text:
Comcast says $45-billion Time Warner Cable deal should win approval
L.A. Times consumer columnist David Lazarus gives his take on what Comcast's $45-billion purchase of Time Warner Cable will probably mean for consumers.
By Meg James and Joe Flint
Comcast Corp. expects a fight from media watchdogs over its $45.2-billion deal to acquire Time Warner Cable but is confident that the sale will receive approval from lawmakers and regulators.
"We believe this transaction is approvable," Comcast Chief Executive Brian L. Roberts told analysts during a Thursday morning conference call to discuss the all-stock deal that came together in the last few days.
Comcast stressed that the deal is not anti-competitive, primarily because neither Comcast nor Time Warner Cable have overlapping service areas. "I think we will get real scrutiny," Roberts said, but he noted that the deal "does not reduce competition in any market or in any way."
ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll
Roberts also said that "we believe this transaction will have significant benefits to consumers," pointing out that Comcast pledged to upgrade the quality and speed of Time Warner Cable's vast network and offer more innovative services -- such as selling movies directly to homes -- in order to better compete.
Comcast on Thursday unveiled terms of the agreement, which would give the cable giant nearly 30 million subscribers in the nation's largest markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington.
Comcast would have a presence in 19 of the top 20 markets of the U.S. -- an unprecedented reach for a cable and Internet service provider.
However, the merger would not give Comcast more subscribers than it had a decade ago, following two earlier mergers, when federal rules prevented a cable company from serving more than 30% of the nation's homes.
Comcast also said that, after the deal closed, it would divest about 3 million subscribers so that the company would not exceed 30 million cable TV and Internet service customers. Previously, the Federal Communications Commission imposed a cap on the number of subscribers, but those rules were tossed out by a federal court in 2009.
PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of movies and TV
When Comcast acquired NBCUniversal it went through a year-plus review process and had to agree to several conditions in return for approval of that merger. Comcast is still under that consent decree and indicated that it thinks most of the concerns regarding the Time Warner Cable deal are covered by that. Comcast also received approval for its blockbuster 2002 AT&T Broadband transaction that established Comcast as a Internet service powerhouse.
Comcast is betting that it can clear regulatory hurdles because the pay-TV landscape has gotten significantly more competitive in recent years. Telephone companies Verizon and AT&T, satellite TV companies and even Internet giants such as Google have jumped into the space, peeling off customers that previously were cable subscribers. Comcast said it expects regulatory approval by the end of the year.
But media activists don't share that view.
"An enlarged Comcast would be the bully in the schoolyard, able to dictate terms to content creators, Internet companies, other communications networks that must interconnect with it, and distributors who must access its content," said John Bergmayer, a senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge.
FULL COVERAGE: Winter TV preview
"What's more, it is simply dangerous for a large proportion of our nation's critical communications infrastructure to be in the hands of just one provider," he added.
Comcast would gain 8 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in the deal, which the companies would like to finalize by the end of the year.
"This combination is a truly special one," said Rob Marcus, Time Warner Cable's recently installed chief executive.
Time Warner Cable had earlier rejected a bid from Charter Communications to buy the company for $132.50 a share. Comcast's bid is $158.82 a share.
In Los Angeles, Comcast would take over Time Warner Cable's 1.5 million subscribers and its two regional sports networks. In addition, Comcast would take over Time Warner Cable's 26.8% interest in Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, which does business as SportsNet New York.
Comcast would acquire 100% of Time Warner Cable's 284.9 million shares outstanding for shares of Comcast common stock, amounting to approximately $45.2 billion in equity value.
Current Time Warner Cable shareholders would own 23% of Comcast. Shareholders of both companies must approve the deal.
Comcast strikes a $45 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable
Charter blasts Time Warner Cable management
Charter looks to Comcast for assist on Time Warner Cable
Get our L.A. Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city.
Meg James
Meg James is an award-winning media reporter, writing about the business of entertainment for the Los Angeles Times. She was the lead reporter for The Times' coverage of the deadly "Rust" shooting on a New Mexico film set in 2021, work recognized by the Pulitzer Prize board as a finalist in breaking news. A member of the Company Town team for two decades, James specializes in covering television, corporate media and investigative projects. She previously wrote for the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post. A native of Wyoming, she is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Columbia University.
Joe Flint
Joe Flint is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times.
Andrea Riseborough's 'To Leslie' heads back to theaters after best actress Oscar nod
The Razzies rescind nomination for child actor Ryan Kiera Armstrong after uproar
Commentary: It's not just the Oscars that fail Black women. It's the entire awards ecosystem
How to watch (almost) every Best Picture winner from 1927 through 2022
Latest Awards
How Andrea Riseborough pulled off that shocking Oscar nomination
Snub of Black performances in 2023 Oscar nods has some declaring #OscarsSoWhite again
Jamie Lee Curtis' reaction to her first Oscar nod is so pure: 'No filters. No fakery'
How Andrea Riseborough earned a surprise 2023 Oscar nomination for 'To Leslie'
'Everything Everywhere' stars rejoice as film leads Oscar nominations: 'Make art that leads us to heal each other'


text:
TV 'history guy' Dan Snow on new live tour, book and History Hit TV web channel
David Roy chats to TV historian Dan Snow about his new tour An Evening With The History Guy, his new book On This Day in History and the success of his online channel History Hit TV
TV historian Dan Snow is currently on his first ever live tour
Dan Snow presenting at Stonehenge for the Spring Solstice
TOP TV historian Dan Snow is hitting the road next month for the next leg of his new (deep breath) An Evening With The 'History Guy' On The History Hit UK Tour 2019, including a stop at The Ulster Hall in Belfast on January 30.
The events find The One Show regular sharing memorable anecdotes from his career as a historian and broadcaster, revealing historical facts about each city he visits and also fielding questions from fans.
"Doing live events is a huge treat because you get to meet people," enthuses Dan (40) when when I catch up with him on a rare day off.
"It's an enormous boost to the confidence to know there are people out there following what you do. The tour is the first time I've done this in an organised way where we've been able to build a proper show.
"It's a great chance to meet people and say thank you to those on whom my career depends."
As well as presenting his popular history-themed BBC documentaries, including the recent Operation Gold Rush with Dan Snow and National Treasures Live, Dan has also been running his own thriving online channel of podcasts and documentaries, History Hit TV, for the past year.
Additionally, fans can now enjoy his new book, On This Day In History: a handsome hardback ideal for stuffing the stockings of history hounds everywhere, it offers a concise summation of a different historically significant anniversary for every day of the year.
The son of veteran BBC journalist/presenter Peter Snow and nephew of Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow, London-born, New Forest-based Dan has been out and about with the new live show since the summer and it seems he's thoroughly enjoying juggling the various facets of his history-obsessed career.
"The tour started in June and I've been out filming, making podcasts and trying to get my new television channel off the ground – things have been slightly chaotic!" says Dan, who caught the history bug early through visiting various heritage sites with his parents and later went on to earn a degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford.
In fact, far from struggling to get off the ground, it would seem that History Hit TV is already flying high, no doubt fuelled by the tour and new book – every copy of which cannily includes a code for a free three month History Hit TV trial.
In November, the subscription-based portal enjoyed its most successful month since launching in 2017.
"That's right, it's really really exciting," Dan confirms. "We've had millions of downloads for the podcast and record numbers of people signing up to become subscribers. It feels like we might be on the verge of something big."
As for On This Day In History, its entries take a global approach to the past while covering an eclectic selection of 'genres' including social, military, political and scientific history.
For example, readers will learn that 'on this day' in 1783, William Pitt 'the younger' became British prime minister, surviving an initial wave of ridicule to become the second-longest serving PM ever.
The book also reveals that the date of the Belfast show coincides with the 369th anniversary of the first 'regicide' in history: Charles I's execution by order of Oliver Cromwell, whose corpse would later be exhumed and dragged through the streets of London by a vengeful Charles II.
"Anniversaries can be really useful starting points for learning about history," explains Dan of the book's format.
"They often make people start to think about the past for the first time – for example, recently we had the 100th anniversary of the first day of the Somme. So that's why I wanted to organise the book in this way."
It seems that, as well as the new tome being very much part of a career-long obsession with making the past more accessible from the present day, it's also a useful repository for the massive swathe of varied historical knowledge Dan has accumulated over the past 16 years since presenting his first programme for the BBC as part of its 60th anniversary special on the Battles of El Alamein.
"I spent my life being a generalist," he explains. "I've travelled around, I've been to abandoned World War II airfields in Northern Ireland, endless early medieval – what we used to call 'dark ages' – Catholic sites in the Republic, remote islands off the coast of Scotland near St Kilda and Norse churches in Viking Greenland.
"[The book] is just an opportunity to kind of scoop up all that research and put it into one volume – I didn't really know what I'd do with it otherwise."
And, although Dan admits it was a challenge to whittle the number of potential entries down to a pleasingly varied 366, a methodical approach and input from his publisher ensured that the book presents a broad spread of historical matters.
"You just sit there with a massive spreadsheet and have lots of wonderful discussions/arguments," he reveals. "It's great fun. History is not all about dead kings, old libraries and dust. It's everything. It's your parents' eyes meeting across a crowded room and why we are who we are and why we are speaking English and why it's acceptable for women and men to mingle together."
Indeed, those coming to see Dan in Belfast next month can expect an eclectic trawl through both history and the presenter's continuing career bringing it to our screens.
"I hope people walk out of the theatre saying that they had a really good time," he says. "I also hope they leave having thought deeply about the past of their town, their country and their world. History explains so much about today.
"Why can't you book a boozy holiday in Somalia? That is down to history. The country's instability is the result of colonial interference, food scarcity and the interference of America.
"If you're curious about the world today, history can help you understand it. It will also make you realise that we are so lucky to be alive today. It gives things a real sense of perspective."
ON THIS DAY IN IRISH HISTORY
Dan Snow's new book takes a global approach to historically significant dates – including plenty related to Ireland
:: February 22: Failed French invasion in Wales in support of Society of United Irishmen (1797)
:: March 17: Death of St Patrick (461)
:: April 10: Eruption of Mount Tamboa in Indonesia, ash cloud contributes to Irish Famine (1815)
:: April 23: Brian Boru vs the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf (1014)
:: April 24: IRA bomb explodes in London's Canada Wharf (1993)
:: September 21: Richard de Clare's troops invade Dublin (1170)
:: October 11: Oliver Cromwell slaughters thousands in Wexford (1649)
:: October 28: Dublin writer Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver's Travels (1726)
:: November 21: Bloody Sunday (1920)
:: November 30: Death of Oscar Wilde (1900)
:: December 31: Guinness Brewery founded in Dublin (1751)
:: An Evening With The History Guy, January 30, The Ulster Hall, Belfast. Tickets via Etickets.waterfront.co.uk. On This Day In History is available now, published by John Murray. Visit Historyhit.com
An Evening With The 'History Guy'
Ulster Hall
The One Show
22 December, 2018 01:00 Arts
More in Arts
Gig guide: Live music for the week ahead
Noise Annoys: Arborist man Mark McCambridge on new Sea Songs LP
Albums: New releases from Ed Sheeran, Freya Ridings, Ada Lea and Laville

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Nedbox focused on trading activities and promising projects, budding startups, allowing to flexibly act in changing economic conditions. Openness and transparency of the company allow us to function in a variety of industries.
Our success is determined a professional approach to each client, confidential and trusting relations with suppliers of products, market knowledge and ability to build long-term trade relations with producers and suppliers of products.
We offers the possibility of joint work with manufacturers, suppliers and buyers, on the territory of the Russian Federation, EAEC Union, so and his beyond. Our capabilities in of Chinese People's Republic, allows us to receive reliable information about the supplier, factory, and make inspections the supplied products on export from China.
Our investment program is aims at increasing the development of industry (heavy and light), construction, information technology, biotechnology, energy sector, in almost any field of activity which will be useful for development of subjects of Russia.
Our company works in the field of freight forwarding services, and today we are ready to offer our customers the best of quality, delivery times and cost ratio. With the ability to further support the cargo to full custom clearance.


text:
What is an 'anarchist jurisdiction?' New York City, Portland, Seattle get new designation from DOJ
Updated: Sep. 21, 2020, 1:09 p.m. | Published: Sep. 21, 2020, 1:07 p.m.
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020, in Londonderry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)AP
By Ben Axelson | baxelson@syracuse.com
The Department of Justice has designated New York City, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington as "anarchist jurisdictions," according to a list released Monday.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump instructed Attorney General William Barr to identify jurisdictions "that have permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities."
Such areas have now been designated "anarchist jurisdictions," and those three cities are the first to receive the label, although the DOJ said it is working to identify other cities that may meet Trump's criteria.
The designation means that these cities are at risk of losing federal funding and grants. The New York Post reports that White House budget director Russ Vought is set to issue guidance to federal agencies on withdrawing funds from the cities in less than two weeks.
"We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance," Barr said in a statement. "It is my hope that the cities identified by the Department of Justice today will reverse course and become serious about performing the basic function of government and start protecting their own citizens."
It is not clear how much money would be withdrawn from these cities, or if such a move would be legal. It will likely be challenged in courts.
The statement set out specific criteria for designating an anarchist jurisdiction, including:
Whether a jurisdiction forbids the police force from intervening to restore order amid widespread or sustained violence or destruction.
Whether a jurisdiction has withdrawn law enforcement protection from a geographical area or structure that law enforcement officers are lawfully entitled to access but have been officially prevented from accessing or permitted to access only in exceptional circumstances, except when law enforcement officers are briefly withheld as a tactical decision intended to resolve safely and expeditiously a specific and ongoing unlawful incident posing an imminent threat to the safety of individuals or law enforcement officers.
Whether a jurisdiction disempowers or defunds police departments.
Whether a jurisdiction unreasonably refuses to accept offers of law enforcement assistance from the Federal Government.
Any other related factors the Attorney General deems appropriate.
Specifically, in NYC, the DOJ listed the following reasons for its designation:
Shootings in New York City have been on the rise since looting and protests began on or about May 28, 2020. For July 2020, shootings increased from 88 to 244, an increase of 177% over July 2019. In August 2020, shootings increased from 91 to 242, a 166% increase over August 2019.
While the city faced increased unrest, gun violence, and property damage, the New York City Council cut $1 billion from NYPD's FY21 budget.
The budget resulted in the cancellation of the new police recruiting class, cuts to overtime spending, and the transfer of certain police functions, including school safety, out of the NYPD.
Meanwhile, the Manhattan and Brooklyn District Attorneys have declined to prosecute charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly arising from the protests, and the District Attorneys in Queens and the Bronx have declined to prosecute other protest-related charges.
Both Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo have forcefully rejected federal law enforcement support.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the move "another attempt to kill New York City," in a press conference earlier this month, adding Trump "better have an army if he wants to walk down the streets in New York City."
Cuomo and other Democratic mayors and governors in impacted cities say it is illegal for the executive branch to unilaterally withhold funding from their jurisdictions.
"I understand the politics, but when you try to manipulate and distort government agencies to play politics, which is what the Trump administration has done from day one … this is more of the same," Cuomo told NBC 4 New York in response to Monday's announcement.
"The president can't supersede the law and say I'm going to make those funds basically discretionary funds, which is what he would have to do," he said, adding, "if they actually do this, we will challenge it legally, and they will lose once again."


Halytska Street View 4-room Apt.
Property 1: Halytska Street View 4-room Apt.
Property 41: Apartments "The Cultural Capital"
Нова!!! Сучасна 2-кім. в Центрі.
Property 42: Нова!!! Сучасна 2-кім. в Центрі.
Lovely apartment so close to the centre!
We loved it. This place is just a 5 minute walk from the bustling old centre but far away from the noise and traffic. It is located on an old cobbled street next door to a fantastic "olde-world" café. The apartment was spacious, clean, the kitchen had all we needed, and the bathroom was large - with both a shower and separate bathtub. Alice was helpful and friendly. They have even prepared a booklet on all their favourite places which was really useful! The new modern shopping centre Forum is a short walk away and there is a 24 hour supermarket on the corner. We loved Lviv too.
Location, location, location!! A lovely, large and airy apartment in a great location in Lviv. The hosts were wonderful and accommodating, and provided valuable information about the area and nearby restaurants and markets. Its unusual to find two bathrooms and showers in Lviv apartments. Our party of 6 was very comfortable even on a hot day. We could not find a washing machine in the apartment though, and a few extra towels would be a welcome addition. We would stay here again and I will recommend this unit to friends.


text:
<!DOCTYPE html>

<meta charset="UTF-8">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="ssi.css">
<title>Login</title>

Header

            Wchodzę licytować!

		<form action="" class="form--add-offer">

				Twoja nazwa:
				<input type="text" name="login" value="login">

				Twoje tajne hasło:
				<input type="password" name="password" value="password">

			<input class="button" type="submit" value="Wejdź! Cuda czekają!">
		</form>

			Chcesz licytować? Zarejestruj się!

		<form action="" class="registerForm">
			<input class="button" type="submit" value="Zapraszamy!">
		</form>

Foot

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Last Friday was the conclusion of the "I Dig Zambia" virtual summer camp, co-organized by the Field Museum and Global Kids. I Dig Zambia was a two-week camp that brought together 19 teens from Chicago and New York to learn about paleontology, biology, and Zambian culture and politics in the virtual world of Teen Second Life.
Now that our teens have solidified their Second Life skills and learned how to work with their teams across cities during the first week, we ramped up our activities to be more intensive and collaborative. It was by no means an easy week for our virtual campers, but I think it was engaging, surprising, and often fun.
The most challenging and important activity of I Dig Zambia was the assembly and presentation of the fossil exhibits by the four teams of campers. This activity drew upon every bit of knowledge they had amassed about paleontology, their assigned fossil, and Zambia, and required that they work together collaboratively to finish their exhibits in a very short amount of time. That said, they did an outstanding job.
IDZ interns Nate and Chris worked together to create a realistic exhibit area for the teens exhibits, that helped everyone to mentally imagine their work in a real museum. Many of the teens were quite meticulous about the placement of their fossils, the associated images, text boxes, surrounding flora and fauna, and other details. Here's the Blue Team with their exhibit.
After placing their exhibits, we had the teams decide on representatives from Chicago and New York to come up to the mic and orally present their exhibit to the rest of the campers via Second Life voice. It was a nice way to summarize their research and get a sense of what it might be like to do this in real life. Here's one of our New York teens Amana presenting on behalf of her team.
In the second week of IDZ, the teens got a deeper understanding of the life of a scientist by interacting with the paleontologists in Zambia. We showed the teens several more videos sent back from the field and got to talk with them over satellite phone. Beth and I this week passed the phone around to our teens so that they could ask questions directly to the scientists, which greatly increased their engagement with the conversations. At the same time, the somewhat sketchy audio quality of the satellite calls made the discussions often difficult for the teens and the adults to follow.
This week our teens got to read more letters from the Field Museum videographers in Zambia about their experiences with Zambian youth, which our teens like a lot. The photos sent back help them get a better picture of life in rural Zambia.
And this week we got to see several videos of Zambian youth, including them singing and talking about HIV/AIDS and their somewhat problematic relationship with elephants.
Week Two we had an easier time getting our teens across cities to work together, now that they had several experiences together. That said, when they had questions or problems, our New York teens were more likely to ask their fellow New Yorkers in the room rather than their Chicago counterparts, a phenomenon I blogged about in another post.
Dividing them into cross-city teams was definitely the right thing to do, in general. It made our teens use of the virtual tools necessary for completing their projects, from public chat, instant messaging, sharing and manipulating group-owned objects, and drafting notecards of textual information.
On the final day of the camp, we decided to set up a Skype video call between the teens and have them all crowd around a screen to get to see each other in full video for the first time. They found this tremendously exciting and fun. It makes me wonder what the camp would have been like if we had included this earlier or more frequently.
Working with Second Life developer Amulius Lioncourt, we created a number of interactive experiences and games within Second Life to help educate our campers about various aspects of Zambian culture.
To demonstrate how Zambian communities cope with regular climatic changes in Zambia, we created a fishing experience for our teens. They were given fishing poles and led to a fishing pond where they could dip their poles in and see what they caught. Very few fish were caught by the teens, and they generally found this frustrating.
We used this as a jumping off point to talk to our teens about how communities deal with regular seasonal changes, and how interconnected their livelihoods are with nature's cycles. Truthfully, this experience was not as successful as we would have liked due to lag, delays in the scripted actions, and a truncated activity schedule.
Copper mining is the number one industry in Zambia. We created an experience to demonstrate what a hazardous and difficult job this was for the miners.
Each teen was given a pickaxe and told to mine in a cavern. Every few blows, they were awarded with one Linden Dollar, which is the equivalent of about 1/3 of a cent. In addition, they had a high likelihood of some kind of accident befalling them every few strikes, from a rock falling on their hand, contracting a kidney disease, or getting injured by mining equipment. To add insult to injury, I acted as the corrupt mine foreman, occasionally firing individual workers for various reasons.
We succeeded in our goal of showing how difficult and unfair the life of the average miner was in Zambia. What we didn't anticipate was one of our Global Kids teens Amana trying to organize the other workers to strike against the mine owners for better conditions! I should have known that our teens wouldn't take this exploitation lying down.
The IDZ educators wanted to create an experience that helped our campers learn about the complex nature of the relationship of humans and animals in countries like Zambia. We decided to focus on elephants, which both well-known African animals with both negative and positive connotations.
The campers were told that they had to farm two plots of land near their campsites. Beautiful acacia trees framed fields dotted with brownish plants. As the teens walked to their land and typed "plant crops," green plants sprung from the earth and swayed in the wind.
Then over the horizon, a mean elephant (me, wearing and elephant avatar) thundered over the hillside and trampled their crops, ruining the fields.
ephants ruining their crops. Some teens suggested we kill the elephants. We then told our teens to build a fence around their fields to protect them against the elephant, and then observe what happens.
The teens went to down on the fence-building activity, creating fortress-like structures protecting their small plots of land. One teen even succeeded in trapping the elephant in a cage, but another teen teleported the elephant out, which was hilarious.
While the teens were successful in protecting their crops, they noticed that many of their acacia trees started to die. These trees had small beetles on their trunks that apparently were responsible for their death. Beth explained that when the elephants feed off the acacia trees they facilitate colonies of ants living on the trees, which helps protect them from the beetles that destroy the plants. Thus, elephants have both positive and negative impacts on the landscape that need to be taken into account.
One of our most successful activities from last year's I Dig Tanzania was "avatar adaption." The IDZ teens also enjoyed this game, that let them show off their avatar customization skills.
Teach team was giving a different environment that they had to adapt their avatar to best survive within. One team was given the rainforest, another a deep cave, a third an icy snowscape, and a forth the desert.
Our last virtual activity was a fun one. The teens learned about the energetic muganda dance tradition of the Lusaka tribe and the kalindula music genre that is popular throughout Zambia and neighboring countries. Then they got their avatars dancing together on an outdoor dancefloor, surrounded by African animals and plantlife, laughing about the silly movements their avatars were doing.
We spent most of the final day of I Dig Zambia doing offline tours of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and the Field Museum of Chicago to get our kids up and moving. On the New York side, we focused on the "Wicked Plants" exhibit at the botanic gardens. It turns out the our educator Rebecca knew a surprising amount about botany, explaining the naming structure for plants, their different structures, and some of the more lethal varieties of plantlife.
Frankly, most of our kids were interested in just hanging out with each other as a group for the final few hours of I Dig Zambia. Some of them are graduating seniors off to college in the Fall, and the rest come from various schools around New York City. So it's unlikely that they will all be together like this again in the future, which was a sad realization for many of them.
The Chicago teens meanwhile got to do some African drumming with a couple of local musicians teaching the kids about the different beats and drumming traditions in Africa. Really fun!
Tashawna: My favorite IDZ experience was the dance party and the digging of the fossils. At the dance party I was the first to start dancing. We were dancing to music from Zambia. The beats were amazing. I was really dancing along with my avatar. Digging up the fossils was fun and quite a challenge. At first we didn't know how to dig up the fossils but after a while we got it. I kept getting my fossils stolen but it was alright.
Abraham: The activity that we did after seeing the video on the Grassroots Soccer was very helpful because I personally learned and I taught others about the effects of having HIV/AIDS in one's life with all the other things in one's life. I liked that because of the soccer activity that we did we worked as a team and fell as a team literally "doing push-ups".
Jovann: Learning in second life has been really awesome for me because I can't physically go to Zambia and dig for fossils and doing it on second life sped up the process because I don't think I have the patience or the skills to get the fossils out safely.
Shonell: My favorite experience in IDZ would most likely be just how we worked in second life. I say this because I have never been involved in second life before and just the thought of working as a character of myself have been very interesting. Also just because we got to socialize with other people it felt more comfortable doing it in second life than if I had to do it in real life.
Rowana: Over the past two weeks, I think that I have developed better communication skills. I'm a shy person and I'm not used to being thrown into problem solving situations with strangers, but IDZ forced me to communicate better with others. I'm not very into computer games or programs that use virtual reality, and so IDZ also helped me develop my technological skills.
More teen blog entries on the Global Kids blog.
This brief overview does not begin to capture the wide range of activities and experiences our young people went through as part of I Dig Zambia. There were many informal and formal, offline and and online interactions that occurred over the two weeks that I could spend many more pages of text describing. Fortunately, a team of researchers will be doing just that, going over the text logs, audio captures, videos, and pre- and post- evaluations to come to their own conclusions about how effective IDZ was as an educational project.
From my perspective, I Dig Zambia was an excellent demonstration of how groups of teens across distance can work together, connect with youth from other parts of the world, learn from researchers in the field, and collaborate in a virtual environment. Our campers learned about a part of the world they knew almost nothing about previously, gained a richer understanding of the field of paleontology, thought deeply about the challenges of HIV/AIDS, labor inequalities, climate change and human-animal interactions. And they had fun in the process.
computers, and cameras for the research and video teams in Zambia.
IDZ showed how virtual worlds like Second Life can be rich mediums for various forms of engaged learning, from 3D building to facilitated discussions to topical games. Combined with other social media tools like VOIP, web-based games, and video-hosting sites, these media offer young people experiences that can change the way they view the world and themselves.
While these virtual tools can not replace the emotional and psychological depth of connections in face-to-face settings, they can expose young people to ideas, information, and perspectives that are real and empowering.


Waaauw, what an amazing show!
You were almost 100 companies from all over the world visiting SWEET-SWITCH.
Sincerely, THANK YOU for your time, interest and the very positive vibe!
and of course the large range of tasty & healthy products.
Sugar free, healthy food is obviously high on everybody's agenda!
We were very excited to get your positive feedback on the innovations we've done.
The new fruit spreads, double choc brownies, waffles, candy and the new chocolates to name just a few. It stimulates us to innovate further, mirroring contemporary consumer needs.
We'll reach out to all of you in the coming days confirming the minutes of our meeting.
Thank you once again for your interest in SWEET-SWITCH and spread the word!


While I worked as a research assistant to a professor at a large Midwest university, she tossed editing into the mix of my job responsibilities. She had to publish on a regular basis and she knew I was good with words. My skills included the basics, such as grammar and syntax, and I am detail-oriented by nature, so it was a natural fit to polish her writing and learn publishing style guides.
She referred other professors to me for their editing needs and I found my niche because I've always been a word person. I pursued training in editing because I found the work satisfying and wanted to offer the best work possible.
For 16 years I edited academic work but over time decided I prefer to edit fiction because of the power of storytelling. I began the transition not only to fiction but also to freelancing. Owning an editing business fit better with my desire to stay home with my children. With years of editing experience behind me, I still love to say editing is my passion. I find so much satisfaction in this work.
Learning is another passion so I pursue professional development by taking courses related to writing and editing, networking with other writers and editors, and reading. I still edit for academics but I find fiction done right has the power to transport the reader to another time, another place, and even another dimension.
I love to write. My home is near Indianapolis, the "crossroads of America," and here you see my my work space. My children are grown now and I take joy in two grandchildren. When I'm not combining fresh, whole foods into marvelous meals or struggling to learn the harp, I battle the weeds in my flower gardens.
Yard work can be tedious in hot weather. Have you ever noticed how a fresh breeze on a sweaty day brings a different perspective to the physical labor? This is what I bring to your writing project: the freshening wind of a professional viewpoint.
Besides for a bachelor's degree from Indiana University, I hold a MediaBistro certificate in editing, which helped expand my editing world to include fiction and eBooks. I belong to the Editorial Freelancers Association and Copyediting-L and am pursuing a membership in the Society for Editors and Proofreaders.
Welcome to Cypress Wind. If you are ready for help to bring out the best in your writing, please check out the Services I offer.


The LSAT test-writers must have some serious faith in you! They know that after five sections of intense logical reasoning, reading comprehension, and logic games, you will have the energy and willpower to write a wonderful essay on any random topic. Sounds great, right? Well, maybe it doesn't sound so exciting at first.
But, thankfully, you can prepare for a pretty straightforward writing topic that will not stray too far from topics of the past. The main theme for LSAT writing sample topics could be described as "Making a Choice" (the LSAC calls them decision prompts). If you're familiar with the basics of the LSAT writing sample, let's move forward and take a look at some summaries of past LSAT writing topics and the general themes they've come under.
For its new Arts & Leisure column, the Tribune must choose between a theater review and a restaurant review. You must help them choose one over the other, considering two major concerns–increasing circulation/advertising and helping revitalize the Lakewood district.
A landscape architect has to choose between partnering with a larger firm or continuing to work for himself, considering his reputation and interest in the work he's doing.
The Wangs must choose between two summer programs for their ten-year-old. They must consider how the summer care would add variety to their child's experience and how easy transportation will be for them. Each of the two programs has pros and cons that may satisfy one consideration or the other.
Hopefully this sampling of writing topics will help you feel more comfortable tackling the LSAT. You can practice at home by using the full prompts from the LSAC's page on the writing sample. Finally, Magoosh's video lessons on formal logic and flaw questions are great tools to understanding how to spot a flawed argument and avoid making one yourself–essential skills for the writing section.


The featured trainers for the 2010 Hoop Prospects Showcase will be former Chicago Bull & 3-time World Champion, Dickey Simpkins and Mike Lee, Founder & Owner, Lead Skill Development Trainer at Mike Lee Basketball. Currently, Dickey Simpkins is the founder and head trainer of Next Level Performance (NLP). NLP is an exclusive personal basketball skills training company that helps student and professional athletes improve their basketball skills and reach the optimal level of conditioning and performance. Mike Lee is known throughout the country for individual player skill development. He has been a speaker at several events and has also recently authored several instructional workout DVDs including 25 Killer Scoring Moves Secrets of Unstoppable Shooting & Secrets of Unstoppable Guard Play.
Players will be evaluated by top coaches and skills trainers in two separate skills training sessions. In addition, each player will compete in 2-3 scrimmage games with equally balanced teams in the presence of top rating services, high school coaches and top AAU programs. This is a wonderful opportunity to be trained by the best, play with the best, compete against the best and, most importantly, show off your best!
Only 100 athletes will be accepted. Please call today and make your reservation to attend. Please contact Hoop Prospects at 847-963-9600 or info@hoopprospects.com.


text:
Sustainability In Ecommerce: How To Create More Sustainable Supply Chains
Last year, a container ship called the Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal. The event became meme fodder across the Internet, as news sources showed held-up cargo ships and worried crews desperately trying to free the transport from Egyptian sand.
At first, the story seemed like diversionary news. How much, after all, could one ship really cost the world?
As it turned out, a lot: it would disrupt $60 billion in global trade.
Here's how we saw companies building sustainable supply chains in the uncertain geopolitical environment of 2022:
What is a sustainable supply chain?
The importance of a sustainable supply chain
Supply chain sustainability trends and stats
Sustainable supply chain best practices and innovations
Examples of sustainable supply chains by other ecommerce businesses
What can other businesses learn from these sustainability practices?
Supply chain sustainability defined
A sustainable supply chain is one that considers the environmental and social impacts of your products, from sourcing and manufacturing to the end of the product life cycle.
What is sustainable supply chain management?
A sustainable supply chain represents more than a commitment to environmental and social impact. For a supply chain to be "sustainable," it has to meet a few criteria. The supplies themselves should be sustainable, such as using recyclable materials in packaging. Production and delivery should be as low-emission as possible, while the socioeconomic impact on factory or fulfillment workers promotes fair treatment.
Supply chain issues in 2020 through the present have highlighted how a healthy supply chain can impact business growth:
Sustainability is also a logistical issue: without reliable supplies, companies quickly run out of environment-friendly options. After 2021—a year in which supply chain issues forced companies to turn to expensive high-emissions air freight—businesses are looking for ways to achieve sustainability in every facet.
Can a supply chain be truly sustainable in 2022?
The good news: the demand for sustainable products is as strong as ever.
According to Capgemini's Circular Economy for a Sustainable Future report, around 80% of consumers place a high premium on "saving the planet for future generations." A Forrester report from 2021 saw a majority of consumers concerned about the impact of climate change on society. According to the same report, a majority of consumers typically buy from brands that share their values.
Today's businesses are reworking their supply chains in kind, and it begins with packaging. Packaging alone is responsible for 50% of annual global waste production, according to the Circular Economy report.
Apple, for example, has committed to eliminating all plastic in its packaging by 2025. Since 2017, the company has used 100% "responsible sources" in the wood fiber that goes into its packaging.
The COVID-19 pandemic—and consumer reliance upon at-home delivery—made packaging the most visible part of a sustainable supply chain. McKinsey writes this is the key element in the new trends in packaging, forcing suppliers to rethink their materials.
Last March, McKinsey updated its data and saw a sustainable supply chain growing only more important.
McKinsey identified sustainability and digital ecommerce as megatrends shaping our current age. And while packaging is the most visible part of a sustainable supply chain, it remains one piece of a complex global puzzle.
Climate change and global warming are the single largest threats contributing to supply chains globally. Many countries have already had significant shortages and increase in cost associated with updating legacy practices to combat climate change. Due to the cost increase, people have already started to feel their wallets affected when purchasing goods."
—Stedman Cleveland, CEO & Co-Founder of Aura
A sustainable supply chain represents more than a commitment to environmental and social impact. Supply chain issues in 2020 through the present have highlighted how a healthy supply chain can impact business growth.
Increased revenue. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives like a sustainable supply chain have a demonstrable impact on business growth. According to McKinsey, "ESG performers enjoy faster growth and higher valuations than other players in their sectors, by a margin of 10 to 20 percent in each case."
ESG performance. As more companies look for ways to improve ESG, the supply chain represents the majority of opportunities. More than 90% of the environmental impact of most consumer goods comes from the supply chain.
Better supply chains also improve global impact. Businesses concerned about forced labor practices or the high-emission extraction/processing of fossil fuels can mitigate these problems by looking to the supply chain first.
The geopolitical upheaval at the start of 2022 has highlighted the need for stable, sustainable supply chains—so much so that the overarching trend has become the story of supply chains themselves. The phrase "supply chain" has never been so prevalent in the earnings calls of major companies.
There's a reason for this: supply chain challenges have never taken such a bite out of business earnings. This is likely due to sustained demand in the face of geopolitical uncertainty, first from COVID-19 and now from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The damage to the bottom line highlights the need for sustainable supply chains. Gap, for example, turned to air freight to fill in the gaps in its supply chain. This swung the company from a $234 million profit in one quarter to a $16 million loss in its most recent quarter.
Another option for increased sustainability, carbon credits, can be just as expensive. Supply chain challenges helped contribute to an explosion in carbon credit costs in 2021. In some cases, carbon credit prices catapulted nearly 1,000%.
One pitfall is relying too much on carbon credits to offset emissions. Challenges to these credits have come to light recently. If you do go this route, be sure that you can stand behind how they work. Share it openly with your customers on an FAQ page. The less ambiguous climate initiatives are, the fewer customers will challenge them."
—Frazer Kinsley, Director of Consulting Services at 3PL Central and Managing Partner of Kinsley Partners
Casey Armstrong, CMO at ShipBob, shared that, internally, the company witnessed up to threefold increases in carbon credit prices over the past six months. Despite this, Armstrong believes a cost increase is the only way to go in certain situations, with carbon offsets "part of doing business, and not an option to dismiss."
Research from Deloitte suggests multi-pronged supply chain strategies like diversifying suppliers can help in 2022. Executives from 41% of companies report they will diversify suppliers in 2022 to help offset sudden changes in the supply chain.
Today's brands face sustainability challenges when supply chains break down. In 2021, those reasons were typically as follows:
Turning to expensive air freight to supplement supply chain holes
Shipping delays in a high-expectation consumer environment
Over-reliance on single suppliers
Turning to expensive (and high-carbon) air freight
When a single bottleneck shows up in an established supply chain, companies turn to the easy, convenient solution: flying over it.
The problem with air freight is it's expensive; it creates high emissions per pound delivered. CO2 emissions from air freight are a small fraction of the overall carbon puzzle, but air freight has outsized impacts on pollution. Despite constituting only 2.5% of total carbon output, commercial aviation makes up 3.5% of warming effects.
Even worse, the carbon footprint of air freight tends to be no better than packing your supplies into a car and simply driving it to the destination.
For comparison, even an oil tanker only contributes about 1% of the carbon footprint as air freight does, when weighed in grams per cargo mile.
And the trend isn't going anywhere. By 2050, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute anticipates air travel will have tripled in its carbon footprint. It's not only carbon-expensive, either. For Gap, turning to air freight forced the company from hundreds of millions in profit to a $16 million loss.
Shipping delays meeting high expectations
Businesses don't turn to expensive, higher-carbon air freight without good reason. In 2021, that reason was that global supply chains couldn't keep up with demand.
According to a Gallup poll, 60% of customers couldn't purchase an item in the summer of 2021. Not far behind, 57% of customers reported noticeable delays in receiving shipments.
If air freight is the symptom, shipping delays are the underlying cause.
The supply chain disruptions of 2020 and 2021 showed how reliant the world has become on a steady stream of cheaply-shipped goods.
When a company can rely on a single manufacturer with a steady, secure supply chain, the arrangement locks in inventory and creates a predictable carbon footprint.
But when there's a logjam at the Port of Los Angeles, preventing inventory from arriving via large container vessels (3.0 grams of carbon per tonne-km of cargo), it forces companies to use alternative methods of delivery.
Delivery by truck tends to be 26 times less carbon-efficient as large container vessels. Delivery by air? 145 times.
With multiple sources of inventory, a company at least has the choice to select the most sustainable option for deliveries.
How are today's businesses adapting when it comes to building a sustainable supply chain that doesn't fall to the whims of unpredictable demand trends?
Elevating chief supply chain officer and operations positions. Modern Retail writes that over the previous year, retail companies began appointing new chief supply chain officers at higher rates. These leaders can then begin diversifying their suppliers and optimize supply chain operations.
Flexible contracts. Making fewer static commitments (such as fixed, long-term contracts with suppliers) helps companies shift to changing trends. "Flexible contract manufacturing enables companies to replace more of their traditional fixed cost base with variable costs to adapt to changing demand," says Jeff Langely of KPMG Australia.
Diversifying supply chain sourcing. In 2021, a McKinsey report found that two-thirds of organizational ESG commitments come through its suppliers. By carefully choosing diverse suppliers, businesses can have the greatest impact on sustainable practices. This is especially important in an environment with unpredictable supply shocks.
The latter may be the biggest trend emerging. Last year, corporate reporting references to supplier diversity saw a major upswing:
To build sustainable supply chains, more and more companies are going to the supply chain's starting point. This helps promote industry in developing economies, where sustainable practices may still need financial support for growth. It also helps each company grow less dependent on single sources, making commerce more resilient to geopolitical supply shocks.
Understanding the trends in sustainable supply chains is only one side of the coin. It also helps to know what specific brands are doing to meet the increasing need to build durable, sustainable supply chains.
What it did: Bed Bath & Beyond launched eight owned brands in 2021, touching core product segments like kitchen/dining and storage/organization.
Why it works: While this helps differentiate the brand's products from other offerings, launching its own brands provides the benefit of a more diversified—and resilient—supply chain strategy.
What benefits it ties to: Ownership and control over operations. Bed Bath & Beyond now has greater control over what goes into its supply chain, including sustainable materials. In its new initiative, it claims at least 50% of cotton and wood is responsibly or sustainably sourced, and that less than 50% of packaging weight is from virgin plastic.
What it did: L'Oréal adopted a new focus on agility, evolving its supply chain toward the goal of reducing its greenhouse gas contributions by 50%. By the end of 2020, many of its distribution centers already achieved the goal of using 100% reusable plastic.
Why it works: Acceleration. L'Oréal recently sped up its solidarity sourcing initiatives to diversify its supply chain. The company also incorporated a program of demand sensing anticipated planning (using data operations to improve demand forecasting) to avoid supply chain challenges caused by inaccurate estimates.
What benefit it ties to: In addition to the environmental results, L'Oréal's agile strategy will give it the ability to respond in real-time to market expectations. In other words, its supply chain is more sustainable and resilient.
Egglife
What it did: Egglife, an egg-white-based food wrap brand, brought on Cynthia Waggoner, formerly of Kraft Foods, as a lead supply chain officer.
Why it works: Egglife uses cage-free egg whites from American Humane Society–standard sources. Though Egglife was founded only in 2019, the company's rapid growth—recently expanding to 8,000 outlets—required a dedicated supply chain officer who could help sustain growth without sacrificing these standards.
What benefit it ties to: More and more companies are finding that supply chain hires, or elevating operations positions, are paying dividends in logistics. Egglife anticipates doubling its production capacity in 2022 while remaining committed to cage-free eggs.
Given what businesses are doing to build more reliable and sustainable supply chains, what can we learn? The following trends kept showing up throughout 2021 and into 2022.
Elevate supply chain leadership within your business
At-home grocery orders in the US accelerated from $1.2 billion in August 2019 to $6.4 billion by October 2021. This helped feed the growth of companies like Egglife, as well as Supernatural, a direct-to-consumer baking brand.
Supernatural started with a head of operations working on a contract basis in 2021. Egglife hired a former Kraft executive as its top supply chain officer. Placing greater emphasis on building sustainable, scalable supply chains has kept both companies growing without overwhelming current leadership.
Elevating supply chain leadership has another benefit: connecting to and building relationships with suppliers. "Brand and supplier relationships need more than just financial benefit," says Adii Pienaar, founder of Cogsy, an operations-focused software. "It also needs flexibility, predictability and longevity to create a true partnership that ensures that brands always have enough product to sell to their customers."
For example, Jordi Beneyto-Ferre, Senior Manager of Global Materials and Sustainability at apparel brand Icebreaker, calls 100% traceability and transparency between companies and suppliers the "key to sustainable price chains."
It's through Beneyto-Ferre's leadership and a commitment to sustainability, Icebreaker is able to enforce strict partner requirements to its fabric mills, suppliers, and distribution center partners. Everything from wastewater compliance to avoiding restricted substances goes through the supplier-seller relationship. These partners also share data, creating better forecasts for shifts in supply and demand.
Rather than just collecting large swaths of data, businesses that actually connect that data to gain a holistic view of front- and back-end information will see significantly more ability to pivot and align with vendors who run sustainably.
—Jenn Vande Zande, Editor in Chief, FCEE at SAP
Diversify supply sources to help promote ethical worker treatment
L'Oréal's commitment to solidarity sourcing highlights an advantage of diversifying supplies: it pays real dividends in ESG efforts. L'Oréal began new purchasing strategies in 2020, exposing its supply chain to more remote, underprivileged areas in China.
The project, dubbed Plants like No Other, united several brands: L'Oréal, Yves St. Laurent, and Lancôme. Together, these brands used their buying power to promote employment opportunities for working women in China. L'Oréal reports the project helped 913 people (two-thirds of whom are women) work full-time.
In doing so, these beauty brands added a new leg to its supply chain while also doing good.
Reduce single-use packaging whenever able
In 2019, the ecommerce industry used almost 2.1 billion pounds of plastic—a number expected to double by 2025. Recent estimates suggest that trend is not slowing. According to Gartner, even commitments like those of Apple and Bed Bath and Beyond aren't having a big impact on the overall trend.
The key problem: single-use plastics. Companies will have to adapt to future regulations, such as a UK law requiring a tax on plastic packaging in 2022.
According to S&P's Sustainability Yearbook 2022, an assessment of several thousand companies, finding sustainable packaging alternatives continues to be a major industry trend driving product development and innovation.
The yearbook recommends focusing on the following packaging materials:
Certified and renewable raw materials
Reusable packaging
Woody Hambrecht, co-founder of Haus, only sees more of these laws coming into effect. "We're already seeing reusable shipper boxes starting to be mandatory in parts of Europe," he says.
Learn from people who've done it before
We asked Jacqueline Marisa Rideout, a Manager of Supplier Diversity and Sustainability with 10 years of experience, how she would advise businesses looking for more sustainable supply chains in 2022. Here are her takeaways:
Don't let diversification of suppliers relax your standards. Every company, Rideout says, should reinforce its commitment to sustainability. Diversify only with suppliers who can meet the criteria you establish. She recommends using an RFI (request for information) to start these new supplier relationships.
Focus on transportation. Rideout calls transportation the largest impact on a company's sustainability. Efficient routes reduce travel and therefore emissions. To accomplish this, Rideout recommends limiting LCLs (less-than-container loads) and maximizing container utilization. Other practices, like updated refrigeration equipment in warehouses and reusable packaging, also have lasting effects.
Optimize your network. Map out your supply chain from beginning to end, identifying key locations for warehousing and distribution centers based on your customer locations.
Maggie M. Barnett, COO of ShipHero, agrees, noting how ShipHero has optimized its network to increase sustainability. She calls last mile one of the points of "biggest impact" in the supply chain.
Domestically, merchants have the opportunity to deploy a distributed warehouse network model, where the product is strategically placed in zones where demand is highest. This allows merchants to continue to meet rapid shipping speeds, while keeping product transportation on the ground to decrease reliance on airplanes for fast delivery.
—Maggie M. Barnett, Esq., COO of ShipHero
Creating more sustainable supply chains
Building a sustainable supply chain is not a single initiative. To meet the needs of an evolving and complex world, a supply chain needs to be responsive to shifting demands in packaging and carbon emissions.
McKinsey argues that sustainable supply chains are built at the organizational level. Companies succeed with ongoing optimization efforts aimed at improving sustainability. Even better, they can set performance-based targets to track their progress.
Today's top brands are making commitments to better-sourced materials. They're elevating supply chain executives to positions of higher leadership. Ultimately, they are making a sustainable supply chain a priority.
If companies are going to live up to their ESG commitments, it has to be.
This originally appeared on Shopify Plus and is made available here to cast a wider net of discovery.
The Key To Setting Yourself Apart In The Automotive Industry
How $100 Bottle of Hot Sauce Brings the Heat and Virality
Latest posts by Kaleigh Moore (see all)
How Ecommerce Brands Can Prepare For The Web 3.0 "Sea Change" - September 20, 2022
Instagram Influencer Marketing In Ecommerce: Everything You Need To Know - July 6, 2022
Influencer Marketing: How To Build A Profitable Influencer Program Without Sacrificing Revenue - July 6, 2022
20+ Small Business Lending Statistics You Need To Know Before Applying For Financing
From Likes To Dollars: Here's How To Sell Your Products On Instagram In 2021


text:
NASD Library
NASD is using Smore newsletters to spread the word online.
Get email updates from NASD:
Follow NASD Library
Contact NASD Library
Summer before 9th grade
Spend your summer exploring new titles!
*Images and book descriptions provided by Destiny and Sora title records, as well as publishers and Goodreads.
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school, after all, her family is black and rather poor, especially since her mother died; instead she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to elite Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine--but when that scholarship falls through she is forced to turn to her school's scholarship for prom king and queen, which plunges her into the gauntlet of social media which she hates and leads her to discoveries about her own identity and the value of true friendships.
Turtles All The Way Down by John Green
Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there's a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett's son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. "A place," he said, "where learning is a game."
Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym "Truly, Devious." It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.
True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.
Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story) by by Daniel Nayeri
At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls 'Daniel') stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment he, his mother, and sister fled Iran in the middle of the night, stretching all the way back to family tales set in the jasmine-scented city of Isfahan, the palaces of semi-ancient kings, and even the land of stories.
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
For as long as she can remember, it's been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up in the 1990s as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn't always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together.
So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother's announcement that she's getting married—Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn't understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends at home and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn't fit in with her new stepfamily. And worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to—her mother.
Then one day Robin's mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined.
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America; Edited by Ibi Zoboi
Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it's like to be young and Black in America
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother's religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami's determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she doesn't know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can't stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
An intimate portrait of two men who cherish the slim bond between them and the dream they share in a world marred by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. Clinging to each other in their loneliness and alienation, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie dream, as drifters will, of a place to call their own—a couple of acres and a few pigs, chickens, and rabbits back in Hill Country where land is cheap. But after they come to work on a ranch in the fertile Salinas Valley of California, their hopes, like "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men," begin to go awry.
Of Mice and Men also represents an experiment in form, as Steinbeck described his work, "a kind of playable novel, written in novel form but so scened and set that it can be played as it stands." A rarity in American letters, it achieved remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films. Steinbeck's tale of commitment, loneliness, hope, and loss remains one of America's most widely read and beloved novels.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The first ten lies they tell you in high school.
"Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say."
From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.
In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka
In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett's family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett's life. His father is a mystery -- Jarrett doesn't know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents -- two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through with raising children until Jarrett came along.
Jarrett goes through his childhood trying to make his non-normal life as normal as possible, finding a way to express himself through drawing even as so little is being said to him about what's going on. Only as a teenager can Jarrett begin to piece together the truth of his family, reckoning with his mother and tracking down his father.
Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive.
Time Bomb by Joelle Charbonneau
A congressman's daughter who has to be perfect. A star quarterback with a secret. A guy who's tired of being ignored. A clarinet player who's done trying to fit in. An orphaned rebel who wants to teach someone a lesson. A guy who wants people to see him, not his religion.
They couldn't be more different, but before the morning's over, they'll all be trapped in a school that's been rocked by a bombing. When they hear that someone inside is the bomber, they'll also be looking to one another for answers.
World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people—adults and children alike—aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.
Told in alternating points of view...this masterful work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff—the greatest maritime disaster in history. As she did in Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity and love can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett's father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.
But this year, Scarlett's long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval's mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season's Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner. Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.
Warcross by Marie Lu
For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game—it's a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.
Convinced she's going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika's whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she's only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.
Internment by Samira Ahmed
Rebellions are built on hope.
Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.
With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.
Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.
Connect with NASD Library


text:
Q: Azure Data Factory data flow writing to sink also creates an empty blob file I'm new with Azure Data Factory and their data flows. I've created a data flow that compares existing and new data based on an md5hash and writes the inserts/updates to a parquet file in ADLS. However, when writing to the sink with folder path: containername/target with filename option Pattern and the pattern being concat($TargetFileName, toString(currentUTC())), it created a folder 'target' (as I would expect) but also an empty blob named 'target', which I don't understand and can't seem to figure out why it also creates a file.
Any suggestions on how to stop it from creating the target file?
sink
sink settings

A: If you are using Azure Blob Store as the target and creating a new folder, ADF must place an empty file in that new folder in order to create that folder. This is an Azure Blob Store requirement.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This circuit works by using a simple voltage divider to control a transistor, and a LDR (Light Dependant Resistor) to make it sensitive to light. An LDR is a simple component, which works in the following way: The more light there is, the lower the resistance, the less light there is, the greater the resistance.
When the light level is low (the fridge is closed – no-one is trying to steal your food!), the LDR has a very high resistance (~1-10MΩ) and so, because of ohms law, it drops the majority of the voltage in the circuit across it, leaving only a small voltage to the base of the transistor, and so the speaker is off.
However, when the light level is high (someone is trying to steal your food!), the LDR has a low resistance (~400Ω) and so, based on the same law as previously, it drops only a very little amount of voltage across it, leaving a high voltage at the base of the transistor, and turning it on.
Here is the breadboard layout for the project, and below are the photo's we took when we built it up ourselves!


We believe in building relationships and fueling the passions of those around us; this desire is the fundamental lifeblood of our work. We seek to transform partnerships into families while perpetuating a shared passion that strengthens each individual and spills over to our community.
Creative Manufacturing is a collaborative atmosphere that allows the deep breath of imagination to occur by breaking down the walls between visionary innovation and conventional manufacturing. By providing a collaborative environment, Bird on the Wire Studios invites businesses to partner with artists, makers, designers, and creative visionaries to expand beyond the present boundaries of design and production. This new paradigm builds relationships and provides the Bird on the Wire Studios team an opportunity to invest into each project as if it were our own. It is through collaboration with one another that we produce truly unique works that authentically represent a passion shared between friends.
do you have an idea or project?


text:
Axel Alonso () is an American comic book creator and former journalist, best known as the former editor in chief at Marvel Comics, a role which he held from January 2011 until November 2017.  Alonso began his career as a journalist for New York's Daily News. He later worked as an editor at DC Comics from 1994 to 2000, during which he edited a number of books published under their Vertigo line, such as Doom Patrol, Animal Man,  Hellblazer, Preacher, and 100 Bullets. In 2000 he went to work for Marvel Comics as a senior editor. While there, he edited Spider-Man and X-Men-related books before ascending to vice president, executive editor in 2010, and editor in chief in January 2011, replacing Joe Quesada. He has also worked as a writer and inker.

Early life
Alonso's father is from Mexico, and his mother is from England. A native of San Francisco, Alonso earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and politics from University of California, Santa Cruz and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Career
Alonso began his career as a journalist for New York's Daily News. He also worked as a magazine editor before he entered the comic book industry. One day, he saw an ad in The New York Times for DC Comics editors and thought it would be fun to interview, never thinking he would actually be offered a job, though he ended up being hired by the publisher.

Alonso's first published work for DC Comics was Doom Patrol #80 and Animal Man #73, which were published in July 1994, the latter of which was part of the company's Vertigo line, which publishes books in genres such as horror and fantasy aimed at mature readers. Other Vertigo titles he edited until 1999 included Garth Ennis' Preacher, Black Orchid, Kid Eternity, Hellblazer, Unknown Soldier, 100 Bullets, and Human Target.

In late September 2000 Alonso went to work at DC's main competition, Marvel Comics, as senior editor  where he worked on Spider-Man books such as The Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: Spider-Man. His first published work as editor was The Amazing Spider-Man trade paperback that collected issues #30 - 32 of that title, and was published in 2001.

Alonso spent more than a decade as an editor at Marvel, working on some of its most notable characters. In 2001, he began editing The Amazing Spider-Man. He would continue on the title during J. Michael Straczynski's critically acclaimed run on the title, which began in 2003. It was also in 2001 that Alonso helped to create the a Marvel MAX line for mature readers.

In 2002, Alonso, then a senior editor, had lured Frank Cho to Marvel on the basis of Cho's comic strip series Liberty Meadows. Alonso approached Cho to revamp the third-string character Shanna the She-Devil, a scantily clad jungle girl whom Cho recast in a seven-issue, 2005 miniseries as an Amazonian naïf, the product of a Nazi experiment with the power to kill dinosaurs with her bare hands but an unpredictable lack of morality.

Alonso is also credited with bringing crime writers to work on Marvel titles including Duane Swierczynski and Victor Gischler.

Alonso edited stories featuring the Western character Rawhide Kid, the first of which was the 2003 biweekly Marvel Max miniseries Rawhide: Slap Leather by Ron Zimmerman and John Severin, which drew controversy for its depiction of the titular character as a homosexual, albeit through the use of innuendo in the book's design and dialogue. The series was labeled with a "Parental Advisory Explicit Content" warning on the cover.  Alonso stated of the miniseries, "We thought it would be interesting to play with the genre. Enigmatic cowboy rides into dusty little desert town victimized by desperadoes, saves the day, wins everyone's heart, then rides off into the sunset, looking better than any cowboy has a right to." Alonso would later edit the 2010 miniseries Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven by Zimmerman and Howard Chaykin.

Although primarily an editor, Alonso also wrote Spider-Man: One More Day Sketchbook, a 2007 tie-in book to the "Spider-Man: One More Day" storyline, and inked issues 3 and 4 of the 2008 miniseries NYX: No Way Home.

Alonso would also oversee critically acclaimed runs on X-Men, such as "X-Men: Messiah Complex" (2007–08) and "Curse of the Mutants" (2010–11).

He was promoted to vice president, executive editor in early 2010, and oversaw cross-promotional projects such an issue of the ESPN The Magazine, which depicted several NBA basketball players as Marvel superheroes. The issue was published in October 2010 by ESPN, which like Marvel, is owned by parent company Disney.

In July 2010 Alonso and fellow Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort began a weekly column on Comic Book Resources called "Marvel T&A", a new installment of which appears every Friday, along with Joe Quesada's "Cup O' Joe" column.

On January 4, 2011, Alonso was named editor in chief of Marvel Comics, replacing Joe Quesada, who was named chief creative officer the previous June. In attaining the position of editor in chief, he became only the third person in 15 years to hold the position, and one of the few in the company's history to gain it "without tumult or corporate bloodshed".

The last few years of Alonso's tenure as editor in chief saw Marvel deal with both dwindling sales and public controversies. In May 2016 a storyline that saw Captain America transformed by timeline manipulation into a double agent for the evil, Nazi-like organization Hydra prompted such criticism that Marvel released a statement indicating to readers the character would eventually be reverted to his original benevolent, patriotic identity, which occurred in August 2017. In April 2017 Marvel was subject to substantial criticism on social media after statements made by Vice President of Sales David Gabriel in an interview with ICv2 were understood to mean that retailers attributed poor sales of Marvel books to the company's effort to promote diversity with prominent non-white and non-male characters in starring roles in its books. Gabriel later clarified his words, and stated that Marvel was not abandoning such characters. On November 17, 2017, in the wake of these of controversies, Marvel announced Alonso's replacement as editor in chief by C.B. Cebulski. No reason, however, was given for Alonso's departure or future career plans, though Marvel indicated that Alonso's departure was mutual. In a statement on Twitter, Marvel stated, "Axel Alonso leaves an incredible mark at Marvel. His vision shaped some of our most iconic Super Heroes and stories. We wish him the best."

In 2019, Alonso founded a new comics publisher, Artists, Writers and Artisans as the chief creative officer, or AWA Studios, reuniting him with former Marvel Publisher Bill Jemas. The publisher announced that its first slate of titles would include books by creators such as Peter Milligan, Frank Cho, and Christa Faust. One of its early publications was The Resistance, a miniseries by J. Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato, which depicts a global pandemic caused by a pathogen that kills 95 percent of those infected, leaving the remaining 5 percent with superhuman abilities. The series, which was intended to establish a new superhero universe, debuted on March 18, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold in the United States. The series garnered positive reviews, achieved a rating of 9.0 out of 10 at the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, based on 20 reviews.

Personal life
Alonso and his wife have a son named Tito who was 11 as of March 2014.

Awards

Wins
 2004 Eagle Award for Favourite Comics Editor
 2006 Eagle Award for Favourite Comics Editor
 2010 Eagle Award for Favourite Comics Editor

Nominations
 2007 Eagle Award for Favourite Comics Editor
 2008 Eagle Award for Favourite Comics Editor

References

External links

American writers of Mexican descent
Comic book editors
DC Comics people
Living people
Marvel Comics editors-in-chief
Marvel Comics people
Marvel Entertainment people
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Off Canvas Navigation Container
Closer Trigger (Container)
Search (Mobile)
Main Navigation (Container)
Dominican Mission
Veritas Magazine
Fast Facts(opens in new window/tab)
Tuition, Scholarships & Financial Aid
Viewbook 2021-2022
Welcome, Class of 2025!(opens in new window/tab)
Departments & Courses
Academic & Wellness Counseling
College Acceptance List
Schedules and Games
Athletics Practices Calendar
International Travel and Service
Spirituality & Service
Welcome, Class of 2025!
ParentsPlus Portal Login(opens in new window/tab)
FACTS Tuition Management(opens in new window/tab)
Spirit Wear Store
Health Requirements to Attend School
Family Portal(opens in new window/tab)
Alumnae Association Executive Board
Alumnae Events & News
Alumnae Update Form
Class Representative Listing
Spirit Wear Store(opens in new window/tab)
Endowed Naming Opportunities
Annual Giving Reports
Auction & Benefit
Utilities Navigation (Mobile)
Log In Button
Quicklinks Navigation (Mobile)
Mobile Menu Trigger (container)
Search Trigger (Container)
We are D.A.
Since 1897, Dominican Academy (D.A.) has ranked among NYC's best high schools. Sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Peace, D.A. is dedicated to academic excellence and community-building through study, prayer, and action.
We are where your future begins.
D.A. unites academic rigor with a family-like atmosphere. Small classes and personalized attention ensure that every student is known and encouraged to reach her unique personal and academic goals. We invite you to bring your gifts to our community and shape our future!
We are scholars.
At D.A., learning is personal. Our well-rounded curriculum offers a variety of paths to academic success and draws upon the strengths and talents of each individual student. D.A. stands alone as the only all-honors high school for young women in New York State.
We are teammates and champions.
At D.A., excellence extends beyond the classroom to the court. Our student-athletes learn valuable lessons in leadership, teamwork, and discipline as members of our Varsity teams: Basketball, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Cross Country Track, Indoor and Outdoor Track, and Volleyball.
We are leaders.
D.A. students cultivate their interests and form lasting friendships through our academic and extracurricular programming. Students at every grade level enjoy opportunities for leadership, personal growth, and exploration.
We are family.
Our families form the backbone of our community both during and after your child's time at 44 East 68th Street. We partner with families to provide a superb educational experience and work tirelessly to help each student reach her fullest potential.
We are your home-away-from-home.
Dominican Academy alumnae are always welcome to come home to their beloved alma mater! We invite you to remain engaged in the D.A. community and committed to our continued success through our Alumnae Association, special events, and giving opportunities.
We are grateful.
Since 1897, Dominican Academy has offered a high-quality and affordable education in the tradition of St. Dominic. Our distinguished traditions are sustained through the generosity of alumnae, parents, and friends of the school community. Learn how you can support Dominican Academy's legacy of excellence.
*Please note that stats quoted are for the 2020-2021 academic year. Please refer to our website for the most up-to-date information.
All admissions decisions for the D.A. Class of 2026 including Acceptance, Acceptance with Scholarship, Waitlist, and Rejection will be sent electronically on Wednesday, January 19, 2022 after 4 PM and hard copy through USPS.
If you submitted an application for the Class of 2026 and did not receive an admissions decision, please contact Ms. Madeleine Metzler, Director of Admissions, at admissions@dominicanacademy.org or 212.744.0195, ext. 131.


text:
MI SUCCESS STORY: IRVING VICTORIA
Irving Victoria is a young Mexican film composer who, from early on in his life, was surrounded by music in his home. When he was 15 years old, Irving was inspired by Jordan Rudess, keyboardist and composer of Dream Theater, to study music and be the best at it he could be.
He eventually enrolled at MI, and after graduating with an Associate of Arts in Performance (Keyboard,) he attended the UCLA Film Scoring Program. He started his music career by playing keyboards with various Grammy Award winning artists like Chino y Nacho, Diego Torres, David Bisbal, and Tommy Torres, among others.
Irving said of the curriculum at MI, "What I learned from labs like Open Counseling and LPW (Live Playing Workshops), which ended up being classes that changed my life and made me the musician I am today."
Irving's music has been featured in over 100 television shows on networks like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Fox, MTV, Hallmark, Discovery Channel, NatGeo, History Channel, Bravo TV, E!, A&E, Syfy, NBC and Animal Planet. He has also worked on video games and movie trailers like, The Amazing Spider Man 2 and The Elder's Scroll: Back to Morrowind.
Irving has also worked on films and TV shows from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, like Das Boot, Tatort, Wilsberg, Mean Flesh und Blunt and the International Emmy Award winner show for Best TV Movie/mini series, A Day for a Miracle.