text:
Blizzard Entertainment, Developers
Computer and video game publisher
J. Allen Brack
De Facto Leader
Vivendi Universal (formerly)
Over 3,900 employees (October 2014)[1]
Capital/Base
Irvine, California, USA, Earth
Date Established
February 1991 (as Silicon & Synapse)
Blizzard Entertainment® is the company that created the internationally renowned Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo series of gaming software.
Since the early 2000s, Blizzard's development staff is divided into numerically-designated team, each in accordance with a specific game (e.g. Team 1 has focused on StarCraft II). The company also employs "strike teams" who move from project to project to offer feedback. This also ensures some coherency exists between the development staff and the company's culture remains intact. A "design council" also exists which is a gathering of all of the game directors and lead designers throughout the company.[1] The existence of strike teams dates back to the development of Diablo II.[2] As of August 2017, most of Blizzard's development focus is on supporting its existing IPs, but has a "pipleine" of new IPs.[3] Currently, Blizzard's model is to continue support for existing IPs with its existing teams. As the teams grow in size, they will be 'spun off' to work on new IPs as a separate team.[4]
Blizzard Entertainment lists its eight core values on their mission statement page:
Gameplay first
Commit to quality
Play nice; play fair
Embrace your inner geek
Every voice matters
Think globally
Lead responsibly
Learn and grow[5]
Blizzard turned 20 years old in 2012. Its history is recorded on a timeline on its own site here.[6] Chris Metzen has expressed the idea that Blizzard has had at least two distinct eras (pre and post-World of Warcraft) and a third area has begun with the development of smaller games.[1]
Relationship with Activision Blizzard
Main article: Activision Blizzard
Vivendi Games, the former publisher for Blizzard Entertainment, was the majority shareholder of Activision Blizzard.[7] In 2007, almost no change was expected at Blizzard Entertainment, and it and Activision were planned continue to exist as separate entitites.[8] Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. will remain as Blizzard's brand.[9] [10] For much of the decade that followed, Activision and Blizzard effectively remained separate entities. However, in the years leading up to 2018, Activision has reportedly begun to exert more influence over Blizzard, including the sale of Activision games in the Blizzard store. (Former) staff members have expressed concerns over the level of Activision's influence and cultural shifts within the company.[10]
Blizzard Entertainment has conferences for Blizzard announcements and demonstrations, known as the Blizzard Entertainment World Wide Invitational and BlizzCon. The first WWI was held in Seoul, South Korea on May 19 and 20, 2007 when Blizzard officially announced StarCraft II. Paris, France hosted the second Invitational on June 28 and 29, 2008.[11]
Blizzard Games
1991 - RPM Racing
1992 - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (Amiga port)
1992 - Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess (Amiga port)
1992 - Castles (Amiga port)
1992 - Battle Chess (Windows port)
1992 - MicroLeague Baseball (Amiga port)
1992 - Lexi-Cross (Macintosh port)
1992 - Dvorak on Typing (Macintosh port)
1992 - The Lost Vikings
1993 - Rock N' Roll Racing
1993 - Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye
1994 - Blackthorne
1994 - The Death and Return of Superman
1994 - The Lost Vikings 2 (SNES version)
1994 - Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
1995 - Justice League Task Force
1995 - Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
1996 - Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
1996 - Diablo
1997 - Warcraft II: The Dark Saga
1998 - Diablo (PSX version)
1998 - StarCraft
1998 - StarCraft: Brood War
1999 - Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition
2000 - StarCraft 64
2000 - Diablo II
2001 - Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
2002 - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
2003 - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
2004 - World of Warcraft
2007 - World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
2008 - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2010 - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
2010 - World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
2012 - Diablo III
2012 - World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
2013 - StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
2013 - Diablo III (console version)
2013 - Blackthorne (PC download)
2014 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
2014 - Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
2014 - The Lost Vikings (PC download)
2014 - Rock n' Roll Racing (PC download)
2014 - Curse of Naxxramas: A Hearthstone Adventure
2014 - Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
2014 - World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
2014 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Goblins vs. Gnomes
2015 - Blackrock Mountain: A Hearthstone Adventure
2015 - Heroes of the Storm
2015 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: The Grand Tournament
2015 - StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
2015 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: The League of Explorers
2016 - StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops (part 1)
2016 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Whispers of the Old Gods
2016 - Overwatch
2016 - Hearthstone: One Night in Karazhan
2016 - World of Warcraft: Legion
2016 - Hearthstone: Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
2017 - Hearthstone: Journey to Un'Goro
2017 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Knights of the Frozen Throne
2017 - StarCraft: Remastered
2017 - Hearthstone: Kobolds and Catacombs
2018 - Hearthstone: The Witchwood
2018 - Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project
2018 - World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
2019 - Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble
2019 - Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows
2019 - Hearthstone: Saviors of Uldum
2019 - Hearthstone: Descent of Dragons
Warcraft III: Reforged (2020)
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (2020)
Diablo Immortal (TBA)
Diablo IV (TBA)
Overwatch 2 (TBA)
Untitled first-person game (TBA)[12]
Untitled Warcraft mobile augmented reality location-based game (TBA)[10]
Untitled Warcraft[13] MMORTS[14] mobile game[13]
About 50% of all Blizzard games have been cancelled during development.[4]
Ares (StarCraft first person shooter, canceled to shift development to Overwatch and Diablo projects)
Bloodlines (concepts later used for StarCraft)
Crixa (2D shooter)[15]
Crossroads (cancelled MMO)[16]
Denizen[17]
Diablo II: Salvation (trademark patented in 2001)
Diablo III: The King in the North (canceled second expansion for Diablo III)
Diablo Junior (intended for the Gameboy Color, scrapped due to production costs)[18]
Diablo MMO (dropped concept)
Games People Play (crossword puzzles, boggle, and other word games)[19]
Hades (cancelled Diablo game)
Nomad (canceled in favor of World of Warcraft)[19]
Pax Imperia II (rights sold to THQ, later released as Pax Emperia: Eminent Domain)[20]
Raiko[17]
Ronin[21]
Shattered Nations (canceled in favor of StarCraft)[17]
Starblo (ARPG in a sci-fi setting)[22]
StarCraft MMO (dropped concept)
StarCraft: Ghost (indefinitely postponed on March 24, 2006)
Titan (canceled on September 23, 2014)[23]
Untitled mobile game[24]
Untitled pirate-themed ARPG (canceled after 1 year of development)[25]
Untitled game directed by Michael Booth (abandoned by June, 2015)[26]
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans (canceled on May 22, 1998)
Warcraft Legends (cancelled RPG, elements re-used in Warcraft III)
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans port/remake (TBA)[27] (apparently cancelled as of November, 2016)[28]
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness port/remake (TBA)[27] (apprently cancelled as of November, 2016)[28]
Warcraft IV (mentioned in 2008,[29][30] confirmed to not be in development as of 2013)[31]
World of Warcraft II (under consideration as of 2004)[32]
Blizzard Employees
Main article: Blizzard personnel
Notable Blizzard Entertainment employees include(d):
Allen Adham (vice president and co-founder)
J. Allen Brack (current president)
Greg Canessa (battle.net 2.0 project coordinator)[33]
Andy Chambers (creative director)
Dustin Browder (lead designer of StarCraft II, retired)
Samwise Didier (art director)
David Kim (balance designer)
Brian T. Kindregan (lead writer)
Chris Metzen (retired vice president of creative development)
Michael Morhaime (former president and co-founder)
Rob Pardo (vice president of game design, formerly)
Frank Pearce (vice president and co-founder)
Matt Samia (senior director of cinematics)
Robert "the Voice" Simpson (esports coordinator)[34]
Brian Sousa (senior 3D artist for StarCraft II, formerly)
Kevin Yu, aka Karune (battle.net representative)
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 2014-10-03, THE THREE LIVES OF BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT. Polygon, accessed on 2014-10-04
↑ 2015-09-13, Page 3: In Their Own Words: An Oral History of Diablo II With David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer. US Gamer, accessed on 2015-09-15
↑ 2017-08-04, Blizzard Has Multiple New IPs Incubating But Won't Rush Them Out. GameSpot, accessed on 2017-08-05
↑ 4.0 4.1 2018-11-08, Our Full BlizzCon Interview With Blizzard Co-Founder Allen Adham. Game Informer, accessed on 2018-11-19
↑ Mission Statement. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2009-11-16.
↑ Blizzard Timeline. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2012-07-05.
↑ Brendan Sinclair. 2007-12-03. Activision, Vivendi merger reaps positive reactions. Gamespot. Accessed 2008-11-28.
↑ Activision Blizzard FAQ
↑ Ordinn. 2007-12-02. 0. Activision Blizzard FAQ . WoW General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2007-12-02
↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 2018-11-22, The Past, Present, And Future Of Diablo. Kotaku, accessed on 2018-11-22
↑ Worldwide Invitation 2008
↑ November, 2016, Blizzard Working on New First Person Game. Gamerant, accessed on 2016-12-01
↑ 13.0 13.1 2017-06-16, Blizzard's Unannounced Warcraft Mobile Game. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2017-06-19
↑ 2017-09-27, Breaking: Blizzard Unannounced Game is a MMO RTS Mobile Game. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2017-10-06
↑ 2014-11-23, A brief history of Blizzard's canceled and unreleased games. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2014-09-24
↑ 2017-05-11, BlizzCon 2017: How Overwatch rose from Titan's failure. Blizzard Watch, accessed on 2017-11-05
↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 2008-02-07, D.I.C.E. '08: Blizzard talks about blowing up. Gamespot, accessed on 2013-05-29
↑ 2012-10-12, Blizzard North considered making Diablo Junior for the Game Boy Color. Joystiq, accessed on 2013-05-29
↑ 19.0 19.1 Blizzard Entertainment Inc., Moby Games. Accessed on 2013-05-28
↑ JudgeHype, Pax Imperia II. Accessed on 2013-05-28
↑ 2013-02-4, The Art of Blizzard Entertainment (book) review…. Inside the Box, accessed on 2013-05-28
↑ 2012-10-23, Diablo in space? Blizzard actually worked on "Starblo". Neowin.net, accessed on 2013-05-29
↑ 2014-09-23, Blizzard cancels its next-gen MMO Titan after seven years. Polygon, accessed on 2014-09-24
↑ Sources: Blizzard Cancels StarCraft First-Person Shooter To Focus On Diablo 4 And Overwatch 2 Kotaku.com 06-6-2019
↑ 2016-01-09, Marvel Heroes 2015 (January 8 2016). YouTube, accessed on 2016-01-11
↑ 2015-07-31, THE UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF MIKE BOOTH. Blizzpro, accessed on 2015-08-01
↑ 27.0 27.1 2013-11-10, Blizzard Working On Bringing Warcraft & Warcraft II To Modern PCs. Gameinformer, accessed on 2013-12-11
↑ 28.0 28.1 2016-11-10, Blizzard Shuts Down The Idea Of Remaking Early Warcraft Games. iTech Post, accessed on 2016-12-01
↑ 2008, Warcraft IV Confirmed, Starcraft II to be split into a Trilogy. NG4, accessed on 2013-05-29
↑ 2011-10-08, Warcraft IV somewhat confirmed at BlizzCon. SK Gaming, accessed on 2013-05-29
↑ 2013-11-15. Blizz On World Of Warcraft's Procedural Future, Warcraft IV. Rock, Paper, Shotgun, accessed on 2014-04-09
↑ 2014-08-11, Blizzard Has Considered WoW 2 -- What Would You Like to See?. Gamespot, accessed on 2014-08-16
↑ Blizzard Entertainment staff, Greg Canessa. 2010-02-009. Battle.net Preview. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2010-02-09.
↑ Blizzcon Video Archive (Sonkie vs Yellow). Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2008-10-19.
StarCraft II homepage at Blizzard Entertainment
StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment
Battle.net StarCraft Compendium
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Blizzard Entertainment
The list of authors can be seen in the page history of Blizzard Entertainment.
Wikipedia content was licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License prior to June 15, 2009 is. Wikipedia content from June 15, 2009, and StarCraft Wiki content, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).
Retrieved from "https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Blizzard_Entertainment?oldid=357814"


text:
India is preparing for a surgical strike in Pakistan, says FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi
December 18, 2020 Edit
ABU DHABI (92 News) – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that India wants to play a dangerous game to divert its attention from internal problems.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, he said that India is preparing for a surgical strike and waiting for its partners for the purpose. "Pakistan is fully aware of conspiracies being hatched by India and a befitting respond will be given to any Indian misadventure," he added.
He said that terrorism was being fomented in Pakistan. "The Afghan peace process will be affected if India carried out any misadventure," he added.
The minister said that famers are forced to stage protest. "Minorities are being meted out discriminatory treatment," he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi met his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.
During the meeting, the foreign minister underscored the significance accorded by Pakistan to its fraternal relations with the UAE – a brotherly country and an important regional partner.
The two foreign ministers reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and global issues. Foreign Minister Qureshi elaborated the worsening situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the precarious security situation in South Asia. He also outlined Pakistan's consistent efforts to support peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Both foreign ministers agreed to enhance the existing strong bilateral ties, in particular in the areas of economy, trade and investment.
Foreign Minister Qureshi assured his counterpart of active participation in the Expo 2020. He appreciated the UAE's leadership for its consistent support Pakistan, especially during COVID-19 pandemic.
Praising the hard work and dedication of Pakistani professionals and workers in the UAE, Foreign Minister Qureshi acknowledged their positive contribution towards progress and development of the UAE as well as Pakistan. He discussed with his counterpart matters pertaining to Pakistani Diaspora's welfare and stressed the need to further strengthen people to people linkages between the two brotherly countries.
He expressed his sincere appreciation for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to him and his delegation during the visit. He cordially extended an invitation to Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to visit Pakistan on mutually convenient dates in near future which he graciously accepted.
India Pakistan FM qureshi attention

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
def pcnt_to_f(val)
  val&.fdiv(100)
end

def add_param_to_uri(uri, param_str)
  result = URI.parse(uri)
  result.query = [result.query.presence, param_str].compact.join('&')
  result.to_s
end

# Ruby 2.7.0 methods
# module Enumerable
#   def tally_by(&func)
#     func ||= -> v { v }
#     each_with_object(Hash.new(0)) do |val, hash|
#       hash[func.call(val)] += 1
#     end
#   end
#
#   # NOTE: itself - identity function
#   # An identity function is a function that returns what it was given.
#   # If you give it 1, it returns 1. If you give it true, it returns true.
#   def tally(sorted = false)
#     map = tally_by(&:itself)
#     sorted ? map.sort_by { |_, v| -v }.to_h : map
#   end
# end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Do dogs get colds, flus and other respiratory system problems like us, people? Yes, they absolutely do. But how should dog owners treat dog colds?
Even though researchers have found that dogs can prevent colds in human babies, our loyal canines themselves are still susceptible to germs and viruses and can easily catch a cold or other illness in many different ways. Cold symptoms will appear much the same in dogs as they do in people including runny nose, lethargy, watery eyes, sneezing and coughing.
Even though the usual quick trip to Rite Aid for a cough syrup won't be a solution when your dog has a cold, most of the time you can still provide your pet with the kind of care s/he needs to recuperate from the illness as soon as possible. And you don't need to seek any veterinary assistance either (in most regular cases).
The following information should tell you everything you need to know on how do dogs get colds, how to tell if your own canine caught a cold or something more serious based on symptoms, and how to treat it before it becomes a real problem.
How do dogs get colds?
Although we share many of the same common cold symptoms, dogs don't get the same germs and viruses that we do. Likewise, we can't pass our illnesses onto our pet and they cannot pass theirs onto us, so there is no need to worry about your dog catching your cold or vice versa.
However, the germs can and will be passed from one dog to another in close contact, so if you think your pet may be ill, make sure to separate them from any other animals in the home.
Common dog cold symptoms like these can make your pet uncomfortable, but they are not life threatening. Most healthy dogs will be able to get over a cold on their own within a few days to a week.
With that being said, if your dog has other pre-existing conditions or their symptoms seem to be getting worse, you should definitely call your veterinarian and schedule an appointment as soon as possible.
Before we discuss how to treat a cold of your own canine, you should be aware of the best ways to prevent your dog from getting sick in the first place.
* After consulting with the vet, you can also start them on a regular vitamins and minerals supplement routine, which will boost their immune system.
By following just these four steps above, you can drastically reduce their chances of becoming ill. Additionally, you can always try to follow some great tips mentioned in #DogHack here and in this article.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for a canine cold. As always, preventing the cold in the first place should be your primary concern. However, if you dog did get in trouble despite all your efforts to prevent the cold, the best thing you can do at that point is to take some supportive measures, give them extra attention, and monitor their symptoms.
Make sure that your dog is in a well-ventilated, lukewarm (not hot or even too warm; bacteria spreads better in such environments), and dry environment as often as possible. Limit their time outside in cold weather, because cold air isn't good either – it will make their airways contract, which can make it even more difficult for them to breathe.
If your dog has lost their appetite, try coaxing them to eat with some nutritious foods like brown rice or boiled chicken. You can also try adding broth to their dog food to make it more appealing. It is important for them to continue to eat so they can keep their strength up, and it will give their immune system the support it needs to fight the illness.
It's also important to remember that you must not overfeed them, as tempting as it may be.
Too much food will not only make them gain extra weight, but also force the body to expend extra energy on digesting food which your dog didn't need in the first place. All of your dog's energy should be spent on boosting the immune system and fighting the bacteria inside. During such illnesses, your dog will also move around less, thus expending less energy. Try to stick with your dog's daily calorie requirements.
You should also encourage your dog to drink as much fluid as they can. You may try adding low sodium broth to their water as well to try to persuade them to drink.
What if the problem isn't the common cold?
Since puppies and senior dogs tend to have weaker immune systems than healthy adult dogs, they should always be examined by a vet whenever they show cold-like symptoms. Although respiratory infections can sometimes clear up without medicine, it is hard to judge how severe the illness is and it is better to be safe than sorry.
If your dog's symptoms intensify, if there is a rattling in their chest, if your dog completely stops drinking fluids, or if your dog is obviously uncomfortable – they should be taken to the vet immediately.
In some cases, what appears to be cold symptoms can actually be the symptoms of a number of respiratory infections. Some infections will go away on their own, but others can develop into very serious illnesses if they are left to fester.
Parainfluenza. The most common and highly contagious cold-type illness in dogs. There is an inoculation against this virus.
Adenovirus Type 2. One of the main causes of kennel cough. There is an inoculation, but it doesn't guarantee a 100% protection for your pet. It can, however, greatly lessen the severity of the virus.
Kennel Cough. This is a rasping cough accompanied by coughing up phlegm. It can also include discharge from the nose and eyes.
Canine Distemper. It's a serious illness that can be fatal to your pet. Dogs are routinely vaccinated against distemper.
Fungal infections. Such infections are found most often in dogs' lungs and can cause scarring of the lung tissue and sometimes lead to pneumonia.
If you notice that your dog is regularly having cold symptoms or that s/he always seems to get colds around the same time of the year, they might actually be suffering from allergies.
Again, just like with people, there are seasonal allergies that affect dogs. In addition to that, it could also be an allergy to food or household products. Similarly, dogs can also suffer from asthma, which may be the root of their respiratory problems. In either case, you should check with your veterinarian to find a solution.
Keep in mind that colds are not usually as simple as they seem, and even if they are, if you do not care for your pets properly while they have a cold, it could grow into an even bigger problem as mentioned above.
Any health issues that your dog is having should be taken seriously and you should always monitor your pooch's behavior so you can tell when something is not right. You can nip a lot of issues in the bud just by being observant.


text:
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The Secret - Books 4, 5 and 6 Read the next 3 stories in this terrific series...
Book 4: A New Dilemma In this exciting story, Tessa continues to support her neighbor, Sam, with the secret that she has sworn to keep. However, Sam loses control yet again and in the process also risks losing Tessa's friendship. When a budding romance develops, things become even more complicated, causing problems all around.
Book 5: Unexpected Tessa and her neighborhood, crush, Sam, are faced with a new dilemma, and Tessa tries to convince Sam that she's not responsible. She soon discovers the bullying doesn't stop there. When she finally determines the culprits' identities, Tahlia steps in to help. This leads to even more trouble for Tessa, trouble that she isn't prepared for.
Book 6: The Outcome Tessa eventually learns who her real friends are and her bond with Sam develops. But are the pair able to achieve what they are hoping for and will things work out for them in the end? Perfect series for kids aged 9-12!
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Publisher  :  KC Global Enterprises Pty Ltd; 2 edition (Sept. 25 2019)
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Katrina Kahler is a World-Class educator who has been nominated for the National Inspirational Teaching Award. She has co-authored a variety of books that will assist parents in raising happy, confident and successful children. She is a highly experienced school teacher, speaker and parenting adviser and her passion involves helping kids to reach their full potential...academically, socially and personally.
Katrina's fiction books for children include the Best Selling Series and winner of several Amazon All Star Awards - Julia Jones' Diary. Julia Jones - The Teenage Years continues Julia's story into her teenage years. These books deal with the emotional traumas that young girls experience...friendship problems, bullying...and the stories teach young children to be more confident and positive. The books suit children aged from 9 to 17.
Horse Loving Girls absolutely LOVE the Diary of a Horse Mad Girl series.
Recently Katrina added another book to her list of achievements called Angel - Book 1 - Guardian and this enthralling book is about a 17 year old girl called Ella, her guardian angel and Taylor, her boyfriend (he has a very dark side). Girls will love this first book in the Angel series and it is free. The second book - Awakening - also looks like being a Best Seller! A new series for older children, Outcast, is now out.
Other best selling series include: Twins, Mind Reader, Witch School, The Secret and Ghost Busters. All of these series have very happy fans.
Teaching thousands of young children to read, spell and write has given Katrina the knowledge and skills to produce a series of Early Readers for children aged from 2 to 6. These simple books with repeated text, pictures to aid comprehension and prediction skills, sight words and parent advice, will help your child to become a fluent and confident reader. She has also written a number of books on Sight Words and essential Phonics for Beginner Readers. Click on the books tab to have a look at this collection of books. What an advantage your child will have when you download these books for them. Watch their confidence and interest in reading blossom.
She lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia with her husband, two wonderful teenagers and two very affectionate and friendly pets, a golden retriever and a ginger cat. Up until recently Katrina lived on a 10 acre property and her daughter and son enjoyed the country lifestyle with horses and motorcycles. From these experiences Katrina has written a series of books on their true life experiences. Diary of a Horse Mad Girl (5 books in the series) and Diary of a Motorcycle Crazy Boy are the result, with many readers falling in love with Katrina's family's adventures.
Her mission in life is to help as many children as possible to grow up to be happy, confident and successful. Parents are the most important part of her mission, so her goal is to assist parents to learn the skills they need to help their children to achieve their full potential.
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Want to advertise on Grimy Goods? Whether you're looking to promote your concerts and events, boost your brand's exposure, or just target your product toward a hip and young demographic — Grimy Goods has a variety of advertising opportunities to help give your brand the exposure and credibility it seeks. Although the majority of our readers come to Grimy Goods for all things indie and underground music, centric but lot limited to Los Angeles — our content also populates high traffic in fashion, pop-culture, action sports, art, and more. All these industries go hand-in-hand with music and Grimy Goods is your source to target them in all in one place.
Grimy Good is a flexible advertising platform and we welcome new ideas and pitches. Although we are open to new advertising and promotional ideas, we're also very selective with what graces our pages and we don't say "yes" to everything, but we'd love to hear from you. Please fill out the advertising request form below and someone will get back to you shortly.
I'm not the best with words honestly but if you just take the time to actually listen to my music you'll understand everything I'm trying to say.
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could someone please contact me about advertising?
Hollywood Sound Studios would love to do a promotion and give away 6 pair of tickets to an exclusive Grammy's after party hosted by Grammy winner Faith Evans, Sunday the 8th.


text:
Q: Not able to achieve linear speedup using threadpool I want to calculate number of even numbers among all pairwise sums till 100000. And I want to do it using threadpools. Previously I did it in a static way, i.e., I allocated work to all the threads in the beginning itself. I was able to achieve linear speedup in that case. But the bottleneck is that the threads which started early, finished early (because there were less pairs to compute). So instead of that I want to allocate work to the threads dynamically, i.e., I will initially assign some work to the threads and as soon as they complete the work, they come back to take more work from the queue. Below is my threadpool code,
main.cpp :
#include <iostream>
#include <random>
#include<chrono>
#include<iomanip>
#include<future>
#include<vector>

#include "../include/ThreadPool.h"

std::random_device rd;
std::mt19937 mt(rd());
std::uniform_int_distribution<int> dist(-10, 10);
auto rnd = std::bind(dist, mt);
int thread_work;

long long pairwise(const int start) {
  long long sum = 0;
  long long counter = 0;
  for(int i = start+1; i <= start+thread_work; i++)
  {
      for(int j = i-1; j >= 0; j--)
      {
          sum = i + j;
          if(sum%2 == 0)
            counter++;
      }
  }
  //std::cout<<counter<<std::endl;
  return counter;
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  // Create pool with x threads
  int x;
  std::cout<<"Enter num of threads : ";
  std::cin>>x;
  std::cout<<"Enter thread_work : ";
  std::cin>>thread_work;
  ThreadPool pool(x);
  // Initialize pool
  pool.init();
  int N = 100000;
  long long res = 0;
  auto start = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
  for(int i = 0; i < N; i = i + thread_work)
  {
      std::future<long long int> fut = pool.submit(pairwise,i);
      res += fut.get();
  }
  std::cout<<"total is "<<res<<std::endl;
  pool.shutdown();
  auto end = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
  double time_taken = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::nanoseconds>(end - start).count();
  time_taken *= 1e-9;
  std::cout << "Time taken by program is : " << std::fixed << time_taken << std::setprecision(9)<<" secs"<<std::endl;
  return 0;
}

my SafeQueue.h :
#pragma once
#include <mutex>
#include <queue>

// Thread safe implementation of a Queue using an std::queue
template <typename T>
class SafeQueue {
private:
  std::queue<T> m_queue;
  std::mutex m_mutex;
public:
  SafeQueue() {

  }

  SafeQueue(SafeQueue& other) {
    //TODO:
  }

  ~SafeQueue() {

  }

  bool empty() {
    std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m_mutex);
    return m_queue.empty();
  }

  int size() {
    std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m_mutex);
    return m_queue.size();
  }

  void enqueue(T& t) {
    std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m_mutex);
    m_queue.push(t);
  }

  bool dequeue(T& t) {
    std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m_mutex);

    if (m_queue.empty()) {
      return false;
    }
    t = std::move(m_queue.front());

    m_queue.pop();
    return true;
  }
};

and my ThreadPool.h :
#pragma once

#include <functional>
#include <future>
#include <mutex>
#include <queue>
#include <thread>
#include <utility>
#include <vector>

#include "SafeQueue.h"

class ThreadPool {
private:
  class ThreadWorker {
  private:
    int m_id;
    ThreadPool * m_pool;
  public:
    ThreadWorker(ThreadPool * pool, const int id)
      : m_pool(pool), m_id(id) {
    }

    void operator()() {
      std::function<void()> func;
      bool dequeued;
      while (!m_pool->m_shutdown) {
        {
          std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(m_pool->m_conditional_mutex);
          if (m_pool->m_queue.empty()) {
            m_pool->m_conditional_lock.wait(lock);
          }
          dequeued = m_pool->m_queue.dequeue(func);
        }
        if (dequeued) {
          func();
        }
      }
    }
  };

  bool m_shutdown;
  SafeQueue<std::function<void()>> m_queue;
  std::vector<std::thread> m_threads;
  std::mutex m_conditional_mutex;
  std::condition_variable m_conditional_lock;
public:
  ThreadPool(const int n_threads)
    : m_threads(std::vector<std::thread>(n_threads)), m_shutdown(false) {
  }

  ThreadPool(const ThreadPool &) = delete;
  ThreadPool(ThreadPool &&) = delete;

  ThreadPool & operator=(const ThreadPool &) = delete;
  ThreadPool & operator=(ThreadPool &&) = delete;

  // Inits thread pool
  void init() {
    for (int i = 0; i < m_threads.size(); ++i) {
      m_threads[i] = std::thread(ThreadWorker(this, i));
    }
  }

  // Waits until threads finish their current task and shutdowns the pool
  void shutdown() {
    m_shutdown = true;
    m_conditional_lock.notify_all();

    for (int i = 0; i < m_threads.size(); ++i) {
      if(m_threads[i].joinable()) {
        m_threads[i].join();
      }
    }
  }

  // Submit a function to be executed asynchronously by the pool
  template<typename F, typename...Args>
  auto submit(F&& f, Args&&... args) -> std::future<decltype(f(args...))> {
    // Create a function with bounded parameters ready to execute
    std::function<decltype(f(args...))()> func = std::bind(std::forward<F>(f), std::forward<Args>(args)...);
    // Encapsulate it into a shared ptr in order to be able to copy construct / assign
    auto task_ptr = std::make_shared<std::packaged_task<decltype(f(args...))()>>(func);

    // Wrap packaged task into void function
    std::function<void()> wrapper_func = [task_ptr]() {
      (*task_ptr)();
    };

    // Enqueue generic wrapper function
    m_queue.enqueue(wrapper_func);

    // Wake up one thread if its waiting
    m_conditional_lock.notify_one();

    // Return future from promise
    return task_ptr->get_future();
  }
};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Senior Kaitlyn Pham and mother at scene of Great Mall shooting
By Navya Singhai|December 19, 2020
Around 5:20 p.m. this evening, a shooting occurred at the Great Mall in Milpitas.
The Mall is on lockdown and the Milpitas Police Department (MPD) asks people to stay clear of the area.
"MPD is currently investigating a shooting at the Great Mall," the MPD tweeted at 6:20 p.m. "Out of an abundance of caution we have asked all stores to shelter-in-place while officers continue assessing the situation. Please stay away from the area and we'll provide additional updates shortly."
Senior Kaitlyn Pham and her mother Thi Le-Pham were at the scene. As soon as they entered the mall, a security guard who was standing near them got a message about "something happening at Exit 4" and immediately ran in that direction. Seconds later, as the two were walking by the Michael Kors store, a "stampede of screaming, frantic people started running towards" them. At first, Kaitlyn grabbed her mother's hand and asked whether they too should exit through the store.
"At first, I was confused; why are people running? I thought, 'Am I going to die? I haven't gotten into college yet,'" Kaitlyn said. "Who would do this around Christmas, in the middle of a pandemic? My second thought was to grab my mom's arm so she doesn't wander."
Kaitlyn's concerns about her mom were not unfounded, as Le-Pham's first reaction was to run in the opposite direction of the masses to see what was going on. They hustled into Michael Kors and were about to exit, but an employee locked the door and ordered everyone to go into the back.
After everyone was sent toward the employee-only area, the panicked shoppers fled to a warehouse area behind the store, which gave way to an alley. Kaitlyn and Le-Pham recalled a father struggling to carry his kid in a stroller up the steps and little kids grabbing their parents' hands saying, "Mommy, I'm scared."
"It felt like a movie you don't want to be a part of," Le-Pham said. "My heart was just racing. It was absolute chaos."
Once the two successfully escaped through the exit, they spent almost 20 minutes racing around the exterior of the mall — while police cars and firetrucks flooded the parking lot — searching for their car.
"As we were walking around, there were more and more officers," Kaitlyn said. "I thought, 'We have to get out before we get blocked in.'"
Though the two didn't hear the gunshots themselves, Kaitlyn overheard other shoppers walking around the parking lot claiming they did. Up until then, neither was sure whether there was a shooting, bomb threat or something entirely different.
As they reached their car, Kaitlyn and Le-Pham realized they had originally been only a few stores from where the shooter was. Kaitlyn recounted there was "a huge mass of police cars where they were parked."
The mother and daughter later agreed that the experience, which lasted almost two hours, "happened way too fast." Regardless, they're thankful to be home safe and hopeful that no one was hurt.
"If we had gotten to the mall a little bit earlier, we probably would have been in the midst of all that chaos because that's the area we were about to walk toward," Kaitlyn said. "We probably would have been part of that stampede. We're unlucky to be there in the first place, but lucky we got there later."
"Search teams are systematically searching all stores that were sheltering-in-place, and will be escorting employees and customers out into the parking lot," the MPD tweeted at 7:35 p.m. "Officers and Detectives remain on scene and are actively investigating this incident."
Navya Singhai, Print Managing Editor
One Response to "Senior Kaitlyn Pham and mother at scene of Great Mall shooting"
Cindy on December 21st, 2020 1:30 am
..i guess the shootings occur at the places where big time notoriety brings the story to front page..thank goodness in small town usa it is big time enough unkess it is in pije cty ohio
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Charles Moxon has been offered the prestigious Lux Art Institute residency, where he will create work in the Lux Artist Pavilion that combines a residence, studio and exhibition space.
Founded in 1998 with the intention of making art more accessible and personally meaningful, the Lux Art Institute invites visitors into artist's studios to engage with practitioners work as it unfolds. The residency programme was established in 2007.
The youngest artist to have been offered this unique opportunity, since graduating from the Camberwell BA Painting course in 2013, Charles has developed his profile as a skilled portrait artist. Combining painterly techniques of the past with photorealism he creates timeless portraits. Throughout his residency at Lux, Charles will be exploring portraiture of performers including local actors, musicians and surfers.
As a resident artist of Season 9 at the Lux Art Insitute, Charles will work in the studio from November 10 – December 5, 2015. An exhibition of his work will be on display until January 2, 2016. Charles is the only British artist to be undertaking the residency this season. American artists Max Greis, Sophia Narrett, Margaret Griffith and Angela Kallus will also be undertaking residencies as part of the Lux 2015-16 programme.


The Ice Guard maintains a permanent hole in the ice, even during periods of prolonged sub-zero temperatures and helps to protect frogs and fish from preadtors. Keeps the pond from completely freezing over without using electricity. Instead it uses styrofoam and a metal cyclinder uniquely made to absorb and store heat from the sun.


Virtue. Do we really know what it is today? Do we really seek it, value it, live it? Do we see it as only related to some, only belonging to some? Do we think that some of us are incapable of experiencing it? Do we think that "we" are automatically more virtuous than others because of what "we" believe or think, or where we live or work or play, or who we are?
Virtue, I do believe, by its very nature, always invites us to be better and not accept now or us as enough, best or above and already better than others. While we may easily see vice or bad habits, defining being good may be more difficult today- more confusing, frustrating, complicated, argumentative, divisive, harder to agree-upon and generalize without conflict, anger, debate, or even vitriol. It seems like, in times past, virtue was more of a universal standard of goodness. We knew right from wrong. Today, while it seems some virtuous actions from our past have freed us to be more individual, more the unique gift we each are, paradoxically, we seem to be losing or perhaps misplacing the universal standard for virtue. Have we created a "moral relativism" today that says, "anything goes," whatever you or I believe is ok, good, virtuous? Or, might we be retaliating against this individual morality in a radical way, trying to change and correct it, aggressively or violently? Or, do we think all is well and virtue or vice is there for the choosing? I wonder if, not unlike an identified "saint" of old, to live a good habit, virtuous way of life today, one walks somewhat alone and even lonely, perhaps feeling somewhat apart from others, unaccepted, not always understood, even rejected, criticized, hated. Maybe to live virtuously means to never be too comfortable with ourself. To take this virtuous road less traveled may require a leap of faith beyond which many may value or choose to seek. My work in psychotherapy with my clients gifts me to be a guide to virtue for those who seek it.


text:
Ocean's Eye
Mark Cross welcomes Bill Hudson to OCEAN'S EYE
As previously stated, we are excited to have singer Apollo (ex Firewind, Spiritual Beggars) and bassist Gus Macricostas (Biff Byford) on board, and now welcome the talented Bill Hudson on guitar.
Bill is known for working with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, U.D.O., I Am Morbid, Doro Pesch a.o. He also released his first album with his band Northtale in 2019."
Mark added: "Bill is an old friend and we've first met and worked on some of his songs together in 2004. I am more than happy to work with him again after so many years and know that this will just sound awesome having such a talented player on board! Welcome to the "Ocean´s Eye Clan", Bill!
Stay tuned and visit our social media pages for further updates and upcoming tourdates!"
Best known for working with the rock bands Firewind, Tainted Nation and Helloween, and filling in for the Scorpions at the Grand Prix in Bahrain on 5th April 2014, Mark Cross, groovy and hard-hitting veteran drummer launches his new Band OCEAN´S EYE!
With a stellar lineup featuring past bandmates, he presents a 'Best of …' from his collaborations with bands and artists on stage and in the studio.
For nearly 35 years, he has worked with a league of international artists like Kingdom Come, Firewind, Deep Purple´s Ian Gillan and Joe Lynn Turner, UK´s NWOBHM pioneers Tank and Saracen, Bass player Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, The Dead Daisies), The Scorpions, Tainted Nation, Hardline, Outloud, Metalium, Helloween and more, which earned him respect as a drummer and musician in the international music industry.
Mark´s latest releases were three fantastic sounding albums:
1. TOWER OF BABEL aka JOE STUMP´S TOWER OF BABEL 'Lake of fire' Lion Music in 2017.
2. The second CD & Vinyl release of GOD´S ARMY 'Demoncracy' ROAR – Rock of Angels Records in October 2018.
3. Drum recordings on VANISHING SIGNS debut album, released in May 2019 and a feature on the masterpiece of symphonic metal outfit VIVALDI METAL PROJECT 'The Four Seasons', released by Pride & Joy Music in 2016. Mark also became their touring drummer 2018 – 2019.
Hundreds of well-earned pints and 54 albums later, he felt the time had come to set sail once more and do things his way with OCEAN´S EYE.
OCEAN´S EYE is presenting mostly music of the bands they were all involved with in the past, as well as some new material, and the band has its eyes on releasing all-new material in the future.
The lineup is selected from the league of past band mates, world class players, a very powerful team to represent Mark´s work, past to present, with a perfect setlist for a fantastic live show.
Mark carefully selected a sting of songs that will be well received by fans and provide a great performance sonically, musically, and visually, and not only the typical songs everyone might expect.
A limited edition LP on vinyl is also underway, featuring newly recorded songs.
For the upcoming shows Mark also arranged a new drum solo, showing his skills and techniques, and a representation of some of the greatest drummers of the past.
Band/Artist location – London England
Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
Ocean's Eye
Thundermother
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Graces Collide
Khobretti
Unity Of Two
Helldown
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text:
Q: Disable output of root logger I have the following code in a file called 'logger.py'
import logging

format = '%(asctime)s - %(name)-30s - %(levelname)-8s - %(message)s'
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG,
                    format=format)

formatter = logging.Formatter(format)

fh = logging.FileHandler('test.log')
fh.setFormatter(formatter)
fh.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

ch = logging.StreamHandler()
ch.setFormatter(formatter)
ch.setLevel(logging.INFO)

logging.getLogger().addHandler(fh)
logging.getLogger().addHandler(ch)

and in another file
import logging
import logger

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
logger.info('Staring Scheduler')

and I am getting the following console output
2014-07-14 22:27:10,915 - __main__                       - INFO     - Staring Scheduler
2014-07-14 22:27:10,915 - __main__                       - INFO     - Staring Scheduler

I am unable to disable the double output. I would like to use the extra streamhandler to customize the log level printed to the console. In the future I would also like to use the RotatingFileHandler instead of the simple file handler.
Does anybody know how to achieve this while keeping the simple logger setup as in the second file? I have search, but no solution seems to do it.
UPDATE 1 (Solved)
File logger.py
import logging

logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

formatter = logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s - %(name)-30s - %(levelname)-8s - %(message)s')

fh = logging.FileHandler('test.log')
fh.setFormatter(formatter)
fh.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

ch = logging.StreamHandler()
ch.setFormatter(formatter)
ch.setLevel(logging.ERROR)

logging.getLogger().addHandler(fh)
logging.getLogger().addHandler(ch)

File test.py
import logging
import logger

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
logger.debug('Debug message')
logger.info('Info message')
logger.warning('Warning message')
logger.error('Error message')
logger.critical('Critical message')

Console output:
2014-07-15 09:47:58,171 - __main__                       - ERROR    - Error message
2014-07-15 09:47:58,171 - __main__                       - CRITICAL - Critical message

Test.log content:
2014-07-15 09:47:58,171 - __main__                       - DEBUG    - Debug message
2014-07-15 09:47:58,171 - __main__                       - INFO     - Info message
2014-07-15 09:47:58,171 - __main__                       - WARNING  - Warning message
2014-07-15 09:47:58,171 - __main__                       - ERROR    - Error message
2014-07-15 09:47:58,171 - __main__                       - CRITICAL - Critical message

A: You're calling logging.basicConfig(), which defaults to a StreamHandler. Instead, you should set the level manually.
>>> import logging

>>> format = '%(asctime)s - %(name)-30s - %(levelname)-8s - %(message)s'
>>> formatter = logging.Formatter(format)
>>> fh = logging.FileHandler('test.log')
>>> fh.setFormatter(formatter)
>>> fh.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
>>> ch = logging.StreamHandler()
>>> ch.setFormatter(formatter)
>>> ch.setLevel(logging.INFO)
>>> logging.getLogger().addHandler(fh)
>>> logging.getLogger().addHandler(ch)
>>> l = logging.getLogger(__name__)
>>> l.setLevel(logging.INFO)
>>> l.info("HI")
2014-07-15 08:46:50,000 - __main__                       - INFO     - HI

The file contents are:
msvalkon@lunkwill:~$ cat test.log
2014-07-15 08:46:50,000 - __main__                       - INFO     - HI

Also, you're overwriting your logger. In your another file:
import logging
import logger # <-- importing logger.py

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__) # <-- overwriting the logger name, nothing from logger.py is now availabe
logger.info('Staring Scheduler') # This is just a logging object

Your logging configuration is done in this case, because the import will go through your code. In some other cases might not be true. Fix by changing the variable name or change the configuration scheme entirely.

A: The reason you are seeing the double output is because you have set up two StreamHandlers in your first file; logger.py
One explicitly in this line:
ch = logging.StreamHandler()

the other in this line:
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG,

According to the docs for logging.basicConfig:

Does basic configuration for the logging system by creating a StreamHandler with a default Formatter and adding it to the root logger.

So you should remove the basicConfig line.
However after you remove it you will need to set the level for the root logger to DEBUG, since you do this in the basicConfig line:
logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

A: So you may start by dropping your basicConfig that already add a StreamHandler to your root syslogger, so you actually have two StreamHandlers:
logging.getLogger().addHandler(fh)
logging.getLogger().addHandler(ch)
print logging.getLogger().handlers

[<logging.StreamHandler object at 0x7f3f57c4d050>, <logging.FileHandler object at 0x7f3f57c091d0>, <logging.StreamHandler object at 0x7f3f57c09250>]

Then you have to do what basicConfig was doing for you:
logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.INFO)


We have already taken a quick look at three important FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) companies due to issue updates during early September, and we have quite a bit more to come during the rest of the month. With the index of top UK shares having put in a pretty poor performance during August — it's 167 points down at 6,454 with just a few hours of the trading month to go as I write these words — we really could do with some good news to give the index a boost.
It's time for first-half results from Wm Morrison Supermarkets (LSE: MRW) (NASDAQOTH: MRWSY.US) on 12 September, and the UK's third-placed supermarket has been a bit of a disappointment for shareholders so far — its share price has gained less than 5% over the past 12 months while the FTSE is up over 15%. Morrisons has recorded several years of earnings per share (EPS) growth, but there's a fall of 6% currently forecast for the year ending January 2014. The dividend has been pretty strong, though, and the predicted 8% rise to around 12.8p per share would deliver a 4.4% yield on today's share price of 289p.
The first quarter brought news of a 0.6% rise in total sales (excluding fuel), but like-for-like sales were down 1.8%. That looked a little disappointing to me, but it was an improvement on the previous quarter and the company was sufficiently pleased to describe it as "a solid start to the new financial year".
One of Morrisons' big weaknesses has been its failure to offer any online shopping so far, and on that score it is way behind both Tesco and J Sainsbury. But the firm does have an agreement in place with Ocado to get an online offering launched, so many will be hoping for news of good progress on that front.
Smiths Group (LSE: SMIN) has rewarded shareholders reasonably well over the past year, with its share price up around 25% to 1,293p and soundly beating the FTSE. We should be getting full-year results on 18 September, and things should be stable rather than exciting.
Analysts are expecting a flat year for earnings, but predict a modest 4% rise in the dividend to yield about 3%.
When it comes to water and sewage provider United Utilities Group (LSE: UU), what most investors are looking for is dividends — and they've been getting them by the sackful. For the year to March 2013, the firm delivered a yield of 4.8%. And with a plan to lift its annual payment by at least 2% above RPI inflation, we should be looking at a yield of around 5.2% for the current year on a share price of 685p. That's ahead of other firms in the same sector.
The first half ends for United Utilities on 30 September, and on 19 September we should get a pre-close update ahead of that. There really shouldn't be any surprises, after July's interim told us that "trading is in line with the group's expectations" and that a regulated price increase has edged revenue higher.


Home » About Dr. Singh » Jaspal Ricky Singh M.D.
Dr. Jaspal Ricky Singh is a triple-board certified physician specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sports Medicine and Pain Medicine. He earned his undergraduate degree at The George Washington University majoring in biology and religious studies. He then attended the George Washington University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, Dr. Singh went on to fulfill a fellowship in Interventional Pain and Sports Medicine at the University of Colorado – Denver.
Dr. Singh specializes in a multidisciplinary approach to treat pain by integrating physical therapy and interventional techniques his care. Through the use of minimally invasive, fluoroscopic-guided spine procedures, peripheral nerve blocks, electrodiagnostics and musculoskeletal ultrasound, Dr. Singh individualizes his treatment plan with a focus on functional restoration.
He employs a comprehensive approach to the treatment of spinal disorders by providing pain management in an honest, kind, and compassionate manner. Dr. Singh's office is located at the Weill Cornell Medical College Center of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Singh lives in New York City with his wife, Channi. His interests include family, golf, exercise and the culinary arts.
Dr. Singh has been honored as Super Doctors- New York Rising Star 2013 which represents the top New York doctors in more than 30 specialties that have been fully licensed for 10 years or less.
Dr. Singh has been named the Willibald Nagler Clinical Scholar in Rehabilitation Medicine by Dean Laurie Glimcher. This scholarship recognizes Dr. Singh's work in patients with discogenic pain and epidural steroid injections.


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"buying Or Refinancing A Property Can Be Costly.
How.o.ay your bills? Failure to appropriate funds results in a partial government shut-down, such the federal government shut-down in October 2013 . Department heads propose ridiculously high spending; the CFO tells them to cut below any sane level. Also state the due date for the first draft of the budget package. Ensure that budget line items and accounting line items are in sync. When IPR = 17%, the MPV is less than zero, so that IPR is too low. The full committee reviews it, and then sends it to the full House or Senate. Congress then passes its own appropriations bills; only after the president signs these bills in step five does the country have a budget for the new fiscal year. 6 Step 2: The House and Senate Pass Budget Resolutions A budget resolution is not a binding document, but it provides a framework for Congress for making budget decisions about spending and taxes. Housing assistance programs account for the largest share of discretionary funding in this function. Gathering Sales Information When it comes to gathering historic sales data, your company ought to know its past performance based on: Product lines. Similar to the MPV, the IPR accounts for the time value of money . How long it will take to transform itself is difficult to predict. Sure, it's fun to count paper clips, laptops and data plan costs at the employee level, but in the grand scheme of the enterprise budget, counting these items is a waste of time and unlikely to drive great improvement in business results.
When the president has signed all 12 appropriations bills, the budget process is complete. There are many "sub stages" that a person goes through between their working and retirement stages. For example, suppose the MPV of petrol station A was only slightly higher than that of B, yet the buyer was worried about meeting his financial obligations in year one. Assume that two petrol stations are for sale with the following cash flows: According to the payback period, when given the choice between two mutually exclusive projects, Petrol Station B should be selected. In addition, each federal executive department and independent agency provides additional detail and supporting documentation on its own funding requests. And while that sounds pretty complicated, in practice, it's even more so. Hopefully they end up in the middle. Step 2: Re-engineer the IT budget process to eliminate activities that don't make sense. Budgeting as an activity ranges in extent from managing household finances on up to the preparation of the Budget of the United States, undertaken yearly by Congress; that document is nearly 1,400 pages in length. Create an understandable story on the economics of IT across the organization. Connected to business strategies. Each unit plan is intended to contribute to the achievement of the corporate goals.
Dinner.tarts at $15. TripAdvisor LLB is not a booking agent and does not charge any service fees to users of our site... more We noticed that you're using an unsupported browser. Keep a look out for your Mississauga TripWatch. The trail follows along the shores of the great St. The building is currently scheduled to be finished by 2010. With nearly 500 parks and woodlands, the city has abundant opportunities for recreation in all seasons. Tell us where Pachi is in the City More information for property owners. With seven major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers fast and convenient access to major destinations in Canada and the United States. When visitors have got a healthy dose of nature, they can explore Mississauga's cultural attractions. She also gladly takes requests. Mains $15-20, appetizers $5-10. Mississauga had the largest population growth in Canada 89,500 between the census years of 1986-1991. W., Mississauga, ON The Apricot Tree is on Dundas St. between the Erin Mills Pkwy and Mississauga Rd., ☎ 905 855-1470, 15 . Wonderful bistro-style food, with great desserts.
This new website is Canada's first and only company to reward consumers with a significant cash-rebate for taking control of their mortgage application, essentially letting them become their own broker and putting cash back into their hands. DYOM provides a gateway to rates and mortgage products from over 50 competing institutions, while removing the arduous negotiation process. The simple and secure 10-minute application form is optimized for tablets, smartphones and desktops and can be conveniently completed from anywhere, thereby eliminating the need to go to the bank or meet with a mortgage broker. "Buying or refinancing a property can be costly. Some consumers are left with high penalties, legal fees and even last minute expenses," said Lionel Khoury , President and Founder of DYOM. "We provide a 'no-strings attached' cash-rebate to help empower these clients. This means customers can put the money towards anything they desire, such as renovations, a vacation, investing or topping up their RSPs." Borrowers can apply directly on the site and can also select their lender and terms. A sophisticated back-end powers a private dashboard for each client that keeps them informed during every step of their application process. From this dashboard, clients can monitor the status of their application and can even refer family and friends to get additional cash rebates. Doing your own mortgage doesn't mean you're on your own.


Hairspray is out on DVD today! So has today been declared a national gay holiday?
John Tavolta is great as Edna Turnblad. I love the entire cast... Nikki Blonsky, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, Jerry Stiller and the rest.
I need to go buy it. See you later.


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On Tuesday, September 24th IAS Small School went on a field trip to the Kabaty Forest to create paintings in response to the landscape. Students from 1st-3rd grade participated in this trip and enjoyed a rich, creative experience.
Students had the opportunity to enjoy the forest, observe natural surroundings and learn basic fundamentals of landscape painting.
After a brief introduction in the morning, students headed to the forest with their classes. They spent some time painting, eating lunch and playing, before returning to the school. Some of the student work has been displayed in the school and prizes were awarded for outstanding work. This trip is a tradition at the small school and we are looking forward to another successful trip next year!


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Населені пункти та їхні частини

 Цежпенти — село в гміні Ожиш Піського повіту Вармінсько-Мазурського воєводства
 Цежпенти — село в гміні Пецкі Мронґовського повіту Вармінсько-Мазурського воєводства
 Цежпенти — частина міста Оструда в Острудському повіті Вармінсько-Мазурського воєводства

Примітки

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Climate Change Performance Index 2011 | Germanwatch e.V.
The Climate Change Performance Index is an innovative instrument that enhances transparency in international climate politics. On the basis of standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 57 countries that are together responsible for more than 90 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Eighty percent of the evaluation is based on objective indicators of emissions trend and emissions level. Twenty percent results from national and international climate policy assessments by 190 experts from the respective countries. The aim of the index is to encourage political and social pressure on those countries which have, heretofore, failed to take the initiative on climate protection or which still neglect the importance of this issue.


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Long Island City's 21st Century Transformation
Philip Fava Contributor
Suffolk Industrial Recovery Corp. (R2/RIOS Metal/E-Waste Recycler)
"For decades, everyone said Long Island City has enormous potential," said Dan Miner, SVP of Business Services for Long Island City Partnership. "After years of effort on the part of the business community and the Bloomberg Administration, it's clear that Long Island City has finally arrived."
PK Metals is an active member of the Long Island City Partnership, and we have seen firsthand the growth over the past few years. Although our 80 employees, including our recent acquisition of e-Green Recycling Management LLC, and 20 acre R2/RIOS certified e-waste and metal recycling facility is on Long Island, we are actively looking to expand in Long Island City.
"Economic development really began to accelerate in the early 2000's, when Brause Realty bought and renovated the Brewster Building. They soon signed their first major tenant, when Metlife moved their New York City headquarters to Long Island City," said Miner. From then on, commercial development really began to accelerate.
Another major development was the $80 million capital campaign to improve Queens Plaza, Court Square and Jackson Avenue. An outmoded parking garage was replaced by a new office tower housing the headquarters of the NYC Department of Health, and 3,000 employees. A parking lot was replaced by a new park. LIC Partnership created the LIC Business Improvement District to support these efforts with extra marketing, business attraction and sanitation services.
Major corporations have moved their headquarters to Long Island City over the past year. Jet Blue opened their new 200,000 square foot headquarters in April. In July, Publicis moved their New York City Headquarters to a 100,000 square foot space as well. CUNY Law School will be relocating to their campus to Long Island City in the fall. The Cornell applied science campus planned for nearby Roosevelt Island is sure to attract tech companies, sparking talk of western Queens becoming a new Silicon Valley.
Long Island City has managed to balance growth in both residential and commercial real estate development. The centerpiece of its rapidly expanding residential community are the many beautiful high-rises on the LIC waterfront, with 5,000 apartments planned for the giant Hunters Point South project, as well as within central LIC. LIC has also become a tourism district, with budget conscious tourists from around the world flocking to LIC's 18 recently built hotels. A less glamorous story is that Long Island City is still one of the City's largest concentrations of industrial businesses which LIC Partnership supports as well.
This trend shows no signs of slowing down. "Long Island City offers a lifestyle that suits both commercial and residential interests," said Miner. "We can provide the best and brightest in the world a great place to work and live, only a five minute subway ride from midtown Manhattan.."
Miner and his colleagues at the Long Island City Partnership have promoted sustainability initiatives such as energy efficiency surveys and solar PV system installations. They published an online Green Guide to assist businesses seeking how to save energy, resources and money at the same time. PK Metals supports these sustainability initiatives. Our most recent recycling event for the Brooklyn Navy Yard occurred at no cost to the tenants, and we saw a robust demand for these recycling initiatives.
Miner is quick to point out that this is just the beginning of a bright future for Long Island City. "As I like to say, Long Island City has arrived. Our job is to continue to build on our growth, and ensure that Long Island City is one of the best places to live and do business in the world."
For more information about PK Metals and our R2/RIOS cerifited electronics recycling subsidiary e-Green Recycling Management LLC, check out our website pkmetals.com
Philip Fava
Suffolk Industrial Recovery Corp is a recognized leader in the scrap recycling industry, working to protect and preserve our environment for over 30 years. We work close...


HOMEGROWN company RDL Pharmaceutical Laboratory Inc. said they are not producing the products that Singapore health authorities have issued a warning on.
On January 31, 2019, the Health Sciences and Authority (HSA) of the Singapore Ministry of Health warned consumers on the use of RDL Babyface Whitening Cream Night Cream 5 in 1 and RDL Face Off Fade-Out Cream Day Cream 5 in 1 after they were found to contain mercury, a toxic metal. The products were being distributed and imported by Arklife Distributors Pte Ltd. in Singapore.
However, Mercedita D. Lim, RDL executive vice president for operations, said they do not produce such products because the packaging alone is different from what they have on the market.
"Yan na ang nangyayari, because karamihan sa mga produkto namin, pini-peke na sa abroad (This is happening because some of our products are being counterfeited abroad)," Lim said.
She said they are now taking legal action to prevent the counterfeiting of RDL products.
Meanwhile, HSA said, "Mercury is a toxic heavy metal and is prohibited for use as an ingredient in cosmetic products."
It added that "regular application of creams containing mercury could lead to rash, skin discolouration and blotching while long-term exposure to high levels of mercury in cosmetic products can cause serious health consequences, including damage to the kidneys, digestive and nervous systems."
Sellers and distributors of the products in Singapore have been directed to stop the selling of the products.


"Wow. Can you believe this PJ?" My mother sighs out while watching yet another round of her choice news-source. I shake my head, "Mom, turn it off. Why do you keep watching crap that makes you angry?!" She laughs, and goes right back to watching count-down timers for blackbox battery life or counters for days overdue for the Los Angeles 'big one'. USE A FORK? YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS! She's constantly in a state of worry, a lot of my friends and family are. In a society that hears "WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE DRINKING WATER!" everyday why wouldn't you be?
"BREATHE AIR?! WHAT SCIENTISTS ARE FINDING OUT ABOUT THE AIR IN YOUR HOME!!!" I started to wonder about why we've come to this point. Why have we become a people so interested in being afraid of everything? If I follow all of their instructions, i'd just live in a bubble and never leave.... Sure, I may be safe, but is that 'living'?
"AFTERNOON WALK?! YOU MAY BE GETTING MORE THAN JUST A TAN! WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE SUN!!!" All I need to know about the sun is that it's been there illuminating the Earth for trillions of years, and that people have been walking under it for billions. It's not a problem.
And we choose to be in this paradigm, that really gets me. I've had to really help some friends out recently where this mindset is simply getting to be too much and I'm seeing rampant depression setting in amongst them. I'm trying to save them, one by one, from this death spiral of non-sense. "Stop watching the news!" "Create the happiness you want in the world!", and they'd look back, "Don't I need to know? Don't I need to be 'real' with myself?"
No! You don't. Why do anything that doesn't fully inspire you to live your life to the fullest everyday.
Your happiness is a direct product of your choice to be. It doesn't matter if you're living in a mansion in the hills or living paycheck to paycheck in the slums. You want to be happy? It's your choice. You can choose fear and worry, or choose happiness and inspiration. Today. RIGHT NOW!
So there... And it didn't even cost you 3 easy payments of $39.95.
So have a AWESOME day!


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M&A in 2021: An Accelerating Rebound?
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Will an M&A rebound gain steam in 2021? Morgan Stanley bankers see potential strength fueled by strategic consolidations, cross-border activity and a rebound in deal-making for COVID-affected sectors.
In 2020, the market for mergers and acquisitions evolved rapidly in phases. Transaction volumes started modestly, with fewer large deals compared to 2019, but the M&A market had plenty of potential to gather momentum. Then the novel coronavirus hit, and by late March, most deal-making had come to a standstill. Focused on transitioning staff to working from home, shoring up balance sheets and maximizing liquidity, many companies shelved any M&A plans they may have had.
This year, the M&A market couldn't be more different. It's already begun by carrying over momentum from a flurry of deals in the latter half of 2020 and stands poised to accelerate, according to Morgan Stanley's M&A bankers. "All the elements are there for an active M&A market in 2021, from corporations looking for scale and growth to private equity firms and SPACs looking to invest capital," says Rob Kindler, Global Head of M&A at Morgan Stanley.
To be sure, plenty of uncertainty lingers, including the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations and a new political administration in the U.S. Nevertheless, several factors are expected to drive strength in M&A activity in 2021.
A Year Unlike Any Other
Brian Healy and Tom Miles, Co-Heads of Americas M&A, say that if they could sum up 2020 in one sentence it would be: "Wow, didn't see that coming." Indeed, nothing about the year was predictable, from beginning to end. "No one expected the pandemic, of course," Healy says, "but I don't think we expected that the M&A market wouldn't just recover, but actually go into overdrive with activity by the end of the year, far beyond the historical norm."
Global M&A Activity Recovered Dramatically in the Second Half of 2020
Average Monthly Global M&A Count—Public and Private M&A
Source: Refinitiv as of Jan. 4, 2021
To quickly recap: By spring, the pandemic had fragmented the global economy, accelerating trends and business activity in industries such as technology, while other sectors—including brick-and-mortar retail, travel and real estate—were reeling from stay-home measures. As companies, investors and bankers adapted to virtual deal-making, mergers and acquisitions in sectors relatively unaffected or even boosted by lockdown conditions began to trickle back.
By summer, with each passing month, transactions grew in number and size. Key announcements in technology and healthcare led large corporate consolidations, such as the combination between Analog Devices, which Morgan Stanley advised, and Maxim Integrated for $21 billion, and the acquisition of Livongo Health, which Morgan Stanley advised, by Teladoc Health for $17 billion. Despite a substantial slowdown for announced deals in the second quarter of 2020, activity surged in the second half, enough to vault annual volume above $3 trillion for the seventh consecutive year.1 By fall and winter, the pace of M&A announcements exceeded historical averages. In the fourth quarter alone, a record 1,250 global M&A transactions were announced, totaling more than $1 trillion.2
Companies are more comfortable allocating capital now than earlier in the pandemic. M&A remains one of the most attractive ways for them to achieve growth, making 2021 another potentially busy year.
Brian Healy Co-Head of Americas M&A, Morgan Stanley
Several tailwinds can support robust activity in 2021: Companies will focus more on deploying capital to accelerate growth, gain scale and digitize their businesses; markets are supportive with a historically low cost of capital; and business conditions in COVID-impacted sectors can improve as vaccinations increase.
These key trends may characterize a strong M&A market this year:
1. Supportive markets with low capital costs
Access to inexpensive and plentiful capital fed the M&A market in the second half of 2020, which may still provide a tailwind for deals in 2021. As the global economic rebound reaches for a higher gear of growth this year, persistently low interest rates are expected to keep the cost of borrowing down. Those conditions, combined with the prospect for companies' renewed confidence to deploy capital, could fuel increased deal flow.
"Companies are more comfortable allocating capital now than earlier in the pandemic," Healy says. "And M&A remains one of the most attractive ways for them to achieve growth, making 2021 another potentially busy year for M&A funded by the historically low cost of capital."
At the same time, with equity market valuations at relative highs, an increase in stock-for-stock transactions could be likely. "When market valuations are elevated but transactions have compelling industrial logic, stock-for-stock mergers can help address issues of relatively high valuations while allowing the shareholders of both companies to unlock value from the combination," Healy adds.
2. Rebound in sectors impacted by COVID-19
M&A across industries diverged in 2020, with activity strongest in sectors least impacted by COVID-19. Meanwhile, deals were scarcer in areas that lacked a near-term path to recovery, such as commercial aerospace, energy, real estate and retail. "The sectors that offered greater visibility and predictability for balance sheets, revenue and earnings were where the deals got done," Miles says. "But if there was significant uncertainty about the near- or medium-term outlook, companies preferred to wait."
M&A Activity was Strongest in Least COVID Impacted Sectors
M&A Announcement Activity During COVID-19—% Transaction Volume
Green bars refer to transaction volumes that totaled more than their historical percent contributions.
Red bars refer to transaction volumes that totaled less than their historical percent contributions.
Blue dots refer to historical percent transaction volumes from 2017 to 2019.
While sectors more sheltered from COVID-19 may continue to contribute strong deal volume to overall transactions this year, industries more affected by the pandemic may release their pent-up M&A demand in 2021.
Indeed, more businesses are now emerging with better line of sight into how they can rebound, which means more clarity on valuations and pricing for purchases or sales. "We see a return to more normal operating conditions for some sectors that were impacted from an M&A perspective in 2020, such as industrials, consumer discretionary or natural resources," Miles says. "Last year, buyers and sellers in these sectors had a harder time agreeing on the appropriate valuation because they didn't have a clear outlook for what 2021 or 2022 would look like. That is changing rapidly."
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3. Companies increasing scale and acquiring technology
Amid a turbulent business environment last year, companies pursuing stock-for-stock mergers to gain scale comprised many of the largest corporate M&A transactions. "It has always been true that scale matters," says Miles, "and if the pandemic has proven anything, it's that you have to be large enough in order to survive these market upheavals. Operational scale and greater access to capital markets has been a big benefit for larger companies across the board."
As the pandemic lingers and corporates remain focused on accessing capital, strengthening their positions and investing in scale, consolidations may continue in sectors including technology, healthcare and financial services. As technology drives growth, efficiency and innovation and digitization of the economy continues across industries, tech companies will remain in-scope as M&A targets across sectors this year.
4. Recovery in cross-border M&A
International M&A activity declined for a second straight year in 2020. For companies looking to engage in cross-border transactions, COVID-19 only added to the uncertainty from global geopolitical tensions, Brexit, the U.S. presidential election and continued regulatory scrutiny in certain sectors. With limitations on global travel, corporates were more hesitant to do virtual due diligence on targets in foreign jurisdictions. "Political, regulatory and cultural considerations are always a greater focus for cross-border transactions, and the uncertain environment of the past few years has certainly been a constraint," says Colm Donlon, Head of EMEA M&A for Morgan Stanley.
However, international targets remain a focus for corporates looking to increase global scale and strengthen supply chains, which could drive a recovery in cross-border deal-making, despite regulatory scrutiny in certain sectors. "With Brexit now complete and an EU-UK trade deal in place, a new U.S. political administration confirmed, vaccines being distributed and the potential for business travel to recommence as the year progresses, we could see an increase in cross-border activity in the second half of 2021, particularly across Europe," says Donlon.
5. Abundant capital from private equity and SPACs
Private equity firms may also continue to contribute significantly to 2021 M&A volume. Sponsor-backed transactions comprised 26% of overall M&A activity in 2020, the highest proportion since before the global financial crisis.3 By the end of 2020, financial sponsors were sitting on a record $2.9 trillion of available capital.4 The sheer amount of private-equity dry powder could portend sizeable leveraged buyouts or other transactions that take publicly-traded companies private and sponsors may deploy capital in increasingly innovative ways.
"2020 was a prime example, where we saw many instances of traditional private-equity funds investing across the capital structure to provide corporates with liquidity during the most volatile months of the year," says Bill Sanders, Global Head of Financial Sponsors at Morgan Stanley. "Not only is the source of financial sponsors' capital expanding, from family offices to sovereign wealth and infrastructure funds, but their deployment of capital is becoming increasingly innovative and flexible."
In addition, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)—shell companies created for the sole purpose of taking a private company public—may continue to be a significant presence among bidders in the 2021 M&A market, as their finite window to identify transaction targets creates urgency and public market valuations exceed that of private companies in many sectors. In 2020, 248 new SPACs raised $82 billion in the U.S.—more than five times 2019's total volume.5 As of early February 2021, approximately 300 SPACs remain in search of acquisition targets. "SPACs are fulfilling a unique role in M&A and capital markets today," says Kindler. "In these markets, SPACs can represent a compelling alternative to a traditional IPO or to a private sale transaction."
1 Refinitiv as of January 4, 2021, Capital IQ.
2 Refinitiv as of January 4, 2021. Includes global announced transactions, each with an aggregate value of $100MM or more. Includes transactions with estimated values. Excludes terminated transactions. Future terminations of pending transactions will reduce totals.
3 Refinitiv. https://www.refinitiv.com/perspectives/market-insights/records-broken-in-global-capital-markets-to-q3/
4 Preqin. Includes venture, growth, buyout, real estate, mezzanine, direct lending, natural resources, infrastructure, distressed debt and other funds.
5 Dealogic.
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Nine people with a disability received framed certificates and gifts at the Endeavour Foundation Awards Night in Gladstone (on the evening of Wednesday 22nd August) which celebrated years of service and attendance.
Allan Wheeler received a gold watch and a certificate having attended the Learning & Lifestyle in Gladstone for 25 years and there were also awards for other Learning & Lifestyle service users, Joanne Garforth (20 years' attendance) and Angela Campbell (five years).
Six supported employees from Endeavour Foundation's commercial enterprise on Lyons Street also received their service awards.
They were Justina Boen for 20 years as a supported employee, Peter Hooper and Ann Force for ten years' service while Christopher Hayden, Kendall Macbeath and Andrew Swindale received awards for 5 years of service.
Approximately 80 people attended the event held at Central Queensland University on Bryan Jordan Drive, including other service users and supported employees from the region and there were speeches by Endeavour Foundation's Learning & Lifestyle Service Coordinator, Tanya Taylor, and Endeavour Foundation's business service Manager in Gladstone, Shane Croucher.
Endeavour Foundation's Area Manager for Disability Services in Central Queensland, Deirdre Bennett, said the event was significant on several levels.
"Awards nights are very important to Endeavour Foundation because they give us a chance to celebrate the achievements of service users and supported employees," she said.
"This event was all about each person who received a certificate and it also gave Endeavour Foundation a chance to thank the Gladstone community for its fantastic support."
More than 130 service users attend the Learning & Lifestyle in Gladstone and there are more than 30 supported employees at the Gladstone business service.
Endeavour Foundation continues to campaign for the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme which will provide an equitable support system for all Australians regardless of where they live, when or how they acquired a disability.
David Coles
Media and Communications Officer
P (07) 3908 7109
M 0419 248106
F (07) 3253 7271
E d.coles@endeavour.com.au