The workflow begins with an impression-taking and registration of the patient's oral situation using clinical auxiliaries to optimize customized data capturing. This information is transferred to the design software via an add-on software module and incorporated into the denture design. Once the design is complete, the denture base is milled from coordinated materials in an indication-optimized CAM unit.
Centric Tray is used for preliminary bite taking using a simple yet effective method. The UTS CAD assists dentists in measuring the angle of the occlusal plane in relation to Camper's plane and the bipupillary line. Both angular measurements are transferred to the virtual model using the Digital Denture Professional design module and further specify the virtual occlusal plane. The Gnathometer CAD needle-point tracing appliance allows easy intraoral registration of individual jaw relations in edentulous patients. The denture design is dictated by the specific details of the patient.
The Digital Denture Professional add-on module builds on the software modules from 3Shape. It offers enhanced user convenience and heightened denture quality and functionality. Custom trays with integrated bite registration can be constructed digitally. This makes it possible to enter the digital workflow at an early stage of the fabrication process. The software is linked to the patient-specific occlusal plane, centric relation and vertical occlusal dimension. Exclusive sample setups using Ivoclar Vivadent and Candulor moulds are integrated into the tooth library. Making the leap from average value prosthetics to custom-built digitally produced dentures is easy to achieve with this innovative workflow.
Thanks to the 8-disc material changer, the Zenotec select ion milling unit offers high productivity and outstanding restoration quality. The main innovation is the ionizer. Ionized compressed air is directed onto the tools and materials via targeted nozzles during the processing operation and neutralizes the static charge. Acrylic particles can be conveniently evacuated.
IvoBase CAD for Zenotec are impact-resistant PMMA discs, suitable for the manufacture of denture bases. They are available in the popular shades Pink, Pink-V, Preference and 34-V. Tray Disc for Zenotec is a rigid PMMA disc for the manufacture of a diverse range of auxiliaries. ProArt Wax Disc for Zenotec are pink wax discs suitable for milling and boil-out needs. The self-curing two-component IvoBase CAD Bond is supplied in a pink shade and provides a reliable bond between denture teeth and CAM produced denture bases. Ivoclar and Candulor offer a wide range of outstanding denture teeth of equally high esthetic quality.


Every day around 3pm, the atmosphere at our house shifts drastically. There's yelling, crying, and whining about dinner, plus the kids are pretty crabby.
I'm trying to cultivate some patience, but it seems to just walk out the front door by mid-afternoon. Which is exactly what my 3 year old would do if I didn't have a gate up. Deadbolts and other such locks crafted by mere mortals do not deter her, and she's teaching Chappy this skillset as well. I tried taking away all of their step stools so they couldn't climb up counters or reach the deadbolts, but they just stack any available surfaces until they create a miniature Tower of Babbling Small People.
Oddly enough, if I did simply remove every moveable object in their playroom (and adjunct playroom, aka the family room, aka the other room overtaken by junk) Hubbles would probably be happy. For point-four seconds between having a completely clean, uncluttered room and then having two very loud and very bored small children. So I spend the morning taking them outside and finding enriching things to do, following the competitive parenting mandate of NO TV (sometimes) simply so I won't feel as guilty about later dropping them in front of the digital babysitter for two hours before dinner. But there are days where 3 o'clock seems to arrive at 10:30 in the morning and those are the days Hubbles starts to look concerned and makes disparaging conversation about too much television.
Here is where I'd confess that I'm not a supermom, but I can't imagine anyone being burdened by the misconception in the first place.


Relaxation Massage: As the name implies, it is specifically for relaxation purposes. This massage helps the body relieve the stress of your day. Gentle manipulation of the tissues throughout your body are incorporated in this massage. It leaves one refreshed and in a relaxed state of mind.
Please allow 60, or 90-minutes for this massage.
Therapeutic Massage: Focusing on specific problem areas this therapy adds a deeper massage to identify, focus on, and relieve restricted tissues. Clients frequently combine this technique with a relaxation massage to allow the body and mind to fully experience a restful state.
Please allow 30-90 minutes for this massage.
Lymphatic Massage: A blocked lymph system can cause the body to retain fluids, thereby increasing the amount of metabolic waste in your system. A Lymphatic Massage is very light and designed to relieve the lymph system and enhance your immune system. It, too, has a very calming effect on your body and mind.
Please allow 60-minutes for this massage.
Foot Massage: Hot towels are used in this delicious process.
Pregnancy Massage: Great for the mother-to-be to assist with changing body conditions and it benefits the developing baby, too.
Geriatric Massage: Designed for the mature adult or those with medical conditions that require special attention. Available at the home, apartment, or assisted living center.
LOMI LOMI Massage: One client described this as, "A delicious experience!". This is a massage from the beautiful Hawaiian Islands.
Facial Massage: Incorporates the use of hot/steamed towels and honey to leave one's face glowing and refreshed.
REIKI: REIKI means "Universal Life Energy". REIKI is a gentle process that assists healing by opening the mind to clear the body of emotional and/or mental blocks. The client is fully dressed during this session and the practitioner places their hands on or above the areas that may be affected and allows the energy to pass through to be revealed.


text:
The Little Legionnaire
Gefreiter Alfred Kalb
Moabitt, Berlin and the French Foreign Legion.
The Desert Wanderer, Le Legionnaire, Le Nomade, Le Rat Du Desert, Tete De Mort, Corporal Alfred Kalb from the 2nd Regiment of the Foreign Legion, Legioonalainen, (Den Lille) Legionären.
The Legionnaire is first mentioned in 'Tiny and The Legionnaire' Chapter 6 of Wheels Of Terror. He is sitting at the bar when Tiny picks a fight with him. The Legionnaire wins of course. Pluto and Porta try to put him in his place but get nowhere.
He is in the section for 'social attitude' (ie being politically unstable) and for having illegal service in a foreign army. He swears in German, French and Arabic and he also speaks Chinese (Blitzfreeze Chapter 8 'The Mongol Captain') and Spanish (Comrades Of War, Chapter 18 'A Casual Affair' where he talks to the fatally wounded Barcelona in Spanish). The Legionnaire is a crack-shot and has sniping competitions with Porta.
In Comrades Of War, The Legionnaire is described as 5' 3" (1.6m) tall. He has a shining light blue knife wound from his temple to the edge of his collar (later in the book it says "from his forehead straight across his nose" - well, he's got some kind of nasty scar on his face anyway). He makes no sound as he walks. He wears a Tricolour wrapped around him beneath his uniform and a photo of General de Gaulle!! (March Battalion Chapter 2.)
He says he joined the Legion at 16 and is "now past 30". In Assignment Gestapo he is said to have left Germany in 1932 to join the Legion. He's also said to have been a soldier for 30 years and often talks of years fighting in Morocco and Indo-China. In Liquidate Paris, however, we hear that he has 14 years experience. Work it all out if you can.
He has 'the cross with 4 palms and 3 stars for fighting in the Riff Mountains and Indo-China'. He's forever saying "Allah is wise" and "En avant, La Legion" and singing "Come Death Come". I have checked this song with the owner of a Legion web site and he says:- " It is in the same league as "march or die" which is not a Legion slogan but is one Hollywood attributed to legionnaires." So there. Actually this is one of the very few times when one of Sven's obscure references has not proved to be accurate…. But wait! Jules Douglas sends news that this is a piece by J S Bach named 'Komm, Süßer Tod' which would be well known by most German soldiers of the time especially those brought up as Lutherans (even those who converted to Islam). Excellent news, SH redeemed again.
The Legionnaire also comes out with exotic sayings like: "By God, it's like waiting outside an African whore-house with a crew of only ten tarts...and a hundred fellows in front before you get your helping." Know exactly how he feels.
The Legionnaire was castrated at Fagen and doesn't take kindly to references to his state. He spends his time at brothels with the others getting very, very drunk and studying the set-up for his plans to "open a whore-box in Morocco". He spends lots of time discussing this plan with Aunt Dora, his soul-mate in Hamburg (who knows just enough information about everyone).
His weakness is described in Liquidate Paris Chapter 3 when he becomes upset when he sees a human head rolling along the ground.
In Court Martial Chapter 2 'The Battle Group' The Legionnaire gives his schnapps ration to Tiny because "he is a Mohammedan and does not touch spirituous liquors". Now, I know he spends a lot of time saying "Allah akhbar" and so on... but he also spends his time getting very very drunk when the others are out whoring. So, how does this Mohammedan thing work? Can they drink beer and pastis but not schnapps? Or did Sven only think about the contradiction when he got to 'Court Martial' and try to put it right.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Do Graduate School and Work Mix?
There is no one answer to this question. Why? There are many ways to attend graduate school - and many graduate programs with differing cultures and rules. Take the graduate program that we attended: Working was frowned upon and sometimes forbidden. It was a full-time doctoral program and students were expected to treat their graduate studies as a full-time job. Students who held outside jobs were few and far between -- and they rarely spoke of them, at least not to faculty. Students who were funded by faculty grants or institutional funds were not permitted to work outside of the institution. However, not all graduate programs look at student employment in the same way.
Students who attend full-time graduate programs, especially doctoral programs, generally are expected to treat their studies as a full-time job. Some programs expressly forbid students from working while others simply frown on it. Some students find that working an outside job is not a choice - they cannot make ends meet without the cash. Such students should keep their employment activities to themselves as much as possible as well as choose jobs that will not interfere with their studies.
These programs are not designed to take up all of the students' time - although students often find that part-time graduate study takes a lot more time than they anticipated. Most students enrolled in part-time graduate programs work, at least part-time, and many work full time. Recognize that programs labeled "part-time" still require a great deal of work. Most schools tell students to expect to work about 2 hours out-of-class for every hour in class. That means every 3-hour class will require at least 6 hours of preparation time. Courses vary - some might require less time, but those with heavy reading assignments, homework problem sets, or lengthy papers may require more time. Working often isn't an option, so at least begin each semester with open eyes and realistic expectations.
Most evening graduate programs are part-time programs and all the comments above apply. Graduate students who enroll in evening programs usually work full time. Business schools often have evening MBA programs designed for adults who are already employed and want to advance their careers. Evening programs schedule classes at times that are convenient for students who work, but they aren't any easier or lighter in load than other graduate programs.
Online graduate programs are deceptive in the sense that there rarely is any set class time. Instead, students work on their own, submitting their assignments every week or so. The lack of meeting times can trick students into feeling as if they have all the time in the world. They don't. Instead, students who enroll in an online graduate study have to be diligent about their use of time - perhaps more so than students in brick-and-mortar programs because they can attend graduate school without ever leaving their home. Online students face similar reading, homework, and paper assignments as other students, but they also must set aside time to participate in class online, which may require that they read dozens or even hundreds of student posts as well as compose and post their own responses.
Whether you work as a graduate student depends on your finances, but also on the type of graduate program you attend. Recognize that if you are awarded funding, such as scholarships or assistantships, you might be expected to refrain from outside employment.
Are You Ever too Old for Grad School?


text:
News | Governance › Partnerships
Australian rugby seeks union with a charity partner
Rugby Australia is on the hunt for an official charity partner committed to making the sport "a game for all".
The Wallabies.
Luke Michael | 6 June 2019 at 8:16 am
The governing body for rugby union in Australia is looking for a charity to support the code's four national teams – including the Wallabies and the Wallaroos – and promote the game's core values.
Rugby Australia said the proposed three-year partnership offers the selected charity international exposure and exclusive opportunities to support their fundraising efforts.
The charity will also link with Rugby Australia's current community partners including Disability Sports Australia, Pride in Sport, the Australian Deaf Rugby Team and Our Watch.
Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle said it was a unique opportunity for a charity to tap into a new community and leverage their brand, as well as giving the rugby community a chance to get behind a worthy cause.
''We've been fortunate to partner with some fantastic charities over the years and we're looking forward to seeing the response from Australian charities during the application process," Castle said
Rugby Australia said it is seeking a charity partner that aligns with the game's core vision, which includes making rugby "a game for all" and igniting Australia's "passion for the game".
The charity partner would potentially be given access to players from each of the national teams, fundraising opportunities at Australian test matches, and the right to use Rugby Australia's images and intellectual property.
The selection panel will include three Rugby Australia representatives, including Wallabies prop Tom Robertson.
Robertson said it was great to use rugby as a vehicle to raise the profile and drive funds for a new charity.
"We know that our fans are incredibly supportive when it comes to welcoming new people and organisations into the rugby family so I'm confident it will be a successful partnership," Robertson said.
Luke Michael | Journalist | @luke_michael96
Luke Michael is a journalist at Pro Bono News covering the social sector.
Tags : charity partner, Rugby Australia, Wallabies,
Four ways to build a meaningful partnership
Bruce Argyle
Collaboration for Impact: Lessons from the field
Monday, 19th October 2020 at 5:53 pm
Five must do's when partnering with business – A NFP's guide to doing partnerships well
Wednesday, 2nd September 2020 at 7:00 am
Seven steps to corporate partnership success
Hailey Cavill-Jaspers
Thursday, 11th June 2020 at 7:20 am


Description: Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Jaguar) is recalling certain 2017-2018 Jaguar XF and F-Pace, 2016-2017 Jaguar XJ and 2018 Jaguar XE vehicles. The instrument cluster (IC) may intermittently go blank.
Corrective Action: Jaguar will notify owners, and dealers will update the vehicle software, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin December 19, 2017. Owners may contact Jaguar customer service at 1-800-452-4827. Jaguar's number for this recall is H056.
Description: Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC (Jaguar) is recalling certain 2017 XE vehicles equipped with a 2.0L diesel engine. The vehicles have a fuel return hose that may leak.
Defect: A diesel fuel leak onto the road surface may cause a skid hazard, increasing the risk of a crash. If the fuel leak contacts a hot engine or exhaust component, there would be an increased risk of a fire.
Corrective Action: Jaguar will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel return hose, free of charge. The began May 2, 2017. Owners may contact Jaguar customer service at 1-800-452-4827. Jaguar's number for this recall is H016.


text:
The Cartographers
Style Hardcover
Hardcover - $19.99
Decrease quantity for The Cartographers
Increase quantity for The Cartographers
By: Amy Zhang
Struggling to balance the expectations of her immigrant mother with her deep ambivalence about her own place in the world, seventeen-year-old Ocean Sun takes her savings and goes off the grid. A haunting and romantic novel about family, friendship, philosophy, and love from Amy Zhang, the acclaimed author of Falling into Place and This Is Where the World Ends.
Ocean Sun has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together. She also decides not to tell her mother (whom she loves very much but doesn't want to disappoint) that she is deferring—at least until she absolutely must.
In New York, Ocean moves into an apartment with Georgie and Tashya, two strangers who soon become friends, and gets a job tutoring. She also meets a boy—Constantine Brave (a name that makes her laugh)—late one night on the subway. Constant is a fellow student and a graffiti artist, and Constant and Ocean soon start corresponding via Google Docs—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. But everything falls apart when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.
Ocean, Constant, Georgie, and Tashya are all cartographers—mapping out their futures, their dreams, and their paths toward adulthood in this literary, stunning, and heartbreaking novel about finding the strength to control your own destiny. For fans of Nina LaCour's We Are Okay and Daniel Nayeri's Everything Sad Is Untrue.


text:
country in South America
Suriname, or Surinam, Dutch Guiana, Dutch Guyana or Sranang is a country in South America. The official name of the country is Republiek Suriname (this is Dutch and translates to Republic of Suriname). It used to be known as Nederlands Guyana, Netherlands Guiana or Dutch Guiana. It is between Guyana and French Guiana. Paramaribo is the capital city, in which resides almost half of the country's population. About half a million people live in the country. Suriname became independent from the Netherlands in 1975. Before that, it was a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Republic of Suriname
Republiek Suriname (Dutch)
Motto: Justitia - Pietas - Fides (Latin)
"Justice - Duty - Loyalty"
Anthem: God zij met ons Suriname (Dutch)
('God be with our Suriname')
and largest city
Demonym(s)
Surinamese
Constitutional democracy
Dési Bouterse
• Vice-President
• from Netherlands
163,821 km2 (63,252 sq mi) (91st)
• Water (%)
558,368 (166th)
2.9/km2 (7.5/sq mi) (231st)
GDP (PPP)
2009 estimate
$4.510 billion[2]
• Per capita
$8,642[2]
high · 76th
UTC-3 (ART)
UTC-3 (not observed)
Driving side
Map of Suriname, with the disputed territories shown
There are border disputes with French Guiana and Guyana all to the south of the country.
The industry of the country is centered on the mining and processing of bauxite. This makes up 15 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and more than 70% of the exports. Other exports are sugar, oil and gold. About 25% of the working people are employed in agriculture. The main trade partners are the Netherlands, the United States and countries in the Caribbean.
Dutch, French, Spanish and English explorers discovered the area in the early 16th century. A century later, sugar plantation colonies were established by the Dutch and English along the many rivers in the fertile Guyana plains. After the second Anglo-Dutch War England traded any claims to the territory for New Amsterdam which became New York.
List of rivers of Suriname
List of Surinamese people
Suriname at the Olympics
Suriname national football team
↑ Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek in Suriname - Census profile at district level
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Suriname". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
↑ "Human Development Report 2010" (PDF). United Nations. 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suriname&oldid=6215357"
Last edited on 8 August 2018, at 18:14


text:
Q: Ubuntu 18.04 stopped detecting second Dell monitor I tried to switch of keyboard lights on my MSI - notebook, trying many combinations of fn + F1 - F10 (and other buttons). Sometime during this period, the second screen was disconnected.
I could not restore function by pressing the combinations a second time (not 100% sure I got all), neither be re-plugging nor re-booting.
Under settings - devices - displays, there is no second monitor listed anymore.
output of:
spci -nnk |& awk -v n='[0300]' 'p&&/^\S/{p=0}!p{p=index($0,n)}p'; xrandr
is:
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 32767 x 32767
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
eDP-1-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
   1920x1080    144.03*+  60.08    60.01    59.97    59.96    59.93
   1680x1050     84.94    74.89    69.88    59.95    59.88
   1600x1024     60.17
   1400x1050     85.00    74.76    70.00    59.98
   1600x900      59.99    59.94    59.95    59.82
   1280x1024     85.02    75.02    60.02
   1440x900      59.89
   1400x900      59.96    59.88
   1280x960      85.00    60.00
   1440x810      60.00    59.97
   1368x768      59.88    59.85
   1360x768      59.80    59.96
   1280x800      59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91
   1152x864     100.00    85.06    85.00    75.00    75.00    70.00    60.00
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    59.74
   1024x768      85.00    75.05    60.04    85.00    75.03    70.07    60.00
   1024x768i     86.96
   960x720       85.00    75.00    60.00
   928x696       75.00    60.05
   896x672       75.05    60.01
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82
   960x600       59.93    60.00
   832x624       74.55
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82
   800x600       85.00    75.00    70.00    65.00    60.00    85.14    72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25
   840x525       85.02    74.96    69.88    60.01    59.88
   864x486       59.92    59.57
   800x512       60.17
   700x525       85.08    74.76    70.06    59.98
   800x450       59.95    59.82
   640x512       85.02    75.02    60.02
   720x450       59.89
   700x450       59.96    59.88
   640x480       85.09    60.00    85.01    72.81    75.00    59.94
   720x405       59.51    58.99
   720x400       85.04
   684x384       59.88    59.85
   680x384       59.80    59.96
   640x400       59.88    59.98    85.08
   576x432      100.11    85.15    85.09    75.00    75.00    70.00    60.06
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32
   640x350       85.08
   512x384       85.00    75.03    70.07    60.00
   512x384i      87.06
   512x288       60.00    59.92
   416x312       74.66
   480x270       59.63    59.82
   400x300       85.27    72.19    75.12    60.32    56.34
   432x243       59.92    59.57
   320x240       85.18    72.81    75.00    60.05
   360x202       59.51    59.13
   360x200       85.04
   320x200       85.27
   320x180       59.84    59.32
   320x175       85.27
DP-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Any advice? Thanks.

*

*monitor is connected and switched to HDMI

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Gillian Martin
@GillianGMartin
Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Gordon, Banff and Buchan, Kincardine, West Aberdeenshire, Tommy Sheppard, North-East Scotland
Gillian Martin: Independence supporters, ignore the north-east at your peril
SNP MSP Gillian Martin responds to comments made by her colleague Tommy Sheppard MP in a recent CommonSpace article
OVER the last week or so I've seen the odd person offering opinion from a fair geographic distance on the north-east political situation.
One of the comments I've seen in this regard comes from my colleague, Tommy Sheppard MP, a man I admire and respect and one whom I know doesn't shy away from a good political argument, so I know he'll be interested in my thoughts.
I like how Sheppard has energised some urban sections of the independence movement and I think he has a better understanding of how the dynamics of a city population like Edinburgh works than the likes of a rural Aberdeenshire lass like me does.
Read more – Tommy Sheppard: SNP must respond to wake up call of Corbyn effect after #GE17
That's why I found campaigning in Edinburgh in my evenings when I could get away from Holyrood this past few weeks a radically different experience to my preferred, but in mid-week logistically impossible, campaigning ground of Gordon and Banff and Buchan.
Before I attempt a summary of those differences, I'd like to make an important factual correction to Sheppard's assertion in the CommonSpace article last week which went like this: "But Aberdeenshire really has always been Conservative, it's just the size of the seat that matters. We won Aberdeenshire, in what you can only describe as a fluke, two years ago, probably won't ever happen again."
First off, Aberdeenshire has a number of constituencies and their history varies in political flavour. Let's take the Westminster ones first. They are Banff and Buchan, Gordon, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.
Gordon hadn't ever been Tory until last week (and then only by around 2,000 votes). Banff and Buchan hadn't been Tory since 1983, until last week. West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine hadn't been Tory until now. In fact, the SNP has had a fairly decent showing in Aberdeenshire constituencies and I'm certain my friends and colleagues Alex Salmond and Eilidh Whiteford would be at pains to point out that until last week it was held by the SNP since 1987.
To suggest that recent SNP victories in the north-east have been a "fluke" is just not factually correct. The SNP has been strong in the region for decades – far stronger traditionally than other areas of Scotland, in fact.
Visit our donate page to help us fund two new reporters
csfundraiserkmckennaquote.jpg
The SNP has held a great deal of the Scottish Parliament's seats for the largest proportion of the parliament's history - Banff and Buchan has never had the seat held by anyone other than an SNP representative.
One of the reasons for that hold, is the influence of Alex Salmond- a man who absolutely gets Aberdeenshire and its people and has brought others to prominence in the party who get us too, and helped overturn the largely Liberal Democrat hold on the region.
And while not strictly Aberdeenshire, we cannot ignore Moray, held from 1987 by SNP until last week, and consistently since Holyrood's inception.
Is the north-east harder to win at the moment? Well yes, of course it is, the results bear that out, but the arguments for voting SNP and for independence have always had to be more persuasive and multifaceted here, because we are a spectacularly diverse demographic.
We're a hotch potch of farmers, fishing folk, oil workers, public sector workers, native north-easters, incoming north-easters from all over the UK and beyond, transient families that flit back and forth from oil projects all over the world to Aberdeen, and small business owners who have been reliant on the big beast of oil and gas and are now having to diversify.
To suggest that recent SNP victories in the north-east have been a "fluke" is just not factually correct. The SNP has been strong in the region for decades.
We also have a huge amount of Scottish economic migrants - a status I guess my mum and dad would qualify for, as they moved to raise our family up here in the 1970s when shipbuilding on the Clyde was decimated. My dad took engineering skills up to Aberdeen with hundreds of other Clydeside families.
We are also a bit change averse, so if it's conservative with a small "c" I'll agree. But with a big C? Nah, not so much. The Big C win is your "fluke" right there - if we stand firm.
The north-east is really feeling it right now: a 40-year-old mainstay industry is reeling from the effects of a geopolitical situation that has affected the oil price and, along with it, nearly every family in my area in some way or another.
As protest votes go, last week's was a beezer. It was, however, a protest vote aimed in the wrong direction. If the folk of the north-east think the Tories who've been voted in will do anything to change the direction of travel for the oil and gas industry, they are going to be disappointed.
Ditto the fishing industry, where all catching hopes are pinned on a Brexit that won't prioritise Scotland's needs, and ignores the needs of the fish-processing sector which fears a hard Brexit more than most.
We need to engage and explain, to chat and have a muse over things that are on folk's minds - just like we've been doing for ages.
Recently I saw a comment online from a young central belt activist saying that he'd rather drive a bus into the Dee than go and campaign in Aberdeenshire. Well, all I can say is, his counterparts in the 'shire are not as shy, and possibly a tad more resilient than he.
While the comment was made in jest, I'm sure, no one goes out chapping doors just to make themselves feel loved by meeting a whole bunch of Yessers on every street.
No, we need to work harder than that, we need to engage and explain, to chat and have a muse over things that are on folk's minds - just like we've been doing for ages. It is, as they say, often a sair fecht, but that hard work is why the north-east has been a good place for the SNP despite recent assertions to the contrary.
It will be again if the quantity and quality of activists who understand the region's complexities is as strong as it is now, and the huge infrastructure and economic investment made in the north-east by the current government is shouted from the rooftops a bit more by everyone in my party.
I also notice that CommonSpace is looking to recruit new journalists. I have a plea to the selection panel. Find us a couple who know what the issues are in the north-east, Highlands and Borders. They will be worth their weight in gold for our movement.
It is, as they say, often a sair fecht, but that hard work is why the north-east has been a good place for the SNP despite recent assertions to the contrary.
Just as, while out in Edinburgh South, I had to recalibrate my brain to take into account Labour-voting tendencies, which are slightly alien to this north-easter, I'd urge my urban friends and colleagues to come out with me and my Aberdeenshire independence-supporting friends of all indy parties and none, to get a flavour of the complexity of the whole of Scotland.
If we don't do this, we'll never be able to put forward the argument for independence that will bring all parts of Scotland with us.
Anyone who wants a busman's holiday to see what I mean, you know where we are.
Just keep going past Dundee. No need to drive the bus into any rivers.
Picture courtesy of Ben Sutherland
Look at how important CommonSpace has become, and how vital it is for the future #SupportAReporter
Michael McEwan: Hopes are high for Social Security Scotland - it needs to deliver
Graham O'Neill: The campaign against the Serco lock-out is in the best internationalist traditions of Glasgow
Neil McLeod: The media made 'Boris' - just like they made Trump
Judy Wilkinson: We now have the framework in place to pursue a community-led approach to allotments
Phil Nash: Why the Home Office's tightening of 'good character' criteria could lead to sinister outcomes for immigrants
Robin McAlpine: Magic thinking is the indy movement's biggest threat
Sarah Glynn: Erdoğan has been humiliated by Istanbul election re-run defeat
Robin McAlpine: Going cheap; Scotland. Buy now before the fools wake up.
Linda Bates: Why we need to be Positively Yes for Scotland
Mick Napier: There should be no place for supporters of Israeli Apartheid in Refugee Festival Scotland
Robin Mcalpine: Unionists, what's your solution to the London problem?


Practical workshops for all connected with church music or considering working in church music.
New settings of compline and vespers introduced by composer Thomas Pavlechko.
New handbell and choral music reading sessions.
Hymn festival on new Opus 100 Redman 60 rank tracker organ.
Introducing and incorporating diverse musical styles in worship.


CHICAGO (AP) Jay Harris scored 25 and Illinois-Chicago rallied with 14 straight points past Youngstown State 77-71 in the Horizon League opener for both teams on Friday.
UIC (5-11) trailed 63-57 with 5:18 left and surged to a 71-63 lead with 58 seconds left. Harris had six of his points during the run and 17 in the second half.
Youngstown State (9-7) had a 29-11 lead with 9:04 left in the first half and held its advantage at 37-28 at halftime. The Penguins led by no less than six in the second half until Harris' layup made it 61-57. Osandai Vaughn's jumper put the Penguins back up six before the Flames' 14-0 run.
Jake Wiegand added 15 points while Ahman Fells and Gabe Snider each scored 11 for the Flames.
Bobby Hain scored 19 and Vaughn added 18 to lead Youngstown. DJ Cole and Marcus Keene added 11 apiece.


Two weeks after losing her job, Elizabeth thought she was coming back to Pittsburgh for a family funeral and a few days with her mom. But her boyfriend dumps her right after meeting a house full of embarrassing relatives. Disconnected from her life, and staying with her eccentric mother, she sometimes feels she's just floating away. Or is she?
Elizabeth lost her job. She lost her boyfriend. She's staying with her mother. Now she can't keep her feet on the ground. Really.


Tech to Us provides managed IT services for businesses and remote home technical support services for home users. The company has been located in the Hartford Trust Building since it launched in 2010. In April 2018, Tech to Us expanded its offices.
Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price spoke with Tech to Us Founder & CEO Guy Citarella about the company's evolution and future plans.
GUY CITARELLA: I've always wanted to start my own business. My business interest began when I was a kid. My family on my dad's side owns businesses, so I was exposed to it at a young age. My goal was to eventually start my own company and at some point, I just decided to go for it.
NAN: Was Tech to Us your first startup?
GUY: Yes, I had done some freelancing on the side prior to launching Tech to Us, but this is my first startup of any major consequence.
NAN: When you were first starting out, was it just you?
GUY: It was me and one other person, a close friend, who was an employee. I was intentional about not having a partner. I'm 100% owner of the company.
That's what I would recommend for any founder who's looking to start up: If you lack a certain skillset that you absolutely need to have, then bringing someone on may be fine for you. If not, then keep full ownership. For me, keeping 100% ownership means at least I have some value for my time and all my investment in the company.
NAN: What were the biggest challenges you faced as you were starting up?
GUY: Two major things that always come to mind are marketing and finding good quality people especially on a startup budget.
Hiring is especially challenging when you're just starting up. Now we're finally able to pay more for quality talent. But during the startup days, the first couple of years were hard. And, when you're running a service-based business you need people to execute your service. You're not just selling or shipping a product or working in a warehouse, you're customer-facing. You need high-quality people for these interactions. So, it's always a challenge to find qualified people.
And then the other thing would be marketing, which is always a challenge. Everyone goes into business thinking: My service is great. I'll just do this, this, and this. And then the customers don't show up. They don't just come knocking at your door. You have to go get them and find them in reasonable numbers, which isn't always easy.
Finding quality people and marketing are still challenges to this day, in different ways.
NAN: Tech to Us is now in its eighth year. Tell us how the company has evolved.
Also, the company was originally doing a lot of call center services for a mixture of customer care and tech support. We eventually eliminated any of the customer care services and focused on just providing technical services. Just over a year ago, we began providing managed IT services for businesses in addition to direct-to-consumer technical support. It was part of the reason for our expansion.
NAN: Was that based on customer need?
GUY: Yes. I think the future of our business—where we have the biggest growth potential—is based on our managed IT services. We have a tremendous opportunity to service businesses locally and nationally. Not that we're getting away from our home user services—they're currently still a very large part of our business, so we're not moving away from that. But we have expanded in managed services and we already have many clients.
NAN: Speaking of customers, how have you been building your customer base?
GUY: Since we've been around for eight years, we get referral business and people who have used us in the past continue using our services. We also do web marketing. Obviously, the internet is a big draw for this industry—people searching for tech-support. For businesses, we do regular campaigns with cold calling and cold emailing. We also get a good amount of inbound leads from our website.
With marketing, the toughest challenge is balancing the cost of marketing with the return on investment. That's also why we're going more local for our B2B managed services. There's a better value proposition of being able to go to a client's site and meet to face to face and provide our IT expertise in person.
NAN: Do you have a specific target market?
GUY: For our home users, it's really anyone. But our demographic is 90% are 55 or older. On the B2B side, we target smaller companies usually with 10 to 100 employees. We provide services across multiple verticals—pretty much any vertical with more than 10 employees needs IT support.
NAN: Let's talk about the expansion. How many employees do you have now?
GUY: We recently hired a couple sales representatives for business development, so we now have 15 employees, which is a good size for us. We may expand and add more technical staff as the year goes on.
NAN: How did you choose the business location? Why Hartford?
GUY: In terms of choosing the Hartford area as our location, it was just a matter of luck in terms of an office space that fit our needs in our budget at the time. We've been in the same building ever since, even though the building changed ownership this past year. The location has worked out well for us.
We've been here for eight years and it was a good choice. I wouldn't change anything. I personally love Hartford. I moved downtown two years ago, so I get to walk to work every day. Hartford is a good, centrally located city where it's affordable to do business. It provides those extra city resources and pulls in a wide area of people, so you can be downtown without having the high expense.
The city is up-and-coming. Hence why I moved here. I see a lot of potential here in Hartford—it's obviously grown a lot over the past several years. You can see the difference.
NAN: Tell us something we don't really know about what it's really like to be an entrepreneur. Anything that surprised you?
GUY: As an entrepreneur, you have to realize that the rest of the world doesn't operate like Silicon Valley. Venture capitalists aren't going to come knocking on your door dropping millions of dollars.
Tech to Us is a bootstrapped company from the ground up, built with my own money. Being an entrepreneur is tough financially, especially at first—and, to be frank, ongoing as well. Every year, every month, it's always looking at how much money we are bringing in versus how much money is going out.
I thought it would be much easier after a few years, but that challenge always exists, even as you're growing the business. Because as you grow, you need to put more money into the business to grow by hiring or by investing in another technology. So, there's always that feeling that you're behind the curve. You're always trying to catch up to your spending and your revenue. And, until you get that big boom, it's difficult to maintain.
GUY: The number one thing is: You think it's going to come faster or you can get more business sooner. But it takes time and patience and it takes good money management.
For someone starting up a business, they say you should have at least six months of living expenses in the bank before you launch. I would say at least double that just to play it safe, because for about the first year of this company I wasn't really making anything myself. I was living on what I had and what I could afford to pay myself, but it wasn't much.
NAN: What's next for Tech to Us?
GUY: Our goal is to grow our B2B managed IT services. That's our big focus. Not that everything else is less valuable to us, but we got that figured out and we're doing well with it.
Our next phase as we continue to grow will be eventually adding even more higher-level technicians to help us handle our increased number of projects. We're seeing continued growth in our managed IT services that would definitely cause us to need such qualified people.
Our local presence as a full managed IT services firm is proving to be in demand as we service businesses in Connecticut and the surrounding states.
It sounds so simple, right? But how often do we not keep our word?
I recently had an eye-opening interaction with a new LinkedIn connection. We had agreed to meet for coffee and she cancelled a half hour before our appointment, saying she was in a client meeting that may run long.
I told her there was no need to reschedule our meeting and emphasized that cancelling an appointment 30 minutes prior, after I had booked that time out of my schedule, was in poor taste and showed a lack of respect for my time.
She responded by saying running a business is her main focus, therefore meeting clients and making money were more important than keeping an appointment with me.
I explained to her that the key to creating a successful business is doing what you say you're going to do, all the time, even if you see that thing as small or insignificant. And I told her that a business owner's most precious commodity is time. When you don't show respect for someone's time, they won't want a relationship with you.
She ended up disconnecting with me. By being so dismissive, she'll never know who I could have introduced her to and the profound effect it could have had on her business. Not to sound harsh, but I believe her new business will fail. I'm sure cancelling a meeting is not the only time she's had a lack of integrity with her word.
Unfortunately, many business owners have no idea how damaging it is to relationships and our businesses when we don't keep our word.
The entire incident really got me thinking. I began to wonder how often I don't keep my word. How often do I make a promise and then not follow through?
It can be something small, like promising to call a person on a certain day, but I don't do it. Or promising to email someone information by a certain date, but I don't do it.
It's scary when you think about it. Every time we don't keep our word, it's a withdrawal from the emotional and trusting bank account. But we seem to break promises all the time.
What happens when you don't follow through on your promises?
You hurt the people around you and damage relationships.
People stop believing you and taking you seriously.
You potentially lose out on great opportunities.
You get a lot less done than you would if you kept your word.
Your business could be financially harmed.
I'm sure the list could go on.
It also dawns on me that the person we most often break promises with is ourselves. We let ourselves down all the time. We make big plans to eat better, get in shape, work harder on our businesses, and so forth. But then something usually comes up and we go back on our word. Or we make excuses as to why we couldn't do it.
We usually don't mean to break promises. Something comes up or we just flat out forget. I'm sure there's typically no malice intended when we don't follow through. We almost always mean it when we make a promise. Perhaps we simply don't put enough emphasis keeping our word. We don't realize how significant and important it is.
When you're known as someone who keeps their word, it will help your business flourish. It will keep your relationships strong. People will trust you and refer others to you. It plays a huge role in the success or failure of businesses.
Start keeping track of the promises you make, especially the promises to yourself. Write them down if you need to. Even if it's something small like, "I'll call you tomorrow," keep track of it.
Keep track of how often you don't keep the promise. This isn't so you can punish yourself, it's just to show that you're probably breaking your word more often than you think.
Don't allow yourself any excuses for breaking your word. It's very easy to get into the, "I would have done it but…" routine. If you decide to take ownership for all of it, you'll become better and keeping promises.
Start small and practice keeping your word. Don't expect miracles overnight. Keeping your word is a habit that needs to be nurtured and practiced. Practice on seemingly insignificant things.
When you become great at keeping promises to yourself and others, you'll see dramatic improvements in yourself and your business. Your confidence increases. Your performance improves. Your relationships improve. And people will see you as someone who knows how to get things done.
I understand that it's a lot of work. Creating a new habit always is. But if there's one simple shift you can make that starts showing results immediately, it's keeping your word.
Michael Keiser promises he is Co-Founder of coaching, marketing, and advisory company The Entrepreneur Circle and Co-Founder of management consulting startup BKV Solutions.
WHAT CAN THESE BUSINESSES TEACH ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS ABOUT SUCCESS?
Connecticut, the constitution state, nutmeg state, and provisions state. While you may associate the third smallest state in the United States with all those things, it's time add another to the list: Connecticut, the business state.
These five Connecticut-based may provide the inspiration for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.
That's right, the sports TV behemoth that 8/10 Americans have in their home began in Connecticut.
Founded by father and son Bill (father) son Scott (son) Rasmussen, after Bill was fired from his job at World Hockey Association's New England Whalers, ESPN's first base was Bristol, CT. (Learn more: CT Legends of Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Bill Rasmussen, Founder ESPN).
The station launched with a live broadcast of their flagship show SportsCenter on September 7, 1979, which was viewed by more than a million Americans.
Nearly 40 years on, ESPN is a billion-dollar company that screens all manner of sports and has become firmly entrenched in American culture.
So what lessons does ESPN offer for budding Connecticut entrepreneurs?
The Rasmussens quickly sought investment and sponsorship for their business: Getty Oil bought 85% of the company and Anheuser-Busch signed a million-dollar advertising contract before ESPN has screened its first show.
While you may not want to relinquish control of your business, seeking financial assistance from outside sources could give you the security to make your vision a reality.
When you think about flying, the first thing that comes into your head is probably a plane. But not all flight involves sitting on a Boeing aisle seat. For some, flight means airships and that's the case with Airship Management Services (AMS).
In operation since the start of the 1990s, the Greenwich, CT-based AMS has sold its services across the globe. The company has operated its airships in Argentina, Australia, Canada, the Dominican Republic, throughout Europe, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, and extensively in the United States.
What inspiration can you draw from AMS when setting up your business?
We're living in a global world and globalization has received a lot of airtime. While it's not a new concept, it's one you should keep in mind when getting your business up and running.
Start local, but think global, that's the inspiration you can take from AMS.
Duracell was founded by scientist Samuel Ruben and businessman Philip Mallory in the 1920s. The two began by producing batteries for military equipment. Their innovative mercury design set them apart from their carbon-zinc based peers and helped Duracell assume control of the market.
Headquartered in Bethel, CT, the company's revenue registers more than $2 billion, making Duracell one of the success stories of the business state.
First, bringing a new technology to your industry can see you gobble up the market. If you can move the goalposts then you can dictate the terms of the game being played in your industry.
Second, brilliant marketing can take you into the stratosphere—the Duracell bunny is one of the most iconic advertising vehicles of its time.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is one of the fastest growing industries, with the market expected to reach more than $116 billion in 2018, up from $5.56 billion in 2008.
Based in Norwalk, CT, etouches has been running since 1998 and is one of the 100 fastest growing SaaS companies in the world. Its 11.59% six-month growth rate places the company at number 93.
etouches provides an event management and meetings platform, which data-driven organizations use to optimize events, and counts Coca-Cola, and Dell among the major corporations that uses its software.
First, think about whether your own business is able to offer a registration service that can be integrated into the model of other companies. If you can do this, then your company can secure customers that use your business on an ongoing, rather than one-off, basis.
Second, if you have built your business website using Shopify, you can add etouches to your website by using Blendr.io's data integration platform. This can help you further optimize events for your business, meaning you can extract every ounce of value from them.
Completing the quintet of successful Connecticut businesses is the "largest single-brand restaurant chain and restaurant operator in the world." And it's not McDonald's. It's also not Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell, or Pizza Hut.
It's Subway. That says a lot about a company that Fred DeLuca started in 1965 with a $1,000 loan from a friend.
What can you learn from Subway's business model?
Milford, CT-based Subway owes its success to franchising its brand. Unlike McDonald's, which owns and operates every store that bears its name, Subway let individuals set up their own business under the Subway brand.
This is a low-risk model that means when a restaurant fails it is the restaurant owner who feels the cost. However, when they succeed, Subway takes a slice of the profits.
If you can create a franchise then you can reduce the risk financial of failure, while retaining the benefits that come from success. Find out how you can set up a franchise business.
These five Connecticut-based businesses created a success story, each of which can help you become a mover and a shaker within the entrepreneurial community and a part of the business state.
Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. On her blog, VictoriaEcommerce, she shares tips about how new business owners can get their brand off the ground. Victoris is passionate about using her experience to help fellow entrepreneurs succeed.
This piece by Ken Cook originally appeared in the Hartford Business Journal September 25, 2017.
Ken Cook is the Co-Founder of How to Who.
There is a great deal of focus lately on the gig economy and gig entrepreneurs. Uber and Airbnb are two obvious examples of the popularity of independence as a gig entrepreneur. I was speaking with a friend recently and her son is a prime example of a niche gig entrepreneur.
He is a specialized pipe fitter. His skills place him in high demand with defense contractors, energy companies, pipeline companies, and the like. In essence, he travels in an RV to his next job. Not a bad gig for someone who is single and enjoys the independence.
The downside to being a gig entrepreneur is that many of them fail or barely get by. The reasons for failure are as varied as the number of failures. If you are an Uber driver or Airbnb host, you better excel at service, cleanliness, responsiveness and a total focus on the customer. Otherwise, poor ratings will doom you early in the game. The pipe fitter needs to continually be at the top of his game; without that his value diminishes over time.
Successful gig entrepreneurs usually have three things in common—clarity of concept and execution, a value people pay for, and a focus on relationships.
Clarity of concept and execution—it requires a clear value proposition that is easily understood and experienced. The pipe fitter has a clearly defined skill that is easily understood by those who need that skill. The Airbnb host whose accommodations are first class meets a primary need customers have, and earns rave reviews. The Uber driver who makes the trip memorable, even if it's memorable because it is smooth and anxiety free, builds a fan base.
If you want to be a successful gig entrepreneur, you need to address the overarching question any customer would have. Why you? That requires clarity of concept and execution.
A value people pay for—you must find someone who will pay for what you offer. After all, this is what business is all about. Develop a product or service to the point that it is sellable at a profit, and then go make some money.
Underlying this principle is an understanding of the market you want to serve. Any gig entrepreneur can start in one of two places—with a unique product or service, or by identifying a market need not being met. In either case, a marriage needs to occur. The gig entrepreneur needs to marry a need with a solution, hopefully a solution that would be unique to them.
The pipe fitter is in a select group. The Airbnb host might be, depending on the accommodations they offer. The Uber driver, not so much a select group. In each instance, the value offered is a direct result of the uniqueness of the marriage of offering and need.
Customers recognize value and are willing to pay for it, especially when it satisfies a unique need. More importantly, customers know when something is a commodity. Commodity offerings are evaluated mostly on price.
Bottom line: Up the value of the offering in the context of the needs being met.
Focus on relationships. No one gets there alone. The pipe fitter needs relationships and champions in the industries he serves. The Airbnb host and Uber driver form relationships with every guest or passenger they serve. They also form relationships with the Airbnb and Uber platform personnel.
All of these relationships are critical to the ongoing success for any gig entrepreneur. Satisfied customers are one thing. Satisfied customers who become fans and tell others is an entirely different category of relationship. Someone becomes a fan when the relationship evolves beyond just the transaction. Take the time to build a stronger relationship with every satisfied customer.
The cumulative strength of one's relationships dictates how smooth the path is to new business and growth. A gig entrepreneur should market themselves first through their relationships. Build strong relationships and leverage those fan relationships for growth.
Ken Cook is the Co-Founder of How to Who, a program about how to build strong relationships and how to build business through those relationships. Learn more at www.howtowho.com or follow on Twitter @How2Who.
Tanya Maher is Managing Director of Supporting Strategies|Hartford Connecticut.
Tanya Maher, Managing Director of Supporting Strategies|Hartford Connecticut, spoke about her experience of owning a franchise and the importance of networking.
NAN PRICE: When did the entrepreneurial bug hit you? Did you always know you were going to do your own business?
TANYA MAHER: I never thought I would be a business owner. I worked corporate jobs and I was a stay-at-home mom for a while. Once my kids were older, I was ready to return to work. But I had parameters. I wanted to work part time and I wanted to work in my field, which is accounting.
It was difficult to find a position; however, I found that and more at Supporting Strategies. I went to work for the Boston office in July 2015.
NP: What prompted your transition from part-time work to owning a franchise?
TM: I knew the company was offering franchise opportunities. I just didn't think it was the right thing for me to do. I was just getting back into the workforce.
I worked for Supporting Strategies for about nine months and had an opportunity to talk to the Founder and CEO, Leslie Jorgensen, at the annual office outing that March.
I told her how much I love the business model. We tap an employment market that is underserved. Mostly women work for us because we only offer part-time employment. We offer a full suite of accounting services to business owners that includes controllership regardless of the level of work we do for them. We are truly their partners, supporting the success of their business.
Most of the people who work for Supporting Strategies have their CPA or their MBA. They are generally stay-at-home moms who are either trying to exit the workforce because they want a better work/life balance, or—like I was—they're trying to get back into it. Through Supporting Strategies they find work in their field, and are able to use their skills and do so on a flexible basis working from home.
I remember telling Leslie I was jealous that she came up with this business idea instead of me. She pointed out that there were franchise opportunities in my area. So there was a seed that existed. She sprinkled a little rain and sunshine on it.
NP: She grew an entrepreneur!
TM: Exactly! I remember leaving the outing with so many questions: Can I do it? Should I do it? What would go wrong? How would it affect my family? What do I need to put in place for a support system to make it work?
I already knew the product, the services we offered, the people we hired, and the technology we used—all of that works really well. I just didn't know if I could make it work as a business owner.
What it just came down to was my thinking: I need to bring this to Hartford because it's not in Hartford. It can't be anybody else. It has to be me.
NP: You really saw an opportunity.
TM: Yes. Opportunities present themselves. It's just a matter of seeing them as real opportunities.
So I went for it. March 2016 was when I decided I wanted to own the franchise. I opened my doors on May 1.
NP: Tell us a little about what it's like to own a franchise.
TM: Every franchise is set up differently. In my circumstance, the support I get from the corporate office includes marketing, recruiting, mentoring, a workflow tool, and IT and system support. For recruiting, the company will screen resumes and screen candidates. If candidates meet certain criteria, they get presented to me and I decide if I'd like to interview them.
Aside from that support, everything else is me. So I have to do the business development. I negotiate with clients. They are my clients. I do all my billing. I pay my own bills. It really is my own business. I'm taking Supporting Strategies' model, technology, processes, and mission and putting that into my business. I also have to hire and train my employees.
NP: How many employees do you have?
TM: I currently have two. I'm hiring another, which is exciting because I really need a manager to take control of the service delivery aspect of the business so I can just focus on business development.
NP: Tell us what's unique about owning a franchise within Supporting Strategies.
TM: All the employees work from home. Nobody works in an office. They don't have to go visit their clients. And what we do for our clients is more than what a traditional bookkeeper can provide to them. Because of our experience and background, they get more of a consultant when it comes to accounting operations. We set up their accounting systems, identify technology, and improve their processes so that it will be efficient.
When you think about it, entrepreneurs usually don't have a big staff. Many companies outsource a lot. There's a lot of technology they can leverage to help them control costs. And that's one of the things we offer.
Our goal is to help our clients grow. We look to streamline as much as possible within our clients' organizations so we save them money.
Also, we have a really great collaborative community where we help solve each other's problems. Because the other franchise owners' success is my success and vice versa. We really want to bring the most that we can to our clients. And helping our clients grow their business contributes to the overall economy.
NP: Although it's a franchise do you consider it a startup?
TM: I do very much so.
NP: What are some startup challenges you've faced?
TM: When I said we get support from marketing, Supporting Strategies doesn't advertise at all. The real challenge in a startup is getting your name out there and letting people know you're here and what you do.
That's where you start with the networking events. The only way to do it is to go to Chambers of Commerce and join networking groups to let everyone know that you are here.
Because our referral partners are largely CPAs and other business to business services companies, the hope is to get introduced to people within these firms that don't offer small business accounting to let them know we are here, we offer another option—and we're not a traditional bookkeeper.
You build your clientele that way. So really that's the biggest challenge, is getting in the door. Letting people know we're here and we're new—this is something you haven't seen before.
NP: Because you were coming into a franchise, did you have to tap into any of Connecticut's startup resources?
TM: I didn't have to raise capital. The idea and the brand were already there. The website was already there. And the processes were already there. That's a large part of what franchising is all about. A franchisor has the package. You buy the package, implement it, run it, and you make it successful.
NP: Let's talk about your future goals.
TM: One of the things I want to do is to partner with startup organizations like reSET. I admire how they support entrepreneurs. I'd like to speak or offer a workshop that explains what startups and entrepreneurs need to know in terms of bookkeeping.
NP: And that would be something you would do pro bono just to give back?
TM: Yes. A lot of these entrepreneurs—including me—go into business having to wear many hats. And you don't necessarily have the skills to wear all of those hats.
NP: I've definitely heard that before.
TM: I'm sure. It's really important to understand the value of hiring an expert to do some things for you so you can then focus on what you do best.
This is why I am hiring a manager now! I'm doing all things and I can't do all things.
The other thing I am doing within the business community is to bring education to business owners. I will be providing a half- or full-day business boot camp where I'll bring in different speakers from all different business aspects to help educate local business owners.
I'm really excited about that because then it's getting people connected. And also the business owners will walk away with practical advice they can immediately use in their businesses.
NP: Can you tell us about the business trajectory?
TM: We are doing really well. Supporting Strategies currently has 37 franchise owners across the country who collectively own 57 offices. Some people own more than one office. It's pretty big and we're getting bigger.
I recently received a growth award at our annual meeting. It was really fantastic because I've only been doing this a year. So I'm really excited and I just want to build the team and continue to bring in clients.
Sometimes I still ask myself: Am I really doing this? Because I really like it. I'm feeling very fulfilled in what I'm doing. I'm hoping we really become a bigger part of the community within the Hartford area.
Learn more about Supporting Strategies Hartford Connecticut by visiting www.supportingstrategies.com/hartford-ct and follow on Facebook and Twitter @SupportingStrat.


text:
Browse Definitions Electronics
superconducting quantum interference device
A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is a mechanism used to measure extremely weak signals, such as subtle changes in the human body's electromagnetic energy field. Using a device called a Josephson junction, a SQUID can detect a change of energy as much as 100 billion times weaker than the electromagnetic energy that moves a compass needle. A Josephson junction is made up of two superconductors, separated by an insulating layer so thin that electrons can pass through. A SQUID consists of tiny loops of superconductors employing Josephson junctions to achieve superposition: each electron moves simultaneously in both directions. Because the current is moving in two opposite directions, the electrons have the ability to perform as qubits (that theoretically could be used to enable quantum computing). SQUIDs have been used for a variety of testing purposes that demand extreme sensitivity, including engineering, medical, and geological equipment. Because they measure changes in a magnetic field with such sensitivity, they do not have to come in contact with a system that they are testing.
SQUIDs are usually made of either a lead alloy (with 10% gold or indium) and/or niobium, often consisting of the tunnel barrier sandwiched between a base electrode of niobium and the top electrode of lead alloy. A radio frequency (RF) SQUID is made up of one Josephson junction, which is mounted on a superconducting ring. An oscillating current is applied to an external circuit, whose voltage changes as an effect of the interaction between it and the ring. The magnetic flux is then measured. A direct current (DC) SQUID, which is much more sensitive, consists of two Josephson junctions employed in parallel so that electrons tunneling through the junctions demonstrate quantum interference, dependent upon the strength of the magnetic field within a loop. DC SQUIDs demonstrate resistance in response to even tiny variations in a magnetic field, which is the capacity that enables detection of such minute changes.
One of the device's most promising uses is in magnetoencephalography (MEG), the process of measuring magnetic fields to enable brain imaging. Physical processes, such as muscular or neural activity, in humans (and other animals) create magnetic fields as small as a thousand billionth of a tesla (as a comparison, a fridge magnet generates about a tenth of a tesla). DC SQUIDs, contained in a helmet-like device, measure the currents created by neural activity. The possible SQUID neuroscience applications are myriad. A recent study used SQUID-enabled magnetoencephalography to measure the surprisingly large level of activity in consumer's brains that is evoked by choosing between (for example) brands of ketchup.
This was last updated in April 2007
Continue Reading About superconducting quantum interference device
Wikipedia has an article about SQUID.
logic gate (AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XNOR)
A logic gate is an elementary building block of a digital circuit. There are seven basic logic gates: AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND, ... See complete definition
NOR flash memory is one of two types of non-volatile storage technologies. See complete definition
teleoperations (telerobotics)
Teleoperation, also called telerobotics, is the technical term for the remote control of a robot. See complete definition


This centre is situated on the campus of the Eastern Institute of Technology (E.I.T). It is a large facility licensed for 61 children, including 20 infants.
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You are here: Home / Autumn 2019 / Artist Profile: Kerry Bruce
Artist Profile: Kerry Bruce
KERRY BRUCE CHALLENGES THE NOTION OF THE SOLITARY ARTIST, SHARING HER PASSION FOR CREATING VIBRANT FLORAL CANVASES WITH WORKSHOPS RUN THROUGH HER GALLERY IN SOUTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES. HELEN MCKENZIE WRITES.
THERE ARE ARTISTS who have chosen their field for the solitude it can offer and there are others for whom sharing their love of the craft is second nature. Artist Kerry Bruce fits firmly into the second category, demonstrating an unwavering and infectious exuberance in all aspects of her artistic life.
Sunflowers. KERRY BRUCE ART jpg
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RoseBloom_KERRY BRUCE ART -ArtEdit
Kerry's work is bright, vibrant and bold. Whether she is painting abstraction, life figures, flowers or Curly the cow, Kerry uses lush paint that drips from the canvas. Colour is key. "I have a passion for colour and exploring texture," the artist elaborates. "I love to work with my tones, exploring every moment and twist and turn when I am creating."
Always in demand and with a practice that includes taking commissions, Kerry's paintings are now finding homes not just in Australia, but also in England and France.
Kerry can't quite remember when she first started painting; or rather she can't remember a time when she didn't. As a little girl she loved to draw horses and other animals, sitting alongside her mother – also an artist – while she painted.
From her studio in the verdant hills of Mount Kembla on the New South Wales south coast, Kerry hosts art retreats and workshops for between six and eight students at a time. The studio, Kerry explains, has "long white walls on one side, with space for the students to work from built-in easels. On the other side of the studio there are big clear windows that overlook the paddock and the creek. It is a tranquil place to nurture and encourage other artists."
True to form, Kerry has recently added yet another artistic venture to her busy schedule: a gallery that she has co-founded in the nearby country town of Gerringong. Fern Street Gallery is a space where Kerry is able to show her own and other local artists' work, a move that sits well with her philosophy of sharing a love for art.
Despite her round-the-clock schedule, Kerry finds her happiest moments in the early morning, music playing, light streaming through the window, alone in her studio with a bunch of freshly picked roses from the garden. The artist says that her painting day starts with "coffee and a charcoal sketch to get warmed up. I abstract the flowers into my style and then it's onto the big canvas with the same approach, building up my layers and finishing with big, juicy roses with lots of paint and energy. It's when I indulge in colour, surrender to the process and let the freedom of creativity flow."
Artist Profile: Karen Napaljarri Barnes
Karen Napaljarri Barnes captures the unique beauty and charming personalities in Australian fauna.
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/karen_napaljarri_barnes_feature.jpg 900 1600 Kirsty Sier /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Kirsty Sier2019-11-28 01:59:482019-11-15 16:08:48Artist Profile: Karen Napaljarri Barnes
Artist Profile: Jenny Bennett
Intuition and inspiration from her surroundings govern Judith Laws' colourist practice in equal measure.
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Judith-Laws-feature.jpg 900 1600 Kirsty Sier /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Kirsty Sier2019-11-27 23:45:112019-12-10 16:07:36Artist Profile: Jenny Bennett
Artist Profile: Mardi Cavana
Mardi Cavana talks about finding the beauty in everyday scenes of urban decay and degradation.
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/mardi-cavana-rust-acrylic-on-canvas-122cmx91.5cm-photographer-credit-Bree-Bain.jpg 900 1600 Kirsty Sier /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Kirsty Sier2019-11-27 23:44:502019-11-15 16:49:37Artist Profile: Mardi Cavana
Artist Profile: Wayne Malkin
For artist and gallerist Wayne Malkin, art is his whole life.
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Wayne-Malkin-Obi-Obi-Creek-Maleny-oil-on-canvas-45x100cm-photo-courtesy-the-artist-2.jpg 900 1600 Kirsty Sier /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Kirsty Sier2019-11-27 23:42:432019-11-20 11:47:29Artist Profile: Wayne Malkin
Artist Profile: Mandy Emerson
Self-taught artist Mandy Emerson relishes in rich colours and textures, imbuing her work with life.
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Fragrant-Aroma's-mixed-media-80x80cm-1700.jpg 900 1600 Kirsty Sier /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Kirsty Sier2019-11-27 23:36:592019-11-15 16:40:54Artist Profile: Mandy Emerson
Artist Profile: Tea Erocles
Artist Tea Erocles champions the natural world in her bid to make others smile.
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/06.Irises-under-the-Iceberg-roses-40x40-inc-�1200-copy.jpg 900 1600 Kirsty Sier /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Kirsty Sier2019-11-27 23:31:222019-11-20 11:38:11Artist Profile: Tea Erocles
Zooneeta
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/BettyCollierZooneettaLowRes.jpg 4000 3000 Betty /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Betty2019-05-30 10:53:292019-11-26 13:04:06Zooneeta
Your Flowers of Love
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Your-Flowers-of-Love-scaled.jpg 3048 2263 Christabel /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Christabel2018-10-05 15:06:552019-11-27 17:08:44Your Flowers of Love
Yellow Tailed Cockatoo
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Kathryn-Lewis-yellow-tailed-cockatoo-1.jpg 1958 2000 Kathryn /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Kathryn2018-08-09 14:33:332019-11-27 17:16:40Yellow Tailed Cockatoo
Yellow Sorrento
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CHRISTINE-WEBB_Yellow-Sorrento_167x101cm_e_edited-1.jpg 510 839 Christine /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Christine2019-04-17 17:36:302019-11-26 16:18:05Yellow Sorrento
Yellow Ridge
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Yellow-Ridge-2-106x100cm-.jpeg-5.3MG-3200.jpeg 5884 5832 Sandra /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Sandra2019-07-02 17:20:562019-11-26 10:58:51Yellow Ridge
Yellow is Yummy
https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/YELLOW-IS-YUMMY.jpg 2328 2211 Heidi /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Art-Edit-Magazine.png Heidi2019-07-11 09:48:172019-11-26 10:58:13Yellow is Yummy
Artist Profile: Tricia Trinder Artist Profile: Jessie Pitt


Woodward told district officials that activity stopped in 2001 and believed a man who knew her was retaliating against her by alerting the district, according to the report.
"I've been trying to live my life as far away as possible from this stuff for a long time," she told officials, according to the report. She said no students, colleagues or supervisors were aware of her previous career.


Limpopo Treasury hereby invites applications for internship opportunities that currently exist at our offices in Polokwane. The duration of the internship is 24 months, commencing on 1 April 2019. Interested graduates with relevant qualifications are invited to apply.
• Applicants who have not yet received their qualifications must provide academic transcripts or letters confirming that they have completed their studies.
• Successful candidates will be subjected to security vetting.
Limpopo Treasury is an equal opportunity employer and will consider applications from graduates of all race groups. People with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Applications must be submitted on Z83, and accompanied by a detailed CV, certified copies of qualifications and Identity Document.
Applications must be posted to: The Head of Department, Limpopo Provincial Treasury, Private Bag x9486, Polokwane 0700 OR hand delivered at 46 Hans van Rensburg Street, Polokwane 0699.


With the multitude of seasonal allergens to choose from, it's no wonder that allergies tend to be a large topic of conversation.
Air born allergens include seasonal pollens such as cedar trees, grass, and weeds. As an added bonus year-round allergens such as molds, vehicle exhaust, dust mites, pet dander, and insect parts can be added to the list. Seasonal allergies can cause a great deal of discomfort with non-native plants and trees, temperature changes, and winds carrying pollen.
As far back as the 2nd century BC, Oriental medicine (OM) techniques such as acupuncture, herbs, and dietary recommendations have been used to provide relief from the environment and create balance in the body. Today we know that acupuncture can modulate levels of cytokines and anti-inflammatory mediators as well as regulate the immune system's overall response when too weak or overly active.
In conventional medicine, allergies are an increased response to an antigen or substances that can enter the body and stimulate it to create antibodies called IgE which bind to allergens. Mast cells then release histamine which cause symptoms (heat, pain, swelling, redness, itchiness, etc).
It is important to note that air born allergens are a localized immune system (wei qi) blockage that tends to cause symptoms in the head such as itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose, post nasal drip, headaches, ear congestion, throat irritation and/or occasional body fatigue. While the common cold (gan mao) tends to include most of the head symptoms but will also carry on to body aches, chills, fever, and for some digestive disturbances.
In addition to these already uncomfortable symptoms, underlying factors can also contribute to this immune system burden (e.g. food sensitivities, chemical additives to foods, tobacco smoke, chemicals in the home or workplace, medications, or even hormonal fluctuations).
Allergic rhinitis is the body's immune system over-responding to non-infectious particles in the air. Symptoms include the development of sinusitis, eustachian tube dysfunction, chronic otitis media, and anosmia (inability to smell).
Sinusitis is inflammation or swelling of the sinuses and typically happens after having allergic rhinitis. This happens when sinuses become blocked and fill with mucous that can harbor bacteria, viruses, or mold causing an infection.
Both rhinitis and sinusitis can lead to less productivity at work and more doctor visits.
Some people may exhibit increased allergy sensitivities. For example, people who have fibromyalgia are more aware and some pregnant women in their second trimester may experience increased allergic symptoms and hypersensitivity to their environment and medications.
Allopathic medications can help in acute conditions but tend to mask symptoms and come with a slew of side effects. Many patients turn to antihistamine relief at the first sign of allergies and are quickly prescribed antibiotics for nasal rhinitis.
Antihistamines are designed to treat allergies and relieve respiratory symptoms by blocking the effects of histamine, which is a not a natural process, as they affect ALL mucous membranes and can dry them out. Common antihistamines, such as Benadryl, tend to dry up body fluids (jin ye).
Other medication side effects include drowsiness, epistaxis (nose bleeds), and nasal dryness in addition to normal allergy symptoms. Steroids (oral, topical, inhaled) can reduce inflammation but foster overgrowth of yeast. Prolonged or inappropriate use of antibiotics can lead to immune deficiencies, digestive disturbances, and chronic fatigue.
The cause (pathogenic factors) of allergies is a relative idea. OM pays considerable attention to the symptoms of pathogenic factors (allergens), which are related to body constitution and lifestyle factors.
Food sensitivities or allergies, blood sugar fluctuations and stress can tax the energetic kidneys (adrenals) and create a cortisol imbalance. This depletion leads to inflammation in the body which may manifest as pain, tightness, fatigue, and water retention leading to poor digestion and lowered immunity.
Compromised digestion and immunity invite our external environment and seasonal allergens to easily allow for viral and bacterial infections to take hold.
Acupuncture Treatments help to moderate the body's response to allergens and help create a healthy immune response. Although an appropriate diagnosis of a person's presenting pattern is important, there are specific allergy points located in the ears and important points on the hand, feet, head & face. In addition to needles cupping, moxibustion and herbs play a strong role in improving the way you feel.
Herbal Treatments, which are easily modifiable, also support the immune response and continue to help as a daily therapy to complement acupuncture treatments.
A common Chinese formula, Jade Wind Screen Yu Ping Feng San, is helpful for year round allergy sufferers who tend to have a weakened immune response, characteristically tend to catch cold easily and are sick longer than normal. It can be administered two months before specific seasons as well as during.
If you have a seasonal allergy don't wait until symptoms occur to start receiving acupuncture and herbal treatments. Starting treatments at least two months prior will prepare and support the immune system for the season to come.
Check daily pollen counts before leaving your home.
Whenever possible exercise *indoors in moderate temperatures. Also avoid haze and smog, weather changes and exhaust fumes from vehicles.
Avoid processed sugars – sugar decreases immune function and increases inflammation.
Reduce your internal load: In your home and work spaces use non-toxic, low residue paint and household cleaners. When looking for body products buy aluminum free, low in chemical and perfume additives. Clean and dust often, and change out air filters regularly.
HEPA filters in central air or free-standing filters are beneficial.
Moderate emotional factors – crying, yelling and distress – all cause increases in cortisol, which in compromise immune function.
An external natural approach is a nasal saline lavage, such as a netipot. It has minor decongestant benefits and improves mucociliary function in both allergic and non-allergic rhinitis. To avoid contamination from faucets, use distilled water and follow instructions that the product provides.
*Note: mold spores are found indoors too.


I am guilty of comma abuse. I remember learning about commas in grade school, but there are several things I have forgotten from all those years ago. To stick with our theme of editing, this post is an effort to stop the abuse of commas!
Understanding what is a dependent and an independent clause is important in saving commas from mistreatment. What is the difference?
Independent clause means the clause can stand alone. It has a verb and subject and is a complete thought.
Example: I like to write. – this example has a subject (I) and a verb (write) and shows a complete thought.
A dependent clause needs another clause to make it work. It depends on another clause to make it a complete thought. It may have a verb and a subject but it still needs a conjunction or preposition to make it a complete thought.
Example: While I was asleep, my dog ate my homework.
While I was asleep is the dependent clause – The dependent clause has a verb (asleep) and a subject (I) it lacks a complete thought. While I was asleep is dependent because it needs more to tell me what the heck happened while I was asleep.
A comma splice happens when you connect two independent clauses with a comma instead of with a conjunction or other appropriate punctuation.
WRONG: I like to write, my novel is almost complete.
I like to write is an independent clause. My novel is almost complete is also an independent clause. These two complete thoughts are "spliced together" by the comma. In this case, you would not use a comma but a period to separate the two independent clauses they are two stand-alone sentences complete in subject, verb and complete thought.
CORRECT: I like to write. My novel is almost complete.
A conjunction is just what it sounds like, a word that links (joins) together words, phrases, and clauses. Example of conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet. One way to remember a coordinating conjunction with the acronym (FANBOY).
When a sentence uses a coordinating conjunction put the comma before the conjunction.
WRONG: I like to write and my novel is near completion.
CORRECT: I like to write, and my novel is near completion.
One more note: As with most rules, there are times the rules do not apply. Some writers omit the comma if the two independent clauses are balanced.
Example: Dave can field the ball but he can't run.
While a comma before the "but" isn't needed. This is because the two independent clauses are balanced. However, adding a comma would still be correct.
Okay, I these are the two common mistakes I see the most in editing mine and others work. I know grammar can be overwhelming (a bit boring as well), but understanding it makes for better writing. Tomorrow, I will share a few things we should be doing with our commas.
When you have two independent clauses with NO connecting words would be the correct time to use a semi-colon.
It was hard to come up with an example because connecting words naturally flow for most writers. This is probably why I was once told that if you need a semi-colon you should reconsider reworking your words.
Another time to use semi-colons is when joining two independent clauses with conjunctive adverbs (this is an adverb that joins independent clauses) such as moreover, therefore, otherwise, however, thus etc.


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American Pets (2018)
High in the hills, among the last remnants of Hollywood's golden age, Tod, 24, and his sister Lani, 22, live a breezy and charmed life in the sprawling mansion of their grandmother Judy, a former movie star now relegated to hosting a dying home shopping show. Tod's carefree and narcissistic existence takes a dark turn when he accidentally (perhaps) shoots Judy, killing her instantly. Desperate to maintain his decadent lifestyle, Tod hatches a diabolical plan to cover-up his Grandma's death, keep her show rolling, and keep the money flowing. After seducing Barb, Judy's producer, Tod convinces her to allow Lani to host the show in Judy's "absence." The ploy works, and the ratings go up. Tod kicks his cover-up into high gear - he turns his attention to Jacob (25), the mansion's handyman, who also happens to be his sister's boy toy. Jacob is the one person that can help Tod put the finishing touches on his evil opus. Surviving a long string of close shaves, Tod manages to outwit everyone,...
Actors: Rhys Wakefield, Lesley Ann Warren
Directors: Robert Logevall
Writers: Abram Makowka
Runtime: 1h 18min
American Pets
American Pets Free Online
American Pets Movie Online
American Pets Online Free
American Pets Full Movie
Watch American Pets Online Free
Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Kung Fu Season 3
Apple Tree Yard Season 1
Mad Genius (2017)
Birds of Paradise (2021)
Everybody Hates Chris Season 4
The Durrells in Corfu Season 4
Bloodhound (2020)
Dragon Blade (2015)
Locke & Key Season 3
Interpreters: a C & Earth Chronicle - quantum 1 (2019)
Swan Song (2021)
The Perfect Guy (2015)
I'll See You Around (2019)
Deadly Illusions (2021)
Senna (2010)


Discussion in 'General Vaporiser Talk' started by Braki, 10/2/19.
Yeah I been quiet I know. Been a hell of a few months and it hasn't calmed down. But still going strong.
Getting the hubby off the stinkies.
Twisp Cue: Threw it in the drawer cause the pods keeps leaking. And didn't give the satisfaction.
Pico with RTA: With DIY tobacco juice. Lasted longer than a weekend. No go.
Breeze Aspire: Borrowed from @Hooked . He doesn't like the size and the look.
VGod Cubano Stig Disposable Pod: We got a close winner. It says (60mg/ml Nic). He says it can work, but he is going to use it a lot to get the cravings to go away for a stinkie. So the pod isnt going to last him more than a day.
Any advice will be great now please. I'm really desperate for him to stop.
Gave it a look and a vape. He went for the Vgod Stig. Which means we getting somewhere.
I'm going to say something and other might agree with me or not, but after all those mods and he's not willing to stick with one of them for more than a week or two at least, then I don't think he is completely ready to give up the stinkies just yet.
Unless you go with the VGOD for a few weeks and keep the others as backup. Just for incase. Can always use them around the house.
Now this is perseverance, good luck to you @Braki and just don't stop trying, or take no for an answer.
Looking at what didn't work and what nearly worked, has he tried a reasonable or good MTL tank on the Pico with something like Havana Nights or RedWood by Pied Piper at maybe a 9 mg? Maybe you can split a bottle of 3 mg into 10 ml ones and nic up and have 1 of each 3,6,9 mg depending on the day he's having, or the one he likes. Once you get the juice you get the nic level and the satisfaction. Also, I'm thinking of something like a Siren 2, quite tight draw, or even a Innokin Ares MTL, a lot more airflow to reasonably tight on the Pico.
I personally don't do nic salts, but for some it works. Based on his behavior and routines imho that may be a bad idea. I can see a silver developing more than once a day before my eyes. I will think a bit more on this based on how I was, and what I felt and can hopefully come up with something.
At least your hubby is receptive to the idea of vapeing.As I've stated many times on forum my wife won't even consider vapeing and isn't the type to even try leaving her comfort zone.Don't give up.
Problem is that he is in the army working in the technical division. So he is very up and down stuff. So need something small that fits in the pocket. Like a MTL mod.
He is all for the idea of not having all the bad chemicals entering his body. So the pod system is drawing his attention more than the bigger mods and tanks. He came down to 4 cigarettes a day, but went back up since last week.
The will is there. The mind is not.
Perhaps you should release the pressure on him for a while. He may start of his own volition in a week or two. He can then see vaping as his own decision rather than one he was being forced into. He can then claim it as his own achievement. Just a thought. Men are very strange creatures.
@Braki, I agree with @Adephi here. The first target must be to get him to want to quit smoking, really want to. If someone doesn't truly want to stop smoking, then they'll always find a reason to go back to smoking. I know, I've been there. You have to try and convince him the he wants to quit smoking. After that, it get's much easier.
Thats the difficult part. How do I convince him that he wants to quit without pushing him?
@Braki you simply can't... just leave him be... after he realises you are no longer pressurising him he will do it on his own.
Hi @Braki. I agree that he must absolutely 100% want to quit smoking in order for anything to work. I made a goal for myself to stop smoking by the end of January 2019. Already got myself a mod (or two) and a Nord last year to see what vaping was all about and whether I liked it or not. I liked it so much that I am now more than a month off the stinkies. I use 48mg Nic Salts with the Nord 0.6ohm mesh coil,Yes it might not be the RIGHT thing to do, so I have been told, but it worked for me. I smoked more than 20 a day for 20 years and tried EVERYTHING else to quit smoking. I am now cutting down the nic. Good luck and remember it's gotta be HIS decision to quit.
I am not a fan of nic salts for various reasons, but nothing wrong with high nic in principle. Nicotine does not deserve the bad wrap it gets. I started off almost six years ago with 36 mg regular nic (as did quite a few others). It served me well for a week of transition plus another week. Then I moved to 24 mg for many a month. Eventually down to 12 mg (with one or two tobaccos still at 18 mg) for a few years now. Bear in mind that I only do MTL - DL would have probably seen me down far more, but I do not like the higher heat required. Bottom line - I am happy to stay at 12 mg for as long as required - it is still far far better than stinkies.
It could be, and I am speculating, your body adapting or it could be that your body does not like PG. Maybe try some Max VG juices and see if it makes a difference.
Try getting him a MTL tank. I'm currently using the OBS MTL cube kit. They cost around 900 bucks.
The tank takes a single rebuildable coil. I generally use vandy vape superfine MTL wire. 5 or 6 wraps ohm out at 0.8 and I vape anywhere between 20 to 25 watts.
I use 18mg freebase nicotine eliquid. It will give a simalar throat hit to a cig. If it's to week try 21mg or 24. If it's to strong try 12mg nic.
There are more and more juice makers coming out with freebase nicotine eliquid in higher concentrates. I prefer this over nic salts.
Perhaps his looking for that satisfaction as a posed to the smoothness of the nic salts.
The other issue with pod systems is that it's variable wattage. Having a device you can set helps allot to get his preference.
Goodluck. Hope he takes to something.
@Braki There's no way to get a person to stop outright unless they want to, of their own accord.
I was a 40 a day camel filter smoker (and pipe at night until I'd sleep around 3am, so call it 50 to 60 a day I guess).
The vape mods sat on the shelf unused, and then barely used, for months. Then I woke up one morning and told myself I'm not going to smoke today, I will vape and force myself to deal with it.
And that's when it worked.
You are on Fire! 9000 Postive Ratings!
@The vaper Could be that you're sucking in too much air, just like babies do. You need to be burped. Ask someone to hold you over their shoulder and rub your back. That should do the trick.
Welcome to ECIGSSA! Please take a moment and Register today!
ECIGSSA was formed in October 2013.
ECIGSSA has had a super growth and strong following with enthusiast vapers here in South Africa.
ECIGSSA need good hardware and software maintenance to keep it stable and current.


Brandon Dark was born in Indiana. His father was descended from the farms, his mother the factories. He grew up in South Florida. After finishing middle school and graduating high school in Broward County, he moved to Central Florida to attend the University of Central Florida. Upon graduating from UCF, Brandon left Central Florida to attend law school in Chicago at Loyola University Chicago's School of law. During law school, he competed with the school's Trial Team, developed and refined essential trial techniques and skills, and mentored underneath several of the Chicago area's established and successful trial attorneys, who shared with and taught him both the art and science of cross examination.
After finishing law school and becoming a member of the Florida Bar, Brandon joined the Orange County State Attorney's Office as an Assistant State Attorney. At the State Attorney's Office, he prosecuted criminal defendants, enforced criminal laws, and advocated on behalf of the State of Florida, as well as the victims of criminal misconduct. As a prosecutor, Brandon also independently prosecuted a high-volume felony caseload from intake to disposition, prepared numerous motions, delivered arguments in various types of circuit court hearings, conducted the depositions of both state and defense witnesses, and performed all phases of the trial process from jury selection to closing arguments.
In his first two years as a prosecutor, Brandon tried over 30 jury and non-jury trials to verdict as lead counsel. Before leaving the Orange County State Attorney's Office, he was promoted through five levels of prosecution, including county court misdemeanor, entry level circuit court felony, the juvenile bureau, the DUI unit, and the Drug Unit. Brandon attributes his success as a prosecutor to using both his life experience and trial practice skills, to effectively prosecute and successfully try numerous cases in front of juries, including DUI, Home Invasion Robbery, and Murder.
Brandon currently works as an associate attorney at The Fighter Law Firm in downtown Orlando. At the office, he handles a variety of cases involving criminal, appellate, and domestic relation matters. He also engages in civil litigation on behalf of medical professionals in the local community. Brandon is presently looking forward to his first oral argument before the Fifth District Court of Appeal in October, on an appeal he made on behalf of a man convicted of felony murder.
In his first two years as a private defense attorney, Brandon has been adept at quickly identifying issues with law enforcement's case and the State's evidence. Issues he uses to leverage the State of Florida into not filing criminal charges on unlawful arrests, dismissing poorly charged cases, or negotiating fair and just resolutions based on law enforcement's investigation, the State's evidence, and a client's potential exposure at trial.
NextTime for a Closet Makeover?