text:
Toomey Answers
TRANSCRIPT 2017-02-16 Toomey telephone town hall
Town halls, etc.
TRANSCRIPT 2017-02-16 Toomey telephone town hall#563
By Transcription Team 1 - Sat Feb 18, 2017 1:30 am
- Sat Feb 18, 2017 1:30 am #563
This is a transcription of the 2/16/2017 telephone town hall between Senator Pat Toomey and his constituents. A recording of the town hall is available at https://soundcloud.com/user-90708083.
0:00 Briefing: Ways Constituents Can Communicate
3:58 Briefing: Trump Cabinet Confirmations
5:22 Briefing: Obamacare Repeal and Replacement
7:25 Briefing: Trump Executive Orders
10:56 ENGAGEMENT: Why do you not answer your phone?
12:32 TRUMP: Resignation of National Security Adviser Flynn
15:31 HEALTHCARE: Obamacare Repeal and Replacement
17:28 RUSSIA: Military Provocations
20:31 EDUCATION: Why vote for DeVos given her background?
24:17 ECONOMY: Why isn't money trickling down to workers?
29:35 IMMIGRATION: Penalizing Sanctuary Cities
34:45 ENGAGEMENT: Why Do You Call Your Constituents Protesters?
36:25 ENGAGEMENT: Telephone Town Halls Are Not Good Enough
40:25 FIREARMS: Gun Background Checks
SENATOR PAT TOOMEY: I want to share a few thoughts on some of the things that are happening here in Washington and then I'm going to make sure that we spend most of the time taking comments, questions and thoughts from the people who are on the phone line. But also from people who are watching this, I should say listening to this by an audio stream that people can link to from our Facebook page, and questions that people have been posting on our Facebook page.
So we've got a number of ways in which people can communicate and I'm grateful for that, and especially in light of the difficulties that many people have had getting through on the phone. So let me just address that, briefly, actually we've had a very large volume of calls have come in our office. We don't operate a big call center here, we have a handful of staff that take the calls, and we've had a combination of sources, of these calls. One category are what I think of as Pennsylvania citizens who have something on their mind, and they want to communicate that, and I want them to be able to communicate that because I want to know what my constituents are thinking about, what their concerns are, and this is one way that people can do that.
Unfortunately there's another category, and those are organized, orchestrated efforts to block our phone system. So that's been happening too, we've have both categories. And unfortunately the latter category, those whose goal it is to obstruct, they are making it more difficult for the former category, which is to say, Pennsylvania citizens who simply want to communicate their thoughts, they are having a hard time getting through. So we are doing the best we can to answer the calls, we listen to the voicemail, we take meetings and we respond as best we can. But there's an awful lot of busy signals, and there have been times when our mail inbox gets filled. We empty that out as quickly as we can, as quickly as we can listen and process that, but it has been more slow going than usual.
I should point that there's another way that people can communicate with us, and fortunately they have been, many people have, and that's the web portal we have at toomey.senate.gov. I really encourage people to use that because that is a mechanism that is not prone to the disruption that the phone system is somewhat prone to. And we have had tens of thousands of people, just in the last few weeks, have gone to our web portal, have conveyed a message, and we've been able to respond to them. And we're going to continue to do that, I would just encourage people again, it's toomey.senate.gov, and that is a really effective way to communicate with us.
Another thing that is effective is these telephone town halls. I've enjoyed these opportunities over the last several years, I have done 47 town halls like this one. It's a great way to keep in touch when I'm here in Washington. We've been in Washington Mondays through Fridays on a number of occasions, working around the clock because there's a lot we want to get done. And obviously if I'm here I can't also be physically present in Pennsylvania but I can speak to people on these town halls. So when I finish, we're going to do the that questions I alluded to before.
I should say right now if you are on the phone and you have a question or a comment that you would like to make, please press *3. *3 on your phone will put you in the queue so that you can ask a question. Now if you are listening through the live streaming link then you'll be prompted as to how you can type in a question, and as I said we'll also take a few questions from our Facebook page, but those are the ways we can get questions and comments during this call. Again, *3 if you are on the phone and you would like to make a comment or ask a question.
TOOMEY: Again I'm Senator Pat Toomey, and I welcome everyone to my 48th telephone town hall. Let me just give a quick summary of some of the things going on here in Washington. Of course one category for the Senate is we have the responsibility of confirming the Presidential nominees, and we are starting with, of course, the President's cabinet. That's been slow going. It's been slow going because our Democratic colleagues have insisted on stretching out and delaying the process as much as they can.
So to give you some context, during the first week of George W. Bush's presidency, 11 of his cabinet nominees were confirmed. During President Obama's first week, 10 of his cabinet nominees were confirmed. During the first week of President Trump's presidency, 2 of his nominees were confirmed. We Republicans have been trying to move as quickly as we can so the President has a cabinet in place and they can do their work, but as I say there are procedural devices available to our Democratic colleagues to show this down, and they have been slowing it down quite a bit. So despite that we have been persevering, we have I think at this point confirmed 8 or 10 of the cabinet secretaries, and we will continue to get them done so that the President has a team in place.
Another thing that we are working on is how we are going to repeal Obamacare and replace Obamacare with an alternative, a healthcare system that is actually working. Obamacare is in a free fall, it has failed, it is failing badly, and there are any number of facts to illustrate that failure. One is the fact that about 40% of Pennsylvanians on the individual exchange now have only one insurance company to choose from. That's no competition. Millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians lost the plans that they had, that they liked. This is no way to run healthcare. I think we have to remove Washington bureaucrats from being in control of healthcare and put individuals, patients and families, they ought to be in charge, not Washington bureaucrats.
Now we also realize this, the law has been on the books for several years. A lot of people have been complying with the law and buying health insurance as they are required to, receiving subsidies because the insurance is unaffordable so it has to be subsidized. I get all that and so we are going to make sure that we don't pull the rug out from under anyone. We're going to make sure there are at least two or three years in which people's current plans will not be disrupted as we develop the reform so that we can, in the end, allow people to have the access and the choice and the freedom to pick the plans that they want as they should have.
Again this is Senator Pat Toomey, welcome to this latest in our series of telephone town halls. If you are on the phone today and you have a question or comment you would like to make, please press *3, that's *3 to ask a question or to make a comment. If you are listening through the livestream link you'll be prompted there how you can type in a question, and if you would like to type a question on Facebook we'll get a few questions covered there as well.
TOOMEY: Briefly, the other big activity here in Washington has been the executive orders coming out of the White House. There's been a number so far. One that has instructed the executive branch to examine the consequence of the financial regulations that have actually, in my view, in many cases made credit less available and more expensive. There is an effort underway to find redundancy and waste in government. There is an executive order to expedite the approval of the Keystone Pipeline. I think these are very constructive and I'm glad the President has issued those.
Of course very controversial was the President's executive order on immigration from seven specific countries. Let me just comment briefly on that. First of all, the executive order itself was, I think, significantly flawed. It was too broad, it was poorly explained, it was not rolled out properly. It certainly should not have included green card holders, those are legal permanent residents who have already been vetted. In many cases they've been living in the United States for many years and they have every legal right to do so. That was just a mistake and the administration did correct that.
It also should not have precluded people in those countries who have been working with the U.S. military in various capacities. Those people also were already vetted, in many cases they have already demonstrated their loyalty to the United States by serving the American military in their own countries. So by all means they need to be welcomed here.
But the fundamental idea that we need a tougher mechanism for vetting people who come from failed states where we have known terrorist activity, or states that are extremely hostile to the United States like Iran, I agree with that. I think we need to have a tougher vetting of people coming in from those places because of the obvious danger that it poses.
TOOMEY: Last thing I would mention on the policy side is the President is pursuing an effort to reduce the prevalence of sanctuary cities. I fully support the President's effort in this regard. Sanctuary cities, remember these are the cities that have as their official legal policy a prohibition that forbids the local police from cooperating with federal immigration officials in the case where violent criminals are being held, if they are here illegally. We should not be conferring a special legal privilege on violent criminals because they came here illegally, and we need to bring an end to sanctuary cities for that reason.
So I think the President's executive order is a step in that direction. I think it actually takes legislation to get that job done, to complete that, and my legislation will do so. I'm going to continue to pursue my legislation because I want us to be as safe as we can be, and we're not as safe as we can be if we have suspected, known and suspected violent criminals walking the streets because they came here illegally.
Once again, if you're on the phone and you have a question or comment that you'd like to make please press *3, that's *3 so that you can get in line to ask a question or make a comment. If you are livestreaming you'll be prompted how you can type in a question, and again we'll take some questions from Facebook.
This is Senator Pat Toomey, welcome and thanks for joining my 48th telephone town hall. Now let's start getting to some questions. And the first one we're going to address is from someone who is listening on the audiostream. The question that was posed is "why do you not answer your phone?"
So again I just want to stress, we have people that are answering phones full time, all the time, we have never once nor would we ever turn off our phones as some have foolishly suggested. We are doing the very best we can to keep up with an unusually high call volume and as I say, that volume is a combination of people who are Pennsylvanians who really deserve to be able to get through because they've got a legitimate concern. But they also include people from all over the country who are trying to make it impossible for Pennsylvanians to get through. So we're doing the best we can, we're going to continue to do the very best we can, we will empty our voicemail as quickly as we can so the new voice messages can be processed.
But again, if people would like to communicate with us, one system that has been working very, very well is our web portal. Toomey.senate.gov allows people to come in, leave a message or ask a question, and we have been responding to the tune of tens of thousands of submissions weekly. So that continues to be a very effective way to do this.
TOOMEY: So the next question we're going to go to is, I'm not sure if I am pronouncing this right, but Kai who is listening on the audiostream. First of all, let me check and see, Kai can you hear me? Kai can not respond I'm told but has typed in a question, so here's the question from Kai which is concerned about the firing of Trump's national security adviser. So this is of course General Flynn who was the National Security Adviser who was forced to resign, that's equivalent to being fired.
Here's my take on this. We now know that General Flynn had some kind of communication with some Russian officials, sometime between the campaign, the election, and the inauguration of President Trump. I don't know exactly when, it might be known but I don't know it. My understanding is General Flynn was not honest with Vice President Pence about those conversations. That he was not honest with him, that he lied to Vice President Pence about the content of those conversations.
I think that is a fire-able offense, I just don't think that a President and a Vice President can have a senior adviser who's not being completely honest with them. So I think that it's appropriate that he be asked to resign given that he wasn't honest with the Vice President.
Now there's other concerns that are raised about this whole episode. One is we found out about these calls from press reports of American intelligence agencies that apparently were spying on General Flynn. Now we routinely eavesdrop on the communications of foreigners, that's part of what our national security apparatus and our intelligence agencies do. It's very important that we do that. But we also have laws that forbid them from spying on Americans. And I happen to think those are good laws. I don't think our spies should be spying on Americans. Well, General Flynn is an American. So I think we need to understand why was he being spied on? Who was engaged in that, what was their authority to do so, were they in violation of the law? Did they have a warrant to do this, that would be very strange also. And then, why was it leaked? Who leaked this to the press? So there are definitely questions.
And by the way, simultaneously, we ought to be continuing, which I think we are, an investigation of the attempt by the Russians to interfere with the American election. That's underway, that needs to continue, by all means. But we also have some new questions that we need answers to, and I am confident that the bipartisan intelligence committee will do that and I want to make sure they do. So thank you very much for that call.
TOOMEY: Next up we have Barry who is listening on the audiolink as well, and Barry's question is what is your plan to repeal the ACA, the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. You voted to repeal it, it's irresponsible not to have a replacement ready.
Well so here's the thing, let me say a couple things. I definitely want to repeal Obamacare because I think it is collapsing, it is in the process of collapsing. That manifests itself in many ways but that is a fact. We are going to try to stabilize the current market, for current people participating in it for two to three years, to give us the time to implement the reform so that people won't need to go through the extremely bureaucratic process and purchase insurance plans that may or may not correspond to their needs.
So we've got a bad system now, it's failing. We're not going to pull the rug out from under anyone. We're going to begin the process of dismantling this bill and repairing the American healthcare system. And where we need to end up, is we need to end up in a system where individual consumers, families, patients have a lot of choices. There's a lot of competition and they get to decide what their healthcare needs to look like.
Now there are some people who have chronic expensive healthcare issues, people who may be born with conditions that are expensive to care for and treat, or they may develop those conditions over the course of their life. And in many cases there are people who have illnesses and conditions that are just unaffordable. So we're going to find a way to make sure that those people are taken care of. They're going to need a subsidy, there's going to need to be a mechanism for that, we fully realize that and we're going to make sure it happens.
But Obamacare is failing and so we need an alternative. So thank you for that question, Barry.
TOOMEY: Next we're going to Margaret, Margaret is on the phone and it's understanding from Oxford, so Margaret, can you hear me?
MARGARET: Yes.
TOOMEY: Excellent, well thanks for joining the call, Margaret, what is your question?
MARGARET: Well, I'm concerned about Russia and the antics that they've been up to lately with the missile launch and the ship that's offshore here. I just listened to Trump from the press conference and he really didn't have anything to offer about what to do about this. What do you plan on doing, what are you, what is your feelings about Russia, how they're, showing their muscle to the United States?
TOOMEY: Yeah, look that's a great question and I will tell you I am very, very concerned as you are. I think that Putin is a very dangerous man. He is an authoritarian, he has stolen tens of billions of dollars from the Russian people. He's responsible for the murder of Russians, Russian political opponents end up getting killed one way or another. Journalists who challenge the government wind up dead. Neighboring states have been invaded, they annexed Crimea, they invaded Ukraine.
They are now harassing Americans, there's a Russian fighter jet that recently flew way too close to a U.S. naval vessel. They have Russian jets that have flown way too close to American reconnaissance aircraft. You've pointed out, correctly, that they've got a spy ship trawling up and down the East Coast. Now that's not unprecedented, they are out in international waters, and we've put up with that for a long time. Russia has been extremely counterproductive in Syria where they have been massacring civilians. So look it's a long list of very bad behavior by Putin, and I am disappointed that President Trump hasn't been more openly critical of Vladimir Putin.
I will say I believe that General Mattis and Secretary of State Tillerson fully understand the nature of the threat. I had a very long conversation with Secretary of State Tillerson. He is a very, very knowledgeable man. He's under no illusions about the nature of the Russian regime. I am an advocate for strengthening the sanctions that we have on Russia, and frankly I think we should be providing self defensive equipment to the people of Ukraine trying to resist and fight for their own freedom against this Russian invasion.
So, I think we need to take a very tough line, and I fear that what Russia is trying to do, what Putin is trying to do, is to see how much he can get away with. He discovered over the last two years that he can get away with a lot, and he appears to be trying to go even further. It is a very, very aggressive stance they have taken, it is completely contrary to American interests, and I think we need to push back aggressively. I hope that General Mattis and Secretary of State Tillerson will provide that advice to President Trump. So, thanks for that question.
TOOMEY: Next Jackie from Bucks County, Jackie are you with us?
JACKIE: Yes I am.
TOOMEY: Jackie thanks for joining the call, it's your turn to make a comment or ask a question.
JACKIE: I have a comment and a question. Your vote on DeVos. I am a six year member of the Pennsbury school district here in Bucks County. I have been sitting on the board for six years, and we have to work really hard to make our budget every year. And we still stay at number 47 of all the top school districts in Pennsylvania. I want to know why you voted for a women who has no background in education, and is willing to tear apart the public school system, which would make it harder for us to run our district. That's my question.
TOOMEY: Did you also have a comment or is that your issue?
JACKIE: My comment is I'm kind of disappointed in you for voting for DeVos, fora woman who has no background in education whatsoever except for (...) charter schools.
TOOMEY: OK. Well look, thank you for the question, there's a lot of people have, this has been a controversial nominee obviously. So let me tell you how I think about this. Betsy DeVos has never been a public school teacher, she's never been an administrator, but she has spent decades of her life actively engaged in supporting a cause that I feel strongly about and I agree with, and that is the cause of giving parents a choice in the education of their kids.
You know, if you are a wealthy family you have a lot of choices. You can send your children to a private school, you can choose to move to whatever community you'd like based on what you think of their school district if that is your preference. But if you are a low income family, if you are a working class family, if you are a poor family, you don't have the luxury of being able to pick the community you live in and you certainly can't afford private education. I want those families to be able to have the same kind of educational opportunities that wealthier families have because you can't be an upwardly mobile society unless everyone at least gets a shot at a good education.
So what Betsy DeVos has argued for is something I agree with very, very much. We ought to let parents choose the school their children will attend. Now, if a public school is doing a good job, then why would parents take their kids out of that school? I'm a parent, I've got three kids in school. I really like my kids being close to my home, close to us, wherever they go to school. If the local public school is doing a great job, parents aren't going to pull their kids out of that school. But when it's not doing a great job, then parents should be able to pull their kids out of that school and send them somewhere else because a child only gets one shot at an education.
So I don't believe that Betsy DeVos intends to tear apart public education. I certainly don't intend to tear apart public education, but I do hope that we will move in the direction of giving more parents more choices. Competition will elevate everybody's game, and it will help more kids get more options to have a good education, which is absolutely essential to everything you need to do going forward in life.
I would also point out that as it happens, in today's Patriot-News, the Harrisburg Patriot-News, I have an op-ed where I explain in more detail exactly why I supported Betsy DeVos, why I think she's a good choice. So that's available at PennLive.com or in the physical newspaper, or we can post it on our website so that you can read it there. But thanks for raising the question, it's definitely been controversial and I appreciate that.
TOOMEY: Next we've got Rick on the phone from Montgomery county, Rick are you still with us?
RICK: Yes I am.
TOOMEY: Rick thanks for joining the call, it's your turn to make a comment or ask a question.
RICK: Just like the previous caller, one of each. First, I think you're a good man. I voted for you. I don't agree with all your positions but I don't agree with all of my wife's positions either.
TOOMEY: (laughs) Neither does my wife!
RICK: (laughs) I was not a fan of the top of the ticket at all, but then I didn't get a choice of none of the above. But I do think you're doing a good job, I think this is good. My question is about the economy. There's a awful lot of talk from the new president about the working class, how bad the country's doing, and how terrible off we are, and the people aren't making money. And there's all these working people and that they live in this region of the country or that region of the country and they can't make a living wage.
And yet there's an awful lot of billionaires in this country and I think, I know from what's happening in the markets that companies are making money. I don't think it's filtering down to the workers, I think it's staying in the executive suites, and I wonder on the subject of the economy do you have thoughts, a) do you agree with what I am saying and b) is there a way that we can get the money down to the workers. Cause it's there, and we all know it is, but it doesn't appear to me making it down to the worker.
TOOMEY: Yeah Rick, thanks for that question. I actually agree with, I think, most of what you are saying. I think the premise is correct and here's the way I think about it. If you just look over the last, I don't know, eight or ten years, wages for working class workers have not been going up. They've been going sideways at best. Now very recently they've been edging up a little bit, but for the most part incomes have not been rising and that means that families' standard of living has not been improving.
Now I think, so the question is what to do about - by the way, you're right, at the same time financial assets have gone up a lot, the stock market is at record high. So, if you have a lot of financial assets, if you've got enough wealth that you've got a lot of stock, for instance, well then you've done fine because those assets have gone up in value. But most people don't have a lot of stock and so they're not participating in that. I think a lot of what's driven the rally in the stock market, prior to the last couple of months anyway, was the monetary policy of the Fed which I think was very dangerous policy overall and I've argued against this policy of just inflating financial assets and hoping that takes care of the economy.
What do we need to do? I think what we need is very strong economic growth. Here's the way I look at it, when the economy is booming, when growth is strong, when orders for businesses are growing rapidly they have to hire more workers to get the work done. And that puts upward pressure on wages and when wages start rising families start having a better standard of living.
How do we do that? I say two big, three categories. Number one, reform this broken tax code that has prevented us from having the kind of investment that leads to stronger economic growth and I think we have a real shot of doing that and I'm actually very deeply engaged in how we would go about getting that done hopefully this year.
A second thing is rolling back regulation that prevents us from having the economic growth we need because so much resources are tied up just complying with regulation.
And then the third thing is we should end the favoritism that the Federal government engages in, or the cronyism, whatever you want to call it, whereby the government uses taxpayer money to reward some industries and penalize others, all of which holds us back. There are many examples, this is one of the reasons that I opposed the EXIM Bank because that is the government forcing taxpayers to subsidize certain mostly large companies. It's why I oppose the ethanol subsidies, the ethanol mandate whereby taxpayers are forced to subsidize huge agribusiness companies to produce ethanol. It's why I support the end of the ridiculous sugar program whereby we force consumers to pay twice the cost of sugar so that sugar growers make a lot of money and consumers, especially low-income consumers, bear the cost of that with higher food bills that they can't afford.
So these are things that I think we can do: get our monetary policy right, encourage stronger economic growth through tax reform and reducing excess regulation, and end the favoritism and cronyism that is throughout our government. If we did those things we'd have stronger growth, more jobs, higher wages, and I think you would see a significant improvement in the conditions of working class, middle class families. So thanks for raising that question.
TOOMEY: Next up we have Linda on the phone from Montgomery county, Linda are you with us?
LINDA: Thank you for taking my call. I have a comment I guess and a question. My comment is thank you for voting for Betsy DeVos because I've been fighting for choice for over 30 years. I put three kids through catholic school and paid my taxes plus tuition so had to work two jobs to do it, both my husband and myself. Now I'm in a position where we're retired but I'm raising my niece and I can't afford to put her in a private school situation and our public schools here aren't very good. So I'm looking forward to the choice. So I appreciate your vote and I know how hard it was to get through on your lines and the constructed effort there was by the Left to keep your lines busy so your real voters couldn't get through to you. So that was on my mind.
TOOMEY: Well, thanks, we're just going to persevere through that. Did you have a question, Linda?
LINDA: Yes, I did. My question was, I live in Pottstown and Mayor Kenney has made it well known that he is for sanctuary cities, and we are getting a lot of the, let's say, not so nice population of the city moving out into our town because it's nicer here than it is in the city. So when they want to get better for their families they do come out our way but they're making it to where there was gun fights and things on the weekend in our area now. And it's starting to be not so nice to live here in Pottstown any longer.
What are you planning to do, anything about, these mayors and whatever, local towns that are planning to be sanctuary cities, to stop them. Are you going to propose any legislation like they've done in Texas to maybe penalize even the mayors to make them accountable if they decide to become sanctuary cities?
TOOMEY: Yeah, so Linda it's a great question. Here's what I've already done and I'm going to pursue this. Last year or the year before, it was the last Congress anyway, I introduced legislation that would do two things. One, it would make it clear that a city that complies with a Federal immigration or Department of Homeland Security, if they ask a city to keep in detention someone that the Department of Homeland Security suspects of being a dangerous criminal who is here illegally, if a city complies with the request and they hold one to that person for the typically 24 to 48 hours that it takes for the Department of Homeland Security to send someone there to take that person into custody. When a city complies they can not be held liable if it turns out it's a wrongful detainer. The Department of Homeland Security can be held liable, nobody is losing their right to sue if they are wrongfully held, but the risk would not be borne by the city. So that's the first part of my legislation, so that no city has the economic threat that if they are not a sanctuary city that they could be facing lawsuits.
The second part says, if you nevertheless persist in refusing to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security, you refuse to provide information about dangerous criminals who are here illegally, that you are releasing onto the streets, or you refuse to honor a detainer request to hold someone for a short period of time until they can be taken into custody, if you do that, which Philadelphia is doing, then you will lose significant categories of federal funding. That's what my legislation does. It says there's no more legal liability for cities that cooperate with the Federal Immigration officials. If you persist in refusing to cooperate you're going to lose federal funding. I just think that a very reasonable thing for us to do.
These sanctuary cities make us all less safe. And this is not a theoretical thing, OK, let me be very clear, the city of Philadelphia has released dangerous criminals onto the street because they were here illegally. They would not pass on the information to the Department of Homeland Security who wanted to take these guys into custody, and after they were released they went on to commit other very serious crimes including attacking and sexually assaulting children, appalling crimes that happened because Philadelphia is a sanctuary city. So I am going to continue to push my legislation, as I said earlier the President has issued an executive order which I think will help but doesn't go, it not possible to solve this problem without legislation so I'm going to stay on it. So thank you very much for the question, Linda.
TOOMEY: Next up we've got Margaret on the audiolink and that means she has typed in her question and I'm going to read her question and then I'm going to respond. The question is, she's asking, "why do you insist on calling your constituents protesters?"
OK, well, Margaret the vast majority of my constituents are not protesters, but some of them are. I assure you that you could go by some of my offices on certain days and you would see a gathering outside that you would consider a protest. And so they're protesters. Look, it's a free country, if they're peaceful they have every right to protest. But some people are protesting. And so it's OK to call them protesters.
My hope is that we can have a civil conversation about things that we disagree on. You know, there's people who disagree with my opinion about school choice, I understand that. They have every right to voice their opinion and I have every right to explain mine. And we should do it in a civil way where we are not attacking each other, we're not attacking each others' motives, we just have different views about how you get to the best quality education, for instance. So I welcome that, I hope we're able to do some of that through this call. We're doing a lot of it through our web portal. I'll continue to meet with Pennsylvanians everyday as I do when I'm down here in Washington and I do when I'm back home.
But, you know, we've got people with a wide range of opinions and a wide range of manners in which people express those opinions. So, thank you for that, Margaret.
TOOMEY: Next question, OK, we've got a question from Katie on Facebook. Katie on Facebook typed in, she says, this telephone town halls is not good enough, she says pre-screened questions avoiding actual confrontation with your constituents is a cop-out.
Well Katie, I disagree. First of all I would remind every one I am in Washington five days a week, most weeks. So there is limited opportunity for me to do the job that I have signed up to do here in Washington and be back in Pennsylvania at the same time. Can't do both at the same time. I think this is a very useful way to hear from a lot of people. There are tens of thousands of people who can listen in, in fact probably are listening in to this conversation. Several people are going to get a chance to ask questions, they are not pre-screened, people who've come in on the telephone, you've heard, these questions are coming in live. I think it is very constructive and I'm going to continue to communicate with people in many forums and as best we can.
TOOMEY: Next David from Montgomery county, David are you with us on the phone?
DAVID: I am.
TOOMEY: David thanks for joining the call, it's your turn to ask a question or make a comment.
DAVID: I was going to ask a question about the Affordable Care Act, but someone has already mentioned that. I'm just looking forward to the GOP details, I mean I hear these generalities about better, cheaper, et cetera, but the specifics have yet to be forthcoming.
TOOMEY: Yeah, that's, sorry go ahead.
DAVID: I was going to say, and you sort of address that and at some point we are going to have to see something in writing, and I'm looking forward to seeing that. And I've heard what you have to say about that and it's pretty non-specific at this point but I'm sure you're going to give us something specific real soon. My question is more about, you know, recent GOP proposals to relax gun control even more, to allow people who have, mentally deficient people to allow guns, you've been in favor of people on the no-fly list being able to purchase guns. Is there a limit to anybody, is there anybody you don't want to get guns at this point?
TOOMEY: OK, so two things, let me just briefly go back to the Obamacare replacement. It is true there is not a universal Republican agreement on a single comprehensive plan, that is certainly true. But there are many specific individual ideas that have been reduced to writing, and that many Republicans, in some cases almost all Republicans agree on. For instance there is a lot of support for equalizing the tax treatment right now, employer sponsored health care is deductible, when individuals go out and buy their own it is not deductible. Many of us think that we need to fix that. Many of us think that there is more that can be done foster more competition across state lines. Many of us, myself included, believe that the way we are handling people who have expensive chronic health care needs is very, very disruptive to the overall market. We absolutely have to make sure that those people have affordable access to healthcare.
I don't think Obamacare is doing a good job of it. I believe that we tolerate way too much litigation and the abuse of our legal system is driving up the cost of health care, that's another specific thing that I want to change. And you will see some executive actions, the administration has the flexibility to make a number of changes in Obamacare that will hopefully stabilize the market for now. That's the first thing, try to stabilize this market that we inherited in a free-fall, because it is in a free-fall. Stabilize it and create a stable environment in which we can then enact the reforms we need so people have affordable health care.
As far as, you raised the issue of background checks and guns. Look, I still am fully supportive of the legislation that I introduced with Joe Manchin several years ago. I remain disappointed that we couldn't get it passed. I have re-introduced it several times. I think we voted on that legislation at least twice on the Senate floor and the idea is that, what that would do, is it would require commercial sales of guns to be subject to a background check. And they're not always subject to a background check today.
I think we have another huge lapse in our system, and that is people we deem to be too dangerous to board a plane, people who are on a no-fly list, and it's not a long list, thank God, but there is a list of people that can show up at an airport with their drivers license and a valid ticket and we will not let them get on a plane. Because we think they are too dangerous. We should not let that person go down the street and buy an AR-15. We shouldn't. So I support, and I supported last year, legislative efforts to make sure that people who are on this no-fly list also go into our NIC system so that they can't buy a firearm. If they are that dangerous than they shouldn't be able to.
Now we recently had somewhat of a controversy over the social security administration's proposal regarding those people who are not able to handle their own finances and might have other mental disorders, and whether or not they should be forbidden from being able to buy firearms. My concern is that they should be precluded from buying firearms if we know that they are dangerously mentally ill. But if their mental circumstances do not make them dangerous then I think we should be very, very careful before we deprive them of a constitutional right. So that was a criticism I had of that particular rule. Frankly I hope they will revisit that rule because if it is done properly I would support it. So thank you for asking that question.
And I'm afraid that we're going to have to wrap this up but I really appreciate everyone who participated in this call. We had over 7,500 people listening on the phone line, over 8,000 people listening on the audio link. We were able to take a good handful of questions across a wide range of topics. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to participate. This was the 48th telephone town hall I've had in the last three years and I really do believe it's a good way for me to continue to keep in touch especially when I am stuck down here in Washington.
I appreciate everyone's interest in the issues we're facing. I appreciate the patience of those of you who have had trouble getting through on our phone system. I would again encourage everyone to go through our web portal, which is toomey.senate.gov, and there you will find that access is unimpeded, and thanks for participating in the call. Have a great day.
This from a transcription of the 2/16/2017 telephone town hall between Senator Pat Toomey and his constituents. The text has been lightly edited for clarity. Please e-mail pa.votervoices@gmail.com with any corrections. A recording of the town hall is available at https://soundcloud.com/user-90708083.
#PatToomey, #AnsweredToomey, #2017, #TownHall, #VoterRepresentativeEngagement, #TrumpAdministration, #ACARepeal, #ExecutiveOrders, #MichaelFlynn, #RussianProvocations, #BetsyDeVos, #FlatWages, #TrickleDown, #SanctuaryCities, #GunBackgroundChecks, #SchoolVouchers
District: Pennsylvania Representative to United States Senate, Class 3
To contact Senator Toomey:
Office website: http://toomey.senate.gov
Campaign website: http://toomeyforsenate.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/senatortoomey
Twitter: @SenToomey
Edits: added internal links 3/22/17
Transcription Team 1


text:
Sindhu is Vee Funny...
Sindhu is Vee Funny
Finalist in this year's BBC New Comedy Awards, Sindhu Vee has extended her critically acclaimed UK tour, due to popular demand.
Sandhog is the highly anticipated new show from the host of BBC Radio 4's Comedy of the Week podcast.
Following the adage, 'write about what you know', Sindhu's hilarious stand-up routine sees her delving into her dysfunctional family life. She says "Loving your children, spouse and ageing parents (in that order, but please don't tell my mother) is very hard work, very intense and a lot of the time it sucks. But who wants to live without love?"
In 2018, Sindhu debuted her solo stand-up show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was a complete sell-out, culminating in a sparkling nomination for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.
"Her acerbic perspective and unapologetic delivery of less politically correct home truths are alarmingly persuasive"— The List, Edinburgh Festival Review
Sindhu's television appearances include; The Tez O'Clock Show, Q.I., Have I Got News For You and Live At The Apollo. On radio, Sindhu is a regular guest on the Guilty Feminist podcast, has appeared on BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz and The Now Show, and starred in her own series, Sindhustan.
Sindhu Vee is at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds on Monday 7 October at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from www.theapex.co.uk or 01284 758000.
Here's 'Our' pick of the Entertainment...
Theatre Royal is one of Britain's most significant theatre buildings and the last surviving Regency playhouse in the country
The Evidence Room is Bury St Edmunds's first permanent and independent escape room.
Cineworld
Multiplex cinema chain showing the latest international blockbusters in 2D and 3D.
Betting and gambling at William Hill, the world's biggest bookmaker

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
INTERVIEW WITH FLUID POWER TECHNOLOGY
easy_international
INTERVIEW WITH DURABLE
INTERVIEW WITH FLOTT
MIRROR-SMOOTH WELD SEAMS IN NEXT TO NO TIME. SETTING UP THE EDGING MACHINE IS SIMPLE AND USER-FRIENDLY
DANCUTTER FLEXIBLE CUTTER SOLUTIONS FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS
INTERVIEW, TECH
INTERVIEW WITH NORD MODULES
INFINITIA, THE "CSI" OF MATERIALS
INTERVIEW WITH E&K AUTOMATION GMBH
INDUSTRY, NEWS, TECH
THE 31ST EDITION OF SAMOTER, POSTPONED TO 2023
FAIRS & EXHIBITIONS, NEWS
TECE DEKOR, COMPLETE SOLUTION OF EDGEBANDINGS FOR FURNITURE
SHOULD THE INTERNET OF THINGS BE INTRODUCED TO THE INDUSTRY?
DHL EXPRESS INCREASES FLEET CAPACITY WITH CONVERTED BOEING 767-300 FREIGHTERS
ZIEHL-ABEGG EXPANDS PRODUCTION FOR ENERGY-SAVING FANS IN KUPFERZELL. INVESTMENT OF 16 MILLION EUROS FOR GROWTH POST CORONA
FSA TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORTS GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 BY BUILDING EQUIPMENT TO PRODUCE MEDICAL MASKS IN JUST TWO WEEKS
GPAINNOVA'S RESPIRA EMERGENCY VENTILATION DEVICE RECEIVES APPROVAL FROM THE AGENCIA ESPAÑOLA DE MEDICAMENTOS Y PRODUCTOS SANITARIOS (AEMPS) TO CARRY OUT A CLINICAL TRIAL
INDUSTRY, NEWS
THE 86TH GENEVA INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW
AUTO, EVENT, FAIRS & EXHIBITIONS, INDUSTRY
INTERVIEW WITH ADVANCED DESIGN OF RECYCLING MACHINES
CONTROL OF POSITIONING SYSTEMS MADE EASY
KINGDOM'S LARGEST HVAC R EVENT TO ATTRACT OVER 7000 VISITORS AT RIYADH DEBUT
INTERVIEW WITH AAT GMBH
INTERVIEW WITH ALBA-MACREL GROUP
INTERVIEW WITH KRAUS
INTERVIEW WITH CRATE
INTERVIEW R3 – Reliable Real-time Radio
R3 – Reliable Realtime Radio Communications GmbH was founded in Berlin in 2015 and develops EchoRing, a high-reliability, low latency wireless network solution for industrial applications. EchoRing is built on a decentralized, "Token Ring" network concept – every station can both send and receive signals while holding a permission algorithm (token), thus preventing collisions and ensuring high reliability.
EchoRing delivers a level of transmission speed and reliability that can replace cables in industrial applications, a field known as Industrial Grade Wireless. The disruptive potential for this technology is huge, as a lack of cables greatly decreases weight (as well as fuel/energy costs) while greatly increasing operational flexibility. Innovative new business models and engineering layouts become possible as a result.
Reception to EchoRing has been excellent so far and R3 has expanded substantially in the five years since the company's founding.
Easy Engineering: What are the company's key focus areas?
R3: Currently, R3's main focus and the majority or our clients are in smart manufacturing, intralogistics and aerospace. EchoRing is well-suited to applications such as machine platooning, mobile shop floors and wireless controls for aircraft and rockets. Clients in more specific fields such as hazardous environment safety and elevator/escalator manufacturing have expressed interest as well.
Industrial grade wireless is also still in the early adoption phase, so any number of unforeseen applications can emerge as we move further into the 21st century and Industry 4.0 takes hold.
E.E: Any new products for 2020?
R3: As a matter of fact, there are! R3 released the EchoRing Rollout Kit this past June. The Kit contains everything a user needs to set up, test and deploy an EchoRing network within an application. It contains five units of our flagship hardware product: the EchoRing Ethernet Bridge, as well as operational and setup tools such as the EchoRing Health Monitor and Performance Analyzer.
E.E: What are your product ranges?
R3: R3 offers EchoRing products in both the hardware and software ranges. While EchoRing itself is a 100 percent software-based and hardware-agnostic, we've found that offering first-party hardware products is very helpful to clients, as it spares them the cost of R&D on a new technology.
As mentioned above, R3's flagship hardware product is the EchoRing Ethernet Bridge, available as part of the new Rollout Kit or individually to expand an existing network. EREBs are decentralized wireless nodes that plug into standard M12 Ethernet connectors, essentially functioning as a "wireless cable" when strategically arrayed in a network. R3 also offers the EchoRing System-On-Module (SOM) circuit board for deeper technology integration, as well as complete EchoRing reference designs to develop individualized hardware solutions from scratch.
EchoRing's core software stack is also available (with development support) for integration into a client's existing wireless hardware.
E.E: At what stage is your target market?
R3: Our key market phrase is Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It refers to increasingly automated processes run by "smart" technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) communication networks, the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning. Practically all areas of manufacturing, logistics and heavy industry are headed in this direction, facing only a few barriers such as costs of retrofit and their own entrenched business models and processes.
Some fields like the automotive industry are already highly automated, yet can still be optimized further though Industry 4.0. Flexible and mobile business models can also be adopted to serve emerging market demands. These include individualized products (i.e. cars) at affordable prices or small businesses offering wide but small-scale product ranges, enabled by Industry 4.0 concepts like reconfigurable shop floors.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
R3: As mentioned, Industry 4.0 is headed into full swing, especially now in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic. Companies are looking to reduce operational costs and automate and streamline their production process as much as possible, while at the same time minimizing physical contact between workers.
Online shopping in particular is booming like never before due to the pandemic lockdowns, creating a huge demand for warehouse automation. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are a key component of this sector, and increasingly require reliable wireless networks to both operate and scale effectively to meet demand.
When it comes to market saturation for industrial grade wireless networks, EchoRing's primary competitor, of course, 5G. Despite it getting the spotlight in discussions relating to IoT and Industry 4.0, 5G's key disadvantage is that it requires complete infrastructure and process overhauls. This is a daunting prospect even for large corporations, and is often completely out of reach for smaller companies. EchoRing's key market edge meanwhile is its ease of adoption. It was developed from the start as a PnP (plug-and-play) solution compatible with existing infrastructure and industrial standards.
E.E: What are some of your most innovative products?
R3: Our most innovative product is EchoRing itself. Development began in 2007 with a vision of an industrial-strength wireless network, evolving over the years into the market-ready product that R3 was founded on. A specific EchoRing product we'd like to highlight however is the EchoRing Health Monitor. The Health Monitor comes packaged with the Rollout Kit and takes the form of a computer tablet that monitors network metrics like signal strength, bandwidth and interference levels, allowing the user make adjustments where necessary.
What makes the Health Monitor innovative is that it's a good case study for the role human workers will increasingly play in Industry 4.0. Industrial workers will be less heavy equipment operators intensely focused on one machine and task and more supervisors concerned with process optimization of an entire system.
E.E: What are your estimations for the rest of 2020?
R3: We predict that R3's sales will increase, thanks in part to the release of the Rollout Kit, our ongoing web-seminars and product campaigns and the support of our partners like [Arrow Europe], with whom we are currently preparing an exclusive distribution contract. The future is still somewhat uncertain however, due to unpredictable factors such as sudden border closures and political instability. That said, a large market demand certainly exists for industrial grade wireless due in part to the online shopping boom mentioned above.
EchoRingReliable Realtime Radio Communicationswireless network solution
THE BERLIN MOTORWERK (MOTOR PLANT) INTRODUCES IMPROVED VENTILATION DESIGN
INTERVIEW WITH SENZORO
INTERVIEW WITH GIATEC
HAAS RECYCLING-SYSTEMS – TECHNOLOGY AND QUALITY FOR 30 YEARS
www.easyengineering.ro
EASY ENGINEERING TV
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text:
AUDIO: Why should we 'Recall the Dáil'?
By TheCork.ie on 24th August, 2020 Comments Off on AUDIO: Why should we 'Recall the Dáil'?
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
File photo of Mick Barry TD in the Dáil. The Dáil is currently on holiday, and the Cork TD would like business to resume ASAP as he says there are a number of urgent items to be discussed.
The Cork North Central Solidarity TD Mick Barry this morning said that the Dáil should be recalled this week as a matter of urgency.
His call came as the Government comes under mounting pressure to relent on plans to leave the Dáil reopening until September.
It is expected that the planned reopening date of September 15 will be moved forward, possibly to 1st September.
Deputy Barry said today:
"The schools are reopening this week and the Dáil should be up and running so that the Government can be questioned on the issues that arise from that.The Government would prefer to let the Golfgate controversy blow out before reconvening the Dáil but further questions on this scandal need to be answered and further action on this scandal needs to be taken – reconvening the Dáil will facilitate both. Last but not least the precarious position of hundreds of thousands of workers needs to be addressed including the position of the ex Debenhams workers whose plight still remains to be addressed by this Government."
https://www.thecork.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MyRecording.m4a
AUDIO: Why should we 'Recall the Dáil'? added by TheCork.ie on 24th August, 2020


HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual is an Israeli human rights organization seeking to secure and protect the human rights of Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It conducts administrative, legal and public advocacy on behalf of tens of thousands of beneficiaries each year. HaMoked focuses on the enforcement of the standards and values of international human rights and humanitarian law, especially on issues of freedom of movement, detainee rights, residency rights, social rights (East Jerusalem) and Violence/Compensation.
SRT has supported HaMoked since 2009.


1.1 What is link cloaking?
2 What Makes ThirstyAffiliates Pro Different?
3 What Are the Primary Benefits of ThirstyAffiliates Pro?
4 What Features Are Offered by ThirstyAffiliates Pro?
In this ThirstyAffiliates Pro review, I cover the version 3 core features and the new Pro plugin.
Are you an affiliate marketer who needs to protect his earnings? Do you use affiliate marketing to monetize your WordPress blog or website?
ThirstyAffiliates is a free WordPress plugin that helps you creating branded URLs from your affiliate links. It uses cloaking to achieve this. ThirstyAffiliates also has a Pro version that offers much more features.
"Link cloaking is the process of disguising an affiliate link to remove the obvious affiliate codes and perform a redirect so your commissions are protected".
Let me give you an example with my SiteGround affiliate link.
Obviously, you would trust the second link since it is branded with my website URL. Besides, cloaked links are shorter and easier to remember.
The first URL is your affiliate link whereas the second URL is the cloaked one.
Using a cloaked link will not expose your affiliate ID and will protect your affiliate commissions.
Commission theft commonly involves unscrupulous cyber criminals setting up malware in people's web browsers to replace your unique affiliate code on affiliate links with their own affiliate code, thereby giving these hackers your commissions should that person turn into a sale.
What Makes ThirstyAffiliates Pro Different?
ThirstyAffiliates Pro is not just a link cloaking plugin. It offers unique benefits that will help you in your affiliate marketing activities.
What Are the Primary Benefits of ThirstyAffiliates Pro?
What Features Are Offered by ThirstyAffiliates Pro?
Here is a list the technical features you will get in ThirstyAffiliates Pro. More detail in the use cases below.
The ThirstyAffiliates team changed the way they sell their premium features. ThirstyAffiliates business model has previously been selling add-ons. Each add-on was an extra plugin that you needed to install in WordPress.
Instead, they are now maintaining a single "Pro" plugin.
ThirstyAffiliates Pro has all of the existing add-on features you know and love plus a handful of new surprises. It's also one single plugin, instead of seven.
In this section, I cover both the core and Pro plugins.
Next, click Install Now. Finally, click Activate.
c) Link Categories: enables you to create affiliate link categories. These are great for organizing your links especially for use on the reporting side (you can report on all links in a category). You could group all your Amazon links together, or all links relating to a certain product type (eg. WordPress plugins), or all products that are with a certain merchant.
d) Settings: Configure your default values such as link prefix, link category inclusion in URL, link redirect type (default is 301), no-follow link, open link in a new window, etc.
You also get a Modules tab whereby you can enable/disable the modules of your choice. With the free plugin, you get three modules: Statistics, Link Fixer and, Uncloak Links.
In ThirstyAffiliates 3.0 you will be able to selectively flag individual links or even whole categories for smart uncloaking.
On the back end, you get the benefit of managing your ThirstyAffiliates links as normal.
On the front end, your links are dynamically uncloaked, meaning they're now compatible with Amazon's strict Terms of Service and any other similar affiliate programs that take an unkind view on redirecting links via a shortened URL.
Note: You can group Amazon links together then you use the Uncloaker feature to uncloak those links in that category (as per Amazon Associates Terms of Service). There are literally limitless ways you can use this though for grouping links. The Link Fixer option works along with the uncloaker feature.
Now you get to use ThirstyAffiliates redirects and all the benefits that come with it while staying 100% compatible.
The Import / Export tab lets you export your ThirstyAffiliates settings. You can import them later into another WordPress installation. That will save you configuration time.
There are a few ways you can insert affiliate links into a WordPress blog post or page.
Method 1: From your editor, click on the TA icon. Next type a keyword (e.g., Siteground). You will get a confirmation that the keyword. Click return and the affiliate link will be added.
Method 2: From your WordPress editor, highlight a word or sentence. Click the paperclip icon to add a link. From the link box, type a keyword that represents your affiliate link. You will get prompted with a list of articles containing that keyword. Select the one that is an Affiliate Link (on the right-hand side). Click return to confirm your choice.
Later I will explain how you can automate these steps with the auto linker function of the Pro plugin.
After you purchase the Pro plugin, you get download instructions along with your License Key.
Note: Please ensure you still have the ThirstyAffiliates Core plugin (free) installed and activated. It is required for the Pro plugin to function.
From the ThirstyAffiliates settings, select the License tab and provide your activation email and license key.
From the settings, select the Modules tab.
From the modules tab, you can enable the desired functions. In our previous discussion about the Core plugin, we already covered: Statistics, Link Fixer and, Uncloak.
The Amazon Import module lets you create affiliate links to Amazon products by searching and importing them into ThirstyAffiliates.
You will need to provide your Amazon credentials such as Access Key ID, Secret Key, Tag, etc. You can retrieve these from your Amazon affiliate account.
Other useful options during import: specify an image size, assign Link categories and, enable Geolocation. When you have the Geolocations module enabled, you can add alternative destination URLs for people visiting from different countries. E.g. you might like to send all your USA based traffic to amazon.com whereas all Canadian traffic for that same link you will send to amazon.ca. You can do this for any link; it doesn't have to be related to Amazon, I'm just using that as a common example.
Autolinker is one of my favorite features of the Pro plugin. It automates the insertion of affiliate links. It will replace your words with affiliate links. For instance, I just typed LongTailPro and this inserted my affiliate link automatically.
The above example has four keywords. If I type one of these keywords in a blog post or page, it will become anchor text for my affiliate link. The Limit (per keyword) is set to three affiliate links. You can adjust that value to suit your needs.
By default, auto-linking inside headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) is not allowed from the global settings. You can override this for a specific affiliate link. Idem for Random Placement of autolinks.
If for some reason, you want to disable Auto Linker for a specific post, you can disable it. From your WordPress editor, check the "Disable autolinker for this post" box.
The Geolocations module lets you add alternative destination URLs for people visiting from different countries. Eg. You might like to send all your USA based traffic to amazon.com whereas all United Kingdom traffic for that same link you will send to amazon.co.uk. You can do this for any affiliate link; it doesn't have to be related to Amazon, I used it as an example.
The free MaxMind database file is updated every month by ThirstyAffiliates once the plugin has been installed. MaxMind release a new version of the free database roughly every three months.
The Premium and Web Service use data that is three months more up to date. IP addresses change all the time, MaxMind does a great job of keeping up with it, but the cost of that latest data is that you need to pay them for it. Personally, I've found the free one more than adequate. It's really only in location sensitive niches like insurance, loans and other things that you would want to make sure you're using extremely up to date data.
The CSV Import/Export module enables you to bulk import or export affiliate links in WordPress.
You need to import links from another link management plugin.
This CSV file will be compatible with the ThirstyAffiliates CSV Importer.
This module lets you track clicks by way of Google Analytics Events to affiliate links that are inserted.
Whenever a website visitor clicks one of your affiliate links, ThirstyAffiliates will push an event to Google Analytics.
If you use Google Analytics to track your goals — I encourage you to do this — then you get a way to measure your affiliate marketing results.
You will enable the Google Click Tracking from the Settings. Then click on the Click Tracking tab.
Next, provide a name for the event category. The default is "Affiliate Link." I explicitly typed is in the box and saved that setting.
There is also an option to use the Legacy Analytics. By default, ThirstyAffiliates Pro uses Universal Analytics.
Affiliate Link: represents all affiliate link clicks. You can drill-down by clicking on this event category. It will provide you with a) the affiliate link that was clicked (event action) and, b) the website URL – blog post or page that contains this affiliate link (event label).
Are you starting to have fun?
In my opinion, the Google Click Tracking is a must have for serious affiliate marketers.
This module moves your affiliate link redirects from PHP based redirects to .htaccess server based redirects. PHP is no longer involved and it's much faster redirects for visitors.
Event Notification is quite helpful to use as a notifier when specific links reach a threshold. Ie. if you get up to 1000 clicks on a link it is interesting to know because then you can go and revisit that post as it's getting impressive results.
According to the developer, pretty soon you will also be able to use it for notifying when you hit a certain threshold in a 24 hour period. Great for letting you know when you get big traffic spikes through certain links. For example, if you know you usually get 20 clicks a day on a particular link, then you can set the threshold to 100 clicks in a 24 hour period so that it notifies you if there's an unusual spike.
The above configuration the event notification name is "Affiliate Link Click." I provided my email address (hidden here). The trigger value is 100 clicks.
It is as simple as that. You can create as many event notifications you like.
If you run one website, then pick the 1-site license at $49.
A five site license goes to $79.
The unlimited site option is at $149.
Before and after migrating to the Pro version, I had several email exchanges with the support team. They respond quickly and provided real value. I always enjoy dealing with them.
The ThirstyAffiliates Pro plugin helps in organizing your affiliate links. It will save you lots of time, especially with the auto linker feature, import/export of settings and affiliate links. It pushes events to Google Analytics so you can better track your goals. ThirstyAffiliates also provides statistics about your links from your WordPress dashboard.
ThirstyAffiliates Pro is reasonably priced, has excellent support and its development keeps evolving.
Verdict: I highly recommend ThirstyAffiliates Pro.
I hope you enjoyed this ThirstyAffiliates Pro review. If so, please share it on your social media channels.
Summary: A must have plugin for serious affiliate marketers!
Thanks for this post. Really helpful. When I read the features in thirsty affiliates website, they just convince me 50% but you convince me to buy now. What really convinced about the google analytics tracking and the autolinker.
Hi Naziman, you are welcome. Glad you are buying it. Autolinker just rocks, it even works in RSS feeds! I forgot to mention that fact in my post — will soon adjust. The GA push events helps in tracking your goals or affiliate link clicks. Great addition to your arsenal!


Colomo has managed to achieve what so many tr y and so few attain: anunmistakable style. With his antagonistic songs, when speaking of genre,language or instrumentation, you recognise him.What invisible channel allows the tumultuous waters of his eclecticismrun madly and make all ears fall in love no matter how near or far? He hasfound the per fect combination between his melodic and melancholic uni-verse and his quotidian and lyrical imagination, full of rhymes and ever y-day matters. Colomo has become an even better composer, an even bet-ter tailor: he sows calmly, mildly; and you can no longer see the seams. The second time you listen to Sistema, something traps you, but you'restill not sure what it is. The third time –and all the uncountable timesafter- the songs start to fascinate you more and more, you start to dis-cover that the album, is actually a like a pearl necklace. Like a fishermansearching for oysters, you dive in and don't take long to mar vel with eachone of those hidden pearls: beautiful marimbas (thanks to Marc Clos),per fect (the clear vocals by Inés), a declaration of existential doubts("what am I doing here / I'm so false"), a delicious ode to avocados (!),songs that turn classic in a moment ('Les Coses', 'Nucleo Duro'), disen-chanted verses ('dreams unravel concerns'), humour ('alarm, pleasedie'), or revolutionar y ('Leave us alone / they can eat their laws') and thensuddenly there's a saxophone and a piano that amaze me (Adrià Bauzóand Guillem Caballero, respectively in 'Cants de sirena').Sistema is the reincarnation of all the contradictions that form part ofColomo's musical soul: his dreamy and caustic pop, both naive and des-perate at the same time. Fourteen songs that join classicism with a dis-play of vocal resources: Colomo will not be quiet, he goes wherever thecreative process takes him –he will not enforce a style, he changes to giveeach song its best. The range is wide and some songs are even grandil-oquent, brushing AOR, while others are the minimum expression of folk.As we said at the beginning, what builds the songs, what keeps Sistemagoing throughout the album, is that constant, almost invisible, almostimpalpable, and what most artists wish for: unique voice of his own.


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Q: Delphi: Limiting TCP connections I'm using the TServerSocket component in my Delphi application. I would like to limit client connections, let's say to one thousand. Unfortunately i don't know how to do that. The component does not provide any properties like 'MaxConnections' or any other like this one.
I create new server threads (TServerClientThread) using the OnGetThread event. To get the number of active connections I used the 'Socket.ActiveConnections' property.
Unfortunately I don't know what to do then. I tried not to create any thread inside the OnGetThread procedure when the number of connections is above the limit, but it changed nothing - client, even though it is unable to send or receive any information, it can connect to the server and stay connected. What to do not to allow new clients to connect or just allow them to connect but break the connection instantly?

A: Last time i used Delphi was some years ago, but i had a similar situation to deal with and my experience could be useful for you: i was facing the same problem and didn't want to switch to the "Indy" components since the (big) application wasn't worth the port.
As far as i can remember, you should have an onClientConnect event on the server socket and here is were i checked for the limit:
.onClientConnect( Sender: TObject; aSocket: T... )
begin
    if( YourServerSocket.ActiveConnections > YourDefinedMaxConnections )
    begin
        // Drop the connection
        aSocket.Close;
    end;
end

I can't remember more other than that but i think i did something on these lines, or at least this was the thing i came up with.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Biography: Bridgette Andersen was born on July 11, 1975 and grew up in Malibu, California. She is best known for her role as Savannah in 1982's Savannah Smiles". She also starred in "Fairie Tale Theater's Hansel & Gretel, with Ricky Schroeder and Joan Collins. Other movies inclue Parent Trap II, A Summer to Remember, Fever Pitch, Too Much, Nightmares, and Between Two Women. Bridgette also appeared on TV episodes of Family Ties, Remington Steele and Golden Girls. No TV or movie appearances are documented after 1987. Ten years later, on May 18, 1997, Bridgette was working in Erewhon Health Food Store in Hollywood when she passed away after being in a coma related to drugs and alchohol. Her obituary appeared in the Itemizer-Observer, Dallas Oregon on on May 28, 1997.


text:
Privacy & Online Dating: The Majors
Contributed by: ElyseRomano Tuesday, December 03 2013 @ 09:02 pm
Are you concerned about your privacy when you use online dating sites? EFF is, and you should be too.
What is EFF? EFF is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization dedicated to confronting cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights in today's digital world. Of course, no discussion of today's digital world would be complete without a conversation about online dating sites. When EFF examined eight popular online dating sites to see how well they safeguard user privacy, they found that the majority of the sites tested did not take even basic security precautions.
We already took a look at how well the two most popular free dating sites, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid, performed on EFF's tests, and the results were less than stellar. Now the question is: does paying for a dating service guarantee better protection of your privacy? Let's take a look at how major dating sites eHarmony and Match stacked up against the freebies...
Neither Match nor eHarmony uses HTTPS, standard Web encryption, by default. By failing to use HTTPS, these sites expose their users to eavesdroppers when accessed from shared networks. All it takes is free software such as Wireshark for someone to access data that is transmitted in plaintext. This is potentially worrisome on any website, but it's particularly distressing on dating sites where information of a sensitive nature is routinely posted.
The next factor tested by EFF was whether or not the sites are free of mixed content. Mixed content is a problem that occurs when the site is primarily secured with HTTPS, but delivers part of its content over an insecure connection. Even if a page is encrypted over HTTPS, it may still be possible for an eavesdropper to access portions of the page if it displays mixed content. In some cases, EFF warns, a sophisticated attacker could even rewrite the entire page. Both eHarmony and Match contain mixed content.
EFF also tested whether the sites use secure cookies or HSTS. Failing to use secure cookies, which both eHarmony and Match are guilty of, can expose users to session hijacking. HSTS (HTTPS Strict Transport Security) can be used to request the use of HTTPS when communicating with a specific website. The user's browser will remember this request and automatically turn on HTTPS when connecting to the site in the future. Once again, both Match and eHarmony failed to employ HSTS.
Finally, EFF investigated the sites' policies on deleting data after the closure of a user's account. eHarmony's policy was deemed "vague," while on Match.com the fate of a user's information wasn't discussed at all.
So, where privacy is concerned, does it pay to pay? According to EFF, the answer is no. There is no significant difference between free dating sites and paid dating sites when it comes to privacy and security practices.
Dating Sites Reviews - Privacy & Online Dating: The Majors
https://www.datingsitesreviews.com/article.php?story=privacy---online-dating--the-majors


text:
Wunsiedel est une ville allemande située en Bavière en Haute-Franconie. Elle se trouve dans les montagnes Fichtelgebirge au pied du Plateau de Kösseine. Wunsiedel est le siège du district du même nom.

Géographie

Histoire

Moyen Âge

La première mention de Wundsiedel remonte à 1163. En 1285, le Burgrave Frédéric III de Nuremberg reçoit le fief en plus de la ville, de par le Roi Rodolphe I du Saint-Empire. En 1326, Wunsiedel est considéré comme une ville par le burgrave Frédéric IV.

Le Moyen Âge est marqué, à Wunsiedel, dans le domaine minier. Principalement pour ses mines d'étain. En 1613, la ville devient la capitale du Sechsämterland, d'une taille comparable au district moderne de Wunsiedel im Fichtelgebirge.

Époque moderne
Wunsiedel fait partie du domaine de la principauté de Bayreuth jusqu'en 1791 et l'abdication du dernier margrave. La ville est alors incluse dans le royaume de Prusse. Cependant, en 1810 elle appartient au royaume de Bavière.

Le

Après la seconde Guerre mondiale, la ville se retrouve alors dans la zone d'occupation américaine en Allemagne.

Le , l'un des lieutenants d'Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, meurt à la prison de Spandau. Sa famille étant originaire de la région, il est enterré au cimetière de Wunsiedel selon ses dernières volontés. Depuis cet évènement la ville est régulièrement le siège de manifestations de mouvements néo-nazis. La paroisse protestante de Wunsiedel a décidé en 2011 de ne pas renouveler la concession familiale de la sépulture de Rudolf Hess pour tenter de prévenir ces rassemblements. Sa pierre tombale portant l'épitaphe « Ich habe gewagt » (« j'ai osé »), a été retirée en secret le , les restes du dignitaire nazi ont été exhumés et brûlés, et ses cendres dispersées en pleine mer.

Politique et administration

Liste des maires
 1812 - 1824: Johann Jahn
 1825 - 1828: Johann Christoph Friedrich Riedel
 1828 - 1833: Christoph Heinrich Brandenburg
 1834 - 1848: Georg Wilhelm Meinel
 1848 - 1867: Christoph Friedrich Landgraf
 1870 - 1877: Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Brandenburg
 1877 - 1894: Eugen Heinrich Friedrich Meinel
 1894 - 1912: August Wilhelm Hess
 1913 - 1938: Heinrich Schippel
 1939 - 1945: Dr. Gottfried Drescher
 1945 - 1946: Georg Herrmann
 1946 - 1956: Georg Meyer
 1956 - 1973: Albert Müller
 1973 - 1990: Karl Walter (CSU)
 1990 - 2002: Otto Rothe (SPD)
 Depuis 2002 : Karl-Willi Beck (CSU)

Jumelage

Monuments et lieux touristiques

La ville est connue pour :
 son théâtre de plein-air (Luisenburg), du nom de la reine Louise, épouse du roi Frédéric-Guillaume III,
 son chaos de blocs granitiques (Felsenlabyrinth)

Personnalités
 Jean Paul (1763-1825) écrivain né le  à Wunsiedel
 Dr. August Tuppert, (1883)
 Friedrich Meinel (1894)
 Hannsheinz Bauer (1909-2005)
 Dr. Heinrich Hohenner (1946)

Notes et références

Annexes

Liens externes
  Site officiel
 .

Ville en Bavière

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By Bernetta Marchand. Storage Cabinet. Published at Wednesday, April 17th, 2019 12:30:47 PM.
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Whenever possible, I try to involve Trevor in my crafting. He loves doing anything artistic and I love sharing my passion for crafts with him. (Of course, crafting with a 5 year old automatically means the project will take twice as long and result in twice the mess, but that's ok.) As he's gotten older, I've been introducing him to a wider variety of media and techniques. On today's agenda: heat embossing.
Trevor was positively giddy. A chance to try out Mommy's stamps, inks AND the embossing powders he bought me for Mother's Day? Pure heaven!
We started by using stamping snowflakes onto tags using Versamark, then adding white embossing powder. He did these steps on his own. I've mentioned before that I don't have a heat tool, so I heat emboss by holding a hot iron upside down in one hand and carefully holding my item above it with the other hand. Needless to say, I did not allow Trevor to do this step!
After the embossing was complete, we added ink and Glimmer Mist to the tags to make the snowflakes pop.
Trevor's are the two on the top and mine are the two on the bottom. Trevor is SO proud of his. He can't wait to make more tags and try heat embossing again!
I love snowmen. I have a huge collection of snowmen and always make lots of snowman-inspired crafts before Christmas. This year, I started off my holiday crafting with snowman gift tags.
Aren't they cute? Other than a lot of drying time, they are very easy to make. You'll need: white tags, a hole punch, orange scrap paper, scissors, orange Stickles, gold/red/green pens and matching Stickles, black Enamel Accents, Decorative Snow, Pop Dots, and cording.
1) Start by punching a hole in the tag. Then color the top third of the tag to make the snowman's hat. No need to do a good job, as you're just providing a base color for the Stickles.
2) Paint a layer of Stickles over the ink.
3) Use the black Enamel Accents to create the snowman's face, being careful not to touch the wet Stickles. Set the tag aside to dry.
4) In the meantime, cut a triangle nose from the orange scrap paper. Apply a layer of Stickles and set aside to dry.
5) When the tag and nose are dry to the touch, use a Pop Dot to put the nose in place.
6) Apply Decorative Snow to the hat. Set aside until completely dry.
7) Add cording and attach to a gift. All done and super cute!
Happy Advent! For those who don't know, Advent started yesterday, November 27. (It always starts on the 4th Sunday before December 25th and is the first day of the church calendar.) During the season of Advent, Christians prepare for the celebration of Jesus' birth. The season is marked by the color purple or dark blue, representing hope. Advent ends when Christmas begins.
Cute hand-crafted Advent calendars are popping up all over the web. I love Advent calendars. I love Advent.
I've actually never made an Advent calendar, though I've made plenty of Advent wreaths and chains over the years. Since Trevor was born, we've had both an Advent chain and an Advent calendar in our house. We start the Advent chain on the first day of Advent (yesterday) and use a commercial Advent calendar starting on December 1 (this year he's getting the LEGO Advent calendar).
Here is Trevor with his Advent chain. We cut construction paper into 8" x 1" strips- yellow for Christmas (at the top), dark blue for the Sundays of Advent, and then alternate red and green for the rest of the chain.
While we start our Advent chain on the first Sunday of Advent, I have no problem with commercial Advent calendars starting on December 1 (even though Advent can start anywhere from November 27 - December 3). It's convenient, easy to remember, and means that the calendars can be used during any year. But do you know what drives me crazy? Absolutely nuts? When businesses, blog authors, etc. celebrate "The Twelve Days of Christmas" from December 1-12. Why do they do this?! Christmas is not the 1st, the 12th or any date in between. Christmas is a 12-day season that starts on December 25 and ends on Epiphany, January 6. December 1-12 is part of Advent, not Christmas! Aargh!
Thanks for indulging my rant. I feel better.
Tomorrow I'm going to share a tutorial for making adorable (if I do say so myself!) snowman gift tags. Happy Advent to you!
Every year, our playgroup has a potluck Thanksgiving Feast for lunch on the Monday before Thanksgiving. Each family signs up to bring one traditional Thanksgiving item, but with a kid-friendly twist. So instead of turkey with gravy, we might have turkey roll-ups. Instead of mashed potatoes, we have tater tots.
This year, I signed up for cranberries. Each year I've chosen a different item to force myself not to make the same thing I've done before. I didn't want to do something that anyone else had done before either, so I Googled "cranberry treat." All I got was about a thousand articles about using cranberry juice to treat urinary tract infections.
I had much more success with "cranberry dessert." One caught my eye immediately: Frozen Cranberry Treat. It sounded delicious, kid-friendly, and definitely something we'd never had at our Feast. Other than needing to be frozen overnight, it was quick and easy. Can't beat that!
I cut a sample slice to photograph before racing off to the Feast. Other than the obvious marks from the serrated knife I used (lesson learned), isn't it gorgeous? And it tastes even better than it looks.
Let the cream cheese sit until room temperature. Beat for one minute until smooth and light. Stir in cranberry sauce and pineapple. In a separate bowl, combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Whip until it forms soft peaks. Fold into the cranberry mixture.
Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and pour the mixture in. Smooth the top and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Freeze overnight. Unmold and cut into slices. Serve immediately.
My favorite part of my Wednesday morning routine is listening to a scrapbook podcast called The Paperclipping Roundtable. It was started by Noell and Izzy Hyman of Paperclipping fame.
Each week, Noell and co-host Nancy Nally invite one or more guests to chat about a topic related to scrapbooking. Recent topics have covered scrapping the 1980's, stamping, and blending family history with scrapbooking. Every show is interesting, funny and very informative. They've had a huge variety of guests in their 90+ episodes, each bringing such a different perspective to the show. And it's completely free!
If you're a scrapbooker, I'd strongly recommend The Paperclipping Roundtable!
I recently attended a scrapbook night with my MOMS Club friends. We had a discussion about reading blogs, following blogs and subscribing to blogs. They had a lot of good questions, which means others must too, so I'll do my best to answer them here.
I'm certainly not an expert, so if any of you have something to add or correct, please do so in the comments. Because I blog with Blogger, all my answers relate to Blogger. Other blogging platforms might do things a bit differently.
*Cindy, is there an easy way to read a blog? I hate having to type in the address each time.
If you read less than 5 blogs (like my mom, who reads exactly 1 blog), the easiest way to read them is by subscribing via email. Any time there is a new blog post, it will be delivered to your inbox. You can read it there, or click on it to go to the blog. You'll never miss a blog post and you'll never need to manually type in an address.
*What if I want to read more blogs than that? I don't want my inbox all clogged up.
If you read a lot of blogs, I strongly recommend Google Reader. It manages all the blogs you read and allows you to see at a glance if there is any content you haven't read.
To use a reader, find the place on a blog where it says "Subscribe in a reader" or "RSS" or "Atom." (See top arrow in above picture.) All of these will then give you the choice to subscribe in a reader or on the homepage. I prefer the reader. With it, I'm able to read hundreds (yes, literally) of blogs in less time than I used to read several dozen.
On the left, you can see that the blogs I read are listed in alphabetical order. The ones with unread content have a number next to them. When I open one, the content shows on the right and the title of the blog is highlighted in red. I have my own blog listed in my Reader so that I can be sure the feed is pulled and sent to my subscribers each day.
*What is RSS? I see that everywhere!
RSS is a format to deliver web content that changes (for example, a blog that is updated). The acronym stands for a bunch of different things, depending on who you ask. I've seen Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication, and RDF Site Summary.
*What does it mean to Follow a blog?
Every blog gives you the opportunity to become a Follower. Basically, this means you are interested in the blog and would like to have an easy way to return in the future. You can follow a blog publicly (in which case your screen name will be listed on the blog) or privately. When you become a Follower in Blogger, the blogs you follow will show up in your Reader.
To follow a blog, either find the "Follow" button on the home page of the blog, or go up to the very very top, above the blog's header, and you'll find a skinny bar with "Follow" as one of the options. Click either one and it will ask you if you want to follow publicly or privately. It is perfectly safe to follow publicly, so I'd recommend that.
I hope that answers everyone's questions! If not, or you have other questions, I'll answer them in an upcoming post.
Ah, nothing like coloring traditional Thanksgiving Eggs!
No, I'm just kidding. This picture is from Easter. I used this sketch from Shannon White. I love the little string of hearts and knew it would be super cute with a row of eggs. I liked the stitching detail so I "stitched" (drew) a line of zig-zag stitches across my eggs.
A layout with only one photo- pretty much unheard of for me!
Today I begin an exciting new feature on the blog called "Ask Cindy." In it, I will answer made-up questions that someone theoretically could have asked me, but didn't. In the event that someone asks me real questions, I'll answer those in a future "Ask Cindy." Today's topic is holiday gift giving.
Q: Cindy, I need a Secret Santa gift for a scrapbooker. I don't know anything about scrapbooking. The limit is $20. What can I get?
A: An excellent question! It can be risky to guess what tools a scrapper has, so I always recommend giving consumables. Any scrapper would love getting an assortment of Stickles or Glimmer Mists. There are literally hundreds of colors to choose from, so you could give a fun selection of colors and quite possibly not repeat any your scrapper already has. If you do happen to give her one she already has, it's fine because she probably goes through her favorite colors often.
Q: Cindy, the scrapper on my list is into the latest and greatest. Is there a hot new tool this season?
A: Yes, and it's fairly inexpensive! I'm seeing the We R Memory Keepers Sew Ribbon everywhere and it is getting great reviews. It's just hitting stores now, so your scrapper probably doesn't have one yet. Each is selling around $15 and there are six different designs. You could pick up some cute rolls of ribbon and put together a gift a scrapper would love to get.
Q: Cindy, the scrapper on my list has mentioned several paper manufacturers that she likes, but the names don't mean anything to me. There's no scrapbook store near me, so is it ok if I just go to my local HugeMart and buy some random paper? I mean, paper is paper, right?
A: NO! All paper is NOT created equally. Please do not assume that your scrapper would want random paper from the HugeMart. She might, but if she's mentioned certain brands, she'd appreciate receiving those. There are many excellent places to shop online, including scrapbook.com, which has an easy search feature that allows you to type in brand names.
Q: Cindy, can you recommend one go-to tool that would make a great gift?
A: You can't go wrong with a punch from Fiskars. The quality is outstanding and their customer service is incredible. I am very picky about what punches I'm willing to store in my limited space. I use Fiskars' Scalloped Border Punch constantly!
Q: Cindy, I would like to buy you a gift. Do you have a wishlist somewhere?
A: Well yes, and thank you so much for asking! I maintain a wishlist at scrapbook.com. I also put scrapbook items on my Amazon.com list.
Nestle's Oatmeal Scotchies are probably my all-time favorite cookie. This is saying a lot, as I absolutely LOVE cookies. When I make them, I follow the recipe exactly. That is notable as I almost never follow recipes at all, other than as a general guideline. Even when baking, I'm far more likely to tweak things than to do things 'correctly', step by step. But Oatmeal Scotchies are so good that they need no improvement!
However, this time I started making the cookies without realizing that we didn't have the full amount of butterscotch chips required. I didn't want my cookies to have inadequate amounts of butterscotch chips, so I made the batter as directed, split it in half, and added half the required amount of chips to one half of the dough.
What to add to the other half? I dug around in the pantry and found white chocolate chips and Craisins. The resulting cookie was delicious! Not as good as Oatmeal Scotchies, but definitely fantastic.
Back in July, I posted some of the Disney name art that I made. For a couple of months, I've been mulling over how to mount those images for us to use for our Disney scavenger hunt. I decided to glue the names to black cardstock and then put a large eyelet to the left of the name. I was then able to hang them from a binder ring. Each family group has their own binder ring. The top ring is for my sister Kari, brother-in-law Brian, and nephew Timothy. The bottom ring is for my parents, Dave and Kathy.
Of course, I also made a set for us. I'm looking forward to using them during our next Disneyland trip. I'll let you know how they hold up to actual use!
When I finished a layout about Trevor's first day of kindergarten, I was really excited to share it online. I love how it turned out, especially the way I used a photo of the School Crossing sign as part of the title. Then I stopped. Did I really want to post a layout with a picture of Trevor's school with its name prominently featured?
Deciding how much to share online is an incredibly personal decision. Some scrapbookers post absolutely everything. Look through their online galleries and you can learn their children's full names, where they go to school, their daily schedule, their address, and how long their house will be empty as they go on their annual 4th of July vacation. This scares me a little. I'm a little more cautious about what I post online.
I made the decision to post the kindergarten layout, but first I blurred out the name of Trevor's school.
When I posted the layout about my frequently misspelled name, I blurred out my address on each of the labels. I even blurred out the ones from a house where I no longer live and a school where I no longer work. It's not that hard to find out where I live, but I figure that I shouldn't make it any easier for someone who might have nefarious intentions.
So what don't I post? I don't post my address or phone number. I don't show the last names of other people's children unless they've told me it's ok. I don't post anything specific about our daily schedule. We don't take annual trips over a specific date, but if we did, I certainly wouldn't post anything that references when our house would be empty each year. (For that matter, I never talk online about an upcoming vacation. I only mention it once we've returned.) Basically, I don't post anything that I wouldn't mind the whole world seeing.
What are your thought about privacy vs. sharing layouts online?
As I've been adding things to my Christmas wishlist, I can't help but notice that some of the things I want most of all do not appear to exist. I'd really appreciate your help. Would you please make the following items in time for the holidays?
I know that you must not think this is cost-effective to make, but I swear to you that thousands and thousands of scrapbookers will buy one. Please. If a 12x12 scanning bed isn't feasible, can you at least make one with that's 12 inches in one direction, so I only have to scan twice instead of four times before stitching? Most scanners already have an 11.5 inch bed- could you just make one 0.5 inch longer?
I have had a self-sharpening Fiskars guillotine trimmer for years. It does not get dull. I love it. It is incredibly irritating that the blades in my my other trimmer and my electronic cutter get dull so quickly. Could you please be the one who invents a self-sharpening blade for other applications beyond the guillotine trimmer?
If such a thing exists, I have not found it. I want to be able to apply an adhesive, put the element down in the correct spot, move it if I make a mistake, and then leave it in place once it's perfect and have it there permanently. I do not want to use temporary adhesive, put it in the correct spot, then lift it off, add permanent adhesive, and hope I put it back in exactly the right place.
I love the look and ease of stamping, but hate that it is so easy to mess up a project with my lousy stamping skills. I want an ink that I can erase if I mess up, but that will stay permanently if I happen to stamp it correctly the first time. I'm thinking there would be a special tool that would erase the ink so that there wouldn't be any accidental erasing or smearing.
When I make cards, I frequently use foam dots to pop up an element on the card. Here's one of many sheets of dots that live in my adhesives basket.
Years ago, I used to throw out the sheet when I used up all the dots. Then I realized I should save the unused parts to cut apart to make pop-up strips for larger items. Now I've discovered another purpose for used-up sheets of foam dots.
They make a perfect template for rows of Stickles! Here's a card I made using that technique. Check out the perfectly even dots of Stickles on the background cardstock.
Expect to see many more dotted Stickles backgrounds from me in the future!
Time to start crafting for Thanksgiving! This is one of my all-time favorite crafts. You will need: a coffee filter, a few colors of tempera or acrylic paint (diluted with water to a thin consistency), paper towels, and construction paper. You'll also need scissors, glue and a black pen.
Step 1: Flatten the coffee filter, then fold it in half. Continue folding it in half four more times.
Step 2: Dip just the tip of the folded coffee filter into one color of paint. Remove it quickly- if the paint is sufficiently diluted, it will travel quickly up the filter.
Step 3: Dip the other two tips into two other colors.
Step 4: Put the wet coffee filters onto a few layers of paper towels, then set them aside.
Step 5: While the coffee filters are drying, use the brown construction paper to cut a turkey body (approximately the size and shape of a pear) and two turkey wings (leaf shapes). Use the yellow construction paper to cut two feet (I like whimsical upside-down t's) and a beak (a small diamond, folded in half). Use the red construction paper to cut a tiny waddle.
Step 6: Carefully unfold the coffee filters to reveal the designs. Every one is completely different and they are all beautiful. Set the moist coffee filters back on the paper towels and leave them undisturbed until they are completely dry. Obviously, this depends on temperature, humidity, and how dilute your paint was. Ours were dry in an hour.
Step 7: Assemble the finished art by gluing the coffee filter to a piece of construction paper, then layering the feet, body, wings, wadde, and beak on top. Trevor had the idea of tearing a piece of brown patterned paper to make a hill for the turkey to stand on, so we did that.
Step 8: Use a black pen to add eyes.
Aren't they adorable? I did this craft with my fourth and fifth graders every year. I taught over 400 kids and every single one of their turkeys looked different.


text:
Q: Comparing two time for a fixed difference in java I have my code
DateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss");

Date curDate = new Date();
String finalCurTime=format.format(curDate).substring(11, 19);

Date gpsLastDate = new Date(gpslastKnownLocation.getTime());
String gpsFinalLastTime=format.format(gpsLastDate).substring(11, 19);

How can i compare to below Logic

*

*Compare finalCurTime & gpsFinalLastTime

If(If finalCurTime is more than three hours of gpsFinalLastTime)
{
// Do something-1
}else{
// Do something-2
}

A: Use Date.getTime() to get the time in milliseconds.
// If the difference in milliseconds is larger than 3 hours in milliseconds
if (curDate.getTime() - gpsLastDate.getTime() > 10800000) {
    // Do something-1
} else {
    // Do something-2
}

A: Calendar calendarobj = Calendar.getInstance();
calendarobj.setTime(gpsLastDate);
int hour = calendarobj.get(Calendar.HOUR);
if(hour>3)
    System.out.println("greater");