text:
Cartographer Chronicles: Robert Simmon
The visual portrayal of quantitative and qualitative data is a process that requires the right tools. You want your audience to be able to make sense of the data you are sharing and be able to weave that data into a compelling and inspiring story. Here is how Avenza MAPublisher and Geographic Imager assisted Robert Simmon, Senior Data Visualization Engineer at Planet.
Robert isn't your typical data visualization engineer who had formal training in scientific graphic design or cartography. His passion and interest in computer graphics and a master's degree in materials science gave him the technical skills to start turning numbers into pictures that eventually helped him communicate with research scientists in his professional career.
Robert's stepping stone into the fields of cartography, design, and data visualization happened during his work at NASA, where one of his first projects was creating a CD-ROM that would allow students and the interested public to explore a global ozone dataset. During his work there, he began to realize that the graphics published and used by NASA were made more for other scientists than for a broad audience. He also realized that good design was a powerful tool to improve communication. So, he tried to re-create scientific graphics in a more user-friendly form, with mixed success. "It wasn't until I attended a talk by a popular lecturer on visualization that I learned there was a theory behind good design, and a big lightbulb went off in my head," says Robert. "I began to read everything I could get my hands on about design, data visualization, and cartography—particularly map projections and the use of colour to encode information, since so much visualization at NASA revolved around satellite remote sensing data, which is quantitative and inherently geospatial."
Eventually, Robert went on to found the Earth Observatory to share the breadth of NASA's Earth science research with the interested public. After more than a decade with NASA, he received the chance to join the exciting startup—Planet—and work with an unprecedented, high-resolution, global dataset.
Robert developed a fairly unconventional workflow centred around Adobe design tools rather than GIS or scientific visualization software. This is where the Geographic Imager plugin for Adobe Photoshop and MAPublisher plugin for Adobe Illustrator proved invaluable to bridge the gap between data and visualization.
Today, Robert's day-to-day work largely revolves around processing visible and near-infrared imagery. Every image he works with gets imported into Photoshop with Geographic Imager. Creating maps in Adobe has proven to be effective and highly efficient as software like Adobe Photoshop possess powerful colour-correction tools, fast previews, layers, high bit-depth support, and undo history options.
This aids highly competent visualizers to work seamlessly and flexibly until an image is made perfect. Robert uses Geographic Imager to merge multiple adjacent image scenes or align a time series to make an animation (even if they're in different projections), all with a single "import" step. He then exports the file as a GeoTIFF, so the image can later be combined with other, complementary data.
Although Robert enjoys working with imagery, he has had the most fun combining multiple data sources, especially raster and vector. Delving into his design workflow a bit deeper, he involves both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator together. In Adobe Photoshop/Geographic Imager he works on the initial colour work and crops his desired map extents, then imports it into Illustrator/MAPublisher to overlay with vector data and create masks. "It's particularly useful to be able to crop the imported vector data to match the area of interest, rather than having to manually select and delete objects that lie outside the Illustrator artboard," says Robert. After setting up his vector layers, he then exports them as a layered Photoshop file and re-combines them with the original raster imagery, to ensure pixel-perfect accuracy.
Robert's love for MAPublisher goes back to 2006 when he first used it to make maps with Landsat data. He used MAPublisher to create a water mask with ZIP code data, which was the only data source he could find with high enough resolution to accurately capture the jutting piers of lower Manhattan. Robert also used MAPublisher to create a map of Amazonia (one of his personal favourites from his portfolio) with the help of MAPublisher's powerful attribute tools, which allowed him to select and merge data vector data of Amazon biome, distinct from the Political Amazon, for which data is readily available. He continued to create variations on this theme at Planet, including a map of the vegetation of Germany. It was derived from a Planet Surface Reflectance Basemap and given context with Natural Earth boundary, urban area, and transportation data.
Robert continues to tweak his colour palette for his vegetation maps since just being 'good enough' has never really been his forte.
In collaboration with Robert Simmon, Senior Data Visualization Engineer at Planet.
Tags: cartographer chroniclescartographyGeographic ImagerAdobe PhotoshopMAPublisherAdobe Illustrator
Avenza Releases Geographic Imager 6.2 for Adobe Photoshop
Toronto, ON, October 21, 2020 – Avenza Systems Inc., producers of the Avenza Maps® app for mobile devices and geospatial plugins for Adobe Creative Cloud®, including MAPublisher® for Adobe Illustrator®, is pleased to announce the release of Geographic Imager® 6.2. This latest version is powered by Adobe's new Unified Extensibility Platform (UXP), which provides tremendous performance and user interface improvements to the Geographic Imager plugin for Adobe Photoshop.
"Geographic Imager has become a product many organizations trust and depend on to quickly edit and process spatial imagery," said Ted Florence, President of Avenza Systems. "With increased performance and even more opportunities to develop new tools and experiences with UXP, the possibilities are endless."
Powering the Geospatial Imagery Editing Process
Geographic Imager for Adobe Photoshop® delivers an all-encompassing solution to import, edit, and export geospatial images such as aerial and satellite imagery. Work with digital elevation models, GeoTIFFs, and other popular GIS image formats while using Adobe Photoshop® features such as transparencies, filters, cropping and image adjustments; all while maintaining georeferencing and support for hundreds of coordinate systems and projections.
New features of the Geographic Imager 6.2 plugin for Adobe Photoshop® include:
Compatibility: Fully compatible with Adobe Photoshop® 2021 on both Windows and Mac, powered by Adobe's new Unified Extensibility Platform (UXP)
Exporting: Vector map data is now able to export to many industry geospatial formats
Advanced Importing: Ability to remove backgrounds from images during import
Geographic Imager is immediately available and free of charge to all current Geographic Imager Maintenance Program members and starts at US$319 for non-maintenance upgrades. New fixed licenses start at US$699. Geographic Imager Basic Edition licenses start at US$99. Academic, floating and volume license pricing is also available.
For more information, visit www.avenza.com/geographic-imager.
More about Avenza Systems Inc.
Avenza Systems Inc. is an award-winning, privately held corporation that provides cartographers and GIS professionals with powerful software tools to make better maps. In addition to desktop mapping software, Avenza offers the mobile Avenza Maps app to sell, purchase, distribute, and use maps on iOS and Android devices. For more information, visit www.avenza.com.
For further information contact: 416-487-5116 – info@avenza.com – www.avenza.com
Tags: UXPreleaseGeographic ImagerAdobe Photoshop
Cartographer Chronicles: Kim Beckmann
Kim Beckmann is a storyteller above all else. As a graphic designer and Associate Professor of Design & Visual Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Beckmann
uses visual media to do just that. More recently, she dipped her toes into the world of cartography (another story-telling medium) then fell right into the deep waters.
It all started when researchers from the university's School of Freshwater Science came to her for help with creating supporting materials for a research project. The team's ambitious project set out to map several miles of the Milwaukee harbor coastline, studying the effects of urban development on the harbor habitats. The research team had already created highly detailed technical maps but reached out to the Peck School of the Arts for a faculty member who could help put together the material in a way that could be more easily digested by the public and told the a story about the impact of people on the habitats that exist in the harbor.
"I also represent a part of the general public who would be interacting with the maps; individuals that want the maps to tell them a story. I recall at the first team meeting where we discussed research findings and what to present on the maps, I had many questions. What type of fish live in the harbor and rivers? What do they eat? Where do they live? Does water temperature effect where and when we might find them? Interestingly, the questions I raised led to incorporating additional habitat information into the maps," said Beckmann. "What started as a concept for a single map quickly evolved to a set of five maps due to the amount to information we needed to share, the largest being 3 ft by 4 ft!"
As a graphic designer, Beckmann had made maps before, including simple, vector-based topographic maps, and maps for wayfinding. But this was her first time working on a larger map project and her first time working with raw geospatial data to create bathymetric maps to illustrate water depth. "I am extremely comfortable with Adobe Illustrator so when I discovered that there was a cartography plug-in for it, called MAPublisher, that could be used to manage GIS data to create maps, I knew that it would be faster and easier than learning an independent cartography software tool."
The School of Freshwater Science research team carried out data collection for the project using side-scan sonar devices. With technical support from the Avenza Systems team, Beckmann was able to get the data into a shapefile format and import it into Adobe Illustrator using MAPublisher. "I registered for a training course offered by Avenza Systems, on how to use MAPublisher with Illustrator," said Beckmann. "That led to a meeting with Jeff who was able to provide helpful direction on how to transform the raw map data into the maps I wanted to make."
Jeff Cable is the Desktop Product QA Lead at Avenza Systems. In addition to his work with the MAPublisher development team, he is also responsible for providing training to new MAPublisher users. "I met Kim in 2016 at one of our in-class training sessions in Chicago," said Cable. "She had a very clear vision of what she wanted to create, but after some more discussion and reviewing the data, I realized that it would require advanced GIS workflows in order to get the data to an appropriate level before it was ready for mapping." Seeing the value in the research project, he offered to assist Kim rather than have her seek out a GIS professional on her own. Once the data was prepared, she took what she learned from the MAPublisher training course and was able to apply visualization techniques to her maps. Cable corresponded several times as the project progressed and provided guidance. "Kim would ask if MAPublisher could do this or that, and in most cases, my answer was You bet it can!" he added. In addition to providing tips and best practices, he showed her many of the useful tools in MAPublisher that made her workflow more streamlined such as copying MAP Objects, working with MAP Stylesheets, and creating insets. "When I saw the finished product, I was blown away by what Kim had created. It was also gratifying as a training instructor to see how far she had come since our first meeting."
Beckmann has since spoken about her work on the Milwaukee Harbor habitat maps project to the American Geographical Society, cartography clubs, and presented an artist talk as part of the Peck School of the Arts Artist Now! Lecture Series. The series of five maps have been printed on canvas and distributed to local and regional schools and turned into metal signage to be installed along the shores of the harbor to help share important research conducted by Janssen Labs with the public.
The first of five maps installed at Harbor View Plaza Park.
Two of the maps installed in the active learning classroom as Discovery World.
Disovery World is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Beckmann's maps also currently hang in the Avenza Systems offices and we are proud to have them as a reminder of the amazing things visual artists and cartographers can do with the tools we provide.
Learn more about the project and how the maps were made on the UWM website https://uwm.edu/harbormaps/
In collaboration with Kim Beckmann, Associate Professor of Design & Visual Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Updating and Enhancing Maps with Landsat 8
This guest blog post was written by Tom Patterson — one of the creators of the Equal Earth Projection, and Natural Earth Data, (you can read more about Tom here). Learn how he used Geographic Imager for Adobe Photoshop to create two maps from Landsat 8 imagery.
I am a big fan of Landsat 8 satellite images as a resource when making maps. Typically, I use these free images taken every 16 days for verifying and updating other geospatial datasets. I also transfer Landsat textures to shaded relief art in order to better evoke a sense of the physical environment.
The examples that follow demonstrate how I have used Landsat imagery to enhance two maps. The first example is Prince William Sound, Alaska, a map that I am presently working on. The second example is a Landsat mosaic of the Big Island of Hawaii. Both of my examples will give you a general idea on how to integrate Landsat images into your cartographic workflow—using Avenza's GIS plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator—with a few technical tips thrown in for good measure. For in-depth information about using Landsat in Photoshop, refer to this tutorial.
Prince William Sound, Alaska
Prince William Sound, in south-central Alaska, is a spectacular place to map. Its sheltered waters are bounded by the lofty Chugach Mountains, indented by deep fjords with tidewater glaciers, and dotted by forest-cloaked islands. The problem I am facing is out-of-date geospatial data because of the rapidly melting of glaciers. For example, the positions of glaciers, lakes, rivers, and coastlines available in the National Hydro Dataset (NHD) have changed considerably since these data were collected between 2008 and 2012. In order to make an accurate map—if only for this year—I have had to re-digitize these vector elements using Landsat images as a reference.
For this task, I used "LandsatLook Images with Geographic Reference" downloaded from the Earth Explorer website. These quasi-natural color images, which come pre-made from bands 7, 5, and 3, clearly depict water bodies, vegetation, bare earth, and glaciers. They were perfect for mapping the changing landscape of Prince William Sound.
National Hydro Dataset lines overlaid on a LandsatLook image in Adobe Illustrator.
The lines do not match physical features on the more recent satellite image.
For reference, I used images taken on September 29, 2018, about the time when glacier melting ceases before the onset of winter. Images taken later in the fall are hampered by fresh snow cover and deep mountain shadows due to lower sun angles.
Because the LandsatLook images were in the same projection as my map, I could directly place and then register the images in the Adobe Illustrator file with MAPublisher. Had the projections been different, I first would have had to transform the LandsatLook images using the Geographic Imager plugin in Adobe Photoshop. Finally, I moved the LandsatLook images to a bottom layer and dimmed them for editing the lines with Illustrator's Pencil tool. Using a Wacom tablet and stylus for editing lines greatly improved my drawing speed and accuracy.
If a 30-meter LandsatLook image lacks enough detail, you can increase the apparent resolution to 15 meters by applying panchromatic sharpening. Doing this will involve downloading all data bands that comprise the Landsat scene (a Zipped archive about 1 GB in size). Within this archive is Band 8, a grayscale image showing the same area as the LandsatLook image, but with double the resolution.
Coming into focus. A LandsatLook image before (left) and after (right) panchromatic sharpening.
Besides increasing detail, panchromatic sharpening also shifts colors.
Once Band 8 is downloaded, the first step is to enlarge the size of the LandsatLook image by 200 percent in Photoshop (Image/Image Size). Resample it using the Preserve Details (enlargement) option. Next, copy and paste Band 8 on top of the LandsatLook image. Then, in the Layers window, change the blending mode of the Band 8 layer from Normal to Luminosity. Finally, apply Curves adjustments to both layers until the tonal range of the combined image is to your liking. The pan-sharpened LandsatLook image will keep its georeferencing thanks to the Geographic Imager plugin.
Use the Layers window in Photoshop to apply panchromatic sharpening.
Selecting Luminosity blending mode for the Band 8 layer is key.
The Big Island, Hawaii
In 2017, I created a Landsat mosaic of the Big Island as a starting point for making two National Park Service maps: Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I used the Landsat mosaic as a source for land cover textures—forest cover and historic lava flows (those that formed since 1800)—depicted on these maps. Compared to the Landsat mosaic, the map textures print very lightly in the interest of visual cleanliness.
Big Island Landsat mosaic (left) and the maps of Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail (middle) and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (right) derived from it. Click here to see a larger version of the Ala Kahakai map (5 MB) and here for the Hawaii Volcanoes map (6.4 MB).
The first step in creating a Landsat mosaic was downloading the appropriate image data. In a perfect world, a mosaic of the Big Island would only require four 185-kilometer-wide Landsat images. However, because of persistent cloudiness on the windward side of the island, ten images were needed to complete a nearly cloud-free mosaic. Using images taken in previous years was a necessity. When selecting older images with fewer clouds, I looked for those taken at about the same time of year to keep the lighting consistent. I then used the Clone Stamp and Spot Healing Brush tools in Photoshop to carefully delete any unavoidable clouds and their shadows from the mosaic. Fortunately, the few clouds that remained were in remote areas far from the main focus of the final maps.
The Big Island is covered by four overlapping Landsat images.
Clouds be gone. The Landsat mosaic before (left) and after (right) editing.
The Landsat mosaic was assembled in Photoshop using Geographic Imager (File/Automate/GI: Mosaic). In the Mosaic window, I selected the Maintain Layers option to ensure that each Landsat image was placed on a separate layer. I then added layer masks to each image layer to piece together the ten images with the goal of avoiding clouds. Although the masks themselves with feathered edges looked like a messy jig-saw puzzle, they combined to produce a seamless Landsat satellite image mosaic.
Geographic Imager's Mosaic window.
I created the Big Island mosaic in natural color by compositing Bands 4, 3, and 2 as red, green, and blue channels, respectively, in Photoshop. I also brightened the forested areas with LandsatLook mosaic placed on the topmost Photoshop layer and with the layer opacity reduced (in normal blending mode). The natural color procedure is explained in detail here.
With a Landsat mosaic of the Big Island completed, my next task was extracting the forest and lava textures and applying them to the Ala Kahakai and Hawaii Volcanoes maps. But that was an involved procedure that will have to wait for another blog.
One more thing …
Since making the Big Island mosaic in 2017, the Puna district experienced volcanic activity in 2018 that covered a large area in lava and reconfigured the shoreline. Although Puna is the cloudiest area on the Big Island, I was lucky to find a recent cloud-free Landsat image that I then used to update the mosaic. You can download a GeoTIFF of the updated mosaic here (120 MB). It is in the public domain.
Puna District, Hawaii, before (left) and after (right) the volcanic eruptions of 2018.
Tags: Landsat 8cartographyGeographic ImagerAdobe PhotoshopAdobe Illustrator
Cartographer Chronicles: Tom Patterson
The process of making maps can vary greatly depending on the cartographer and the purpose of the map. Tom Patterson, one of the cartographers behind the public domain data set Natural Earth and the popular website Shaded Relief, regards cartography as a creative process. He sees geospatial data as an artist would see paint on their palette. "They are raw materials from which the map is made," says Patterson. "For me, the map making process starts with an online scavenger hunt for geospatial data, and ends with a visual depiction of the results of that scavenger hunt, a map."
Patterson recently retired after 26 years with the U.S. National Park Service at the Harpers Ferry Center, located in West Virginia. Harpers Ferry Center is the media hub for the U.S. National Park Service, where most of the maps, exhibits, and publications for public consumption are produced.
Patterson is well-known for making maps with beautiful shaded relief effects, a technique that he has focused on for his entire career. It's something he has a passion for and is a feature that he believes makes his maps unique. "When making a shaded relief, I go to great pains to portray the natural world in a beautiful and idealized manner, by combining shaded relief with land cover data, drop shadows, gradients and vignettes, with control and restraint," says Patterson. "I ultimately want to create a shaded relief that readers will find attractive and which will blend harmoniously with the vector elements above." Patterson prefers light, luminous colours for depicting terrain, and also tell a story. "A map is more than just a combination of points, lines, polygons, type and pixels. To me, a really good map is one that becomes much more than the sum of these parts," he says. "Maps are an important form of communication, and they should effectively share the ideas of the cartographer to the map reader."
When making graphically creative maps, you want to use tools that provide you with the most control. With MAPublisher, you can easily access and manipulate geospatial data using Adobe software. "MAPublisher and Geographic Imager bridge the gulf between graphical and GIS worlds."
Patterson was an early-adopter of MAPublisher, a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator after learning about it in 1996 at the annual North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) conference. If you've ever used the Natural Earth data, you might be interested to know that most of the vector elements were created with MAPublisher and Adobe Illustrator.
He was also integral in the development of Geographic Imager when during a presentation about manipulating Digital Raster Elevation Model (DEM) data he commented that having a MAPublisher-like software for Adobe Photoshop would be useful. "My suggestion was heard by the President of Avenza, Ted Florence, who was in the audience. He put me in touch with the software development team at Avenza to brainstorm ideas about a GIS plug-in for Adobe Photoshop. Geographic Imager was the eventual result of our discussions."
Along with his many contributions to the cartographic community, Patterson has held some important positions as the former president and current Executive Director of NACIS. Patterson has created accessible, open source data for global use (Natural Earth), he recently contributed to a new map projection that is taking the cartography and GIS world by storm; Equal Earth. "This equal-area pseudo-cylindrical projection has gained traction rapidly—it seems that cartographers and map users alike have had an unfilled need for world maps depicting countries at true size and presented in a pleasing manner," he quips.
As an accomplished and respected veteran of the field, we asked that what advice Patterson would give to new cartographers, finding their way? "Seek out advice," he states. "Map design and production is mostly a solitary task, and any map you create will seem easy-to-understand and logical to you since you are the one who made it. But, your readers may not see it that way," says Patterson. "The easiest way to avoid these potential 'failures to communicate' is by showing drafts of your maps to people that are not family and close friends."
Another tip that Patterson has for fledgeling cartographers, is to give readers a reason to slow down and read your map. "The trick in today's media-saturated environment is to design a map that will catch your reader's eye, ignite their curiosity, and draw them in. Give the most emphasis to the information you want them to remember long after they put down your map."
Getting the Best Resolution when Importing an Image from a WMS
Using a Web Map Service (WMS) is a great way to easily get up-to-date imagery for your project. An issue you may run into, however, is that a server may not allow you to download images over a certain size (in pixels). The image resolution provided on most servers is usually high enough for most projects but there may be some instances where a higher resolution is needed (e.g. a poster-sized map or a web map that covers a large area).
One possible workaround for this issue is to get several small-area, high-resolution images from a WMS and then mosaic them together to make one large-area, high-resolution image. Here, we will use the City of Toronto Web Map Service to:
Get an image of downtown Toronto
Tile the image to split it into four smaller images
Use the extents of the four tiled images to get four high-resolution images
Mosaic the images to one large high-resolution image
Download an Image from the Web Map Service
First we will get an image of downtown Toronto from the City of Toronto WMS. Click the Advanced Import button on the Geographic Imager panel. Select Web Map Service from the Format drop-down and click Browse. Click Load services from Avenza and select City of Toronto WMS from the list.
(Click for larger version)
Select City of Toronto Imagery from the list of layers. Click Select Area then drag a box to zoom in on an area of downtown. Click OK to return to the previous window. There is no need to change the image size because we will use this image to get the extents of a higher resolution image. Leave the other options as default and click OK to load the image, and click OK again on the Advanced Import dialog box. The selected image will now open in Adobe Photoshop.
Tile the Image
Next, let's tile the image to split it into four separate images. Open the Tile dialog box from the Geographic Imager panel. Choose By Number of Tiles as the Tiling Schema and change Horizontal and Vertical to 2. Change the Horizontal and Vertical Overlap to 3 percent. It's important to have overlap between the images so they will mosaic properly when the data is transformed.
Click the Keep Images Open check box to enable it. Choose a name and location to save the tiles. You can save them to a temporary location because they will not be part of the final product. The four image tiles will open in separate tabs.
Estimate a Web Map Service's Maximum Image Size
Open the City of Toronto Imagery WMS again and select an area. In this service, as with many other services, the maximum resolution is not provided. We can, however, use trial and error to find the largest image that the service will allow us to download. A WMS has a maximum allowed width and height set for an image request. The maximum width is usually the same as the maximum height.
Set the resolution of the image by adjusting the width of the image in pixels under Output Options. First, try setting Image Size to a pixel width of 5000. Height will update automatically based on the image's dimensions. Click OK and you will see an error that says "Parameter 'width' contains unacceptable value" (or height if the images higher than it is wide). OK the error to close it.
To estimate the maximum width and height allowed by a web service, you can adjust the image size to see when the server returns an error. The maximum width and height for the City of Toronto WMS is about 4000 pixels.
Downloading and Mosaicking Large Images
Next we will use the geographic extents of the four tiled images to download four higher resolution images with matching extents then mosaic the images together. Import an image again from the City of Toronto WMS using Advanced Import. Select an area, click Select Area by Another Document's Extents and choose the first tiled image from the dropdown menu. The Select Area dialog will display an area matching that image's area. Click OK to return to the previous screen.
Downloading large images
Enter 3000 as the Image Size. Click OK to add the image to the Advanced Import dialog box. Repeat the above steps for each of the remaining three tiled images.
Creating a mosaic of four images (two by two) makes a single image just under 6000 pixels wide because of the overlap between the tiles (the height will vary depending on the area you selected). This is larger than the maximum size allowed by the WMS. Check the box Mosaic All Files to the Destination Document and select one of the images currently loaded in the dialog window from the drop-down menu. Leave the other options unchecked and select Normal as the Layer Blending Mode. This will merge the four images into a single document.
Mosaicking large images
Avoid Downloading Images Greater than the Maximum Image Resolution
One further consideration when getting imagery from a service is to avoid requesting an image that is higher resolution than the full resolution of the image on the service. In this case, the number of pixels in the image and, therefore, the image size will increase without any increase in the actual resolution of the image.
To see an example of this, get an image from a WMS by zooming in on a small area and downloading images of varying resolution. The pictures below show two images of the same area side by side at different resolutions. The image on the left is 1024 by 870 pixels and the one on the right is 2500 by 2124 pixels but there is no noticeable difference between them. This is because the image exceeds the resolution of the image on the server so the WMS resamples the image to a higher resolution, creating duplicate pixels.
Tags: imagesformatsimportGeographic ImagerAdobe PhotoshopWindowsMac
Use Geographic Imager to Import Imagery from ArcGIS Online Directly Into Adobe Photoshop
With the latest release of Geographic Imager 5.2, it's now possible to easily import images directly from an ArcGIS Online account or an ArcGIS web service. This will allow you to use shared data within your ArcGIS Online organizational account and connect to publicly available map servers from various online sources.
ArcGIS Online is a collaborative web GIS that allows you to store and share GIS data using Esri's secure cloud. Before, you may have had to download raster layers to your local machine and then import them into Adobe Photoshop using Geographic Imager. Now, Geographic Imager has a much-improved workflow to get ArcGIS Online image layers into Adobe Photoshop with full georeferencing.
Currently, the types of datasets allowed are Map Image Layers and Tile Layers. To load a layer, open Advanced Import and select ArcGIS Online from the Format drop-down list. Enter the credentials for your ArcGIS Online account and select an image layer from your user portal.
Images can be resized and transformed on import. To extract a specific area from the image, click Select Area. The interface is the same as the one used for WMS Import.
In addition to using your own organization's data, you can connect to publicly available data from a wide variety of organizations by connecting to an ArcGIS Web Service. To connect to a web service, use Advanced Import and select ArcGIS Web Service from the Format drop-down menu. Click Browse and enter the URL for the service. This is a great option when searching for data from open data portals created by government agencies.
Tags: web servicesArcGIS OnlineimportGeographic ImagerAdobe PhotoshopWindowsMac
Validating Georeferencing in Geographic Imager
When georeferencing a map in Geographic Imager, there are two tools which can be used to check spatial accuracy: Validate and Show Image Extents Online. With Validate, click a point on the image and it will show the corresponding location on the web map service so that you can compare the difference between them. Show Image Extents Online will display a rectangle representing the spatial extent of the image on the web map.
The image below shows the Validate tool in action. Selecting the tool and clicking on the road intersection brings up the same intersection in the web map, displaying how accurate the georeferencing may be. It is good practice to test several known points on the image. Choose features that will be easy to identify on the web map such as road intersections, coastlines, buildings, and landmarks.
The Show Image Extents Online tool is shown in the image below. Use this tool to see the full area covered by the image. Note that the rectangle shown on the web map will include the non-map areas of the page (borders, legend, etc).
Tags: Geographic ImagerAdobe PhotoshopgeoreferenceWindowsMac
Avenza Systems Fixed and Floating License Solutions: What Are The Differences?
Avenza desktop applications, MAPublisher and Geographic Imager offer two options for the licensing system: Fixed license and Floating license.
The Fixed license option allows only one license per computer. For most users or small companies, this is generally sufficient, even with a few licenses. Since your license is fixed to a specific computer, it can't be moved freely to another machine. However, Avenza does allow you to move your license occasionally. For example, if you purchased a new computer or when your computer is being fixed and you need to transfer your fixed license to another computer. If your subscription status for MMP (MAPublisher Maintenance Program) or GMP (Geographic Imager Maintenance Program) is up-to-date, then moving your fixed license to another computer (i.e. rehosting a license) can be done without a cost. Complete this form to do so. You will receive a notification email from Avenza when this is completed.
The Floating license option is for users who wants to share a number of licenses on the network. This is a great solution for any size company that has multiple users who share use of MAPublisher or Geographic Imager. You will need to set up a license server for which users will need check out a license from the server before using MAPublisher or Geographic Imager. In general, this option is used when sharing a number of license with colleagues. For example, the license server holds two seats of MAPublisher license. When users on Computer A and Computer B are using MAPublisher, other users can't check out a license until the borrowed licenses are checked in.
Another great advantage of the floating license the ability to borrow a roaming license with their laptop so that they can use MAPublisher and Geographic Imager outside their immediate office. This is a good solution for users who need to use the software on the go and doesn't have a connection to the floating license server.
For more information about the licensing options for our MAPublisher and Geographic Imager, contact Avenza sales.
If you have any technical questions about setting up a license server or any other licensing issues, contact Avenza Technical Support.
Tags: licensingGeographic ImagerAdobe PhotoshopMAPublisherAdobe IllustratorWindowsMac
Working With Avenza Floating Licenses Outside of Your Work Network
If you or your organization have a floating license for MAPublisher or Geographic Imager, this blog post is for you. Having a floating license provides you with a lot of flexibility when you want to bring your laptop computer outside your work network and use MAPublisher and Georaphic Imager at home or in the field.
Let's say you have a laptop computer and you want to work on your mapping project outside your office network. You can do it if your organization has a floating license.
Step 1: Make sure all the software is installed
On your laptop computer, make sure that you have MAPublisher for Adobe Illustrator or Geographic Imager for Adobe Photoshop installed and that there is a valid floating license (for one or each product).
Step 2: Connect your laptop to the network and to the licensing server
If you are not sure how to connect your laptop to the network and to the server, please contact your IT administrator. It is essential that your laptop computer is connected to the license server so that you can obtain a liecnse from it.
Step 3: Follow the steps in the MAPublisher/Geographic Imager license management window
Open the License Management dialog box.
If you're using MAPublisher, access MAPublisher by going to Help > MAPublisher Licensing > License Management.
If you're using Geographic Imager, access License Management by going to File > Automate > Geographic Imager: License Management.
Click the Floating button to open the Floating License Setup dialog box.
Make sure that the "Allow roaming licenses" option is selected. Click OK.
Allow roaming licenses
Click the "Use roaming license" option and specify the number of days in the Duration of borrow option. This indicates how long you want to use the license outside of your network.
Specify duration of borrow
Clicking the "Checkout" button will change the status of the license. In this example, we borrowed a license from the license server for two days (December 16, 2015 starting date).
Checkout the license
Now you will be able to use your MAPublisher or Geographic license when your computer is disconnected from your work network. You might want to test it by closing Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, disconnect your computer from the network, restart Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, and see if you can use MAPublisher or Geographic Imager.


Dr. Harvey M. Ewing, Montclair, N. J.
Dr. Otto A. G. Reinhard, Lincoln, Nebr.
Dr. Charles Henry Parsons, Concord, N. H.
Dr. Lawton M. Hartman, York, Pa.
Dr. Leopold Shumacker, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Dr. Anita Mary Mühl, San Diego, Calif.
Dr. Donald R. McKay, Buffalo, N. Y.
Dr. William Lindsay Miller, Gadsden, Ala.
Dr. Samuel G. Shepherd, Philadelphia, Pa.
Published: Ann Intern Med. 1945;22(4):621-638.


April blames her addiction for chocolate on growing up near the country's chocolate capital, Hershey, Pennsylvania. Born and raised in a rural area, April always had lots of time to cultivate an active imagination, penning her first book at the age of ten, with a child's typewriter a lot of liquid white-out. Even though both her stories and writing methods have changed drastically through the years, one thing hasn't.
Cowboys, military men, and alpha bad boys with a penchant for corrupting the good girl are among her favorite heroes to bring to the page. As both a contemporary and romantic suspense author, April loves sweet, second-chance romances as well as the thrills and squeals of being involved with a man who feels more naked without his Glock than without his skivvies.


The Eternal City of Jerusalem and the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been inseparably intertwined for 3,000-plus years. Contrary to dissenting voices, Jerusalem's legitimacy as the undivided capital of the modern State of Israel has a solid historical precedent. The modern nation's past is substantiated through the biblical record, history and on-going archeological research.
David's son, Solomon, completed the task of building the First Temple in ancient Jerusalem. And following the Babylonian exile, the construction on the Second Temple began in 536 B.C. with help from Cyrus King of Persia (Ezra 1:1-11). Throughout history up to the current Diaspora, the Jewish people have maintained Jerusalem as central to their political and spiritually identity.
Fast-forward to November 8, 1995 when both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act. The legislation officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel, calls for Jerusalem to remain an undivided city and allocates funds for moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May 31, 1999.
Two decades and three administrations have passed since that decision. Every six months, presidents have postponed the move via waiver for fear of antagonizing Israel's enemies—a strategy that failed to achieve the objective. There have been two Intifadas and a seemingly endless wave of terrorism since the Jerusalem Embassy Act became law.
Then on December 6, 2017, President Donald J. Trump's announcement from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House sent shock waves around the globe, even though he pledged to do so. The president officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital and revealed plans to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—a move long overdue.
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her.
For people of faith living in the 21st century, the prophetic implications are staggering. More than 2,700 years ago, the prophet Isaiah urged us to rejoice with Jerusalem!
Jerusalem is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible and is the only city where God has chosen to place His name (2 Chron. 7:16). For those who love Israel and routinely pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the Yom Yerushalayim 5778 celebration is a momentous time to remember!


text:
Motor dysfunction and sensorimotor cortex activation changes in schizophrenia: A study with functional magnetic resonance imaging
J. Schröder, M. Essig, K. Baudendistel, T. Jahn, I. Gerdsen, A. Stockert, L. Schad and M. Knopp
Neuroimage, 9 (1), pp.81-87
Recent studies demonstrate a diminished activation of the sensorimotor cortex and supplementary motor area (SMA) in schizophrenia which may be involved in the pathogenesis of neurological soft signs (NSS). Yet, the question whether a retarded motor performance may account for these changes remained to be clarified. Twelve DSM-III-R schizophrenics and 12 healthy controls were included. All subjects were right-handed. Nine patients received clozapine, two conventional neuroleptics, and one was drug-free. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was obtained in a resting condition and during pronation/supination at three speed levels (low, medium, and high) with motor performance recorded simultaneously using a pronation/supination device. While measures of motor retardation (i.e., repetition rate and amplitude of the movements) did not differ between patients and controls, the variability of performance was significantly (P < 0.05) increased in the patients' group. In addition, patients with schizophrenia showed a significantly (P < 0.05) decreased activation of the sensorimotor cortices. Similar, although nonsignificant (P = 0.09) activation changes were observed in the SMA. Activation differences were more pronounced at a slow speed and in the drug-free patient. These results confirm a diminished sensorimotor cortex and SMA activation and indicate that variability of performance rather than retarded performance per se may correspond to these changes.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
How Bad is the Louisiana Job Market? Even McDonald's is Struggling
Brandon Michael Published: April 21, 2021
Now that we are starting to emerge from the pandemic crisis that has been crippling our nation, a new crisis has risen to take its place - the lack of employees in the restaurant and service industries. Businesses both locally and nationally that have been scratching and clawing to stay afloat until COVID-19 restrictions lifted allowing them to operate at full (and a profitable) capacity are now having to restrict operating hours not because customers aren't showing up, but because they simply don't have enough employees.
Not even the biggest restaurant chain in the world is immune to it. According to BRProud, the world's largest burger joint, McDonald's, is going all out to attract quality workers. The article says that McDonald's needs over 4,000 employees in Louisiana alone. To help find those new employees, they're pulling every trick in the book out - including flexible schedules and college assistance.
But it's not just McDonald's. According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission, first-time applicants for unemployment benefits was around 13,000 for the last week of March alone. That's 8,100 more than the previous week! So, there's a LOT of people in the state who are either trying to 'work the system' or are waiting for different opportunities. No matter the reasons for the increase in unemployment, there's a ton of different businesses that are struggling to find people to work. Locally, Smitty's Pizza had to alter their hours due to the lack of employees. And I'm sure they're not the only ones.
LOOK: 15 Discontinued McDonald's Menu Items
Filed Under: employees, hiring, jobs, mcdonalds, restaurants
Do You Have One of the Most Stressful Jobs in Louisiana?
Fast Food Italian, Unlimited Breadsticks Coming to Shreveport, LA
Independence Bowl Bound? Here Are the 10 Best Places to Eat in Shreveport
Who Serves Up the Best Cajun Food in Shreveport-Bossier City?
Shreveport Shirtless McDonald's Thief Sought by Police
Could Shreveport Soon be Home to New Ronald McDonald House?
U.S. Economy Adds 528,000 Jobs in July, Doubling Expectations
5 of Louisiana's Oldest Restaurants Make Their Home in Shreveport
Louisiana's Most Popular College Degree May Not Be What You Think


One of the most common problems facing content creators in general and on YouTube in particular are copyrighted music used in videos. So, in this article, we will show you top 4 websites to download various songs and music for free and without copyright.
It's an simple platform where you can easily find the perfect songs for your videos so you can spend more time creating. All of their songs are pre-cleared so you are able to fully monetize your videos without worrying about licenses, claims, or disputes. Also, You can use Thematic for free.
Access to the platform here : Thematic.
Although this site doesn't provide you with a huge library of music like its predecessor, it allows you to use all the songs available free without having to put the source in the description of the video or something like that.
This website has a Creative Commons Zero or CCO license, which allows you to use it whether for business or personal purposes.
It is also a good and basic reference for every content maker. It provides a collection of icons, logos, images and free, as well as an independent library of music, songs and free audio that you can use in your videos without fear of copyright. You need to find the type of music that you want, so you can search by song theme, genre, mood ... This makes it easy to find songs that fit the video you want to put on it.
CChound offers you very good audios and great songs for free to use in your videos, also gives you search or browse by tags, types or many advanced search options that make it easy to find what you want. For the music, you will find some that need to put the source link in the description; others, you can use the music freely as you want.


We are excited to announce the showcase companies at the Ag Innovation Showcase at Davis. Those chosen demonstrate key solutions to issues of concern for high-value crops, and will be a prominent fixture at the conference dedicated to emerging commercial innovations and the future of farming.
The showcase judges selected eleven companies from a field of more than 40 to participate in the event, based on their ability to positively disrupt agriculture in five sectors: Ag Biotech, Diagnostics, Food Science, Animal Health and Farming Innovations.
Afingen - Genome editing technology that precisely control specific tissues of a plant to enhance desired traits without affecting the plant's overall function.
MiraculeX - Producing rare protein sweeteners that are better tasting and healthier than current sugars, produced in a lettuce protein expression system for a cost effective, scalable process.
Trace Genomics - A genomics data and machine learning platform screening soils for disease-causing microbes and beneficial organisms, allowing better-informed decisions about agriculture inputs and soil health management.
SnapDNA - A rapid, low-cost, portable DNA-based detection platform for detection of pathogens within hours, for food safety, and a variety of other markets.
InnovaNutra - A safe, food-grade carrier used in food processing to stabilize and allow for colors and taste ingredients from natural ingredients.
Heartland Farm Energy - A waste heat recovery system that reduces poultry growers energy consumption, reducing costs and improving bird health.
Resilient Biotics - Discovering live microbial therapeutics from the naturally occurring animal-associated microbiome that provide alternatives to current antibiotics for animal production, utilizing big data analytics and machine learning to track outbreaks of disease organisms and design treatments.
UAV-IQ - Cost-effective, drone-based scouting services providing high precision field imagery and historic and predictive data, to guide decision-making for grape growers.
Wisran – Operations analysis software that improves productivity among workers, efficiency and profitability by using machine learning to capture the variability of time spent on specific, repetitive agriculture tasks. Integrated with financial analysis of the costs and labor expenditures of such tasks.
In addition to exhibiting, the companies will receive professional guidance and advisory services, present a pitch to more than 250 influencers and investors in the agriculture industry, and have access to unlimited networking time via LartaLink™, a conference meeting tool.


"This terraced townhouse, part of an established residential area that is popular with families, close to good local day to day amenities and well placed for commuting"
Under Offer! This terraced townhouse with private garden and allocated parking provides accommodation over three levels forming part of an established residential area that is popular with families, close to good local day to day amenities and well placed for commuting.
The accommodation comprises; entrance hall, well-proportioned lounge/dining room with patio doors giving direct access to the fully enclosed rear garden. This public room provides the perfect ambience for family living and is open plan to the kitchen. The kitchen itself has ample base and wall mounted units with co-ordinating work surfaces/splash backs. There is a master bedroom with en suite shower room, three further good-sized bedrooms and family bathroom comprising three-piece suite with separate shower enclosure. Further benefits include gas central heating, double glazing and good built in storage/wardrobes. Ideal family home.
There are two private parking spaces, one to the front of the property and one to the rear together with ample parking within the area. The garden to rear is fully enclosed by fencing with rear access gate, is laid out to grass with shaped flower beds and decked patio.


Disney has been on a role with their live action remakes of old classic cartoons and the Jungle Book it is a testament of how far technology has come to make it all possible. First it was Maleficent and then it was Cinderella and with those two being surprisingly well shot and with beautiful imagery, I did not even think this flick was gonna be anything short of amazing as well.
We all know the classic animation of Jungle Book and let me tell you this right now, it follows that storyline so closely that you'd think it was the same but with live action. The story was altered just a little, but nothing to complain about. I know I sometimes say some movies add too much CGI that it looks fake but I read an article where for the animals they went out and actually followed animal movements and behaviors to mimic in the movie and make it as real as possible. Sure, animals do not talk but everything else looked so real and it was so well shot it did not bother me. Again Disney has outdone themselves with this one, good job!
Mowgli (Neel Sethi) — who by the way did an outstanding job playing the key character — has been raised by wolves since he was a very young child. He was brought to the wolves by a Panther named Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) where the panther knew Mowgli would be protected. He is raised by RakSha (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) and the rest of the pack. He gets older and is threatened by the evil tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) so to protect his wolf family, Mowgli leaves with Bagheera to return to his own kind. On his journey he meets the hypnotizing snake Kaa (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), the giant Orangutan King Louie (voiced by Christopher Walken) who "wants to be like you." We also can't forget the con but later very good friend who "looks for the bare Necessities" bear, Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray). He meets a lot of animals on his journey to the man village but with Shere Khan on the hunt for Mowgli, they boy has to go back and face him head on. The story is well put together and very entertaining. You will not be disappointed, it is a great family film and will bring back childhood memories. You are in for a treat.


text:
With Passing Of B. Smith, Legacy Of Grand Lady of Style Lives On
in African American Business
There was no one like her. Barbara Smith, known throughout much of the world simply as "B," was a trailblazer, a risk taker and an enterprising gate crasher. But she did it all quietly, gracefully, always epitomizing respect for herself and others and a warmth that could melt butter.
"Our baby is gone," said Audrey Smaltz, hours of after receiving the news that Smith died last night at the age of 70. The two women met more than 50 years ago, when Smaltz was an Ebony Fashion Fair commentator and Smith was a model strutting the traveling show's runways at the age of 19.
Even then, Smaltz says, "She was a Lady, with a capital "L" – which is not to say she had always followed the rules. If she had done so then the beautiful brown-skinned girl from small-town Pennsylvania would never have pursued a career as a model. The Ebony Fashion Fair was, essentially, her college.
The daughter of a maid and a steelworker, would then move to New York City where she signed with the prestigious Wilhelmina Models agency. She would eventually grace the covers of 15 magazines, including Mademoiselle in 1976, where she was among the first African American women to do so.
While it was her physical beauty that would captivate you at first, it was Smith's warmth and genuine kindness that would linger long after you'd met. It made her a successful television spokesperson for blue-chip brands such as Mercedes Benz, Colgate Palmolive Oxy and Verizon. That enormous charm also helped make her a star on New York's restaurant scene in the 1980s and 1990s, where she began as a hostess and soon became a bonafide restauranteur.
Defying The Odds And The Naysayers
Her namesake restaurant in the heart Broadway's theater district became the place to see and be seen. It boasted a diverse clientele but the Big Apple's rising black urban professionals staked out a particular claim on its rooftop bar during summertime. B. Smith's was featured in a 1997 BLACK ENTERPRISE article entitled, "Where Power Players Play."
Smith laughingly recalled in an interview with me at the 2010 Women of Power Summit, how even friends and loved ones told her she was crazy when she opted to go into the restaurant business. But she always had a love for feeding people – she used to pretend on her dolls when she was a child — and the doubters never deterred her.
Although she had partners, the restaurant was a huge risk. It bore her name, after all, and it was in arguably the toughest and most competitive restaurant market in the world.
B, however, succeeded by defying the odds and the naysayers. She went on to open chic, successful restaurants in Sag Harbor – a sliver of the posh Hamptons with a historically African American summer enclave – and in Washington, DC's Union Square Station.
Having known of her for years. it was in Sag Harbor that I finally met B. She owned a distinctive home on a quiet beach there, in the midst of a historically black neighborhood that she loved, where my in-laws, Barbara and Earl Graves, Sr. and her fellow Women of Power Legacy honoree, Susan Taylor, were neighbors.
Smith ran that beach often. I was always struck by how fit and lithe she was. Said Smaltz, who owns all three of Smith's cookbooks: "I used to tease her and say, how could she cook and eat all this wonderful food and never gain a pound?"
Smith clearly worked at it, but there was something about her running the beach and how peaceful she appeared doing it that made it seem as if it was about more than fitness, it was about wellness and selfcare.
In partnership with her husband, Dan Gasby, Smith leveraged her brand as a consummate hostess, chef, and tastemaker to create a full-scale lifestyle brand. Appearing as a contributor on Good Morning America and The Today Show, she would ultimately host her own syndicated show, B. Smith with Style. She later leveraged that to create the B. Smith with Style Collection. It debuted in Bed, Bath & Beyond in 2001, becoming the first homegoods line from an African American woman to be sold at a nationwide retailer, according to her website. From bedding to bath products, she coined a signature "Afrasian" design concept that buyers flocked to.
Bringing Attention To Alzheimer's
I am so grateful that Black Enterprise honored Smith with a Women of Power Legacy Award in 2010. She joyfully accepted, and gave a candid and rousing interview before a captive audience. Just a few years later, in 2013, she was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of 64.
Despite the devastation and the closing of her popular restaurants and sale of her beloved Sag Harbor home, the disease never robbed her of her deep kindness, her open heart, the grace and care with which she treated everyone who approached her, and that megawatt cover girl smile.
Her signature tagline, "Whatever you do, do it with style!" has been on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture and she participated in co-writing her final book, Before I Forget, in 2016. A memoir of her and Gasby's battle with Alzheimer's and their journey to acceptance, the book shined a much needed light on the disease's unique impact African Americans, and black women in particular. Her broad legacy will include the heightened awareness she brought to the disease with her willingness to be open about it, and having gotten it so young.
Smith lived well, she did well, she did good – and she did it all with style! She earned her rest and her eternal peace. May her great legacy live on and on.
Two sides claim victory in Togo vote as challenger cries foul
You're invited to join the Singleton Women in Business (#SWIB) at their International Women's Day event on Friday, March 6 | The Singleton Argus
Avenor Traditional Council condemns injunction on Torgbui Korbadzi III of Gefia by Anlo Traditional Council
Cuba reports 330 new COVID-19 cases
Biden Rescinds Trump's Muslim Travel Ban
Molefe to testify at State Capture Inquiry – SABC News
Oil drops over 2% on China lockdowns, US stimulus concerns – SABC News
Gaming out Trump's impeachment trial
Multi-talented Ajamu lets 'Compassion Reign'
Howard University Marching Band To Escort Kamala Harris at Inauguration
What's on the agenda for Papua New Guinea business in 2021?
As stand-in leader, McCormack failed to take a stand in defence of truth and trust | Australian politics
Chadwick Boseman Wins Critics Choice Association's Performance Of The Year for 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'
India pull off sensational run-chase to win Australia Test series
Young Tunisians clash with police days after revolution anniversary – SABC News
Tucker Carlson Slammed For 'Vile And Vicious' Attack On Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
GES assures public of COVID-19 safety ahead of re-opening of schools
France's daily cases hit two-month high
Cuba sees slight decline in COVID-19 daily cases
LOCAL AUTHOR ON A MISSION TO SPREAD UNITY & LOVE IN 2021 – African American News Today
Fromer Senator Kelly Loeffler's WNBA Franchise Is Close To Being Sold


text:
New rules in the FCA Handbook
The FCA has recently made a number of changes to its Handbook. These include:
The Benchmarks (Amendment No 2) Instrument 2016 which amends the FCA Handbook Glossary and creates the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) framework within the Market Abuse Sourcebook. It comes into force on 1 April 2016.
The Handbook Administration (No 40) Instrument 2016: this makes minor administrative changes.
The Accountability (Conduct Rules) (Breaches Reporting) Instrument 2016: this makes consequential changes to rules to ensure compatibility with the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMR) and came into force on 1 March 2016.
The Accountability (Foreign Branches) (Amendments) Instrument 2016: this brings application of the common platform requirements into line with the foreign branches rules. It came into force on 7 March 2016.
The Fees (Handbook Separation) Instrument 2016 and the UKLA Fees and Other Fees Instrument 2016: these create a freestanding Fees manual for FCA with no unnecessary reference to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Instrument 2016: this ensures the FCA can continue to meet its obligations under the RDR by being able to identify relevant staff where they no longer require pre-approval from the regulator after the SMR takes effect. The changes include a new form in the Training and Competence Sourcebook (TC), the Retail Investment Adviser Competence Notification Form, and new reporting requirements, and changes to the supervisory reporting requirements in the Supervision Manual. The rules came into force partly on 7 March and the remainder will take effect from 31 December.
The Handbook Separation (Insurance) Instrument 2016: this amends the FCA rules to accommodate the PRA re-write of shared PRA and FCA rules. It came into force on 1 March.
Find out more: UK Financial Regulatory Developments - March 2016
Money Advice Service to be scrapped
Chancellor George Osborne announced the closure of the Money Advice Service (MAS) as part of the Budget. The Chancellor's decision comes as part of the review of Government-backed guidance services, launched alongside the Financial Advice Market Review last year.
The MAS is set to be replaced by a much smaller body with a focus on providing "frontline" services to those in financial difficulty.
While the guidance review was explicitly designed to cut down on duplication between services, the final FAMR report, published this week, called on the FCA to provide more support to firms who wish to offer their own guidance and information to customers, without crossing over into full advice.
A Treasury spokesman declined to comment on how the decision will affect other Government-backed services currently being offered by Citizens Advice and The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS).
TPAS and Citizens Advice are responsible for the phone-based and face-to-face elements of the Government's Pension Wise guidance service, with the MAS providing additional online information.
The move comes almost exactly a year after an independent review of the MAS recommended that its budget be dramatically slashed, with the service refocused on primarily offering debt advice.
Find out more: Mortgage Strategy
Mortgage Credit Directive came into force on 21st March 2016
The MCD came into force on 21 March 2016 and introduced an EU-wide framework of conduct rules for mortgage firms. It is closely aligned with the UK's existing mortgage regulation.
The MCD seeks to cover all lending where the purpose is to buy or retain rights on a residential property. This means that second charge lending will also be regulated. This means that any firm electing to advise on second charge mortgages will need to adopt the new Rules. Additionally, where the customer is increasing their borrowing, brokers will need to consider whether this is a more suitable option.
The MCD requires lenders to issue 'binding' offers, which means that unless a material change occurs post-offer, or the customer has provided inaccurate information, the lender cannot re-underwrite the case. Binding Offers will only apply to MCD regulated mortgages this will not include Business BTL or MCD exempt Lifetime Mortgages.
The MCD introduces a reflection period of at least seven days, which is to give the consumer time to compare offers and assess their implications. The reflection period will need to be incorporated into the conveyancing process.
This is being implemented through the FCA.
Find out more: Mortgage Credit Directive
Consumer buy-to-let
As part of the Mortgage Credit Directive the brokering of buy-to-let mortgages will no longer be a regulated credit activity from 21 March 2016.
It is important to note that buy-to-let mortgages will now be split into two categories: business buy-to-let and Consumer Buy-To-Let (CBTL).
CBTL means a buy-to-let mortgage contract which is not entered into by the customer wholly or predominantly for the purposes of a business carried on, or intended to be carried on, by the customer.
A customer is out with the scope of the legislation where they buy a property for business purposes with the intention of renting, or where the customer has never live in the property and has a portfolio of properties.
CBTL mortgages will be subject to the standards set out in the Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015, which include the requirement for pre-contractual illustrations, assessing creditworthiness and arrears management.
CBTL firms will now be subject to the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service for complaints in relation to CBTL activity.
Find out more: Financial Conduct Authority
2016 Priorities of the Financial Conduct Authority
The financial sector has been given a strong indication of what the enforcement priorities of the Financial Conduct Authority ('FCA') will be in 2016 through a series of recent publications, speeches and announcements made by the Regulator.
Despite stepping back from a formal review of banking culture, the FCA made clear in November 2015 through their Enforcement and Markets Division that it would continue its focus on culture and related regulatory sanctions.
One of the regulator's priority areas of focus for the first time as announced in the FCA's 2015 Business Plan is financial crime, including anti-money laundering (AML), bribery, corruption and fraud. The FCA's 'Financial Crime Guide' has also highlighted their commitment to taking enforcement actions against both firms and individuals that fail to meet the FCA's regulatory standards in these areas, including imposing high level financial penalties and other sanctions.
Cyber security has also been identified as a key focus for the FCA in their 2015 Business Plan. The FCA has identified the need to be stringent in this area following a wave of cyber attacks and data theft over the last 12 months. Firms are being called upon by the FCA to consider specific risks, and to identify how they would deal with such attacks and the potential ransoming of data.
A new regime known as the 'Senior Managers Regime' ('SMR') has recently been implemented, which brings along with it a change in the financial industry where if the FCA considers there to be a failing within a firm, senior management are to be held accountable. For example, if a regulatory requirement has been breached, the senior manager responsible for that area will be accountable to the FCA.
In terms of financial sanctions, the FCA is to increase the penalties imposed on firms to become more aligned with those imposed by the FCA's US counterparts.
The FCA has also highlighted its intention to reduce the number of firms authorised to undertake consumer credit activities, as evidenced by the recent action taken against payday lenders. New rules have been imposed on this industry to ensure it is fairly and effectively managed, and there is no room for 'rogue operators'.
It is anticipated that these changes brought in by the FCA will help the industry flourish again following the financial crisis.


The manual single girder bridge crane is a small-sized light weight bridge crane operated by human power. It is used for the assembly and maintenance works in workshops without power supply or in power off situations.
The manual single girder bridge crane is a small-sized light weight bridge crane operated by human power. It is used for the assembly and maintenance works in workshops without power supply or in power off situations. And the working environment temperature shall ≥ -20℃.
This manual bridge crane is composed of main girder, end girders, drive sprocket, gears, manual monorail trolley or hoists.
5. Easy maintenance, interchangeable components and parts.


Tests and controls are not enough to guarantee a product quality complying with the company expectations.
In the company policy preparation and qualification of the staff play an important role through refresher and certification courses.
TECNinox is currently certified for ISO 9001:2015 quality certification for manual welding operations, totally automatic and semi-automatic.
3D designers and planners using integrated CAD systems.
Certified Programmers and software specialists (Siemens).


I'd booked a pretty loft in downtown LA just for this shoot. When I showed up, the guys checking me had some seriously creepy vibes and said they wanted to stay for the shoot. I thanked them for their time and left, and we went to my nearby apartment. While it wasn't at all what was intended, the light and the colors of my space ended up making for a cool backdrop to this set.


text:
About Bengals
Bengals in the Household
I got my first Bengal in 2018. I immediately noticed how much different Felix was from the other cats I have known and loved. I fell so in love with him, that I knew one day I wanted to breed Bengals. This decision is finally coming to fruition as I enjoy producing Beautiful Bengal Kittens. The temperament of a Bengal is typically closer to that of a dog than a cat. They often bond with one person in the household very strongly and often enjoy a good game of fetch.
Bengal Kittens for Sale typically continue their kitten behavior years beyond what a typical domestic shorthair cat would. As a result, if you are going to Adopt a Bengal Kitten, it is best to adopt two together or plan on getting another kitten from a shelter at the same time so they have constant companionship. Your Bengal will most likely be in and out of cupboards and up and down off refrigerators. While it is possible to train them to respect boundaries you set, that takes constant reinforcement. They're a bundle of fun and energy and can make the perfect companions for the right house!
About Bengal Cats
The Beginning of Bengals
Hybrid cats have been around for centuries. Although the first cat show recorded was in London in 1871 at the Crystal Palace, it was in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1875 when a wild Ocelot won in the "Wild or Hybrid Between Wild and Domestic Cat" class. There were several Hybrids documented at this cat show, you can read about them in a bood by Harrison Weir, Our Cats and All About Them. There were several such Hybrid crossings that occurred in the 1800s and 1900s. This was the start of the trend of breeding for Hybrids that would eventually lead to the Bengal Cat Breed.
Let's start by talking about the Asian Leopard Cat (ALC). A small wild cat native to Southeast Asia, this cat lives in such varied habitats and regions, that there are often regional differences in the breed, creating many different size averages, colors, and patterns. Its wild appearance is what creates the foundation of the Bengal breed today.
The Asian Leopard Cat became an attractive option to create a hybrid breed, when it was discovered that they were resistant to Feline Leukemia (FLV). This was discovered by Dr. Willard Centerwall, a professor of pediatrics and maternal health, who studied feline genetics as a hobby. He wanted to learn whether this resistance to FLV could be passed down to hybrid offspring. He also was interested in how this resistance could potentially affect Human Leukemia research. Unfortunately this idea and eventual research project didn't lead to any break through. It was also not possible to pass their resistance down to their hybrid offspring the Bengals. So despite misleading information on the internet, Bengals are just as prone to FLV as any other domestic cat.
When talking about Bengals, another person who started creating hybrids from the Asian Leopard Cat was Jean Mill's in the 1960s. Jean's motivation was reportedly more to motivate people to buy live animals, rather than supporting the fur trade, which was causing a lot of problems with many different species of wild cats population numbers. Also to discourage people caging actual wild cats and instead offer a more house friendly version of a wild cat. Jean got her first ALC from Dr. Centerwell.
The last person who had a hand in the Bengal breed in a very small way was a zookeeper named Bill Engler. It is believed that he was responsible for how Bengals were named, it being a combination of his first and last names (B. Englar). Other people believe that they were named after the Asian Leopard Cat's scientific name: Prionailurus Bengalensis. Engler produced a couple litters of Bengals, none of which contributed to the current gene pool of Bengals today.
Despite several people having a hand in creating the breed of Bengals today, it is Jean Mill's who managed to eventually get them recognized as a legitimate breed in TICA (The International Cat Association) in 1986.
Brown Rosetted Bengal Kitten
Your Very Own Bengal Kitten
Now is the time to add a Bengal to your home!
Don't miss out on our current Litter...
View our Available Bengal Kittens for Sale!


Brave New World tells the story of life in the World State, a new civilization in which everything appears to be perfect. It follows Bernard a social outcast, Lenina a woman who follows the rules, and John the Savage who cannot understand how they can live in a world without love, and without free will.
I did not really enjoy this book; at times it was hard to understand what the author was trying to say. The tone of the novel was also really dark, and the book ends in a very disturbing way.
I would not really recommend this book based on my preferences - the plot did not really interest me.
As war between the factions threatens Tris's new Dauntless life, she is haunted by grief, and guilt. Tris Prior is faced with the decision of risking her own life for the lives of others. Tris must now embrace her Divergence in order to save those she loves.
Insurgent was an exceptional sequel to Divergent. I loved how the relationship between Tobias and Tris developed drastically in this book.
I would recommend Insurgent to anyone. I believe teens especially will love it if they enjoy futuristic societies, action and romance.


text:
Themes Of Racism And White Privilege
939 WordsNov 9, 20154 Pages
In Kindred, Octavia Butler uses characters and events to symbolize parts of larger themes of racism and white privilege in the story. Kevin is a symbol of the complicated relationship that white America has with black Americans. Kevin believes that he is not racist, yet his actions betray an unconscious prejudice towards African-Americans. This is evident when Kevin reacts angrily when Dana refuses to type up his writing for him. "He really had asked me to do some typing for him three times. I'd done it the first time, grudgingly, not telling him how much I hated typing, how I did all but the final drafts of my stories in longhand. That was why I was with a blue-collar agency instead of a white-collar agency. The second time he asked, though, I told him, and I refused. He was annoyed. The third time when I refused again, he was angry." (Butler 109) Kevin does not see that Dana has a choice whether or not to do this typing for him, and feels entitled to her time and labor. Another instance in which Kevin feels entitled to her time is when they first meet. "'Buz told me you were a writer,' said the voice that I thought had gone away. 'Look, I can't count with you talking to me.' I pulled out a tray full of large screws—twenty-five to a box. 'Take a break'" (53) Kevin ignores Dana's request for him to leave her alone, and pesters her. Kevin assumed that he knew what Dana needed to do better than she did, and decided that whatever she wanted did not matter. Though he may have
The General Themes Of White Privilege
The general themes of "White Privilege" by Paula S. Rothenberg are the idea that America is and has been a white dominated country, where being white is the norm. It talks about how this socially accepted idea has oppressed and discriminated against anyone who did not fit the majority or privileged group, which continues that cycle of racism. Issues in this book brought to light, how white people take their mentality and actions for granted. This in return oppresses anyone who does not fit the privileged
Racism And White Privilege And Institutional Racism
Racism; one word, a very powerful meaning and reminder. Many people shy away from talking about racism because speaking it into existence mean that we as a society have not gotten away from it. Unfortunately, this fact that we have not escaped racism and its effects still rings true today. I myself have tried to minimize the effects of racism in relation to white privilege and institutional racism. Sadly, I found that minimizing racism in general, when experiencing white privilege and or institutional
White Privilege 2 WHITE PRIVILEGE: Founded in Racial Preference What is white privilege? It is important that white privilege be defined because the majority of whites want to deny that it exists at all, especially in response to assertions of people of color that it exists unjustly and should be dismantled. The denial of its existence by whites is racialized. People of color say white people enjoy white privilege while white people deny, as often as possible, that they
The Privilege Of White Privilege Essay
children about white privilege and how it affects people. White privilege is something that white people benefit from just because of what they look like, but they have no control over it. This can range from having more opportunities for jobs to being more likely to have enough money to go to private school. I am focusing more on the idea that white people have these benefits and have the privilege to deny that such a divide exists. Being able to dismiss the idea of white privilege shows ignorance
White Privilege And Black Privilege
White Privilege Dick Hebdige in "From Culture to Hegemony; Subculture: The Unnatural Break" states "All human societies reproduce themselves in this way through a process of 'naturalization'. It is through this process- a kind of inevitable reflex of all social life- that particular sets of social relations, particular ways of organizing the world appear to us as if they were universal and timeless," (142). Hebdige speaks to the fact that the way society is structured and the way people interact
Racism And White Privilege Is Considered A Primary Category Of Racism
1.	A. Racism is any attitude, belief, behavior, or institutional arrangement that tends to favor one race or ethnic group over another (Gee & Ford, 2011; Krieger, 2014). It is based on observable characteristics, for example skin tone, facial features and hair. There are three types of racism: scientific, institutional/ systemic and interpersonal (Harrell, Burford, Cage, Nelson, Shearon, Thompson, & Green, 2011). All three types of racism attempt to justify the unequal privileges and disadvantages
Racism And White Privilege Enforcement Essay
considering that there are five times as many whites as there are blacks in America. I find this incredibly concerning and it has definitely impacted my view of American law enforcement. Recently, I have tried to become more knowledgeable about racism and prejudice in the United States as issues such as police brutality are becoming more and more prevalent. Although there is still much more for me to learn about the complicated system of racism and white privilege, I do feel that I know enough to recognize
 White Privilege: Reflection Paper Northeastern State University Abstract This paper is about my reflection of White Privilege in the United States. I got my information from four resources. The first resource was the handout provided for this assignment; White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy McIntosh. The second resource was the website, www.jstor.com. Access is provided via Northeastern State University as a resource for peer-reviewed articles. Thirdly
White Like Me : Race, Racism, And White Privilege
the definition of white privilege, it would say something along the lines of, benefits given to white people based solely on the fact that they are white. In Tim Wise documentary, White Like Me: Race, Racism, and White Privileged in America, he talks about white privilege and how it is negatively affecting America. He argues that by wanting to go back to the traditional America idea is really wanting for the unequal treatment of people of color, refusing to acknowledge how racism is working in our
White Privilege And White Skin Privilege
2 Privilege refers to the unearned advantages enjoyed by a particular group simply because of membership in that group. Privileges accrue to those who (consciously or not) oppress others and are generally invisible to those who enjoy them (Swigonski, M.E. 1996). Having that in mind my position on white privilege (or white skin privilege) which can also be called the huge "pink elephant" in the room. Society (especially now) believe that America have advanced past racism when in all actuality
More about Themes Of Racism And White Privilege
America 's End Racial Profiling Act
The Novel ' 1984 ' By George Orwell
Thomas Hardy 's Under The Waterfall
A World Riddled By Social Expectations And Beauty Ideals
Don 't Let Steel Corporations Forge Tyranny
Who Has The Power Of Foreign Policy Making?
Bartleby.com
Great Books Online
©2016 Bartleby.com
Harvard Classics
Bartleby bookstore
Lit History


Enjoy Christmas in Scotland and experience Morna's magic in these 3 delightful Christmas novellas. The collection includes: A Conall Christmas, A McMillan Christmas, and Morna's Magic & Mistletoe. These books were previously released as individual titles in the Morna's Legacy Series.
Adelle, a former socialite and serial dater, finds that her current age seems much older in the seventeenth century than it did in the twenty-first. She resigns herself to the fact that she will remain single for the rest of her days—at least until an unexpected visitor arrives at the castle.
Hew has spent the last twenty years all alone. When a winter storm causes him to seek shelter, he meets the first lass since his beloved Mae to make his heart flutter once again. Will he be able to release himself from his grief to allow another love into his life?
When the worst Christmas snowstorm of the century hits the Scottish Highlands, Harper knows she must seek shelter and is left with no choice but to take refuge in the one place she swore to never return—McMillan Castle—the home of the only man to ever break her heart.
Christmas only reminds Kamden of all he's lost. As he settles in for yet another holiday spent alone, he is stunned when his ex-girlfriend breaks into his home to escape the snow. Just as they begin to get reacquainted, Morna's meddling magic sends them back in time, and both are forced to reconsider what they thought they knew about the other.


The question you should be asking is why not retire to Maui? Financial perks for older adults, a healthy environment buoyed by temperate weather and leisure options in every direction are making the island a magnet for retirees. This fact is dawning on more and more people, with the proportion of seniors in the population increasing from 11 percent to 14 percent between 200 and 2012.
The blend of cultures in Hawaii offers special respect to kupuna, which translates to elder, or grandparent. The Valley Isle's year-round average temperature of 79 degrees varies little from month to month. Forget the bitter winters or sweltering summers that keep you indoors and send heating and air bills through the roof.
Maui is small and easy to get around — no gridlock or long journeys to eat into your time for relaxing. It has world class golf courses in some of the world's most spectacular scenery. There is fine dining, restaurants and art galleries galore.
Your first decision is going to be where and how to live. As a popular destination for retirees, Maui offers most types of housing on the radar of seniors. When it comes to single family homes, many houses have what is called an Ohana, an in-law suite. Ohana means family in the local language. It's normal for extended family to live together here and the state began encouraging the development of this type of housing in Hawaii in 1981 as a way to make home ownership more affordable. For the incoming retiree, it also offers the room for family to visit or the space to accommodate live-in care.
Depending on the community, condos and townhomes can offer a slightly less expensive option, whether to buy or rent. Anyone who doesn't need the extra space has a better shot at getting spectacular views for a bit less money by going this route.
For seniors who want a little extra care and security, Maui also has some top class retirement communities.
Kalama Heights is an independent senior living community in Kihei, situated on the island's Maalaea Bay. Kalama Heights offers what it calls an Independent Retirement Living model, which includes weekly housekeeping, three meals a day, transportation and a social calendar. But the key benefit is the complex's Community Managers, residents who are available 24 hours a day to help their neighbors out. They keep the community safe and running and participate in daily life there, eating and socializing with the other residents. Units are available in studio-style, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Leases are month-to-month and the rent also includes utilities and cable TV, shuttle service, fitness classes, social, educational and recreation activities, and a travel program that offers up to seven nights' stay in a guest suite at any other community owned by Holiday Retirement — and they have locations all over the U.S. It's also pet friendly.
Kalama Heights is close to the Haleakala National Park, with its stunning volcanic landscape, and the Maui Ocean Center, voted Hawaii's top-rated family attraction by U.S. Family Travel Guide. Kihei also has a multiplex movie theater and the Rainbow Mall, a quirky conglomeration of restaurants, dining and whimsical gift stores.
Kihei will also be home to the Regency Maui Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, it was announced in August 2013. The 175-bed skilled nursing and memory care facility will open on five acres in Kihei's Maui Research and Technology Park.
Roselani Place is in Kahului and offers independent living and assisted living services. It can also provide memory care for residents with Alzheimer's or dementia, but does not offer intermediate or skilled nursing care. Accommodation is in studio and one-bedroom apartments, both standard and deluxe, on a month-to-month lease. The rent includes utilities, three meals a day, transportation, housekeeping and laundry service each week and various social and recreational opportunities, including health and fitness programs. Most crucially, Roselani Place provides 24-hour access to staff, with an emergency call system. Besides social and private dining rooms, the complex also has lounges, a library, a barber shop and a beauty salon.
Kula Hospital in the up-country is part of the Maui Memorial Medical Center system. Kula Hospital's main function is as a long-term care facility with 99 Skilled Nursing Facility beds and nine Intermediate Care Facility beds. It also has a 24-hour emergency room, outpatient clinic with lab and x-ray services and an adjacent medical clinic.
Hale Makua was founded in 1946 for Maui elders who needed residential care but lacked the relatives to provide it or the means to pay. Almost 70 years later, it offers skilled nursing, intermediate and residential care in more than 250 beds in two locations, one each in Kahului and Wailuku. Hale Makua is an Eden Alternative Registered Home, with a philosophy of care focused on providing a home that feels like home, rather than an institution. Hale Makua also offers in-home services.
As its population skews older, the state has paid more attention to seniors and their needs. Many of the government's outreach programs are useful to retirees who move here. Wealth Manager magazine called it the most wealth-friendly place in the country for retirees.
Hawaii doesn't tax Social Security or government pension income, even from out of state. Retired military pay, military pensions and even some private pensions are also exempt from state income tax.. Seniors over 65 are also eligible for an additional personal exemption on their state income tax returns.
Prescription medications and prosthetic devices are exempt from the 4 percent general excise tax that Hawaii uses in place of a state sales tax.
Personal property, including cars and boats, are exempt from property taxes. And in Maui, $300,000 of a home's value is exempt from property taxes. Rates here also tend to be lower than on the mainland, with schools funded by the state, rather than local governments.
What keeps retirees up at night worrying? How about cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, mental disorders and pulmonary conditions? Maui is in the 25 percent of states with the lowest instances of all seven according to independent economic think tank the Milken Institute. The island is served by more than 60 medical specialists, 50-plus surgical specialists and about 30 general practitioners.
Should the need arise, there are three hospitals in the County of Maui, two of them on the island itself. The state-owned Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku is the largest acute care facility in the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, with more than 1,400 employees. The fully-accredited 213-bed teaching hospital's specialized units include critical care; cardiac care; inpatient dialysis; a heart, brain and vascular center; wound care; respiratory therapy; plus recreational and physical therapy.
Moloka'i General Hospital is on neighboring Moloka'i island but also part of the County of Maui. It has a 24-hour emergency department and 215 inpatient beds. The U.S. News & World Report found 80 percent of patients said they would recommend it to family and friends.
Also, while Medicare benefits vary from state to state, all Medicare enrollees in Hawaii receive free preventive services, such as colorectal cancer screenings, mammograms, and annual checkups. Medicare patients are also eligible for a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescriptions.
Getting back to the mainland is a cinch, with Forbes ranking Maui's Kahului airport the most punctual of America's 50 busiest airports in 2007, and second in 2008. Several U.S. airlines offer direct service to Maui from airports as far inland as the Midwest.
Within the island, the short drives between points help mitigate the higher cost of gasoline and the County of Maui operates a public transit system with multiple bus routes that run seven days a week for $2 per ride. Monthly bus passes are available at a reduced rate for riders 55 and older. An ADA paratransit program offers transport for seniors unable to use the regular bus service because of a disability. Rides are booked in advance. The Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc. (MEO) system offers transportation to the Kaunoa Senior Center and rural shopping locales. MEO also runs a senior Red Card discount program that offers money off at local stores and businesses for those over 60.
Maybe you don't feel like getting would likely be at least your second degree, but the University of Hawaii Maui College in Kahului Bay was a technical school and then a community college before becoming part of the state university system. It operates a culinary arts center and offers courses in music, horticulture, languages and more. The college operates an EdVenture Online Instruction Center that offers many classes entirely over the internet.
If you don't mind a little more rain, Paia, on Maui's northeastern side, is a place to avoid the crowds of tourists. Only eight miles from Kahului, There are fewer stores and restaurants, here, but it tends to be more affordable than the urbanized areas and still has the gorgeous beaches and natural beauty that makes Maui what it is. The town, while small, has delightful bakeries, antique stores and other curiosities in its wooden plantation-style structures that hearken back to the island's days as a center for sugar cane.
Plenty of retirees feel the pull of teeing off amid some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. Little wonder, then, that Maui is one of the world's top golfing destinations. Kaanapali Golf Course hosts the Senior PGA Kaanapali Classic. annually and Kapalua Golf is home to the PGA Tour's Mercedes Championship. GOLF Magazine called The Dunes at Maui Lani one of the 35 best new courses in America and Golf Digest tabbed it One of the Five Best Kept Secret Golf Courses in America.
If you'd rather lounge than swing, Maui's beaches are consistently rated among the world's finest. Kapalua Beach in northwestern Maui ranked as one of Coastal Magazine's 21 Best Beaches in America. An appreciation for the arts will draw you to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kihei. It's home to the Maui Symphony Orchestra, which presents classical, Broadway, opera, and choral music year round. The center is also home to a range of seasonal shows, touring acts and an annual film festival each December. There is also a Maui Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Kahului.
Maui also has a treasure trove of museums designed to enrich understanding of the island, its people and history, with more to discover upon each return visit. The Baldwin Home in Lahaina offers insight into the period of Hawaiian monarchy when western missionaries first arrived, while Kaanapali's Whalers Village Museum houses the state's largest collection of artefacts from the island's 19th century whaling peak.
Lahainaluna High School in Lahaina was built in 1837 and contains a detailed history of the written word on the island. Also in Lahaina, Hale Kahiko is an outdoor ancient Hawaiian village exhibit with a thatched house and underground oven. There are also museums incorporating Maui's first prison and courtroom.
The near century-old Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center in Makawao features rotating art exhibits. In Wailuku, the Bailey House Museum is an 1833 mission house built on a royal Hawaiian site and is now home to the Maui Historical Society. The Alexander and Baldwin Museum in Pu'unene is a former plantation manager's residence and provides a taste of life during the island's time as a premier sugar producer.
Maui's museums also capture something of its natural beauty. The 3-acre Maui Ocean Center in Maalaea Harbor is the largest tropical reef aquarium in the Western Hemisphere, with a tide pool, living coral reef, open ocean tank and a turtle lagoon. The Hawai'i Nature Center in Wailuku is an interactive nature museum with 30 hands-on exhibits and guided rainforest walks.