text:
Aviva hires Friends Provident ex-CEO for UK unit
LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) – British insurer Aviva Plc on Thursday named highly-regarded industry veteran Trevor Matthews as head of its UK division, replacing Mark Hodges, who resigned unexpectedly.
Australian-born Matthews, a former head of rival insurer Friends Provident who previously ran Standard Life's UK arm, will take up the role "as soon as possible," Aviva said.
Matthews is credited with helping boost profits at Standard Life in the run-up to its 2006 demutualisation, and with overseeing a turnaround at Friends prior to its takeover by insurance acquisition specialist Resolution <="" p="">
"He's a very safe pair of hands, enormously competent. He's been there and done it," said Investec analyst Kevin Ryan.
Matthews had said in January that he planned to return to Australia, quitting as Friends chief executive and taking on the role of vice chairman instead.
He has a six-month notice period at Friends, a Resolution spokesman said.
Hodges will become head of insurance broker Towergate, which may seek a stock market listing within the next five years as private equity shareholder Advent International looks to cash in on its 200 million pound ($326.9 million) investment.
Hodges had worked at Aviva for 20 years, and had been seen as a possible replacement for Chief Executive Andrew Moss, alongside finance director Pat Regan.
"I am very sorry to see Mark leave, but we understand that he wishes to take on a different challenge at this stage in his career," Moss said in a statement.
Aviva shares were 0.8 percent lower at 429 pence by 1515 GMT, narrowly outperforming the FTSE 100 share index, which was down 1 percent.
Facebook, Zuckerberg say ownership contract forged
Education stocks rally after key rule softened


Bicycles and coffee tables, two seeming unrelated items, can have a strong connection with some creative re-purposing. Many old bikes get discarded every year around the world. In many situations, it costs more to repair a broken bicycle than to buy a new one. With some creative mind, you can give those old bike components a new life. Anything can be re-purposed with a bit of creativity, right?
Today we will share with you some really cool bicycle coffee table designs and ideas. Now you can see what can some of those unloved bike end up with. For sure these Bicycle Coffee Table Designs will sparkle some inspiration. What do you think?


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transmission: GLOBAL SUMMIT 2013
transmitBC
transmitCHINA 2011
transmission : GLOBAL SUMMIT 2011
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transmitCHINA - Changsha Day 1
// by Louise Upperton, photos by Tobyn Ross / May 30, 2010
It's another 7:30 am lobby call at the hotel in Guangzhou. This morning, the full transmitCHINA touring party is off to Guangzhou airport to catch a 9:55 am flight to Changsha.
Some of the crew are heading straight on to Beijing, but the bands are splitting up – Wil, The Racoons and Parlovr play in Changsha today and then head to Wuhan to play the following night. Flash Lightnin', Ohbijou and illScarlett will all perform in Changsha on Monday and then Wuhan on Tuesday.
It's a scramble to get a travelling party that's approximately 40 people deep through airport security, but everyone makes it just in time to board the plane. It's one and a half hours to Changsha, which is in the Hunan province and has a population of more than 6 million people. To put that in perspective, the total population of Canada is 34 million people. Changsha is also where the founder of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong, began his political career and converted the country to Communism.
Like Guangzhou, Changsha is one of China's major industrial and commercial centres and signs of the city's massive growth and development are everywhere – large industrial buildings in the outlying areas of the city, massive consumer markets, fields of construction rubble, buildings enclosed in scaffolding, chaotic traffic and heavy pollution. Changsha feels like a massive metropolis and even after the tour bus enters the city, we are driving for more than 40 minutes.
Bands and crew check into the hotel and then it's off to soundcheck for Wil, The Racoons and Parlovr. This time the venue, Live House 4698, is conveniently just down the street. The members of Flash Lightnin', Ohbijou and illScarlett all have a day off in the city today, so they wander off to explore. The prospect of finding lunch quickly in Changsha is daunting. There is very little written in English. Ohbijou's cellist Anissa Hart will attest to that challenge. "We've definitely faced some language barriers with ordering food. Today we went to a restaurant and it was so difficult. We tried to order, and everyone was trying to speak a bit of English but we are just so hopeless at Mandarin that it was really difficult… but we ended up with some great food!" She adds, "Heather is vegetarian so that's been a bit of a challenge!"
While exploring the city of Changsha, members of Ohbijou also made a stop in a more commercial, trendy shopping mall. "That was just overwhelming because there was just such huge volume of human traffic… you couldn't even walk into some stores because they were so packed! It's was a little insane," Hart comments. "It definitely makes you appreciate the space that we have in Canada – personal space, street space. It's a different world here. I love being able to escape North American culture completely, but it definitely makes you appreciate things about home – like space – more now than it ever did before."
Two and a half weeks before coming to China, Ohbijou toured in Japan and Taiwan. Hart says coming on the transmitCHINA Ginger Beef tour was a great opportunity to play in a new market and the idea of sharing that experience with five other Canadian acts was exciting to the band.
Also on a relaxing day off, illScarlett opt for the luxuries of the Sheraton Hotel, about a 30 minute walk from the venue to Changsha's downtown central business district. There, they discover Zenbar Restaurant on the third floor, which offers italian fare and a great wine selection. The Changsha Sheraton also boasts a decent Hunan restaurant called Feast, where another bunch of the transmitCHINA group enjoy fresh noodles, Chinese green vegetable, bean curd, crispy baby prawns, barbecue pork and plenty of Tsing Tao!
In the early afternoon following a massive lunch, a large group congregates at Zenbar for a spirited sing-along around a grand piano. The Zenbar staff are thoroughly amused and provide microphones for the occasion. Soon after, the gents are puffing on cigars, the Prosecco is flowing, and transmitCHINA's photographer, Tobyn Ross, is belting out the tunes alongside illScarlett's John Doherty and Alex Norman, as Anthony Carone tinkles the ivories. Doherty seems to know the words to every song written by Billy Joel and manages to get the entire group singing on a lounge rendition of "Band On The Run" by Paul McCartney & Wings as well as Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." We spend more than five hours on the third floor of the Sheraton hotel and illScarlett are endlessly entertaining – even on their day off.
Back at Changsha Live House 4698, Wil, The Racoons and Parlovr are ready to take the stage. In comparison to Guangzhou's lofty venue, 4698 is a much more intimate night club environment. Fans surround the stage but also sit at small tables covered in checkered tablecloths and tall stools at the tiny bar at the rear of the club. At the shows in Changsha, the performances from the Canadian bands will be interspersed with local talents for the first time – tonight the local act is Red Truck.
Following his performance tonight, Wil seems pleased. "There were just a lot of happy faces looking at me and smiling, he says. "You want to engage with people. It kind of says it all when you finish your set with how people respond – it's a really great meter to establish whether you've done your job properly and well, and that's pretty remarkable. I know there's a natural fixation with North Americans, and they have a bit of an affinity for that and our culture, but I think that can immediately change when you start to portray your art… It shifts from 'gosh, it's so cool' – the look of the North American culture – to the sound of it, the emotion of it, the human being of it. Then you contact them as a human being, and it's no longer about what looks cool because they are literally moved."
To see the full gallery of Changsha Day 1, visit Tobyns Website HERE.
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Balloons Wallpaper is a Sarah Jane design from her Children at Play fabric line. Please see also the "Balloons"art print as a coordinating design.
Removable, Re-usable, FABRIC, Eco-Friendly, Non-Toxic WALLPAPER. No professional installation needed. No Mess. No Glue. Use over and over and move it from space to space as needed!


Reply To: How is a Candida Diet Decided?
Home › The Candida Forum › Candida Questions › How is a Candida Diet Decided? › Reply To: How is a Candida Diet Decided?
Liquid form of gse, but not Nutribiotic brand, its junk now.
EDTA stands for Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid if that helps. lol Get it in capsules and pour it out of the capsule into the water. Start small to make sure it doesnt irritate you too bad.


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Konstruktivists
Destiny Drive
[dreich001] / purchase
One of the longest active bands to emerge from the UK industrial scene of the late 70's, Konstruktivists have spent more than three decades creating some of the most unique and challenging electronic music.
Founded in 1980 by Throbbing Gristle/Whitehouse associate Glenn Michael Wallis, the band has featured numerous musicians during the band's existence, and ha soperated mainly as a duo for much of the past twenty years with Mahk Rumbae(Oppenheimer MkII / Ghost Actor).
'Destiny Drive' was written and recorded between 2013 and 2014, and is the fist Konstruktivists album to be released on vinyl since 1985's 'Glennascaul'. The album contains seven completely new songs, exciting and enthralling, pulsating in darkness, combining abstract, rhythmic electronics with Glenn's unique, surrealistic vocals and lyrics.
It is also the first vinyl release on Bleak, a Vienna based label releasing experimental electronic music.
Artist: Konstruktivists
Title: Destiny Drive
Label: Bleak
Catalog No: DREICH001
Format: LP (Red vinyl 300 copies)
Release date:26th January 2015
A1 - Is This You?
A2 - Lone Groover
A3 - Persona Non Grata
B1 - In Orange
B2 - Static Automatic
B3 - Psykho Politics
B4 - All That You Are
add to cart (via web store)
bleak022 - Live In Vienna 2009
dreich001 - Destiny Drive


Eniko Parrish: all the details on her stunning wedding gowns | HELLO!
Earlier this month Eniko Parrish married comedian Kevin Hart in a romantic Californian ceremony, and dazzled their 200 guests in two stunning Vera Wang gowns. For the ceremony she wore a dress with an intricate lace bodice and figure-hugging, multi-layered skirt.
Switching things up for the reception, Eniko, 31, changed into a gorgeous long sleeved sheer number, which Vera Wang says had a "sumptuous hand placed French Chantilly lace appliqué artfully contoured along the whole gown".
The story behind Eniko's dresses is a seriously romantic one; 37-year-old Kevin only wanted Vera Wang for his wife-to-be, and used a chance meeting with someone from the team to make it happen.
Eight months before he proposed, Kevin and Eniko were vacationing in Anguilla when they Priya Shukla over cocktails with mutual friends. It turned out Priya is a senior vice president of global relations at Vera Wang – and Kevin took his chance.
During the final dress fitting ahead of the big day, Priya told Vogue he pulled her to one side and insisted Eniko was "the one" and insisted that she could only walk down the aisle in custom Vera Wang. She added: "He totally likes fashion but hasn't been asking any questions. I think he wants to be surprised."
Eniko's first dress took 10 people more than 150 hours to create, and unsurprisingly Vera confessed they can't do something that complex for all of their clients.
She said: "This is only in couture. When I do couture it is such a one-of-a-kind – in a good way – painstakingly private, intimate process where you really are also able to collaborate with the client. They were both dresses that were custom-designed for her, inspired by the lookbook, but not literal. She is too couture for that!"


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Android Distribution Updated for October 2017: Oreo Makes Huge Debut!
Tim October 2, 2017 @timotato 8
Oreo has officially made its debut on the Android Distribution chart, flying in at a massive 0.2%! Considering it's only available for a handful of devices, this low number was somewhat expected, but it's still a little disappointing and reminds us that updates continue to be a pain point for Android users. Regardless, Oreo!
As for the other Android versions, Nougat now sits at 17.8% (up from 15.8%), Marshmallow is at 32% (down from 32.2%), Lollipop is at 27.7% (down from 28.8%), KitKat is at 14.5% (down from 15.1%), Jelly Bean is 6.6% (down from 6.9%), and Gingerbread is still kicking at 0.6% (no change).
Here's our fancy graph that tracks Android distribution over a 5 year period
Last month's numbers are right here.
// Android Distribution
Report: 'Made for Google' Program Will Indicate Accessories Compliant With Google Hardware
Pixel 2 May Arrive a Full Month Before Pixel 2 XL, But Here's Some Hot New Pics


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Q: What is the best buffer size when using BinaryReader to read big files (>1 GB)? I'm reading binary files and here is a sample:
public static byte[] ReadFully(Stream input)
{
    byte[] buffer = new byte[16*1024];
    int read;
    while ((read = input.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
    {
        ......
    }

}

Obviously the buffer size (16*1024) has a great role in performance. I've read that it depends on the I/O technology (SATA, SSD, SCSI, etc.) and also the fragment size of the partition which file exists on it (we can define during the formatting the partition).
But here is the question:
Is there any formula or best practice to define the buffer size? Right now, I'm defining based on trial-and-error.
Edit:
I've tested the application on my server with different buffer sizes, and I get the best performance with 4095*256*16 (16 MB)!!! 4096 is 4 seconds slower.
Here are some older posts which are very helpful but I can't still get the reason:

*

*Faster (unsafe) BinaryReader in .NET

*Optimum file buffer read size?

*File I/O with streams - best memory buffer size

*How do you determine the ideal buffer size when using FileInputStream?

A: "Sequential File Programming Patterns and Performance with .NET" is a great article in I/O performance improvement.
In page 8 of this PDF file, it shows that the bandwidth for buffer size bigger than eight bytes, is constant. Consider that the article has been written in 2004 and the hard disk drive is "Maxtor 250 GB 7200 RPM SATA disk" and the result should be different by latest I/O technologies.
If you are looking for the best performance take a look at pinvoke.net or the page 9 of the PDF file, the un-buffered file performance measurements shows better results:

In un-buffered I/O, the disk data moves directly between the
  application's address space and the device without any intermediate
  copying.

Summary

*

*For single disks, use the defaults of the .NET framework – they deliver excellent performance for sequential file access.

*Pre-allocate large sequential files (using the SetLength() method) when the file is created. This typically improves speed by about 13% when compared to a fragmented file.

*At least for now, disk arrays require un-buffered I/O to achieve the highest performance - buffered I/O can be eight times slower than un-buffered I/O. We expect this problem will be addressed in later releases of the .NET framework.

*If you do your own buffering, use large request sizes (64 KB is a good place to start). Using the .NET framework, a single processor can read and write a disk array at over 800 Mbytes/s using un-buffered I/O.

A: There is no best or worst buffer size, but you have to look at the some aspects.
As you are using C#, so you run on Windows, Windows uses NTFS and its page size is 4 MB, so it is advisable to use multiples of 4096. So your buffer size is 16*1024 = 4*4096, and it is a good choice, but to say if it is better or worse than 16*4096 we cannot say.
Everything depends on the situation and the requirements for program. Remember here you cannot choose the best option, but only some better. I recommend to use 4096, but also you could use your own 4*4096 or even 16*4096, but remember, that this buffer will be allocated on the heap, so its allocation takes some time, so you don't want to allocate a big buffer, for example 128*4096.

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