A view of the stage from the left balcony.
Filmgoers at this year's Maine International Film Festival may notice a number of changes large and small to the Waterville Opera House. The storied theater is winding down a year-and-a-half-long renovation and expansion.
Completed in 1902, the Waterville Opera House has hosted countless countless concerts and stage plays, but by the start of its second century, this grand old theater was showing its age. Indeed, until the start of the current renovation, the only significant upgrade had been the replacement of the seats on the main floor more than a quarter century ago.
Thus, in 2009, Opera House began a $4.9 million fundraising campaign. Thanks in large part to a $2.3 million matching grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation, the organization had raised enough money by the spring of 2011 to start the work. This led to a yearlong closure of the hall, which ended triumphantly with its gala reopening on the last Friday in April.
All the seats in the balcony have been replaced.
The changes most visible to theatergoers are in the lobby and in the balcony. The lobby has been expanded and refurbished, with new paint and wainscoting and refinished oak banisters and railings. There are also new restrooms and a concession stand.
In the balcony, the century-old seats have all been replaced. The new seats are more comfortable and are level, so that patrons in the side balconies will no longer feel themselves sliding toward the stage. In addition, the balcony aisles and the staircases leading from the side balconies down to the front of the house have been widened, allowing balcony patrons to leave the theater more quickly and more safely.
Another important change will benefit the actors. The three levels of dressing rooms on either side of the stage have been torn down. No longer will actors have to climb rickety wooden stairs to get to small, dingy, waterless changing spaces! New dressing rooms with toilets and showers have been built in a second-story addition on the north side of the building. The rooms are of varying sizes to meet the needs of different casts.
The northern side of Waterville's city hall has two additions: the second-story, bowed annex for the actors' dressing rooms and public restrooms and the scene shop at lower left. The historic fa�ade, which faces Castonguay Square remains unchanged.
The theater now has its own digital projector and a motorized screen that is mounted above the stage and can be raised and lowered on command. No longer will MIFF need to rent equipment especially for the festival, and the Opera House will be able to host special film screenings at other times of year. By fall, the venue expects to have a satellite dish as well, so that it can receive live high-definition broadcasts, such as of operas and plays from world-renowned companies.
Thanks to a new set construction shop in a ground-level annex below and to the left of the dressing-room addition, sets will no longer have to built on stage, opening the stage to other uses until just before a major production.
The addition of a freight elevator means that set pieces, instruments, and other large equipment will no longer have to be hauled up the stairs. Having the freight elevator and the set construction shop will enable the Opera House to host more frequent and more varied events by touring artists.
By October, the theater will have a portable thrust stage that will extend over the orchestra pit. Designed so that it can be easily put up, taken down, and put away, this extension will allow the stage to hold an orchestra of fifty players � ten more than it can easily hold now � as well as permitting chamber groups to sit farther out, so that their sound will project better.
The lobby has been expanded and refurbished, with a new snack bar at left and new restrooms in the rear.
Although the renovations are almost done, the Opera House still needs to raise $600,000. For a donation of $250 or more, you can "buy" a seat and have your name or that of a loved inscribed on a nameplate. If you would like to what your dollars are buying, including the parts of theater that the public normally does not see, you can tour the theater and its backstage during the Taste of Greater Waterville on Wednesday, August�1, at noon or 4:00�p.m.
After MIFF, the rejuvenated venue will host a number of exciting events in the next few months. On July�27 and 28, the Bossov Ballet Theater will present Cinderella, and on August�11, the folk-rock band Cowboy Junkies will play. From July�30 to August�18, there will be three week-long theater camps for children entering grades 1-8.
On September�12, singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter will perform, and ten days later, the Colby Faculty Jazz Ensemble and guest artists will present a free tribute to Herbie Hancock. In October, the perennially popular Inland Hospital Fall Pops Concert will return, and just two days after the November election, the singing satirists The Capitol Steps will entertain. Also in November, the theater will present two musicals: Jekyll & Hyde and Scrooge!
To get more information about any of these and other performances and learn about still more Opera House events, you may visit www.operahouse.com or call 873-7000.


Maintenance treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with COPD including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
A long-acting beta2 -adrenergic agonist (LABA) that stimulates adenyl cyclase, resulting in accumulation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) at beta2 -adrenergic receptors resulting in bronchodilation.
Absorption: 30% absorbed following oral inhalation (from lung surface); swallowed drug is minimally absorbed.
Distribution: Extensive tissue distribution; probably enters breast milk.
Severe/acute/deteriorating symptoms of airflow obstruction.
Concurrent use with MAOIs, tricyclic antidepressants, or drugs that prolong QTc (↑ risk of adverse cardiovascular reactions).
Concurrent use with MAOIs, tricyclic antidepressants, or drugs that prolong QTc ↑ risk of adverse cardiovascular reactions (use with extreme caution).
Concurrent use with corticosteroids, non-potassium sparing diuretics, or xanthine derivatives (including theophylline) may ↑ risk of hypokalemia and adverse cardiovascular reactions (use cautiously).
Inhaln: (Adults) 2 inhalations once daily.
Assess respiratory status (rate, breath sounds, degree of dyspnea, pulse) before administration and at peak of medication. Consult health care professional about alternative medication if severe bronchospasm is present; onset of action is too slow for patients in acute distress. If paradoxical bronchospasm (wheezing) occurs, withhold medication and notify health care professional immediately.
Monitor for signs and symptoms of allergic reactions (difficulties in breathing or swallowing, swelling of tongue, lips and face, urticaria, skin rash). Discontinue therapy if symptoms occur.
May cause transient hypokalemia and hyperglycemia.
Inhaln: Prior to first use, prime the inhaler by actuating toward ground until aerosol cloud is visible, then repeat procedure 3 more times. If not used for 3 days, actuate inhaler once to prepare for use. Striverdi Respimat has a slow-moving mist to assist with inhalation. Use once (2 puffs), at the same time daily.
A rescue inhaler of short-acting beta2 -agonists should always be available to treat sudden bronchospasm.
Instruct patient in the correct use of Striverdi Respimat. Take missed doses as soon as remembered. Do not take more than 1 dose (2 puffs) in 24 hr. Advise patient not to discontinue without consulting health care professional; symptoms may recur.
Inform patient that olodaterol is a long-acting bronchodilator and should not be used for treating sudden breathing problems.
Advise patient to notify health care professional if signs and symptoms of allergic reaction, worsening symptoms; decreasing effectiveness of inhaled, short-acting beta2 –agonists; need for more inhalations than usual of inhaled, short-acting beta2 -agonists; or significant decrease in lung function occur.
olodaterol is a sample topic from the Davis's Drug Guide.
Quiring, Courtney, et al. "Olodaterol." Davis's Drug Guide, 16th ed., F.A. Davis Company, 2019. Medicine Central, im.unboundmedicine.com/medicine/view/Davis-Drug-Guide/110179/all/olodaterol.
Quiring C, Sanoski CA, Vallerand AH. Olodaterol. Davis's Drug Guide. 16th ed. F.A. Davis Company; 2019. https://im.unboundmedicine.com/medicine/view/Davis-Drug-Guide/110179/all/olodaterol. Accessed April 20, 2019.
Quiring C, Sanoski CA, Vallerand AH. Olodaterol [Internet]. In: Davis's Drug Guide. F.A. Davis Company; 2019. [cited 2019 April 20]. Available from: https://im.unboundmedicine.com/medicine/view/Davis-Drug-Guide/110179/all/olodaterol.


text:
Q: Dat GUI - size and position of menu (javascript / css) I am trying to use Dat GUI to add some controls to a Three.js project.  I really like the look and feel of the controls provided by Dat GUI.  However, I am having some problems positioning the menu within the page.  I really need to centre the menu horizontally and vertically and also set a custom width and height for the menu.  Surely this must be possible?
Currently I am trying the following.  The menu is almost centering horizontally, so something is working.  But it is not centering vertically (its just stuck to the top of the page) and the size of the menu is not changing at all (the width and height parameters have no effect).
Can anyone help me out with this?
javascript:
var gui;

var MenuClass = function()
{
    this.speed = 0.5;
};

var theMenu = new MenuClass();

gui = new dat.GUI();
gui.domElement.id = 'gui_css';

gui.add(theMenu, 'speed', -5, 5);

css:
#gui_css
{
    position: absolute;

    left: 50%;
    top: 50%;

    width: 400px;
    height: 200px;
}

A: Try:
to add a div which is a container for your dat.GUI element

then in code
var gui = new dat.GUI({ autoPlace: false });
gui.domElement.id = 'gui';
gui_container.appendChild(gui.domElement);

and then in styles
#gui_container{
  position: absolute;
  top: 50%;
  left: 50%;
}
#gui{
  transform:translate(-50%, -75px);
}

Note, that -75px in transform:translate(-50%, -75px); means that gui.domElement has no height attribute and you set translation by y-axis approximately a half of its height as you see it on the screen.
jsfiddle example

A: try this:
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    right:0;
    bottom: 0;

this will center the element horizontally and vertically as long as it has width and heigth or else it will stretch the element.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


PDO allows us to extend the PDOStatement class to provide additional functionality beyond that offered by default. We do need extra functionality. By default, this class is not driver-specific. If a given driver needs to set a custom statement class, it may do so in its constructor.
DatabaseStatementBase::$dbh Reference to the database connection object for this statement.
DatabaseStatementInterface::rowCount Returns the number of rows affected by the last SQL statement.
* Reference to the database connection object for this statement.
* The name $dbh is inherited from PDOStatement.
// the constructor is run, see http://drupal.org/node/315092.
// Call PDOStatement::fetchColumn to fetch the field.


text:
Abstracts In Press
The JABFM
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abfm
American Board of Family Medicine
JABFM On Twitter
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Research ArticleOriginal Research
The Financial Cost of Medical Assistant Turnover in an Academic Family Medicine Center
Jessica L. Friedman and Dana Neutze
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine May 2020, 33 (3) 426-430; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2020.03.190119
Jessica L. Friedman
Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (JLF, DN).
Dana Neutze
vol. 33 no. 3 426-430
https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2020.03.190119
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
Received for publication March 31, 2019
Revision received January 19, 2020
Accepted for publication January 21, 2020
Published online May 19, 2020.
© Copyright 2020 by the American Board of Family Medicine.
Jessica L. Friedman, MD, MPH and
Dana Neutze, MD, PhD
From Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (JLF, DN).
Corresponding author: Jessica L. Friedman, MD, MPH; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 590 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, (984)974-4888, USA; (E-mail: jessica_friedman{at}med.unc.edu).
Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Board of Family Medicine.
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The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine May 2020, 33 (3) 426-430; DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2020.03.190119
Well-Being, New Technologies, and Clinical Evidence for Family Physicians
Documenting New Ways of Delivering Care Under Oregon's Alternative Payment and Advanced Care Model
Barriers to Follow-Up Colonoscopy After Positive FIT or Multitarget Stool DNA Testing
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In the medical field, 20/20 is the hallmark of human being's ability to see clearly. Over the past three decades, the year 2020 was commonly used as the target against which development plans where set. Taking advantage of the double entendre, many African governments, regional economic blocks, and development agencies developed vision statements and strategic plans for economic growth and environmental sustainability. As we approach this key milestone, it is fitting to take stock of the achievements to date as well as new challenges facing agricultural development in Africa.
Rising to meet new challenges: Africa's agricultural development beyond 2020 Vision is the theme for the 6th African Association of Agricultural Economists triennial conference. The conference will be held in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria, from 23-26 September, 2019.
The conference will explore the recent developments in agricultural systems across Africa. Key drivers of change include population growth, rapid urbanization, productivity enhancing innovation, climate change, the rise of agri-preneurship, land reform, as well as policy and investment priorities by governments and development partners. To be relevant in the midst of this dizzying array of new developments, agricultural economists must put these developments in context, present evidence on their causes and consequences, and anticipate the policy challenges that governments will be facing and seeking guidance on in the next few years. This conference will bring together leading scholars, policy makers, agribusiness representatives and development practitioners to examine how these new mega-trends are shaping agricultural development in Africa.
We hope that you can join us as we explore Africa's agricultural development beyond 2020 vision. The Nigerian Nigerian Association of Agricultural Economics (NAAE) will co-host this event.
Being active in your industry's professional association can bring with it many benefits. There is power in being connected to other people who are active in your profession & line of work, but it can also be easy to talk yourself out of committing to that annual/biennial/triennial meetings year after year. Many people think that joining the association is enough, but to capitalize on the return on your investment you need to be engaged and participate in the conferences.
Many falsely believe that since they can now access industry information via the Internet that the days of the live meeting are gone. The truth is, meetings are more important than ever. The value in meetings comes from the human-to-human connections that occur. Often people cite the serendipitous "hallway conversations" that they have with other attendees as the most valuable parts of attending an event. While these are not on the agenda, or mentioned in the breakout sessions learning objectives, when two or more people begin to discuss topics on a deeper and personal level, the success of the event to those involved becomes irreplaceable. It is the people that bring the ROI to your time at a conference.


text:
filed: February 23, 2022 • Ireland
EU persists in levying fines over 70-turbine wind farm
Credit: Lorna Siggins | February 22 2022 | www.independent.ie ~~
The EU says it will continue to levy fines on Ireland over the Derrybrien Wind Farm until a European court judgment has been complied with.
This is in spite of the fact that An Bord Pleanála earlier this month refused to authorise planning for the 70-turbine wind farm run by an ESB subsidiary company in Co Galway.
The EU fines amounting to a lump sum of €5m and a daily fine of €15,000 plus legal costs were imposed by the European Court of Justice in November 2019.
The penalties were levied after it found Ireland had failed to comply with a previous court ruling in relation to the wind farm where a landslide occurred during construction in 2003.
Last November, Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien told the Dáil that the European court judgment would be "complied with" when the Derrybrien Wind Farm was "subjected to a retrospective Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – otherwise known as substitute consent".
The minister said the ESB submitted a substitute consent application to An Bord Pleanála on August 21, 2020.
Ruling on this application earlier this month, An Bord Pleanála cited "significant effects on the environment" with "permanent residual effects that cannot be fully mitigated".
However, the European Commission had indicated that the Bord Pleanála decision does not mean Ireland has complied with the European court judgment yet.
It says compliance "requires the development to undergo a remedial EIA, looking at all the impacts and mitigating against negative environmental impacts where these are identified".
"The fines will stop once this process is completed. To date, this has not been done," a Commission official told the Irish Independent.
Asked if the EU's environment directorate thought the ruling meant the wind farm should be closed, the official said the European court of justice "did not state that the wind farm needed to be decommissioned".
The Department of Housing has said the ruling is "under consideration", and communication with the European Commission would take place "in due course" to determine the impact on the case against Ireland for non-compliance with the EIA directive.
Source: Lorna Siggins | February 22 2022 | www.independent.ie
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=103036 ]


I decided to pick up a movie at Redbox and saw Chef in the rotation. Actually it didn't look like this, because I had no idea all these actors were in the movie. I just saw "food truck" and I love food trucks so I got it. Turns out it was on Netflix streaming and I could have saved $2 but there you go.
I was pleasantly surprised by the movie times ten. It's not a big budget film - except for the big name stars in it, but it's one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. The story is different, the writing is charming, the characters engaging and the actors chosen to be them, well selected. John Leguizamo and Sofia Vergara stand out particularly.
An added bonus for me was the integration of Twitter to the story line. Not only is it key to the drama that unfolds but the way they visually show the tweeting is cute.
And the food. Oh the food. There are drawn out scenes of Chef Carl making a grilled cheese, cooking pasta, garnishing plates. I love it. I even heard mention of gochujang at one point. During the credits there is footage of a chef showing Jon Favreau how to focus on making the perfect grilled cheese. Spreading butter twice, peeking under the bread with a spatula. I had to make grilled cheese the next evening.
This isn't the first time I chosen a movie based on the theme of food. Here are some of my favorite movies featuring food.
Julie and Julia - I could pretty much eat a stick of butter after watching this. Oh hey... just realized that Danny Catalano from the Mindy Project is in this!
Chocolate - Killer around Valentine's Day. Especially love the cups of drinking chocolate in this.
No Reservations - I am guessing this is a lesser known movie but I will watch it over and over.
I think one of the things I love about movies featuring chefs and food is the intensity chefs have about the food they make.
And I like the food.
Are there any movies that make you hungry for a certain dish? What movies about food do you like?
I loved Chef - was a great movie.
Loved the Hundred-Food Journey and Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
You are the second person to recommend Hundred-Food Journey. I need to find it! You also remind me of Tampopo. I haven't seen that in awhile!
I loved Big Night with Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, they play brothers who make an amazing meal to save their restaurant. It made me hungry for anything and everything Italian!
I recently made the timpano from Big Night for a party! It was delicious and if you make it using the recipe dimensions it can feed an army!
"Mostly Martha" and "Big Night"


Back to outfit making, for now at least.
Comments and suggestions, besides what I am going to do as said above, are welcome.
The belt is almost finished and I should have it uploaded and ready before the end of the weekend.
i agree with BI. It would also look cool if you made her lips a different colour(pinker maybe... but not fluorescent pink!). You could also use LarzBritish's Better Grips for the hands.
Ok. I need help with this now. If anyone is willing to help me with the hands, I'll be more than happy to give them credit.
You don't need to use trwest to add the hands. Just open STRPix load the better grip wad, get to the hands and then export dxf. Next, open the desired wad, get to the hands and import dxf. You'll have to retexture them though.
Yep and that is my problem. The textures are so intricate it's gonna take we weeks to sort it out.
thats what i did and it only took me a couple of hours.... then i discovered that i could use wadmerger!lol! i opened Strpix twice with the same wad file and used the ctrl+click method to find where the needed textures were.
I am quite fed up with Strpix and TRWest so I decided to go the easy way out. I decided to use the gloves, I just made the gloves blue instead of black. I also changed the lip color to make it a bit pinker.
The download should be up tonight or tomorrow, the only thing is as my TRWest is acting up, I might have the whole wad up, but then again, I may just get someone elses wad and imput all my stuff into it and save it. We'll see.
Wowooooooow! Looks awesome! ;) Really good job !!


zemtv.com is very popular in Facebook. Furthermore its facebook page has 2421949 likes.
The total number of people who shared the zemtv homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the zemtv homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if zemtv has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the zemtv homepage on Delicious. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the zemtv homepage on Twitter + the total number of zemtv followers (if zemtv has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the zemtv homepage on StumbleUpon.
The language of zemtv.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) Type of server and offered services. Operative System running on the server. Character set and language of the site.
Referring domains for zemtv.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.
The registar is the authority where zemtv.com is registered. The date zemtv.com was registered for the first time. Server location specifies where it is physically. The next date zemtv.com will expire. The owner usually renews every year its domain, but some prefer buying more than a year only. Domain age is a measure of how much a site is old. Older sites have normally more importance and are more trustworthy than young ones. The IP of a server identifies it. It can be unique or shared between multiple sites.
A Pakistani - We Think, We Share and We Discuss!


text:
Q: Keeping instantiated grid in the centre of the screen? everyone, I'm making a mobile game and I need help.
In the game, I instantiate a grid of dots as seen in the first attached file below.My problem is the grid is not in the centre of the screen
I could just position my main camera so the grid is in the centre the only problem with this approach being that the grid changes in size depending on your level as shown in attachment 2
here's my spawn code
        for (int x = 0; x < gridX; x++)
        {
            for (int y = 0; y < gridY; y++)
            {
                SpawnDelay = Random.Range(0.2f, 0.5f);
                yield return new WaitForSeconds(SpawnDelay);
                Instantiate(Dot, transform.position, transform.rotation);
                               NumberOfdots++;
                transform.position = new Vector2(transform.position.x + distanceBetween, transform.position.y);

                if (y % MutpleNum == ByMutpleNum)
                {
                    transform.position = new Vector2(GridoffsetX/2, transform.position.y + GridoffsetY);
                }
            }
        }
        hasFinshedSpawning = true;
        StopCoroutine("CreateLevelY");
    }

    public void ResetObject() {

        transform.position = new Vector2(GridoffsetX/2, 1);

        ExpandGrid();

    }

Is there anyway I can have the grid centre regardless of its size
Thanks,
David
PS. it's possible I'm just missing a simple solution :)
Grid 1:

Grid 2:


By Lisa Budris of Budris Law Group on Sunday, February 10, 2019.
A 92-year-old former San Diego deputy city attorney pleaded guilty last week to voluntary manslaughter and will be placed on probation. Richard Peck shot his allegedly abusive son as he slept on November 14, 2018.
Peck's son, Robert "Robbie" Peck, 51, moved into his father's home in San Diego in the middle of a divorce early last year. Peck's attornies told the judge Robbie was an alcoholic who consistently abused his father after moving in. According to Peck's defense team, Robbie smashed his father's phone (Peck's only connection to the outside world), made threatning comments, and went to bed. Shortly thereafter, Peck shot Robbie in the head with a shotgun and went into the street and yelled for help.
Robbie had allegedly once thrown a vase at his elderly father and often screamed in his father's ear, in hopes the older man would die of a heart attack. Police had been called to the Peck home 14 times the previous summer, and the son was once committed for a mental health evaluation. He also tried to force his father to amend his will, leaving more money to Robbie than to Peck's daughter.
Peck was arrested and jailed on a murder charge. Deputy District Attorney Daniel Shim called the shooting an "execution" while Robbie slept. Over Shim's objection, a judge cut Peck's $1 million bail in half and allowed his release from jail.
Shim has since agreed to a plea deal with Peck and the judge dismissed the murder charge. As part of the agreement, Peck will be placed on probation for three years, with home detention and a GPS ankle bracelet when he is sentenced on March 28.
Voluntary manslaughter is legally defined as taking a human life in the heat of passion, without malice. Under the law, the maxium punishment for voluntary manslaughter is 11 years in state prison.


text:
Circular Head Landcare monthly meeting
Wednesday, March 01, 2023 at 06:30 PM
Rural Health Building in Smithton, Australia
Meetings First Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm at the Rural Health building, Emmett Street, Smithton. Contact event organiser for more details.
Thursday, March 02, 2023 at 10:00 AM
Tuesday, March 07, 2023 at 09:30 AM


text:
title:  Daniel's Loyalty to God
date:   12/04/2018
---

Read Daniel 6 and then answer the questions below:

`What does Daniel 6:4, 5 tell us about Daniel? What do these verses teach us about how we should behave around other people? What does God want other people to think about us?`

`Read Daniel 6:4, 5 again. What connection is there between what happens in these verses and what happens in Revelation 13:4, 8, 11–17 in the last days?`

`Make a picture in your mind of the story in Daniel 6:4, 5. Pretend you are Daniel. What reasons could you, as Daniel, give for not praying? After all, praying would get Daniel thrown into the lions' den. So, why could Daniel have said it was better not to pray?`

`Why do you think Daniel continued to pray as he always prayed, even when he really did not need to do that?`

`What did King Darius say to Daniel in Daniel 6:16, even before Daniel was thrown to the lions'? How do the king's words show us he knew that Daniel's God was powerful? How do the king's words also show us that Daniel had witnessed to the king about the God he served and worshiped?`

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Freediving vs Scuba Diving
by Julien Borde
Freediving and scuba diving have more in common than one might think. Scuba divers who are interested in discovering new ways to explore the underwater world, challenging themselves, or simply improving their scuba diving skills may be interested in learning about the increasingly popular sport of free diving.
The Challenge of Freediving
While scuba diving, snorkeling, and freediving are all ways to explore the underwater world, freedivers typically have a different goal from scuba divers. Scuba divers and snorkelers usually dive to observe aquatic life and calmly enjoy the aquatic environment.
Freedivers, on the other hand, typically attempt to achieve a depth or dive time. In fact, some of the freediving world records are quite impressive. Of course, freedivers also enjoy the beauty of the underwater environment but the goal is to challenge oneself and push one's limits.
No Lung Over-Expansion or Nitrogen Issues
A scuba diver is taught to never hold his breath underwater, but a freediver holds his breath underwater throughout his entire dive. Why is this possible? While the air a freediver inhales does compress during descent and expand during ascent, the volume of air in a freediver's lungs is never greater than it was on the surface because he does not inhale additional air underwater.
For this reason, freedivers need not worry about lung overexpansion. Similarly, a freediver's body does not absorb nitrogen underwater (there is no additional nitrogen to absorb) so freedivers do not have to concern themselves with maintaining a safe ascent rate, exceeding no-decompression limits, or making safety stops. Freedivers may ascend and descend as quickly as they please!
Little or No Gear
Freediving is not as dependent upon equipment as scuba diving. Most freedivers use some gear, including fins, a mask, and a snorkel; if the water is cold they may use a wetsuit and a weight belt. However, none of this equipment is mandatory. Using less equipment allows a freediver to have a more personal experience with the underwater world.
Shorter Dive Times -- But More Intense Dives
Freedives are significantly shorter than scuba dives. On a typical dive, Scuba divers can usually spend between 45 and 60 minutes underwater. An average freedive is only a few minutes. Why would anyone freedive when it is possible to stay underwater much longer on a scuba dive? For the rush!
The two minutes a person spends underwater on a freedive are more intense than an entire hour on scuba gear. The short time a freediver stays underwater is achieved entirely through his own skill, without equipment to artificially extend his dive. The feeling of reaching a depth or time goal in freediving is exhilarating!
Ear Equalization Techniques Are Similiar
Scuba divers may find themselves surprisingly well-prepared for freediving because there are many similarities between the two sports. Both freediving and scuba diving require that the diver is comfortable and confident in the water. Scuba divers who have gained confidence underwater may find that freediving is an unexpectedly easy transition.
Many techniques learned during open water certification transfer into freediving. One example is ear equalization. Like scuba divers, freedivers must compensate for the pressure increase in their ears during a diver's descent to avoid ear barotrauma.
In many cases, freediving techniques also transfer to scuba diving. For example, freedivers use different, more efficient equalization techniques than scuba divers because their descents are so rapid. Scuba divers may benefit from learning these techniques.
Swimming and Relaxation Techniques
A good scuba diver is relaxed and moves slowly and calmly underwater, and the same is true of freedivers. The ability to be relaxed underwater is mandatory in freediving because freedivers must minimize their oxygen use in order to extend their dive times. Scuba divers who have already learned to stay calm in the water will have an easier time adjusting to freediving than people who have not.
Finally, the advanced relaxation techniques that freedivers use to extend their dives can be useful in scuba diving. For example, pre-dive freediving respiration techniques can be a great tool for scuba divers who want to calm themselves before a dive. Learning freediving respiration techniques may actually help a scuba diver to reduce his air consumption rate.
The Take Home Message About Freediving
When was the last time that you had an entirely new underwater experience? For those who love the water and enjoy scuba diving, freediving is a natural transition. The sport allows a scuba diver to discover new sensations underwater, and may help scuba divers to improve their underwater skills. In many ways, freediving is more challenging than typical recreational diving. Skills can always be improved and personal records can always be broken. Perhaps this is why freediving is so addicting!
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Q: Find the inverse of a lower triangular matrix of ones Find the inverse of the matrix $A=(a_{ij})\in M_n$ where
$$
\begin{cases}
a_{ij}=1, &i\geq j,\\
a_{ij}=0, &i<j.
\end{cases}
$$
The only method for finding inverses that I was taught was by finding the adjugate matrix. So $A^{-1}=\frac{1}{\det A}\operatorname{adj(A)}$
$$A=\begin{pmatrix}
1 & 0 &0 &\ldots &0\\
1 & 1 & 0 &\ldots &0\\
1 & 1 & 1 &\ldots &0\\
\vdots &\vdots & \vdots &\ddots & \vdots\\
1 & 1 &1 & \ldots &1 \end{pmatrix}$$
This is a triangular matrix so $\det A=1.$
To find the adjugate I first need to find the cofactor matirx$(C)$ of $A$.
$$C=\begin{pmatrix}
1&-1&0&0&\ldots &0\\
0 & 1& -1 &0&\ldots & 0\\
0 & 0 & 1 & -1&\ldots &0\\
0 & 0 & 0 &1 &\ldots &0\\
\vdots &\vdots &\vdots &\vdots&\ddots & \vdots\\
0 & 0 &0 &0 &\ldots &1\end{pmatrix}$$
$$C^T=\operatorname{adj}(A)=\begin{pmatrix}
1 & 0 & 0 & 0&\ldots &0\\
-1 & 1& 0 & 0 &\ldots &0\\
0&-1&1&0&\ldots &0\\
0& 0 &-1 &1 &\ldots&0\\
\vdots &\vdots &\vdots &\vdots &\ddots&\vdots\\
0&0&0&0&\ldots &1\end{pmatrix}=A^{-1}$$
Is this correct? Also, can I leave it like that or should I somehow write it more formally?

A: I would like to present a very simple solution by interpretation of these matrices as operators on $\mathbb{R^n}$ (which will surprise nobody...). Triangular matrix $A$ acts as a discrete integration operator:
For any $x_1,x_2,x_3,\cdots x_n$:
$$\tag{1}A (x_1,x_2,x_3,\cdots x_n)^T=(s_1,s_2,s_3,\cdots s_n)^T \ \ \text{with} \ \ \begin{cases}s_1&=&x_1&&&&\\s_2&=&x_1+x_2&&\\s_3&=&x_1+x_2+x_3\\...\end{cases}$$
(1) is equivalent to:
$$\tag{2}A^{-1} (s_1,s_2,s_3,\cdots x_n)^T=(x_1,x_2,x_3,\cdots x_n)^T \ \ \text{with} \ \ \begin{cases}x_1&=& \ \ s_1&&&&\\x_2&=&-s_1&+&s_2&&\\x_3&=&&&-s_2&+&s_3\\...\end{cases}$$
and it suffices now to "collect the coefficients" in the right order in order to constitute the inverse matrix.
(Thus the inverse operation is - in a natural way - a discrete derivation operator).

A: Yes, your inverse is correct. Let me show you an alternative approach of finding this inverse without the use of the adjugate matrix.

 Denote $A_n$ as the $n \times n$ matrix that has elements $a_{ij} = 1$ if $i \geq j$, and $0$ otherwise. Then, $A_n$ can be constructed by applying the elementary row operations $$R_2 + R_1, R_3 + R_2, \ldots, R_n - R_{n-1}$$ to the identity matrix $I_n$. So, $$A_n = \prod_{i=1}^{n-1} E_i,$$ where $E_i$ is the elementary matrix representing the row operation $R_{i+1} - R_i$. Since det$(A)$ is nonzero, it is invertible, hence $$B_n = \left( A_n \right)^{-1} =  \prod_{i = n-1}^{1} {E_i}^{-1},$$ where ${E_i}^{-1}$ is the row operation $R_{i+1} - R_i$. That is, $B_n$ can be constructed by applying the row operations $$R_n - R_{n-1}, R_{n-1} - R_{n-2},\ldots,R_2 - R_1$$ to the idenity matrix $I_n$. The inverse of $A_n$ is therefore given by the matrix
$$B_n = \begin{pmatrix}
\phantom{-}1 & \phantom{-}0 &\phantom{-}0 &\ldots &0\\
-1 & \phantom{-}1 & \phantom{-}0 &\ldots &0\\
\phantom{-}0 & -1 & \phantom{-}1 &\ldots &0\\
\phantom{-}\vdots &\phantom{-}\vdots & \phantom{-}\vdots &\ddots & \vdots\\
\phantom{-}0 & \phantom{-}0 & \phantom{-}0 & \cdots &1 \end{pmatrix}.$$
In order to check that this is the correct inverse, you can use the identity $$A_nB_n = I_n.$$

A: You can also use the induction along the dimension $n$ (leading to a simple but not very constructive proof though).
Let $A_n$ denote the matrix $A$ of dimension $n$ and $B_n$ its inverse. The statement is obviously true for $n=1$ and reduces to showing that $1=1$. Let the statement be true for $n-1$, that is, $A_{n-1}^{-1}=B_{n-1}$. If $1_{n-1}$ and $0_{n-1}$ the column vectors of ones and zeros, respectively, of dimension $n-1$, the matrix $A_n$ can be written in the block form
$$
A_n=\begin{bmatrix}A_{n-1}&0_{n-1}\\1_{n-1}^T&1\end{bmatrix}.
$$
You can easily verify that
$$
A_n^{-1}=\begin{bmatrix}A_{n-1}^{-1}&0_{n-1}\\-1_{n-1}^TA_{n-1}^{-1}&1\end{bmatrix}
$$
is the inverse of $A_n$.
By the induction assumption, $A_{n-1}^{-1}=B_{n-1}$. It is easy to check that $1_{n-1}^TA_{n-1}^{-1}=1_{n-1}^TB_{n-1}=e_{n-1}^T:=[0,\ldots,0,1]^T$ (sum of the rows of $B_{n-1}$). So
$$
A_n^{-1}=\begin{bmatrix}B_{n-1}&0_{n-1}\\-1_{n-1}^TB_{n-1}&1\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}B_{n-1}&0_{n-1}\\-e_{n-1}^T&1\end{bmatrix}=B_n.
$$

A: Just to show a different approach.
Consider the matrix $\mathbf E$, having $1$ only on the first subdiagonal
$$
\mathbf{E} = \left\| {\,e_{\,n,\,m}  = \left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}c}
   1 & {n = m + 1}  \\
   0 & {n \ne m + 1}  \\
 \end{array} } \right.\;} \right\| = \left\| {\,\left( \begin{gathered}
  0 \\
  n - m - 1 \\
\end{gathered}  \right)\;} \right\|
$$
Multiply it by $\mathbf A$ , and it is easily seen that $$\mathbf E \, \mathbf A=\mathbf A-\mathbf I \quad \Rightarrow \quad \left( \mathbf I -\mathbf E \right)\,\mathbf A=\mathbf I$$
In another way, consider that the powers of $\mathbf E$ are readily found and have a simple formulation
$$
\begin{gathered}
  \mathbf{E}^{\,\mathbf{2}}  = \left\| {\,\sum\limits_{0\, \leqslant \,k\,\left( { \leqslant \,n - 1} \right)} {\left( \begin{gathered}
  0 \\
  n - k - 1 \\
\end{gathered}  \right)\left( \begin{gathered}
  0 \\
  k - m - 1 \\
\end{gathered}  \right)} \;} \right\| = \left\| {\,\left( \begin{gathered}
  0 \\
  n - m - 2 \\
\end{gathered}  \right)\;} \right\| = \left\| {\,\left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}c}
   1 & {n = m + 2}  \\
   0 & {n \ne m + 2}  \\
 \end{array} } \right.\;} \right\| \hfill \\
  \quad  \vdots  \hfill \\
  \mathbf{E}^{\,\mathbf{q}}  = \mathbf{E}^{\,\mathbf{q} - \mathbf{1}} \,\mathbf{E} = \left\| {\,\sum\limits_{0\, \leqslant \,k\,\left( { \leqslant \,n - 1} \right)} {\left( \begin{gathered}
  0 \\
  n - k - \left( {q - 1} \right) \\
\end{gathered}  \right)\left( \begin{gathered}
  0 \\
  k - m - 1 \\
\end{gathered}  \right)} \;} \right\| =  \hfill \\
   = \left\| {\,\left( \begin{gathered}
  0 \\
  n - m - q \\
\end{gathered}  \right)\;} \right\|\quad \left| {\;0 \leqslant \text{integer}\;q} \right. \hfill \\
\end{gathered}
$$
Therefore
$$
\mathbf{A} = \sum\limits_{0\, \leqslant \,j} {\mathbf{E}^{\,\mathbf{j}} }  = \frac{\mathbf{I}}
{{\mathbf{I} - \mathbf{E}}}
$$
To connect to the answer of Jean Marie, note that
$$
\left( {\mathbf{I} - \mathbf{E}} \right)\left\| {\,\begin{array}{*{20}c}
   {x_{\,0} }  \\
   {x_{\,1} }  \\
    \vdots   \\
   {x_{\,n} }  \\
 \end{array} \;} \right\| = \left\| {\,\begin{array}{*{20}c}
   {x_{\,0} ( - 0)}  \\
   {x_{\,1}  - x_{\,0} }  \\
    \vdots   \\
   {x_{\,n}  - x_{\,n - 1} }  \\
 \end{array} \;} \right\| = \left\| {\,\begin{array}{*{20}c}
   {\nabla x_{\,0} \;\left| {x_{\, - 1}  = 0} \right.}  \\
   {\nabla x_{\,1} }  \\
    \vdots   \\
   {\nabla x_{\,n} }  \\
 \end{array} \;} \right\|
$$


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Candidates split on Obamacare alternatives
Four S.D. contenders for U.S. Senate represent an array of options in health care reform.
Candidates split on Obamacare alternatives Four S.D. contenders for U.S. Senate represent an array of options in health care reform. Check out this story on argusleader.com: http://argusne.ws/1sG80Hs
David Montgomery, dmontgome@argusleader.com Published 10:35 p.m. CT Sept. 27, 2014 | Updated 8:17 a.m. CT Sept. 28, 2014
State politics (Photo: Argus Leader )Buy Photo
The one thing South Dakota's four U.S. Senate candidates agree on about health care is that the status quo stinks.
Some say the Affordable Care Act should be repealed, while others back reforms to the controversial health care law, but none wants to keep things the way they are.
Beyond that, however, voters who care about health care have plenty of choice.
"(South Dakota voters) have this great spectrum of options, from get rid of (the Affordable Care Act) to move it to the left," said Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in health policy and helped craft the ACA.
Independent Gordon Howie wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and would take a hard-line approach to doing so. Replacement reforms should wait until after repeal is achieved, Howie said.
Republican Mike Rounds also backs repeal, but he said Republicans should be flexible in their tactics for accomplishing that. He supports a series of insurance-market regulations to replace stricter provisions in the Affordable Care Act.
Independent Larry Pressler said the Affordable Care Act is flawed but here to stay. Congress should focus on fixing it instead of repealing it, he said, and he backs a plan for health care cooperatives to bring care to underserved areas.
Democrat Rick Weiland defends the Affordable Care Act as a good idea, but thinks its compromises gave too much to insurance companies. He backs a plan to let people younger than 65 buy into Medicare, the federal health insurance program for seniors, as an alternative to private insurance.
"That is from A to Z, no question about it," said Joseph Antos, a health policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute.
Weiland: Let people buy into Medicare
Perhaps the most striking health care idea is Weiland's proposal to let people younger than 65 buy health insurance from Medicare.
Weiland said the plan, also a favorite of the late George McGovern, would increase competition in the health insurance market.
"My whole contention with the Affordable Care Act has been it's not affordable enough because there's not enough competition," Weiland said. "If you brought Medicare back to the table ... it would be a win for everybody."
While Medicare for seniors involves considerable subsidies from taxpayers, Weiland would have younger people pay the full cost.
Weiland, a former state director for the AARP, said most seniors love their Medicare. Other people, he said, should have the same option.
None of Weiland's Senate rivals agree.
Pressler called Medicare a flawed program and said it needs major cost-controlling reforms before it could be expanded.
Howie said an unsubsidized Medicare buy-in would be too expensive for ordinary consumers and would flop.
Rounds, by contrast, worries that a Medicare option would be too successful, that it would drive private insurance companies out of business.
"If you're going to expect the private companies, the nonprofit organizations, to compete against a government-subsidized plan, Medicare, it is inherently unfair and it would be impossible for them to exist," Rounds said.
That, Rounds said, would be bad for consumers because privately insured patients now pay extra to compensate for lower Medicare reimbursements.
"Once you increase the number of people on Medicare, then the cost of subsidy to the other private payers goes up," Rounds said.
Weiland dismissed that criticism.
"I would argue (private insurers) would have to pay their CEOs a little bit less and run a little more efficiently," Weiland said.
Experts are divided on whether a Medicare buy-in would be good policy.
Antos, the analyst for the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said Medicare has enough problems already without bringing more people on board.
"The Medicare program itself doesn't run efficiently, does not promote effective and efficient health care," Antos said. "It's a fee for service program that doesn't work very well."
While Weiland highlighted Medicare's efficiency, Antos is skeptical.
"The Medicare program sets payment rates for providers, doctors, hospitals and everybody else," he said.
"This is not competition, this is government price-setting."
Set the price too high, Antos said, "you're going to make health care providers who offer that service very wealthy." Set it too low, and no providers will offer the service. Hitting the mark, he said, is almost impossible.
Gruber, the health care act architect, disagreed and said a Medicare buy-in could work. Whether the plan works would depend on how much the Medicare option cost, he said.
Unsubsidized Medicare Part B plans would cost more than $400 a month, more than many unsubsidized South Dakota plans on the Affordable Care Act's online marketplace. But Medicare is more generous than many of those plans.
It would count as a "gold" plan that pays 80 percent of costs after the deductible, but has a yearly deductible of just $147. No "gold" plan in South Dakota has a deductible below $1,000.
"Some people would find it attractive," Gruber said. "Basically, it's all going to come down to what price point Medicare would be at compared to the private option."
It's possible the Medicare buy-in could be a success or a flop, he said.
"If I had my druthers, I'd do it ... to see what happens," he said.
But Gruber said a Medicare buy-in is politically unrealistic.
"It'd never pass politically," he said. "The private health insurance (industry) would go to war against it and it would never get to the floor (of Congress.)"
Pressler: Keep ACA, but reform it
Pressler said he would have voted against the Affordable Care Act. But now that it's been implemented, he says repeal won't work.
"Anybody who says we should repeal it is ... not being realistic," Pressler said. With filibuster rules in the Senate and President Obama's veto, "there's not enough votes."
Instead, he said, Congress should work with Obama to fix shortcomings in the law. That gives him perhaps the least radical health care proposal of the four candidates.
Some of Pressler's reforms could be controversial, though. For example, he supports tort reform to limit payouts in medical malpractice suits — an idea the Democratic Party has fiercely opposed.
Pressler also wants to support cooperative health care clinics as a means to deliver care in areas far from hospitals.
Jon Schaff, a political science professor at Northern State University, said Pressler is "trying to play the middle game" politically that could appeal to moderates or open him up to attack from both sides.
But he said Pressler's proposal to keep the health care act but modify it might be the most politically realistic option.
"Whatever you think of the policy position of Mr. Pressler ... it's extremely unlikely we're going to get rid of it lock, stock and barrel, so adjustment is more likely to happen than repeal," Schaff said.
Rounds: Repeal and replace ACA
The focus of Rounds' campaign message is a call to repeal the controversial Affordable Care Act. His proposals for replacement reforms get less attention — in part because his laundry list of reforms are complicated and wonky.
"I almost fell asleep in the middle of that," Schaff joked after hearing a description of some of Rounds' reform proposals.
But his ideas are serious and based on laws passed in South Dakota the past two decades. Many of them also are in the Affordable Care Act, but in stricter, further-reaching forms than Rounds supports.
Rounds supports "guaranteed renewability," which prohibits health insurance companies from canceling a policy as long as premiums are paid, and "portability," to help people keep insurance coverage when they shift to different employers.
He also backs other regulations, including limits on the difference between the cheapest and most expensive plan companies offer. The Affordable Care Act limits the most expensive plan to three times the cost of the cheapest. Rounds said a 5:1 ratio would be better.
Gruber said those kind of reforms are helpful — but not enough.
Good health care reform, Gruber said, is like a three-legged stool. In addition to regulations, reform needs a requirement that people buy insurance, to ensure that the insurance market isn't flooded by just the sickest people. He said it also needs subsidies so that low-income people can afford to buy required insurance.
"One leg is the insurance market regulations, which is what he wants," Gruber said. "But those don't work without the mandate, and the mandate doesn't work without the subsidies. We've tried those kind of insurance market regulations without a mandate before, and they fail."
Antos defended Rounds' approach as representing a different philosophy: that the complicated mechanisms Gruber backs aren't necessary if smarter regulations set up a well-functioning market.
"Some of the principles of the ACA are important principles and need to be implemented, but in ways that are more compatible with promoting efficiency in the health care market," Antos said.
Howie: An all-outeffort to repeal
Like Rounds, Howie wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But Howie said he would pursue that goal much more energetically.
For example, Howie said, he would refuse to vote for any proposal that included funding for the Affordable Care Act.
"My objection to government-controlled health care would include me being unwilling to vote for any funding for that program, period," Howie said.
A similar stance last year led to a government shutdown when House Republicans refused to approve a spending bill that included money for the Affordable Care Act. Howie supported that move. Rounds tentatively backed the congressional Republicans at first but then criticized them for persisting with the showdown after it became clear it wouldn't get rid of the health care act.
Howie said questions about what reforms to pass in place of the health care act are premature.
"We can pick around the edges at specifics all day long, and it doesn't get us anywhere until or unless we repeal Obamacare and then get all of the players to sit down at the table," Howie said.
He wouldn't detail any proposed fixes.
"If you start proclaiming the things you will do or you won't do, you discover that pretty soon you've lost your mission," Howie said. "I'm not interested in going down 10 different rabbit trails in terms of do I like this, do I like that."
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Dr. Saeed Rahnema is an award-winning professor of political science and equity studies, now retired, from York University. He was the founding Director of York's School of Public Policy and Administration. In his homeland Iran, he taught and worked as a member of the executive of the Industrial Management Institute in Tehran. He has also served as an officer of the UNDP, as a Director of the Middle East Economic Association (MEEA), and as a member of editorial boards of several journals. He is a frequent commentator in Canadian and international media on issues related to the Middle East and Islam. He is the author of several books and numerous articles in English and Persian on topics such religious fundamentalism, secularism, diaspora, and multiculturalism.
As Iranians head to the polls this week, they will once again be faced with voting for the lesser of two evils, writes Saeed Rahnema.
Both are populists, outrageous, liars and worse — ignorant of governance and of foreign policy issues. But the popularity of Donald Trump and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the most worrying sign of social degradation at a global level, argues Saeed Rahnema.
The term is relative and its continued use is worth questioning, argues Saeed Rahnema.
To understand the military action earlier this year, we need to understand the divisions between the two Palestinian regions, argues Saeed Rahnema.
Saeed Rahnema on why Rowhani won Iran's presidential election and what his victory will mean for the people of Iran.
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Martyn Thompson
Executive General Manager - Corporate Development
Martyn joined Steadfast with over 35 years' experience as an Insurance Broker, the previous 29 years working in senior roles for the global Broker, Willis Towers Watson. During this tenure he was National Client Service Director responsible for implementing service platforms and standards across the network including providing risk and insurance solutions to many ASX companies, government and Multi-National organisations. He is a Senior Associate ANZIIF, holds a Diploma of Financial Services and a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration.
Jeff Papps
Executive General Manager - Operations & Acquisitions
Jeff joined Steadfast in 2012 and is joint lead of the Operations and Acquisitions team. Prior to joining Steadfast, Jeff worked for PwC specialising in financial services. After transferring from London to Sydney in 1998, he focused on mergers and acquisitions, leading domestic and cross border transactions and listings across Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Jeff is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
John O'Herlihy
John joined Steadfast in 2012 and is joint lead of the Operations and Acquisitions team. Having completed his professional accounting training with KPMG in 1996, John has spent over 15 years working within the insurance industry. During this time he has held a number of senior finance and operational roles in both North America and Australia specialising in corporate transactions. John is now a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Duncan Ramsay
Duncan began with Steadfast in June 2014 after 20 years at QBE. He was Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. Duncan's career commenced in 1986 with Freehills in Sydney. He holds degrees in commerce and law, and a graduate certificate in applied risk management. Duncan is a Fellow of ANZIIF and the Governance Institute of Australia, as well as a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Linda Ellis
Group Company Secretary and Corporate Counsel
Linda is Group Company Secretary & Corporate Counsel at Steadfast Group Limited and has been part of the Executive team since 2013. Before joining Steadfast, she specialised in mergers and acquisitions and worked in Sydney and London at global law firms. Linda is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a BEc and LLB (Hons I) from The University of Sydney and is on the boards of Abbotsleigh School for Girls, Mosman Preparatory School and the advisory board of Heads Over Heels.
Nathan Hillery
Nathan Hillery joined Steadfast in late 2019 as the Chief Information Officer and has 20 years' experience within IT management roles spanning advertising, media, and legal industries. With a strong background in big data and cybersecurity and a passion for innovation, his role is working closely across the entire group aligning technology and cybersecurity strategies.
Sheila Baker
Executive General Manager, Compliance and Customer Experience
Sheila Baker joined Steadfast in October 2020, following our purchase of Gold Seal, which specialised in the provision of Compliance, HR and Training and Education Services. Gold Seal had a long standing reputation industry-wide for quality advice and integrity which Sheila brought to Steadfast in addition to a highly skilled team with a broad range of capabilities in the compliance arena. Sheila was involved in Gold Seal since their establishment and has in excess of 20 years of experience in the capacity of service provision to the broking sector.
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Malachi House II, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization operating with a staff who are committed to providing a safe and trusting environment where men can recover from life-controlling issues, such as drug and alcohol addiction. When a participant enrolls in Malachi House II, he not only receives food, clothing and shelter, he also embarks on a journey that will assist him in developing a personal relationship with God, expand his education, obtain new job skills and develop a positive work resume.
All of these measures are necessary to ensure that each student receives the spiritual, emotional, physical and vocational training required to overcome problems that lead to addiction.
In order to graduate, each student is required to complete a comprehensive chemical dependency education program and a minimum of six courses of group studies.
Our desire is to give men hope, as well as to provide them with the tools needed to overcome chemical dependency and become successful in every aspect of their life. Your continual support will enable us to empower and impact the lives of men, their families, and the community.


These easy, baked Pumpkin French Toast donuts have all the flavors of french toast! Complete with streusel pieces and an irresistible maple glaze!
Fall has arrived! (At least for a little bit. . .) We went running in 60 degree weather yesterday and it felt so good! No instant sweating, no choking humidity. . .just crisp, cool air. Definitely excited about more cool runs ahead. Equally exciting is the realization that my house won't heat up when the oven is on for more than 10 minutes. That is something to celebrate! With donuts, of course!
A pumpkin donut with a hint of cinnamon, nutmeg and maple, studded with brown sugar-cinnamon streusel, and topped with a light maple glaze to be exact. What's not to like?! Pumpkin french toast donuts are the perfect way to welcome fall.
Don't be turned off by the longer list of ingredients. The streusel is worth it! It helps give the donuts the authentic french toast flavor. The light maple glaze on top is like the syrup poured over french toast. Just the topping to finish them off! Welcome fall, celebrate the weekend, or make them just because. Whatever your reason, these pumpkin french toast donuts are sure to make your day a little happier!
Preheat oven to 350. Spray donut pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in milk, pumpkin, eggs, butter, and extracts until just combined.
In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients for the streusel pieces except butter. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, mix the butter in with your fingers and create bigger chunks of streusel.) Stir streusel into donut batter.
Pour batter into a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off. Fill each donut cavity about ½ full.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges just start to turn light golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 2 minutes before removing from pan.
While donuts are cooling, prepare glaze by melting together sugar and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Add milk and boil for another minute. Add confectioner's sugar and maple extract and stir until smooth.
Keeping heat on low, carefully dip each donut in glaze to cover tops. You may need to stir glaze occasionally to keep it from hardening.
This is like two of my favorite breakfasts in one! With all of your scones and donuts, I wish you could make me breakfast every morning 🙂 I'm loving the cooler air to run in too…this morning it was in the 40's on my run!
I will definitely take solice in these donuts though… sound amazing especially with the streusel pieces instead to give it that extra french toast flavor. YUM!
Pumpkin french toast donuts?! Hello, breakfast! These sound amazing, Jessica! Loce the fun flavor!
Oh man these look and sound divine! I could eat a couple of these for breakfast any morning!
I wish I could've had these for breakfast!
I love all these fall recipes! This looks amazing!!!!
mmm, so tasty! i am so happy fall is here. 🙂 almost!
Oh what a heaven;y combo! I wish I could click my heals and a couple of these would magically appear in front of me!!
Love love love these donuts! I am a sucker for streusel and love that you added them to these – such a great idea! Pinning – the maple glaze looks mouthwatering too girl!
You can use a muffin tin. Fill the cups about 3/4 full. You will probably need to bake them a couple of minutes longer. If you have a mini muffin pan, I'd recommend using that as the regular size muffins may end up being a bit denser. Hope that helps!
Those look delicious!!! I'll have to make them for breakfast one of these weekends… Can I substitute the maple extract with pure maple syrup?
Streusel pieces in the donuts???? I love this!
Love these! I haven't been very adventurous when it comes to doughnuts, but I need to try them out some more!
Now these donuts are so clever!! The look fantastic.
Soooooo…. Breakfast tomorrow at 10 at your place? I'll bring coffee you bring the donuts!
These donuts look fantastic, and I love that they're baked. It means I can eat at least 2 without feeling guilty…right? Bring on the Fall baking!
What a fabulous combination! I could totally eat 5 right now!
These look aMAzing! Can't wait to try! What I want to know is on the glaze, how much butter? You have 1/4 butter. Is that tsp., cup, etc? I'm assuming cup. Thank you! Have to run out now and buy a donut pan! Didn't know there was such a thing, and I bake fairly frequently, ha!
Thanks for catching that! It should be a cup. Yes, you need a donut pan! 😉 You'll love how easy it is to make donuts.
These donuts have all my favorite flavors – especially maple! They turned out so beautifully Jessica – pinned!
I feel like fall is finally starting to hit the great Northwest! And it is making me crave all things pumpkin. I'm gonna add this to my list of deliciousness to bake!!
I'm wanting to try making these and I'm actually wondering if they can be made without a doughnut mold pan? In your directions you use it, but I don't have one so I'm wondering what kind of consistency the batter is and whether it'll stand alone without the mold. Thanks!
I'm afraid the batter would be too runny to not use a doughnut pan. Sorry!
Oh man. Looks like I found my recipe for our donut eating race. Is is as easy as it looks? I am a donut-making newbie. But a long-time donut lover. Can't wait to try it and rate the recipe!
And to think, I had a donut pan in my hand at the store today and then put it back. Gosh how I wish I would have purchased it now. I'll have to go back and get it so I can make this recipe. They look amazing!!


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Will Sponsors of the London Olympics Reap Rewards — or Controversy?
With just one year to go before the 2012 Olympic Summer Games begin, the PR machine of its organizing committee — including Lord Sebastian Coe, its chairman — gathered foreign press in London on Monday to run through all of the preparations taking place for next summer's mega-event, which runs from July 27 to August 12.
Britain has spent the past six years since it was awarded the 2012 games getting ready to accommodate the event, noted Coe. With its £2 billion budget (US$ 3.23 billion, raised largely from private-sector sponsorship deals as well as broadcasting rights and merchandising), the committee is on its way to delivering an Olympics and Paralympics (which take place August 29 to September 9, 2012) involving 36 competition venues, 14,700 athletes, 21,000 broadcasters and members of the media, 10.8 million ticket holders, 6,000 paid staff and up to 70,000 volunteers. "We think we're in good shape," said Coe, a four-time Olympic medalist in track and field who competed in the 1980 and 1984 Games.
But are its sponsors? Invariably with any big sporting event these days, marketing experts are keeping tabs on the legion of companies sponsoring the Games to find out who's getting the biggest bang for their buck. "All these things are about money," Kenneth Shropshire, director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, told Knowledge@Wharton before the Super Bowl earlier this year. "There are more and more of us trying to find out what value you are getting if you are the sponsor of a site or a broadcast."
In terms of brand management, many sporting-event sponsorship deals leave a lot to be desired, according to Dominique Turpin, president of Switzerland's IMD business school. His research on corporate sponsorship has found that firms investing several million dollars as sponsors of the 2012 Olympics will need to spend at least two to three times that amount to leverage the event fully. That means deploying a strategy that encourages consumers to "engage" with the company by, say, rolling out new products, creating Olympics-branded packaging or launching a major advertising campaign.
Samsung is one sponsor that Turpin says is setting itself up to win. For one thing, the company has signed up soccer star David Beckham as its Games "ambassador." For another, it has launched a campaign for people to nominate 60 inspiring individuals to take part in the 70-day torch relay carrying the Olympic flame around Britain — one of several accessible pre-Games events designed to ensure that "everyone in the country is engaged," said Coe.
But there are kinks. As corporate sponsors of previous events know too well, much can go awry at an event on the scale of the Olympics. At the Beijing Games in 2008, many sponsors drew fire from anti-China activists up and down the spectrum as politics, human rights and other interests clashed during the torch relay. The London Games have already had a taste of such controversy.
A case in point: "What about McDonald's sponsorship?" asked one journalist at the press gathering. Indeed, for an event with the grand vision of "leaving an international legacy" — in Coe's words — and a goal of introducing young children to sports, it's hard for locals to ignore that along with its global sponsorship of the Summer Games, the fast-food giant will be giving London and visitors to the Olympic Park its largest-ever restaurant — with 3,000 square meters and 1,500 seats. The location is one of four McDonald's opening at the site; the company expects the restaurants to serve a combined 1.75 million meals during the Games. "It is clearly sending the wrong signal to kids and young people," Amir Khan, an Olympic boxing silver medalist for Britain in 2004, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper, joining a chorus of local disapproval in July. "The Olympics are a great opportunity to show young people what types of food they need in different aspects of their life. I think this is a mistake."
Coe's response? A pragmatic one. While pointing out that McDonald's has been an Olympics sponsor since 1976, he noted, "[If] we don't have sponsors, we don't have a game."
"Will Sponsors of the London Olympics Reap Rewards — or Controversy?." Knowledge@Wharton. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 26 July, 2011. Web. 18 January, 2022	<https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/will-sponsors-of-the-london-olympics-reap-rewards-or-controversy/>
Will Sponsors of the London Olympics Reap Rewards — or Controversy?. Knowledge@Wharton (2011, July 26). Retrieved from https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/will-sponsors-of-the-london-olympics-reap-rewards-or-controversy/
"Will Sponsors of the London Olympics Reap Rewards — or Controversy?" Knowledge@Wharton, July 26, 2011,
accessed January 18, 2022. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/will-sponsors-of-the-london-olympics-reap-rewards-or-controversy/
Will Lush's Decision to Deactivate Social Media Pay Off?
Wharton marketing lecturer Annie Wilson looks at the pros and cons of the cosmetics firm's bold move.


Our home stadium is Memorial Stadium in the heart of Seattle, right under the Space Needle. Friday and Saturday games will be played in the evening. Sunday games start in the early afternoon.
8+ home games in Memorial Stadium, at the foot of the Space Needle.
Our AUDL (open) roster will play 14+ games against the other teams in the AUDL West Division. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top 2 teams in the AUDL West division will compete for one spot at Championship Weekend where they will be tested by the top team from the Midwest, East, and South Divisions.
Our mixed roster will play in the Cascades Cup (in Seattle, date/time tba) and 1-2 other showcase games, including the Flamethrowers Cup (in San Francisco, May 26th).
-- The open team will compete in 14 regular season AUDL games. If we finish first or second in the West Division, then we'll play one playoff game for a spot at Championship Weekend in August.
-- Our mixed team will include ~15 women and ~15 men, of which 10 & 10 will compete in "Cup" games.
-- Most (if not all) of the players on Mixed team will come from the open team.
-- If we compete as a women's team, our core will consist of our ~15 mixed players... and we'll recruit additional players from Seattle.
-- Opponents in consideration include club teams from other cities or one of the "women's teams" that are potentially forming alongside other AUDL teams.
-- Our over-arching goal is to create positive and sustainable opportunities for women to play. To this end, we still have time to figure out a women's team concept that works for this season.


Drug and Alcohol Rehab Charlotte comments on WCNC's recent article.
We cannot be so apt to prescribe addictive opiates without knowing a full family history of previous addiction.
The heroin epidemic is affecting the Charlotte in North Carolina equally as the rest of the country, reported WCNC on July 7th. The rate for heroin usage has continued to climb around the country in part because the price tag of heroin has gone down considerably, and is a less expensive alternative for those with an addiction to prescription opiate medications. According to WCNC, the Centers for Disease Control says 45% of those who are addicted to heroin started out abusing prescription medications for pain management. Heroin addiction proliferates regardless of age, gender, and economic status.
Drug and Alcohol Rehab Charlotte is a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center. The facility specializes in heroin rehab in Charlotte and offers patients extensive drug counseling and rehabilitation. The center for addiction treatment asserts more training is needed for medical personnel to accurately prescribe opiate medications to reduce addiction rates nationwide.
An associate of Drug and Alcohol Rehab Charlotte comments, "Part of the problem is that our medical professionals in the field are the first point of contact with highly addictive opiates. In terms of pain management, sometimes opiates are not the best option, as they should be a temporary means, but often become the first 'remedy' which often turns into a case of chronic addiction.
Drug and Alcohol Rehab Charlotte specializes in extensive drug rehab in Charlotte and alcohol rehab in Charlotte. The treatment center accepts clients from the entire state of North Carolina and offers patients extensive drug counseling and life coaching services. Patients enjoy 24 hour medical monitoring, status updates on their conditions, and safe medically assisted drug treatment The addiction counselors of Drug and Alcohol Rehab work extensively with clients to identify the core causes of addiction and help remedy the underlying causes of the disease.
Drug and Alcohol Rehab Charlotte accepts most major insurances and provides 100% tuition coverage in some instances.
For more information about Drug and Alcohol Rehab Charlotte visit http://drugandalcoholrehabcharlotte.com/ or call (704)586-9353.


The biggest and most densely populated city in Australia is Sydney and it is home to the famous Sydney Opera House as well as the Harbour Bridge.
Day trips to Hunter Valley, Blue Mountains, Jenolan Caves, Wollongong, Newcastle, Kangaroo Valley and many other locations.
Please note, prices may change at any time.