Booking early meant we could choose the maximum group size (6). More people means it's a bit cheaper.
You really only see the donkeys and their handlers at the camp and then briefly as they jog past you on the trail.
The agency we chose was Peruvian Andes Adventures and they were faultless. The guides, cooks, transport and general organisation were spot on. They also have a hotel standard guest house in Huaraz which was perfect for pre and post walk stays.
Despite the 4 days acclimatisation, walking uphill at over 4000 meters in altitude still took a while to get used to. The third lung just doesn't grow that fast! Cordillera Blanca is a little lower and not quite so cold overnight, so going in that order worked very well. With the less exertion required for the guided option, going to both locations in the one holiday also worked out really well and meant that by the time we got to the over 5000m meter pass in Cordillera Huayhuash, we were well acclimatised and weren't even really struggling with the breathing at altitude.
I was asked to compare the two cordillera given we were going to one after the other. It's a bit of an unfair comparison for Cordillera Blanca because we had some unseasonal rain there and also being better acclimatised at Cordillera Huayhuash I think meant we were able to relax and enjoy it more. Cordillera Blanca has a lot more vegetation and wild flowers than Huayhuash, but both have their spectacular peaks and passes.
Rocotto Relleno sure beats any trail lunch I've ever made myself!!
There were stars!! The only issue with seeing the stars was the frost formed on the tent pretty early in the evening, so it was a little cool going out to take any night time photos.
Stunning images! What sort of photographic gear did you carry?
I carried a tripod, dslr, wide-angle lens, 24-105mm lens and a 100-400 zoom. I didn't really make much use of the big zoom, but until you go you don't really know what opportunities are going to present themselves.
Fantastic photos, thanks for sharing! You're certainly not making me any less excited for my trip to South America next year... I just wish it was now!
Out of interest, how did you find the temperatures whilst you were there? What was the lowest you had overnight? We are most likely going to be there sometime around April/May, so not too dissimilar to you.Did you bring your own sleeping bag, mats etc, or was everything provided by the company? Were there any side trips on either walk which you would rate as can't miss? Any other day walks you did from Huaraz that you particularly enjoyed?
Hi biggbird - Happy to answer a few questions. Temps during the day were pretty good - I was mostly walking in a light icebreaker 150 t-shirt with one of their long sleeve 260 tops once the day warmed up and a heavy fleece on before that. Overnight was quite cold especially in the Cordillera Huayhuash with frost on the tent every morning, ice in puddles and frozen mud (easier to walk on than bog!). I didn't have a measuring device so I can't tell you exactly how cold it was, but I would guess minus 5 to minus 10. I found wearing my heavier down jacket over my lightweight down jacket quite comfortable at night though! April can still be wet and we had some rain into May, so make sure you have very good wet weather gear if you're heading to the mountains in April especially. We took our own sleeping bags and mats, but you can hire them.
On the Alpamayo Circuit, we had extra days either side of Alpamayo to walk up the side valleys to the base camps closer to the mountains, both of which were good. There is a few options in places at the Cordillera huayhuash - where possible, just go higher is the best advice! The Peruvian Andes Adventures web site has some maps and itineraries that show where we had extra days, but not all the side walks we did on the rest days were well marked.
Day walks, we did the Laguna Churup day trip first which is fairly close to Huaraz. It's only 6km long - but it goes to 4600m so for your first day walk at altitude, assume 5 hours. Yes FIVE hours for SIX kms. Second up we did the walk to Laguna 69 which is further from Huaraz, so longer travel time and a longer walk at 13km. It's longer at altitude, so I found by the time I got to the lake, progress was very slow indeed! They are good acclimatisation hikes and Churup followed by 69 is the best order. They are both nice walks in themselves.
Hey Deadwood, thank you for answering all the questions! Very helpful. Sounds like a -9C sleeping bag for me, and a -15C for my other will suit just fine. I had heard of those two day walks from Huaraz, Laguna 69 looks lovely! Did you get much wind whilst you were in either range?
And just to confirm, frozen bog is definitely the best sort of bog.
Hi biggbird, we really only had wind over a few passes like caracara pass in the Cordillera Blanca. Once over the pass it settled down again, but you definitely want to be carrying a windproof jacket for going over the passes.
Excellent stuff. You chose probably the best company in Huaraz.
Nice one! Thanks for posting. My partner and I were there in June doing Ausangate and Alpamayo. I'm getting there with the trip reports. We went independently, which was great, but carrying a tripod and a big zoom was a bridge too far - it would have been nice to have a horse to carry them or me!
Drew wrote: Nice one! Thanks for posting. My partner and I were there in June doing Ausangate and Alpamayo. I'm getting there with the trip reports. We went independently, which was great, but carrying a tripod and a big zoom was a bridge too far - it would have been nice to have a horse to carry them or me!
Almost done with the first one!


Jean is an As sociate Clinical Director for the Duke Heart Network. She earned a BSN in nursing from the University of Toledo and the Medical College of Ohio in 1985. Jean moved to Durham in 1987 to begin work at Duke University Hospital, spending the next 22 years as a staff nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, being heavily involved in shared governance activities and operationson theunit, hospital and health system levels, earning an Excellence in Nursing Leadership award from the Duke University Health System Friends of Nursing organization. In 2005, Jean completed a dual degree, MBA/MHA, from Pfeiffer University. After 22 years at the bedside, Jean broadened her career by becoming a member of the Duke Heart Network team in 2009. Jean brings her strong clinical experience and certification as a Six Sigma Green Belt to the team.
Jean's clinical interests include performance improvement, heart failure, cardiovascular and surgical intensive care practice as well as staff development and education.


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storm-event
storm events: 10th April, 12 April and 14 April 2018
6.00pm Update 17 April
There are six faults remaining which we are actively working with line owners on resolving.
Thank you to all those who were without power during this massive storm response. Your patience and understanding is appreciated. We all pulled together to help each other and the community spirit is clearly alive and well.
We do understand how difficult this was for some of you. The magnitude of this storm resulted in massive damage to our network and to private lines.
A huge thank you to our wonderful crews and support staff for your efforts to get our power flowing. If there are any outstanding issues where we haven't been in contact please call us on 0800 100 202.
8.00am Update 17 April
All private service line work will be completed today except for those very complex jobs that require multiple new poles and complete rebuilds. Have you been contacted by us recently? If you haven't and your job is still remaining, please call us on 0800 100 202 to confirm you are still without power. Thanks for your patience as we clear these final private service line jobs. If you require assistance, Auckland Civil Defence can help. Call us and we can arrange this.
Crews have been working steadily and we're currently at 50 properties with an outage at this time on these service lines. Some outages will get resolved tonight still however most of the crews will be stood down soon for some mandatory and much-needed rest so we can complete these final faults tomorrow. Please plan ahead. The crews will be out at first light tomorrow refreshed and ready to resolve these final outages.
Crews are working quickly on these service line outages and from 175 outages remaining this morning we're now at 78. They are doing their absolute utmost to get these remaining jobs completed by nightfall tonight. Have you been contacted by us recently? If you haven't and your job is still remaining, please call us on 0800 100 202 to confirm you are still without power. Thanks for your patience in really difficult conditions as we clear these final outages.
Crews are out working on those remaining private service faults aiming to get them all completed today. Please note the Storm warning we've posted and the MetService update - with thunderstorms and wind gusts of 100km/h expected on our West Coast again...... We're hoping this new storm front won't cause more damage to our network or hinder our crews in their efforts to get those remaining properties up and running.
To give you an idea of the magnitude of what our crews have been dealing with - we've had 1949 faults since Tuesday night when the first storm hit. That's four times larger in scale than the storm we had in January. At this point, we've completed 1790 of those jobs. Thanks to the crews for all their work and also to the additional crews from Wel Networks and the contractors we've brought in to help. It's been a huge effort and they're still hard at it to restore those remaining faults.
So we're currently sitting at 175 properties with a power outage however more than 50% of these have part-power. Crews have been working hard to repair these remaining faults which are scattered around the region. Our aim is to get all the final jobs completed tomorrow.
Please be assured that our crews are working as quickly and as safely as they possibly can to restore power. Thank you for your patience in really difficult conditions as we clear these final outages.
We're working steadily through those individual faults and some private service line jobs. The team's been calling to check on all jobs in the system. If you haven't heard from us, please contact us on 0800 100 202. If you have booked a contractor to fix your service line please let us know so it saves the crews time. Please check the outages map on the website if your outage is on a private service line. If your job says 'On Hold' we need you to confirm with us that you want us to complete work on your private line. Call 0800 100 202. Check the outages map at www.countiespower.com/outages.
They've been back at it since first light again and are making really steady progress on those individual faults. Priority work are those of you who have been without power since the first storm Tuesday night, then Thursday's storm then the electrical storm yesterday.... Our crews will be starting work on private service lines too.
Our office teams are calling everyone to check your status - but to ensure we have your fault logged - please call us on 0800 100 202 just to make sure your job hasn't slipped through the cracks given the huge number of jobs and people involved in this storm event.
If your fault is a private service line - don't forget that you can get an electrical contractor to do this work for you. Due to the huge amount of service line work remaining there will still be some without power tomorrow.
Check here for the list of approved contractors - www.countiespower.com/service-providers
Crews have made great progress today, especially considering the electrical storm they've had to contend with. All network faults from the three storm events this week have now been resolved. There are however still individual faults and private service line faults remaining. Individual faults are being worked on now, with private service line work possibly not starting until Monday. Due to the huge number of private service lines that need repair it is going to take some time to get all of these resolved. Because private service line work is at the property owners cost, you may want to hire your own private electrical contractor to do this work for you. They may be able to attend to your work earlier than we can given the huge number we will have to get through. You can find the details of approved electrical contractors here on our website . Many of the crews have started to finish up after a very wild and wet day on the tools. Those crews will be back on the job at first light. Some will keep working into tonight.
We've had lightening strikes take out power in Pokeno, Tuakau and Waikaretu today, with some of Pokeno still without power. Those crews that weren't diverted away to deal with those large scale faults have kept battling away in the weather on those remaining smaller faults. They've been clearing a lot of private service lines today that serve multiple properties and will continue making good progress on those into tonight. Some crews are rolling off soon for some much needed rest and will be back at first light tomorrow. If your fault is an individual private service line the crews won't be able to get to this today. Due to the massive weather impacts that continue to hit the network and divert crews, there are still a huge number of individual private service line faults out there that crews are simply not going to get to until next week. You can get an electrician to look at this for you.
We do understand how difficult this is for those of you without power still. Please see the message from Civil Defence posted earlier today under this post with support information.
Fingers crossed the weather gives us a break now so our crews can clear up these remaining faults as quickly and safely as possible.
Remember to treat all lines as live at all times.
11.00am Update 14 April
The weather affected the network again last night and today resulting in power outages on our western coast (again...). Areas affected include Otaua, Awhitu Peninsula and Glenbrook. The car vs pole in Waiuku also took out a number of properties. Currently there are 397 properties without power. Two steps forward and one back it seems at the moment. Our amazing crews have been putting in a massive effort since Tuesday night and we're having to manage them (and the additional help we brought in) really carefully for fatigue. You can't make mistakes when dealing with electricity. Please be assured they are working as quickly and safely as possible to get the power flowing.
Crews have been working since first light around the region to get those remaining properties back on. Most of these are individual faults and they are scattered around a large geographical area. If your fault is on your private service line we may not get a crew out to you today but they'll do their best. A car vs pole last night also took power out. We're also dealing with some (more!) wild weather which is not helping. Check out the MetService reports we've posted below.
Crew's have been making great progress today with all feeder faults now cleared. We currently have 176 properties without power - scattered all around the region. We hope to clear many of these tonight up until 10pm when crews will stand down until first light tomorrow. These remaining individual property faults are mainly private service lines.
Due to the magnitude of the damage to the network some of these will not be restored until early next week. Please plan ahead for a weekend without power. Please check on your neighbours and others in your community who may be vulnerable.
Don't forget you can find out safety and power outage tips at www.countiespower.com/power-outages-tips .
Please treat all lines as live.
If others in your area have power and you don't - please check your internal fuses.
Our crews are working as quickly and safely as they can to get your power flowing.
Our crews are moving rapidly through the outages all across the region.
We still have a large numbet of properties without power. We expect many properties to be restored by nightfall however. Crews will work into the night tonight and the coming days.
The Manukau Heads network feeder has sustained major damage and multiple crews are working to resolve this. Please note it is unlikely this will be resolved until tomorrow. Please plan ahead.
A number of the remaining faults are individual property faults, mainly on privately owned service lines. Due to the magnitude of the damage to the network some of these will not be restored until early next week. Please plan ahead for a weekend without power. Please check on your neighbours and others in your community who may be vulnerable.
Our crews are working hard to resolve faults however the network has taken another battering from the second storm yesterday/last night. Please be aware that the magnitude of the damage to the network is severe. Those trees that were just hanging on after the Tuesday's storm gave way yesterday - and tree damage to the network is huge. Some of the trees are huge and it takes hours of work to clear them before we can even get to the lines.
We have 1300 properties without power. These are situated in;
Manukau Heads
Onewhero
Otaua
Tuakau
Some of these are new faults from yesterday's storm, some are still from Tuesday's storm. The process for fixing outages is safety first - those high voltage lines down and safety issues, network faults that affect large numbers and then individual faults etc. If your property is in a more rural area and it is an individual fault such as your private service line, it is very unlikely that this will be attended to before next week. Our crews and the additional crews brought in to assist are working diligently as quickly as they can - however you can't take short cuts when dealing with electricity.
We will keep updating here. Please be assured that our crews out there are doing their absolute best to get your power flowing as quickly and safely as possible.
Update 5.30pm 12 April
The weather is not helping our cause as the second storm moves in on our West Coast.
Additional areas now out from this second storm are;
Port Waikato
Mauku
We now have 1500 properties without power.
This is going to slow the repair work down with high winds making it difficult. Safety and large-scale network faults will take priority. Crews will be working as quickly and as safely as they can however please bear with us....
For those of you facing another night without power with children to feed, with cows un-milked and with freezers full of food perishing, we do feel for you and understand how difficult this is for you. Please be assured that our crews, plus the extra crews we've got on the job from Wel Networks and additional contractors, are working as fast as they possibly can to get your power flowing.
With the new storm taking down more lines - please remember to treat ALL lines as live at all times. Stay safe.
A huge number of outages were resolved yesterday, with crews working until 10pm when they had to stand down for safety. We're down to around 500 properties without power. Around 100 of these are still priority safety jobs. While there's a large area of the Manukau Heads still out - most remaining outages are smaller faults and some roads. We have a huge number of crews out (helped by Wel Networks and Broad Spectrum) and will be getting through a lot of these today. However, there will be a small number of individual outages, especially in isolated areas, that are still going to be out for another 48 hrs. These are mainly faults on privately owned service lines (the line that runs from your boundary to your home).
There is a cold snap coming - please be prepared and make other arrangements if necessary. Generators can be hired from local companies - but please be careful and follow all the instructions using these.
Remember - treat all lines as live.
8pm Update 11 April
Crews are working hard and hoping to liven more properties on the Manukau Heads in the next hour.
It's been a long and tiring day out there for the crews who will be standing down at 10pm for some much needed rest. They will be back out at first light repairing the remaining faults. So if your power is not on in the next 1.5hrs it won't be coming on until tomorrow.
Please be aware that we still have many lines down. Be vigilant! Treat all lines as live. Do not approach. There are still many service lines down and individual properties around the region without power. If your power is still out in areas with power - check your intetnal fuses. If it is still out it may be a service line issue. Counties Power must make downed lines safe.
If you reported your outage on the website or by phone but it's not showing on the map yet- we do have it and are working through the process.
Tomorrow if you see a Counties Power vehicle drive up to a site then drive away - don't be disheartened! It's other staff who are scoping the work required so we can best manage how to send the crews and our additional contractors out tomorrow to get the power flowing asap
We're down to 1871 properties without power. Clarks Beach and Waiuku have been cleared, as have Pukekohe/Paerata, the East Coast and a large number of those in Pukekawa. We've still got properties out in Waiau Pa/Kingseat/Karaka, Ramarama, Otaua, Onewhero and Pukekawa.
Our crews will be working into the night. We are still getting calls in about downed or damaged lines.
Please be prepared for long resolution times on these remaining outages and make contingency plans. We have additional help from Wel Networks and other contractors to clear these remaining faults as quickly and as safely as possible. Our crews are working as hard as they can. Thanks to those members of the public for their messages of support and the food and cups of tea they are giving the crews who really appreciate it. We understand that for those of you facing another night without power this is extremely difficult.
Just a reminder to treat all lines as live and report immediately.
Once your service line is made safe - you can use an electrician to repair it.
11 April 3.30pm Update
We've had 71 lines down across the network - with more lines down reported over the day. We're still in safety response mode - making safe being our first priority and resolving where we can. Currently there are 2,900 properties without power.
The Awhitu Peninsula/Karioitahi still have around 1,500 properties without power, Waiuku 250 and Clarks Beach/Waiau Pa 112. We had a lot of poles down in these areas. In Karaka there are 126 properties still affected, Ramarama 113, Paerata/Pukekeohe 217, Pokeno 37 and Onewhero/Pukekawa and south of this around 0. To the east of our network in Mangatawhiri/Mangatangi and Kaiaua there are 143 still affected.Our crews will be working into the night to make safe and restore power where possible.
We are still advising that some properties will be without power for up to 48 hours, with isolated properties potentially even longer. As mentioned - this is the largest storm event to date for our network. There will be long resolution times and we understand that this is extremely difficult for our community. Please be assured our crews, and the additional crews from Wel Networks who have come in to help, are working as hard as they possibly can.
11 April Updated 10.30am
We have well in excess of 50 lines down, eight poles and massive damage sustained to network equipment due to those winds (some in excess of 200 kms per hour). This is unprecedented damage - and the work to repair the network is huge. Current situation - 6,331 properties without power as at 10am today. Our crews are working hard to make lines safe as more downed lines get reported in. The priority is safety - making those lines safe for people and animals. Then fixing. Due to the huge number of faults, some individual faults will take 24 - 48 hours to resolve. Please plan ahead and make other arrangements if you need to. We understand this is really difficult - especially for those with dependents. Please be assured our crews are working as quickly and as safely as possible to get your power flowing asap.
Check on the website outages map for more info and to see if your fault is recorded. You can record it there too.
With more and more lines down being reported - please be careful out there. Keep your distance from downed lines (and keep children, pets and livestock away.).
If you have a service line down (the line that runs from your boundary to your home) - once our crews have made it safe - you can use an electrician to repair this. We recommend you do this for a faster repair given the large number of faults we're dealing with.
Power outage tips for the home can be found here.
11 April - Updated 7.00am
We're still without power in many areas across the network as the winds caused major damage. Please be aware that there will be many areas without power for an extended period and to plan ahead. Due to the magnitude of this storm some will be without power for 24-48 hrs. Thanks for your patience - we understand this is really difficult.
The crews are out working in better conditions now to get the power flowing, while those out in the night have gone home for some mandatory (and much needed) rest. Thanks to our crews who did get so many homes back on through the night and to our support team working in the office through the night. It's all hands on deck today to get those remaining without power back on as quickly as possible. As it becomes light we are getting more emergency calls as people see lines down and debris on lines. Please stay clear of all lines down and report immediately on 0800 100 202.
We're still asking people to please hold your calls in unless it's an emergency such as lines down.
Don't forget you can check on the website outages map for more info.
If your neighbours are on but your power isn't - please check your internal fuses.
We will keep updating this site so check back here.
10 April Update
The Counties Power network is currently being affected by a significant weather event which is affecting a large number of customers across the network. There are multiple lines down across the district. Please be prepared for a night wthout power and potentially long periods without power into tomorrow. Our crews are currently working to make safe - ensuring lines down and debris on lines are isolated and the area is safe for people and animals. Once all lines are made safe, outages will start to be resolved.
This page will provide updates throughout the storm. Click here to go to the Counties Power outages app to view current outages across the network.
Due to the scale of this event and a significant number of trees and lines down power may be out for 24-48 hours in some parts of the network. Updates will follow by 10am tomorrow.
Last update at 9:45pm
Things you need to know about a storm event:
Make safe actions: We are dispatching our first responders to make safe only. This means that they will be ensure that you and your family are safe from the risk of an electric shock. First responders will not restore your power. Power restoration will be done by our second response teams and may take some time to get to your site.
Safety first: we will always dispatch to high-risk sites first, this includes damaged equipment and lines down. Safety of the public and our people is the number one priority.
Keep safe: always stay well away (at least 10m) from any lines down or damaged electrical equipment. Never attend to stock or approach an electrical asset as you may get a shock. Call 0800 100 202 and press 1 to let us know as soon as possible.
Priority: We know its hard to have no power on a stormy night and we are actively working to restore your power. As we are in a storm event, time to restore power will be longer than usual. Faults are prioritised on the following factors:
Make Safe: The priority always for dispatch is to attend safety concerns, such as lines down or vehicle accidents and make the site safe. Please be aware that power may not be restored in the first response, as work may be required on either our network or your private service line;
Wide spread, high voltage outages affecting significant number of customers;
Multiple properties, such as a road or neighbourhood without power;
Business: Agriculture, horticulture, farms, business and commercial properties;
Single properties.
Information on outages can be found on our outage map. We will also be updating this page and Facebook through this event.
We thank you for your patience while we work through this event.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Roundup: Glacier Freshwater, Bearded Seals and Metal Contamination
Sabrina Ho Yen Yin
Impact of Glacier Freshwater on Sea Ice Melting in Antarctica
From Journal of Ocean Modelling: "The Impact of glacial freshwater on sea ice is studied with a sea ice/ocean/iceberg model. The ice shelves mass change is included for the first time in the freshwater perturbation. Changes in freshwater input increase sea ice cover with distinctive regional pattern. The impact of freshwater on sea ice volume was found to be comparable to atmosphere-induced changes. Freshwater was found to be able to decrease Antarctic sea ice in Amundsen sector through ocean vertical circulation. The results suggest a need for improving the representation of freshwater sources and their evolution in climate models."
Learn more about the impact of glacier meltwater in the Southern Ocean here.
Time series anomalies of (a) sea ice extent due to atmospheric induced changes and (b) sea-ice volume due to freshwater induced changes (Source: Merino et al./Science Direct).
Sounds of Bearded Seals in Glacier and Non-Glacier Environments
From Journal of the Acoustical Society of America: "In this study the description of underwater vocal repertoire of bearded seal in Svalbard (Norway) was extended. Two autonomous passive acoustic recorders were deployed for one year (August 2014–July 2015) in the inner and outer parts of the Kongsfjorden, and 1728 h were recorded and 17 220 vocalizations were found. Nine different vocalization classes were identified and characterized using ten acoustic parameters. This study represents a step forward to improve the understanding of the acoustic behaviour and the social function of these calls, and the ecology of marine species producing sounds."
Discover the difference in acoustic behavior of bearded seals as a result of their external environments here.
A bearded seal in Svalbard (Source: Ali Schneider/Pinterest).
Metal Contamination in Glacier Lakes of Tibet
From Journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research: "Heavy metal contamination has affected many regions in the world, particularly the developing countries of Asia. We investigated 8 heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Cr, Co, Ni, and As) in the surface sediments of 18 glacier lakes on the Tibetan Plateau. Principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and Pearson correlation analysis results indicated that the 8 heavy metals in the lake surface sediments of the Tibetan Plateau could be classified into four groups. Group 1 included Cu, Zn, Pb, Co, and Ni which were mainly derived from both natural such as glacier meltwater and traffic sources. Group 2 included Cd which mainly originated from anthropogenic sources like alloying, electroplating, and dyeing industries and was transported to the Tibetan Plateau by atmospheric circulation. Group 3 included Cr and it might mainly generate from parent rocks of watersheds. The last Group (As) was mainly from manufacturing, living, and the striking deterioration of atmospheric environment of the West, Central Asia, and South Asia."
Read more about the distribution of metal contaminants and their sources here.
Yangzhoyong Co, one of the lakes featured in the study (Source: China News/Twitter).
Tags: Bearded Seal, Lakes of Tibetan Plateau, metal contamination, Southern Ocean, Svalbard


Assume, for the sake of argument, that I am a miner and that I am ready to cheat. The (stratum) pool server sends me a notify message and I start mining. I find a valid share. I submit it to the pool server (which, presumably, checks if it is valid). Now, what happens if I re-submit it a little while later, in order to artificially increase my number of accepted shares?
So stratum pool server keep a list of submitted shares and check for de-dups? On large pools, where miners report a share every few seconds, this means keeping about 16kbyte of data for each miner, and scanning through it every time it submits a share. So it seems feasible.
But is it actually done?
Yes, it is absolutely done. A well known exploit in early stratum mining pools was that they used string comparison when looking up duplicate submissions, where nonce aaaaaaaa and Aaaaaaaa are identical but weren't caught by the duplicate submission check. You could submit a share up to 2**8 times if you were lucky and got an all alpha encoding nonce, and thefts from pools using this exploit did happen.
You only need to store the work ID and the nonce, and pools can tune the client to only be submitting a share every few minutes if they choose. It's not a particularly intensive task to keep tack of submissions.


It is chanterelle season right now, but if you can't find them or are working within a budget, substitute another edible fresh mushroom or use a combination of mushrooms. It will be great. To wash or not to wash the mushrooms? Well, I am personally not a fan of washing mushrooms, especially chanterelles because they are so delicate and get soggy. I wipe them clean with damp paper towels and a mushroom brush. If you want to wash your mushrooms, go ahead. It's probably not a big deal to wash white button or crimini mushrooms.
As I mentioned before, the creamed mushrooms are good enough to eat straight out of the pan. That said, they levitate at a whole new level of ridiculousness when you serve them on toasted buttered brioche. I mean, brioche is buttery as it is, but give it a quick swipe of melted butter and brown it up in a skillet and whoa! Top each toast point with some of that luscious mushroom and you just might be responsible for opening a wormhole to Happyland.
Garnish with some flake sea salt and fresh chives and you're ready to roll. Easy, elegant, delicious. What's not to love? Chanterelle toasts are perfect for entertaining others or pampering yourself. You can make both components ahead of time, but they aren't terribly time-consuming if you make them fresh the day of. The most important thing is that you will love these.
Chop the mushrooms into 1/4-inch pieces. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the shallots until they turn translucent. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes or until wilted. Add the wine and reduce the flame to medium. Cover the pan and cook the mushrooms for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and let the liquid boil off. Stir in the cream and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Brush melted butter on one side of each piece of brioche. Set a clean skillet over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, place the triangles of brioche buttered-side down on the pan. When the bottoms are golden, flip the brioche over and let toast briefly. Remove from pan. Arrange a tablespoon or more of mushroom filling on the toast points, garnish with chives and flake sea salt. Makes 16-24 toasts.
Oh wow. I need to make this! I had sauteed mushrooms with polenta Saturday night, but there was no cream involved (unless it was hiding in the yummy polenta, which I guess is likely!) and it was delicious, but this sounds so much better!! Love your beautiful fall shots too! Happy shooting this week.
is it still chanterelle season?! I havent seen a fresh one in a while.
Gorgeous photos and wonderful recipe – as usual. :) And…. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Jen!!
Lovely, lovely photos. Looking forward to more! And Happy Birthday!
Kristin – if you're a mushroom lover, you will flip over these toasts. So good!!
Si – no, sadly it is not. But they are still in markets and you can always use a different kind of edible mushroom instead of chanties.
farmerpam – thank you, sweetie!


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5 new games we love
Tap to discover this week's best new releases.
Like elves toiling away in the workshop, our editors work around the clock in pursuit of the world's finest games. Here are our favourites this week, fresh off the production line and here just in time for the holidays. We ho-ho-hope you like them!
Oddman
This will get you giggling and see you through those last days at work – it's an incredibly daft "fighting" game where you and your opponent just hurl yourselves at each other until someone falls into the water, to the accompaniment of some suitably silly sound effects. Sometimes, that's exactly what we need.
Fast fighting fun
Ubi's Dimensions
In this gravity-bending perspective puzzler, you'll need to think in three dimensions to get cute Ubi safely to the end of the level. Once you get into the groove of spinning the world around and changing gravity at a whim, you can spend hours exploring its chilled-out universe. Just the tonic after a night of festive partying.
Three-dimensional cute puzzle
Song of Bloom
This abstract and inventive little puzzler is weird, wonderful and completely one-of-a-kind. We don't want to give too much away here, since part of the fun is discovering its unique mechanics all for yourself. But trust us on this: it's one of the most interesting games we've played this year.
A Story in Pieces
Gladiabots
Robot war! We're sold already. But this comes with a strategic quirk: you have to program your robots in advance, queueing up their moves and setting up rules for how they'll act in the field. It's like building your own little AI. And if things don't work out, tweak your code and try again.
AI Combat Arena
Sausage Swing Club
Let's be honest: it's the name that won us over here. But there's a lot more to like in this superbly silly saga of sausage-throwing, where you're trying to land your porky pal in the pot in as few shots as possible. We especially loved the little trumpet that plays when you manage to fling your frankfurter without hitting any obstacles. Toot toot!
Fun. Physics. Sausages.
And there's more!
For even more great games, head on over to the App Store's dedicated Games tab.
Our team of editors pick out the best new releases every week, so you'll always have something fresh and interesting to play. Just tap the link below.
Discover more new games


With strong lightweight poly body with strong metal mounting clamps. Dotsight red or green. Suits on 11mm and Weaver rails. Length: 110mm. Weight: 70g.
All Norconia Red-Dotsights can be used on small bore rifles (.22lr), airguns and pistols. All dotsights are delivered with batteries included.


ProQR Therapeutics has announced positive interim results from its phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating QR-110 as a potential treatment for Leber's congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10). The therapy demonstrated rapid and sustained improvement in vision in the majority of participants and was found to have a favorable safety profile.
After just 3 months of treatment, 60% of participants showed a clinically meaningful response in visual acuity and mobility course endpoints; there was general concordance across the endpoints, according to a recent news release. Within 2 months, efficacy signals were noted with maximal benefits observed within 2 to 3 months post-treatment initiation. Upon assessing all available data in a secondary analysis, recorded effects on efficacy were found to be durable beyond 3 months.
A substantive overall improvement in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was also observed in the majority of participants. Improvement measures and judgements were based off of the Berkeley Rudimentary Vision Test (BRVT) and the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) eye chart. Additionally, the mean improvement at 3 months (and standard error of mean, SEM) was -0.67 LogMAR (SEM 0.32) with 62.5% of individuals displaying a clinically meaningful improvement consisting of an improvement greater than -0.3 LogMAR from baseline. In the contralateral eye, the mean change was 0.02 LogMAR (SEM 0.05).
Correlations between effects on visual acuity and effects on mobility were also observed, with a substantive overall improvement in functional visual performance occurring in the majority of patients. A series of mobility courses at increasing difficulty and multiple light intensities were used to make the assessments. The mean improvement in navigating the mobility course was 2.6 levels (SEM 1.2) with 57.1% of participants improving by more than 2.0 levels, an improvement that is considered clinically meaningful. In the contralateral eye, the mean change was 1.36 (SEM 1.04).
A meaningful increase in participants' ability to detect flashes of red or blue light as determined by the FST showed improvements in visual function. In red light sensitivity, treatment mean improvement was -0.74 log Cd/m2 (SEM 0.35) at 3 months. In blue light sensitivity, treatment mean improvement was -0.91 log Cd/m2 (SEM 0.38) at 3 months. Furthermore, with a mean change of log -0.14 mm (SEM 0.08) in OCI, the majority of patients improved on nystagmus (involuntary eye movements in low vision patients).
To date, no serious adverse events related to QR-110 treatment has occurred, and QR-110 has been found to be well tolerated. "Out of the 10 subjects dosed in the study, one subject has received all four doses and three have received three doses, representing a combined total of more than 1,500 treatment days," according to the news release.
The pivotal phase 2/3 trial, ILLUMINATE, has a preliminary double-blind, controlled, 12-month design. Thirty to 40 patients with LCA10 due to 1 or 2 copies of the p.Cys998X mutation that could be adaptively repowered are anticipated to enroll in the trial. The mobility course and visual acuity are expected to serve as the trial's primary endpoints, among others.
ProQR also plans to start a trial that will enroll patients younger than 6 years of age with LCA10 in parallel to the pivotal phase 2/3 trial.


The color #E52B50 is one of 16,777,216 (16^6) hexadecimal colors. It is closest to the websafe color #CC3366.
The CSS property style="color: #E52B50" can be used to change the color of text.
To change the background color use style="background-color: #E52B50".


text:
Banner ad creator: 'My kids make fun of me for it'
April 2, 2014 | By John McDermott
The banner ad will turn 20 this October, but the occasion will not necessarily be a cause for celebration. While the banner ad has been the lifeblood of the digital media industry since its inception, it has been the subject of scorn and derision from almost the very beginning. Banners, critics complain, are ineffective, uninspired and detrimental to users' Web experiences. "Banners are simply a crude attempt to take what has been done in other media and cram it in the way of consumers online," DataPop CEO Jason Lehmbeck once argued.
We spoke with Joe McCambley, co-founder of The Wonderfactory, about the increasingly dubious distinction of being the banner ad creator.
So, you're the man who started it all.
That's what people say. But actually at the time, in October of '94 when those first banners went up, I think there were five different agencies that we all kind of rushing to get their assets to Hotwired first. Some were minutes behind. It's nice that people say that, but it upsets other people, probably.
It sounds like that title might be a dubious honor.
It is. It depends whom you're speaking to, as well. My kids make fun of me for it. Mercilessly. Some of my colleagues appreciate it. Most people when they say that today, it means to them that I'm old and maybe not as relevant as I'd like to be regarded. I think I'm still relevant, damn it!
How do your kids interact with banner ads?
They don't even notice them. They don't see them, they don't respond to them. I would bet that they've never clicked on a banner ad.
Is there a lesson there?
Not enough brands integrate what's happening in other media with what they're doing on the Web. That lesson has been lost. AT&T was smart enough to make sure that the banner we created had something to do with the millions of dollar they were spending on other media. In October of '94, AT&T was running a campaign with the tagline "You will." They would show people driving through toll booths without stopping or mothers reading to their children over a video phone from 3,000 miles away. Then the ad would end with "You will." So it seemed familiar to people when they went on the Web and saw a banner that said "You will."
The first banner to appear on the Web. The ad was part of an AT&T campaign and ran on Hotwired, the Web version of Wired magazine.
Whereas today advertisers do what?
Our goal was to ask "How can we help you?" Today it's all about "What can we sell you?"
What else can we learn from your kids' behavior?
Older people tend to scoff at young people when they're in the elevator or in line at Starbucks and have their noses in their mobile phones because they're interpreting it as wasting time. But they're getting shit done. They're uploading photos to Facebook, they're listening to music, they're sharing, they're reading. If you're an advertiser today, you're not going to help young people by trying to sell them on their mobile phones. You're going to help them by creating utilities that help them get things done. Nike Plus is one of the best ads ever created.
So mobile advertising is all about utility?
Utility comes in many forms. People watch the Super Bowl to be entertained, so the most popular Super Bowl ads are the ones that entertain the most. You have to figure out what people need in the moment on mobile, whether it's entertainment or information.
Is every brand going to be able to create something utilitarian?
I want to believe so. What's keeping brands from being useful is a lack of imagination.
What about for higher-funnel brand advertising?
The most effective buy is still TV. Banner advertising is a direct-response medium. And when banners fail, marketers say, "Well, that was a branding effort." Bullshit.
Are you saying brand advertising doesn't have a place on the Web?
No. Look at what Chipotle has done and how their videos have gone viral.
Is branded content going to replace the banner then?
When marketers hear the phrase "brand publishing," they think articles, photo galleries, listicles. That's certainly a form of publishing, but if you're going to be successful on the Web, you have to incorporate app-like experiences like photo uploading, sharing, finding where to purchase, then purchasing. Or using high-end photography and videos to show what the product looks like when you're wearing it.
What's the answer for publishers who rely on banners?
Native advertising: full-blown content experiences that get advertisers out of the banner experience and into content. Forbes, Inc., Time and Mental Floss do a good job of creating journalistic units that create experiences for brands.
Are you upset about what advertisers have done to your baby, the banner ad?
No. I mean, yes. I can look at myself in the mirror and say I've done great work in banners. The problem is that everyone is going programmatic. There's not a lot of money being put into creativity and innovation.
If no one is seeing banners, though, is it worth putting energy and money toward creating better ones?
The Wonderfactory has been open for nine years, and we've never created one banner, because we don't think it's worth the investment. So, no, I wouldn't do it.


J.M. Coetzee's novels are suffused with a pervasive, though often oblique, Holocaust awareness. Direct references to the event and to the historical era to which it belongs, subtle stylistic and thematic echoes of Holocaust writing, and the recurrent mobilization of Holocaust imagery in Coetzee's novels all contribute to suggest the significance of the event to the author's work and thought. Providing Coetzee with a lens through which to view the contemporary situation, both local and global, the Holocaust offers Coetzee a means by which difficult and complex questions of ethics and historiographical truth may be approached. Above all, the Holocaust and its representation contribute to Coetzee's exploration of the dilemmas of translating the traumatic lived experience of atrocity – including, but not limited to, life in apartheid South Africa – into narrative form. Taken as a whole, Coetzee's oeuvre initially anticipates and later responds to, in characteristically oblique fashion, the narrative project(s) facing post-apartheid South Africa as the newly-democratic nation sought to make sense of its past through a variety of means, the most important of which was the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Implicitly challenging the TRC's findings as well as its narrative assumptions, the Coetzean oeuvre accordingly invites being read as offering a continuous and evolving counter-narrative to the TRC and its construction of a narrative of the apartheid past for the post-apartheid nation. In utilizing the Holocaust, its representations, and the reception thereof to frame his response to apartheid, Coetzee implicates both in a critique of the Western model of modernity, suggesting, in the process, the importance of reconfiguring modernity in a more ethical shape.


The Checkmates Ltd, are playing during four weeks at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
John Davidson is playing during a month of shows at The Plaza Hotel, New York City, USA.
Albert King is playing during six nights at The Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, California, USA, with The Loading Zone, Rain, Ten Years After, Canned Heat and Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks.
Brenda And The Tabulations are playing during ten nights at The Nixon Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Temptations, Edwin Starr, The Monitors and Willie Tyler are playing during a week of shows at The Apollo, Harlem, New York City, USA.
Al Green is playing during a week of shows at The Pine Grill, Buffalo, New York State, USA.
The tv movie The World Of The Seekers is broadcast for the first time in Australia, Oceania.
Psychedelic band The Nocturnes begin recording the Jim Webb song Carpet Man, in EMI's Abbey Road Studios, London, England, UK, Europe.
Jimmy McGriff is playing during a week of shows at The Orbit Lounge, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
The Shevelles and The Gass play at The RamJam Club, Brixton Road, London, England, UK, Europe.
Ornette Coleman records The Garden Of Souls and other tracks at A + R Studios, New York City, USA, for his album New York Is Now! on Blue Note Records.
Loretta Lynn releases her 11th album, Fist City, on Decca Records in the USA. It will become her second LP to top the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart.
Ella Fitzgerald plays at The Rainbow Grill, New York City, USA. During the show she performs her own newly-written song, He Had A Dream, about Black Human Richts leader Martin Luther King.
P.P. Arnold plays at The Orchid Ballroom, Purley, England, UK, Europe.
Carnie Wilson, daughter of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, is born in Bel Air, California, USA. She will go on to a career of her own with Wilson-Phillips - a pop trio whose parents are all 60s superstars.
Ray Charles is playing at the City Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The Who play at The Top Rank, Watford, England, UK, Europe.
Frank Sinatra meets with poet/songwriter Rod McKuen and agrees to record an entire album of his songs.
Josh White Jr. plays at Wisconsin State College, Wisconsin, USA.
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band spend a fifth day of recording their second album, Strictly Personal, for Blue Thumb Records in the USA.
Radio station WMMR in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, transmits the first edition of a new programme called The Marconi Experiment, hosted by deejay Dave Herman, signalling the start of the station's progressive rock format.
The Temptations release a new album, Wish It Would Rain, in the USA on Gordy/Motown Records.
Tennessee Ernie Ford plays a gig in Molile, Alabama, USA.


With Pick-it, the set-up is quick and easy. All you need to do is plug in your robot and the Pick-it 3D camera, tell Pick-it where to look, and teach it what to look for. The 3D camera is pre-calibrated and comes with a calibration plate to help the Pick-it software know where the robot is. The solution works whether you have the 3D camera mounted on the robot or separately.
Configuring the 3D camera and software to work with your robot is a straightforward process and does not require any computer-programming experience. Configured through a friendly graphic user interface.
The Robot Vision 3D camera and software communicate with your robot over an internet connection. Because of this, Pick-it can work with any robot you want to use it with, including major brands such as ABB, Universal Robots, and Kuka.


Accounting Cycle refers to complete sequence of accounting procedures which are required to be repeated in the same order during each accounting period. The accounting procedures includes recording, classifying, summarizing, presenting and analyzing the meaningful monetary information.
The period of accounting cycle may differs organization to organizations. For example if an organization finalize its books every month end, then its accounting cycle may be called as monthly. In same was it could be quarterly or yearly.
Recording: The first step starts with recording of the transaction in journal or books of original entry. This might be done manually or with the help of computers. The transactions which need to be recorded must be recorded in monetary terms.
Classifying: The entries made in journal or original books of accounts are then posted in their respective ledgers base on their classification. In ledger account we find out the total effects of all similar transactions.
Summarizing: Next step is to prepare profit & Loss Account and Balance Sheet. In profit & Loss account we find out profit or loss of the business. Balance sheet depicts the financial position of the business.
Presentation: Accounting cycle does not stop with balance sheet. The information is then presented in required format to present it to the end users of it. Like information is presented to the management, auditors, Government agencies etc. All information must be delivered in time to the end users.
Analyzing & Interpretation: Then the information presented in required format is analysed to get the actual financial position of the business.
Hope you have understand the accounting cycle process. You may also ask queries on it by commenting.


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Commentary: Florida's solar energy, myths vs. reality
Myth 1: Florida, being the Sunshine State, is the most favorable place for solar energy systems.
Fact: In the ranking of Annual Hours of Sunshine, Florida isn't among the top five states. Even Colorado receives more hours of sunshine than Florida. And in Florida, much of the sunshine arrives when it's not needed. A typical summer day begins clear but soon clouds up, by afternoon, when AC loads require the most electricity.
Myth 2: States with more solar energy systems have lower electric costs because sunshine is free and benefits the utilities that encourage it.
Fact: The opposite is true. Every state that has subsidies and laws that favor solar energy has have higher electric rates than Florida. Electric rates in Massachusetts, where tax credits and rebates pay 60 percent of the cost of solar systems, are double the rates in Florida. So, non-solar ratepayers in "pro solar" states end up paying higher electric rates while receiving no benefit.
Myth 3: "Renewable" energy makes up a substantial percentage of the energy produced in states other than Florida.
Fact: Most "renewable" energy produced in the U.S. is from hydropower dams and bio-mass burning. Then comes wind power. Solar energy systems produce a small fraction of the energy in almost all states.
Myth 4: Utilities have "monopoly" power.
Fact: Utilities aren't true monopolies. They are regulated by state commissions that determine the rates to their customers and their profits. Utilities cannot charge whatever they choose and must provide reliable power to all customers.
Myth 5: Utilities oppose solar energy systems because "competition" threatens profits.
Fact: Utilities aren't worried about competition. However, they are concerned about solar (and wind) power systems that require utility backup but don't want to pay the true cost of having that backup available when needed. There is a cost of maintaining power poles, wires and transformers even when they're not being used.
Myth 6: Most other states have net metering that allows customers with solar (and wind) systems to sell back the excess power they generate, at the retail rate.
Fact: Many states have been modifying their net metering regulations to be more in line with true costs. Utilities shouldn't be required to pay more than the cost of obtaining additional power available on the open market. Otherwise, the rates would increase for all their customers.
Myth 7: Opposition to solar is funded by utilities to protect their "monopoly."
Fact: Utilities are spending this money to protect their customers (ratepayers) from having to subsidize solar energy systems that provide no benefit except to solar users. Financial support for solar comes largely from out-of-state "special interests" that want Floridians to buy and install expensive solar energy systems from out-of-state suppliers.
Our utility companies are also interested in protecting their multibillion-dollar investment in our utility grid that is in continual need of maintenance and upgrades.
Myth 8: U.S. greenhouse gas reductions are largely the result of solar and other renewable energy systems replacing fossil fuel.
Fact: Almost all CO2 reductions in the past 10 years are the result of utility and industry conversion from coal to natural gas, which is abundant, burns cleaner and costs less.
Myth 9: The cost of solar and other alternative energy has dropped to where it is now competitive with electricity produced from fossil fuels.
Fact: The cost of fossil fuels, especially natural gas, has dropped faster than the cost of solar installations. And the new power plants that produce electricity from natural gas are twice as efficient as the coal plants that they replace. Solar requires substantial subsidies from taxpayers and/or ratepayers.
Myth 10: Solar and other renewable energy systems provide the most environmental benefit for the investment.
Fact: Energy efficiency investments are far more cost-effective than solar or other renewable technologies. Solar energy systems have financial paybacks of 10 years or more, unless subsidized. Energy efficiency investments (i.e. more efficient air conditioning) achieve twice as much energy and cost savings (and environmental benefits) as the same investment in solar. Paybacks for energy efficiency upgrades are typically less than five years.
Rogers is an independent energy consultant based in Naples. He has 40-plus years of experience working with major energy users worldwide to reduce their energy and water consumption and costs.


What's cooler than getting married at a camp where your friends and family can stay in the cabins for the weekend? When Kate & Tyler asked us to film their day we were excited for the unique venue and ceremony they had planned. It rained so much for the two weeks prior to their wedding and up to the day and the night before, but their wedding day was perfectly timed with gorgeous and dry weather. The morning of the wedding was full of fun activities like yoga, archery, pizza, and lots of other games for the bridal party and their guests. As you will see in their feature film below, their wedding day was as unique as their love for each other is! After you've watched it make sure you head over and check out their gorgeous wedding photos on Thomas Beaman Photography's Blog!


text:
1. Open a new terminal located at the root of this project and type `http POST :3000/register username="testuser" password="testpassword"`
2. You should get a JSON response with a `200` status code, and a token for future authentication, like this example:

``` javascript
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 213
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2017 22:36:36 GMT
ETag: W/"d5-bt8Dl1GbEZG+BNPlfgzm9A"
X-Powered-By: Express

{
    "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJfaWQiOiI1ODlmOTFmNGM2MmYyMjRlMDY4OGU2M2IiLCJ1c2VybmFtZSI6InRlc3R1c2VyIiwiZXhwIjoxNDkyMDMyOTk2LCJpYXQiOjE0ODY4NTI1OTZ9.ibiTsdPAqx_-KnpnNzt6sSTdEgzTLtEgDj2wZQKTmrU"
}
```

## Login
### Test the API (GET)

After making a POST, you can make a GET request by logging in.

1. Make a GET request, like this example: ` http POST :3000/login username="testuser" password="testpassword"`.

2. You should get a JSON response with a `200` status code, like this example:

``` javascript
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 213
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2017 22:37:17 GMT
ETag: W/"d5-UA+EAL9Oo4wN+4juOWEpJQ"
X-Powered-By: Express

{
    "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJfaWQiOiI1ODlmOTFmNGM2MmYyMjRlMDY4OGU2M2IiLCJ1c2VybmFtZSI6InRlc3R1c2VyIiwiZXhwIjoxNDkyMDMzMDM3LCJpYXQiOjE0ODY4NTI2Mzd9.G62Wgskw-aRYtZZpKYZRkVXjW3H0RDOZkp_csVv-kuY"
}
```

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This page displays sold house prices for Daisy Road in Bristol.
Daisy Road in Bristol BS5 consists predominantly of terraced houses. Properties on Daisy Road typically have values around £150,000 - £200,000, with larger terraced houses and townhouses valued at around £300,000.
Map showing Daisy Road in Bristol.


text:
Safety Makes Cents
June 12 2013 09:11 AM
You might not expect a contractor to tell you a story that sounds like it's right out of "Mission: Impossible." But Bob Dobson, president of Monmouth, New Jersey-based Middletown Sprinkler Company, Inc., and current president of the Irrigation Association, has one.
"I went into a factory where we'd installed a big irrigation system. I needed to turn on a booster pump in the mechanical room that had been partially made into an office."
"When I turned the pump on, the side of it ruptured. Hundreds of gallons of water started spilling out," said Dobson. Electrical splices on the 480-volt pump were only a few inches off the floor.
"Now I found myself standing in about six inches of water with no time to get out. My only chance was to get to the electrical panel before the water hit those splices. But they'd stored a bunch of junk between the pump and the fuse box, and it was almost impossible to get to."
This near-electrocution experience taught Dobson a valuable lesson. "Now, whenever we design a pump room, one of the things that we're pretty insistent upon is that when you open the door the main electrical panel will be right there, on the right-hand side. You can turn the electricity off before you even set foot in there."
That pump room scene could have come right out of a safety film, as a cautionary example. Videos, interactive training and tailgate talks all play an important role in keeping safety first and foremost.
These days, with so many materials available, many of them free, there's no excuse for not having some kind of safety program. Even the smallest start-up, one-truck landscape company can have one. By not following safety rules, one risks OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) fines, higher insurance premiums and worse.
Forget about all that for a second. How much is someone's ability to ever work again worth? How much is someone's eye worth? Someone's life, maybe even yours? Spending a little bit of time on safety now can save you a pile of cash and regret down the line.
An accident that happened to another local businessman prompted Edward Snyder, owner/operator of Greenleaf Services, Inc., in Linville, North Carolina, to action. "The owner of a crane company was just walking to lunch one day when someone tragically backed over him and he was killed."
This incident was on Snyder's mind when he purchased a new piece of equipment, and it became apparent that it was difficult to see out the back. "So we installed a rear-view camera on it. It also has audio, so you can hear as well as see. Then we decided to do the same thing on our main crew truck."
And that's not all. Greenleaf is in the process of installing backup cameras in all of its trucks, skid steers and vehicles with enclosed cabs.
"Some contractors will spend $14,000 on a mower, but not ten cents to train the guy on it," said Arden Urbano, vice president of sales and marketing for LS Training System in London, Ontario, Canada, a company that provides interactive safety training for green industry and other construction-related fields.
"There can be a mental block," said Urbano. "Only a niche number of people look at safety training and see the benefits in the form of return on investment (ROI), which is huge. It solves so many problems."
One of those is consistency. How do you maintain standards when turnover is high, as it tends to be in our industry? "All the crew members are thinking, 'Oh, no, here comes the new guy,'" said Urbano.
What usually happens is that the newbie is paired up with another employee, "so the new guy learns from another guy, who is not a trainer. Then that person passes on all of his bad habits to the new person." A formal training program, starting on every employee's first day, keeps everyone on the same page.
Required for Bidding
Contractors who work in the commercial arena have an even bigger incentive to implement safety programs. More and more, they're becoming a requirement before you can even bid on a commercial job.
"Companies that are soliciting bids for commercial work are demanding them," said Urbano. "If your modification rate exceeds a certain amount, they're not going to even let you bid. And then, they squeeze you, saying you must have better training; you must be able to prove what training you are doing."
("Experience modification rates" are computations that compare a company's annual losses in insurance claims against its premiums over a three-year period, excluding the most current year.)
Tom Goding, owner and president of Mauldin, South Carolina-based Custom Landscaping & Design, Inc., confirms this. "We have to have a safety program in place before we can even bid on a lot of the commercial jobs we do. Our standards are a little higher than even OSHA makes us have."
Liability concerns are driving this, of course. "The companies are protecting themselves legally," says Urbano. "Say you're mowing a company's grounds, and a stone flies out and hits one of their clients who's walking in. A lot of big corporations have their own training that they make you go through; they're getting a lot fussier."
Have Rules and Enforce Them
What's involved in a safety program? It's not just training, but rules. "We were seeing a number of eye injuries," said Joe Kujawa, president of KEI Enterprises in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. "We brought in our insurance company to look at the origins of our accidents. After an analysis, we mandated safety glasses and our eye injuries went to zero. We haven't had one in the last seven or eight years."
"People can't wear jewelry, piercings, rings, any of that kind of thing," said Goding, whose workforce averages around 40 people.
"Steel-toe, steel-shank shoes are mandatory. The guys who do landscape installation have to wear back braces, shoulder harnesses and straps. And everybody has to wear safety glasses."
In addition, Custom Landscaping requires that all employees wear long pants, no shorts or cutoffs. Anyone operating string trimmers or leaf blowers has to wear hearing protection. And "the guys that work in the construction aspect of installation have to wear gloves with hard plastic mesh, so they don't get cuts," says Goding.
It might go against the zeitgeist, but at Custom, cell phones during working hours are forbidden. "We don't allow them in the field. The crew chief's got the only cell phone and all the information. When a guy's wife calls, he'll go ahead and pull him aside."
Custom doesn't do this just to be hard-nosed. "Cell phones are a huge safety issue," says Goding. "I've seen guys fall off roofs three stories high while talking on them."
The company is strict about compliance with all the safety rules. "If they are told twice, they're sent home," said Goding. "If they're written up twice for the same thing, they're gone immediately."
Perhaps because of his pump house experience, Dobson is adamant about extension cord safety.
"We make sure insulation hasn't been damaged, and receptacles are grounded. We have an employee check them periodically and make sure they're in peak operating condition."
While we're on the subject of grounding, Dobson suggests that you take a good look at your three-pronged extension cords once in awhile. You may find some unpleasant surprises. "I'm sure that most contractors, if they look at their extension cords, will find at least one where the ground plug has been pulled out with pliers." Faced with a two-pronged outlet and a three-pronged cord, some workers succumb to temptation and perform a little 'field surgery.' Unwise and unsafe. Make it a priority Terracare Associates, a commercial landscape company headquartered in Littleton, Colorado, makes safety a high corporate value. "Safety of our employees (about 400 of them in its Colorado and California branches) and the general public is our number-one priority," said vice president Bill Horn.
Horn also sits on the board of directors for PLANET, and has been on its safety committee for ten years. As such, he helped develop PLANET's free STARS Safe Company program (covered later in this article).
Safety awareness starts when Terracare's employees arrive at work in the morning. "We do stretch-and-flex exe rcises with all our team members, followed by a short safety talk. So when they pull out of the yards, they're thinking safety right off the bat."
According to him, it's made a huge impact, as shown by the company's modification rates, which keep trending downward. "In California, we have several hundred employees, but just two incidents for the entire year of 2012."
Incentives Work
"We're very proud of our safety program," says Kujawa. "We do quite a bit around safety. It's a very important part of our culture."
One of the things KEI does is hold an annual Safety Day for its 110 employees. "We take one day out of production and bring everyone in to celebrate safety, whether we're at a thousand days without lost time, or three; we bring in outside speakers. Last time, we had someone from the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) who gave a talk on safety while driving with a truck and trailer." The company also does internal safety training with equipment manufacturers.
Participation in weekly tailgate talks is encouraged by an incentive program.
KEI's account managers are incentivized according to the number of tailgate talks delivered on time. "Because things always come up," says Kujawa, "there's always the, 'We're so busy today, can't do it,' excuse." The incentive program works. "We have an excellent worker's comp mod, and it's gotten better over the years," says Kujawa.
Custom Landscaping has a simpler incentive program. "We don't like to have any injuries, so we give our people a bonus percentage in December for an accident-free year," says Goding, "and it's split with everybody."
Safe Company, Stable Workforce
Safety programs lower insurance premiums. But that's not all they do. When employers truly care about their safety, workers can feel it. Goding says that money is a part of his motivation, but overall, "You want to be safe. I've been doing this for a long time. Back in the day, we didn't have all this (safety gear). I've had broken toes, hands all beaten up. You don't want to see people getting hurt when they don't have to."
"As a business owner, it's my responsibility to make sure that people get home to their families safely at the end of the day," says Snyder. "Sure, there's a monetary side to that, but it goes way beyond that."
Most of his employees have been with him for eight to twelve years, and he thinks the company's culture of safety is a big part of that.
Horn says that encouraging a culture of safety has helped Terracare retain quality employees, too. "People want to work for us, because they know we take really good care of our employees. We don't have high turnover."
"We did an employee safety perception survey last year during our last Safety Day," said Kujawa. "We were very happy with the results. Overwhelmingly, people found our policies valuable, valid and not onerous."
The survey showed that the vast majority of KEI employees feel comfortable turning down work if any- one asks them to do something questionable, even if that person is a confront co-workers they see doing supervisor. They're also willing to unsafe things. "Our people don't feel pressured to do things in an unsafe manner," said Kujawa.
Goding insists that his employees wear 30 SPF sunblock on their faces and arms. "I'm a blond-haired, blueeyed guy who's been doing this for 50 years, and the sun has gotten to me. I've had multiple cases of skin cancer, more than 200 sun-related items taken off my arms, neck and head. I don't want my guys to go through that."
You can implement a safety program for little or no money. There are excellent materials available at no charge from OSHA and PLANET. Even a company as large as KEI uses them. "We also use outside training companies," says Kujawa.
"There are certain certifications that are required, like lift and fall protection, and so we'll hire an outside licensed trainer to get those.
We also use the Wisconsin Safety Council. They put on 'train the trainer' type seminars. We use them for our annual forklift or lifttruck staff certifications."
KEI uses OSHA's QuickCards for tailgate talks. "Ohio State University has a great resource of tailgate talks that we use weekly," said Kujawa. "They provide quizzes as well."
The resource he's referring to is "Tailgate Safety Training for Landscaping and Horticultural Services."
It is quite comprehensive, and available at no charge. There are selfstudy modules with quizzes and trainer modules, both in English and Spanish. Topics include chainsaw, mower and skid steer safety, electrical shock, heat and cold stress, pesticide exposure, and many, many others. Find it at ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/192/ index.html.
PLANET has a wealth of free resources, including an interactive training program, "How Do We Protect Our Ears and Our Bodies?" in English and Spanish. You can download it or get it on DVD. Find it at www.landcarenetwork.org/riskmgmt/training.cfm.
Don't have time to develop a safety program and written policies? PLANET's got your back; the STARS Safe Company Program is a comprehensive company safety policy on CD.
It includes motor vehicle safety, preventing back injuries, return-towork/modified duty programs, chemical safety, complying with OSHA, and more. It includes more than 50 ready-to-use forms, sample policies and payroll stuffers, many in Spanish. It's at www.landcarenetwork.org/riskmgmt/stars.cfm.
Now you really have no excuse for not having a safety program!
Safety is profitable, while not being safe is very, very, costly, indeed. Don't cut corners where safety is involved. It just hurts everybody too much.
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Mongolska Republika Ludowa (, trb. Bügd Najramdach Mongol Ard Uls) – oficjalna nazwa państwa mongolskiego w latach 1924–1992.

Geneza utworzenia

W 1921 roku w Mongolii wybuchła rewolucja zorganizowana przez Mongolską Partię Ludową. W lipcu 1921 Armia Czerwona pod pretekstem pomocy grupce rewolucjonistów Damdina Suche Batora zajęła Mongolię Zewnętrzną rozbijając wojska Ungerna i chińskie. W ten sposób ustanowiony został rząd komunistyczny, jednak zachowano ustrój teokratyczny i władzę Bogda Chana. W 1924, po śmierci Bogda Chana, proklamowano utworzenie Mongolskiej Republiki Ludowej.

Historia

Okres przedwojenny
Mimo formalnej niepodległości kraj pozostawał w strefie wpływów władz w Moskwie, a przez część państw nadal był uważany za część Republiki Chińskiej. Już po zwycięstwie rewolucji doszło do konfliktu między Suche Batorem, a lewicowym skrzydłem rządzącej Mongolskiej Partii Ludowej na czele z Dogsomynem Bodoo. Frakcja Bodoo optowała za budową socjalizmu w Mongolii, ograniczeniem władzy kleru i arystokracji, ale także za uniezależnieniem się od ZSRR, przeciw likwidacji własności prywatnej i przeciw fizycznej rozprawie z kościołem lamajskim. W dodatku sprzeciwiała się przejęciu władzy w nowo powstałym związku młodzieży (odpowiedniku radzieckiego Komsomołu) przez żonę Suche Batora. W grudniu 1921 Bodoo został zwolniony ze wszystkich stanowisk rządowych i usunięty z partii, a w sierpniu 1922 aresztowany przez władze centralne i wraz z większością towarzyszy skazany na śmierć i zabity we wrześniu 1922. Wraz z Bodoo stracony został m.in. Dambyn Czagdardżaw. W kolejnych latach władzę w partii sprawowali zwolennicy partyjnej prawicy (NEP-owcy). Na początku lat 30. politycy Chorlogijn Czojbalsan i Peldżidijn Genden zainicjwali woltę w lewą stronę i przyśpieszenie radykalnych reform gospodarczych w tym kolektywizacji. Reformy nie udały się i w efekcie w 1932 roku doszło do nieudanego buntu wojskowych na prowincji. Bunt doprowadził do odsunięcia (z inicjatywy Moskwy) części działaczy lewicowego odchylenia od głównego nurtu polityki, a następnie ich egzekucji.

Okres czystki przeciwko lewicy partyjnej przetrwał Peldżidijn Genden, który od tamtej pory rywalizował o władzę z Czojbalsanem. Genden jeszcze w 1932 roku został premierem, a w trakcie rządów odsunął na bok swoje lewicowe tendencje wprowadzając założenia nowej polityki reform polegającej na złagodzeniu komunistycznych zasad ekonomicznych. Reforma była wzorowana na Nowej Polityce Ekonomicznej. Na gruncie reform zredukował podatki, zwiększył liczbę prywatnych przedsiębiorstw oraz pozwolił na normalne funkcjonowanie instytucji religijnych. Wraz ze wzrostem gospodarczym i zmniejszeniem niedoborów wzrosła popularność Gendena w społeczeństwie, w efekcie po raz pierwszy po rewolucji rząd był silniejszy od partii. W 1933 roku Genden usunął z partii przywódców pochodzenia buriackiego. W 1934 roku rozpoczął się spór Gendena ze Stalinem. Na jednym ze spotkań, radziecki przywódca naciskał na Gendena, aby ten zniszczył kler buddyjski poprzez eksterminację lamów. Genden stanowczo się temu sprzeciwił, ponieważ sam był praktykującym buddystą. Premier zapowiedział, że nie będzie walczył z religią i pozwolił lamom na dowolne głoszenie swoich poglądów. Genden działał także na rzecz zakończenia stacjonowania wojsk radzieckich w Mongolii. Premier próbował wykorzystać napięcia na linii ZSRR-Japonia na korzyść Mongolii i uwolnienia się spod dominacji radzieckiej. Już pod koniec 1935 roku Genden został wezwany do Moskwy, gdzie Stalin skarcił go za niestosowanie się do jego wytycznych. Później, będąc pod wpływem alkoholu, Genden mocno skarcił Stalina. Stalin w efekcie sporu z Gendenem coraz mocniej popierał Czojbalsana, a w 1936 roku doprowadził do aresztowania Gendena pod zarzutem szpiegostwa na rzecz Japonii.

Wyrok na Gendenie uruchomił falę czystek które przeprowadzało radzieckie NKWD. Czojbalsan miał stosunkowo niewielki wpływ na działania służb, a jego próby ratowania przed wyrokami współpracowników były przez NKWD odrzucane. Ofiarami czystek padli też licznie mnisi buddyjscy i intelektualiści. Czystki zakończyły się w 1939 roku a ich ofiarami na skutek działań Czojbalsana padli na koniec działacze odpowiedzialni za ich przebieg.

Wiosną 1939 roku doszło do akcji militarnej w której wojska mongolskie i radzieckie starły się z siłami japońskimi z Mandżurii. W ciągu trwających od maja do września 1939 roku wojska radzieckie i mongolskie dowodzone przez Gieorgija Żukowa zmiażdżyły oddziały japońskie w pobliżu wsi Nomonhan.

II wojna światowa i jej efekty
Po inwazji III Rzeszy na ZSRR Mongolia poparła radziecki wysiłek wojenny (oficjalnie nie wypowiedziała jednak Niemcom wojny). W ramach pomocy wysłano do ZSRR wsparcie w postaci surowców, zaopatrzenia, żywności czy odzieży wojskowej. W trakcie wojny miała miejsce seria reform – wprowadzenie nowej konstytucji, likwidacja wpływów duchowieństwa, zastąpienie alfabetu mongolskiego cyrylicą w 1941 oraz ostateczna kolektywizacja.

Czojbalsan jako zagorzały nacjonalista liczył na zjednoczenie wszystkich Mongołów. Realizując tę politykę zachęcał do etnicznej rebelii we Wschodnim Sinciangu, a w klęsce Japonii widział szansę na realizację jego marzenia o "Wielkiej Mongolii" (zjednoczenia Mongolii Zewnętrznej i Wewnętrznej). 10 sierpnia 1945 roku Mongolia wypowiedziała wojnę Japonii i przyłączyła się do radzieckiego ataku na wojska japońskie w północnych Chinach (operacja kwantuńska). W trakcie kampanii rząd rozpętał za pośrednictwem prasy falę panmongolskiego nacjonalizmu. Koniec wojny i ostateczna klęska Japonii nie doprowadziły jednak do zjednoczenia mongolskich ziem ze względu na zbyt silną pozycję Chin. Chiny poszły jednak na pewne ustępstwa i jeszcze w 1945 roku uznały suwerenność Mongolskiej Republiki Ludowej. Nie była to jednak trwała polityka, ponieważ już kilka lat później Czang Kaj-szek wycofał się z tej decyzji. Podobną politykę przyjął po utworzeniu Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej w 1949 roku Mao Zedong. Mao uznał Mongolię Zewnętrzną za część Chin. W 1951 wynegocjowano chińsko-radzieckie porozumienie, w którym rząd chiński ostatecznie uznawał niepodległość Mongolii. Rozpoczęło to proces uznawania państwowości mongolskiej na arenie międzynarodowej, zwieńczony przyjęciem do ONZ w 1961. Stany Zjednoczone uznały niepodległość Mongolii w 1987 roku, a osamotniona Republika Chińska uznała Mongolię jako niezależne państwo dopiero w 2002 roku.

Po zakończeniu wojny rząd rozpoczął politykę "budowy podstaw socjalizmu" w ramach której rozszerzył kolektywne rolnictwo, przeprowadził pierwszy w historii kraju plan pięcioletni (1948-1952), wybudował infrastrukturę i przemysł. Powstały liczne fabryki, kopalnie, systemy transportowe i sieci elektryczne. Przyczynił się do poprawy systemu edukacyjnego, utworzył pierwszy poważny uniwersytet w historii kraju i zwiększył wskaźnik alfabetyzacji społeczeństwa. Reformy realizował korzystając z radzieckiej pomocy gospodarczej. Wraz ze zwycięstwem w Chinach komunistów w 1949 roku ograniczono wydatki na liczącą 80 tysięcy żołnierzy armię (w 1948 roku wydatki te stanowiły 33% całego budżetu, a w 1952 roku spadły do 15%). W połowie lat 40. doszło do rozłamu Czojbalsan-Stalin. Rozłam spowodowany był brakiem wsparcia Stalina dla zjednoczeniowych i panmongolskich pomysłów Czojbalsana. W 1949 roku Czojbalsan odmówił udziału w 70. urodzinach Stalina, a rok później zdecydowanie odrzucił radziecką propozycję przyłączenia Mongolii do ZSRR (wcześniej do ZSRR przyłączyła się Tuwa).

Destalinizacja

Czojbałsan po śmierci w 1952 roku (według niektórych miał zostać otruty na polecenie Stalina, którego rozzłościł nacjonalizm Czojbalsana i jego próby likwidacji wpływów radzieckich) został zastąpiony przez Jumdżagijna Cedenbala, który piastował urząd premiera przez 22 lata. Jego styl rządzenia był nieco łagodniejszy, związany z dojściem w ZSRR do władzy Nikity Chruszczowa. Cedenbal potępił niedawne rządy Czojbalsana, a także doprowadził do usunięcia z komitetu partii swoich przeciwników politycznych oraz zakończył okres samoizolacji Mongolii, przystępując w 1962 roku do RWPG. W trakcie rozłamu radziecko-chińskiego partia poparła ZSRR, co spowodowało zawieszenie do połowy lat 80. kontaktów z Chinami. Pomimo kolejnych zmian w kierownictwie partii komunistycznej w samym Związku Radzieckim, Cedenbal sprawował pełnię władzy aż do 1984 roku. Wówczas to zastąpił go Dżambyn Batmönch, który z kolei odszedł ze stanowiska w 1990 roku – załamanie się bloku państw komunistycznych w Europie oraz zmiany w ZSRR siłą rzeczy wymusiły bowiem i na Mongolii konieczność dostosowania się do nowych okoliczności. W połowie marca 1990 roku doszło do przetasowań w łonie rządzącej partii komunistycznej (sekretarzem generalnym został mianowany Gombodżawyn Oczirbat).

Jeszcze w 1990 roku Mongolia stała się republiką parlamentarną i przywrócono wolność religijną oraz własność prywatną. Niebawem także nastąpiło przeorientowanie w samym parlamencie – dokonano nowelizacji dotychczasowej konstytucji (nowa zaś została uchwalona 12 lutego 1992 roku). W 1992 roku Mongolię opuściły także ostatnie jednostki wojsk rosyjskich.

Przypisy

Bibliografia

Mongolia w XX wieku
Państwa historyczne w Azji
Blok wschodni

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Review: 'Don't Look Up' is a Hilarious, but All Too Familiar Look at the End of the World
December 7, 2021 by Nicole Ackman
After seeing the responses to climate change and Coronavirus, it's not very hard to believe that many people would have a flippant or downright antagonistic response to a life-ending comet headed towards Earth. That's the plot of Adam McKay's new film, Don't Look Up. Two scientists are horrified by the reaction they receive after sharing their discovery that there are only six months left before a planet-ending catastrophe will occur.
The satire might not be subtle, but it's biting all the same, from the ridiculous president focusing on how it will improve her image to the strange priorities of the news coverage.
The satirical science fiction black comedy was written and directed by McKay, best known for the divisive films, The Big Short and Vice. In his latest work, Michigan State Ph.D. candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) spots a comet while on a lowkey day at work. The music swells as she makes her discovery, and she eagerly goes to show it to Professor Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio).
However, when they start to calculate the comet's course, they realize that it's no ordinary finding and, amidst freaking out, join up with Dr. Teddy Oglethrope (Rob Morgan) of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
When Kate and Randall's calculations are confirmed, the trio heads to the White House to debrief the president, Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep). However, the president's son and Chief of Staff, Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill), puts them off until the next day as both Kate and Randall's anxiety are spiking as they realize that the leaders of their country aren't taking the impending end of the world seriously. Things only worsen when they meet with the President, who wants to "sit tight and assess."
McKay isn't just presenting a commentary on the top level of American government; he also shows how the media likes to sensationalize everything except for the country's most pressing matters. TV anchor Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett) is more interested in Randall for his looks than for the science he's trying to share.
DiCaprio does excellent work as the professor whose head is eventually swayed by power. He's a grounding presence in a ridiculous and over-the-top film and slips easily into the character of the anxious everyman.
It's not the most impressive work he's ever done, but it's a reminder that he can excel in a role that downplays his movie-star charisma. Lawrence also nails the part of the stoner grad student Kate, and though it doesn't demand as much from her as many of her past roles have, it's a clear sign that she's back in Hollywood.
Streep and Hill give the most over-the-top performances of the cast. McKay is clearly making a statement on a certain former president from the nepotism of having her son as her Chief of Staff to Janie having copies of her book arranged around the Oval Office. At one point, Hill even remarks, "If she weren't my mother…." The role isn't a stretch for Streep on any level, but it's a nice reminder that she's a solid comedic actress. Hill is annoying in the role, but seemingly purposefully so.
Don't Look Up has such an insane ensemble cast that it's difficult to pick a standout. Mark Rylance gives an unusual performance as businessman and entrepreneur Peter Isherwell, with white hair and a frail voice. He inhabits the role of a man more interested in what the comet might mean for his technology company than the harm it might cause the planet with a pointed kind of quiet intimidation.
Ariana Grande proves her comedic abilities once again in the role of pop star Riley Blina, who is essentially a more vapid version of herself. Her performance of "Don't Look Up" is one of the best music used within a non-musical film this year. Timothée Chalamet doesn't get much screen time as the stoner skateboarder Yule, but he certainly makes the most of what he has and proves that he can have chemistry with anyone. His ability to bring an earnestness to even a role like this surely marks him as one of the greatest young actors today.
If you're looking for a subtle commentary on the state of our country, Don't Look Up, isn't it? The satire might be in your face, but it doesn't make it any less funny—or the truth in it any less chilling. From the depiction of a Trump-like president to the sexism in response to Kate and Randall's media appearances, the film taps into America's problems right now. "The end is near. Will, there be a Super Bowl?" a magazine cover asks.
Seeing how disasters have been handled recently, it feels less like satire and more like an unfortunate prediction for how America would handle a situation like this.
Despite many visual quirks, this is the most accessible of McKay's films. There are occasional annotations onscreen and a lot of quick editing. Most notable are the flashes of nature shots interspersed throughout the movie that seems to be a reminder of what is at stake to be lost should the comet impact Earth. But while the middle of the film drags a bit, it can keep the audience engaged with its fast-paced dialogue and editing.
Even as an avid admirer of both The Big Short and Vice, I would easily consider Don't Look Up my favorite of McKay's films. The commentary is disturbingly relevant but so funny that the audience can still enjoy watching it. The film allows many members of the cast – DiCaprio, Lawrence, Morgan, Chalamet – moments to shine while still maintaining a true ensemble feel. While Don't Look Up sees McKay pivot from explaining past events to imagining future ones, it doesn't feel any less true.
Don't Look Up arrives on Netflix on December 10, 2021.
If you're looking for a subtle commentary on the state of our country, Don't Look Up isn't it. The satire might be in your face, but it doesn't make it any less funny—or the truth in it any less chilling.
Nicole Ackman
Nicole Ackman is a writer, podcaster, and historian based in North Carolina. She loves period dramas, the MCU, and theatre. Nicole is a member of the North Carolina Film Critics Association and the Online Association of Female Film Critics and is Tomato-Meter Approved.
https://wealthofgeeks.com/author/nicoleackman/
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In english we wrote our own versions of jackie morris's book the ice bear,called the plains lion.
We had fun creating our own expanded noun phrases,preposisional phrases and advrbials of time and place.
We used words and phrases to create atmosphere and paint pictures in the readers head.


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Home Actress Sexy Pictures 63 Emily VanCamp Sexy Pictures Will Drive You Nuts For Her
Emily VanCamp
Emily VanCamp Sexy Pictures
63 Emily VanCamp Sexy Pictures Will Drive You Nuts For Her
Emily VanCamp sexy pictures will drive you nuts for her. Nominated for 16 Awards and winner of 3, Emily VanCamp has achieved glory she deserved at the age of 33. Emily VanCamp is a Canadian Actress who has actively worked from 1999 to present. Emily Irene VanCamp was born in Port Perry, Ontario on May 12, 1986.
Robert VanCamp, an animal nutritionist, hired her to deliver the food to clients around her hometown. VanCamp loved to dance and started dancing at the age of three. She convinced her parents into sending her in a summer camp in Montreal with the motive to become a professional dancer one day.
She was accepted into a training program for Les Grands Ballets Canadians, at the age of 12 Emily Irene VanCamp began her career in acting after being inspired by her sister when visited onset of film Ladies Room. She started her acting classes after that every Saturday and hired herself an agent too.
She did some commercials and landed a role in children's horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? Emily VanCamp got her big break when she was cast in show Glory Days, at the age of 15. The show was not a success but got her the attention she required to move ahead with her acting career.
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She was later cast in another show when she caught the eye of writer Greg Berlanti. He desperately wanted to work with her because of her work in Glory Days. She starred in his show Everwood and with her role; the young actress got the recognition and 4 nominations of Teen Choice Awards and one nomination for the Young Artist Awards.
Some of the well-recognized works of Emily VanCamp are films and dramas, namely Sharan Carter/ Agent 13 in Captain America and Brothers & Sisters and Revenge. VanCamp is returning in the Disney movie The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2020).
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Migaloo the white whale has once again been spotted in the waters off the Gold Coast, delighting whale watchers and biologists with his antics. This season Migaloo, the Gold Coast's most famous cetacean visitor, has been spotted several times on his annual round trip from tropical waters to Antarctica.
The beloved albino celebrity was spotted by Spirit for the second time this season early on Saturday morning (16th September 2017), just off Burleigh Heads.
Of particular interest to both whale watchers and scientists, Migaloo's white form makes him easily recognisable to even the most casual observer. Sightings sent in by the public allow biologists to accurately track his long journey, providing valuable data on the migratory behaviour of these giant mammals.
Due to his unique appearance, Migaloo has had special legislation enacted by both the Queensland and Commonwealth governments to provide extra protection from harassment. He and any other humpback whales that are more than 90% white are declared to be 'special management marine mammals' with boats and prohibited vessels banned from approaching within 500 metres and aircraft from approaching within 610 metres. Migaloo still bears scars after surviving a collision with a trimaran near Magnetic Island in 2003.
Migaloo has become something of a star within the whale watching community, with his visits eagerly anticipated and sightings a source of much excitement. Fans flock to the Gold Coast in the hope of spotting a glimpse of this unique humpback whale, a highly rewarding experience for all lucky enough to witness his travels.
Part of the east Australian humpback population, which numbers approximately 15 to 17,000 individuals at last count, Migaloo is one of only two known white humpback whales in the world. The second white humpback is a younger whale named Migaloo Junior, who is part of the same humpback population and thought to be the offspring of Migaloo.
The whale watching season is not over, with sightings expected to continue in the Gold Coast area until at least November. Whale fans who would like the chance to spot Migaloo are encouraged to utilise this opportunity to do so before he returns to southern waters.
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