JUST MOVED!! TOUCH UP PAINT UNDERWAY! NEW CARPET COMING IN STUDY! / BEAUTIFUL HOME ON PRIVATE CULDESAC IN FAIR OAKS RANCH! OVER 4,000 SQ FT AND VERY GENTLY LIVED IN/ MASTER SUITE DOWN NEXT TO STUDY BUT SPLIT FROM OTHER ROOMS /CHEFS KITCHEN, THREE CAR GARAGE AND ADDED FLEX/EXERCISE ROOM DOWN THAT HAS OWN A/C! UPDATED THROUGHOUT WITH GRANITE COUNTERS, NEWER APPLIANCES, MOEN FAUCETS, ENLARGED MASTER SHOWER, WOOD FLOORS, METAL ROOF, PROFESSIONALLY LANDSCAPED. VERY OPEN AND ENTERTAINING FLOOR PLAN !
Listing provided courtesy of John Alaniva of Kimberly Howell Properties.


U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai questioned the legality of divestitures proposed by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. to win approval to buy Tribune Media Co., and said he would send the deal to a hearing—a step that could kill the proposed $3.9 billion deal.
"Based on a thorough review of the record, I have serious concerns about the Sinclair/Tribune transaction," Pai said in a tweet.
Shares in Sinclair dropped as much as 7.9 percent, the most since February, on the news. Tribune shares plunged as much as 18 percent, for the biggest intraday drop since January 2017.
Chicago-based Tribune owns Indianapolis-based stations WTTV-Channel 4 and WXIN-TV Channel 59. WTTV is the city's CBS affiliate and WXIN is the local Fox affiliate. Some industry observers are predicting cuts at the local stations if Sinclair closes the acquisition.
Sinclair's proposed sales of some stations to meet media ownership limits "would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law," Pai in an emailed statement Monday. Pai said he had asked fellow commissioners to vote to send the deal to a hearing.
Under Sinclair's plan, flagship Tribune station WGN in Chicago would go to a business associate of a top Sinclair executive, while other outlets would be sold to a company formerly controlled by the estate of the executive's mother. Seven stations would go to 21st Century Fox Inc.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, the agency's sole Democrat, said she voted to send the merger to a hearing. "Too many of this agency's media policies have been custom built to support the business plans of Sinclair Broadcasting," Rosenworcel said in an email statement.
Sinclair, which grew from a single TV station in Baltimore in 1971, is trying to leap into nationwide prominence with the deal for 42 Tribune stations in cities including New York. The purchase would lift Sinclair's station total to more than 200. It's being examined by the FCC and by antitrust regulators at the Justice Department.
Sinclair's executive vice president, Barry Faber, didn't immediately return an email and telephone call seeking comment. Gary Weitman, a Tribune spokesman, didn't immediately reply to an email.
Even the threat of a lengthy FCC hearing can be fatal to a deal. In 2011, AT&T Inc. abandoned its proposed purchase of smaller T-Mobile US Inc. after the FCC proposed to send the merger to an agency judge for a hearing. The same move by the FCC in 2002 helped block EchoStar Communications Corp.'s acquisition of satellite-TV rival DirecTV.
Sinclair's deal hinges on spinning off TV stations to comply with U.S. limits on broadcast ownership. Yet its proposals to sell stations from Pennsylvania to California drew scrutiny, with critics including business rivals say some of the transactions are designed to evade the ownership rules.
Two Texas stations are to be sold to a partner company that until recently was controlled by the estate of the mother of Sinclair's controlling shareholders. And the flagship Tribune station in Chicago, WGN-TV, is going to an automobile executive who's a business partner of Sinclair Chairman David D. Smith.
Sinclair has said the station buyers are independent businesses, and that it's working diligently to follow the rules.
Among other things, Sinclair's expansion would amplify the reach of voices including Boris Epshteyn, a former aide to President Donald Trump whose commentaries run on its stations.
Once all its proposed purchases and sales are completed, Sinclair calculates it would reach almost 59 percent of the U.S. audience—or less than 38 percent using a discount allowed under FCC rules. That snugs it up against the U.S. national cap of 39 percent.


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Isolation and characterization of small naturally occurring plasmids from Desulfovibrio spp.
by Castaneda Carrion, Irma Nydia, Ph.D., The University of Oklahoma, 2007, 122; 3291053
Molecular techniques applied to microbial taxonomy were used for the discrimination between Desulfovibrio SR-1 and Desulfovibrio africanus. Desulfovibrio SR-1 has a single polar flagellum and ferments pyruvate. D. africanus has lophotrichus flagella and pyruvate does not support its growth in sulfate-free media. The 16S rRNA gene and the ITS sequence analyses showed the same phylogenetic affiliation for both strains. The DNA sequences of the ITS region of Desulfovibrio SR-1 and D. africanus contain two transfer RNA genes (tRNAIle, tRNAAla), and they are 300 and 299 bases in length, respectively. The analysis of dsrAB sequences showed a better discrimination power than the 16S rRNA sequences in defining their phylogenetic affiliation. The 72% DNA-DNA similarity value did not conclusively resolve whether these strains should be considered as members of one species. The 62.4 mol% G+C content of Desulfovibrio SR-1 differs from the 63.1 mol% G+C of D. africanus. Significant differences in the genomic fingerprints (16S rDNA, PmeI-PFGE and BOX-PCR) between both strains were observed.
These results suggest that these strains have different genomic organization. The presence of plasmid DNA was only detected in Desulfovibrio SR-1. On the basis of distinct phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain Desulfovibrio SR-1 represents a novel subspecies of D. africanus .
Advisor: Krumholz, Lee R.
Commitee: Duncan, Kathleen E., Hoefnagels, Marielle, Li, Jia, Thompson, James N.
School: The University of Oklahoma
Department: Department of Botany and Microbiology
School Location: United States -- Oklahoma
Source: DAI-B 68/12, Dissertation Abstracts International
Subjects: Microbiology
Keywords: Desulfovibrio, Plasmids, Pyruvates

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Website content is the words that sit on your website.
These days, it's not enough to have "OK" website content. Your website content must be superior.
If you focus on nothing else, you should at least put your best foot forward with your website so that everyone can connect with you online and discover what your business is all about.
As at September 2018, there are almost 200 million active websites on the web.
URL – i.e.: rachelziv.com.au doesn't require much thought, and doesn't have dashes or weird words.
Website design – too many bells and whistles make it difficult for search engines to "read" your website.
Meta data – proper titles and meta descriptions help search engines know what you do and where to place you in search results.
Does this company have what I need? Do I want to do business with them?
How long should website content be?
The amount of words on each web page varies depending on your website design. Generally a home page may have around 200 words, while a services page could have around 400.
Our approach is to get your message across clearly and succinctly. Nobody wants to wade through waffle or listen to egocentric business speak, so we work hard to give your reader exactly what they need to hear, on the page they need to hear it.
What is the standard layout of a web page?
Home – Make a statement, introduce yourself (appeal to what the customer is searching for), provide an easy overview of services, add a splash of logos and/or testimonials.
About – Discuss the problem the customer is facing. Explain why they need you. Then back it up with why you are worthy of them (qualifications, years of experience, etc.).
Services – Instantly explain why the service you offer solves the problem they're facing. Clearly outline how you offer it and infuse your 'why'. Use short paragraphs, dot points, and sub headings throughout.
Save lengthy or technical information for blog posts or a resources page.
Why get a professional to help with web copy?
There are so many benefits to a great website. We strongly recommend that you invest the time and money to get it right. That doesn't mean you need to spend a fortune. But it does mean you should engage experts to help, unless you have strong skills as a web designer and/or SEO copywriter.
At Rachel Ziv, we are all about the words so we focus exclusively on copywriting and editing.
We have worked on everything from content for a single website page, to editing hundreds of web pages aligned to internal style guides.
If you need help finding a web designer, we have strong relationships with many local businesses and can help you find the right one to meet your needs.
We also have relationships with a Senior User Experience Consultant and Information Architect who can collaborate with us if you need a more holistic approach to designing or redesigning your website.


As the founder of one of Britain's most exclusive watch brands, David Brailsford is well aware of the many problems faced when trying to bring a new timepiece to the market. His experience and expertise will help guide you through the initial stages of development and save you from making costly engineering mistakes.
The initial design stages can often be the most complex part of any project. Detailed technical drawings, 3d renders and machine files must all be created to aid in the production of parts. The Watch Consultant can put you in touch with right engineering companies and suppliers or we can take care of the whole project from start to finish.
We offer design, build and consultancy packages and work with approved parts suppliers in both the UK and Switzerland. We can also manufacture parts and assemble watches in our own workshops.


Information accessed through too many sources.
As a lender, Clayton needs to know everything about a property in order to verify the borrower. Before, it would take days of searching through public records and digging for property details in order to access all of the data he needed.
After spending so much time searching, Clayton's team found a solution to make their workflow more efficient, save time and manpower spent searching.
Save time spent searching for accurate data.
"It used to take up to two or three days to do the kind of search we needed in Google. Now I can sign into Reonomy and within five minutes I know exactly what I'm looking at – I know the warts on it and I know the good things about it. Within literally five minutes." Clayton said.


We have just been given the go ahead by Alliance Homes to run a follow up Pop-Up Business School day in February so we are excited to be coming back!
The next step is to find out what you want so we can write a program specifically for you!
Please vote on the left for the kind of subjects you want us to talk about and add your own ones. We really need to know what subjects you want us to cover and we will make it a spectacular day for you!
Vote to the right and leave comment below as to what you want to see at the next Pop-Up Business School.
We will be publishing venue details and dates nearer the time. if there are any dates you can't make in February then please leave them in the comments below.
This event is not just open to people who came the first time it is open to anyone. Please bring your friends!


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Happy Birthday, Hulu; Now Grow Up
Filed to:Rants
Video streaming site Hulu turns one today, and to celebrate they're adding new friend features. The site's come a long way in one year, but while they're getting all social, we suggest they learn to play nice.
If you've been following along with the Hulu/Boxee rollercoaster, you've seen Hulu kick early adopters in the face, and you've watched Hulu work tirelessly to block every subsequent attempt by third-party apps (like Boxee) to bring Hulu back.
Hulu Blocks Boxee, TV.com, Kicks Early Adopters in the Face
Popular online video web site Hulu has gained major traction in the past year, thanks in part to…
Why Hulu's in the Wrong
The fact of the matter, Hulu, is that a web browser is a web browser, no matter where it's running, and your ads play just as well on consumer's TVs as they do on their monitors. When you start blocking applications like Boxee from accessing your content solely because it's using a different interface to access your video than you had imagined, you're alienating the early adopters that made your site popular in the first place.
Hulu has clearly stated that the content providers are behind the block, but none of that really matters to users. Fact is, one way or another, if you're going to stream ad-supported content in the browser, somebody's going to put that content on a TV—which is essentially just a computer monitor on a larger scale that lives in your living room. Either you can support innovation or you can let someone else do it (and fade into obscurity).
In the meantime, users are left with few alternatives for getting that free content (you gave them the taste for it!), the easiest being to use BitTorrent to get Hulu content to your TV without Hulu's help. And guess what? There are no ads in the BitTorrent downloads.
Get Hulu Content on Your TV without Hulu's Help
Let's say a certain web site you liked went and did something kind of stupid, and now the TV shows…
According to Kevin, our Boxee on Apple TV nut, Hulu has been working without issue on Boxee for the past four days (with one minor exception for Boxee-on-Apple-TV users)—but no official word has come from either Boxee or Hulu as to what that means.
Cut the Cable For Good with Boxee and Apple TV
Boxee is a free and easy-to-use cross-platform media center that puts all your videos—and most of…
In the meantime, if the Hulu-on-Boxee status is really important to whether or not you'll have entertainment on any given night, you may want to subscribe to the dedicated ishuluonboxee Twitter feed.
Got a birthday wish for Hulu? Let's hear it in the comments.


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Category Archives: Sharon Healy Yang
Lee Library Author Event: A Walk on the Noir Side in Shades of Autumn
October 17, 2022 1940s mystery, All Through the Night, Always Play the Dark Horse, Autumn, Bait and Switch, Bait and Switch, book signings and readings, Ella Raines, Fall, Film Noir, Jessica Minton, Joan Bennett, Lee Library, massachusetts, mystery, New England, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, Smart-Talking Gals, Starving, Starving Artist Cafe, suspense, The Uninivted, Val Lewton, writingAlways Play the Dark Horse, Autumn, Bait and Switch, Fall, film noir, Jessica Minton, Lee Library, Leslie Wheeler, Letter from a Dead Man, Mystery writing, smart talking gal, The Univinted, Val Lewtonhealy24yang
Since some of the Covid issues have waned, I've started going back to doing in-person author readings. Friday, October 14th, I had the good fortune to do an event at the Lee Library in Lee, Massachusetts. What a wonderful day! Lee is in the western part of Massachusetts, so my husband and I had an exciting drive through all the gorgeous fall foliage to arrive at our destination. Lee is a neat little town with a main street of equally neat shops, and in an antique store I found a 1940s movie magazine with pictures of favorite stars. The main street has lots of tasty restaurants. We had our lunch at The Starving Artist Cafe, where they craft the yummiest sandwiches and
crêpes. They made a pumpkin latte that was absolutely perfect – not all sugary and fake whipped cream, but good coffee, the flavor of pumpkin spice, and steamed milk. We sat outside at the street seating on a warm October day and enjoyed the small-town scenery, great food, and trees dressed in their autumn flames and oranges. After a stroll amongst the shops and a peek at some of the gorgeous Victorian houses in town, we went to the library for my talk. You can see what a beautiful old building the library is. When visiting the town earlier, I was taken with the building and thought, "I'd like to do a talk here." Well, I contacted Jodi Magner at the library, and she was tremendously welcoming and enthusiastic at the prospect of my doing an event. She told me that they loved mysteries in that town!
That day, Jodi and her daughter Megan made me so welcome and helped my husband and I set up. I was delighted that my friend, mystery writer, Leslie Wheeler could join us, as well as other women whom I'd never met before. We were a small group, but we had a great time. I got so many intelligent questions, and people seemed interested in my inspiration from film noir and haunting movies of the 1940s like Val Lewton's films and The Uninvited. They seemed to get a kick out of the excerpts that I read from Bait and Switch, Letter from a Dead Man, and Always Play the Dark Horse to illustrate how the dark, dreamy elements of noir and the smart talking gals of the 1940s influenced my writing! One of the women even said that a friend, sometime earlier, had been suggesting she read the Jessica Minton series. I'm getting a fan base! And now you can read all three Jessica Minton novels through the Lee Library.
Say, how do you like the pin-stripe black suit and the black fedora? I thought the gold blouse was just right to add fall color. Should I have brought along a gat?
I'm hoping to go back in the summer, after the fourth novel comes out: Shadows of a Dark Past. Maybe I'll see you there!
Return of the Native: My Author Event at Lala Books in Lowell
September 12, 2022 1940s mystery, All Through the Night, Always Play the Dark Horse, Bait and Switch, Film Actors, Film Noir, Jessica Minton, Joan Bennett, Lowell, Lowell Bookstores, mystery, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, Smart-Talking Gals, suspense, writing1940s mysteries, 1940s mystery, Always Play the Dark Horse, Bait and Switch, Bait and Switch reading, Bait and Switch signings, Book Signings, Lala Books, Letter from a Dead Man, Lowell, MA, Readings, Sharon Healy Yang, World War II Mysteryhealy24yang
I had a wonderful experience going back to my hometown of Lowell, Mass. to do an author event at Lala Books. This is a lovely bookstore on Market Street (189 Market, to be exact), filled with an extensive catalogue of fiction and nonfiction – with a large local author section, where I fit in. Well, we know I also fit in as a mystery writer. The store is roomy and pleasant, and I had a cozy corner to do my event.
The event went great! I got to talk about how I've always been a story teller, even scaring the other little kids on the block with ghost stories when I, myself, was but a nipper. I also got to talk about the influence of black and white film noir mysteries and films of hauntings and the supernatural. It was fun to connect Bait and Switch, Letter from a Dead Man, and Always Play the Dark Horse to specific films that influenced their creation. As always, I had fun talking answering questions about the writing process and publishing. I especially appreciated when one listener told me that reading Bait and Switch reminded him of watching old films with his Dad. I was so happy that everyone seemed to get a kick out of the excerpt I read from Dark Horse – I kept them in suspense!
The audience was, indeed, wonderful! I saw many old friends, including one gal I hadn't seen since we were little kids and my parent moved our family to another neighborhood. I deeply appreciate all the friends who came out to support me, and tell me how much they love my mysteries – especially my descriptive style. It's also great to make new friends and bring in new readers. And I did sell some books, too! By the way, do you like the dress? Yang made it based on a 1940s Simplicity pattern. The hat is one of my favorites!
Lauren and her daughter Thea did an admirable job setting up the event and supporting me when I was there. Thanks, so much to you! If you live in the Lowell area, be sure to drop in and do some book shopping. Christmas is coming! All three of my novels are available at Lala Books. Don't forget, they have some neat events as well.
Haunting by the Riverside
December 19, 2021 architecture, Autumn, Cemeteries, Connecticut, CT, Don't Blink, Fall, gargoyles, Gothic, Lowell cemeteries, New England, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, tomb stones, WaterburyAutumn, Cemeteries, Connecticut, CT, Fall, Gothic, gothic architecture, Grave monuments, Grave Stones, Nature, New England, Waterburyhealy24yang
The second day of December is not yet winter, with traces of muted versions of the fall colors lingering, especially in the trees and grass of an old cemetery, almost forgotten. On that date this year, Yang and I finally got to visit the Riverside Cemetery in Waterbury, Ct. When passing by on the highway, we would always look down on the Victorian Gothic chapel and monuments to those lost in death, leaving us fascinated by its haunting, melancholy beauty. Finally, we managed to make a trip there to explore. We were not disappointed.
Of course, we stopped first in Seymore for tea at Tea with Tracey, where I enjoyed a delicious fig and cherry tea and Yang took pleasure in a nice green tea. The array of tea sandwiches was yummy, and soon we were well fortified for our expedition into the past of Waterbury through its monuments to the passed. The day was appropriate, with grey skies and a nip in the air. As you entered, you are greeted with an exquisite monument to the Elton family. The bronze has turned a soft green, but the female figures flanking either side of the memorial urn are beautifully articulated. On one side is a shrouded figure of grief at death and on the other a hopeful one looking upward serenely. The execution of the figures is graceful and feeling. Interestingly, the handles of the urn are cherubs, somewhat menacing in demeanor. I think it's kind of neat that the man's name is John Elton. Reverse the order and you have . . .
You can find the actual grave of the Elton family deeper into the cemetery. Clearly this was one of the leading families of Waterbury in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I heard that there was even a highly regarded Elton Hotel in the town quite some time back. What has happened to them since? I can't tell you. Perhaps there are some Waterbury historians reading this blog who would like to take that one? I'd love to know!
There were several others who were clearly prominent in the town, indicated by the plaques on their graves or the imposing nature of their monuments. One interesting sort was the Civil War veteran John Lyman Chatfield. This plaque tells the story of his wounding on the battlefield and subsequent death back in Waterbury. The bronze statue of him in uniform further attests to his history as a Civil Warrior. The Chatfield family must have been one with tremendous clout in the city to be able to leave such an imposing monument. Any local historians want to fill us in on more about him?
The Spencer family also must have been amongst the movers and shakers of 19th-century Waterbury. Witness the tall monument with the carefully carved likeness in relief. This guy must have worked awfully hard for his money and position because he does look rather cranky, don't you think?
Here we have a doctor who must have had a great deal of success and done much good. The description of his work helping children reveals his value to the population. Perhaps that's likely the reason for the sleeping children on the corners of the face of this elaborate tombstone. They are a little creepy though, don't you think? I guess that's why they're so Victorian, the era of photographing your dead all dressed up to remember them by – if you were upper middle class.
And of course the BPOE was a force to be reckoned with in those days as well. If you were a high-antler and did a lot of good, then you'd certainly be properly memorialized, so check out this monument. I don't remember of the chap honored here, unfortunately, but I had to get several shots of this elk. How does he compare with the elk in the Edson Cemetery of Lowell's ? Click here for an earlier blog to make a comparison. The one in Lowell does have the advantage of being cleaned and returned to its original bronze glory. Anyway, I can't help providing you with several shots of this wonderful statue. It's so cool how his base is shaped as a rock crag and is set on the hillside, so that he presides over the rolling slopes of the cemetery.
And roll those slopes do! I think navigating that terrain is half the reason the injured ligaments in my knee haven't healed yet! You notice that geography immediately on entering the cemetery, with mausoleums banking upwards to a bleak late autumn sky, almost as grey as their stone. I want to share images of the slopes of stone rolling through the cemetery, topped with trees whose mostly denuded branches scratch across the grey sky, the grass rusty brown, and an occasional shrub or tree bearing the maroons or dark orange of late fall. Definitely the perfect setting for a mystery or a tale of terror. I just have to work this place into a novel, too!
Of course the statuary revealed the entrancing work of inestimable craftsmen. There were so many haunting statues of women. For example, regard the deep feeling of this woman who guards the entrance to one family's mausoleum. Is this an actual likeness to a wife or mother of the N.J. Welton family who preserved that family's secure home? Was the truth of that family portrayed in this woman's intense devotion, or are any conflicts whitewashed here for posterity?
This statue of woman and child from another branch of the Welton family seems to portray a sad loss. Did mother and child pass when both were young or are they immortalized as eternally young in the next world? The child seems afraid, burying herself in the comforting lap of her mother, who has one arm around her but raises her hand hopefully, while the other holds a book and looks into the beyond. Is she holding the Book of Life or the Bible? Her steadfast stare and gentle but firm hold on her daughter indicates her guidance of her family toward redemption. This seems a statuary representation if the Victorian Angel in the House.
It's hard to select which other statues to show you, there are so many beautiful, poignant ones, so I'll try to select the more unique. I was fascinated by the bronze cast of this woman, whose plaque celebrated her firm virtues. The photo doesn't quite convey how massive the bronze form is. Her hair style, dress, and sandalled feet portray her as a Roman matron. so, clearly, she was a powerful force in her family, devoted to her duties there and preserving them. Again, the book she holds indicates learning and wisdom, though perhaps only in religion if it's a Bible. More knowledge of the family and this woman might indicate she was actually learned in areas outside the woman's domestic sphere. Anyone know something of her?
This statue was particularly intriguing, for the base was not a smooth column, but in the shape of a cairn, with the information of the family's deceased inscribed on the individual stones. I'm fascinated by the creativity of the masons who contributed to the Riverside Cemetery. Their statuary is amongst the most unique I've encountered in my explorations of cemeteries.
Now this statuary tremendously intrigued me. Coming upon it from behind, both Yang and I thought it was a spectral figure in a shroud, a figure implying the mystery of the world beyond this. However, as we came around the front of the monument, we realized that what you saw from the front was a partially draped urn. This leads me to wonder if the artist intentionally played with our perceptions, implying the ineffablity of pinning down or defining death. Was he, perhaps, implying our thoughts of ghosts and spirits turn out to be nothing more than dust in a dead stone urn? Or was he implying that perception of death as final dissolution into dust and cold stone was a superficial view that we have to look behind or beyond to accept the mystery of the world beyond? Maybe I just think to much? I was an English professor; it's an occupational hazard.
I'll just wrap up with an image that delights me in my most melancholy, Keatsian vein.
The Dark Side of the Screen, the Dark Pages of my Novels
August 8, 2021 1940s mystery, All Through the Night, Always Play the Dark Horse, Bait and Switch, cats, Connecticut, Film Actors, Film Noir, Guest in the House, Jessica Minton, Joan Bennett, Letter from a Dead Man, mystery, New England, New Hampshire, New York films, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, Smart-Talking Gals, suspense, The Stranger, Val Lewton, Woman on the Beach, writing1940s mysteries, Always Play the Dark Horse, Bait and Switch, Bait and Switch novel, Bait and Swith, film noir, Jean Renoir, Jessica Minton, Joan Bennett, Letter from a Dead Man, mystery, Mystery writing, New York City, New York Public Library Lions, Sharon Yang, The Seventh Victim, The Woman on the Beach, Val Lewton, writinghealy24yang
Growing up watching films from the '30s, 40's, and 50s, often in the dark hours of the night, I was deliciously haunted by the noir-inflected, melancholy, shadowy worlds of Val Lewton films, the eerie displacement of Universal and Columbia horror, and the mind-twisting mysteries exploring the dark side of society and the human heart. Those were perhaps the major impetus for my desire to recreate shadowy even eerie realms with my own writing. For the chiaroscuro worlds of the mystery and horror delightfully lingered in my imagination.
Specific films influence each of my novels. With Bait and Switch, I was inspired by those exercises in noir that voiced homefront fears of Nazi fifth columnists infecting our security from within. So, when Jessica Minton finds herself caught in the middle of a espionage plot that is either a gambit to flush out a fifth columnists or a fifth columnist's plot to trick her into saving his skin, such films as They Live by Night, The Fallen Sparrow, and Confessions of a Nazi Spy inspired my creation of slippery deceptions, unclear loyalties, and sudden death in a world of slick, dark mean streets; fog rolling off the Hudson, through the New York waterfront and the Brooklyn Bridge; crumbling, sinister rows of buildings lowering on the wrong side of town; and deserted theatres.
Of course, I was not inspired merely by the dreamy darkness of these films but by the quick wit and humor peppering many of them. Perhaps the most influential in that department was All through the Night, a fast-moving tale of Nazi infiltrators inhabiting the stylish but shadowed upper echelons of New York Society – as well as the dark recesses of obscure warehouses and secret panels leading to command centers. Cutting through that sinister atmosphere is the sharp wit of Humphrey Bogart's semi-gangster, Gloves Donohue, and his sidekicks played by the fast-talking likes of William Demarest and Frank McHugh. Of course, there is romance, as well, with a damsel in distress. I love to spice Bait and Switch with the same sort of irreverent, sardonic humor. And, though Jessica Minton may find herself caught in distress, she's hardly a damsel. She holds her own when in danger, though a little help from her vis à vis does come in handy – that and a banana cream pie.
Letter from a Dead Man is more straight noir. No Nazis, but plenty of intrigue and unexpected conflicts stemming from hidden identities fatally revealed; stolen jade; romantic intrigue; a femme fatale who's in the chips now (socially and financially) but will do anything to prevent the exposure of her sordid past; a frame job for murder; two tough cops, just this side of jaded; and an F.B.I. agent from Jessica Minton's past who has his own agenda. Images and even passages from specific films noirs imbue Dead Man. The seductive manipulations of Helen Grayle fromMurder, My Sweet inspire the deadly web that Alanna Tewkesbury weaves around the Minton sisters, and those they love, to keep her secrets intact and to get her hands on stolen treasure. Imagery from The Seventh Victim, Woman in the Window, The Fallen Sparrow, Scarlet Street, and Manhunt live on in the darkened, deserted offices; lonely, rain-slicked streets; deadly lurkers in late-night subways; and even behind the hulking, cold stone of the New York Public Library Lions!
Dead Man is not all darkness. It's lightened with the sharp reparté you'd expect from the mouth of a Rosalind Russell, a Joan Bennett, or an Eve Arden. Plus, there are some truly Lucy-and-Ethel-worthy moments of slapstick, with Jessica and Liz forced to hide in a closet from Alanna and her tough-talking torpedoes, friend Iris leading a room full of party-goers in a madcap conga to cover up an argument between Liz and her boyfriend that will put him at the center of a murder investigation, and Jess donning disguises as a maid to recover a stolen gun and as a shady lady in need of reform to snare a vital witness.
This leads to the third, soon to be released, novel in the Jessica Minton mystery series: Always Play the Dark Horse. Though this book shares much with its predecessors, there's a different take on the noir world of mystery, fifth columnists, darkness, and doubt. Dark Horse is more inspired by the dreamy nature of Jean Renoir's The Woman on the Beach, Lewis Milstone's Guest in the House, or Orson Welles's The Stranger. Scenes on the Connecticut beach at night; in the foggy advent of a storm; the presence of a mysterious rider on a magnificent black horse along the shore; the battered ghost of a beached ship where forbidden lovers once met; the twisting corridors, warren of offices, dark-paneled rooms, and hidden stone staircase of a college building, all capture the dreamy world of those films, especially Woman on the Beach. As in Renoir's film, I found myself caught up in creating a world formed in tune to the haunting mood of Debussey's music. The story of dark love, vicious personal conflicts, uncertain loyalties, cruel memories of war's horrors, and the threat of a Nazi resurgence, however, edge that dream uncomfortably into the realm of nightmare so effectively created in The Stranger and Guest in the House/
That's not to say you'll need uppers to get through Dark Horse! The quick wit and strong sense of camaraderie that I portray in the other novels percolates here as well. I really enjoyed developing the married relationship between Jessica and James, showing their support and love for each other seasoned with their playful humor. They may not always get along or be perfectly happy with each other; but, as grown ups, they work things out. That partnership and humor are what help them resolve their case. I also enjoyed Jessica's bond with her friend Rose. An educated and intelligent working woman (professor) and mother, Rose is a loyal, funny friend who helps Jessica stay ahead of the game. I always like to show the power of girlfriends in my books! Last, but never least, where the dog – e.g. Asta – has traditionally been the animal sidekick in mysteries, I once again return Dusty to her feline glory! She plays a major role in all three novels: a pal but not a drippy one. And there ends up being nary a mouse in the cottage by the beach where Jessica and James must do their part against murder, betrayal, and Nazis.
Screen shots from The Woman on the Beach and The Seventh Victim are from the author's collection. RKO videos
Still photos from Scarlet Street and The Woman on the Beach are from the author's collection
Image of Dusty and images from book covers from the author's collection
Image from Murder, My Sweet from unknown source
Image of New York City from New York in the Forties, Andreas Feininger (Dover Publications, 1978)
Banana cream pie image courtesy of https://www.pngkey.com/detail/u2w7u2e6q8e6t4r5_pies-clipart-slice-pie-lemon-meringue-pie-drawing/
Casting Characters, Part Two: Letter from a Dead Man
July 4, 2021 1940s mystery, character development, Claire Trevor, David Duchovny, Dusty, Film Actors, Film Noir, Fred MacMurray, Jessica Minton, Leonard Nimoy, Letter from a Dead Man, mystery, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, Smart-Talking Gals, Walter Koenig1940s mysteries, Claire Trevor, David Duchovny, developing characters, Dusty, film noir, Fred MacMurray, Jessica Minton, Letter from a Dead Man, mystery, Sharon Healy Yang, Walter Keonighealy24yang
Casting Characters, Part 2: Letter from a Dead Man
Letter from a Dead Man gave me some nifty casting possibilities as well. For the experienced Detective Leo McLaughlan, I chose Fred MacMurray. Not the befuddled, cuddly MacMurray of My Three Sons, but the shrewd, been-around-the-block-a-few times version in Bordertown, Singapore, Calloway Went Thataway, and Double Indemnity (without the murderous leanings). Yup, I found great inspiration for Leo in Calloway when MacMurray's jaded press agent told a neophyte Western actor, "You've got two expressions: hat on and hat off."
Whom did I select for the sexy, treacherous Alanna Tewkesbury of the novel? None other than that queen of noir femme fatales, Claire Trevor. True, Trevor has played reliable smart-talking gals (Crackup), but her conniving dames luring men to do her selfish, illicit bidding in Murder, My Sweet and Johnny Angel were the ideal inspiration for Dead Man's "barracuda in Max Factor." Take a look at Trevor's seductive first meeting with Philip Marlowe in Murder before you read Alanna's interview with Leo McLaughlan and you'll see exactly what I mean.
Don't forget FBI agent Jeff Hooley in the novel, either. For him I went to a more modern source. Who might be a model for an acerbic, black-sheep agent with a touch of the romantic? A chap with a dark secret about betrayal and corruption driving him for justice? How about David Duchovney from The X-Files fitting the bill?
I decided to dip into my preoccupation with Star Trek for casting two supporting players in the cast. Iris's boyfriend Walter Castle got his start in Walter Koenig, with a pun on the last name. It makes sense if you know German. And the mysterious Kavanaugh that Hooley sought out to clear his family name? Leonard Nimoy. Don't you think he could do jaded, world-weary, and feelings tightly guarded? Don't worry, though, there were no point ears in this role to keep his hat from fitting right.
So, whom from the classic era do you think might have inspired the Minton sisters' friends Iris and Lois.? Or Alanna Tewkesbury's torpedo Eddie Kubeck? Let me know what you think and I'll let you know whom I had in mind.
Once again, Dusty is always Dusty.
Photos: No intention to violate copyright law,images used for entertainment and educational uses only. If there are any problems, contact me to remove the image
Fred MacMuray Photo from The All Americans (James Robert Parish and Don E. Stanke)
Claire Trevor Image unknown source
David Duchovny image: xfilesfandom.com
Dusty image: author's collection
Continue reading Casting Characters, Part Two: Letter from a Dead Man →
The Marvelous Marble of the Barre Cemetery
May 22, 2020 architecture, Autumn, Cemeteries, Don't Blink, Fall, Foliage, gargoyles, Gothic, Nature, New England, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, tomb stonesAutumn, Cemeteries, Don't blink, Foliage, Gothic, gothic architecture, Nature, New England, Sharon Healy Yang, tomb stones, Vermonthealy24yang
I hadn't had a chance to do up a blog of this wonderful, remarkable cemetery in Barre, VT before, which Yang and I visited three years ago in the Fall. What makes the spot so unique? Well, this town in Vermont is famous for its marble quarrying and this local product is beautifully worked to produce the most creative, unique monuments. Many of these take on unique forms to honor the life work or interests of those they honor in death.
Thus, you can find a musician with this apt memorial. I wonder what instrument this person played?
Appropriately, this man was a sculptor.
If you're a fan of Dr. Who, don't blink. Otherwise, you could be pursued by those pesky stone aliens by car or plane.
The Fukuda family chose to celebrate their Japanese heritage with this rendition of a Japanese house.
This man seems to be dreaming of or lovingly guided by the spirit of his late wife, though her wafting out of cigarette smoke probably wouldn't please the Surgeon General.
There are also some startlingly unique works of funerary art, such as the following:
The open book, as in his life was an. . . all in French.
And there were more traditional statues, equally beautiful. There was the Pieta.
Here are the traditional weeping women.
I particularly love the detail you can see in this closeup shot.
And we can never forget the angels and urns.
There were also striking columns
and mausoleums
and reliefs:
All were lovely to see on a clear Vermont Sunday morning, with the fall colors tinting the trees in gorgeous contrast to the blue skies and white wisps of clouds.
"My Smart-Talking Gal Mystery Heroine: A Joan Bennett Birthday Tribute"
February 26, 2020 1940s mystery, Bait and Switch, Dark Shadows, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Film Actors, Film Noir, Jessica Minton, Joan Bennett, Letter from a Dead Man, mystery, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, suspense, The House Across the Bay, The Man I Married, The ScarBait and Switch, Bait and Switch novel, cats, Dark Shadows, Dusty, film noir, Hollow Triumph, Jessica Minton, Joan Bennett, Letter from a Dead Man, Sharon Healy Yang, Sharon Yang, Smart-Talking Gals, The Man I Married, The Scar, writinghealy24yang
It's only natural to honor Joan Bennett on her birthday by explaining her powerful influence on my writing. A lot of this influence goes back to my earlier years watching old movies. As a kid, I started out hooked on Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and the rest of the stable of Universal and RKO horror films – God Bless Val Lewton! The mystery and otherworldliness of black and white film, the smart dialogue, the clever twists of plot that other forties and thirties film genres shared with horror lured me into a liminal world like a perpetual deep summer night. I was further captured by classic films' biting wit, challenging plots, and independent women – especially in what I came to know as film noir. And who showed herself the queen of this world? Above them all, Joan Bennett.
I must admit that I first came really to know Joan when she appeared in Dark Shadows. Her Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was formidable, reminding me of my mother when I was in deep trouble. How could vampires, werewolves, and witches withstand her powerful, regal stare? Still, like my Mom, there was deep feeling and love for her daughter and her family. However, only in film did I discover Joan displaying one of the traits I loved best about my Mom: that witty, smart-talking-gal sense of humor. In outright comedy, Joan could drop a clever line with style and intelligence, but even in some of her darkest dramas that wit came through. What a delight to see her wield that humor to put firmly in their places anyone trying to crush or bamboozle her. In The House across the Bay, she undercuts a smart-mouth chorine who harangued her, "Cheep, cheep, cheep" with "Where's the birdseed?" When the obnoxious woman tries to go after her physically, Joan rakes her over the coals with, "Just a minute, Miss Dimwit. I was silly enough to apologize, but now that you want to make something of it, I'll give you a good reason. You're a phony, you've got a voice like four panes of cracked glass, and about as much appeal as a can of embalming fluid. I could go on, but that ought to give you a rough idea of how I feel about you." Eight years later, when Paul Henreid tries to disparage her cynicism towards him in The Scar with a deprecating, "You're a bitter little lady," she puts him in his place with a world-weary but tough, "It's a bitter little world, full of sad surprises, and you don't go around letting people hurt you." In The Man I Married, Joan's not even daunted by Nazis, telling her husband-turned-fascist, "Heil heel" when he promises to dump her and take their son. Her feistiness isn't limited to verbiage, either. Take a gander at this picture.
Like my Mom, Joan played women of wit, strength, humanity, and confidence – not just what the New York Times dubbed her gallery of "hydrochloric dames."
So, in my twenties, when I decided to take my writing seriously than developing Victoria Holt knock-offs or spoofs of Dark Shadows, I turned to 1940s style mysteries to inspire my own adventures of romance, danger, suspense, and wit. Interestingly, as a writer influenced by film, I found I could better create distinct, believable characters by casting them as actors with whom I was familiar, blending their traits with some of the people I knew (including myself!). I also knew that I didn't want my heroine to be wimpy, weepy, and inclined to faint in the final reel or pages, which, unfortunately, did often happen on the page or screen in the '40s and '50s. Guess who I saw as perfect for the role of Jessica Minton, a smart, independent, quick-with-a-quip forties gal? Someone who had a sensitive heart and a strong sense of responsibility, but didn't take guff from anyone – and would smack said guff out of the ballpark with whip smart humor.
I do see a lot of myself in Jessica – and in Joan's less nasty roles – or maybe an idealized version of myself, anyway. I know that mischievous banter with those I love and pointed barbs for those I don't is something I share with Jess, which Joan plays to perfection. However, I doubt that like Jessica, I'd have the guts to hold onto a mysterious package left by a mysterious and handsome British stranger at the risk of being liquidated by Nazi fifth columnists – to disguise myself as a maid to get into a criminal's apartment while he's still there (!) to retrieve a gun used to frame a friend – to grab a gunsel by the lapels and threaten to turn him into a soprano if he ever threatened my cat again – to show up in a shadow-draped room and wittily bargain with a gun-toting femme fatale and her hired gun to trade stolen jade for my friends' lives – or to slip into a cove and explore a beached and rotting ship while layers of ocean fog swept in around me. I might dare to weaponize a banana-cream pie, but I can't guarantee my aim would be as good as Jessica Minton's. I can guarantee you that any fans of our Joanie could picture her carrying off these adventures with verve and wit, though not without human trepidation.
Those of us who love Joan Bennett and appreciate her talents would also, as Sam Fuller writes, see her as "a sensitive actress" enough to also believe her playing Jessica's distress at being torn between loyalty to an old boyfriend and to a new man who brings her adventure and love; a sister who gets annoyed with her older sibling's foibles leading them into danger but sticking by her to the end (though not without a smart quip or two exchanged between them); a sweetheart waiting to hear news of a fiancé lost in the war, then a wife supporting her husband's struggle with memories from that war. And Jessica loves her cat. I know Joan was a dog person, but heck, there's still part of me in Jessica Minton. So, she's a cat person!
Anyway, that's all I've got to say on the subject, but if you'd like to take a peek at some passages from Bait and Switch or Letter from a Dead Man, click on the links on the titles and have fun picturing Joan working her magic as Jessica Minton. Oh, and by the way, I cast her sister Elizabeth as Rosalind Russell (and my sister-on-law). Can you imagine what a grand ride it would have been to catch Joan and Roz trading quips with each other, then marshaling their humor to take on Nazis, criminally corrupt American aristocrats, femme fatales, underworld crooks, and crooked cops? And I've got two more books on the way! Viva Jessica Minton and Joan Bennett!
If you love mysteries on the screen or on the page, especially centered on the golden era, click here to go to my web page where you can find lots of interesting stuff – including my Joan Bennett tribute page!
Photos: Author's collections


The man killed by police on Thursday after he fatally shot nine people at a community college in southern Oregon was a nervy 26-year-old who lived close to the campus and described himself as shy, according to neighbors, media and online reports.
WINCHESTER, Ore./SAN FRANCISCO – The man killed by police on Thursday after he fatally shot nine people at a community college in southern Oregon was a nervy 26-year-old who lived close to the campus and described himself as shy, according to neighbors, media and online reports.
A law enforcement source said multiple agencies had identified the shooter as Chris Harper-Mercer. Online directories list a man of that name as having lived in Torrance, California, before moving to Winchester, Oregon.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the name of the shooter, but on Thursday night law enforcement officers were out in force at the Winchester apartment building identified in databases as Harper-Mercer's residence.
Two neighbors said they recognized online photos of Harper-Mercer as a man from the apartment building. A phone number listed for the address was busy.
The killer used four guns, including a type of assault rifle, in the classroom attack, CNN said. Seven people were also wounded at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, a timber town of about 20,000 people that adjoins Winchester.
A photo posted on a MySpace profile belonging to someone named Chris Harper-Mercer, from Torrance, showed a young man with a shaved head, dark-rimmed glasses and a serious expression. He was holding a long-barreled gun.
A neighbor next door to the Winchester building said Thursday night he recognized online photos of Harper-Mercer as being his neighbor.
"I just started noticing him the last 4-6 months, there's a playground out behind the apartments, and we're on the second story. I go outside to smoke and I watch for anyone," said neighbor Steven Fisher, who also said he had never spoken to Harper-Mercer.
"Around 5-5:30 in the evening I'd see him out there with a couple kids. He seemed skittish, always looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching," Fisher said.
Another neighbor also recognized online photos of Harper-Mercer as being a man he knew from the neighborhood.
Many law enforcement cars, personnel and dogs had gathered at the pink apartment complex, about a four-minute drive from Umpqua Community College, by early Thursday evening.
Police tape was drawn across one of the units and officers with a dog were stationed outside. Investigators from agencies including the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, Homeland Security Protective Services and the FBI were on site.
In an Internet posting on the Spiritual Passions dating and social networking site, a user posted a picture that appears to be Harper-Mercer under the user name IRONCROSS45, a handle Harper-Mercer used as his email.
The same email address linked to a Chris Harper-Mercer was also associated with the profile of user Lithium_Love on torrent sharing website KickAssTorrents.
The user wrote a blog post on the site about Vester Flanagan, the man who shot dead two reporters during a live broadcast in August before killing himself, calling the footage of the shooting "good".
"On an interesting note, I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight," the post said.
The user's last torrent upload was on Tuesday and was entitled "This World Surviving Sandy Hook BBC Documentary 2015," according to the website.


text:
More Dynamic Than Ever: the New Audi A3 Sportback
Controls and Displays
Audi A3 Sportback: Combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 4.8–3.9 (49.0–60.3 US mpg); Combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 111–99 (178.6–159.3 g/mi)
Digital, easy to understand, and intuitive: The new A3 Sportback features a newly developed control and display concept with a flat menu structure and symbols that are familiar from smartphones. Audi has replaced the rotary pushbutton on the center tunnel with a large MMI touch display that provides acoustic feedback. It has a 10.1-inch diagonal, is configured as an MMI radio plus as standard and is used to control the infotainment system and a number of comfort functions. When the driver selects a function, the system provides acoustic feedback. The system also allows the driver to enter text in handwriting: It recognizes individual letters, cursive, whole words, and letters written on top of each other. The MMI search provides a list of suggestions even after entering just a few characters.
Alternatively, the system can be controlled with natural language voice control. This feature also comes as standard. The A3 Sportback turns into an intelligent conversation partner: The driver can formulate their instructions freely and the dialog manager responds to them. For example, the system understands questions such as "Where is the nearest Italian restaurant?" and displays matching restaurants nearby. If the customer books the Audi connect navigation & infotainment plus package, the system also performs an online comparison, which improves the rate of recognition and the quality of the results.
The Audi A3 Sportback also comes with a digital instrument cluster as standard. It has a 10.25-inch diagonal and is operated via the multifunction steering wheel. In combination with MMI navigation plus, the displays appear in the Audi virtual cockpit, which has many additional functions, such as the large navigation map display. The larger Audi virtual cockpit plus with a 12.3-inch diagonal and a resolution of 1,920 x 720 pixels is even more attractive. It offers three different views, including particularly sporty graphics.
A head-up display completes the control and display concept of the new A3 Sportback. It projects important information, including from some connect services and assist systems, in the driver's immediate field of vision on the windshield. The image appears at a distance of 2.2 meters (7.2 ft).
All terms in blue in the text are explained in detail in the technology lexicon at www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/technology-lexicon.
The equipment, data and prices stated here refer to the model range offered for sale in Germany. Subject to change without notice; errors and omissions excepted.


Citation: Hogan, M.J.,Ong, P.P. (1991). A study of K+-He and K+-Kr atomic interaction potentials based on transverse diffusion measurements. The Journal of Chemical Physics 95 (3) : 1973-1979. ScholarBank@NUS Repository.
Abstract: The ratio of the transverse diffusion coefficient to the mobility, D T/K, has been measured for K+ ions drifting in helium and krypton in the presence of a uniform electric field. Results at 298 K are reported at E/N values ranging from 10 to 220 Td for K+-He and 5 to 420 Td for K+-Kr. Values of DT/K for these two systems were also calculated with a Monte Carlo simulation method which used a number of proposed potentials as input. The accuracy of these potentials has been evaluated by comparing the results to the experimentally determined values. For K+-He none of the available potentials seems to be completely accurate, but for K+-krypton the potential of Koutselos, Mason, and Viehland appears to be a very good representation of the actual potential. Within the ranges studied, the estimated accuracy of the experimental measurements is ± 2.5% and the accuracies for the Monte Carlo calculations are ± 1% for K+-He and ± 0.5% for K +-Kr. © 1991 American Institute of Physics.


text:
Michelle Obama tackles Mideast's out-of-school girls
Campaign to bring 62 million girls worldwide into the classroom brings US first lady to the Middle East this week.
by James Reinl
First Lady Michelle Obama is campaigning to get 62 million girls into classrooms around the world [Reuters]
New York, United States - Michelle Obama's campaign to educate all girls has seen her meet, hug and chat with youngsters in Cambodia, Japan and Britain this year while shining a light on the world's 62 million girls who do not see the inside of a classroom.
This week, the Let Girls Learn initiative that she launched in March takes her to the Middle East, where she will speak at Qatar's World Innovation Summit for Education before going to Jordan to spotlight girl refugees from the civil war in Syria.
In a downtrodden district in the capital Amman, she will visit one of the 28 schools that the US has built in a $458m scheme these past five years and meet some of the 1,200 pupils - including 400 Syrian refugee children - who study there.
Taliban target girls schools in Pakistan
Tina Tchen, Obama's chief of staff, said developing countries have made great strides in getting girls in schools in recent years, but there is still work to do so they can fully catch up with their brothers.
"When you dig down into the statistics, you will find huge disparities that grow at the secondary school level, especially in places like Africa, in parts of the Middle East," Tchen told Al Jazeera.
"They are confronting cultural and societal barriers around the role of women that particularly keep girls out of school."
She pointed to Malala Yousafzai, who was shot on a school bus in Pakistan in 2012 by the Taliban for advocating girls' right to education, and the more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria last year.
When girls go to school, they are less likely to marry young or die in childbirth, Tchen said. Every year a girl spends in school, her future earnings can grow by as much as 25 percent, making a valuable fillip to the economy.
Obama is more popular than her husband, US President Barack Obama, with approval ratings of about 65 percent in the US. She champions uncontentious causes, such as tackling childhood obesity, helping military families, and educating girls.
She wins praise for her fashion sense, for being a hard-working mother to Malia and Sasha, and for not taking herself too seriously. Her healthy lifestyle initiative has seen her appear in comedy skits, with Sesame Street puppets and in workout videos.
Her story - of a black, working-class woman who made it to the White House - resonated with female students at a school in run-down East London in June. In March, she was greeted by flag-waving schoolgirls in Cambodia and Japan.
Her focus on education is personal. She grew up in a brick bungalow on Chicago's gritty south side during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Hard work and parental backing saw her win places at Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
"Education was everything for me," she said last month. "It was the starting point for every opportunity I've had in my life."
Addressing a female crowd in New York's Apollo Theater in September, the first lady got shrieks of applause for her advice to schoolgirls, who should focus on their class work instead of makeup and hairdos, she said.
"If I had worried about who liked me and who thought I was cute when I was your age, I wouldn't be married to the president of the United States today," she told the audience.
Her campaign even comes with a 20-song playlist via the website Spotify, with inspirational anthems, from Diana Ross' classic, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, to Survivor by Destiny's Child, and TLC's No Scrubs.
In the Middle East, Obama will be greeted with cheers - particularly in Jordan, where she is set to announce new commitments from a fund that has secured more than $800m from Japan, South Korea and Britain.
She will post updates about the seven-day trip.
Rob Jenkins, an Amman-based director for the UN children's agency UNICEF said he supported the girls' education scheme - but warned against ignoring boys across the Middle East who cannot get behind a school desk.
"It's great to have a global leader coming to highlight one very important group of children who are struggling to realise their right to education," Jenkins told Al Jazeera. "But it shouldn't be at the expense or exclusion of looking at the broader picture."
Globally, the 124 million children the UN says are not in school are almost evenly split between boys and girls.
Jordan has worked hard to achieve parity in education these past two decades so that nowadays almost all of the country's native-born children - both boys and girls - get to study in school, said Jenkins.
It is tougher for the Syrian refugees who fled to Jordan, he said. Some 80,000 UN-registered Syrian refugee children in Jordan are not in school, but the girls are just as likely to be kept out as boys.
A survey this year by the charity CARE found that refugee boys are actually more likely - by 38 percent - to be out of school there than girls, 33 percent), spokeswoman Nicole Harris told Al Jazeera.
In September, UNICEF reported that conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere were keeping more than 13 million children out of school and warned of a "lost generation" of boys and girls across the Middle East.
Increase in Afghan girls schools called a 'revolution'
As families are torn apart and impoverished by conflict, children's education suffers, the UN says. This is often because classrooms are jam-packed in parts of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where millions of Syrians have fled.
Hard-up families are more likely to send children onto the streets to sell flowers or cigarettes, or get boys labouring on building sites or farms. More girls are being married off young in the hope they will have better prospects, the UN says.
"With boys, we see an increase in child recruitment into fighting, and that's a huge concern," UNICEF spokeswoman Juliette Touma told Al Jazeera.
"They used to work as cooks, porters or assistant paramedics, but now, we see more children on the front lines, manning checkpoints, carrying weapons, and even as suicide bombers or executioners. It's important to focus on girls, but it's equally important to focus on boys, too."
Gayatri Patel, a gender expert with CARE, said some refugee parents prefer to marry off their daughters than send them to school, which leaves them less in control of their lives and more likely to be poor and sick.
"For parents, there's an added layer of fear around girls' honour, sexuality and worries that they'll be sexually harassed if they go to school," Patel told Al Jazeera.
"With boys, the fear is about whether they will be attacked by a gang or recruited for ISIS," she added, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl
James Reinl
James Reinl is a journalist and world affairs analyst who has reported from more than 30 countries and won awards for covering Haiti's earthquake, Sri Lanka's civil war and human rights abuses in Iran.


text:
Sony, 49ers Reach Stadium Tech Deal
Sony Electronics and the NFL's San Francisco 49ers have reached a deal under which Sony becomes the official consumer electronics partner of both the 49ers and the team's future stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Both the new stadium and the new 49ers Hall of Fame will use Sony products and services from Sony's consumer and professional business divisions, the team and company said.
"As a proud leader and an innovator in entertainment, Sony is pleased to partner with the San Francisco 49ers, proven winners and innovative leaders in football and sports entertainment," Phil Molyneux, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics, said in a statement.
Santa Clara, Calif.
Stadium Tech


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Die vierten Turn-Europameisterschaften der Frauen fanden 1963 in Paris statt. Die bislang dominierenden Mannschaften aus Rumänien und der Sowjetunion reisten wie alle anderen Staaten des Ostblocks nicht an, sodass Schweden und die Niederlande ihre bislang einzigen EM-Medaillen erringen konnten.

Teilnehmer

Ergebnisse

Mehrkampf

Gerätefinals

Medaillenspiegel

Sportveranstaltung 1963
Turn-Europameisterschaften
Sportveranstaltung in Paris
Frauenturnwettkampf
Turnen (Frankreich)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


MIRABEL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - July 10, 2008) - The International Club Academy Racing (ICAR) is hosting, this year, the first Mirabel Grand Prix, from July 11th to13th, 2008. For this event, ICAR will be receiving, on its new circuit, drivers from groups such as Canadian Touring, VARAC, Toyota Pirelli Coupe, Formula Tour and Pirelli Xtreme Touring.
Tickets will be on sale at the door at the cost of $9.50 for Friday, $15 for Saturday as well as Sunday.
Furthermore, ICAR will offer to its spectators several packages that will enable them to enjoy incomparable experiences. People will be able to tour the circuit in Mustangs driven by professional drivers or purchase a carting package allowing them to drive around the circuit in SODIKART, an exclusive experience offered in Canada only by ICAR. Spectators will also be able to reserve Richard Petty Driving Experience which is circuit tours in NASCAR race cars driven by professional drivers, which will be held on July 30 and 31, 2008.
The International Club Academy Racing (ICAR), an ultramodern complex for motorsports located at the site of Mirabel Airport, aims to become a leader in the high performance car racing industry. The ICAR complex, which officially opened in mid-may 2008, offers a configurable, high-end/high-tech circuit with very innovative security norms. The management of the ICAR Academy offers corporation as well as to the general public a large variety of advance, controlled environment driving and racing programs where participants will be able to experience high speeds in the ICAR Mustang driven by a professional driver or register to an ICAR Mustang GT high performance package. ICAR expects that its unique complex will serve as a showcase for the automotive industry to hold events such as launches of their new car models, private testing or to introduce customer loyalty programs. The private ICAR Club will offer its members unlimited track time and several exclusive high-end services, such as a gourmet cuisine restaurant and lounge in an exclusive pavilion. Further information about the ICAR Academy programs is available online at www.circuiticar.com.


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Lethal rabbit virus detected in Windsor-Essex
By Letitia Mooney Last updated Jul 13, 2022
A highly transmissible and very deadly rabbit virus has been found in a pet rabbit in Windsor-Essex.
The humane society and other organizations are working hard to get the word out to stop the spread of RHDV-2, or rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, to keep both wild and domestic rabbits from dying.
The virus recently claimed two pet rabbits in Lambton County, marking the first time this rabbit virus has been diagnosed in Ontario. The origin of the infection remains unknown.
"It's a very serious disease and hemorrhagic refers to like internal bleeding," said Kenneth Ng, a professor and biochemistry researcher at The University of Windsor. "And so the rabbits die from sort of massive internal bleeding, failure of major organ systems and happens quite quickly."
Ng says it's very infectious, with a mortality rate of about 90 per cent. Rabbits that contract the virus can die in a matter of days.
"I think there's fear that it will could infect wild populations as well as in domesticated populations," he said, which is a different strain than the rabbit virus which was prevalent in Europe, Asia and Australia in the late 1980s.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency was notified of the infections by the province and immediately engaged in discussions to collaborate on next steps, which included surveillance and tracing of potentially infected or exposed animals, quarantine and disinfection of infected premises.
"An investigation has been completed and no high-risk contacts have been identified that could result in spread of the disease from this premise. The CFIA is collaborating with the province and continues to monitor the situation," the CFIA said in a statement.
The disease cannot be passed onto humans or other pets, but the transmissibility and mortality rate is raising concerns among people in the animal rescue community.
Emily Regier is the co-founder of Rabbit Wranglers Windsor-Essex. Because of the local case, her rabbit fosters can't take in any domestic rabbits for fear of rapid transmission.
"They can't even come into the home. So now that cuts off a lot of our foster list and that cuts off as well for the humane society right because no contact can come between them," Regier said.
There is a vaccine for RHDV-2 but it's not licensed in Canada. The Windsor-Essex County Humane Society and some local vets are working to obtain this vaccine to ensure adoptable bunnies are protected.
Without the vaccine, Regier says people with pet rabbits should quarantine their rabbits if they notice symptoms like bleeding or lethargy, and not let them outside.
"We would highly recommend against that right now. Just because you don't know anymore what's out there," she said.
Because the virus spreads through fluid secretions, Regier also recommends those with pet rabbits remove their shoes before entering the house and wash your hands thoroughly before petting your bunny.
"Just being aware that that is you know that is a threat at the moment and just taking every precaution that you can," said Regier.
Why Woman Louise Windsor, 18, has an vital choice to make this yr
'Pretty' Girl Louise Windsor delights royal followers in first TV interview


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Review Musical
Review immersive
Review Ballet
Review Cabaret
Review Circus
Review Comedy
Review Concert
Review Dance
Review Movie
Review Opera
Interview Actor
Interview Actress
News Ticket Release
News New Shows
News Casting
Vision of You - Live in Concert - Review - The Space at Studio 88
Do you miss Bat? Keep reading, then...
by LTR
Last year I attended more than 100 shows in London. Some amazing, some others great, others so so, others a complete waste of time. I want to share my passion for theatre with you, and create a place where we can discuss all the shows we get to see in this great city.
It is amazing to know that Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton had never sung together, before meeting on the first day of rehearsals for Jim Steinman's Bat out of Hell in 2016. It really seems they have done this for a long time: their chemistry is palpable.
Falco and Sloane, the two characters they played in the musical, inspired the duet album "Vision of you" which contains 11 tracks. "Vision of You – Live in Concert" brings the album live for some nights of good music.
The show talks about love from the beginning to the end: love that is growing, love consumed by time and stress, love and regrets.
Through a journey of songs and storytelling (with the voices of Georgia Carling, Katherine Hare, Jordan Luke Gage and Patrick Sullivan) and plenty of references to Bat out of Hell, Rob and Sharon's beautiful voices entertain the audience on a roller-coaster of emotions, under the musical direction of Steve Corley.
Erin Ong's beautiful graphics are projected between songs to tell the story of the two beloved characters: a real prequel to the musical.
All the songs are accurately selected. It just won't quit is a moment that will be very much appreciated by Bat's fans. Need you now and Phil Collin's Against all odds are the right songs to enjoy all the talent of Rob and Sharon, while the unforgettable You don't bring me flowers (by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand) is a melodramatic and intense song of two lovers who have drifted apart (and Rob really sounds like Neil...)
Always remember us this way closes the concert, while some videos from behind the scenes of Bat out of hell are projected.
Check Rob and Sharon's profile to know about their future performances. You don't want to miss this night of great music.
You can download also the album here.
Cabaret (22)
immersive (45)
Pantomime (10)
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Otolaryngology Update: Imaging and surgical approach of nasal dermoids.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2002 Feb 1;62(2):111-22.
Bloom DC, Carvalho DS, Dory C, Brewster DF, Wickersham JK, Kearns DB.
OBJECTIVE: Determine the most accurate and cost effective radiographic evaluation for nasal dermoids. Determine the best surgical approach for excision of nasal dermoids.
SETTING: Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego, California.
PARTICIPANTS: All patients with nasal dermoids evaluated and treated from 1990 to 2000.
INTERVENTION: Preoperative radiographic evaluation and surgical excision.
OUTCOME MEASURES: Accuracy of CT and MRI correlated with surgical findings and results.
RESULTS: Ten patients were identified with the diagnosis of nasal dermoid. The age at diagnosis ranged from 0 to 24 months, with a mean of 3 months. Six children presented with masses located at the glabella, three patients presented with masses located at the nasal dorsum and one presented with a mass at the nasal tip. Six children underwent a computed tomogram with contrast of the head. Seven children underwent a MRI study of the head. Three children underwent an initial CT followed by MRI. Twenty percent of children were found to have intracranial extension. CT scan accurately diagnosed intracranial extension in one case, was indeterminate in a second case and falsely positive in a third case. MRI correctly diagnosed intracranial extension in two cases and had no false positive or false negative results. No children were found to have associated intracranial anomalies. In the early years of the review, a simple excision was made over the mass with blunt and sharp dissection for removal. (An external rhinoplasty incision is now used with better exposure and improved cosmetic results.) In cases with intracranial communication, a combined approach of external rhinoplasty and craniotomy was used.
CONCLUSIONS: MRI alone is the most cost effective and accurate means of evaluating nasal dermoids and is essential for preoperative planning. The surgical approach of choice is external rhinoplasty for both cosmetic reasons and exposure of nasal dermoids with and without intracranial extension.


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Alcott - A Christmas Dream - Part 4 - Keeping the Public in Public Domain
Just as Christmas is about to happen, complete with the "blizzard of a generation" possibly requiring everybody to snuggle together, Louisa May Alcott's"The Christmas Dream and How It Came to Be True" seems to bring a similar snuggly but practical feeling to its ending. Gradesaver.com freely recognizes its inspiration in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but notes that, "In fact, the plot itself is something of a reworking of the redemptive plot of that ghost story masquerading as Christmas. Like Scrooge, Alcott's young heroine learns the true meaning of Christmas after being dreaming of being visited by spirit of Christmas. Alcott, however, gives the familiar story a twist ending worthy of O. Henry or The Twilight Zone."
Let's see if you agree. One other quick note, in Lulu's Library there's no mention of an illustrator for the sole picture included and the signature is no help to researchers today.
The next day was a very strange one; for when she woke there was no stocking to examine, no pile of gifts under her napkin, no one said "Merry Christmas!" to her, and the dinner was just as usual to her. Mamma vanished again, and Nursey kept wiping her eyes and saying: "The dear things! It's the prettiest idea I ever heard of. No one but your blessed ma could have done it."
"Do stop, Nursey, or I shall go crazy because I don't know the secret!" cried Effie, more than once; and she kept her eye on the clock, for at seven in the evening the surprise was to come off.
The longed-for hour arrived at last, and the child was too excited to ask questions when Nurse put on her cloak and hood, led her to the carriage, and they drove away, leaving their house the one dark and silent one in the row.
"I feel like the girls in the fairy tales who are led off to strange places and see fine things," said Effie, in a whisper, as they jingled through the gay streets.
"Ah, my deary, it is like a fairy tale, I do assure you, and you will see finer things than most children will tonight. Steady, now, and do just as I tell you, and don't say one word whatever you see," answered Nursey, quite quivering with excitement as she patted a large box in her lap, and nodded and laughed with twinkling eyes.
They drove into a dark yard, and Effie was led through a back door to a little room, where Nurse coolly proceeded to take off not only her cloak and hood, but her dress and shoes also. Effie stared and bit her lips, but kept still until out of the box came a little white fur coat and boots, a wreath of holly leaves and berries, and a candle with a frill of gold paper round it. A long "Oh!" escaped her then; and when she was dressed and saw herself in the glass, she started back, exclaiming, "Why, Nursey, I look like the spirit in my dream!"
"So you do; and that's the part you are to play, my pretty! Now whist, while I blind your eyes and put you in your place."
"Shall I be afraid?" whispered Effie, full of wonder; for as they went out she heard the sound of many voices, the tramp of many feet, and, in spite of the bandage, was sure a great light shone upon her when she stopped.
"You needn't be; I shall stand close by, and your ma will be there."
After the handkerchief was tied about her eyes, Nurse led Effie up some steps, and placed her on a high platform, where something like leaves touched her head, and the soft snap of lamps seemed to fill the air.
Music began as soon as Nurse clapped her hands, the voices outside sounded nearer, and the tramp was evidently coming up the stairs.
"Now, my precious, look and see how you and your dear ma have made a merry Christmas for them that needed it!"
Off went the bandage; and for a minute Effie really did think she was asleep again, for she actually stood in "a grove of Christmas trees," all gay and shining as in her vision. Twelve on a side, in two rows down the room, stood the little pines, each on its low table; and behind Effie a taller one rose to the roof, hung with wreaths of popcorn, apples, oranges, horns of candy, and cakes of all sorts, from sugary hearts to gingerbread Jumbos. On the smaller trees she saw many of her own discarded toys and those Nursey bought, as well as heaps that seemed to have rained down straight from that delightful Christmas country where she felt as if she was again.
"How splendid! Who is it for? What is that noise? Where is mamma?" cried Effie, pale with pleasure and surprise, as she stood looking down the brilliant little street from her high place.
Before Nurse could answer, the doors at the lower end flew open, and in marched twenty-four little blue-gowned orphan girls, singing sweetly, until amazement changed the song to cries of joy and wonder as the shining spectacle appeared. While they stood staring with round eyes at the wilderness of pretty things about them, mamma stepped up beside Effie, and holding her hand fast to give her courage, told the story of the dream in a few simple words, ending in this way:--
"So my little girl wanted to be a Christmas spirit too, and make this a happy day for those who had not as many pleasures and comforts as she has. She likes surprises, and we planned this for you all. She shall play the good fairy, and give each of you something from this tree, after which every one will find her own name on a small tree, and can go to enjoy it in her own way. March by, my dears, and let us fill your hands."
Nobody told them to do it, but all the hands were clapped heartily before a single child stirred; then one by one they came to look up wonderingly at the pretty giver of the feast as she leaned down to offer them great yellow oranges, red apples, bunches of grapes, bonbons, and cakes, till all were gone, and a double row of smiling faces turned toward her as the children filed back to their places in the orderly way they had been taught.
Then each was led to her own tree by the good ladies who had helped mamma with all their hearts; and the happy hubbub that arose would have satisfied even Santa Claus himself,--shrieks of joy, dances of delight, laughter and tears (for some tender little things could not bear so much pleasure at once, and sobbed with mouths full of candy and hands full of toys). How they ran to show one another the new treasures! how they peeped and tasted, pulled and pinched, until the air was full of queer noises, the floor covered with papers, and the little trees left bare of all but candles!
"I don't think heaven can be any gooder than this," sighed one small girl, as she looked about her in a blissful maze, holding her full apron with one hand, while she luxuriously carried sugar-plums to her mouth with the other.
"Is that a truly angel up there?" asked another, fascinated by the little white figure with the wreath on its shining hair, who in some mysterious way had been the cause of all this merry-making.
"I wish I dared to go and kiss her for this splendid party," said a lame child, leaning on her crutch, as she stood near the steps, wondering how it seemed to sit in a mother's lap, as Effie was doing, while she watched the happy scene before her.
Effie heard her, and remembering Tiny Tim, ran down and put her arms about the pale child, kissing the wistful face, as she said sweetly, "You may; but mamma deserves the thanks. She did it all; I only dreamed about it."
Lame Katy felt as if "a truly angel" was embracing her, and could only stammer out her thanks, while the other children ran to see the pretty spirit, and touch her soft dress, until she stood in a crowd of blue gowns laughing as they held up their gifts for her to see and admire.
Mamma leaned down and whispered one word to the older girls; and suddenly they all took hands to dance round Effie, singing as they skipped.
It was a pretty sight, and the ladies found it hard to break up the happy revel; but it was late for small people, and too much fun is a mistake. So the girls fell into line, and marched before Effie and mamma again, to say goodnight with such grateful little faces that the eyes of those who looked grew dim with tears. Mamma kissed every one; and many a hungry childish heart felt as if the touch of those tender lips was their best gift. Effie shook so many small hands that her own tingled; and when Katy came she pressed a small doll into Effie's hand, whispering, "You didn't have a single present, and we had lots. Do keep that; it's the prettiest thing I got."
"I will," answered Effie, and held it fast until the last smiling face was gone, the surprise all over, and she safe in her own bed, too tired and happy for anything but sleep.
"Mamma, it was a beautiful surprise, and I thank you so much! I don't see how you did it; but I like it best of all the Christmases I ever had, and mean to make one every year. I had my splendid big present, and here is the dear little one to keep for love of poor Katy; so even that part of my wish came true."
And Effie fell asleep with a happy smile on her lips, her one humble gift still in her hand, and a new love for Christmas in her heart that never changed through a long life spent in doing good.
I'm always torn between giving information critical to a story before presenting it or letting the tale be told first. Similarly making comments after a story can seem like telling an audience how to react. In the past, when this was done evaluating works in a literature class, I called it a process that "takes the wings off a butterfly." This story needs very little evaluation. The story presents itself. If you want evaluation, go to Gradesaver.com. If you want the story online, go to Project Gutenberg (and please support them!) for volume one of three 1886 copies of Lulu's Library. It was published two years before Alcott's death.
My copy of Lulu's Library is a reprint claiming to be the "Complete Authorized Edition" by Grosset & Dunlap of the Little, Brown edition, but this story is not in it. My copy has nine stories, while that Project Gutenberg volume one edition has 12. If you are buying, avoid this version:
I'm a great believer in Public Domain, but if a book claims to be Alcott's "Complete Authorized Edition" of her 1885 copyright it needs all stories, most definitely including this story.
Now before we wrap and unwrap Christmas packages I've a film recommendation: The Man Who Invented Christmas. In a review, Time magazine mentioned that "some major plot points are the product of dramatic license" but concluded that the film "does provide viewers with a fairly accurate sense of how Dickens successfully changed the way Christmas is celebrated". Alcott never aimed that high, but her story's final part is a worthwhile addition.
Merry Christmas (and Happy Hanukkah) to you and keep stories alive by retelling them.
You can see why I recommend these to you.
Have fun discovering even more stories
Posted by Lois Sprengnether Keel at 10:00 PM
Labels: Christmas, Keeping the Public in Public Domain, Louisa May Alcott, Public Domain
O'Donnell - The Inextinguishable Candle of the Old...
Alcott - A Christmas Dream - Part 4 - Keeping the ...
Alcott - Christmas Dream - Part 3 - Keeping the Pu...
Alcott - Christmas Dream . . . WOOPS!


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EXPERT AVAILABLE: State Tax Rates Not Only Comparison of Attractiveness for New Business, MU Expert Says
COLUMBIA, Mo. — State governments around the country are interested in increasing economic development and decreasing unemployment rates, particularly in times of economic downturn. Policy makers frequently include taxes in discussions regarding strategies to improve a state's competitive position to attract new businesses. Judith Stallmann, a professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri and an economic policy analyst, advises policy makers to take a more comprehensive view of taxes when evaluating policies among states, as opposed to simply comparing tax rates.
"The taxes a firm pays depend not only on the tax rate, but also on incentives, such as property tax breaks, and the way the tax base, or what is being taxed, is defined," said Stallmann, who also is a professor of community development extension, agricultural and applied economics, and rural sociology in the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources. "These factors have a lot of variation across the states. Because of this, no single measuring device can provide a comprehensive understanding of a state's tax system. This is why it is important for policy makers to use several different metrics to create a more accurate understanding of how states compare with each other before they enact taxation policy based on incomplete information."
Stallmann analyzed five different taxation studies comparing and ranking effective tax rates of nine Midwestern states (Missouri and its neighbors.) She found that the rankings of some states varied significantly due to the differing analyses used in each study, while rankings for other states were more consistent. For example, while Missouri generally ranked in the lower half of effective tax rates among regional states, it ranked as having the lowest effective tax rate among regional states in a study of business taxes as a percentage of private gross state product and third highest effective rate out of nine states in another study that only considered particular types of firms.
"This is just one example of how dramatically differently tax rates can be evaluated depending on who is conducting the evaluation," Stallmann said. "Tax rates cannot be compared apples-to-apples. It is important to take into consideration the existing tax bases as well as pre-existing incentives, which vary from state to state, and combine that information with simple tax rates to achieve a more comprehensive and accurate picture."
Stallmann also says simply reducing tax rates will not necessarily make a state more competitive in attracting new businesses. She says businesses take many factors beyond tax rates into account when evaluating the competitiveness of states. These factors may include expenditures on public services, labor costs, transportation and the quality and quantity of infrastructure.
Stallmann's report is published on the website of the MU Institute of Public Policy and was distributed to Missouri legislators. To view a full copy of her report, visit: http://ipp.missouri.edu/files/ipp/attachments/07-2013_comparing_taxes_in_missouri_and_surrounding_states_0.pdf


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Online commerce is evolving exponentially in recent years. Users are increasingly numerous and reassuring confidence that carry in online shopping on mobile, tablet or desktop computer.
Making the choice to sell its products or services on the internet is important and can be complicated to understand. Achieving an effective and compelling online sales site requires a lot of work around your products and services.
Great diversity and quality content associated with your own graphics identity trust and promote the interest of your potential prospects and help you stand out from your competition.
of your products and your brand to optimize and customize your marketing strategy.
Put everything on your end to a rewarding customer experience.
Laine et Compagnie is a French company handcrafted ecological sheep wool bedding. On the internet since 2008, the sizeable attendance of their first website allowed them to consider changing to. To meet the expectations of their customers and develop the potential of the company, Laine et Compagnie has chosen an online sales site to offer their range of handicrafts.
Set up in the summer of 2017, after a great deal of work on editorial content and information structure, Neskorpas managed the entire infrastructure, the technical and graphical implementation of this new website. This version is compatible and adapts to mobile phones and tablets, these devices representing an important part of the daily visits. An HTTPS certificate has also been installed and set up for better security.
The choice of tool to meet the company's needs fell on PrestaShop. The administrative management of the product catalog, the comprehensive administration interface and development of specific modules allowed to customize this tool to the needs and company image.