surveillance to protect the dwindling populations of endangered species for some years. In 2012, WWF won a Google grant of $5 million to deter illegal poachers by using drones to capture surveillance footage of tigers, rhinos and elephants. Now the conservation charity is planning to implement bungee-launched drones and other poacher-tracking technologies in some of Namibia's national parks.


So. Today I had planned to blog about the things that I plan to blog about at my blog.
But then the copier jammed. Again. And here I am writing about my day job.
And now on to better things.
There are few things in the life of a paper pusher that will make the pitter patter of our hearts race faster and bring smiles of glee to our faces. Among them are nice neat stacks of files or paper, new office supplies or office supply shopping; a new box of nice pens. But above them all, shining in magnificent glory, is a new photo copier.
When we replaced our OLD copier (which worked just fine), with a new one (yea! new tech toys) I was happy. Yes, the old one worked, but it wasn't new and shiny. The new one came with all sorts of neat cool features. PDF's, rapid copying, network printing. It didn't harass you to select a paper size when copying just one check, and oh the staple feature! Among the myriads of ways this machine can staple is my favorite, straight up and down, top left corner. I was sold, hook, line, and sinker.
The staple feature falls directly into the obsessive compulsive corner of my heart. All those pages (up to 45) stapled and stacked so tidily, pages even, staples in the exact same place, neatly folded. And that's where my problems began.
To make an otherwise very long story short, the new copier jams. It jams when you make lots of copies, or when you make just a couple. Lots of pages, just a few? It doesn't matter. There's no rhyme or reason to it. The copier began sporadically jamming and has progressively gotten worse. Always in the same place, pages bunching up on top of each other -like playing sardines- while waiting to be bound. The copier man comes almost daily now, I think pretty soon they'll just wheel it out and send it on its way to The Great Recycling Center in the Sky.
But oh how I hope. Each time I need to peddle a little more paper, I stand anxiously nearby, waiting. Listening for that tell-tale whir of components and gears, the shuffle of papers compacting upon each other, the screech of mechanical parts refusing to move. The resultant sinking heart as I clear out the jam. Again.
Press [Restart] after the current process.
I say it's dying. Calling out with its last breath, wanting to be heard. "Save me! I'm dying. Help!" It says. But alas, all that the repairman can do is shake a screwdriver at it, tightening here, loosening there, as the rest of us stand by the wayside wringing our hands, thinking of pretty staples, orderly stacks of paper, and what might have been.
We have same stupid message on our Ricoh. Did you solve it and how?


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Thelymitra campanulata es una especie de orquídea perteneciente a la familia Orchidaceae que es endémica  de Australia.

Descripción
Es una orquídea de tamaño pequeño, Tiene hábito terrestre y florece en la primavera en la naturaleza en una inflorescencia erecta, de 20 a 50 cm de largo, con 2 a 15  flores en forma de campana.

Distribución y hábitat
Se encuentra en el oeste de Australia a una altitud de 20 a 400 metros desde la costa hasta cerca de las zonas costeras entre los matorrales.

Taxonomía
Thelymitra campanulata fue descrita por John Lindley y publicado en A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony. . . . 49. 1840.
Etimología

Thelymitra: nombre genérico que deriva de las palabras griegas thely = (mujer) y mitra = (sombrero), refiriéndose a la forma de  la estructura del estaminodio o estambre estéril en la parte superior de la columna que es llamado mitra.

campanulata: epíteto latino que significa "con forma de campana".

Referencias

Bibliografía
 Lindley, J., (1840) A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.: xlix  [tax. nov.]
 Lindley, J., (1840) Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants.: 521
 Endlicher, S.F.L., (1846) Orchideae. Plantae Preissianae 2(1).: 14
 Bentham, G., (1873) Flora Australiensis 6.: 317-318

Enlaces externos

campanulata

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


In blistering heat, a bullet in my breast.
As drop-by-drop I watched blood flowing west.
To burn my dreaming brow and death-pale cheeks.
Recalling me with soft hands on their hearts.
I saw another girl with half-crazed eyes.
Her stare the shade or shroud of starless skies.
As drop-by-drop he watched blood flowing west.


The DidyKlick from Didymos is a half-buckle Meh Dai carrier with a buckle waist and wide, spreadable shoulder straps. The body and straps of the carrier are made from organic cotton Didymos Prima Aurora wrap fabric. The DidyKlick is fully adjustable and suitable for babies / toddlers from 3kg - 20kg.
Of course, the fact that it's made from gorgeous Didymos wrap fabric was an auspicious start! There's a range of DidyKlick's available so you can choose the one that appeals to you most. The qualities of the fabric are just as much present in the DidyKlick as they are in wrap form. In the case of the lovely Prima Aurora, you have wonderful soft, floppy, breathable, mouldable fabric with an intricate design that provides a fine, grippy texture. The colours on the 100% pure organic cotton weft fade from aqua through hot pink, taupe and charcoal grey against a natural white warp. The effect is quite beautiful and ideal for warmer weather and summer outings.
The range of DidyKlick's available to buy, including Prima Aurora, can be found on the Didymos website. You can also follow Didymos on Facebook & Instagram to get the heads up about their news and new releases.


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An NSERC first for OC
Okanagan College Computer Information Systems professor, Dr. Youry Khmelevsky has been awarded a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grant—the first in the College's history.
The $24,990 grant will fund three students to study ways of monitoring and optimizing the game services of Kelowna-based technology company WTFast.
Two Okanagan College Bachelor of Computer Information Systems students Trevor Alstad and Riley Dunkin have already started working on the project.
"The grant will subsidize the first step in the design, construction and testing of a new layer of game server software, which will take six months," says Khmelevsky.
"When technology companies have a bottleneck in service they usually add servers to compensate, but adding extra hardware to the pool is not always optimal because they unnecessarily consume power, human resources and money," he says.
To help solve this problem, Alstad and Dunkin will be studying how to improve performance between gamers' workstations and WTFast's game server clusters without adding costly infrastructure.
To learn more about the project, read the press release.
Register now for Connections 2014
Connections 2014 – Okanagan College's ninth annual all-staff gathering – will be held Aug. 19 and 20 at the Kelowna campus. Register online now.
"This has become an important part of our culture," says President Jim Hamilton.
"Connections provides a chance to reflect on our collective successes and challenges and do some learning and socializing. It also helps to build the collegial atmosphere and philosophy that I think distinguishes Okanagan College as an organization."
The event is held on two different days to accommodate department needs and employee schedules, so check with your Dean, Director or Unit Administrator. The agendas for each day are similar, each beginning at 9:30 a.m. with an overview session, morning workshop, food choices at lunch, and an afternoon workshop. The day concludes with a social event featuring appetizers and samples from the Okanagan: Tree Brewing, The View Winery, and Okanagan Spirits.
If you received a voice message with a different date, it was a technical glitch that involved a message from an earlier year. Please disregard.
Click here to register for Connections.
When Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope on April 12, 1980, in St. John's, Nfld., he said that if he couldn't finish, his hope was that it would continue without him. It did and Terry is now recognized as an incredible humanitarian and inspirational icon for cancer research.
Join Team Okanagan College for the 34th annual Terry Fox Run on Sept. 14. You can run, walk, or ride a distance of either 1.5 km, 5 km or 9 km with your family, and even your dog.
On Sunday, meet at the Mission Sports Fields. Registration starts at 10 a.m. and the event begins at 11 a.m.
If you have any questions, contact Angie March or Darrell Skinner.
You can register prior to the event online with Team Okanagan College at www.terryfox.org.
Miracle for Megan gift basket winners
Miracle for Megan is a fundraising campaign for the granddaughter of Okanagan College Carpentry instructor Gerry Leverrier. Megan is currently undergoing treatment for a rare liver cancer at the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto and she needs a liver transplant.
The Kelowna campus fundraiser raised more than $1,300 for Megan's family's expenses. If you missed the raffle, you can still purchase a bracelet. Call ext. 5457 to order.
The winners of the draws on July 16 were as follows:
• BBQ Basket – Arlene DeBruin
• Wine Basket – Samantha Blandon
• Games Basket – Richard McAdam
• ZeroXeno Natural Body Products Basket – Dianne Holm
Thanks to DeBeans Coffee, Fezziwigs, OC Campus Store, Helmuts Sausage Kitchen, Canadian Tire and ZeroXeno for donating the items for the gift baskets.
John Lent poetry award
On July 25, Kevin McPherson, Okanagan College English professor and managing editor of Kalamalka Press announced the 2014 winner of the John Lent Poetry Award.
Montreal-based poet Nicholas Papaxanthos' won for his work, Wearing Your Pants, which was selected from more than 50 manuscripts.
"We received the most submissions ever for this year's award, which is a great sign that news of the award is viraling across the country, but it was also dang tough to narrow down so many supercharged contenders," says McPherson.
Judges for this year's award included McPherson, fellow Okanagan College English professor Jake Kennedy, and Laisha Rosnau, who just finished touring the country with her latest poetry collection, Pluck.
New face in Penticton food services
After many years of cafeteria service at the Penticton campus, Bev Burkart has retired.
"Bev's motherly style will be missed by many at the Penticton campus," says Penticton Regional Dean Donna Lomas.
"Her friendly approach and determination to know students and staff by their first name was greatly appreciated."
To find a new food services vendor for the Penticton campus, the College put out a Request For Proposal and the successful applicant was Meika Smith, formally of the coffee shop, Smith and Company.
Meika is also a former student of Okanagan College's Penticton Campus having graduated with a diploma in Business Administration.
"I am very excited to be back on campus," Meika says.
"I will be transforming the Cafeteria into a Coffee Shop /Café featuring organic locally roasted coffee from Backyard Beans in Summerland as well as espresso and homemade smoothies. We will be baking our own cookies and muffins, preparing light breakfasts, freshly made wraps, sandwiches, homemade soups and much more."
Meika's first official day is Orientation Day on Sept. 2, but she will be doing a soft opening in August to get familiar with the space and the equipment.
Adam Huston, a former Okanagan College electrical trades student, passed away after a car accident on June 15. Originally from Trail B.C., Adam attended first and second year apprenticeship training at Penno Road between 2009 and 2011. He then moved to Calgary to continue his work as an electrician.
As an expression of sympathy, donations may be made in Adam's name to KidSport Greater Trail.
Matt Kavanagh publishes essay
Rowman & Littlefield published an essay by Matt Kavanagh, the chair of the English department, earlier this month. The essay is about American novelist Michael Chabon.
Kavanagh's chapter examines the role of nostalgia in Chabon's body of work, stretching from his first novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988) to the recent Telegraph Avenue (2013). It grew out of a review of Telegraph Avenue that first appeared in The Globe and Mail.
The essay was one of the projects Matt completed while he was on Extended Study Leave in 2013, and he'd like to thank the College for supporting his work. During that time Matt also welcomed his son Felix into his family. Congratulations Matt.
New face in Okanagan College
Anne-Rachelle McHugh has been hired as Campaign Communications & Marketing Specialist in the Advancement & Alumni Office. McHugh is a graduate of the Langara Journalism Program and worked as a reporter for several years before moving into communications and establishing her own writing and communications firm.
In 2002, McHugh moved to Kelowna, where she continued writing for local government agencies, small businesses, and print media outlets including the Kelowna Daily Courier, the Kelowna Capital News, and Okanagan Life Magazine.
McHugh spent the past three years at Okanagan College and is just two courses shy of earning her Associate of Arts degree. She says the transition from student to employee has been an interesting one.
"Okanagan College feels like home and I feel privileged to be part of an amazing team committed to raising the funds needed to complete the new Trades Training Complex and provide students with bursaries and scholarships made possible through generous donations from individuals and businesses within the community," she said. "I truly loved my years at the college and look forward to many more."
Jul. 29, 2014, Vol. 9 Issue 9
Kelowna Fitness Facility construction
The Kelowna campus Fitness Facility is undergoing some much-needed repairs. The grand re-opening is projected for Aug. 5. If you are missing your workouts, stop by the Athletics and Recreation office for a one-week pass to Global Fitness or Mission Fitness or visit our Facebook page for some fun outdoor workout ideas.
Lend a hand for Kick Off
To welcome students to Okanagan College, each campus holds Kick Off orientation events the first week of September.
Volunteers are needed at the Kelowna campus on Sept. 2. Jobs include acting as greeters, prize patrol, handing out information, giving directions, and decorating. Sign up to volunteer.
Health and well-being resources
Okanagan College's employee and family assistance provider, Optum PPC Canada, provides a wealth of information each month about an important issue regarding your health and well-being.
This month's The Balance Sheet newsletter offers some general advice pertaining to stress management.
The first article, Adopting a Stress Resistant Lifestyle, touches upon some measures you can take to reduce both your stress and the effect that it has on you. The next article Balancing Act: Work and Family Life discusses the importance of managing an effective balance between work and family obligations, and strategies you can use in maintaining that balance.
Fall Classfinder
The 2014/15 schedule for all campuses is now live through Academic ClassFinder. Please note the schedules are still subject to change as the scheduling office works through the remaining change requests.
The broader Okanagan College community can now also see the schedule through tools like Banner, Timetable, and my Teaching Schedule.
The scheduling system and Banner will be kept in sync on a daily basis with changes made.
Municipal Pension Plan
The pension option factor tables are changing January 1, 2015. The link below outlines how the pension factor tables may change the amount payable at retirement, depending on the pension option selected. The changes do not impact how Members of the Municipal Plan – Excluded Support & Support Staff basic (normal) pension is calculated. Click the link for more details.
Have you ever wanted to learn how to design a course for online delivery? From Sept. 11 to Nov. 20, Continuing Studies is offering a new course developed by Okanagan College's Director of Learning and Teaching, Beverlie Dietze.
Using a variety of techniques, participants will examine online pedagogy and ways in which learning and teaching strategies may be applied to support learner engagement in an online learning environment.
The course will be delivered using Collaborate and participants will need to be available online every second Thursday from 6-8 p.m. The cost is $165 plus GST.
Contact Mary Kline for more information or to register.
OC Honorary Fellows George and Trudy Heiss were fêted for their trailblazing efforts in the Okanagan wine industry by the Canadian Vintners Association, see Award of distinction in the Kelowna Daily Courier and Winery founders honoured in the Vernon Morning Star.
Honorary Fellow Dick Cannings was interviewed in Okanagan Life magazine about his new book, B.C. Roadside Naturalist.
Okanagan College professor Dr. Youry Khmelevsky received an NSERC grant for a project his students are doing with a local company, see Students making gaming faster in the Kelowna Daily Courier, and Two students help local tech company gain a competitive edge in the Kelowna Capital News.
Okanagan College is among several local organizations associated with the Okanagan Centre for Innovation, see Province adds $6M for tech centre and High-tech Centre approved in the Kelowna Daily Courier.
A Montreal poet has won the Kalamalka Press award, see Kal Press names winner of the John Lent Poetry Award in the Vernon Morning Star.
Okanagan College BCGEY vocational instructors have a new contract, see College staff ink new deal in the Vernon Morning Star.
Registrar Jane Muskens had two columns appear in the local press recently, see Education critical for a career in the Vernon Morning Star, and Without skills or training jobs won't drop in your lap in the Kelowna Capital News.
Therapist Assistant Department Chair, Brett Wade, and his wife, Instructor Siri Marken, have opened the Ekahi Center for Yoga and Mindfulness, see Maxine DeHart's column in the Kelowna Capital News.
Okanagan College Board of Governors' Vice Chair Connie Denesiuk has been acclaimed as the federal Liberal candidate for South Okanagan-West Kootenay, see New faces on the political scene in the Penticton Herald, and Conservatives, Liberals meet to choose candidates in the Okanagan Saturday.
Okanagan College's Continuing Studies Audio Engineering program graduates are part of a local band, My Side of the Mountain, see Band releases full-length CD in eVent.
A collaboration between Okanagan College and the British Columbia Wine Institute lets wine and food servers take a free online course to enhance their knowledge of vintages, varieties, and appellations, see the Vancouver Sun.
Do you have comments, questions or a submission for INSIDE OKANAGAN COLLEGE? Please email Public Affairs c/o Meredith Birchall-Spencer.
To ensure your submission is included, please send all details at least one day in advance of the newsletter's publication.
The next edition of INSIDE OKANAGAN COLLEGE will be issued on Aug. 12, 2014.
Back to Top | Okanagan College Homepage


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Google launches .dev, a new top-level domain for developers
By João Carrasqueira Neowin @indospot · Feb 19, 2019 13:38 EST with 13 comments
There's only so many good domains that can be created under the same top-level domain (TLD), so it's a common practice for companies to launch new TLDs for specific purposes, such as those aimed at gaming or other kinds of entertainment. Today, Google is launching .dev, a new TLD aimed at "developers, designers, writers and architects".
.dev websites are meant to be all about development and everything around it. To go along with the launch of the new TLD, Google has announced a number of websites that showcase what .dev domains will be used for. GitHub.dev offers a "personal website generator" for those looking to kickstart their own projects, while accessibility.dev is focused on inclusive practices when developing products. There are many others that are live right now, and more will likely start to pop up soon.
One good thing about .dev is that it all websites using it will be required to use HTTPS for connections, so you'll be kept safe while browsing.
The new domain will officially launch through registrars on February 28 for an annual fee, but you can get in on the action early if you're willing to pay a little extra. Starting today, you can snag your own domain as part of the Early Access Program. You'll spend a little more for being early, but the fee will get smaller as we get closer to the official launch.
Top-level domain
As part of cutbacks, Razer may have canceled the Razer Phone 3
Google announces a GDC keynote, possibly for its game streaming service
YouTube Music users can now seamlessly switch between just audio or the music video in Front Page News
Limbo is free to claim on the Epic Games Store for this week in Front Page News
Slack resets passwords for those 1% of users affected by a 2015 security incident in Front Page News
Google Chrome 75.0.3770.142 (offline installer)


Extend your school day with Fit For Sport and enjoy getting active!
Fit For Sport, the UK's leaders in engaging and educating kids through physical activity, will be running the After School Club at Shooters Grove Primary from September 2017.
At Shooters Grove, we believe getting active is the perfect way to kick off the start of a new term. Fit For Sport has planned lots of new and exciting activities to keep our pupils active and engaged whilst learning the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle.
The term will be filled with Super Sports, Crafty Kidz, Fit Fun and Team Tastic activity sessions, alongside a special Activity Challenge that takes place across all of the Fit for Sport schools.
We will also be making full use of Fit For Sport's revolutionary Healthy Active Schools System which enables schools to record, monitor and improve pupils' activity levels.
The provision is Ofsted registered and will provide you with the peace of mind that your child has access to a variety of opportunities and support beyond the school day.
For more information, visit www.fitforsport.co.uk or call 0845 456 3233 *please note calls to this number cost 3p per minute plus the customer's phone company access charge.
Alternatively, click on this link to be taken directly to the Shooters Grove booking page.
Sessions are booked directly with 'Fit for Sport' using the link above - sessions are to be paid for in advance and childcare vouchers can be used from all salary sacrifice schemes.
Book early to receive preferential rates.


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Lawwill Harley Street Tracker: Racer With Lights
Posted on January 9, 2018 January 9, 2018 by Alan Cathcart
Private test on Californian roads of the most authentic streetbike tribute to Harley-Davidson's four decades of dirt track dominance that money can buy
Harley-Davidson bosses had to have their corporate arms twisted by H-D Europe to produce the XR1200, as an overdue tarmac tribute to the dirt-track dominance of the iconic XR750 flat-tracker introduced back in 1972, and still winning AFT National races in 2017. But when it finally reached production in 2008 after being unveiled at the 2006 Intermot show in Germany, it was for European customers only. Yanks need not apply – well, not for another year till it finally reached US showrooms, only to be discontinued in 2012.
But at the end of the day, the XR1200 was still a modified Sportster made over to resemble an XR750 at first glance, with a powerplant delivering around 20 bhp more than the XL1200 motor it was derived from. But its porky 250kg/550lb dry weight that came via its stock Sportster frame, certainly impacted on performance – plus the XR750's key visual design cue of a pair of carbs parked on the right of the motor, wrapped with air cleaners to keep out the dirt, was missing on that fuel-injected streetbike, breathing through a central airbox. And the stacked exhausts were on the wrong side, too. As a racer with lights, it was about as close to an XR750 as a crossplane crank Yamaha R1 is to Valentino Rossi's YZR-M1 MotoGP bike – which is to say, still fun to ride, but by no means the Real Thing….
Just 20 bikes like this were built between 2006 and 2015, but Lawwill is still prepared to build another provided the customer furnishes his own pre-2005 non-fuel injected 1200 Sportster
That's where Mert Lawwill came in – and if you have to ask "Mert who?", then you've never seen the best bike movie of all time, the recently deceased Bruce Brown's On Any Sunday, and don't have a handle on AMA Grand National racing heritage. For Lawwill, 77, was AMA champion in 1969, the year before the movie was shot which chronicled Mert's bid to defend his title a year later. By the time Lawwill hung up his racing leathers in 1977, he'd amassed a total of 161 AMA Grand National race finishes during a 15-year pro racing career, including 15 race wins in each of the series disciplines (TT, Mile, Half Mile, Quarter Mile) except road racing, where he finished second in the 1965 Daytona 200. Mert became one of the top U.S. designers of motorcycle race chassis, before turning his expertise to the rapidly growing world of Mountain Bikes, developing a revolutionary bicycle rear suspension system which took the cycle industry by storm. Lawwill's offoad pedal-racing products became much prized by top riders around the world, and his Mountain Bike designs won numerous National and World titles, making him the only man to enter both Motorcycle and Mountain Bike Halls of Fame. And then, his wide-ranging talents led him to develop a prosthetic device that bolts on to the handlebar of any bike, with or without an engine, to enable amputees to get back in the saddle again, followed by a shock for the prosthetic hand which enables the user to handle violent impacts better. There's also a prosthetic elbow for above-elbow amputees, and around one third of all the prosthetic hands he manufactures go to military veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Finally, though, Mert Lawwill turned his attention to building a streetbike – not just for himself, but one customers could buy, too. "People had been after me for almost 10 years to build a Street Tracker, a motorcycle that looked exactly like a dirt-track racer, but was street-legal enough that you can ride through town on it," says Mert. "For many years I didn't believe there was a big enough market to support that, until finally back in 2005 I started to think – hey, it's time, the window's open. So I started developing the Lawwill Harley Street Tracker, and I've made 20 of them since then based on brand new XL1200 Sportsters. The price started out at $29,900, but gradually went up to $34,000 complete because of all the labour involved. But then Harley fuel-injected the Sportster for '07, so now a customer has to supply a pre-2007 Sportster as a donor bike, in which case I can build them a Street Tracker out of that for less money, and they'll have all the stock parts left over they can sell on eBay."
If ever a naked-but-unashamed streetbike had presence, it was this first-ever faithful replica of an XR750 flat-tracker to come with a VIN no. on the frame. That's instead of hanging lights and a horn on a retired racebike and hoping the cops won't notice you thundering along Racer Road, or producing a sort-of visual tribute to all Harley's dirt oval yesterdays – like the factory-built XR1200, or any of the Sportster-based specials produced by aftermarket firms.
Re-engineered rubber-mounted XL1200 Sportster engine has all-new cylinder heads allowing twin Mikuni flatslide carbs with K&N air filters to be hung on right side for correct flat-track appearance, unlike factory XR1200
To create a Street Tracker in the spacious workshop latched on to his Tiburon home on the scenic shores of San Francisco Bay – a stone's throw from the legendary Mount Tamalpais, where he developed his leading edge Mountain Bikes – Lawwill took a carburetted XL1200 Harley Sportster with rubber-mounted Evolution motor, stripped out the engine, handlebars, wiring loom and turn signals, detached the VIN plate from the stock frame, removed the cylinder heads – and then he was ready to start producing a streetlegal special with an original Harley VIN number, for ease of registration, post-construction.
The Street Tracker's air-cooled pushrod V-twin motor retained the stock XL1000 Sportster's 88.8 x 96.8 mm longstroke dimensions, but used special new heads cast by STD in Los Angeles, which swapped everything over to place the exhaust ports on the left side and the intake on the right, to mimic the XR750 flat tracker. "I had to modify the street engine so that not only in appearance did it seem to be a dirt tracker, but so that it performed like one, too," says Lawwill, whose reworked heads carried twin 38mm Mikuni flatslides, both now on the 'proper' right side, and each wearing a hefty K&N air filter. The relocated intake ports were now elevated to give dramatically better flow into the combustion chamber, which together with specially designed Andrews cams allowed the Street Tracker to deliver 92 bhp at the rear wheel at 6,000 rpm, with 115Nm/85ft-lb of torque. An H-D Screaming Eagle full race ignition system, and SuperTrapp stainless steel exhaust system were installed. "It was a 1200, so you didn't have to lean on it too hard to get quite a bit of horsepower," says Mert, although producing that much from a motor starting out with around 65 bhp, didn't happen overnight. The stock XL pistons were flycut for clearance, and the special two-valve cylinder heads had larger 1.875in intake valves but the same 1.60in exhausts, albeit with those completely reshaped ports. But stock XL1200 pushrods and hydraulic lifters still live in the engine, so today the Street Tracker motor runs quieter than most race bikes, and is as relatively maintenance-free as a stock Sportster. Lawwill also retained the standard five-speed Sportster transmission, with triplex chain primary and belt final drive.
Lightweight chrome-moly frame steers well, reduces weight by 100lb/45kg over stock Sportster, is stopped by 292mm Brembo discs – one at each end
The Street Tracker's lightweight 4130 chrome-moly steel twin-loop frame and aluminium oil-tank were built by one of Mert's former race mechanics, Jim Belland, at his shop in aptly named Cool, California. This housed the dry sump V-twin engine via the same rubber mounting lugs as the stock Sportster, with 43mm upside-down Showa forks sourced from a Buell Firebolt mounted at a 27° rake via the A&A custom triple-clamps delivering 99mm of trail, but just a single Brembo front disc with four-pot caliper – although the mounting lug was left on the other fork leg to allow doubling-up on stopping power later on. 19-inch flat-track style Kosman wire wheels with Excel aluminium rims carried Maxxis dirt track tyres with a special paved oval compound ideal for the highway, and the 3.5-US gallon aluminium gas tank was finished in a fetching shade of tangerine on all Street Trackers. The aftermarket lights included a small square headlamp that got you home at night if needed, subtly slotted into the big oblong No.1 raceplate to retain The Look. The race plate is actually the oil tank for the dry sump motor, which had to be relocated owing to shock placement. All the various brackets and plates needed to complete the bike were CNC-machined by Dave Garoutte at DKG in San Rafael, Ca. DKG also helped create the Street Tracker's unique Lawwill-patented Quadrilateral rear suspension system, which is a development of the system Mert developed so successfully for his Mountain Bikes, duly commercialised on the Fischer RS-1 sportbike, after realising that a lot of rider effort was being wasted on a conventional rear suspension system, in compressing the shock while pedalling.
"In the late 1980s I was riding my original Pro-Cruiser Mountain Bike with a rigid frame up on Mount Tam, and I came straight down the mountain at about 20mph – full white-knuckles death grip, sure I was going to die!" recalls Mert with a grin. "And then I thought – hey, wait a minute, if I was on my motorcycle, I'd come down here twice as fast, and wouldn't even think about it. So I realised, click – you gotta have suspension. This had been done for a few years already on bicycles, but had always been a disaster for two reasons – number one it added a lot of weight, but mainly the problem was it consumed pedal energy. So I thought – how can I design a system where you can pedal, but it won't drain the energy, and you still have suspension? That's how I wound up with the Mountain Bike frame designs I did, which each had two swingarms, one above the other. Being the power source, the chain was located above the lower arm, so any energy you put into the lower arm would tend to pull it up, the opposite of a motorcycle when you get on the throttle, when it tends to squat down and then drive. Well, I knew that wastes energy in your leg – so next I put the upper arm in, so now the opposite is happening. Now the chain is below the upper arm, so it's going to pull that arm down and the lower arm up – they're both tied together, so you can't pull either just on its own, meaning they cancel each other out, and all the energy you produce goes into forward motion. So I figured, let's try that out on the Street Tracker, where I've gone a step further, and located the four pivots in such a manner that it keeps the wheelbase constant relative to the countershaft sprocket – it's the same throughout its wheel travel, which was always a problem with a Harley. So now you have constant final drive tension – no matter where the wheel is in its rotation, the belt tension on the Street Tracker is still the same."
Lawwill's unique, patented, twin-swingarm Quadrilateral rear suspension provides excellent grip, good compliance and high ride quality – worth looking at for Superbike application
So the two swingarms mounted on the Street Tracker were connected at the rear via a vertical link, while the specially-made fully-adjustable Penske monoshock only connected the twin swingarms, and didn't actually attach to the chassis in any way, with provision for changing the ride height via a separate adjustment on the lower swingarm. "Penske designed and valved a special shock that works for the kind of energy that this system uses," says Lawwill. "The shock damping had to be considerably different, because the motorcycle no longer compresses the rear suspension – in fact, it does the opposite. So, when you touch the throttle the motorcycle rises, much like a dragster or any dirt track race car does – it'll rise and deliver the weight transfer that way, and then accelerate ahead. So the valving is almost opposite to what it is on a typical dirt track shock absorber." Another key benefit of the system is that the rear suspension remains unaffected by throttle operation – the fact that cracking the gas wide open on the Lawwill layout doesn't compress the rear shock, as otherwise happens on a conventional layout, means you can choose softer, more compliant suspension settings, without any risk of bottoming out the shock. This is especially useful with an engine as torquey as a V-twin Harley, where you often have to fit an unduly stiff spring to counter the effects of all that torque under acceleration, which negatively impacts compliance, control and comfort.
But for power-hungry Superbikers, the best is yet to come. "I built this system in the beginning to conserve rider energy on a bicycle," says Lawwill. "It also therefore conserves horsepower on the motorcycle, the reason being that the power is moved directly into forward motion, and in the case of a dyno test, it's going into delivering power directly to the rear wheel, rather than losing some in compressing the shock absorber spring. If you can imagine riding along a straight with the throttle wide open, the chain will be taut, which means you're wasting energy by keeping the suspension compressed when you don't need to. So we discovered by putting an XR750 motor on the engine dyno that it was giving out around 96-97 horsepower there – but then we put it in this chassis, and stuck it on a separate rear wheel dyno, and now we're up to over 100 rear wheel bhp! We actually got more horsepower at the rear wheel rather than less, since the energy was going to the dyno rather than compressing the spring. It's true rear wheel performance – no power losses driving the shock!"
Hmm, sounds too good to be true – so let's head off for the hills to see for ourselves. First off – no two ways about it: this is not a comfortable bike to sit on, because the Street Tracker's riding position prevents you putting both feet on the ground at a stop light, thanks to the carburettors hanging in the breeze on the right, and the only slightly less obtrusive stacked exhausts on the left. Ergonometrically speaking, this bike is very awkward to ride at low speeds or in town. However, that's not where or how it was designed to be ridden. So fire up the motor, listen to the glorious sound of thunder emanating from the twin stacked SuperTrapp exhausts, blip the throttle to keep it running – as you must, since the Street Tracker absolutely will not idle – relish the distinctive twitter from the throttles each time you twist your wrist, stab the street-pattern gear-lever into bottom gear, crank up the revs, and head out of town to the twisties. A treat lies in store.
At lower revs the Lawwill H-D is reasonably tractable, content to lope along in traffic off the cam without complaint, just as long as you keep the motor turning above 2,000 rpm, else it'll stutter and snatch the transmission. But when the road opens up and you can get 'er revving, the Street Tracker chameleon changes colour. Just as the needle on the tacho hits the 4,000 rpm mark, there's a glorious surge of power that'll swiftly have you practising your dirt-track technique on tarmac, as you use the wide handlebar to countersteer, and catch the rear Maxxis tyre as it starts to slide. Get the wheels in line, and the Lawwill Harley launches itself forward in an incredibly muscular, meaty way, accompanied by a vivid roar from the twin pipes. You can't fail but get a big buzz of exhilaration as it thunders forwards – but at a little over 6000 revs, it's all done, and you have to grab another gear in pursuit of more of that magical high end grunt. And as the Street Tracker accelerates, you're suddenly aware that it's actually rising slightly on the rear suspension as it does so, not squatting down to hunker along hard as most other bikes do, thanks to the unique Lawwill Quadrilateral rear end. What's more, running over bumps while accelerating hard leaned over, doesn't get the rear wheel chattering or the bike skipping around, as on most other motorcycles with this much muscle. You can feel road shock through the forks, but it remarkably doesn't impact the rear wheel anything like as much – this just follows the road surface very compliantly, and the ride quality is high for a hard-assed hotrod like this one.
The Brembo brakes stop the Street Tracker well, though it pays to use the rear one quite hard to help the same-size single front disc haul down a 450-pound motorcycle – 100lb lighter than a stock Sportster! – from terminal velocity. Doing that on most Big Twins would be a recipe for chattering the back tyre into turns, but not here. For not only does the Lawwill Quadrilateral rear end effectively eliminate time-wasting wheelies, but it also separates the dynamics of braking from suspension movement. That's because the rear brake is floating, and the torque arm runs from the floating brake to the frame, directing the energy there, rather than to the rear wheel. This means you use the rear brake harder than on other bikes, so Lawwill could get away with using just that single front disc and the consequent benefit of a reduction in gyroscopic mass, which makes the steering faster, easier and more precise than with a twin-disc set-up. That's also a factor in countering the heavier steering imposed by using the wide front Maxxis dirt-track tyre – the result is a score-draw, with extra grip from the fatter tyre, yet sharper steering from the Lawwill custom frame.
Exhilarating performance offsets uncomfortable riding position for street use on true racer with lights
The Street Tracker handles well on the hard stuff, and it's agile in turns thanks to the wide handlebar, with good feedback over all surfaces thanks to the Showa fork that works as well as on the Buell it's sourced from, and the soft rear suspension settings permitted by the special rear end. Only thing I didn't care for was the lack of stability at speed, where at anything over 70 mph or so the bike would start to weave slowly but deliberately in a straight line. Call it a shimmy rather than a shake, but it's a spinoff from using the dirt-track tyres. If you don't want as authentic a look, use regular Dunlop street tyres, and the problem goes away.
Mert Lawwill's 20-bike tribute to Harley-Davidson's decades of dirt-track dominance, a glorious history in which he played an honourable role, is indeed an authentic, well-performing motorcycle. But the dynamic benefits of its patented Quadrilateral rear end are certainly strong enough to merit attention from manufacturers of modern sportbikes looking to tame their 200-plus horsepower packages.
Posted in FeaturesTagged alan cathcart, harley davidson, mert lawwill


After this course you can work in gyms and deliver group exercise training sessions.
After this course you can work as a gym or freelance Personal Trainer.
After this course you can deliver group training sessions outdoors.
After this course you can work with clients who have certain medical conditions.


text:
require 'test/unit'

require 'rubygems'
require 'active_support'
require 'action_controller'
require 'action_controller/test_process'
require 'action_view'
require 'action_view/helpers'
require 'action_view/helpers/tag_helper'
require 'i18n'

begin
  require 'redgreen'
rescue LoadError
  puts "[!] Install redgreen gem for better test output ($ sudo gem install redgreen)"
end unless ENV["TM_FILEPATH"]

require 'localized_select'

class LocalizedSelectTest < Test::Unit::TestCase

  include ActionView::Helpers::TagHelper
  include ActionView::Helpers::FormOptionsHelper
  include ActionView::Helpers::FormTagHelper

  def test_action_view_should_include_helper_for_object
    assert ActionView::Helpers::FormBuilder.instance_methods.include?('localized_select')
    assert ActionView::Helpers::FormOptionsHelper.instance_methods.include?('localized_select')
  end

  def test_action_view_should_include_helper_tag
    assert ActionView::Helpers::FormOptionsHelper.instance_methods.include?('localized_select_tag')
  end

  def test_should_return_select_tag_with_proper_name_for_object
    assert localized_select(:user, :entry, :entries) =~
              Regexp.new(Regexp.escape('<select id="user_entry" name="user[entry]">')),
              "Should have proper name for object"
  end

  def test_should_return_select_tag_with_proper_name
    assert localized_select_tag( "competition_submission[data][citizenship]", :entries, :nil) =~
              Regexp.new(
              Regexp.escape('<select id="competition_submission_data_citizenship" name="competition_submission[data][citizenship]">') ),
              "Should have proper name"
  end

  def test_should_return_option_tags
    assert localized_select(:user, :entry, :entries) =~ Regexp.new(Regexp.escape('<option value="FR">France</option>'))
  end

  def test_should_return_localized_option_tags
    I18n.locale = 'nl'
    assert localized_select(:user, :entry, :entries) =~ Regexp.new(Regexp.escape('<option value="FR">Frankrijk</option>'))
  end

  def test_should_return_priority_entries_first
    assert localized_options_for_select(:entries, :entry, [:FR, :AD]) =~ Regexp.new(
      Regexp.escape("<option value=\"FR\">France</option>\n<option value=\"AD\">Andorra</option><option value=\"\" disabled=\"disabled\">-------------</option>\n<option value=\"AD\">Andorra</option>\n"))
  end

  def test_i18n_should_know_about_entries
    assert_equal 'France', I18n.t('FR', :scope => 'entries')
    I18n.locale = 'nl'
    assert_equal 'Frankrijk', I18n.t('FR', :scope => 'entries')
  end

  def test_localized_entries_array_returns_correctly
    assert_nothing_raised { LocalizedSelect::localized_entries_array(:entries) }
    I18n.locale = 'en'
    assert_equal 7, LocalizedSelect::localized_entries_array(:entries).size
    assert_equal 'Andorra', LocalizedSelect::localized_entries_array(:entries).first[0]
    I18n.locale = 'nl'
    assert_equal 6, LocalizedSelect::localized_entries_array(:entries).size
    assert_equal 'Andorra', LocalizedSelect::localized_entries_array(:entries).first[0]
    I18n.locale = 'fr'
    assert_equal 3, LocalizedSelect::localized_entries_array(:entries).size
    assert_equal 'blank', LocalizedSelect::localized_entries_array(:entries).first[0]
  end

  def test_priority_entries_returns_correctly_and_in_correct_order
    assert_nothing_raised { LocalizedSelect::priority_entries_array(:entries,[:UK, :FR]) }
    I18n.locale = 'en'
    assert_equal [ ['United Kingdom', 'UK'], ['France', 'FR'] ], LocalizedSelect::priority_entries_array(:entries, [:UK, :FR])
  end

  def test_priority_entries_allows_passing_either_symbol_or_string
    I18n.locale = 'en'
    assert_equal [ ['United Kingdom', 'UK'], ['France', 'FR'] ], LocalizedSelect::priority_entries_array(:entries, ['UK', 'FR'])
  end

  def test_priority_entries_allows_passing_upcase_or_lowercase
    I18n.locale = 'en'
    assert_equal [ ['United Kingdom', 'UK'], ['France', 'FR'] ], LocalizedSelect::priority_entries_array(:entries,['uk', 'fr'])
    assert_equal [ ['United Kingdom', 'UK'], ['France', 'FR'] ], LocalizedSelect::priority_entries_array(:entries,[:uk, :fr])
  end

  def test_should_list_entries_with_accented_names_in_correct_order
    I18n.locale = 'nl'
    assert_match Regexp.new(Regexp.escape(%Q{<option value="BE">België</option>\n<option value="HV">Cézanne</option>})), localized_select(:user, :entry, :entries)
  end

  class User
    def entry_1
      return 1
    end
    def entry_bl
      return :bl
    end
    def entry_uk
      return 'UK'
    end
  end

  def test_with_user_symbol
    @user = User.new
    I18n.locale='fr'
    assert_match Regexp.new(Regexp.escape(%Q{<option value="bl" selected="selected">blank</option>})), localized_select(:user,:entry_bl,:entries)
  end

  def test_with_user_string
    @user = User.new
    I18n.locale='en'
    assert_match Regexp.new(Regexp.escape(%Q{<option value="UK" selected="selected">United Kingdom</option>})), localized_select(:user,:entry_uk,:entries)
  end
  def test_with_user_fixnum
    @user = User.new
    I18n.locale='en'
    assert_match Regexp.new(Regexp.escape(%Q{<option value="1" selected="selected">test</option>})), localized_select(:user,:entry_1,:entries)
  end

  private

  def setup
    $KCODE = 'u'
    ['nl', 'en'].each do |locale|
        I18n.load_path += Dir[ File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'locale', "#{locale}.yml") ]
    end
    I18n.load_path += Dir[ File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'locale', "fr.rb") ]
    I18n.locale = 'en'
  end

end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: SQL date format being interpreted diff on diff machines User1 and User2 are connecting to the SQL Server Moon\SQL2k8R2 (Valuations database). Both are executing the same queries, passing date as an nvarchar in the below listed format. Earlier the user1 was passing YYYY-dd-MM and now gets an error message

Msg 242, Level 16, State 3, Line 2
  The conversion of a varchar data type to a datetime data type resulted in an out-of-range value.

User    Earlier             Now
User1   YYYY-dd-MM '2012-18-05' YYYY-MM-dd '2012-05-18'
User2   Never tried     YYYY-dd-MM '2012-18-05'

User 1 tells us that nothing has changed on their machine.
I have validated the keyboard, language and regional settings on both User 1 and User 2 settings and they both have UK (dd/mm/YYYY - 18/05/2012) settings.
I am trying to explain the possible reason for change in this behavior, any inputs appreciated!


text:
Karmakanic - DOT album review
Jonas Reingold's side- project Karmakanic can see your planet from here…
By Gary MacKenzie published 14 July 16
Originally established as a side project outside of his regular gig with The Flower Kings, Jonas Reingold's Karmakanic has developed its own life over the last decade or so. Fifth studio album DOT reunites bassist Reingold with regular fellow 'Makanics Göran Edman on vocals, keyboard wrangler Lalle Larsson, guitarist Krister Jonsson, and Nils Erikson on keys and vocals, alongside new boy Morgan Ågren on drums.
Quality stuff, suggesting greater things are possible.
Opening with God, The Universe And Everything Else No One Really Cares About Part 1, it's clear the boys aren't mucking about – this is an expansive, sweeping 24 minutes of odd-time instrumental workouts, gentle piano-based breakdowns, astounding drum fills, moody jazzy sections, repeated leitmotifs, and even a female/children's choir. Stylistically, it's vaguely reminiscent of both The Flower Kings and another Reingold-related band, The Tangent, but it manages to find its own voice. As with many multi-part works, it can seem a little disjointed, but repeated listens help make sense of the whole.
Fans of the long-form song are well-served, as second track Higher Ground, a bittersweet reflection on Reingold's upbringing in small‑town Sweden, also clocks in over 10 minutes. Perhaps as a conscious balance to the album's opening salvos, Steer By The Stars is a punchy, concise, melodic rocker, co-written by Andy Tillison, which marries upbeat pop-rock to lush instrumentation and some great vocal harmonies. It demonstrates both the versatility of the band and the strength of the Tillison/Reingold writing partnership, and suggests the pair really ought to work together more often. The last couple of tracks, Travelling Minds and …Part 2 of the album opener move into more thoughtful and contemplative territory. Fans of Reingold's playing will have a bit of a swoon at the intro to Travelling Minds, as smooth, jazz-tinged bass work glides over the acoustic guitar and piano backing.
Although not a concept album per se, DOT has a unifying thematic conceit – an exploration of the fact that all we are, all we know and millennia of human history, art and culture have taken place on this tiny dot of a planet adrift in a mind‑bogglingly vast universe. While not an entirely original idea, the band approach it in a number of ways, from the personal/individual stance of Higher Ground to the more global/metaphysical bent of the title track. This is quality stuff indeed, and easily withstands comparisons to Karmakanic's previous outings. It suggests even greater things are possible if Reingold can keep this line-up together.
Darkher unveils video for brand new single Lowly Weep


text:
From ancient times Athenry had been the radial centre of many trails. A traveller could take almost any road and follow it to a significant terminus. From the moment that Caroline settled into the stuffy interior of the Dublin Mail she felt the apprehension and excitement of a first-time traveller; this time she was venturing into unknown territory, and alone.
"You'll be back," Aunt Rose had said, hiding the wish in curtness.
"You'll be back," Conn said, hardly daring to meet her eyes lest he discover his tears.
"Please God, you'll be back," Martin Drynan said as he handed her into the coach. "Please God you will, for Conn's sake. He'll never love another woman the way he loves you; maybe no other man will love you as he does. I know the way he's made. He's like myself."
Hemmed in, alone, with the cloaked and muffled fellow-travellers, Caroline fingered the purse Martin Drynan had thrust into her hand at parting. It was more than money; it was a symbol of that unquestioning generosity which surrounded her Aunt Rose. Aunt Rose who had married the man who loved only one woman, had a freedom few women knew. If she had no child, she had everything else a woman of her time could have. Was Conn really like his father? Would it have been so bad to be queen of Moybranach, to ride with the Galway Blazers, to be the belle of many a hunt ball? To be loved truly, passionately for a lifetime?
Her mind settled for comfort on the last image of Athenry; the 15th Century market cross with its engravings of a crucifixion on one face and a virgin and child on the other. In the bustle about the stage coach, it had stood serene for centuries, a symbol of pain and hope.
As the coach rocked and swayed along the road to Mullingar, she focussed her thoughts on the city with its wide streets and fine buildings, its hurrying crowds of strangers. She had sent a message to Gwen. Would it have arrived in time? If no one met her, would she be able to find her way to Merrion Square; what a green country girl she was! The very thought of the city made her yearn for the sophisticated company of Nick Marsmain. If only he were by her side, the knight errant in the flesh. Her life had conditioned her to accept arrogance, even brutality as part of manly heroics. Owen belonged to the humble poor who were never heroes. In Hugh Ro she had seen the truly gentle man; there was nothing humble about him, but he was a poet which made him different, as a wandering friar might be; the poet and the priest were not judged by the normal standards. Fergal? What of him? She had never stood far enough off to see him as he was. He was nearer than anyone, unknown but yet so near; the circlet of gold about her thigh was like a handclasp on the bone.
So passed the long dull day. At noon they made a stop at a coaching inn. Towards dusk a steady drizzle set in. Soon the coach was splashing through puddles and pot-holes. The passengers sank into a resigned stupor. They were roused by a sudden jerk as the horses were reined to a halt.
"Confound these roads!" a passenger exclaimed. "Every time I travel by the Mail I wish most profoundly that the Grand Canal was completed. How pleasant it will be to glide in comfort across Ireland from the Shannon to the city. That is what I call luxury. Have you ever travelled .....?"
The coach door was flung open, cutting short the question. They caught a glimpse of a figure swathed in a long, dark cloak, hat drawn low, collar raised to hide his face; only the glint of his eyes could be seen. In his gloved hand they glimpsed a pistol.
"Get out all of you," he commanded gruffly.
"I thought the days of highwaymen were past," someone muttered.
"Not quite ..... not yet," came the gruff reply.
The highwayman had at least two companions. As he stood guard, pistol in hand, they made a rapid search of the coach and made the passengers turn out their pockets. Money and valuables, reluctantly displayed, were either ignored or restored almost at once. The travellers, relieved of nothing but their anxiety, were ordered back into the coach. All except the one female. A 'runaway' the protesting coachman was assured. A hand clasped firmly over Caroline's mouth stifled her protest. Two pairs of hands restrained her.
"Fetch her baggage!" the gruff voice commanded, "we have a carriage here."
In spite of her struggles she was bundled into a waiting vehicle; the door was slammed shut. The carriage appeared to be empty. She could see nothing in the dark interior. There was a murmur of voices, but she could not make out what her captors were saying. It seemed to satisfy the coachman for presently she heard the crack of a whip, the sound of hooves and the rumble of wheels as the Mail moved off. Almost immediately the carriage started and soon was travelling at a smart pace. She appeared to have a mounted escort; there was the sound of many hooves. It was not going to be easy to escape. It was easy enough to sit still for the carriage was well sprung and sumptuously upholstered. The gentle swaying motion was restful after the cramped discomfort of the Mail ..... soporific, in fact. There was a delicate, pervasive scent of some rare perfume; she could forget her dilemma and sleep and dream of exotic gardens.
Presently she became aware that she was not the sole occupant. There was a faint rustle, a muted cough, what sounded like a suppressed giggle.
"Well Caroline, do you find this mode of travel agreeable? I shan't believe you preferred the Mail Coach."
The husky, low-pitched voice was familiar. A soft hand was laid on hers. There was a whisper of silk, a touch of fur. It must be .....
"Oh Gwen!" she exclaimed, "Gwen!"
Then she was in her sister's embrace, a strong, soft embrace of affection, extravagant with perfume and fur and the touch of small, delicate hands. They clung together, laughing, till Caroline felt the tears start.
"But why, Gwen, why?" she gasped.
"For fun, Caroline. You like adventures, don't you? And to make sure you didn't lose your way, of course. You weren't frightened?"
"At first, yes; but nobody hurt me; in fact they were quite gentle. Who are they?"
"Actors darling. I persuaded them to play the part. They're very dear friends. We plotted the kidnap last night, after your letter arrived. You see we're all staying at Morry's country home ..... Lord Moreton's, I mean. He is a great patron of the arts ..... likes to give the players a holiday in the country now and then."
"Hostess, my dear. Morry has neither sister nor mother nor maiden aunt. I fulfil their roles to the best of my ability."
"The role of wife, Gwen, would not that be better?"
"Perhaps. But please let us talk about your affairs. Lucy has told me some things; but her letters are so peppered with social anecdotes, questions on fashion, exclamations ..... you know Lucy's way ..... I never get a complete story. One thing she has made clear: the handsome Captain Arthur Nicholas Marsmain, soon to be colonel of Huzzars, heir to the barony of Ballinmore is gone mad with love for my young sister. It's true Caroline, I cannot see you, but I feel you blush."
As they travelled on, Caroline told her story, leaving out only those episodes that were too personal and precious to herself. Gwendaline encouraged her to tell it lightly. They laughed a great deal over the duel between the aunts. Then Caroline grew grave.
"Poor Aunt Millicent!" she said. "Why didn't you come for her burial, Gwen?"
"I should have, but I did not get the news in time. I had to chaperone Dosia on a trip to Waterford with her betrothed; at least, I was supposed to chaperone; in fact it was I who needed chaperoning; you don't know how lecherous an old man can be with a dull marriage ahead of him and a light woman like me available."
"But you're not light Gwen."
"Perhaps light-seeming. My flirtatious manner, darling!"
The midnight flight, the Fermoy welcome party, the day of hunting were all recalled for Gwendaline's amusement. Caroline barely touched on the Bantry Bay episode, treating it, as seemed fitting, like another harmless adventure. She could hardly believe her own frivolity; it was the effect her sister had on her.
"Do you always find life amusing, Gwen?" she asked.
"I don't FIND it so; I treat it so; otherwise it might break my heart. But please go on, Caroline."
The encounter with Arabella delighted her. She knew Arabella very well, especially by repute; but there were things she would never tell Caroline.
"Who is Arabella?" Caroline asked.
"I can never be quite sure. Everyone has a different story. It seems she was brought up in a house of pleasure at Ringsend. She used to dance and sing to entertain the gentlemen ..... sailors mostly ..... when she was quite a child. They brought her baubles and sweetmeats. She was quite an attraction, and madam valued her highly, and took very great care of her ..... as though she were her own child. She had ambitions for her, some of which were realised when Arabella took the stage in Dublin."
"Whose child was she?"
"She was the child of some woman in the west. She was brought to madam as a baby by a travelling merchant ..... at least that is one story. It is said the traveller handed over a fat purse for her keep. Madam was his friend, he visited her establishment every time he was in Dublin ..... kept an eye, presumably."
"But who .....?"
"You will admit she is quite remarkably handsome ..... tall and stately ..... quite distinguished ..... and very overbearing, like some grand, impoverished queen who cannot forget her ancestry ..... not that I think she knows her true ancestry. If you overlook her foreign colouring, is there anyone she reminds you of?"
"Aunt Rose."
"Yes, Aunt Rose. I believe she is the child Aunt Rose bore to the dashing Spanish sailor ..... the master of the ship that used to put into the creek below Dunalla. You have seen the smuggler's caves; they used to be full of Spanish wine, great barrels of it."
"The smuggled wine that the Ferret made his fortune from?"
"Yes. There was a sound reason why he never betrayed our father."
"And the Spanish captain betrayed Aunt Rose!"
"That we shall never know. Maybe he meant to marry her. His ship was lost in Biscay Bay."
"Poor Aunt Rose!"
"Not so poor Aunt Rose. She had romance ..... wild moonlit nights of climbing out of Dunalla ..... wild nights in the arms of her dusky lover; there are few ladies of rank in Ireland who have had so much wild love. I hope it is all true; I pieced it together as best I could. Let's leave it as it is."
There was a short silence; then Gwendaline asked:
"Do you really love Nick Marsmain, Caroline? He is completely infatuated ..... cannot wait to wed."
"I do not want to be rushed."
"What if his ardour cools?"
"Gwen, do you really want to see me marry in haste?"
"No, Carrie; I want you to myself a while. There is so much to show you, so much to see; you have so much to learn, though, maybe, you would be better not learning it. The hazards of fashionable drawing rooms can be as grave as any. It will not be easy to play the role of my lady. The future Lady Ballinmore will have to do as her lord says, accept his judgement. You met Nick's mother ..... a model of formality, wouldn't you say?"
"She looked ill ..... and tired. And her eyes ..... she seemed to see ghosts."
"I know, Carrie. I'd hate to think you ever looked like that."
"But Nick is not so formal as his father ..... quite happy-go-lucky."
"Young noblemen usually do as they please. Nick, especially, has always done so. But the family code must be observed. Wives have a place to fill. In a way, they have a lot of freedom, but they must observe the formalities, keep up the facade of propriety. It often means putting manners before morality. A well-bred lady knows how to tell a bare-faced lie without a blush, or to cut an old friend dead without being impolite."
"Is it possible that I shall learn to do these things?"
"Too possible, my sweet sister. You may find there is ease in dissembling. You can have great liberty so long as you are not found out."
"Fergal!" she gasped, suddenly remembering.
"You must not breathe his name ..... nor remember him. He belongs to another place ..... another time. He may make what he wants to of his life. So must you. To me, Fergal is a mirage, not a brother; why I hardly ever saw him."
Gwendaline had said all she was going to say about Fergal. Her next question was about Lucy. What a relief!