text:
Arena Events Group slashes losses as cost cuts, higher revenues bolster performance
StockMarketWire.com - Arena Events Group slashed its annual losses as cost cuts and higher revenues helped bolster performance.
For 2018, pre-tax losses narrowed to £1.6m from £3.1m a year earlier and revenue rose 24% to £135m. Adjusted earnings (EBITDA) grew by 16% to £12.1m.
The company proposed a final dividend of 1.0p per share, bringing total dividend for the year to 1.5p per share, an increase of 11%
'2018 was a year of continued progress and growth for the Group, both organically and through eight strategic acquisitions across our three regional divisions. Each of these acquisitions contributes towards our ambition of becoming the leading, most respected, integrated event solutions business in the world,' said Greg Lawless, Chief Executive Officer.
'We expect another year of growth in 2019 assisted by a full year's contribution from our eight acquisitions.' We will also continue to focus on completing the integration of the most recent acquisitions and supporting the new UK Management team with the implementation of identified operational improvements.'
'Furthermore in 2020, the return of the US Open, coupled with the addition of a number of major events including the US Ryder Cup and the Tokyo Olympics, give us confidence that we will continue to see organic growth across the Group beyond 2019.'
At 9:04am: [LON:ARE] Arena Events Group Plc Ord 1p share price was +1.75p at 33.25p


A Swedish political communications company. They run campaigns for a variety of organizations, mostly related to social and political issues. Reform Act mostly seems to work on digital campaigns.
Save the Children, IOGT-NTO Movement, Brain Fund, STF, Amnesty.


11-15-13 - The Business Information Systems program will celebrate its 50th anniversary at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 15 with a ceremony in McCool 124 (Taylor Auditorium), followed by refreshments in the McCool Hall Atrium.
Created by Dr. Charles Moore in 1963, MSU's BIS program is considered the first information systems program in an accredited college of business in the world.
For more information about the program or the anniversary celebration, please contact Dr. Rodney Pearson at rodney.pearson@msstate.edu.


Canyon Ranch Health Resorts (or "The Company") was created in 1979 to be an inspirational and motivational place where clients could relax, get away, and take control of their own healthier lifestyles. As of 2004, Canyon Ranch was unquestionably the industry leader when it came to the luxury portion of the spa industry.
Lack of potential entrants in a niche market, scale economic practices (development of cosmetic line), and a strong US economy are just a few of the reasons why The Company has continued to thrive despite engaging in archaic, inefficient IS strategy.
The IT is decentralized and the resorts and spas are working independently. Only the Computerized Lodging Systems (CLS) and some basic Decision Support Functionality in form of reports are shared.
In 1999 some functionality to store Customer Data was implemented at the Berkshires location via a system that tracks customer preferences (Guestware). Although this system is in place, the Program Coordinators and key employee positions that service the customer do not have any IT support. They are, in fact, still working on paper basis.
The IT of the Company is neither effective nor efficient. It does not support and cannot support the operational processes and can only be used for basic tactical or strategic support.
Furthermore, the current IT achievement potential is not very high, since the system cannot be upgraded easily. The current systems, even if used with adjusted business processes, cannot help achieve future success. Therefore we rate the IT infrastructure only supportive and in means of efficiency and effectively it is strategic wastage, respectively strategic overexpansion.


Android Version: 210 Chinese friendly educational apps linked for download from Android.Myapp.Com.
Teaching in Chinese on how to use the Padagogy Wheel.
Use the links below to download the Padagogy Wheel Chinese V5 Posters. The 210 apps on the Apple iOS Poster are linked to the Chinese iTunes Preview pages for download. The 210 Apps on the Android Poster are linked to android.myapp.com for download.
Jiao Jianli, Ph.D. in Edtech.
Professor, School of Education and Information Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou. Director of Future Education Research Center.
The Padagogy wheel is a wheel model that helps teachers and students use their mobile devices to teach. The model consists of five parts, from inside to outside are: core literacy, motivation, education design (including behavioral verbs and teaching activities), App, technical functions.
These five parts are like five gear interlocking. Teachers are advised to consider in order: 1. Students what core qualifications? 2. How to stimulate students' learning motivation? 3. How to implement the core literacy and ability? That is, what are the goals in the education goal category? What are these behavioral verbs to describe these goals? Which teaching activities to achieve? 4. Based on what App to teach? 5 technology in the teaching process to play what function?
For example, in the first grade of junior high school, the teaching design with the theme of "The Mystery of Plant Leaves" can be prepared according to the following process: Step one, select the core qualities to be trained: the spirit of science. The second step is to develop a plan to increase motivation: It suggests that leaves of different shapes may be related to latitude and humidity to stimulate students' desire for spontaneous exploration. The third step is to determine the teaching objectives and activities of this course: to cultivate the ability of "differentiation" in the analysis level and the ability of "creation" at the level of creation, and carry out two activities such as "investigation" and "video creation". The fourth step is to design information technology-based teaching: Ask each group of students to use the "form" App to shoot and identify the names of the six plants and retrieve the origin and habit of the plants. Then use the "Baidu Maps" App to compare various Latitude and humidity of the plant's origin; and finally, use the "little shadow" App to capture group findings and conclusions and share it with the entire class. Fifth, reflect on the role that technology plays: In this teaching activity, technical support students explore science, create and publish digital work to share their findings, something that no-technology classroom can not do.
We are Chinese #edtech team from Future Education Research Center, South China Normal University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Our main research interests are: educational technology, online learning and teaching & learning in one-to-one settings, etc.
Johnnie is a professor of Educational Technology. He is currently working as the Director of Future Education and Research Centre (FERC) in South China Normal University. He was recognized as an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2015. Professor Jiao runs a very popular educational blog, "Johnnie's blog on Educational Technology (www.jiaojianli.com)". He has so far written or translated more than 100 journal papers and books.
Serlina is a lecturer in School of Foreign Studies at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Her main research interests are: mobile assisted language learning (MALL), one-to-one digital learning, etc. She has been engaging herself in implementing mobile assisted classroom activities since 2014.
Clatin is a lecturer in College of Education at Hunan Agricultural University in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. His main research interests are: M-learning, U-learning, etc. He started to run a very popular course known as "Internet and M-learning" since 2013.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone who has contributed to the success of this project.
We are very grateful to LIU Xiaobin (Paul), an associate professor of English education at School of Foreign Studies at South China Normal University in Guangzhou, CHEN Wei, a lecturer in School of English Education at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou, and YIN Ting (Ecco), a lecturer in School of Foreign Language at Guangdong Polytech University, in Guangzhou, for their help in translating the Padagogy Wheel and the poster.
Our special thanks go to YE Donglian, a lecturer of Educational Technology at Shangrao Normal University in Shangrao, JIangxi Province, all the postgraduate students from FERC and the 33 postgraduate students (Grade 2016) from School of Information Technology in Education at South China Normal University, in Guangzhou, for their efforts in testing and reporting the accessibility and functions of the 210 apps in the Android English version, and suggest workable alternatives to apps that are not accessible from China. Thanks to their hard work, the Android Chinese version is listed with 180 user-friendly apps that could be adopted at will by all Chinese teachers.
This is Guangzhou by Drone!
Meanwhile the Padagogy Wheel Bloom's Version poster will be available in at least 25 languages by the end of 2018. Fourteen languages are already published. They are • English • Spanish • German • Norwegian • Chinese • Arabic • French • Russian • Czech •˙Hebrew • Hindi • Gujarati • Tamil • Swedish. As well, there are four waiting on artwork and will be published as quickly as possible. They are • Dutch • Polish.• Portuguese • Indonesian. More languages are being translated..
I think it is very useful for us teachers.


text:
Lawyer Sets Three Point Agenda For Ogun State Governor-Elect, Dapo Abiodun
After a very intense campaign for the number one sit in Ogun State, Mr Dapo Abiodun, an astute businessman and public administrator emerged victorious. The victory was much expected as it did not come as a surprise to all the stakeholders in Ogun state politics. Abiodun obviously had all the qualifications and quality required of a governor. His display of competence and deftness in business and public service shows clearly that he was not less a man deserving of that position.
In few weeks' time, the tenure of the State Governor Ibikunle Amosun will expire and Governor-elect Prince Adedapo Abiodun will step in as his successor.
The current governor succeeded Governor Gbenga Daniel on May 29, 2011 on the ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which later fused into the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he was re-elected in 2015.
Interacting with the governor-elect, I found that his intelligence and in-depth knowledge of the economy and social welfare was intact. Every true leader must have an in-depth knowledge of governance and the economy. Where these are lacking, it becomes a challenge to govern, as there would be no realistic and people driven idea to sail the ship of state.
In a bid to support good governance, we have set three key agenda for the governor-elect which he should incorporate into governance to move the state to economic prosperity and political stability.
Youth empowerment and job creation
The surging rise in the level of unemployment and under employment in the state needs urgent attention. The emergence of an employer of labour and astute business man as governor of the state brings hope that things may change. The state apart from focusing on the creation of jobs for the unemployed should also consider creating the enabling environment for the creation of jobs. The state has so much natural resources that can be harnessed for the over all good of the people, from the bitumen rich Ogun waterside to the oil rich Tongeji Island in Ipokia. When proper policies are put in place to harness these resources, the state will be better for it. The contracts for the implementation of some of these projects should be awarded to competent indigenes and residents of the state who will then engage the youths for the project execution, as against the usual practice of outsourcing it to foreigners. When the youths are gainfully engaged, insecurity will reduce drastically, thereby creating a fertile environment for investors to invest.
Rejuvenate local government administration
The constitution provides for a third tier of government- the local government. This tier has since gone comatose in the state. In fact, the local government administration, which is the closest to the people, ceased being relevant or functional in Ogun after the tenure of Gbenga Daniel in 2011 and literally slipped into torpitude with the advent of the Amosun's government. The need to build a vibrant third tier arm of government which can really relate to the people at the grass root level stares Mr Abiodun in the face and same must be addressed upon his assumption of office come May 29, 2019. Grass root involvement in the scheme of things is the very wheel driving the idea of a federation.
Revamping the educational sector
The present administration, no doubt, has spent so much on educational infrastructure. Billions of naira has been spent on the government's plan to build twenty (20) model state of the art schools in all the twenty (20) local government areas of the state to make learning more conducive for pupils and students in the state. The problem however is that, despite the enormous amount spent on these infrastructures, only a few are completed and in operation. The incoming administration must ensure that it monitors the completion of these projects as government is a continuum. Existing schools should also be renovated. Although I do not totally agree with Chief Jackie Adunni Kassim who was the governorship candidate of the United Democratic Party(UDP) in the last governorship election, that the multi-billion naira model schools were not the ones the state deserves, I however agree with him on the point that the searchlight should not be taken off the already existing school which can as well be renovated to become model schools.
Also, the very many issues of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) has to be addressed by the incoming government. It has been reported that the monthly wage bill of OOU is N300m while the monthly subvention being released had remained at N70m in the last one year, a situation that had continued to compel the university management to put the burden of making up for the N230m shortfalls on the students by way of payment of prohibitive fees and levies.[1] The situation is even worse in other institutions like the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, where monthly wage bill is about N200m while its subvention from the state government is about N25m per month. In fact, it is so pitiful and pathetic in the Tai Solarin College of Education where some of the staff have not earned salaries for the past eight years, with their salaries accumulating to the tune of over four billion naira (N 4,000,000,000.00)! These issues will have to be addressed if the incoming administration actually have it in mind to boost education in the state.
In conclusion, if these three cardinal issues are addressed by the government, there will be growth and development in the state and the hopes and aspirations of the people would have been met.
Ehiwe O. Samuel is a lawyer and public affairs analyst. Send your comments to -ehisamuel43@gmail.com or 08138354796.
[1] https://thenationonlineng.net/abiodun-new-dawn-new-challenges-in-ogun/
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Maharishi: 'Jai Guru Dev. I was listening with a great interest [to] your introductory remarks on the whole thing. And this week, more than the previous, you have expressed the response of the press—response of the press to the message. And now the press, from now on, week after week, will have more interesting inputs in the world news.
'And that will be that we are now directly contacting the governments, contacting all governments, contacting all governments, including the India government and China government and Russia and all the small governments of the world. And what the world press will start to receive is: what government today, this week, and what government tomorrow, next week, what government next week, what government next week. Week after week, we expect government after government starting the programme to make their country invincible.
'I am telling them that a government, when it wants to build a bridge—two-mile-long bridge over the river from here to there—what they do? They ask the companies, "Who will build it?" Some company says, "We will build this." And then they contract with the company. When they contract with the company, they don't contract with the company on the basis of their knowledge—how the company will build the bridge. No. They are not engineers, and they are not competent even to ask the engineering company how they will build. If they ask the engineering company—any engineering minister of any country—he will welcome them for ten years of training in some engineering college. And there, they would know how to bend and how to put the screw here and the bolt here and nut here and this and this.
'So I am telling them, "Don't try to understand me. Don't try to understand the philosophy, the principle of it. Concern yourself with the purpose. You contract my universities for rising to invincibility. That means you want to be free from enemies. Enemies are: negative trends in life, all negativity, all lack of complete knowledge in health, in education, in defence, in every area of human concern, in every area of national concern.
'Invincibility is a rare commodity. Invincibility in the world market is a very rare commodity, it's a very rare commodity. But I am telling them, "I have [it] in my shop; you can buy it from here." That's what it means. You spend all the expenditure that is necessary for training those groups in your country [and] your own people will be trained, your own people will be trained. And for that, you engage them, and you give them proper housing according to Sthapatya Veda, according to Natural Law. They should live under the protection of Natural Law. They will be trained to practice total Natural Law, which will make them capable of doing anything. And this will be the level of invincibility of the nation.
'Experimentation, research, is a very well known government policy and practice. I am asking the government: "Go by the same practice and gain invincibility." And I have been telling them that I am not new in the world—fifty years and the whole thing has been proved. And it's not that I am proving it for fifty years. India has been proving it for all generations—millions of years, India has been using those techniques, which are the techniques of the Constitution of the Universe. Constitution of the Universe is that collection of laws which is capable of maintaining unified wholeness of all the infinite variety of laws.
'How beautifully in today's introduction, and in every introduction every week, Dr Hagelin is explaining to everyone all these different levels of creation: atomic, nuclear, atomic—and all those beautiful explanations. And now, it is possible, it is possible, it is possible for any head of state to cash in on invincibility. More than that I cannot say.
'This I have started to deliver at the door of every government, every government, every government. I have only to see whose fortune is strong enough to be first and second and third and fourth. Once one, two, three governments pick up, all will follow—absolutely all will follow. But [each] one would be thinking, "Who has done it? Who has done it?" I say it's not a matter of a government seeing whether some government is becoming invincible or not, whether someone is becoming invincible or not. For such curious people [we] have an answer: try to be invincible yourself. Even if no one else can become invincible, you can become invincible.
'I'm approaching every government. It's a very great joy; it's a very great joy. With great sympathy I am approaching them—with great love, with great kindness, with great cordiality, with great respectfulness. I consider these are all my family members. And I know every family member has a different character than the other family member, but nevertheless it's a family. The family of all nations must be with different, different characteristic qualities. But nevertheless, the parental role of a government must belong to every government.
'This is the kind of administrative skill of the people of the governments today—that they want to create order, and they are creating disorder. Their system of administration is based on creating disorder. And that creating disorder, they think [is] giving freedom to the people, giving freedom to people. The whole thing is obsolete and completely useless and damaging.
'Dr Hagelin, this is our world. And we have to see that—whatever is our world—with our knowledge, in our time, they are peaceful, they are happy, they are fulfilled, they are free from problems, they are free from sicknesses—all this. It's our responsibility. It's like children don't understand what to do, what to do, why doing this, this will be harmful, this will be harmful. It's the parental role that protects them from doing wrong. It's a parental role.
'Now mark this thing; I am going to elaborate on this thing. It's a parental role that makes them, prepares them, not to face undue things, not to face negativity. Like that, we are the custodians of that knowledge. We are the custodians of that knowledge which is total knowledge of the law, Natural Law, Constitution of the Universe, which manages infinite diversity of the galactic universe, ever-expanding universe, perpetually growing, growing, growing, growing, growing.
'We have that knowledge. And with that knowledge, we think it is completely within our reach to have all our children, all our family members in the world, face no disaster in future, face no disaster in future. For that, we are knocking at the door. Take the invincibility; this will do you good, this will do you good, this will do you good.
'Our packet of invincibility: we are handing over to the government, not closed packet—open packet. We are knocking at the door of every government out of kindness, out of love for them. They are unnecessarily suffering. It's like someone is suffering from cold or cough or something. Now someone has a tablet; he is desperate to give him the tablet: "Take this tablet and you'll feel relief, you'll feel relief." It's natural for the possessor of the tablet to give it to him, to give it to him.
'Like that is our position. This position is the nature of everyone—nature of kindness. Parental role, we call it, parental role: put everyone in the light of God. And so many different fields of knowledge—this and this and this. All religious knowledge, all scientific knowledge, all knowledge on faith and all—different packets of knowledge are there. And each knowledge is provided to the people out of kindness, out of kindness, out of kindness.
'This I am telling to remove the doubt from anyone that there is no malicious intention in my offering invincibility to every nation. I know, if world peace is to be there, it can only be, it can only be, world peace can only be when all the countries are invincible. When every country is invincible, every country is invincible, then only world peace could be permanent. World peace will always be fragile as long as all the countries have not risen to invincibility.
'And therefore, all those who want to be in the company of others—all these different, different groups of countries: ten countries make a group there, twenty countries make a group there, ten countries, twenty countries, thirty, forty countries—they have their own rules, and they make their own constitution. All these different, different countries together—it's from the same spirit that in togetherness, there is safety; in togetherness, there is safety.
'But in every group—take any group, any group of the countries, either in the East or West; take any group in the country—some people are always grumbling that: "This country, this big country, he is bossing over us." In each of these unions of these five, ten countries here and there—even in this European Union and all that—the intention is good to be together and feel safe. But the technique to be together is not natural. It is humanly made—human concept. And a human concept will always have human weaknesses and human failings.
'That is why all these humanly conceived constitutions of the unity of small groups of government, or single government, which are all being governed by a man-made constitution, are the football of circumstances. They are not the masters of their destiny.
'I bring them the light of mastery over time, over space. I bring to them the authority from the transcendental field—from that field which is all over, everywhere, always, and can never be disturbed, can never be changed, can never be challenged. This is that invincibility which no one can disturb. And this is what I am going to gently or forcefully and gently-forcefully and naturally offer to my countries here and there and there and there—in their own interest, in their own interest.
'It's beautiful. India has this. India has this knowledge. India has this knowledge, Veda, the Constitution of the Universe—Veda, the Constitution of the Universe. In the Veda, in Vedanta, in Upaveda: all the whole Vedic Literature is just the reverberation—that means different values of the sounds—reverberations of the unmanifest field of eternity, unmanifest transcendental field of eternity, which in itself is eternally sustained—eternally sustained in its infinite, eternal silence, endowed with infinite, eternal dynamism—Totality, Totality.
'How beautifully we heard today from Dr Hagelin and Dr Morris: Purnat purnam udachyate. This is the voice of that eternally self-contained, self-sustained, self-perpetuating field of total Natural Law, the light of God. When we say "the Light of God", such beautiful emotions we enjoy—"the Light of God", "the Light of God", "the Light of God". But in this scientific age, it's available to us without doubt—straight, without doubt. It's available to us in terms of knowledge; it's available to us in terms of the transformation of knowledge into action; it's available to us in action; it's available to us in the transformation of action into the fruit of all action.
'So, from knowledge to action to fruit of all action: all the three are completely available in the state of invincibility. That's why this is one thing that we offer to governments and make the government capable of anything and everything.
'Every government in my world will be a government, an administrator, of all possibilities on their own right. That's all. No matter in what language you speak, the language and all that, it's a matter of speaking. The words will be different and all that, all that. But the content will be total. And the life will be the flow of that Totality: Purnat purnam udachyate, Purnat purnam udachyate—Purnat.
'It's not a matter of finding the people who know it, but it's a matter of educating the people, educating the people. The situation in the world makes it very clear that no government and no constitution of any country has competence to prevent problems. And prevention of problems is the only way to end the problem.
'People are searching for the solution for those who do the crimes and all that. But then where is the solution? The solution lies in educating the people to function in full accord with the total Natural Law. Action has to be natural. And natural action alone will always be in full accord with two values: infinite silence and infinite dynamism. It's such a joy to give to our world, and the world of all times, now.
'We are making all these how many thousands of Peace Palaces in the world, creating administrators of Peace Palaces—Rajas. And whatever Rajas we have created in the field, a wonderful influence they are creating. And now it will not be long for the world to continue with its undesirable problems and failings and sufferings and sickness and cries. No, no, the world is going to have, be a big laughter, a big laughter in bliss—bliss, laughter in bliss. Natural Law, Unified Field will laugh. And what it will laugh into? It will laugh into the Light of God, what we say, Light of God.
'All the religious, holy scriptures, all of them are going to be fulfilled. From where they are going to be fulfilled? From the base of them all. "Religion" means they go back to find the source. And to go back to find the source, practically, it is Transcendental Meditation. And proof of it is in Yogic Flying.
'Transcendental Meditation, and proof and practice in Yogic Flying—and the effect is: enlivening the greatest power of Nature. The greatest power? The greatest unifying power, the greatest power of gravity. Put things together: it puts the abstract, unmanifest field of knowledge, different fields of knowledge, together in the unmanifest. It puts all manifestations, all diversity of manifestations, the always increasing galactic universe—it's always kept coherent. It's always in the unity state. Versified, unified, versified universe, versified—uni-versi, uni-versi—unity, versity, unity, diversity, unity, diversity—together, together, together—as it is, as it is, as it is.
'One has to be simple to be perfect. And simplicity is more natural to one than complexity. When one wants to manipulate this and this, it's so complicated—one gets tired all the time, all the time. Simplicity is simple—simple, truthfulness, simple, simple.
'So our offer is nothing strange, nothing out of the way. It's on the most simple level of the nature of life. Whether life is silent totally, or it is in small fluctuations or big or big or big activity, it is completely, completely natural to be holistic, even in every state of unified expression of the single expression of the Unified Field. It's a beautiful field of knowledge; it's a beautiful field of experience; it's a beautiful field of action; it's a beautiful field of freedom, a beautiful field of freedom.
'So that's very good. What can be added to this, Dr Hagelin? I think you have said everything. And Dr Morris also has said everything. If you think the message of today is enough—and now we are waiting. Every week, we hope we will be announcing: "This country has accepted to be invincible." Every week a few countries, every week a few countries. There are about—what—200 countries. So if every week, twenty countries come up, even then it will take ten months, one year. But why allow our world to continue to suffer for a year?
'And in order to have that support from the field of knowledge, there is more—something very precious which we will use from the Indian Pandits, from the Vedic Pandits. They are the families in India who have preserved all this Vedic wisdom by the oral Vedic Tradition. So the whole thing is kept. It's kept quite a lot in purity, in purity.
'We'll engage some of those people, along with so many hundreds or thousands of the local people in every country. We'll put together, express to them, that all those nuts and bolts of the field of higher consciousness, create higher consciousness, and then the nation will rise in that level which will be very coherent inside—very harmonious inside. No enemies will be born. And then, from all these foreign influences, the country will be saved. No foreign influence with any malicious intention will be able to penetrate the country.
'Otherwise, every country is full of foreign spies and full of poison. Every country is full of these tricky—these spies. And the embassies in every country: they study the people, they study the culture, they study the mannerisms and inform their country. And then the spies go in some way—as traders or as this or bankers or this—many ways of tempting and destroying the tradition of the country.
'This is the present situation of the governments. That means every government is prone to influence from every other government. And no government can prevent it. No government can have that courage to put off the embassies of this country or that country. Knowing that that country is very dangerous, that country is destroying the world and all—knowing that, they don't have the courage to close their embassies, close their embassies.
'In such a situation where, not invincibility, but slavery to foreign powers is completely in practice, at this time, we say, "Now, come on: you rise to invincibility." And that is not through fighting but through quietly changing the quality of consciousness.
'[With] a few people—hundred, two hundred, or thousand, two thousand people, depending on the number of the population of the country, this group of a few hundred or a few thousand—the consciousness, collective consciousness of these people, will have such an intense influence of harmony and coherence that that coherence and harmony will naturally pervade the whole field of national consciousness, collective consciousness. And then no enemy, no wrong person, will be inside the country. And from outside the country, no enemy, no destructive influence, will be able to come in that very strong coherence of the national consciousness.
'When one hears the word "invincible", one remembers Hitler. At one time, he was invincible. Today he was invincible; tomorrow, he fell into disaster. So, these invincibilities on [the basis of] the muscular strength or the physical strength—the strength of the arms, the strength of killing—this is no safety to any nation, any nation, any nation. No military can say that they can really save the country. No military can say they can really save the country. In spite of that, knowing that, so much of the wealth of the nation is being spent in entertaining a military, and all that a military is—a fearful thing.
'That means—I want to say something which I don't want to express, because they are not good-sounding words. The whole governmental behaviour with the people, to take all that money and to spend it on something which they know is not going to work, is a fraud. It's fraudulent. It's cunningness on the people. If a businessman does not give you tax, you put him to jail. This is cruelty on him. You are earning money through all these cruel means from your people, and you are using that hard-earned money, you are wasting that money on the path which you know is a dirty path.
'It has no future. It is going to be completely unsuccessful. Knowing that the military is not going to defend the nation, why does a government have the power to use all the wealth of the poor people in the country, and spend in a way which they know is an unsuccessful way, a not-going-to-work way? That is cruelty to the people. Is there is any sense of responsibility, is there is any morality in it?
'This being the situation of the government, because the government has been going on like that, year after year and century after century, they don't think, "What else we can do? Without military, how we can defend?" But there is a way to favour the Natural Law and know that Natural Law is always evolutionary, evolutionary. If you favour Natural Law, and use that Natural Law on the door of defence, you'll not be required to kill the enemy. And always, you will be safe; you will be free from the problems of enemy and all that.
'Such wisdom of administration on this side, which we are offering, and such innocent, such complete—what we can say?—immaturity that is in practice today. Ask the world press to ask questions. I am presenting to them what is possible and what is going on. What is going on is fraudulent in terms of management or administration. And what can they be? They can be real administrators who will prevent problems for them. This is the kind of government we are going to create.
'Welcome, all governments. Do it early; do it today. Don't wait it for tomorrow. Use the present, use the present, use the present, use the present.
Dr Hagelin: 'Thank you very much, Maharishi, for that beautiful introduction of this dawning new age of Sat Yuga in the midst of Kali Yuga. Thank God for the parental role that the wise naturally feel for the world—the world, which Maharishi said, we've inherited anyway. This is the world we were born into; this is the world we have to change. . . .
Maharishi: 'Man-made constitutions cannot be turned into the Cosmic Constitution. Only, the people being driven by man-made constitutions can, through the Vedic programmes, through their daily morning, evening programmes, fathom the transcendental field and fathom the Cosmic Constitution on the individual level. And the groups can create a widespread influence of the Cosmic Constitution.
'And the Cosmic Constitution means Sattva. Sattva means coherence, coherence, coherence. Coherence means orderly thinking, orderly thinking, orderly thinking. Orderly thinking means thinking according to Natural Law, thinking according to the power of evolution of Natural Law, Natural Law.
'So, man-made constitution—it says, "Now you are going on the road. Now, you'll go left, right, and you turn right," and this and this. All these are humanly conceived, humanly conceived laws to govern human life. But mind governing, intellect governing, ego governing: this can be on the level of the Constitution of the Universe so that, spontaneously, what one thinks is adopted by total Natural Law—by Prakriti and Purusha.
'The whole terminology of explanation is there in the Vedic Literature. And it is in that that we train the people. It's not transforming the man-made constitution into this, but taking away the deficiencies in the man-made constitution and making the purpose of the constitution to be always in the advancing, in the progressing, in the evolving direction.
'So, it's a different technology; it's a different technology. The present technology of only the laws of the country—they are based on punishment and police and military, and some engage the people, put them some money, or detain them, don't give them money—all this on a very relative field of operation.
'But the Constitution of the Universe is on a more basic level of consciousness. And consciousness is trained to be completely familiar with this Natural Law, total Natural Law, by transcending, going beyond space and time. And there, in its self-referral field of the Unified Field, self-referral field of the Unified Field, and the whole Vedic Literature of the Itihasa, Purana, and Smritis, and Shrutis—it's beautiful, beautiful sequentially evolved literature of the Constitution of the Universe.
'Veda, Shruti, Smriti—it has its own terminology, it has its own terminology. Every field of knowledge has its own terminology, from its gross value to subtle value, to subtle value. This is how science has been probing into finer and finer values, finer and finer values. Now science has come on the unified level. In this unified level, it's such a fine level—[it is] the reality which puts the two things together, dynamism and silence together. They become one thing. And that is the unmanifest field—a complete unmanifest field, unmanifest field, complete unmanifest field. And that is Constitution of the Universe.
'It's a beautiful thing. One cannot transfer to the other. Only, one's own mind could be in this saturation of the value of the Cosmic Constitution. And the man-made constitution will be with reference to the relative field of activity—this and this and this and this.
'It's not enough that the children are only trained in the knowledge of the man-made constitution. It's very necessary that they are trained in the Constitution of the Universe, which is in the finer fields of their own consciousness—ultimately in the Transcendental Consciousness. Transcendental Consciousness is the total ocean of the Constitution of the Universe—very well inscribed and very well flowing in the ultimate reality of total Purnat purnam udachyate. Purnat purnam udachyate.
'I was so happy hearing this phrase from Dr Hagelin—I mean Dr Morris. Flow of fullness: that is life. Flow of fullness: that is life. And that is going to be the life of the governments. One government will flow into the other, not as a horrible thing coming to the other, but as a flow of Totality to the reality of Totality. And that also flows.
'All governments on the level of permanent peace means invincibility flowing from country to country to country to country to country to country. No one can be an oppression to the other; no one can be an oppression to the other; no one can be an oppression to the other. That will be the most civilized family of nations. And that we are going to create.
'We admire all the human efforts for so long in each government and in the combinations of a few countries here and a few countries here, and unions and the United Nations and all that, all that. But whole thing comes on one pitiable level of human concepts, human creations, intellectual things. But that is not enough when the relation of one to the other is concerned. This relationship of one to the other is a reality of the gap between the two. And gap is unmanifest. So, the science and technology of the unmanifest, science and technology of the unmanifest, science and technology of this transcendental field alone is a solution to all peace, prosperity, fullness, and everything nice for human life.
'That is the life we want to create in our world. And it's a very good joy that this is the scientific age. We can talk plainly, we can talk simply, even to those who are not scientists, but they have been hearing about science, science, science, science. So they have some kind of faith. Every government has some kind of faith. Even these heads of states and this—they don't know anything of science. Whatever they may be knowing may be twenty years', thirty years' test-tube science, test-tube science. So they make the laws: when you open the science college, you have to have this test tube and this table and this—superficial, superficial.
'Now is the time that the ultimate has been sort of discovered or uncovered. The Unified Field has been opened. So start the education of the people from the level of the Unified Field, Unified Field. Give the benefit of the Unified Field. What I am saying is: give the children an orange—beautiful, sweet. And solemnly give them, tell them, "This is an orange; this is an orange." How it grows, how it grows in four years to come to this. Tell them later, but give them the fruit. If you have a machine, teach the man how to use the machine. How the machine was made, tell him later.
'So how invincibility is structured, tell him later. Give him invincibility. Give him invincibility. Make your government really capable of governing. Don't govern with those tools which have to be all the time amended to be better and better and better and better.
'Governmental organization has been pitiable, all these—when we look at it from this point of view: that it's possible for any nation to be functioning in full accord with that law, with that Natural Law, which governs the infinite diversity of the universe in perfect order. When this is possible, then we know what a mistake has been going on in ignorance, what a mistake has been going on in ignorance. And every country says, "My government, my government." Of course, your government—but is it a government who can govern your life or is it a sucker of your life, is a poison to your life?
'Every government is a poison to the people, because they collect all the money from the—hard-earned money of the people—and they use in the channels which they know are not going to be fruitful. It's a wrong thing. But this wrong has not been brought out,because there was no solution to it. But now we have a solution. So we can see—but we are not fond of putting wrong, because by telling it's wrong, wrong, wrong, it's not going to do anything to anyone. But in order to understand that what we are saying is something different than what has been going on, and what has been going on was a fraud, was a fraud. What has been going on only deserves to be put in the bundle of fraud, that's all. One simple word "fraud"—ignorance.
'We realize what we are. We realize. And when we express ourselves, we don't want to hide the truth. We say, "Yes, we are what we are saying what we are; we are saying what we are." And what the world has been is wrong, wrong. The whole world on one side of wrong. I am on one side of right. And I am bridging the gulf now—gulf—and now come to a level where the final gulf will be bridged, and the whole structuring dynamics of administration is finally going to be really competent, the government is going to be invincible. And that means: at every level of responsibility, it's going to be successful from beginning to end, from beginning to end, from beginning to end. This will be the authority of a government that invincibility will produce in every government.
'So, world press, we are very happy to invite you to take this message to your countries, whatever is your country. We are speaking to the world press. Wherever you are, tell the people, tell the people to take a chance with me. If whatever I say comes out to be true, then the country will be enlightened all the time. If nothing comes out, then whatever is there is already there. If nothing comes out, then whatever the world is is there. Nothing bad will happen, at least, it will continue the same way. But in case it comes out, the world will be enlightened, and bliss and all those nice things will be the characteristic quality of the forthcoming world.


The parade featured Melbourne Cup champion jockeys and trainers including Dwayne Dunn, Hugh Bowman, Kerrin McEvoy and Gai Waterhouse.
Champion horses were also on show, including former Melbourne Cup heroes Might and Power, Rogan Josh, Brew and Efficient and some of the recent greats of the track – Maluckyday and Paris Lane.
The Cup typically draws more than 100,000 racegoers to Flemington and is held on the first Tuesday in November each year.
Last year's Melbourne Cup Carnival – including Derby Day, Melbourne Cup, Stakes Day, and Oaks Day – generated almost $388 million in economic benefits for Victoria, with more than 326,000 people attending the four race meetings.


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Liverpool fan suspected of throwing Barcelona local into fountain named
Liverpool fans have named their fellow supporter allegedly involved in an incident in Barcelona on Tuesday afternoon
Liverpool supporters have named a fellow fan alleged to have pushed a Barcelona street seller into a fountain.
A shocking video shared online has sparked outrage with angry supporters, who have named the alleged culprit as Martin 'Marty' Mullen, according to the Liverpool Echo .
It is understood Mr Mullen is a long-standing fan who has travelled to away matches for years.
The clip showed a man in a navy blue fleece running over to the street seller and picking him up by his legs then launching him into the fountain.
A further video filmed in the same location showed Liverpool fans laughing as another man emerged from the fountain soaking wet and distressed.
Martin 'Marty' Mullen (right), pictured back in 2014
Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore has called on fans in Barcelona to "act in a manner befitting LFC" after the minor disturbances in the city on Tuesday.
After the incidents circulated on social media took place, police cordoned off the square and forced all fans back on to the main tourist strip before walking them up the street to Placa de Catalunya, a main transport hub, where they dispersed.
Merseyside Police are understood to be aware of the existence of the videos, as, apparently, is Moore.
"We proudly sing that we've conquered all of Europe. But let's treat this beautiful city with the respect that it deserves, and act in a manner that is befitting of LFC," the Reds chief executive wrote on Twitter .
"By all means have a good time, but we are Liverpool, and as such, let's visit here with grace and humility."
On Tuesday, as thousands of fans began to arrive in the city for the Champions League semi-final first leg, Merseyside Police's dedicated Twitter account for LFC fans tweeted the advice: "Eat, drink and enjoy all areas in the city centre. Respect monuments."
Champions League semi-finals
Peter Moore


We're delighted to announce our latest website project for new client, Axxelis, has now launched phase 1. As a brand new company that brings together some of the world's leading experts in Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Lifecycle Management and business services, Axxelis recognised the need for an online presence to showcase the company's unique services, so enlisted the expertise of greensplash.
Wanting to communicate the company's key service areas of 'Research and Development', 'Business Consulting' and their membership 'Connect Club', our logo design and branding team initially worked with Axxelis to develop their brand. To create a visually engaging logo, greensplash injected a complimenting colour palette to visually symbolise the three pillars of services, which could also be utilised across the new website to reinforce the company's brand.
Our talented web developers then worked to craft a modern, sleek and fully responsive website to showcase the extensive and outstanding professional services Axxelis have to offer. Boasting bold imagery, strong branding, crisp and clean design as well easy navigation, the new website effectively communicates the company's passion in advancing science and improving patient care.
Following the launch of phase 1 of the new website, we are excited to watch the growth of the business into what is sure to be a huge success in offering expertise and leadership in the areas of Life Science and Biotechnology. Not to mention the imminent development of phase 2 of the project.
To find out how greensplash can help you, please feel free to call us on 01606 884123 or email us at enquiries@greensplash.com.


Bye Bye Peanut Fair, thanks for the memories!
This is my favorite picture of us! I had lost around 30 pounds at that point and was able to ride the kiddie rides with her comfortably! Look at that smile; she's my GIRL!
Bye Bye Peanut Fair, We Loved Every Minute of The Night!
Rhema loved the fair this year and this was the first time she'd independently/spontaneously blown in a horn to make really loud noises! It was a wonderful, deafening show!
Peanut Fair Corn on the Cobb- Hippy Program Day 2015!
Bye Bye Peanut Fair, we loved the yummy treats we tasted!
Rhema wanted to bring home an ear of corn from the Hippy Family Day we took her to at the Fair!
Bye Bye Fun Fair Shows; We especially liked the piggy show!
Rhema did not like the loud announcer at the show and the loud music, but she did watch a little of when the little piggy's raced around their course. The best part was the piggy nose; she loved it!
We also met a wonderful young man who was the coordinator for the special needs visitors to the fair; he is from California. Our family took him out to dinner before he left town and we really hope to see him again November 2016.


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Volume 18, pages 274-275, 1933
TWISTED MILLERITE CRYSTALS
A. C. HAWKINS
In the anthracite coal basin at Nanticoke, Pa., the Mills coal vein is cut by narrow stringers of white quartz. In cavities which are present in this quartz, occasional aggregates of millerite crystals are found. Some of the aggregates of millerite are radiated, while others are irregular, a mass of brilliant acicular, hair-like prisms, the longest of which measures about 2 cm.
Among the most slender of the millerite crystals there are a number which show a helical twist; they appear like ribbons which have been twisted from both ends. The twist is either right or left handed in equal numbers of the crystals.
It does not appear that the twisting can have been the result of mechanical causes, since the small twisted crystals are interspersed with thicker prisms which are not twisted. The phenomenon must have been caused by a natural tendency in the growth of the crystal. Professor Newhouse of Mass. Institute of Technology has informed the writer that millerite crystals have been found in quartz veins in a number of other coal mines, and that quite frequently they are twisted. A similar twisted condition has been noted in stibnite.
Thanks are due to Mr. T. J. Arnott of the Glen Alden Coal Company for submitting the specimens.
1 W. T. Schaller, The Crystal Cavities of the New Jersey Zeolite Region U.S.G.S. Bull. 832, 1932.
Footer for links and copyright
Copyright © 1933 - 2004 Mineralogical Society of America. All rights reserved


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Massachusetts Governor's Mask Mandate Conundrum [OPINION]
Barry Richard Published: August 23, 2021
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has found himself on the wrong side of the debate over a universal mask mandate for students and staff at public schools and colleges in the Bay State. Baker has fended off criticism from all sides as he insists that decisions regarding masks are best left to local school officials.
Legislative leaders and several influential health professionals have called on Baker to issue a mask mandate for schools as students prepare to head back to the classroom just days from now. The state's largest teachers union, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, has gone so far as to insist Baker require that all staff and eligible students get vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to school.
Some area school board members have expressed frustration with Baker's reluctance to order universal masking in public schools. It would make their deliberations that much easier. Sate health officials have strongly recommended that masks be worn.
State Education Commissioner Jeff Riley will ask the Department of Elementary and Secondary Educatin (DESE) on Tuesday to grant him authority to implement a mask mandate for all public school students and staff. As a result, the Old Rochester Regional Joint School Committee has postponed Monday night's scheduled meeting and will meet on Thursday instead to consider whatever action DESE might take on the mask issue into consideration before setting its policy.
A recent MassINC poll shows strong support for universal masking in Massachusetts schools. Baker, who may be holding a finger to the wind as he considers his re-election prospects, may be afraid to commit on this issue. Even though I agree with him that decisions about mask requirements should be made at the local level, Baker appears to be out of step with the overwhelming majority on this one.
The Dishes to Try Most at Over 100 SouthCoast Restaurants
From the freshest seafood you can find to some of the best dang Portuguese dishes outside of Portugal itself, there are so many dishes to enjoy and love here on the SouthCoast, and we put 'em all into one spot. Check out more than 100 of the SouthCoast's favorite restaurants, and let us know if your favorites made the list.
Filed Under: Charlie Baker, dese, jeff riley, Massachusetts
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Creative photography is not only my passion, but it's how I make a living. From a very young age (three years old!), I have been cultivating my love of photography and nurturing my unique way of seeing the world through my camera.
Through a lifestyle blog I used to keep, I was able to create an outlet for my photography, and focus on exploring creative photography in everyday life. Having this outlet led the way to my business Erin Little Photography and a love supreme photography, where I get to document life and a select few weddings a year using my creative eye, offering people a unique take on professional photography.
I've had many people contact me with photography questions...from beginner basics, to what equipment they should buy, to running a photography business, to editing, to overall photographic inspiration. I have taught a couple of classes out of my home, as well as many one on one lessons, both in person and over the internet.
Because of the interest I have received from many people looking to brush up on their photography skills and dive a little deeper into creative photography, Eyes Open was born! During this 6-week course, we will cover a range of topics starting with photographic basics and becoming familiar with your camera, to really developing your own unique eye.


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NFL Draft Day 1 Review: Winners And Losers
So, the NFL Draft day 1 went much better than most people probably expected. Absent were the technical hiccups, the technically-challenged coaches and staffers and the technical fouls. The big news is that the SEC set a record as 15 players from the conference were selected in the first round of the draft, breaking the old record of 12 that had been set in 2006 by the ACC before being matched twice in 2013 and 2017 by the SEC.
Looking at the action from Thursday night, there were some results that everyone knew would happen, but there were also some that still have some people scratching their heads.
Teams Set Themselves Up For Winning Seasons
Joe Burrow is now an NFL quarterback. The LSU star was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals, who had the first shot in the draft. This was a play that everyone saw coming, and the Bengals are hopeful that he can take them down the field to a Super Bowl the way he took the Tigers to the NCAA Championship. If not, he has a hefty price tag that will come in handy for Cincinnati.
A few picks later found the Miami Dolphins saying "I choose you" to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The University of Alabama standout has been on the same level as Burrow, and the Dolphins could really use the help. They're looking to rebuild the organization after an embarrassing performance, and having Tagovailoa's strength is expected to incite a great deal of energy that is felt throughout the club.
While most of those involved were hunkered down in their basements or home offices, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has to be given credit for participating in the draft from his massive yacht. Known for always wanting to be involved in every decision the team makes, he may have had a hand in the team choosing wide receiver CeeDee Lamb out of Oklahoma. Adding him to an offensive lineup that includes Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper might be enough for the Cowboys to turn around the slide they saw last season.
How Do The NFL Draft Day 1 Shuffle
One of the most productive trades of NFL Draft Day 1 might be assigned to the San Francisco 49ers. In round one, they picked up the number-two defensive lineman, Javon Kinlaw, but that wasn't what made the move interesting. The 49ers grabbed him only after having traded back a spot and getting a fourth-round pick, then used that pick in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings to move up six places in order to grab wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Getting both Kinlaw and Aiyuk should give San Francisco an advantage next season, possibly allowing the team to make another Super Bowl appearance.
That shuffle was beneficial for the Vikings, as well. They picked former LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson as the 22nd draft choice, already gaining an edge with his addition to the team. Then, trading their 25th spot to the Niners for the 31st, 117th and 176th spots, the Vikings added Jeff Gladney out of TCU when it came time for the 31st selection. With two more picks remaining, Minnesota will now look at how to juice up its secondary after having lost three players – Mackensie Alexander, Trae Waynes and Xavier Rhodes – to free agency.
Perhaps The Saints Know Something No One Else Does
The New Orleans Saints may have just blown an opportunity, or, perhaps not, depending on you who ask. Having the 24th pick in the draft, the team could have gone for any number of players who were still standing, including linebacker Patrick Queen, fresh off an incredible season at LSU. It would have been the first time the Orleans had drafted an LSU player, despite the school being just down the road, but they went in a completely different direction. The Saints chose Cesar Ruiz, a center who, while a strong player, may not be able to provide the level of power the team really needs. Now, New Orleans has to wait until their next selection – at 88th – before they can look at other ways to shore up the offense.
The Saints weren't the only team to leave people wondering what was going on. Just after passing on Queen, the Seattle Seahawks could have picked him up with their 27th pick. However, they went for Jordyn Brooks out of Texas Tech, instead. Brooks is ranked high among the linebackers entering the draft, but not as high as Queen. Just like the Saints, perhaps the Seahawks know something the rest of us don't.
Related TopicsCeeDee LambCincinnati BengalsDallas CowboysJavon KinlawJoe BurrowMiami DolphinsNFLNFL DraftSan Francisco 49ersTua Tagovailoa
Jeff Goldberg's NFL Draft Picks And Parlays
Doubting Thomas? Everyone Is After 'Last Dance'


"Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters," the Pope said after a speech by Imam Tidiani Moussa Naibi.
The Pope inside the Mosque of Imam Tidiani Moussa Naibi.
Pope Francis ventured into one of the world's most dangerous neighbourhoods on Monday to beg Christians and Muslims to end a spiral of hate, vendetta and bloodshed that has killed thousands over the past three years.
The neighbourhood has been cut off from the rest of the capital Bangui for the past two months by a ring of so-called anti-balaka militias, who block supplies from entering and Muslims from leaving.
The Pope sit a tell lies inside a mosque in Central Africa, deceiving both him self and all the present Muslims.
"Those who claim to believe in God must also be men and women of peace," he said, noting that Christians, Muslims and followers of traditional religions had lived together in peace for many years.
Source: Urdu Pakistani daily, The Dawn.
This is reported by the BBC and the Urdu newspaper Dawn published in Pakistan.
That Christians and Muslims are "brothers" is a false statement. Neither are we physically related, nor are we of the same mind and spirit.
Islam simply reject that God has a begotten Son. If the Pope do not want to tell Muslims the truth, he should at least keep quiet.
The problem is that the Jesuit Pope believe he has spoken he truth. The Pope believe there are many ways to "god", and many holy books. In the Catechism of the Roman Catholic church, the Pope has granted Muslims salvation.
The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.
The Pope proclaim that there is no need to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, and that the Creator God has a begotten Son. In this way the Pope reject Biblical truth, and appears as an antichrist in the flesh.
Renounce the evils of the papacy. Repent or perish.
The Pope is an antichrist.
What happened to this link?
Central African Republic has been plagued now for some time by Christians killing Muslims and Muslims killing Christians.
This appeal of Pope Francis would have had a very real urgency behind it.
"For years, they lived as brothers and sisters," the Pope said, on his way back to Rome from CAR.
Also just think about it, through Abraham, Christians and Muslims are literally of the same family.
Pope Francis speaks with love.


Sat Mar 24 18:43:43 2018: 1 from suchmoon (Trust list) (history) for Re: Is blockchain 100 percent safe? Can the bitcoin transaction be trustful?
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We are very excited to have a booth at this year's National Self Reliance Expo to be held at the National Western Complex in Denver, CO on April 8th and 9th. We have been busy preparing for the show and will have several volunteers assisting with our booth. We plan on having a fully functional IBC system as well as a new home aquaponics system to demonstrate at the event.
We will be presenting on the main stage on Friday at 3:00pm and again on Saturday at 5:00pm. Tickets are only $9 for both days of the event and children under the age of 12 get in for free! Please visit the NSRO website for more details and to purchase your tickets in advance.


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Home » Oxford – Barbara Kruger at Modern Art Oxford Through August 31st, 2014
« New York – Sarah Sze: "Triple Point (Planetarium)" at The Bronx Museum of Arts Through August 24th, 2014
London – Henri Matisse: "The Cut-Outs" at The Tate Modern Through September 7th, 2014 »
Oxford – Barbara Kruger at Modern Art Oxford Through August 31st, 2014
Barbara Kruger (Installation View), all images courtesy Modern Art Oxford
On view at Modern Art Oxford through August 31st is a major solo exhibition of recent work by American conceptual artist Barbara Kruger. Kruger, who is best known for her paste-up works, black-and-white photographs with declarative phrases in bold letters laid on top, has created a site-specific architectural wrap of the museum's Upper gallery space in a similar style.
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Don't Shoot) (2013)
Kruger often uses irony, appropriation of slogans and recognizable imagery, and the strategies used by mass advertizing campaigns – imitating the manipulative techniques seen in television and the mass media to make statements about consumer culture in the Western world. Her work lately, which has embraced the immense spaces of museums like the Modern Art Oxford or last year's impressive wrap install at the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C., seems at home extending her own take on advertisement branding to its natural conclusion: a hyper-mediated environment where consumer ideology is constantly challenged and repositioned.
Barabara Kruger, (Installation View)
As the viewer passes through the space, the pervasive nature of her messages subverts the real-world analogs presented in outdoor advertising, print media and elsewhere, bringing a renewed perspective on the presence of ideologically weighted messaging in consumer society. In the Upper gallery, words are plastered in bold letters along the floor and over the entire wallspace, including "IS THERE LIFE WITHOUT PAIN?" "THE BRUTAL RELENTESS" and "IS THAT ALL THERE IS?". Her videos Twelve and Plenty LA focus on human interdependence and absurd connections through experimental and conventional means of projection. One of the videos is, for example, projected onto the corner of a wall, so that the video becomes three-dimensional and utilizes the space of a gallery to expand the original piece's meaning.
Barbara Kruger, (Installation View)
In addition to the massive site-specific work is an installation of her classic 1980s paste-up photocollage works and a film presentation to be displayed in the John Piper Gallery. Kruger's work is characterized by bold typography, juxtaposition of text and image, and her direct confrontational approach to power systems in pop culture. Simple in execution, her work draws its real strength from placement and spatial relations, using sharp colors and carefully sized lettering to create an ever-shifting perceptual environment.
Expanding in the artist's ongoing interest in space, messaging and real-world interactions of text and movement, the current exhibition of Barbara Kruger's new and recent work will remain on view at Modern Art Oxford through August 31, 2014.
— E. Baker
Exhibition Page [Modern Art Oxford]
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2014 at 12:00 am and is filed under Art News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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Adrienne Cutway, Web Editor
Published: January 3, 2020, 7:20 pm Updated: January 6, 2020, 11:26 am
Tags: Strange Florida, Manatee, On the Go, ClickO On The Go
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A Florida woman is selling a chicken tender shaped like a manatee. You won't believe the price
Seller says it's for a good cause
A Florida woman says she found a chicken tender shaped like a manatee. (Courtesy of Melinda Britt Disbrow)
RIVERVIEW, Fla. – Floridians are used to seeing manatees -- just not in their lunch.
Melinda Britt Disbrow said her co-worker picked up food from a Culver's Restaurant on Big Bend Road in Riverview Thursday afternoon and they were all enjoying a meal together when she noticed something that immediately caught her attention.
"I got the chicken tender meal for lunch and got down to the last tender and there it was. It was very obvious as soon as I looked at it that it looked like a manatee," Drisbow said.
The sea cow-shaped snack became the hot topic of conversion among Drisbow and her colleagues at the dental office.
"We just had the best day. It just, like, made our day," she said.
The tender talk progressed from there and eventually, someone had the idea to post it for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
That same afternoon, Drisbow listed the remnants of her meal for sale with a $5,000 price tag and a caption letting potential buyers know they "must see to appreciate."
Since then, Drisbow said she's received hundreds of messages -- some with jokes, some with general comments and some a little bit "off-color."
"For the most part it's been very positive," Drisbow said. "People said, 'You made my day,' 'This is hilarious.' I've had people (ask) 'What size clothes does it wear?' 'Can you send a video?'"
The Florida transplant, who moved to the Sunshine State in 2001, said she's even had a few not-so-serious offers.
"I've had people barter with me, you know, a Chick-fil-A meal for that or a cheeseburger," Drisbow said.
For now, the pricey poultry is stashed in Drisbow's freezer to keep it fresh. While the posting was meant to make people smile, she said the ultimate goal is to raise awareness about safe boating practices and manatee conservation.
She said she often goes out on the water and loves watching the sea cows swim by. In fact, she said there's a manatee viewing area right down the road from the Culver's where the tender was purchased.
"It's really sad... it's very rare to see one that doesn't have scars from propellers on it. So, if this can put it out there, make people aware, it's well worth it -- and it's an awesome chicken tender," Drisbow said.
When and if the tender does sell, Drisbow said she'd donate the money to a charity that helps sea cows. In the meantime, she's glad to provide some levity in an online world that can often be dark.
"Again, the whole manatee approach is awesome but today in general, there's so many negative things out there. If we can take a moment to laugh about a manatee-shaped chicken tender then hey, let's do it," Drisbow said.
To help sea cow conservation efforts without investing in the $5,000 tender, you can go to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's website for information on how to purchase a manatee decal or license plate. You can also click here for tips on how to help protect manatees.
Adrienne Cutway
Adrienne Cutway joined News 6's digital team in October 2016 to cover breaking news, crime and community interest stories. She graduated from the University of Central Florida and began her journalism career at the Orlando Sentinel.


The Central Bank of Samoa has warned the public of crypto currencies, saying they are not issued or regulated by the Central Bank.
Sounding the warning in a media release, the bank said that crypto currencies do not have legal tender status to be accepted as a currency in Samoa.
"Investment in such digital currencies is considered very risky and speculative in nature. People who invest in any of the crypto currencies do so at their own risk.
"There is no guarantee that crypto currencies will be accepted as a medium of exchange or will hold their value.
"The Central Bank does not currently endorse unregulated crypto currencies like bitcoin, Onecoin or any crypto currency that has been promoted in Samoa," stated the media release.
The Central Bank said it does not encourage anyone to invest in them, but advised that anyone found to be promoting crypto currency or digital currency should be a financial institution and adhere to the provisions of the Amendment Act 2018.
The Central Bank said it is also looking at the potential use of block chain technology as a platform for promoting financial inclusion in Samoa.
The bank defines virtual currencies as bitcoin, Onecoin, ethereum, EOS, Lite Coin and others.


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Kanton Ars-en-Ré (fr. Canton d'Ars-en-Ré) je francouzský kanton v departementu Charente-Maritime v regionu Poitou-Charentes. Skládá se z pěti obcí.

Obce kantonu
 Ars-en-Ré
 La Couarde-sur-Mer
 Loix
 Les Portes-en-Ré
 Saint-Clément-des-Baleines

Ars-en-Ré

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Картаёль () — деревня в Ижемском районе Республики Коми России. Входит в состав сельского поселения Том.

Этимология
Название связано с протекающей вблизи деревни рекой Картаёль. Гидроним на ижемском диалекте языке коми означает «речка, протекающая по крестьянской надельной земле, по крестьянской вотчине».

История
Основана в период между 1763 и 1768 годами выходцами из Ижемской слободки (ныне — село Ижма). В 1782 году в деревне проживало 34 человека (12 мужчин и 22 женщины); в 1816 году — 66 человек. По данным на 1859 год в деревне Картаёль числились 19 дворов и 150 жителей; в 1905 году — 39 двор и 284 жителя (140 мужчин и 144 женщины). В 1918 году действовали школа и почтовая станция.
По состоянию на 1920 год, в деревне Карта-Ель имелось 52 двора и проживало 198 человек (74 мужчины и 124 женщины). В административном отношении входила в состав Кедвавомского общества Кедвавомской волости Ижмо-Печорского уезда.

География
Деревня находится в северо-западной части Республики Коми, в пределах Печорской низменности, на левом берегу реки Ижмы, на расстоянии примерно 58 километров (по прямой) к юго-западу от села Ижмы, административного центра района. Абсолютная высота — 40 метров над уровнем моря.
Климат
Климат характеризуется как умеренно континентальный, с продолжительной морозной многоснежной зимой и коротким прохладным летом. Средняя температура воздуха самого тёплого месяца (июля) составляет 14,6 °C; самого холодного (января) — −17,4 °C. Среднегодовое количество атмосферных осадков составляет 527 мм.
Часовой пояс

Население

 Гендерный состав
По данным Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года в гендерной структуре населения мужчины составляли 52,2 %, женщины — соответственно 47,8 %.

 Национальный состав
Согласно результатам переписи 2002 года, в национальной структуре населения коми-ижемцы составляли 65 % из 438 чел.; коми — 31 %.

Примечания

Населённые пункты Ижемского района


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.. Quickstart file describing a quick plot with scikit-plot

First steps with Scikit-plot
============================

Eager to use Scikit-plot? Let's get started! This section of the documentation will teach you the basic philosophy behind Scikit-plot by running you through a quick example.

Installation
------------

Before anything else, make sure you've installed the latest version of Scikit-plot. Scikit-plot is on PyPi, so simply run::

    $ pip install scikit-plot

to install the latest version.

Alternatively, you can clone the `source repository <https://github.com/reiinakano/scikit-plot>`_ and run::

    $ python setup.py install

at the root folder.

Scikit-plot depends on `Scikit-learn <http://scikit-learn.org/>`_ and `Matplotlib <http://matplotlib.org/>`_ to do its magic, so make sure you have them installed as well.

Your First Plot
---------------

For our quick example, let's show how well a Random Forest can classify the digits dataset bundled with Scikit-learn. A popular way to evaluate a classifier's performance is by viewing its confusion matrix.

Before we begin plotting, we'll need to import the following for Scikit-plot::

    >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

:mod:`matplotlib.pyplot` is used by Matplotlib to make plotting work like it does in MATLAB and deals with things like axes, figures, and subplots. But don't worry. Unless you're an advanced user, you won't need to understand any of that while using Scikit-plot. All you need to remember is that we use the :func:`matplotlib.pyplot.show` function to show any plots generated by Scikit-plot.

Let's begin by generating our sample digits dataset::

    >>> from sklearn.datasets import load_digits
    >>> X, y = load_digits(return_X_y=True)

Here, ``X`` and ``y`` contain the features and labels of our classification dataset, respectively.

We'll proceed by creating an instance of a RandomForestClassifier object from Scikit-learn with some initial parameters::

    >>> from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier
    >>> random_forest_clf = RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators=5, max_depth=5, random_state=1)

Let's use :func:`sklearn.model_selection.cross_val_predict` to generate predicted labels on our dataset::

    >>> from sklearn.model_selection import cross_val_predict
    >>> predictions = cross_val_predict(random_forest_clf, X, y)

For those not familiar with what :func:`cross_val_predict` does, it generates cross-validated estimates for each sample point in our dataset. Comparing the cross-validated estimates with the true labels, we'll be able to get evaluation metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and in our case, the confusion matrix.

To plot and show our confusion matrix, we'll use the function :func:`~scikitplot.metrics.plot_confusion_matrix`, passing it both the true labels and predicted labels. We'll also set the optional argument ``normalize=True`` so the values displayed in our confusion matrix plot will be from the range [0, 1]. Finally, to show our plot, we'll call ``plt.show()``.

    >>> import scikitplot as skplt
    >>> skplt.metrics.plot_confusion_matrix(y, predictions, normalize=True)
    <matplotlib.axes._subplots.AxesSubplot object at 0x7fe967d64490>
    >>> plt.show()

.. image:: _static/quickstart_plot_confusion_matrix.png
   :align: center
   :alt: Confusion matrix

And that's it! A quick glance of our confusion matrix shows that our classifier isn't doing so well with identifying the digits 1, 8, and 9. Hmm. Perhaps a bit more tweaking of our Random Forest's hyperparameters is in order.

One more example
----------------

Finally, let's show an example wherein we *don't* use Scikit-learn.

Here's a quick example to generate the precision-recall curves of a Keras classifier on a sample dataset.

    >>> # Import what's needed for the Functions API
    >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    >>> import scikitplot as skplt
    >>> # This is a Keras classifier. We'll generate probabilities on the test set.
    >>> keras_clf.fit(X_train, y_train, batch_size=64, nb_epoch=10, verbose=2)
    >>> probas = keras_clf.predict_proba(X_test, batch_size=64)
    >>> # Now plot.
    >>> skplt.metrics.plot_precision_recall_curve(y_test, probas)
    <matplotlib.axes._subplots.AxesSubplot object at 0x7fe967d64490>
    >>> plt.show()

.. image:: _static/quickstart_plot_precision_recall_curve.png
   :align: center
   :alt: Precision Recall Curves

And again, that's it! As in the example above, all we needed to do was pass the ground truth labels and predicted probabilities to :func:`~scikitplot.metrics.plot_precision_recall_curve` to generate the precision-recall curves. This means you can use literally any classifier you want to generate the precision-recall curves, from Keras classifiers to NLTK Naive Bayes to XGBoost, as long as you pass in the predicted probabilities in the correct format.

Now what?
---------

The recommended way to start using Scikit-plot is to just go through the documentation for the various modules and choose which plots you think would be useful for your work.

Happy plotting!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Triton: a cuckoo around Neptune
November 12, 2017 Benoît Noyelles 2 Comments
Hi there! Did you know that Neptune had a prominent satellite, i.e. Triton, on a retrograde orbit? This is so unusual that it is thought to have been trapped, i.e. was originally an asteroid, and has not been formed in the protoneptunian nebula. The study I present you today, Triton's evolution with a primordial Neptunian satellite system, by Raluca Rufu and Robin M. Canup, explains how Triton ejected the primordial satellites of Neptune. This study has recently been published in The Astronomical Journal.
The satellites of Uranus and Neptune
A focus on Triton
A numerical study with SyMBA
We are tempted to see the two planets Uranus and Neptune as kinds of twins. They are pretty similar in size, are the two outermost known planets in the Solar System, and are gaseous. A favorable orbital configuration made their visitation possible by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986 and 1989, respectively.
Among their differences are the high obliquity of Uranus, the presence of rings around Uranus while Neptune displays arcs, and different configurations in their system of satellites. See for Uranus:
5.12 Ru 0.001 4.338° 235.8 km
10.49 Ru 0.004 0.128° 584.7 km
3.39 Ru 0 0.319° 81 km
Sycorax
480.22 Ru 0.522 159.420° 75 km
I show on this table the main satellites of Uranus, and we can see that the major ones are at a reasonable distance (in Uranian radius Ru) of the planet, and orbit almost in the same plane. The orbit of Miranda is tilted thanks to a past mean-motion resonance with Umbriel, which means that it was originally in the same plane. So, we can infer that these satellites were formed classically, i.e. the same way as the satellites of Jupiter, from a protoplanetary nebula, in which the planet and the satellites accreted. An exception is Sycorax, which is very far, highly inclined, and highly eccentric. As an irregular satellite, it has probably been formed somewhere else, as an asteroid, and been trapped by the gravitational attraction of Uranus.
Now let us have a look at the system of Neptune:
14.41 Rn 0 156.865° 1353.4 km
Nereid
223.94 Rn 0.751 7.090° 170 km
4.78 Rn 0 0.075° 210 km
2.99 Rn 0.001 0.205° 97 km
Yes, the main satellite seems to be an irregular one! It does not orbit that far, its orbit is (almost) circular, but its inclination is definitely inconsistent with an in situ formation, i.e. it has been trapped, which has been confirmed by several studies. Nereid is much further, but with a so eccentric orbit that it regularly enters the zone, which is dynamically perturbed by Triton. You can also notice the absence of known satellites between 4.78 and 14.41 Neptunian radii. This suggests that this zone may have been cleared by the gravitational perturbation of a massive body… which is Triton. The study I present you simulates what could have happened.
Before that, let us look at Triton. The system of Neptune has been visited by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in August 1989, which mapped 40% of the surface of Triton. Surprisingly, it showed a limited number of impact craters, which means that the surface has been renewed, maybe some 1 hundred of millions of years ago. Renewing the surface requires an activity, probably cryovolcanism as on the satellite of Saturn Enceladus, which should has been sustained by heating. Triton was on the action of the tides raised by Neptune, but probably not only, since tides are not considered as efficient enough to have circularized the orbit. The tides have probably been supplemented by gravitational interactions with the primordial system of Neptune, i.e. satellites and / or disk debris. If there had been collisions, then they would have themselves triggered heating. As a consequence of this heating, we can expect a differentiated structure.
Moreover, Triton orbits around Neptune in 5.877 days, on a retrograde orbit, while the rotation of Neptune is prograde. This configuration, associated with the tidal interaction between Triton and Neptune, makes Triton spiral very slowly inward. In other words, it will one day be so close to Neptune that it will be destroyed, and probably create a ring. But we will not witness it.
This study is essentially numerical. It aimed at modeling the orbital evolution of Triton, in the presence of Nereid and the putative primordial satellites of Neptune. The authors assumed that there were 4 primordial satellites, with different initial conditions, and considered 3 total masses for them: 0.3, 1, and 3 total masses of the satellites of Uranus. For each of these 3 masses, they ran 200 numerical simulations.
The simulations were conducted with the integrator (numerical code) SyMBA, i.e. Symplectic Massive Body Algorithm. The word symplectic refers to a mathematical property of the equations as they are written, which guarantee a robustness of the results over very long timescales, i.e. there may be an error, but which does not diverge. It may be not convenient if you make short-term accurate simulations, for instance if you want to design the trajectory of a spacecraft, but it is the right tool for simulating a system over hundreds of Myrs (millions of years). This code also handles close encounters, but not the consequences of impacts. The authors bypassed this problem in treating the impacts separately, determining if there were disrupting, and in that case estimated the timescales of reaccretion.
The authors found, consistently with previous studies, that the interaction between Triton and the primordial system could explain its presently circular orbit, i.e. it damped the eccentricity more efficiently than the tides. Moreover, the interaction with Triton caused collisions between the primordial moons, but usually without disruption (hit-and-run impacts). In case of disruption, the authors argue that the reaccretion would be fast with respect of the time evolution of the orbit of Triton, which means that we could lay aside the existence of a debris disk.
Moreover, they found that the total mass of the primordial system had a critical role: for the heaviest one, i.e. 3 masses of the Uranian system, Triton had only small chances to survive, while it had reasonable chances in the other two cases.
Something frustrating when you try to simulate something that happened a few hundreds of Myrs ago is that you can at the best be probabilistic. The study shows that a light primordial system is likelier to have existed than a heavy one, but there are simulations with a heavy system, in which Triton survives. So, a heavy system is not prohibited.
The study, which is available as free article. The authors probably paid extra fees for that, many thanks to them! You can also look at it on arXiv.
A conference paper on the same study,
The ResearchGate profile of Raluca Rufu,
The Homepage of Robin M. Canup.
Before closing this post, I need to mention that the title has been borrowed from Matija Ćuk (SETI, Mountain View, CA), who works on this problem as well (see these two conference abstracts here and here).
Impactsnumerical methodsstabilityTriton
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text:
Center for Civilians in Conflict
Recognize. Prevent. Protect. Amend.
Press Releases and Public Statements
Author Archives: Daniel R. Mahanty
We're Loosening the Rules for Killing. This Won't End Well.
CIVIC Director of US Program Dan Mahanty discusses the dangers of the proposed changes in counterterrorism policy in an op-ed…
October 30, 2017 Blog, Op-EdBy Daniel R. Mahanty
US Week in Review – Oct 24, 2017
Local monitors estimate that at least 1,800 civilians were killed during the Raqqa offensive. The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported a civilian death toll of 1,854, including 1,058 killed in Coalition airstrikes.
October 24, 2017 BlogBy Daniel R. Mahanty
Coalition airstrikes intensified ahead of the final assault, with seventy-five strikes hitting Raqqa between October 7 and 8. Despite a decrease in Coalition airstrikes on October 9 with zero reported strikes and on October 10 with five reported strikes, intensified airstrikes on Raqqa continued on October 11. The Coalition's air raids have taken a severe toll on civilians in Raqqa.
In Afghanistan, the U.S. dropped more bombs and missiles in September than in any other month for nearly seven years; already in 2017, the U.S. has carried out more airstrikes than during 2015 and 2016 combined.
US Week in Review – Sept 25, 2017
September 25, 2017 BlogBy Daniel R. Mahanty
Can Anybody Win in the War Over Counting Civilian Casualties?
The Foreign Policy article penned by Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend in rebuttal to one by Airwars' Samuel Oakford is the…
US Week in Review – Sept 4, 2017
September 6, 2017 BlogBy Daniel R. Mahanty
Why Are More Civilians Dying in US Airstrikes on ISIS?
The debate over the increase in civilian casualties caused by the U.S.-led coalition in the campaign against ISIS grows more contentious by the day, even as the tempo of operations has slowed following the fight for Mosul.
August 11, 2017 Blog, Op-EdBy Daniel R. Mahanty
© 2019 Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), All Rights Reserved


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The UNBC Timberwolves close out their inaugural CIS season of basketball with home games against top-flight UBC and fellow Canada West newcomers Mount Royal University over the next two weekends. Playoffs no longer look to be in the cards for either the mens or women's teams – the veteran-laden men's team never got off the ground in 2013 and fell out of contention, now needing to sweep the nationally-ranked #2 Thunderbirds and get help to qualify, while the relatively younger women's team is mathematically eliminated and is looking to close the season on a high note.
The final homestand will be the final games for a handful of Timberwolves reaching the end of their fifth and final year of eligibility – Kady Dandenault plays her last game for the women, and the men say goodbye to four of their top six minute hogs in Sam Raphael, Francis Rowe, Joel Rybachuk, and Jose Araujo.
This Friday's game against UBC is Faculty & Staff Appreciation Night, a follow-up to the Student Appreciation Night the Timberwolves hosted in January. Tickets to Friday's game are free to current UNBC faculty and staff as the team takes on one of the better sporting schools in Canada.
UBC flies into town on an incredible run – the #2 men have won ten consecutive games dating back into November, while the #6 women have won ten of their last eleven games. To find any results against the Thunderbirds, UNBC's teams will need an effort perhaps even surpassing that of the close fight the men put out against Alberta in November, where the T'Wolves led 55-46 after three quarters before the Golden Bears roared back in the fourth quarter to win. Tipoff against UBC is 6pm/8pm on both Friday and Saturday nights.
The games against the Mount Royal Cougars, highlighted by most in the UNBC Athletics department as potential future rivals in Canada West play, appear to be easier contests. MRU's men's team has been largely unsuccessful all season, managing only splits against Thompson Rivers and UBC-Okanagan and a win in Brandon for a 3-15 record.
The women sit at 5-13, with a nearly-identical passport as the UNBC women – winning games against Brandon, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Lethbridge, and UBC-O. With the Cougars' teams a combined 5-15 on the road, the Timberwolves hope to close the season with four wins against the school from Calgary. The games are played next weekend, February 15-16th, at 6pm/8pm each night. Expect the Saturday game against MRU to be particularly emotional and loud as so many of the players say goodbye to UNBC basketball in front of a crowd likely to exceed 1000.