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ENERGY-RESOURCE
State: Wind turbines not harmful
Patrick Cassidy
A review of existing scientific literature by a state-appointed panel has found no evidence that noise and shadow flicker from wind turbines directly harm people living near the machines.
Opponents of wind energy projects on Cape Cod and elsewhere in Massachusetts immediately blasted the panel's 164-page report, released Tuesday, saying the agencies that organized the review failed the residents of the state.
The group Windwise Massachusetts, which has fought wind energy projects across the state, called for an epidemiological study of the health effects of wind turbines rather than a review of the literature as was done by the state panel.
"It's inconclusive to me," said Mark Cool, of Falmouth, one of dozens of outspoken residents who live near two turbines at that town's wastewater treatment facility.
The panel's findings indicate a lack of evidence, but that doesn't prove that there is no connection between the operation of wind turbines and health problems, Cool said.
"There's evidence that our health is being affected, but what we need to do is find out what causes that," he said.
Proponents of wind energy, meanwhile, praised the panel's findings.
"This advances the ball and it helps provide some form of a road map for local officials navigating the body of information out there," said Sue Reid, vice president and director of Conservation Law Foundation Massachusetts. While there is room for more analysis, the report rules out some of the basic claims made by wind energy opponents, such as detrimental effects on human health attributed to low-frequency infrasound produced by turbines, Reid said.
The seven-member panel was convened in June 2011 by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the state Department of Public Health in response to concerns raised by opponents of locating large turbines near residential neighborhoods, including on Cape Cod, where wind energy projects in various towns have sparked contentious debates about the technology.
The epicenter for the debate is in Falmouth, where the first turbine erected at the wastewater treatment facility is blamed by residents for a variety of health issues, including anxiety, high blood pressure and nausea.
During a teleconference Tuesday to announce the report's findings, panel member Sheryl Grace, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Boston University, said it was interesting that the turbine in Falmouth was stall regulated — a technology that has been known to have issues with noise — versus pitch regulated, a design where the turbine blades are constantly adjusted to capture the wind's energy.
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell deflected the idea that the pro-wind energy policy of Gov. Deval Patrick's administration influenced the content of the report.
"The findings and recommendations that are in this report are those of the panel members only," he said. "We are not concerned that there will be a claim that the panel had a bias."
The panel included health professionals and academics from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston University, the University of Massachusetts and the Harvard School of Public Health.
In the report they found that, while it is possible that noise from some turbines could cause annoyance and sleep disruption, there is not enough evidence to say the noise directly causes health problems or disease.
The passage of wind turbine blades in front of the sun, known as flicker, does not pose a risk for eliciting seizures, according to the report.
At least one area where the report finds a potential danger is if ice is flung into the air after accumulating on a turbine's blades.
"There is sufficient evidence that falling ice is physically harmful and measures should be taken to ensure that the public is not likely to encounter such ice," according to the report.
In addition, the report's authors called into question a contention by opponents of wind energy projects that there is a group of symptoms associated with living near turbines.
"There is no evidence for a set of health effects from exposure to wind turbines that could be characterized as a 'Wind Turbine Syndrome,'" according to the report.
The phrase "wind turbine syndrome" was coined by Nina Pierpont, a New York pediatrician who wrote a book on the subject that opponents of wind energy often cite in their arguments.
Reached Tuesday, Pierpont said the Massachusetts panel cherry-picked in deciding what literature to review and should have spoken to people in Falmouth to find out what they were experiencing.
The state should sponsor a epidemiological study, she said.
"For them to choose only to review journal literature is an easy out but it's irresponsible," she said.
During Tuesday's teleconference the report's authors defended their work.
The report points to some areas where more study is required, said Mark Weisskopf, assistant professor at the Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Environmental Health and Epidemiology.
"As scientists we always want to study things more," Weisskopf said, adding, however, that most of the report's conclusions are "firm."
The panel accepted public comment on its work until July 22 and received 25 peer-reviewed articles, 20 government reports, 35 white papers prepared by nonprofit or business organizations as well as hundreds of emails, news reports and blog postings, according to the DEP's website.
Patrick has made wind energy a primary piece of his administration's energy policy, including a goal of 2,000 megawatts of wind energy in the state by 2020.
At the end of 2011 the administration suffered a major setback when several powerful lawmakers who had previously backed legislation to streamline permitting for large wind turbines withdrew their support.
A public comment period on the report will run through March 19, according to the DEP. Comments may be sent to MassDEP Wind Turbine Docket, 1 Winter St., Fourth Floor, Boston 02108 or to WindTurbineDocket.MassDEP@MassMail.State.MA.US.
There will also be three public meetings to accept comment on the report, including one from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 16 at Bourne High School.
There is no evidence for "Wind Turbine Syndrome" - a set of health effects opponents of wind energy projects have argued is associated with living near the machines.
Claims that infrasound - low-frequency sound that cannot be heard by humans - from turbines affect balance have not been demonstrated scientifically.
Evidence suggests no association between noise from turbines and psychological distress or mental health problems.
No evidence suggests an association between noise from turbines and pain and stiffness, diabetes, high blood pressure, tinnitus, hearing impairment, cardiovascular disease and headaches or migraines.
Limited evidence suggests an association between exposure to turbines and annoyance, although there is not enough evidence to determine if the association is independent of the effects of seeing a turbine.
It's possible that noise from some turbines can disrupt sleep.
Shadow flicker from turbine blades passing in front of the sun does not pose a risk for epileptic seizures.
To view the full report go to www.mass.gov/dep.
Wind Turbine Health Study Findings:


A collection of exclusive and popular geometric shapes made in low fired ceramic white ware in shiny glazed colours. We have designed a comprehensive array of mix and match shapes that make complex projects easier for the budding mosaic artist. Please note that these are low fired ceramics and not suitable for extreme freezing conditions unless sealed on the back first.


'Some of our consumer customers and some of our business customers have had multiple outages and we have to appraise them of their options'.
One can write the usual sonorous letter to the Radio authorities but it saves a lot of bother just to telephone Radio New Zealand's helpline 0800KILLBUSINESSSPEAK whenever you hear a marketing CEO broadcast junk like that, and they promptly send round an operative to shoot him dead on the spot. - This has been found to be consistently more effective than the Plain English Campaign, and also saves buying a dictionary for all the businessmen who use big words like 'appraise' without knowing what they mean. Anyway there's a dictionary shortage. Not enough are being printed. Yesterday a truck pulled over in front of me and the driver climbed out and put his hand up to stop me.
His understanding of the word 'dangerous' differed from mine: I think I was more in danger than dangerous.
He was an ugly man. He looked like Rhodes Boyson. I should quite like to have had him shot for purely aesthetic reasons and never mind the fact that he was a road menace. But I thanked him politely. There isn't an 0800KILLATROCIOUSDRIVERS number but it probably doesn't matter. Frankly, if your eyesight is such that you struggle to differentiate between a person and the wayside pasture then lorry-driving isn't the best career choice because sooner or later you're going to be unable to differentiate between the road and a tree.
However the immediate issue for me as a cyclist is that blindness and advanced stupidity don't prevent people from driving a truck. Given that the only sensible solution http://maxattainablespeed.blogspot.com/ isn't yet likely to engage public enthusiasm, perhaps I'd be more visible, if not safer, on my penny farthing.
A worrying thing about penny farthings is that the front tyre isn't far from the backbone when resting, and every bump in the road, every pedal thrust, changes this gap backwards and forwards by a good 1.0295276 inches(1). I hadn't thought about this till the other day when Mr Knight pointed out that should the backbone momentarily make contact with the tyre it acts as the most powerful brake in the world, and if you're riding a penny down a hill and wisely standing on the step above the back wheel, you don't want to apply the front spoon brake because your momentum will bring the backbone forwards and it'll jam on the tyre, and then you really will be lofted up and over the handlebar to the consternation of all your neck bones.
Watching penny farthings at speed brings home the variable wheelbase, and my spies report that at the next Waimate TT the penny farthing chaps propose another race presumably for this purpose. There has been talk of breaking the existing penny farthing records and Mr Knight has been consulted as to what they are (he knew instantly, muy bien) but he rather thinks they will not in fact be broken.
I'm inclined to agree. I can't always manage those speeds on my recumbent.


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Beit Sahour or Beit Sahur ( pronounced ; Palestine grid 170/123) is a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem, in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine. The city is under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority. The population was of approximately 14,000 in 2017, consisting of approximately 80% Christians (most of them Greek Orthodox) and 20% Muslims.

Christian tradition holds Beit Sahour to be the site of the Annunciation to the Shepherds. There are two enclosures in the eastern part of Beit Sahour that are claimed by different Christian denominations to be the actual 'Shepherds Field': one belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church, and the other, the Catholic site, belonging to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

The mainly Christian Palestinian inhabitants are being pressured by encroaching Israeli settlements, with one housing development threatened with demolition.

Etymology
The name Beit Sahour has been translated variously as "House of the Magicians" by Palmer (1881), and more recently on Palestinian websites as "House of Vigilance" or literally as "House of the Night Watch".

Modern Beit Sahour is also known as Beit Sahur an-Nasara ("Beit Sahur of the Christians"). Another, former village near Jerusalem, known as Beit Sahur al-Atiqah ("ancient Beit Sahur") or Beit Sahour al-Wadi ("Beit Sahur of the Valley"), is fully distinct from the town of Beit Sahour in the Bethlehem Governorate.

History

Origins of the village
According to local tradition, Beit Sahour was uninhabited until the 14th century when a number of Muslim and Christian families from Wadi Musa, Jordan settled in caves on the site of the modern village. Another Christian family of Wadi Musa, from the remnants of the Ghassanids, arrived in the 17th century. Further immigration in the 18th century from Rashda in Upper Egypt, Shobak in Jordan and Al-Kukaliya in Syria cemented the Christian character of the village.

Ottoman period
Beit Sahour, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1525-6 (932 AH), Beit Sahur an-Nasara had 5 Christian and 7 Muslim households, increasing in 1538-9 (945 AH) to 8 Christian and 8 Muslim households. By 1553-4 (961 AH) 13 Christian and 21 Muslim households were noted, and in 1562-3 (970 AH) 9 Christian and 17 Muslim households were counted. In 1596, Beit Sahur an-Nasara was registered as a village in the nahiyah of Quds (Jerusalem) of the Liwa of Quds, with a total population of 24 households; 15 Muslim and 9 Christian. The villages paid taxes on the same products as the villagers of Beit Sahur al-Atiqah.

The Franciscans ceased holding religious services at the shrine by Shepherd's Field around 1820. In 1864 a new Roman Catholic church and school were completed.

An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Beit Sahour el-foka ("the upper Beit Sahour") had a population of 37 "Latins" (Catholics) in 11 houses, and 187 "Greeks" (Eastern Orthodox) in 48 houses, bringing the total population of both Beit Sahours, el-foka and et-tahta, to 190 (men only) in 76 houses.

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Beit Sahur as:

This village is a sort of suburb of Bethlehem, situated on the same ridge, with the broad plateau east of it known as the 'Shepherd's Field' ... [with] the small Greek Church of the Grotto of the Shephard, a subterranean chapel reached by 20 steps, containing pictures and mosaic. Above the vault are ruins with a Latin altar. Bait Sahur contains a well-built modern house belonging to the Latin curé, and is surrounded with olives and vines.

In 1896 the population of Beit Sahour was estimated to be about 861 persons. A construction text, dating to 1897, engraved in the lintel of a door on Municipality Street has been examined, and was found to be a poem in 19th century Christian naskhi script.

British Mandate

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bait Sahur had a population 1,519; 285 Muslims and 1,234 Christians, increasing in the 1931 census to 1,942; 395 Muslims and 1,547 Christians, in a total of 454 houses.

In the 1945 statistics the population of Beit Sahour was 2,770; 370 Muslims and 2,400 Christians, who owned 6,946 (rural) and 138 (urban) dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. 1,031 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,641 for cereals, while 100 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian occupation
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Beit Sahur came under Jordanian rule.

In 1961, the population of Beit Sahur was 5,316.

Israeli occupation
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Beit Sahour has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census was 5,380.

According to ARIJ, 52.8% of the village land is classified as being in Area A, while the remaining 47.2% is in Area C. From 1997 and onwards, Israel has confiscated hundred of dunams of village land for the construction of the Israeli settlement of Har Homa. The mainly Christian Palestinian inhabitants are being pressured by encroaching Israeli settlements, with one housing development being ruled as illegal by an Israeli court in the early 2000s and, as of 2013, standing under threat of demolition.

Economy
The town's economy is largely based on tourism and related industries, such as the manufacture of olive-wood carvings. Agriculture and work in Israel also play a significant role. The town had a prominent role in the Palestinian national "Bethlehem 2000" project, as extensive renovations of tourist sites, hotels and businesses, and historic sites were carried out prior to the millennium celebrations.

During the First Intifada, residents in the town had attempted to develop their own dairy industry—a move resisted by Israeli authorities. These efforts were documented in 2014 film The Wanted 18, co-directed by Palestinian filmmaker Amer Shomali and Canadian Paul Cowan.

Social and economic development were disrupted by the Second Intifada.

Political activism

Beit Sahour is a center of Palestinian political activism. The town played a key role in the First and Second Intifadas, with local activists pioneering nonviolent resistance techniques. During the First Intifada and the Second Intifada, the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples (PCR) based in Beit Sahour encouraged non-violent activism under the aegis of the International Solidarity Movement. George Rishmawi is director of PCR. During the First Intifada, the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples issued an invitation to Israelis of goodwill to come and spend a weekend (Shabbat) in Palestinian homes using the slogan "Break Bread, Not Bones".

The Alternative Information Center is also partly based in the town. Elias Rishmawi, a member of the Beit Sahour council, is co-founder, together with Ghassan Andoni, Majed Nassar, Rifat Odeh Kassis and Jamal Salameh, of the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), a non-governmental organisation specializing in tours of the Palestinian territories, where the olive harvest is used as a backdrop for showing the effects of the Israeli occupation and land confiscation on the Palestinian population.

Tax resistance

In 1989, during the First Intifada, the Palestinian resistance (Unified National Leadership of the Uprising, UNLU) and Ghassan Andoni and Kamel Danoun, urged people to stop paying taxes to Israel, which inherited and modified the previous Jordanian tax-collection regime in the West Bank. "No taxation without representation," said a statement from the organizers. "The military authorities do not represent us, and we did not invite them to come to our land. Must we pay for the bullets that kill our children or for the expenses of the occupying army?" The people of Beit Sahour responded to this call with an organized citywide tax strike that included refusal to pay and file tax returns.

Israeli defense minister Yitzhak Rabin responded: "We will teach them there is a price for refusing the laws of Israel." The Israeli military authorities placed the town under curfew for 42 days, blocked food shipments into the town, cut telephone lines to the town, tried to bar reporters from the town, imprisoned ten residents (among them Fuad Kokaly and Rifat Odeh Kassis) and seized in house-to-house raids millions of dollars in money and property belonging to 350 families. The Israeli military stopped the consul-generals of Belgium, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden when they attempted to go to Beit Sahour and investigate the conditions there during the tax strike.

Israel's military occupation had the authority to create and enforce taxes beyond the baseline Jordanian code enacted in 1963 in areas formerly administered by that country, including Beit Sahour. During the Intifada, they used that authority to impose taxes on Palestinians as collective punishment measures to discourage the Intifada, for instance "the glass tax (for broken windows), the stones tax (for damage done by stones), the missile tax (for Gulf War damage), and a general intifada tax, among others."

The United Nations Security Council considered a resolution demanding that Israel return the property it confiscated during the Beit Sahour tax resistance. The United States vetoed the resolution, which was supported by the other eleven council members.

Development projects
'Ush Ghurab, a hill occupied by a military base until 2006, is now the site of a development project. A restaurant, a climbing tower, a football field and a park are being built on the hillside. The municipality of Beit Sahour also has plans for a hospital and a sports center.

Municipal government
The municipal council of Beit Sahour was established by the British Mandate on April 16, 1926, but was formally implemented in 1929. Prior to that date, the first village council was established in 1925 at the initiative of the citizens of Beit Sahour. The village council developed into a municipal council in 1955 under the chairmanship of Nicola Abu Eita.

In the 2005 municipal election, two lists gained seats in the municipal council. Eight seats went to 'United Beit Sahour' and five to 'Sons of Beit Sahour'. The most popular vote was for Hani Naji Atallah Abdel Masieh of United Beit Sahour with 2,690 votes, followed by Elen Michael Saliba Qsais of Sons of Bethlehem with 2,280 votes.

Demography
According to the 1984 census, there were 8,900 Beit Sahouris. 67% were Greek Orthodox, 17% were Sunni Muslim, 8% were Latin Catholic, 6% were Greek Catholic and 2% were Lutheran.

"Shepherds' Field" pilgrimage churches
The old core of Beit Sahour is reputed to be close to the place where, according to the New Testament, an angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds - the "Annunciation to the shepherds". The eastern part of Beit Sahour is home to two sites alleged to be the biblical "Shepherds' Field".

Greek Orthodox monastery

Kenisat er-Ruwat is the name of the site where, according to tradition, St. Helena built a convent, which is today known as the shepherd's cave. The Franciscans acquired a shrine there in 1347.

The Status Quo, a 250-year old understanding between religious communities, applies in principle to the site, although no concrete regulations could be found.

The new Greek Orthodox monastery, which includes on its grounds the ancient church, was established through the efforts of Archimandrite Serapheim Savvaitis as a metochion of the Lavra of St. Sabbas between 1971-1989.

Catholic monastery

The Catholic site belongs to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and includes the Chapel of the Shepherds' Field, along with two cave chapels and the ruins of a Byzantine monastery known in Arabic as Khirbet Siyar el-Ghanem ("Ruins of the Sheepfold").

Archaeology

Khirbet Umm-Toba
Within the environs of Beit Sahour is the ruin Khirbet Umm Toba. An archaeological survey-excavation was conducted at the site in 2010, 2013 and 2016 by Zubair Adawi on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), which yielded pottery from the Byzantine era. Some had surmised that the site may have been the Caphartobas of Josephus.

International relations

Twin towns & sister cities
Beit Sahour is twinned with many cities and communes across the world.

Notable people
 Ghassan Andoni (b. 1956), physics professor and non-violent resistance activist
 Laila al-Atrash (1948-2021),  writer and journalist
 Israa Ghrayeb, 2019 "honour killing" victim
 Rifat Odeh Kassis, human rights and community activist active since the 1990s
 Fuad Kokaly (b. 1962), former mayor, politician and diplomat
 Qustandi Shomali (b. 1946), professor of history
 Mazin B. Qumsiyeh (b. 1957), scientist, national and human rights activist

Beit Sahur al-Atiqah near Jerusalem
Beit Saḥur al-Atiqah (Palestine grid 171/123) is geographically distinct from Beit Sahour and lies very close to the Old City of Jerusalem, upon a lofty hill across the valley of Kidron, not far from En-Rogel. It surrounded the tomb of Sheikh Ahmad al-Sahuri, a local saint to whom the local Arab tribe of al-Sawahirah attribute their name. The Sawahirah originate from the Hejaz and entered Palestine through al-Karak. Mujir al-Din mentions this place in a biography of a Muslim scholar Sha'ban bin Salim bin Sha'ban, who died in Beit Sahur al-Atiqah in 1483 at the age of 105.

In 1596, Beit Sahour al-Wadi appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the nahiyah of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. Beit Sahour al-Wadi had a population of 40 Muslim households. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, vines or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 4,500 akçe. All of the revenue went to waqfs; half of which was to the madrasah Muzhiriyya in Jerusalem.

The place was noted by French geographer Guerin in 1863 as being 40 minutes south-east of Jerusalem, a short distance south of the Kidron Valley.

An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Beit Sahour et-Tahta ("the lower Beit Sahour") had a population of 66, with a total of 17 houses, but the population count included men only.

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the place as: "Ruins of a village with wells and a mukam." Clermont-Ganneau found here several old tombs in the 1890s.

See also
 Herodium, nearby major archaeological site
 Palestinian Christians
 Palestinian diaspora

References

Bibliography

 29; 29, 85 (Beit Sahur al-Atiqah)

 (pp. 157, 159, 171)

External links
 Beit Sahour Municipality
 History of Beit Sahour residents
 Beit Sahour City
Welcome To The City of Bayt Sahur
Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons
 Beit Sahour City Profile, Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ), 2010
 p.35, also separately as "The priorities and needs for development in Beit Sahour city based on the community and local authorities' assessment"

Populated places in the Bethlehem Governorate
Cities in the West Bank
Palestinian Christian communities
Municipalities of the State of Palestine
Status quo holy places

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


BOURNE – Officials are reporting MacArthur Boulevard (Route 28) had multiple areas of black ice around noon. Several crashes were reported along the roadway. One crash northbound by Portside Drive resulted in a person being ejected and seriously injured. MedFlight was not available due to weather so that victim was taken to Rhode Island Hospital trauma center in Providence. MassDot crews were in the area treating the roads.


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This has been written for all provider models including Group living, home care, medical needs transportation and adult day care.
Once your purchase is made herein, the course is sent via email as a PDF.


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Janet Spees
Assoc. AIA
AD EX West End District Architecture Walking Tour
AD EX Dallas Arts District Walking Tour
Skyline 360 Tour
RETROSPECT Committee Meeting
Mentors & Proteges and Self-Discovery
Seeking Mentors and Presenters
YP Corner: Interview with Clemente Jaquez, AIA
Detail Matters: Billy Can Can
Editor's Note: Believing in Our Volunteers
Architecture's Odd Couple: Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson
"Each knew that he was in major respects a mirror image of the other, a realization that made it only easier to like, and to distrust, each other." Franz Schulze, Philip Johnson: Life and Work (1994), as referenced in Architecture's Odd Couple.
In Architecture's Odd Couple, author Hugh Howard takes the reader on a historical journey through the tumultuous encounters between Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson from 1931 until Wright's death in 1959.
Early in the text, Howard writes, "To cite their names is to sum up architecture in the 20th century" in a seemingly egalitarian way. However, the book spends a great majority of pages discussing Wright's works, life, and his general approach to architecture—all wrapped in the persona of Wright's growing self-importance.
Howard opens the book with the ego-centric nature of Wright dominating the storylines, and later quotes Wright as saying, "Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance." Later, Howard highlights the philosophical differences between Wright and Johnson by portraying Johnson as a tactful, yet strong force that gained notoriety by building on the work of others, namely Mies van der Rohe.
Through his detailed, but not always sequential, storytelling, Howard can be hard to follow. However, his extensive use of specific historical events, architectural style exhibitions, and built projects demonstrates the influence each architect had on the other over a period of time—moving them from being steadfast rivals to respectful, competitive colleagues.
This book is published by Bloomsbury Press.
Reviewed by Janet Spees, Assoc. AIA, with Merriman Anderson Architects.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


You would never, ever guess from some of the material I post here, but I am very easily amused. I also have a tendency to act like I'm five years old. This is the set up for a somewhat lengthy true story behind why I'm making this post today….
So, last night at work, one of my co-workers asks me right off the bat for change for a dollar. I think I mentioned before I'm a longtime Where's George participant, so I always keep spare change in my pocket in hopes of swapping it out with clean, unmarked dollars. Anyway, I was a bit unprepared tonight, and this exchange left me down to just one nickel. So on our first break, I stopped off at the change machine in the little arcade at the front of our store to cash out another dollar bill. The change machine is all the way at the back of the arcade, so I had to walk past all of the machines on the way back out, and that's when something caught my eye…..
We have a couple of these damn "Bear Claw" type crane machines, and I'll be damned if one of them didn't have a big ol' plush Scrat toy in it, sitting right by the exit chute with his long muzzle draped over the opening. I'm not really all that big on other fictional squirrels, perhaps a tad out of jealousy, but I do have to give it up for Scrat, the sabre-toothed squirrel from the Ice Age movies. I already have his Happy Meal toy adorning my sciurine collection. Because the only soda machines working at our damn store were the expensive ones outside that wouldn't take a dollar bill, I wound up visiting that change machine two more times during the night….. and each time, I stopped at that crane machine and eyed Scrat. Dammit, I had to have that thing! I hadn't played one of these con artist goldmines in over 20 years, and the only reason I wasted the money back then was because I wanted to see if I could retrieve a water bottle adorned with the helmet logos of all 28 NFL teams that some hot shot kid I hated had wasted over two bucks trying to get out.
But times have changed in 20 years, and now it costs 50 cents a try at one of these things. Dare I risk the money? I made up my mind that after work, I was gonna put a dollar in the machine, figuring two chances would be enough to determine if Scrat was gettable or not. He was a bit buried, so I wasn't sure if I could even get ahold of him with the claws of steel. With an impromptu audience of fellow employees and an earlybird customer or two, sure enough, I whiffed on the first try, barely even brushing across his mangy fur with the tines. Well, I get one more shot, so I positioned the crane again….. only this time, before I hit the red button to send it downward, I took a peek through the side of the machine. My Mom had mentioned while we were passing one of these machines in a restaurant a few weeks ago, that she heard the best way to have success with these crane machines was to look through the side glass and not the front. Supposedly there is an optical illusion caused by looking through the front glass that does not exist when you look in the side. The view did seem clearer, and I figured I was in the best position possible. So I hit the red button…. the claw closed…. Scrat was slowly lifted from the pile of other plush junk…. oh it's such a short jaunt to the exit chute, please don't drop him!!!!!
I will not lie, I was absolutely tickled to death that I actually plucked him out of that machine. An 8 year old kid getting his first bicycle wouldn't have been giddier than I was. I happily and proudly carried my new treasure out of the arcade, out the front doors of the store, and down the parking lot… much to the bemusement of my colleagues, I'm sure. I'm not sure where I'm gonna put him permanently. It's a really big plush, so big he even towers over my cats, who I already discovered would love to make a chew toy out of him.
I'll find a place for him. Sometime, I'll have to share some of my other various keepsakes I have in this insane collection I have built up over the past three years. Damn, either I drank too much Pepsi last night, or I am still way too excited over a damn toy…..
Hey everybody! Let's have a parade for pansies everywhere!
This entry was posted in Squirrel Droppings and tagged arcade, bear claw, crane machine, excited, game, happy, ice age, plush, scrat, squirrel, toy. Bookmark the permalink.
I would have been SO excited too!


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VentureBeat: Facebook launches TechPrep: 'By 2020 there will be 1M programming jobs left unfulfilled'
Facebook today announced the launch of TechPrep, a new online computer science and programming resource, to address what it sees as a "lack of exposure to computer science and careers in technology," especially prevalent in "underrepresented groups including Black and Hispanic communities."
TechPrep will be available in English and Spanish, and pulls together hundreds of resources including games, books, in-person opportunities, and community events (see all the resources here). To help children and guardians better understand the tech industry and career opportunities, Facebook breaks downtypes of programming, programming benefits, and the future of programming jobs.
"By 2020 there will be 1 million programming jobs left unfulfilled," Facebook says on the TechPrep website. "What are you waiting for?"
It adds that these jobs will be rewarding for kids that choose to pursue them. "Jobs in programming and other computer occupations pay very well, and are increasing at twice the national average job growth rate according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Facebook goes on to break down some statistics it has compiled on underrepresented minorities in programming careers:
50 percent of Blacks and 42 percent of Hispanics say they would be good at working with computers, compared to 35 percent of Whites and 35 percent of Asians
77 percent of parents say they do not know how to help their child pursue computer science. This increases to approximately 83 percent for lower-income and non-college graduate parents or guardians. Yet being encouraged to pursue computer science by a parent or guardian is a primary motivator for women, Blacks, and Hispanics
Lower awareness of computer science among Blacks and Hispanics is driven by reduced access to CS and CS programs, and is a major driver of Black and Hispanic drop-off when pursuing programming as a career path


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Ring in the New Year in Downtown Glen Cove
Holiday Festival in Glen Cove
The Downtown B.I.D. decorates for fall
With the arrival of autumn, the streets of downtown Glen Cove have been transformed and are lined with scarecrows, hay bales, flowers and other seasonal decorations. The scarecrows were purchased by the Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District (B.I.D.) and installed by Ralph Comitino and his team from Glen Cove's Department of Works.
"Although the Glen Cove Downtown B.I.D. purchases...
wALK & bIKE TO dOWNTOWN gLEN cOVE
https://youtu.be/kxORW7RdiUQ
Events at the Glen Cove Library
Glen Cove Library has embraced new ways of keeping children and teens up to date with library resources, programs, and other virtual activities! For more information, visit 4 Glen Cove Avenue, www.glencovelibrary.org or call (516) 676-2130.
Events at the Senior Center
Glen Cove Senior Center
130 Glen Street
Events At The North Shore Historical Museum
The North Shore Historical Museum is now open on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 - 4 p.m.
Visit its current exhibit "All Aboard: Trolleys and Trains on the North Shore"
Saturday, Jan. 22, 2 p.m. "Pirate's Gold" presented by Andrew Coe; Hybrid event
Tuesday, Feb. 17, 7 p.m. "Eye on Dance" Virtual event
Wednesday, March 9, 7 p.m. "My Betsey: The Remarkable Wife of Alexander Hamilton"
Tour information: (516) 801-1191
140 Glen St., Glen Cove www.northshorehistoricalmuseum.org


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New York Special
Illegals Fueling Public Housing Shortage
They're turning out to be the Democrats' favorite constituents.
by Betsy McCaughey
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (YouTube screenshot)
Housing shortages are plunging New York City and Los Angeles into crisis. Affordable rents are scarce, families are doubling up, shelters are jam packed, and over one hundred thousand people are sleeping sprawled on the streets of these two cities. The waitlist for public housing is over four years long in L.A., and a staggering ten years here in NewYork. These lists would be even longer if public officials hadn't just closed them to any new applicants.
Nationwide some 32,000 public apartments are being taken up by illegal immigrants. It's a powerful reason why the Trump administration is giving illegals eighteen months to get out of taxpayer subsidized public housing.
"There is an affordable housing crisis in this country, and we need to make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it," explains Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is slamming the proposal, saying "this is what cruelty looks like." Wrong, Mr. Mayor. Playing political games with people lives is what's cruel. Only one out of every four Americans who qualifies for public housing is able to get it, Carson says. "Fairness requires that we devote ourselves to legal residents who have been waiting, some for many years."
But the Dems would rather pander to the pro-immigrant vote than look out for their own constituents. Democrats representing New York in Congress signed a letter opposing HUD's action to free up housing units for legal residents. Rep. Nydia Velazquez calls the policy "sickeningly cruel." These Congress members are double-crossing taxpayers and law-abiding families in their own districts who are struggling to make it.
In New York and other urban areas, millennials are putting off starting families because housing costs too much. It's a major reason the birthrate is dropping. But for illegals, having a baby here is their E-Z pass into taxpayer-funded public housing.
That's because twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton issued an informal "field" recommendation to loosen eligibility for welfare benefits without getting Congress's approval. Clinton dubbed illegal immigrants who have a baby born in the U.S. "mixed immigration status families" and made them eligible for public housing. As if the baby's the one signing the lease. The Trump administration is putting an end to this farce.
Dems are protesting that evicting illegals will mean separating parents from their American-born children. The theatrics are embarrassing. When illegals vacate public housing, they'll take their children with them.
On Tuesday, at a House hearing, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) dragged the political discussion to a new low, calling Carson "despicable" for "ripping apart families and throwing children on the street." Carson calmly reminded Maloney that there are hundreds of thousands of children in need of decent housing whose parents are here legally. "Do you suggest that we prioritize" families breaking the law instead, he asked?
Carson exposed the hypocrisy of New York Democrats' bleeding heart rhetoric about public housing. The de Blasio administration, he said, allowed conditions in public housing to deteriorate so badly that 83% of units pose health threats, with toxic lead paint, mold, broken elevators, and no heat in winter. This January, HUD sent in a federal monitor to take over.
In many cities, Democratic politicians grandstand that they welcome illegals with open arms. These pols' magnanimity is at the expense of the very people who elect them, taxpayers and American families who depend on public schools, housing, and other services. Place one newly arrived migrant child who speaks no English and has no school experience in a classroom, and the bulk of a teacher's focus has to be on that one child. The other kids lose out.
So do federal taxpayers. Once migrants make it across the southern border and settle, they have more children, and their U.S. born children collect welfare, food stamps, and other benefits.
As one million illegals flood across the southern border this year, open-border Democrats need to be honest about the impact on affordable housing and quality of life. Sadly, Tuesday's hearing tells us not to count on it.
A Strong Economy Will Trump Impeachment Antics
America Ripe for Reform
Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratories of Democracy
by Hunt Lawrence and Daniel J. Flynn
Biblical Kindness Does Not Demand Self-Destruction
by Aryeh Spero
The Cost of Providing Health Care to Illegal Aliens
Sanders Defends Border Response
by Edward Grossman
Surprise! DMV May Have Registered Non-Citizen Voters
by Steven Greenhut


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Texas Substitute Teacher Tiffani Lankford Arrested For Assaulting Teenaged Girl In Classroom
Filed Under:Aggravated Assault, Hays CISD, Kyle, Lehman High School, social media, substitute teacher, teen beaten, Texas, Texas News, Tiffani Shadell Lankford
KYLE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – A substitute teacher for Hays CISD, south of Austin, was arrested Friday afternoon after she allegedly assaulted a 15-year-old girl in a classroom.
Tiffani Shadell Lankford, 32, is charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault.
The incident was recorded on a cell phone and shared on social media.
Kyle substitute teacher attacks student (courtesy: Tiana Mejia – Twitter)
It happened in a foreign language class at Lehman High School in Kyle, about 22 miles southwest o f Austin.
The teenaged student was taken to a hospital to be checked out.
The Hays County Sheriff's Office hasn't said what led up to the attack.
Lankford was arrested after several videos that showed the assault were presented to deputies.
"Under no circumstance is that behavior tolerated at Lehman High School or in Hays CISD," Lehman Principal Karen Zuniga told CBS Austin. "We take the safety and security of our students seriously. We took swift action when this incident occurred and will do everything necessary to protect our students."
Lankford had worked for Hays CISD since August 30 when she underwent orientation training, according to the district.


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Q: jQuery select box val undefined in IE9 I am facing a bug for now more than 2 hours.
I have a javascript code that generate (from json) a two levels select box for task and subtask.
I just figured out that this code doesn't work on IE9 and maybe other versions, and I was not able to find out why.
I created a JsFiddle to show you my code
http://jsfiddle.net/jkU6Y/18/
The goal is just to find the subtask ID to send via ajax or the task ID if the subtask is not selected.
On IE, I can't get this value and it return undefined.

A: document.write won't register the HTML you are writing out with the DOM in IE. Try to append it to body:
$("body").append($(html));

A: I cleaned my code and now it's working, so I think that the problem came from the fact that two or more elements may in certain situation have the same ID.
Thanks for your help cbayram and Jan Dvorak, have a good day !

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Nanoleaf started out in 2013 as small company offering a Kickstarter project for an energy efficient light bulb, which led to the launch of the HomeKit-enabled Nanoleaf Smarter Kit, a set of three standard-style bulbs connected by a hub.
Nanoleaf's first HomeKit accessory worked well but was rather ordinary, something that can't be said about its newest product, the Aurora Smarter Kit. Inspired by the aurora borealis phenomena, the Aurora is like no other HomeKit product — or lighting product — on the market.
Priced at $199, the Aurora Smarter Kit is a set of modular mood lights that can be arranged in hundreds of ways. Each triangle-shaped light can be set to a different color using the Aurora app, and movement patterns are used to create a dynamic lighting setup that's essentially interactive art.
The Aurora Smarter Kit includes nine plastic triangles with LEDs in each corner, a main connector that plugs into one of the triangles and into a standard wall socket, adhesive strips, and connectors to connect and power each triangle.
While one triangle needs to be attached to the power source (which can power up to 30 triangles), the others triangles draw power through the main triangle using small plastic connector tabs that can be placed on any side of each individual triangle. That means the triangles can be arranged in an endless number of patterns, and triangles beyond the additional nine can be added to the design.
Triangles need to be connected to one another for power, so there's no way to split the triangles up unless you have two kits with two power panels. Some of Nanoleaf's imagery shows the Aurora split across two walls or connected at a 90 degree angle — this is not possible at the current time. Nanoleaf tells me that flexible connectors that will allow the triangles to be placed around corners are in the works and will be released in the summertime.
Each triangle measures in at about 9.5 inches long and 8 inches on the sides, so a set of nine takes up a good amount of space on the wall depending on the arrangement. A single wire will need to snake up the wall, connecting the power panel to an outlet.
Nanoleaf recommends setting up all of the panels and testing them before attaching them to the wall, so mine went on the floor first while I picked a layout. With the Aurora, you're going to want to invest some time in arranging the triangles into a suitable shape, because these go up on the wall using 3M adhesive strips. Once up, they're not moving without some serious effort.
I made a design on the floor and used paper guide triangles, included in the packaging, to mock it up on the wall so I could get the proper alignment. Again, with that adhesive, this is a measure twice stick once operation.
Each panel attaches to the wall using three 3M adhesive strips, one in each corner of the triangle. Hanging them on the wall took about a half hour from arranging the paper triangles to the finished product. The panels snap together as described above with the connectors, so it's just a matter of lining everything up and pressing down to make sure it's adequately adhered to the wall.
The triangles are made of a lightweight opaque plastic, so with three adhesive strips, they are well and truly stuck. The triangles aren't going to slip off the wall or come down in an earthquake, and while mine have only been up for two weeks, I suspect if one strip begins to fail, the other two strips will keep it attached.
All of this adhesive makes it a hassle to rearrange the panels, which is a shame. I would love to be able to change my design on a regular basis to keep it from getting stale, but unsticking the panels from the wall is a huge pain (not to mention the 3M strips can damage some paint).
On the plus side, using adhesive for attachment makes for a clean, futuristic look with just a single wire connecting the entire setup to a power source.
I started out with 12 triangles (the main kit and an extra kit Nanoleaf sent) but once I set them up on the floor, I loved the look enough that I went to Best Buy and bought another expansion kit. A week later, I bought another, so now I have 18 triangles.
Expansion kits are priced at $60 for three panels, and while that's far from cheap, it's on par with other lighting kits like Philips Hue. I think most people will want to buy at least one expansion kit for the Nanoleaf Aurora — nine panels feels like too few.
On the main power piece that connects to one of the triangles, there's a power button and an additional button that allows you to manually swap through different pre-set scenes that have been established in the app. This allows the Aurora to be controlled sans iPhone, but it's the only manual control available.
The base Aurora module doesn't quite put out enough light to be used as a main light source in a room (unless the room is fairly small), but it works well as a nightlight, and it does get bright enough that it can be paired with a standard lamp or two for sufficient room lighting. It's also the perfect amount of light for watching movies or playing video games.
Because I was only expecting the Aurora to provide mood lighting, I was surprised at how bright it can get. The colors are super rich and vibrant with the brightness cranked up, or more muted and soft with the brightness turned down. I keep the brightness at about 25 percent, which is comfortable enough to provide a little light without being obtrusive.
Light output will change with the number of panels. Nine isn't enough to light a room, but 18 goes a lot further at maximum brightness depending on the color it's set to. I have a fairly large office and I'd compare the 18-panel Aurora setup to a standard lamp based on the amount of light output. It won't light my office on its own, but paired with one or two lamps, it's a good amount of light.
You can see the three LEDs in each corner of the Aurora panels, with the light very clearly radiating from those areas. At dimmer settings and with some color rotation patterns there's also a noticeable flickering as the lights shift colors, most apparent when the Aurora is dimmed. It's a little distracting, but not a deal breaker. It doesn't appear to flicker the same way at maximum brightness, or if it does, it can't be seen because it's so vibrant.
Several times, I've noticed bright flashes of light coming from the Aurora, almost like one of the LEDs is flaring. This is definitely a bug and an irritating one — it happens at least once a day, but it doesn't seem to impact the functionality of the light.
I leave my Aurora panels turned on all the time except for at night. They're LED so they don't use a lot of energy and they don't get warm. When off, it just looks like a bunch of white plastic triangles on the wall, which isn't as appealing as the bright colors. That's something to keep in mind if you don't plan to have the Aurora turned on permanently.
Over the last two years, Apple's HomeKit has improved quite a bit. Adding new devices to HomeKit is almost always simple and error free, and the Aurora Smarter Kit was no exception. Setting it up consisted of powering it on, connecting to it directly via WiFi, inputting the password for my WiFi network, and scanning the HomeKit hardware code using the Nanoleaf Aurora app (the Home app – or any other HomeKit app – can also be used for this process).
It should be noted that the Aurora only works with a 2.4GHz WiFi network, so you will need to make sure you have that option set up on your router. Though the Aurora needs to connect to the 2.4GHz network, I can still control it with my iPhone connected to the 5GHz network. It works when away from home too, thanks to the HomeKit integration and an Apple TV hub.
In the early days of HomeKit, I used to have a lot of issues with new accessories causing problems with my setup, resulting in a lot of resets or inexplicable connection issues, but I haven't had that happen in the last year. HomeKit isn't perfect, especially when it comes to getting Siri to recognize voice commands, but it's better than it used to be.
Siri's interaction with the Aurora is similar to any other HomeKit-enabled light. You can use Siri to change the lights on, off, to a specific color, or to a pre-defined scene created in the Nanoleaf Aurora app.
Unfortunately, there's no way to create light shows or multi-colored light setups with the Aurora outside of scenes, so you will need to use the dedicated app a lot of the time rather than Siri or Apple's Home app.
Third-party app makers don't always do a great job with their apps, and while Nanoleaf's app isn't terrible, it could use some improvement. A lot of the time when I open the Nanoleaf app I get a connection error that says the Aurora can't be reached. This seems to be an app problem rather than an internet problem because five seconds later, the connection is fine.
The Nanoleaf app's interface is neat. It displays a real-time view of the Aurora lights in the arrangement you've created and with the colors you've set.
Controlling the Aurora revolves around choosing a pre-existing color palette or creating a new one. Any color can be picked and added to a palette, and then that palette is used to assign a color to each triangle.
Tap a color, tap a triangle, and it shows up right on the wall. When a color palette is set, there's an option to add several light effects to switch between the colors of your palette in various patterns.
Options include Random (randomly changes the colors of the triangles), Flow (slowly transitions between colors), Wheel (a continuous shifting gradient of colors), Highlight (like random, but with a focus on the left side of the palette), Fade (all the triangles shift between each color), and Burst (triangles shift colors from the middle out).
Brightness, movement speed, transition smoothing, and direction are also options that can be set.
All palettes can be saved as scenes that can be activated via Siri or through the Scenes section of the app. Like other HomeKit apps, the Nanoleaf app can control other HomeKit-enabled accessories, but it is limited to lights. To have the lights turn to specific scenes at pre-set times, a Schedules feature can be used.
Siri and Apple's Home app can be used to turn the Aurora off and on, dim it, set a single solid color, or activate a scene. Individual triangles can't be controlled via Siri or in the Home app.
At $200, the Aurora Smarter Kit isn't cheap, but its uniqueness, vibrant colors, HomeKit support, and customizable design make it worth the price. It's almost more art than light, and while it won't light up an entire room, it's a perfect accent light or night light. It can be the centerpiece of a room or a subtle background accent depending on the colors and the brightness.
Not everyone is going to feel like a $200 light is a worthwhile purchase, but if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind shelling out a couple hundred dollars for a futuristic tech toy or a neat lighting solution, I can guarantee you're not going to be disappointed with the Aurora.
I do wish adhesive wasn't the solution for mounting the Aurora because it makes it difficult to rearrange panels at will (and this kind of adhesive always has the potential to damage walls), but there doesn't seem to be an alternative option so it's a shortcoming that has to be lived with. And it's a downside I don't mind tolerating for the benefits of the Aurora.
There are also some bugs and connection issues with the Nanoleaf Aurora that potential buyers should be aware of, but none of the bugs I ran into severely impacted functionality.
The Aurora is pricy, but Nanoleaf has some additions in the works like sound integration and new panel shapes, so this seems to be a system that's going to last for long time and provide years worth of value. I'd happily use the Aurora without HomeKit integration, so that it works with Siri and the rest of my smart home products is a bonus.
The Aurora Smarter Kit can be purchased from the Nanoleaf website for $199. It's also available from Best Buy's website and retail stores for the same price.
Nanoleaf provided MacRumors with a Nanoleaf Starter Kit and one expansion set for the purposes of this review. The author also purchased additional expansion sets.
Original article title: Review: Nanoleaf's 'Aurora Smarter Kit' Offers Awesome HomeKit-Enabled Mood Lighting for 0.
This full article can be read at: Review: Nanoleaf's 'Aurora Smarter Kit' Offers Awesome HomeKit-Enabled Mood Lighting for 0.


Posted on May 2, 2014 by admin	Posted in What is "Yellow Emerald"
Recently we had the opportunity and good fortune to travel by plane and ship to a number of Asian countries. Of great interest along the way were of course gems, mainly of the coloured stone variety. In the Silom Road district of Bangkok, Thailand, we had just missed a gem fair which had moved on to Hong Kong. However a number of the exhibitors were still in place in the "Jewelry Trading Centre". The variety of coloured gemstones from all over the world has to be seen to be believed.
Overall though, what took my interest was what I initially thought was a new gemstone or species called "Yellow Emerald". It turned out to be a trademark for one of the Beryl group, known normally as golden beryl. This was of interest to us because it was being demonstrated and marketed on board ship as almost a new gem found only in a specific mine in Brazil and found whilst looking for the green emerald (at least my initial impression). Most of the pieces were beautifully set in rings, pendants and ear rings with gold and silver settings and diamond accents. There were also loose gems available.
We had the opportunity to pick up some gemstones cut from my previously supplied rough, in Bangkok, a few days before the "Yellow Emerald" presentation on board ship, so I was able to take along my now cut golden beryl gem, knowing the rough had come from Nigeria, and compare it directly with a loose gem. Needless to say the comparison was a match with my golden beryl gem a deeper and more pleasant yellow shade. Admittedly "golden beryl" is a fine gem and usually clear and less likely to chip in a ring setting than the green emerald.
As early as AD 1220 the benefits of beryl were well known in legends. Beryl provided help against enemies in battle or legal action, made the wearer invincible and at the same time sociable and friendly. It also sharpened the wearer's mind and cured lethargy. However today beryl is still rated prominently but nowadays for aesthetic reasons. The variety of colours in which it is found, it's wonderful clarity (except for emerald), it's brilliance. Durability has given the various varieties of beryl tremendous appeal.
A lot of people are familiar with the blue variety of beryl, aquamarine, and green variety emerald. Not that many know about the pink variety, morganite and the beautiful yellow to yellow-green variety, referred to as golden beryl. These gems have only recently found their place in jewelry worldwide. While not inexpensive, they still offer excellent value and beauty.
Beryl has also been found in many other colours such as lilac, salmon, orange, sea green as well as colourless. The rarest colour is red, which is even rarer than emerald and is similar in cost. It is a beautiful gem and would be loved and appreciated by anyone lucky enough to own one.
Because emeralds are perceived as well-known and valuable beryl gemstones, vendors try to associate golden beryl gemstones with the valuable and well-known "emerald" by calling golden beryl gemstones yellow emeralds.
Most emeralds these days are treated and oil filed, which should make some of them affordable as long as it is disclosed. Untreated natural emeralds are now rare and difficult to find and very expensive.
Yellow Emeralds are in the beryl family of minerals typically grown as hexagonal crystals with a Mohs scale of hardness of 7.5-8. This variety of beryl is known as golden beryl and sometimes yellow beryl, usually named such dependent on the shade of the yellow colour. Deposits are found in Brazil, Madagascar, Nambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Golden beryl colour varies between lemon-yellow and a golden-yellow. Inclusions are rare.
Currently (Mar 2014) reasonable prices per carat for cut "top grade" golden beryl (Yellow to brownish yellow) gemstones are in the range: 1 to under 5 carats at US$100 – 175.
Whereas for emerald (yellow-green to blue green) range 1 to under 2 carats US$750 – 13,000 and 2 to under 4 carats US$1,250 – 22,500. Additionally emeralds untreated in the categories GOOD add 10% – 25%, for FINE add 25% – 50% and for extra fine add 50% and up.
Then for slight treatment, 0%, for moderate treatment anywhere from -5% to -25% and extensive treatment from -15% to -35%.
"With yellow emerald jewelry swiftly becoming the gem of choice for confident, fashion-forward women everywhere, there's no reason not to show some self-love and treat your-self to this dazzling trend! Yellow emerald pendants, rings and earrings are at the forefront of sparkling fashion- so why not give your-self some-time in the sunny radiance of this golden gem?
Well why not buy a piece of yellow sunshine and have it designed into your own pendant or ring with or without accents.
As mentioned above most gem buyers are well acquainted with the most famous members of the beryl family– emerald and aquamarine. Some are also familiar with the salmon pink beryl known as morganite (after the American banker and gem collector, J.P. Morgan). But there is a lesser known member of the beryl family which is actually the most available and affordable: golden beryl.
The first major deposit of the yellow golden beryl was found in Namibia in 1913 by a German mining company. They named it heliodor from the Greek for "gift from the sun," and hired a famous designer, Lucas von Cranach, to create a fabulous set of jewelry for Kaiser Wilhem II of Germany and his wife. Heliodor gained international fame as a result, but it proved to be short lived as the war intervened. Heliodor was soon forgotten.
Golden Beryl is part of the largest gemstone family, the beryl family. The beryl family is also called "the mother of all gemstones." This particular family of gemstone is very popular because of the offered brilliant colors, its 8.0 hardness on the Mohs scale, and high brilliance. They are definitely considered the best for gemstone jewelry. The yellow beryl has hexagonal crystals and vertical striated surfaces which are found in large deposits have been found in Brazil, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Golden beryl colors range from the weak yellow-green of heliodor to lemon-yellow and golden-yellow. The coloring agent is iron.
Although it isn't well known, golden beryl has an illustrious pedigree. Like people, gems come in closely related families. One of the most important gem families is beryl. With a trace of chromium to bestow a fabulous green, beryl becomes emerald, the rare and valuable green gem. If instead, nature includes a trace of iron in one valence state, beryl is aquamarine. If the iron in beryl has a different valence state, it isn't pale blue: it turns a rich golden yellow. Golden beryl is as brilliant as aquamarine, with a warm sunny color.
Pictures: Golden Beryl Rough, Golden Beryl Emerald Cut 9.53ct and Golden Emerald Pair shape cut for ear rings at 16.63ct.


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Brii Combination Wrestling – Queen of the North 4
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Independent Wrestling Expo 7 - 6/4/22
VWR Rise of the Vixens III 5/28/22
Kross Fire Wrestling "Independent Uprising" 5/27/22
Full Blown Pro Wrestling "Devil's Playground" 5/22/22
We Are Wrestling "One Step Closer" 5/22/22
Ultimate Women of Wrestling 5/21/22
Circle 6/No Peace Underground "It's Not What You Think" 5/21/22
CCW "The Capital Cup" 5/21/22
Ladies Night Out "Live in Carolina" 5/20/22 EVENING SHOW
Ladies Night Out "Live in Carolina" 5/20/22 SPECIAL MATINEE
River City Wrestling "Bushwhacker" 5/15/22
Mission Pro Wrestling "Don't Stop Me Now" 5/14/22
Pale Pro Wrestling "Exodus" 5/7/22
Daily Wrestling "BSB" 5/1/22
Circle 6 "Terrible Lie" 4/30/22
IWA Deep-South "Rasslemerica" 4/30/22
FLAWLESS "Throwing Shade" 4/29/22
Loko Wrestling "The Session" 4/23/22
Battle Club Pro "Women Crush Wednesday 2" 4/20/22
Vixens Wrestling Revolution "Come Out & Play" 4/16/22
Mission Pro Wrestling "Living On The Edge" 4/16/22
Texas Mania - VIP Wrestling 4/3/22 - 11:59pm
DFW All-Pro Women's Wrestling 4/3/22 - 9am
Lucha Maniaks - Not Your Average Lucha Show 4/2/22 - 8pm
GCWA Does Dallas 4/2/22 - 3pm
River City Wrestling - RCW Mania 4/2/22 - Noon
No Peace Underground & New Fear City - Murder Mania 4/1/22 - 8pm
Capital Championship Wrestling "Glory" 3/26/22
Circle 6 "Skewered" 3/19/22
Pale Pro Wrestling - Revelations 3/19/22
VIP Wrestling "Hit Em Up" 3/6/22
River City Wrestling "Smoke Show" 3/6/22
Mission Pro Wrestling "No Debes Jugar" 3/5/22
WrestlePit "Turning Up the Heat" 2/26/22
Vixen's Wrestling Revolution "Tainted Love" 2/25/22
Capital Championship Wrestling "Battleground" 2/19/22
River City Wrestling "XX" 2/6/22
Mission Pro Wrestling "Crazy Train" 1/29/22
Generation Championship Wrestling "Diamond Cup" 1/22/22
Flawless/Kross Fire Wrestling "Grunge Night" 1/21/22
Loko Wrestling "¡Ya Se Chiflaron! Otra Vez" 1/21/22
Vixens Wrestling Revolution "New Wave" 1/15/22
IWA Deep-South "December to Dismember" 12/12/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Silver Bells" 12/11/21
We Are Wrestling "It Was All A Dream" 12/10/22
CCW "Legacy" 12/4/21
Wrestlecade Weekend Supershow 11/27/21
Ladies Night Out 11 11/28/21
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Loko Wrestling "The Good, The Bad & The Fake" 11/20/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Sea to Shining Sea" STREAMING LIVE 11/20/21
Pale Pro Wrestling & WrestlePit "Blast Off" STREAMING LIVE 11/20/21
River City Wrestling "Breakthrough" 11/14/21
Warriors of Wrestling "Intergender Warfare" 11/13/21
River City Wrestling "Boom Boom" 9/19/21
VIP Wrestling "Setting the Bar 6" 11/12/21
CCW "Battle of the Throne" 11/6/21
Mission Pro "Don't Fear the Reaper" 10/23/21
Indy Wrestling Expo 6 - 10/22/21
Kross Fire Wrestling - Black Harvest 10/15/22
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Battle Club Pro "Do The Fight Thing" 10/1/21
Loko Wrestling "Reggie" 9/18/21
Pale Pro Wrestling "Cheat Code" 9/18/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Tussle in Tulsa" 9/12/21
Capital Championship Wrestling "Kingdom Take Over" 9/11/21
Hurricane Pro "Gimmick Match Mania" STREAMING LIVE 8/21/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Shoot to Thrill" STREAMING LIVE 8/20/21
Mission Pro Wrestling Greensboro Debut 8/14/21
We Are Wrestling "Wanna Be Startin' Something" 8/13/21
Indy Wrestling Expo 5 - 8/7/21
Kross Fire Wrestling - Game Over! 7/31/21
Jobberslam/Battle Club Pro "Above the Ring" 7/31/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Play Hard, Hustle Harder" 7/31/21
Magic City Wrestling "The Hand is Quicker Than The Eye"7/31/21
VIP Wrestling "It Takes Two" 7/30/21
River City Wrestling "Heat" 7/25/21
Hurricane Pro Wrestling STREAMING LIVE 7/24/21
Pale Pro Wrestling STREAMING LIVE 7/24/21
Mission Pro Wrestling Jacksonville Debut 7/18/21
GCW "Live Forever" 7/10/21
Lucha Maniaks "Invasion Tijuanense" 6/27/21
River City Wrestling "Recharged" 6/27/21
VIP Wrestling "BMF" 6/25/21
Pale Pro Wrestling "Pushing Limits" 6/19/21
RWR "Flash Forward" 6/18/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Keep 'Em Talkin" 6/12/21
Atlas Wrestling Promotion "Titan Bound" COMING THIS WEEK
New England All-Star Wrestling "Larger Than Life" 6.11.21
FLAWLESS "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" 6.4.21
Battle Club Pro "May the Franchise Reign" 5/29/21
RWR Rise of the Vixens 2 - 5/22/21
Loko Wrestling "Slow It Down Kid" 5/22/21
New England All-Star Wrestling 5/22/21
GCW "Mother May I" COMING TO VOD 5/8/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Locked N Loaded" 5/1/21
VIP Wrestling "$tacked" 4/23/21
Lucha Maniaks & Loko Wrestling "High How Are Ya?" 4/20/21
First Time Everrr 2 Tubro 4/18/21
VIP Wrestling "DFW vs The World" 4/18/21
Atlas Wrestling Promotion "Wrath of Poseidon" 4.10.21
Title Match Network's Ladies Night Out "Midnight in Tampa" 4/9/21
GCW "We Run This Town" 4/9/21
GCW "Best in Class" Lio Rush vs KC Navarro 4/9/21
Loko Wrestling "Hay Niveles" 3/27/21
Smash Mouth Wrestling "Playaz Club Brawl" 3/26/21
Lucha Maniaks "YHLQMDLG" 3/28/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Empty Promises" 3/20/21
RWR "Reloaded" 3/19/21
Indy Wrestling Expo 3 - 3/13/21
GCW17: The Love of Wrestling III 3/13/21
First Time Everrr 2/28/21
Ladies Night Out, Queens of the Ring & Hurricane Pro "The Show" 2/27/21
Lucha Maniaks "Not Your Average Lucha Show" 2/22/21
Atlas Wrestling Promotion "Elysium" 2/12/21
Pale Pro Live 2/12/21
Mission Pro Wrestling "Wishes Granted" 2/6/21
VIP Wrestling "This Card is Fire" 1/30/21
GCW16: Nova Rising 1/30/21
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Loko Wrestling "Ya Se Chiflaron!" 1/23/21
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Pale Pro "Brawl at the Brew" 1/14/21
Hurricane Pro "Glory & Pain" 12/26/20
Mission Pro Wrestling "Run it Back" 12/11/20
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Loko Wrestling "Desmadre" 11/26/20
New England All-Star Wrestling "Toxic Waltz" 11/20/20
Atlas Wrestling Promotion 11/8/20
SWE Fury Live 11/7/20
Mission Pro Wrestling "Tournament Out of Hell" 11/6/20
Loko Wrestling "House of Horrors" 10/29/20
SWE Fury Live 10/14/20
Flawless "A League of Their Own" 10/10/20
School of Morton "Battle of the Sexes" 10/4/20
Mission Pro Wrestling "Hell Hath No Fury" 9/18/20
BCW Anniversary: Night of Champions 9/11/20
Ladies Night Out Underground 2 5/23/20
Ladies Night Out 9 - 2/29/20
Queens of the Ring II - 1/18/20
Battle Club Pro "One 4 All" 1/4/20
World Class Memories "Back to the Sportatorium" 12/1/19
Wrestlecade Supershow 11/30/19
Ladies Night Out 8 - 11/16/19
WOW: Intergender Warfare 11/16/19
Battle Club Pro "Anything You Can Do" 9/28/19
Ladies Night Out: East Coast Invasion 8/31/19
Mission Pro Wrestling "Genesis" 8/19/19
Wrestlers' Laboratory "Labnormal 2" 8/4/19
Rajah "Team Warfare" 6/29/19
BCW "Summer on Smash" 6/28/19
Ladies Night Out Underground 6/20/19
Rajah We Are One 5/23/19
Women of Warriors VII 5/4/19
Queens of the Ring 4/27/19
Battle Club Pro "Women Crush Wednesday" 4/3/19
WOW "Brooklyn Beatdown" 3/9/19
Queen of the North 1/18/19
WrestlePro "No Holds Barred" 11/9/18
Innovative Pro "It Only Takes Three" 10/21/18
Battle Club Pro "Trial By Combat" 10/17/18
Wrestlers' Laboratory "Death in Bloom" 9/30/18
BCW "3 The Hard Way" 3/22/19
WrestlePro "Gold Rush Rumble" 9/7/18
Women of Warriors VI 8/11/18
Innovative Pro "2 Hell and Back" 7/22/18
Battle Club Pro "Bash in the Bronx" 7/21/18
Battle Club Pro "Unfinished Business" 6/22/18
WrestlePro Live 6/8/18
Battle Club Pro "Malice in the Palace" 6/7/18
Battle Club Pro "May the Queen Reign" 5/28/18
Innovative Pro "One in the Chamber" 5/27/18
Ladies Night Out II 5/19/18
WrestlePro "May the 4th Be With You" 5/4/18
Women of Warriors V 4/14/18
Battle Club Pro "Welcome to War" 3/3/18
Battle Club Pro "They All Fall Down" 11/4/17
Ladies Night Out 2/17/18
WrestlePro "Blood, Sweat and Barbed Wire" 10/13/17
WrestlePro "Brace for Impact!" 2/3/18
Women of Warriors IV 2/10/18
Women of Warriors III 10/7/17
Women of Warriors II 6/9/17
Battle Club Pro "May the Villain Reign" 5/6/17
IWA Deep-South "Carnage Cup 11" 4/29/17
Women of Warriors 4/8/17
WrestlePro "Live in Orlando" 3/26/17
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A Better Africa opinion
'South Africa needs to rethink its education system' – Sizwe Nxasana
Posted by Ayanda Khuzwayo on 28 June 2018 4:15 PM CAT
Sizwe Nxasana, the Founder and CEO of Future Nation Schools and Chairman of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) recently delivered a keynote on "The Future of Education" at the 3rd edition of the Education Innovation Summit.
Nxasana highlighted the importance of education, especially at an early age and furthermore spoke about the importance of technology in the educational sector.
South Africa needs to rethink its education system and adopt a vastly different approach to learning in order to adequately equip students for the future in the digital age. These are some of the fundamentals that need to be addressed, according to Nxasana.
"As we know, the first thousand days of a child are the most important years, hence we really need to rethink how we approach and we teach our children from an early age," he said.
"Education is not just about acquiring skills. The way in which students are taught needs to be realigned, so as to teach them skills that will enable them to be active participants in this journey of disruptive technology that is affecting human development," he continued.
Speaking on the role that digital technology plays in transforming education in South Africa, Nxasana said that technology should be an enabler of the learning and teaching process of solving of the problems that may occur, we should be thinking of technology on how it improves the learning process.
In a connected and digitally enabled classroom, the teacher is no longer the sole source of knowledge. Instead, they become a facilitator and students become active and engaged participants.
Future Nation Schools has developed an integrated pedagogy, across the board, where teachers have widespread and varied knowledge that goes beyond the subjects they teach. This will ensure that students are not taught in silos.
Nxasana also highlighted some challenges of digital technology in schools such as the lack of understanding by developers and teachers. "There are a lot of technology applications that are developed by people who are technologist or who are innovators who have never been in a classroom, then we have teachers who are supposed to use this technology in the learning and teaching process and you find that they themselves are not familiar in these developed applications and platforms".
However, conferences such as the Education Innovation Summit are important because they're all about the transferring and sharing of knowledge. It's about best practice.
"The solutions have always been there, they have just not been documented. If we are not careful in how we develop African knowledge systems, we will be the subjects of other people, who see opportunities at our doorstep. We need to change this as Africans, policymakers, government and entrepreneurs," he concluded.
Original article can be accessed at IT News Africa
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#BookReview | The Nanny at Number 43 by Nicola Cassidy | @ladynicci | @PoolbegBooks
#BookReview | The Nanny at…
Be Careful Who You Let Into Your Home
– The Nanny at Number 43
When blogger and writer Nicola Cassidy took a local history tour of her home town in Drogheda, Co. Louth she had no idea that a passing tale, told by the guide, would inspire her second novel.
The Nanny at Number 43 was published on July 1st with Poolbeg Press and, although the book is fiction, Nicola Cassidy was influenced in her writing by the historical facts she uncovered during her research.
I am sharing my thoughts here with you all today so I do hope you enjoy!
[ About the Book ]
Wanted, a respectable woman to care for a motherless child.
When William D. Thomas's wife dies in childbirth, he places an advertisement in his local newspaper seeking a nanny for his newborn child.
He is thankful when an experienced nanny arrives at 43 Laurence Street and takes over from his frazzled housekeeper Mrs McHugh.
Mrs McHugh confides in her bedridden friend Betty, who has a bird's-eye view of all the happenings on Laurence Street, that the Nanny is not all she seems. Betty begins her own investigation into the mysterious woman.
When the bodies of twin babies are discovered buried in a back garden, by a family who have moved from their tenement home into a country cottage, a police investigation begins.
But it is Betty who holds the key to discovering who the Nanny really is … and the reason she came to 43 Laurence Street.
[ My Review ]
In reading the press release for The Nanny at Number 43 I was really intrigued with Nicola's words.
'I was fascinated by this society (Ireland in the 1800s). When I looked into it, I found numerous accounts where babies had been concealed, hidden, abandoned to perish and in the worst cases locked into suitcases and stored out of sight. One child had even been found alive and its mother had been going out to the ditch to feed it. They were very, very sad cases and it's what inspired the opening scene in my novel.' – Nicola Cassidy
Can you imagine this extreme behaviour, in many cases borne out of the pure desperation of a mother unable to cope with another mouth to feed, or perhaps the terrible stigma of the time associated with illegitimacy. But what would drive someone to do this intentionally?
Nicola Cassidy has taken this idea and wrapped a very sinister tale around it. With a very dramatic opening, we are witness to a suitcase being dug up in the garden of a country dwelling. A family have just purchased it, delighted to leave the tenements of Dublin city behind them. This house was to be a new beginning for them, a place where their children would thrive. But now their house is to be surrounded by curious onlookers, neighbours and officials as an immediate investigation is opened up on discovery of the bodies of two small babies inside the case.
Meanwhile in Drogheda, William D. Thomas is grieving the passing of his adored wife during childbirth. Struggling to manage with a newborn and his grief, he places an advert in the paper in search of a nanny.
' Drogheda Conservative, January 1880
A Respectable Woman to Take Charge
of a Motherless Child
To Bottle-feed it
Liberal Terms Will Be Given
Apply to W.D. Thomas
43 Laurence Street, Drogheda
A Nanny does arrive to Laurence Street and with the initial charm of Mary Poppins, she is hired for the job. The master is very happy with his decision. The Nanny is a capable individual and has previous experience of working with children. She immediately sets her position in the house with very little respect or time for the other two members of the Thomas household staff. One of these is a Mrs McHugh.
Mrs. McHugh has been working for the Thomas' household for many years. She has taken great care of the family and is distraught that her mistress has passed on. She has attempted to keep things afloat and is more than willing to share the load with a new pair of hands. But immediately Mrs McHugh gets a feeling that something is just not right. She confides in her friend, Betty, who is bedridden and lives nearby. Betty is the eyes and ears on the street. Having lived there for many years and originally run 'the local' with her now dead husband, Betty knows everyone and everything.
As the days pass, Mrs McHugh is more convinced than ever that all is most certainly not right with the new Nanny but who will believe her?
Nicola Cassidy has created a wonderful character. The Nanny is a very dark and mysterious individual. Carrying her own past very close to her chest, she is focused on her endgame with little compassion for those she may hurt along the way. But why? What happened in her early years? What tragedy befell her?
The Nanny at Number 43 is a menacing tale with a very tragic storyline for many of the individuals involved. Nicola Cassidy stated that she wanted to see if she could 'draw a character that the reader, in parts, could sympathise with' and she has. Those were very different times, very hard tough days for many and Nicola Cassidy paints a very vivid picture indeed.
The Nanny at Number 43 is all the more poignant and tragic due to the inspiration behind it. Infanticide is a tragedy on an enormous scale and in this novel, we are witness to the shocking impact this can have on others. There are very distressing scenes in the opening pages with the smells lifting off the pages as 'he pulled back the lid slowly and….a powerful stench filled the air' It's very easy to visualise the horror, the fear, the pure panic following such a discovery.
The Nanny herself is a very complex and brilliantly depicted character. She garnered my sympathy and my disgust as I bore witness to her actions and as her past was slowly revealed.
The Nanny at Number 43 is an emotive read. It's a fascinating interpretation and twist of historical facts and is another impressive novel from Nicola Cassidy.
[ Bio ]
Nicola Cassidy is a writer and blogger from Co. Louth, Ireland. She started her writing career early, entering short story competitions as a child and became an avid reader. Encouraged by her English teachers, she chose to study journalism at Dublin City University and while working in political PR and marketing, studied a series of advanced creative writing courses at the Irish Writers' Centre. Later she set up a lifestyle and literary blog www.LadyNicci.com, which was shortlisted in the Ireland Blog Awards in 2015 and 2016 and finalist in 2017 and 2018.
She signed with Trace Literary Agency in 2016. December Girl is Nicola's debut historical fiction novel and is set in the mystical and ancient Boyne Valley, Co. Meath, famed for its stone age passage tombs. Elements of the story are inspired by true events.
Her second novel The Nanny at Number 43 is published by Poolbeg Press.
She lives with her husband and two young daughters in Termonfeckin, Co. Louth.
Website – www.ladynicci.com
Twitter – @ladynicci
Facebook – www.facebook.com/ladynicciblog.
PreviousPrevious post:#Honoria by Marion Fitzgerald | #Guestpost | @PoolbegBooksNextNext post:#BookReview | In the Absence of Miracles by Michael J. Malone
#BookReview of Once You Go This Far by Kristen Lepionka | @KMLwrites @FaberBooks
#BookReview – The Island by Ben McPherson
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The Quiet Knitter says:
I have to buy a copy of this ASAP!
Whooohoooo:) Thanks Kate!
Nicola Smith says:
Fab review, Mairead. I was on the blog tour for this but couldn't fit in a read of it so posted an extract. It sounds so good.
Nicola it is a very good read. Thank you so much x
Fab review sounds like quite a read.
That it certainly is!! Thanks so much Nicki
Pingback: Links I've Enjoyed This Week – 01/09/19 #WeeklyRoundUpPost #SecretLibraryBookBlog – Secret Library Book Blog
Yvo @ It's All About Books says:
Wonderful review! I definitely like the sound of this story.
It is a very atmospheric read…1800s Ireland well depicted! Thank you 🙂


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Congo to 'reforest' with plantations across one million hectares
http://news.mongabay.com
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0810-hance_congo-plantations.html
Deforestation and REDD Facts & Figures
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We can provide a complete program of Management Optimization conecpts for your Plantations!
Plantation Mangement
Plantation Operations Management
The Republic of the Congo has announced a new program to create plantations across one million hectares (2.47 million acres) of degraded forest lands. The program, known as the national program of afforestation and reforestation (RAN), is being pushed to support various industries, carbon sequestration and to take pressure off native forests. According to Reuters, the Republic of the Congo is seeking donor and international investment of $2.6 billion for the initiative. However, plantations are controversial in conservation-terms as they store significantly less carbon and support little biodiversity when compared to natural forest. Therefore converting natural forests—even those that have been degraded by selective logging—to plantations, can significantly reduce the conservation value of an area.
"This objective will, by its scale and scope of performance, reaching about 70 percent of the national forest cover and lay the foundations for a green economy in the Republic of Congo," the Minister of Sustainable Development of Forest Economy and the environment, Henri Djombo, said at a press conference in Brazzaville. Currently around 65 percent of the nation is under forest cover according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). About 75,000 hectares of this is classified as plantations.
While dubbed as an environmental initiative—an effort to restore forests—the plan in fact looks more like an effort to attract investment in plantation products. According to a press release from the government, the plantations will use both native and exotic species.
"Through this program, developers of biofuels, pulp and paper, medium fiberboard and high density of essential oils and find investment opportunities in the plantations to meet wood-term needs of and oil industry," the press release states.
Environmentalists blame expansion of industrial plantations—oil palm, wood-pulp, and rubber—for driving large-scale destruction of forests, especially in Southeast Asia. Forest loss has further imperiled already-endangered species and emitted vast quantities of greenhouse gases.
"The sustainable management of these plantations will ensure the ecological functions and increase the forest carbon stock of the country," Djombo said. "These plantations will generate employment in rural areas and basic industrial development and increase the economic importance of the forestry sector."
Logging and illegal logging are the primary threat to forests in the Republic of the Congo, which is home to a part of Africa's great Congo rainforest, the second largest in the world after the Amazon.
Nachhaltige Waldwirtschaft
forest operations
Forstplantage
Industrial forest plantation


text:
Listen to 5 of the best books of 2020 over winter break
Julia Webb
Our team is dedicated to finding and telling you more about the products and deals we love. If you love them too and decide to purchase through the links below, we may receive a commission. Pricing and availability are subject to change.
Thankfully, a lot of people tend to have some downtime at the end of the year. Whether this year you're creating new holiday memories at home, are laying low and prioritizing self-care or a little bit of both, remember to set some time aside for yourself.
And if you can squeeze a few minutes into your day that is just for you, why not treat yourself to a new audiobook?
The New York Times recently shared what the editors of The Times Book Review thought were the top titles of the year, and they also happen to be available to listen to now on Audible. Below, check out five titles that are considered some of the very best of the year.
"Uncanny Valley: A Memoir" by Anna Wiener
Credit: Amazon
What it's about: "Part coming-age-story, part portrait of an already-bygone era, Anna Wiener's memoir is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power."
"The Vanishing Half: A Novel" by Brit Bennett
What it's about: "Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing."
"Homeland Elegies: A Novel" by Ayad Akhtar
What it's about: "A deeply personal work about identity and belonging in a nation coming apart at the seams, Homeland Elegies blends fact and fiction to tell an epic story of longing and dispossession in the world that 9/11 made."
"Deacon King Kong: A Novel" by James McBride
What it's about: "In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in South Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range.
The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's funny, moving novel."
"Shakespeare in a Divided America" by James Shapiro
What it's about: "In a narrative arching across the centuries, from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare's 400-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned."
Interested in trying Audible? Choose your monthly plan or start your 30-days free trial here.
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