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despazito · 5 years ago

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Complete list of all problems known so far in Pokemon Sword and Shield with data and/or proof for each problem

[I am copying this post from the pokemon subreddit from u/Terotu]

Seeing as there's a lot of people that don't quite know the extent of the issues and that there's no real compilation of the problems, I feel like everyone needs a list with info and sources of each and every current problem with the games, it's a long list but I've tried to put it all together, it's not just dexit people. I will post everything that is 100% confirmed and known so far, there's potentially other problems, but this is made as a somewhat "quick" digest with info that has been 100% proven, for anyone out of the loop that wants to know exactly what's happening with these games.

1. The number of usable Pokemon has been cut, only less than half are now usable, known as Dexit, it means that you won't be able to use these pokemon in the new games, you won't be able to transfer them in, and you won't be able to do anything with them sans sticking them in home for the foreseeable future (Home will probably be a paid only subscription based service just like its predecessor), for all intents and purposes, these Pokemon are basically removed from the main games franchise and they will take probably years to come back, if ever. An image with the cut/not cut pokemon can be found here, pokemon in green are confirmed to be in, pokemon in purple have galar forms, pokemon in yellow are in the data, but there's nothing for them, they could be leftover data like the items and other things, could be giveaway/event only, could only come from other games, etc, there's no way to know what's the plans for them at the moment, if any, pokemon in red are cut. The excuse GF used for this culling was that it let's them work on delivering better animations and a more carefully crafted game, since they don't have to put more time and effort into redoing the models. This is complete BS as the game polish is worse than ever, and the models seem to just be somewhat edited XY models.

2. Just like the Pokemon cut, about 144 moves were removed, 99 moves excluding the let's go and other outlier moves, this includes extremely important and used mainstay moves like Hidden Power, return/frustration and Pursuit, on top of extremely old moves that have been there since gen 1, some of these moves were important for the viability of several Pokemon, which may cause them to be way less effective if not way worse when it comes to battles, on top of this, it also removed some SIGNATURE MOVES of certain Pokemon. The full list for deleted mainstay pokemon moves can be found here Attempts at transferring Pokemon with these moves will apparently get this message: "This move can’t be used. It’s recommended that this move is forgotten. Once forgotten, this move can’t be remembered."

3. Short game, the first streamer beat the champion at around the 14 hour mark, while he did this by skipping a fair amount of trainer battles, other streamers are clocking in about 16-20 hours, seems like the average will be about 18 hours to beat the game. Here's one of the many streamers, he's right before champion and clocking in at 14:34.

4. The graphics are extremely mediocre, it constantly looks worse and less polished than LGPE, the textures are often inexcusable. Examples of the bad graphics seen here 1 2 3 4 5 6 A comparison with LGPE can be seen here and here Here's a game recently released for switch, another picture found here, the difference is unreal.

5. There's constant graphical issues, not just low quality graphics, pop in is present at all points of the game due to bad coding, trainer models will also disappear mid battle when an attack with a high number of particles is used, this also happened in SM, however, SM moved the camera away to avoid people seeing it, they didn't even try this time. This means it's either a carry over from SM and they just copy pasted most of the code, or they somehow have to remove the trainers to avoid a switch from somehow getting fps drops. The pop-ins can be evidenced here and here. Trainers dissapearing mid battle can be evidenced here

6. Animations, one of the main reasons why GF cut pokemon, at least in the interviews, are as shoddy as ever. There's extremely lazy animation all over the game, from normal attacks to key moments in the game, such as the encounter with the box legendaries. Most of the animations are also completely copy pasted from older games, one example seen here with Hau(the entire character of hop is basically a copy paste of hau.) Most of the animations for the camp are also copy pasted from xy amie, evidenced here. Pokemon battle animations are just as bad as before, if not worse, pictured here is a pokemon headbutting with its feet. Another example found here, THE MAIN BOX ART POKEMON CINEMATIC, THIS IS THE GAME CLIMAX, another example on the other version found here In fact, it could be considered way worse if compared to the last gen, example of upscaled USUM cutscenes. (Notice the graphical change isn't that big, the only difference here is increasing the resolution)

7. Cutscenes and restrictions, like previous Pokemon games the cutscene and story forcing and restrictions are insane this time around, seems to be even more intrusive and in your face than before at times, while keeping the same level of cutscene intrusion than past gen. The video for this point was taken down, but if you wish to see this you should be able to find it by searching the gameplay clips/streams online

8. The difficulty, just like the cut scene problem, this carries over from earlier games and it's even worse.There were constant heals, to the point where in the first routes you're not able to go beyond 3 trainer fights without getting a full heal. The first streamer avoided fights and didn't train at all, it still was one shotting gym leader dynamaxed ace pokemon.This can be seen here.

9. Post-Game is almost non-existant, as usual since masuda-Ohmori started directing, there's no frontier, there's also no frontier like facility. The post game consists of battle tower and a very short sequence of missions where you beat some dynamax pokemon for your rival to catch the other legendary. Not only this, but the battle tower is also an inferior version of past towers, it doesn't have super single nor super double battles, it has no triple battles and there's no "tower bosses", it's just random trainer npcs after another.

10. Problems with game design and behavior, beyond difficulty and progression, there's other problems in the overall game design. Examples of this is not being able to catch Pokemon in the wild areas until you got a badge allowing you to do so, which usually covers your current level. Meaning if you find a level 31 shiny or a level 31 pokemon you really want, you won't be able to catch it until you go and beat the next gym. For shiny hunters, this one is gonna be really important, you cannot see if your Pokemon is gonna be shiny or not in the overworld, this means that on top of the badge limit, you also got this potential problem. Evidenced here.

11. Removed past features with virtually no new additions, seems like this is a mainstay in Pokemon, removing older features so they become one of a time gimmicks, but unlike earlier titles this new game doesn't adds anything new except dynamaxing, which is limited to gyms only. This particular gen removes Mega Evolutions and Z moves, mega evolutions in particular were a huge deal and seeing them suddenly removed means that there's little reason to get involved with any new addition, no matter how mainstay or how much GF forces it when it will very soon be gone. A list of these removed features can be found here.

12. No scaling whatsoever, models are the same sizes of XY (giving more plausibility to them not really redoing the models).Any argument against this is thrown out of the window when dynamaxing exists, since the models seem to be edited XY models then the problem remains. Here's the non scaled model in sword and shield. Here's an scaled model, released in a game that came out 15 years ago for a the Nintendo Gamecube, something way less powerful than the switch.

13. No GTS, retera thread on the discovery found here, the only strings that refer to the GTS are leftovers from Let's Go code, as seen here and here. This is most likely due to Home(this means that you will have to pay for switch online+home for services older games already included) Thanks to /u/c_will for pointing this one out and gathering the info.

14. A 20 dollar price increase for less content than earlier 3DS games, with subpar graphics and removal of features, an overall shoddy release for a higher price point.

15. Performance, game is locked to 30 fps, and while that's not a big issue by itself, this is coupled with slowdown at certain moments such as dynamaxing, it can drop fps to the floor and turn the game into a slideshow for a while. Evidenced here. Still gathering more info on this one, as it's a relatively new occurrence that hasn't happened to all users, take this one with a grain of salt

16. The overall lack of quality, polish and effort put into the game, this is all the minor/somewhat minor but still very telling problems with the game. This is apparent in many ways all throughout the game, things like the wrong backgrounds or just voids for pokemon battles. Two example of the wrong backgrounds seen here and [here] (https://clips.twitch.tv/FriendlyCleanOstrichArsonNoSexy) One example of the void background seen here (these happen on indoor fights and some non indoor but scripted battles)Examples of backgrounds on indoor and everywhere else in both LGPE and colosseum, seen here and here. Then there's complete lack of music in the game story most important moments, seen here. Starters are also shiny locked. The entire world freezes when using certain objects, as seen here. To this, you add up the emptiness of the wild area and the badly implemented weather changes that don't make much sense, both seen here No animation for flying, no elite 4, no victory road, etc, this is added to all the other problems that show the lack of effort put into them.

This franchise deserves better.

You deserve better.

These games are not only a huge step down from earlier titles, but it goes beyond what used to be already barely tolerable standards to way below standards, keep in mind this is the biggest, most profitable franchise on earth.

This is the first time a pokemon main game is released on console, people were excited for game freak to finally do whatever they wanted and it's been done with the most minimal of efforts, all the money you've spent on Pokemon didn't went on making this a better game, it went straight into the pockets of the people in charge, those that made sure this was made with the most minimum effort and those that cut corners.

Companies that made games decades ago on hardware less powerful than the switch shouldn't be doing a better job than game freak, and companies doing work in the switch have completely obliterated game freak when it comes to developing a video game.

Keep in mind that your purchase of these games causes this:

Continue the yearly release cycle that makes the games rushed and forces the devs to insane crunch time, creating the low morale problem

Tells them that you're ok with these problems, and they will keep lowering the bar and cutting corners on development

Your money will continue going into the pockets of those responsible for these problems

I implore you to be a smart consumer, I've played Pokemon since I red, ever since I was a child, I can no longer support this franchise, I probably won't buy a Pokemon product ever again if this is gonna be how they're gonna treat the games and its fans.

#pokemon #pokemon swsh #pokemon spoilers

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perditaalottachocolate-blog · 6 years ago

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Spring Fever (8)

@adrinetteapril 2019 story

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | art | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | art | 18 | 19 | 20 |

AO3 / fanfiction.net

Chapter 8. A birthday gift

In which Adrien gets a part

'I… you..gah!’ Marinette flailed scrambling to her feet. Out of the corner of his eyes Adrien saw a red flash inside the chest. It looked like a cute plushie, with big blue eyes and a black spot on the top of the bulbous head. Its shape reminded him a bit of Plagg, but he couldn’t be sure, since Marinette closed the lid with an angry thump. Then she turned around and sank onto the chest where she released a ragged breath.

'That’s just my… um… my old chest, haha,’ she kicked the box with her heel. 'Phew, I almost jumped right of my skin,’ she sighed. She brushed the loose strands of her hair behind her ears, casting him an anxious glance. Her skin paled, making the redness of her cheeks more pronounced. Was she… embarrassed?

Oh god, she was! He made a fool of himself by trying to kiss her out of the blue and now she’d hate him forever! Trying to stomp down on his disappointment that he hadn’t get to taste those soft, enticing lips Adrien moved as far away from the girl as the invisible tether allowed. He had no idea how he would get that curing kiss now. He’d rather die than mention in after what just had transpired between them.

'Good thing you weren’t near it,’ he pointed out, deciding to divert her attention. 'That’s an accident ready to happen. You need to replace that spring.’

'Yeah,’ Marinette muttered. 'Though I was hoping on having a word with it first. Doesn’t matter,’ she shook her head. 'You mentioned a cure to your… um… state.’

Ah, so much for diversion. Adrien felt all his courage retreating under the sheer force of shame at what he had attempted.

'Y-yes, a cure,’ he nodded, desperately trying to think of a way out. 'I just thought that… I thought… since you’re the one I’m bound to, maybe you can think of a way to… um… free me?’

'To free you…’ Marinette hummed. She stood up and started pacing around the room.

The chaise Adrien was seated on jolted under him and with a screech it started moving after the girl.

'Um…’ he said. 'Marinette?’

She halted and turned to see him. He planted his feet firmly on the floor and wedged his hands under the sofa in an attempt not to chase after her.

'Sorry! I forgot!’

'It’s okay,’ he waved a hand, and the chaise budged a bit. 'But you see my most pressing problem now. I need to go home at some point. Everyone at the mansion is probably already freaking out.’

As if on cue his phone chimed angrily. Marinette backed away, startled by the sound. The chaise jerked after her. Adrien doubled his efforts to stay in place. 'I’m not gonna answer that now,’ he grunted. Who needs a gym if they can have a nice work-out trying not to get too close to the love of their lives?

The girl just stood there, on the other side of the room, her gaze shifting between him and the chest. Then something flashed in her eyes, something strikingly familiar, although Adrien couldn’t recall why.

'So… you think you’ve been enchanted…’ she was thinking out loud.

'Not enchanted. Infected,’ he corrected.

Marinette sent him a long, flat stare. He realized what he just said.

'Enchanted is a way of putting it, too!’ he chirped.

A shadow of smirk danced on her lips. ’And you believe I can help you?’

He nodded eagerly. At that point he would believe if she told him toys could fly. Because the red plushie was now sitting innocently on the desk, when just a few moments ago it definitely was inside the chest. But maybe Marinette just made more of them?

The girl’s smile turned sly at his silent confirmation. 'Then I have something that should let you get home or wherever you need to be right now. It should be enough until we figure out how to free you entirely.’

Adrien perked up. ‘Really?’

She crossed the room and carefully opened the chest. When she turned to him, she was holding a small pack, about the size of a CD box, wrapped in pink polka dotted paper and tied with a dark pink ribbon. It looked very much like a gift.

‘Here,’ she passed him the package. ‘Happy birthday,’ she murmured.

‘That’s in, like, six months,’ he remembered, tenderly brushing the ribbon with his thumbs. He had no idea why, but just holding this package made his heart swell.

‘I know,’ Marinette said timidly. ‘I wanted to be prepared.’

Adrien untied the ribbon and reverently put it aside. Then he slowly unwrapped the paper. There was a birthday card at the top, bearing Marinette’s curly handwriting and a signature next to a doodle of a cake with a little ladybug sitting on in. He smiled at that and put the card away as well. Then he finally inspected the contents.

‘Oh, wow, just… wow,’ he gasped.

He simply couldn’t take his eyes off of her gift. His fingers ran over the soft, baby blue cotton and traced the stylish embroidery. He had seen similar items in his father’s drawer many times. Old-fashioned and cherished. Nowadays deemed impractical, but still beautiful. Simple, classy and personal. The handkerchief that he was holding bore a monogram of curvy “AA”. A second little ladybug accompanied the letters, seemingly flying over the material as if it was the summer sky. Her path had been marked with red stitching.

‘I don’t know what to say,’ he finally whispered. ‘This is absolutely stunning, Marinette! I love-... it! I love it!’

His voice quivered and he felt moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes. It was simply the most amazing thing anyone had given him. And it was clearly crafted by her own hand, as evidenced in the characteristic “M” skillfully hidden on the other side of the handkerchief, embroidered in blue, glossy thread.

She beamed at him from the window. A rosy hue tinted her cheeks. ‘This is something I’ve made for you and you only,’ she said. ‘I’d like to believe there’s a part of me in this gift.’

He couldn’t help but to smile as he held the handkerchief. The most precious gift. A part of her. For him.

‘When you take this with you,’ Marinette continued, ‘it’s as if you took a part of me.’

His eyes lit up in comprehension. ‘Brilliant,’ he murmured, still gently brushing the material. ‘Simply brilliant.’

A wave of affection washed over him, pouring warmth into his limbs. He would have pulled her into a hug if he wasn’t afraid he would never let go. What had he done to deserve this girl in his life? Was there an end to her kindness?

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ Marinette asked.

‘Like what?’ Uh-oh, was he staring? He wanted to savor the view of the love of his life as she smiled happy and bright. Was he making her uncomfortable?

She shrugged. ‘Like I was some kind of hero or something.’

“Or something”? Adrien felt the sudden urge to show her how important, how dear she was to him. She should know how special, how talented, how amazing she was.

‘I already told you, you are. Marinette, I… ‘ he hesitated, not sure where his heart was leading him. It might be the fever talking, but the real Marinette was listening.

‘Yes?’

‘You are an amazing person, and I really l- like…’ he shook his head. He almost slipped. ‘I admire you.’ He cast her an anxious look. Could she hear the frantic beating of his heart?

She was keeping her distance now, fidgeting in place and nervously nibbling on her lower lip. The moment of silence suddenly seemed awkward and poignant at the same time. It was Marinette who spoke first.

‘Adrien,’ she breathed slowly. ‘I l-... I like you too!’ she stuttered. ‘I’m glad you’re my friend and that you came to me. Even if you didn’t have a choice,’ she chuckled.

‘I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else anyway,’ he smiled ducking his head, happy and disappointed at the same time. If she told him she liked him yesterday, he’d be over the moon, but today the “friend” that followed was like a painful jab, a reminder where his place was.

A phone rang in his pocket. ‘Well, that’s my cue. Thanks for the wonderful talisman,’ he pressed the handkerchief to his chest, resisting the urge to plant a kiss on the soft material. He was never going to put it away, and not just because he’d be pulled straight to Marinette back again.

The girl crossed her fingers. ‘I hope the handkerchief works.’

‘It’s your idea. Of course it will work. See?’ he added taking a few steps away and down the stairs.

Nothing happened. No magical pull. No heat wave. Ah, freedom. Relative, but still.

‘I hope you won’t get into trouble,’ Marinette called after him.

‘Me, too. But oh well, there’s nothing I can do about it now,’ he shrugged. ‘At least I can go home thanks to you. Imagine how awkward it would be to explain to our parents why I need to move to your room,’ he added as a way of good bye.

As the door closed behind him he heard something that sounded like, “Oh, I wouldn’t mind that at all”. And just like that, the sweat and blush were back.

#adrinetteapril2019 #adrinette #adrienette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #spring fever #birthday gifts #perdita writes #ml fic #miraculous ladybug

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femalerussia5-blog · 5 years ago

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Prolonged popularity of keto diet program energy sources product development

The keto tendency shares DNA using the Atkins diet—the low-carb diet trend that gained traction best suited about typically the time nutritional authorities learned/revealed it was not genuine that basically eating fats causes person to turn out to be extra fat. Turns out it’s carbohydrate food that both present quick energy but then grow to be stored in the system as unwanted fat. So the particular Atkins diet counseled over weight consumers to shun typically the carbs instead and this will lead to rapid fat reduction. The same goes for keto. Nevertheless , where Atkins was lower carbohydrate and superior protein, keto is highly low carb, reasonable necessary protein and high fats. The particular keto diet has rates of about 70% to be able to 75% fat, 20% to be able to 25% protein, and 5% carbohydrates. When the body provides limited glucose available—it makes glucose first coming from carbohydrates and then by protein, if necessary—it goes into ketosis in addition to can burn more fat with regard to vitality, which can lead in order to fat reduction. During ketosis, often the body likewise makes a lot more ketones—primarily acetone, acetoacetate in addition to beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB); for example, the brain prefers blood sugar and cannot use fats well as fuel, however it can run on ketones. Fat Decline A modern clinical trial run on 96 subjects using an obesity entire body mass list (BMI) connected with thirty seven observed that immediately after eight weeks of the keto diet, the lead to body weight loss was 17% with regard to males and 15% for females. 1 Even when the study subject matter went back on their standard diet programs, the weight damage continued off until the research concluded at 13 weeks. Some other researchers performed a good meta-analysis of keto diets, manual and automatic transmissions a keto diet regime using a regular low-fat diet program together with 12 months or perhaps more of a muslim. two The keto diet plan brought to larger weight loss compared to the low-fat diets. In addition noteworthy was that often the keto diet led in order to improved outcomes around triglycerides, diastolic blood pressure, thick lipoprotein (HDL or “good”) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. Blood Sugar Because of these metabolic syndrome indication abatements, the keto diet regime has as well been researched to help overweight patients with sort 2 diabetes CDC documented that more than 95 million American adults are actually living with diabetes or even prediabetes (which, if not necessarily treated, usually leads to be able to type 2 diabetes within 5 various years). Diabetes, CDC stated, can often come to be managed through work out, diet, and the appropriate use of insulin and other medicinal drugs to manage blood sugar amounts. “More than a new third of U. S. individuals have prediabetes, and the majority rarely know it, ” said CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, M. D. “Now, as part of your, we must step upward our efforts to decrease the burden of this critical disease. ” Diabesity Can your keto diet are available to the particular rescue in addition to put a good reduction within the post-modern disease states of diabetes and weight problems? The two conditions happen to be now therefore prevalent of which the two have already been joined up with with the stylish in order to form a new problem: diabesity. Research is pointing to the keto diet program not only serving together with weight loss but as well enhancing insulin sensitivity inside people having type 2 diabetes. A single small, small study between 10 patients for two 2 or 3 weeks, people experienced weight loss, increased 24-hour blood glucose profiles, enhanced insulin sensitivity in addition to hemoglobin A1c (average our blood sugar levels within the last three months), as well while decreased triglyceride and levels of cholesterol amounts. 3 This milestone study was credited by way of different research workers as being “nicely done” and “shows the significance of scholarly evaluation associated with popular diets, which preferably should take place ahead of they appear inside of a new consumer-oriented publication. ”4 Item Formulations The standard excess fat encouraged in a keto diet include medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), as well like avocados, coconut oil, nuts together with seeds using moderate figures of nut butters, rechausser and cheese.

Manufacturers usually are responding to the keto craze by rolling over products that meet consumers on their keto trip, as evidenced by way of keto-certified products on exhibit in Normal Products Expo West. The quantity proceeded to go from 194 these merchandise on the particular show floor throughout 2017, to 406 products from Expo West 2019. “This data is not claim-based, but entails products that will fall inside of keto pattern parameters such that many people are from the least, low-sugar/low-carb and most likely large in fat, ” said Amanda Hartt, market researching manager for NEXT Info and also Insights at New Desire Network, which is definitely owned simply by Informa Market segments and makes the Organic Products Expos. “In other words, java drinks are usually captured mainly because coffee will be considered inherently ketogenic since it’s low carb, consequently numerous coffee goods can fall into this specific attribute style that would not necessarily possess a keto declare, ” the lady explained. SUBSEQUENT Info and also Insights described that “categories actively reformulating or even developing to ride the energy of keto-minded people include snacks, power and granola bars, salad dressings, cheese, plus enthusiast and seed butters. ” Different product types going into the keto specific, according to SPINS records, contain ice cream, nudeln and rice alternative, cooked goods and practical beverages. A number of organizations offer a documentation program for keto products. The “Keto Certified” seal from the Paleo Foundation launched in 2016, and today boasts 3, 190 various products. To be keto-certified underneath this program, a new product can have 10 grams net carbs for every serving, while 6 grams per serving are brought about snacks and 2 grms per 0. 5 ounces for assaisonnement. https://ketolog.com/keto-products/best-keto-box/ looks at world wide web carbohydrates (i. e., overall carb supply minus fiber and even sugar consumption alcohols), which can be breathing additional life into the fiber discussion.

#keto box #best keto box #keto diet

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juniperpublishers-sciences · 5 years ago

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Effect of Nickel Chloride on the Growth and Biochemical Characteristics of Phaseolus Mungol-Juniper Publishers

Abstract

The effect of heavy metal nickel chloride on germination, growth and biochemical parameters of Phaseolusmungo L. was studied. Application of various concentrations from 3mM to 15mM decreased the percentage of growth, pigment content and increased the content of amino acid and proline. It was found to be decreased when compared to the respective control grown with nutrient medium. The present study demonstrated that the heavy metal nickel had adversely affected the growth and biochemical parameters of the plant Phaseolusmungo L.

Keywords: Germination; Biochemical paramters; Heavy metal

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Introduction

The accumulation of heavy metal in soil is becoming a serious problem as a result of industrial and agricultural practices and also a major cause for pollution today. Fertilizers from sewage sludge, mining waste and paper mills all contribute to the continuous deposition of heavy metals into soils. Another point of concern is the effect of leaching on these contaminated sites which in turn contaminate water tables [1]. Living organisms require a trace amount of some heavy metals which include copper (Cu), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) and are often referred to as essential elements [2]. However there are some non-essential heavy metals which are of great concern due to their presence in areas of heavy metal pollution such as chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) [3]. The capacity of plants to concentrate metals has usually been considered a detrimental trait since some plants are directly or indirectly responsible for a proportion of the dietary uptake of toxic heavy metals by humans [4]. The dietary intake of heavy metals through consumption of contaminated crop plants can have long-term effects on human health [5].

Heavy metals are defined as metal with density higher than 5gcm3. Fifty three of the ninety naturally occurring elements are heavy metals and these are metallic elements which have a high atomic weight and density much greater than water. They are natural constituents of the earth' crust and are present in varying concentration in an all ecosystems. Based on their solubility under physiological conditions, seventeen heavy metals may be available for living cells and of importance for organisms and ecosystems. Among these metals, Fe, Mo and Mn are important as micronutrients. Zn, Ni, Cu, Co and Cr are toxic elements. As, Hg, Ag, Sb, Cd and Pb have no known functions as nutrients and seem to be more or less toxic to plants and microorganisms [6].

A plants response to heavy metal exposure varies depending on plant species, tissue and stage of development. Metal concentration and type of metal triggering is a series of defense mechanism which involve enzymatic and non- enzymatic components [1]. Plant tolerance to heavy metals depends largely on plant efficiency in the uptake, translocation, and further sequestration of heavy metal in specialized tissues or in trichomes and organelles such as vacuoles. The uptake of metals depends on their bioavailability, and plants have evolved mechanisms to make micronutrients bioavailable. Chelators such as siderophores, organic acids, and phenolics can help to release metal cations from soil particles, and also increasing their bioavailability. For example, organic acids (malate, citrate) excreted by plants act as metal chelators. By lowering the pH around the root, organic acids increase the bioavailability of metal cations. However, organic acids may also inhibit metal uptake by forming a complex with the metal outside the root. Citrate inhibition of aluminum (Al) uptake and resulting Al tolerance in several plant species is an example of this mechanism. Copper tolerance in Arabidopsis is also the result of a similar mechanism. The presence of rhizosphere microbes may also affect plant uptake of inorganics. For example, rhizosphere bacteria can enhance plant uptake of mercury and selenium. However, the exact mechanisms of these plant-microbe interactions are largely unknown. It is possible that the microbe mediated enhanced uptake will be either due to a stimulatory effect on root growth or to microbial production of metabolites that could affect plant gene expression of transporter proteins, or to a microbial effect on the bioavailability of the element.

Nickel (Ni) is an essential element that can be toxic and possibly carcinogenic in high concentrations. Ni is ubiquitously distributed in nature. It is found in different concentrations in all soil types of diverse climatic regions [7]. Naturally derived soils from serpentine rocks are rich in Ni, but due to various industrial and anthropogenic activities such as mining, refining of Ni ores, burning of fossil fuels and residual oil and sewage sludge, other areas have also become prone to Ni contamination [8]. The normal range of Ni in soil is 2 to 750ppm, with a critical soil concentration at 100ppm [9]. Exposure to Ni compounds causes irreversible damage to the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, lungs and gastrointestinal tract Nickel has been classified among the essential micronutrients and remains associated with some metallo-enzymes, but Ni is toxic at elevated concentrations in plants [7].

Nickel has a role in nitrogen metabolism that may stimulate plant growth and seed germination. In plants, Ni is responsible for chlorosis, yellowing and necrosis of leaves, deformation of plant parts, stunted growth and generation of free radicals [10]. One of the most persuasive ecological explanations for hyper accumulation of Ni and other toxic metals appears to be the defensive role against herbivores or pathogens. This function, which might be similar in other hyper accumulators, can be improved if the metal is localized in the outer layers of leaves and roots. Like in other Ni accumulators, such as Hybanthusfloribundus, Seneciocoronatus and Thlaspimontanum variety Siskiyouense, and A. bertolonii, Ni has been evidenced in leaf epidermal cells as a red stained nickel-dimethyl glyoxime complex [11,12]. Several Alyssum species are known to hyper accumulate nickel. These species can potentially be used to remediate Ni-contaminated soils.

At the same time there is convincing evidence of excess supply of nickel producing phytotoxic effects. Heavy metals accumulated in soil can affect flora, fauna and human livings in the vicinity of contaminated sites. The most of nickel is used to make stainless steel as a productive and ornamental coating for less corrosion. Nickel alloys are used in making coins and heat exchange items like valves. Nickel is combined with many other elements, including chlorine, sulfur and oxygen. Nickel compounds are used in plating, coloring ceramics making some batteries and as chemical reaction catalysts for dies, molds, cast propellers and valve seats. The problem of nickel toxicity acquires a series concern because of agriculture use of sewage sludge that is usually rich in nickel [13] and the industrial use of nickel production of Ni - Cd batteries which lead to discharge of nickel effluents.

Plant subjected to excess supply of nickel accelerates generation of toxic oxygen species leading to oxidative stress [14] and induces physiological water stress [15]. Excess nickel was reported to affect a number of biological and physiological processes resulting in an inhibition of plant growth [16,17].

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Material and Methods

Seeds of Phaseolusmungo L. (Black gram) were procured from local seed centre, Thiruthangal. The healthy and viable seeds of Phaseolusmungo L. were surface sterilized with 0.1% of mercuric chloride for one minute and washed with running tap water followed by distilled water. The seeds were soaked in distilled water for 2 hours. Both control and experimental seeds were allowed to grow in plastic trough containing uniform amount of sandy soil. Seedlings were allowed to grow in half-strength of Hoagland nutrient solution for seven days. After seven days, the seedling were treated with different concentration of nickel chloride (3mM, 6mM, 9mM, 12mM and 15mM w/v) with half-strength of Hoagland nutrient solution, by keeping one trough without treatment as control. After seven days of metal treatment (on 15th day after germination) various morphometric and biochemical characters were analyzed.

For all morphometric characteristics, ten seedlings have been taken from both experimental and control sets and the results indicate the average of ten seedlings along with their respective standard error. The length of root of the randomly selected seedlings was measured with the help of meter scale. The length of the shoot of the randomly selected seedlings was measured for both control and experimental plants with the help of meter scale. The total leaf area of each and every plant was computed and expressed in cm2. The leaf area of the harvested leaves was measured by conventional graphical method. The fresh weight of the seedlings was obtained using an electronic balance soon after harvest. Care was taken to avoid wilting of plant parts. The fresh undamaged seedlings were kept in an oven at 70 °C for 24 hours. After complete drying, the seedlings were weighed using an electronic balance.

For all biochemical analysis the average of 5 samples were taken from both control and treated plants separately and the results indicate the average of five seedlings along with their respective standard error. To extract the total chlorophyll from leaves, fresh leaves were deveined and cut into small bits. From the pooled leaf bits, a sample of 100mg was weighed. The leaf bits were homogenized in 100% acetone using a mortar and pestle. The homogenate was centrifuged at 4000rpm for 5 minutes at room temperature. Extraction with 100% acetone was repeated until the pellet becomes pale yellow or white in colour. The supernatant was used for the estimation of photosynthetic pigments. The absorbance was measured at 662nm, 645nm and 470nm for chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and Carotenoids, respectively using ELICO SL 171 Spectrophotometer. The amount of chlorophyll a,b and total chlorophyll was calculated by using the formula of Wellburn and Lichtenthaler.

The protein content of the leaf tissue was measure by Lowry's method (1951). Fresh leaf sample (100mg) was ground in 10ml of distilled water with the help of mortar and pestle. The homogenate was centrifuged at 5000rpm for 5minutes and the supernatant was added with 1 ml of ice cold TCA and again it was centrifuged. The pellet was dissolved with 1ml of 0.1 N NaoH and it was used as test solution. From the test solution, 0.1ml was taken in the test tubes and it was added with 0.5ml of distilled water, 5.5ml of alkaline copper mixture and 0.5ml of Folin phenol reagent. It was mixed thoroughly and kept in condition for 10 minutes to develop blue color. The absorbance was noted at 650nm using ELICO SL 171 Spectrophotometer. The protein content was calculated from the standard graph of protein constructed with bovine serum albumin as marker protein.

Total soluble sugars in leaves were estimated by Anthrone method. 100 mg of fresh leaves of both control and treated plants were ground in 10ml of distilled water using mortar and pestle. The homogenate of leaves was centrifuged at 3000rpm for 5minutes. The supernatant was taken, it was added with 2ml of 10% TCA and kept in the ice cold condition for 10 minutes, and again it was centrifuged at 5000rpm for 5minutes. The supernatant was used as test solution. 0.1ml of test solution was taken in test tubes and it was added with 0.9ml of distilled water and 4ml of Anthrone reagent (0.2%). The test tubes were boiled in water bath for 10minutes after cooling; the absorbance was measured at 620nm. The amount of sugar present in the extract was calculated from a standard curve using glucose as the standard (Figure 1).

Free amino acids were estimated by Ninhydrin assay method. The leaf material (100mg fresh weight) was ground in 10ml of ethanol. The homogenate was centrifuged at 5000rpm for 3minutes. The pellet was discarded and the supernatant was used as test solution. 1ml of test solution, 3ml of distilled water and 1ml of Ninhydrin reagent were added and mixed thoroughly. After mixing, the test tube was kept in boiling water bath for 10minutes. Then the tube was cooled down to room temperature and 1ml of 50 % ethanol was added. The absorbance was measured at 550nm using proper blank. Blank solution consisted of 4ml of distilled water, 1ml of Ninhydrin reagent and 1ml of ethanol. The amino acid content was estimated from standard curve prepared with glycine as amino acid source.

Proline content was estimated according to. The 100mg leave sample were ground in 3% (w/v) Sulphosalicylic acid. The extract was filtered through Whatmann No.1 filter paper. 2ml of the extract, 2 ml of acid Ninhydrin (1.25g of Ninhydrin in a mixture of 30ml of glacial acidic acid and 20ml of 6M Phosphoric acid) and 2ml of glacial acidic acid were added. The contents were shaken well and the tubes were kept in the water bath at 100 °C for 1hour. After 1hour the tubes were allowed to cool down to room temperature and then kept in ice for 5minutes, to terminate the reaction. The 4ml of toluene was added and the tubes were agitated vigorously and then allowed to stand. The proline containing chromophore was aspirated and the absorbance was read at 520nm. The proline content was calculated from a standard curve prepared authentic sample of proline.

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Statistical Analysis

Morphometric parameters were determined with ten independent replicates. Biochemical characters were carried out at least five times. The data were reported as mean±SE and in parentheses represent the percent activity.

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Results

The results obtained on the effect of different concentration of nickel chloride and nickel + seaweed liquid extract treated plants were given as follows. Impact of various concentration of nickel chloride on the morphometric characteristics of Phaseolusmungo L. is shown in graph 1. With the increase in concentration of nickel chloride root length were slowly decreased ranging from 12% to 45% compared to control. The minimum root growth was found in 15mM nickel concentration. Shoot length also followed a similar declining trend where the reduction was 44% in higher concentration of nickel chloride. The leaf area was gradually reduced with increasing concentration of nickel chloride. The reduction was about 37% in 15mM concentration of nickel chloride. With increase in concentration of nickel chloride the fresh weight was found to be decreased. The minimum fresh weight was observed in 15mM Nickel chloride treated seedlings. Total plant biomass accumulation (dry weight) is a good indicator of any stress study. The dry weight was analyzed in nickel treated Phaseolusmungo L. seedlings. It showed significant reduction than the control plants.

Results obtained on the impact of various concentration of Nickel chloride on the photosynthetic pigments of Phaseolusmungo L. is shown in Figure 2. Pigment content also showed the declining trend with increasing concentration of nickel chloride. The chlorophyll content of nickel chloride treated Phaseolusmungo L. showed considerable reduction over control plants. The maximum reduction of chlorophyll pigment brought about by 15mM concentration to the level of 67% and the carotenoid was found to be 78% in 15mM concentration of Nickel chloride.

Result obtained on the impact of various concentration of nickel chloride on the biochemical characteristics of Phaseolusmungo L. is shown in Figure 3. The sugar content was decreased with the increase in the concentration of nickel chloride. At 15mM concentration of nickel chloride, the reduction was about 76% less than the control. The protein content was found to be decreased with the increase in the nickel concentration on experimental plants. At 15mM concentration of nickel chloride the reduction of protein content was 55% less than the control plants. The nickel chloride had a considerable increase in the free amino acid content of the nickel treated plants than the control plants. The free amino acid content increased from 60% to 311% when compared to the control. The proline content increased with the increasing concentration of nickel chloride.

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Discussion

Results obtained on the morphometric and biochemical character of black gram Phaseolusmungo L .treated with nickel chloride and nickel + seaweed extract are discussed below. The result obtained on the present study indicate that, increase in concentration (3mM to 15mM) of nickel chloride, showed a decrease in root length, shoot length, fresh weight and dry weight of Phaseolusmungo L .Decrease in shoot length, root length, fresh weight and dry weight may be due to nickel toxicity which caused reduction in water uptake [18,19].

The observed pronounced inhibition of shoot and root growth and leaf area are main cause for the decrease in fresh weight and dry weight of seedlings. For plants, uptake of metals occurs primarily through the roots, so this is the primary site for regulating their accumulation [20]. The reduction in leaf area in response to nickel treatment was also related to accumulation of nickel in leaves, where the size of the leaf was also decreased. This result coincides with the findings of Panday & Pathak [21], where the leaves of green gram plants supplied with excess nickel were smaller in size and developed chlorosis in the leaflets. After seven days of nickel supply, these leaves developed black necrotic spots on either side of the midrib.

The photosynthetic process is related with the inhibition of biomass accumulation, which in turn relies upon the pigment level. The chlorophyll content, which is an indicator of the photosynthetic activity of plants, showed a remarkable reduction in nickel treated plants. Plants subjected to nickel toxicity showed decrease in the concentration of chlorophyll and carotenoids. The decrease in these plant pigments may be due to cellular disorganization under nickel toxicity which causes agglutination of chloroplast.

Under the heavy metal sodium chloride treatment also there was a considerable reduction in growth and photosynthetic pigments; this may be due to the disturbance in photo system I and chlorophyllase enzyme. This disturbance paralleled with the reduction in sugar content may be attributed to reduction in chlorophyll contents of the leaf and also a decline in protein. This change might have already affected the photosynthetic activity in the plant and hence the reduction in carbohydrate contents [22,23].

Satyakala & Jamil [24] observed a reduction in the protein contents in the roots, leaves and petioles of water hyacinth and lettuce plants after chromium treatment and suggested that metal ions seems to interfere with protein synthesis which is one of the major components for biochemical activities. In the present study a reduction in protein content observed in nickel chloride treated plants, may attributed to the decrease in the synthesis of protein macromolecules under nickel toxicity and the denaturation of protein by protease activity resulting in increasing level of protein degradation.

As a result of protein degradation during stress condition, the availability of free amino acid is significantly high. The free amino acid content is increased with the increase in nickel supply. It may be due to destruction of protein or to the biosynthesis of amino acid from the nitrate source which were not utilized in the protein synthesis [25]. It is an adaptative mechanism by the plant cell to overcome post stress metabolism [26]. Accumulation of proline has frequently used as a biochemical marker for water stress in plants [27,28]. The reduction of stress in plants has thought to promote the accumulation of proline and to act as a cytoplasmic osmotic solute [29,30]. L-Proline accumulation may cause by stimulated synthesis from glutamate, slower incorporation of proline into protein and failure in protein synthesis. Proline accumulation is considered a protective device for the plants to preserve water, which is necessary to tide over any internal water deficit situation. The accumulation of proline is also considered as an adaptive response to stress [31].

The possibility of proline accumulation is because of the impaired protein synthesis. In a stress condition the inhibition of growth of cells, leaves and the whole plant is accompanied by an accumulation of nitrate in plant tissue particularly in leaves [32]. The leaf nitrate content found to be more in treated plants. The accumulation of leaf nitrate in the present study was found to be paralleled with the reduction in nitrate reductase (NR) activity.

Thus, nickel caused a reduction in photosynthetic pigment content, which was paralleled with reduction in photosynthetic product called sugar. Reduction in total soluble protein in the leaf could also be ascribed to the reduction in photosynthesis. Accumulation of free amino acid indicates the degradation of protein in all the nickel treated plants, proline an osmotic regulator accumulate more in all the treated plants [33,34]

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annmariemarquar-blog · 4 years ago

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Fastest Way To Reduce 20 Pounds

Is current flood of low-carb foods to current market here remain? Big food manufacturers are banking on them as evidenced by an interesting Low-Carb Summit in Denver attended by many major companies such as Con-Agra and WalMart.

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shmosnet2 · 5 years ago

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Supposedly Good Ideas That Backfired

Humans beings are inherent problem-solvers, as evidenced by having successfully made our way through the carnival of problems that has been our history. Sometimes, however, despite our best intentions, some of those solutions actually end up making the problem even worse than it was before. You’ve probably heard the adage, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” But you’ve probably also heard that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The following solutions may have looked good on paper at the time, but they ended up horribly backfiring once they were actually put into practice. 10 Dead Whale Found On A Beach Blown Up With Dynamite Photos of dead marine animals found on the beach make their way into the viral cycle every couple of months or so these days, though back in 1970, something like that was less “further proof of everything bad we’ve done to the oceans” and more, “Huh, what the hell is that?” So when a dead whale washed ashore in the town of Florence, Oregon, in 1970, the authorities tried to find the best way to get rid of it without causing any trouble for the nearby beachgoers. How did they go about it? By blowing it up with dynamite. Yup, a bunch of adults, presumably people qualified to deal with such situations, figured it would be better to just blow up one of the biggest mammals on the planet and act like nothing happened instead of just putting it back in the water and letting the natural ecosystem dispose of it or at least calling other authorities. They also used a lot of dynamite so as to vaporize the small chunks of the exploding whale. Needless to say, the incident was a disaster; the sprayed bits not only showered the people nearby with some unwelcome and presumably stinking whale fluids but also severely damaged one of the cars parked there.[1] 9 French Effort To Eradicate Rats Gives Birth To Even More Rats

Whenever colonization is mentioned, the Brits get most of the blame, as they admittedly had the biggest empire of them all. Yet, many other European powers dabbled in it, many times reaching close to or even overtaking Britain as the most prolific colonizer of them all. France was one of them, with the jewel of their empire in Hanoi, Vietnam (then known as Indochina). Hanoi was set up to be one of the best cities under French rule, though there was a tiny problem: rats. Because of the 14 kilometers (9 mi) of sewer pipe the French had set up under the city to keep things in order, rats could now reach any part of the city through them, making the problem worse. Finally having had enough of it, the French decided to put a bounty on the pesky creatures and asked the people to bring them dead rats for a small amount of money. Understandably not willing to go through rat carcasses at government offices, they decided to ask for only the tails of the rats. At first, it seemed to be working quite well, as many tails were showing up, suggesting that the rats were dying, too. That wasn’t the case, though, as there were now even more rats than ever in the city. Unfortunately, the locals of Hanoi had actually turned it into a lucrative business, where they would only take the tail off the rats and let them go to back to producing even more baby rats for profit, because obviously they did. Because of that botched up bounty scheme, rats remain a big problem for the city of Hanoi even today.[2] 8 Prohibition Gave Way To The Mob

Despite the Prohibition era being an important development in American history, it’s hardly talked about as much as the other, more eventful time periods. Partly due to being overshadowed by much more important events around the same time—the immediate aftermath of World War I being one—and partly due to a time without alcohol not making for the most interesting conversations, Prohibition only occurs to most of us as an afterthought. It started as a well-intentioned idea to curb violence, crime, and other ills of the time, and it had the support of the female suffrage movement, which saw alcohol as a major barrier to their goals due to the whole issue of “drunk men being drunk.” While America did go through a brief period of prosperity in the 1920s, and Prohibition did help with some things it meant to, what it mostly did was act as an incubator for the Mafia. You see, even if alcohol was banned, people who wanted booze were still very much around, and they were ready to pay a premium for it. Speakeasies sprang up across the country, and small-time criminals started moving en masse to the most lucrative gig of the time—bootlegged alcohol—and started making fortunes off it as well as consolidating themselves around rigid factions. Prohibition brought about the rise of organized crime in America and would remain its most lasting legacy.[3] Take Al Capone for an example; he made his empire entirely on the back of speakeasies and casinos in Prohibition-era Chicago and probably would have remained a small-time gangster if not for that era. 7 A Plan To Stop Child Marriages Made The Dowry System Even Worse

For those who haven’t been tuned into world affairs, India is one of the worst countries for women, as evidenced by the still-existing dowry system, rampant sexual violence, and overall sex ratio. While many may attribute it to the incompetent government (which may even be true), it’s not like they haven’t been trying to fix it. From initiatives meant to educate girls and stricter laws against sexual assault, they’ve tried it all, to no avail. What’s also not helping is the fact that some of their efforts meant to help things have actually made it worse. In a plan introduced in 1994, the government attempted to put a stop to child marriages by promising a lump sum amount for every girl born in the state of Haryana, provided that they stay unmarried till they’re 18. Sounds pretty sensible, doesn’t it? It wasn’t, as that didn’t do anything to fix the underlying problems that led to child marriages. The lump sum promised soon started being offered to the potential groom as an even bigger amount of dowry, making the problem worse than it was before. It did stop the child marriages, mostly because the parents would wait until the girls turned 18, receive the money, put it into the dowry, and marry them off as soon as they could like usual.[4] 6 Global Agreement To Limit Emissions Increases Emissions

When we talk about climate change, we still discuss it as something in the future, even though we’ve already started seeing its effects in action. The scientists and other concerned professionals talking about it have moved well past “be careful” to “told you so,” though even now, many countries are reluctant to do something about it. Not just that, but many of our solutions have actually ended up making the problem worse, case in point being the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol was a coming together of many countries to collectively discuss and implement solutions to the ever-increasing problem of global warming. One of the decided solutions was the Joint Implementation program, under which countries would be rewarded for burning harmful gases instead of letting them into the atmosphere and could earn tradable credits based on whatever amount they burned. Those credits could then be sold to other countries, which could then sell them to someone else depending on how much of their quota they fulfilled, keeping the overall carbon footprint in balance. The problem, however, was that these credits weren’t actually real, and all they ended up doing was giving some countries an incentive to burn even more gas to generate more credits, which they absolutely did, because why wouldn’t they? All in all, the whole thing ended up adding around 600 million metric tons of excess emissions into the atmosphere and made for a good “what not to do” item on the list of things they talked about during the subsequent climate change treaty, the Paris Agreement.[5] 5 Legalizing Prostitution Increased The Rate Of Human Trafficking

Prostitution is a tricky subject to tackle, even if it’s the world’s oldest profession and really shouldn’t be. While activists have been asking for it to be legalized the world over to put an end to the stigma sex workers face and all the human trafficking that comes with it, policymakers often cite reasons like morality to keep things as they are. That’s not to say that countries haven’t tried to legalize prostitution to see what happens, though in most cases, it has ended up backfiring. It stands to reason that making prostitution legal should put an end to human trafficking, though for countries like Germany and Denmark, which legalized prostitution near the turn of the 21st century, the results have been the exact opposite. According to studies, human trafficking has been on a rise ever since they did, and in countries which criminalized it after a long period of time, like Sweden, trafficking rates were found to be shrinking.[6] So, what gives? These countries aren’t isolated from the rest of the world, where human trafficking is still thriving. It makes sense that by legalizing prostitution, they gave the traffickers even more markets to operate in, though now with government backing and a crime-free environment. 4 Green Scheme Destroys Country’s Renewable Industry And Dissolves Its Government

Renewable energy is the blockchain of 2019, in the sense that it’s the new industry everyone is moving into without fully knowing how it works. Governments the world over are investing in “green” technologies, not just to battle climate change but also as a sound opportunity to invest in the future. So, in 2012, when Northern Ireland introduced the Renewable Heat Incentive—a government program to incentivize the use of renewables by subsidizing the energy costs for anyone using them—little did it know that it wouldn’t end up doing either of those two things, and their actions would mean the end of both the government and the renewable sector in NI.[7] You see, what the scheme offered was money to anyone who had a lot of smaller renewable heating systems installed at their workplace instead of one big one, thinking that it would encourage renewable use as well as future-proof the local industries. What people took that to mean was, “The more heating systems we have running, the more money we can get out of the government” because of course they did. At one point, businesses were keeping all of their heating systems operational 24/7 to avail the maximum amount of money from the subsidy. By the end of it, the scheme ended up costing the taxpayers some £490 million and caused the renewable industry to collapse as well as the joint government that introduced it to dissolve due to the fallout. 3 Regulation To Encourage Small Cars Caused An Abundance Of Bigger SUVs And Trucks

The US is perhaps one of the few countries where bigger and heavier automobiles are popular, and smaller cars, while still aplenty, are not really preferred by the consumers if they have a choice (like more money). It goes against common wisdom, as government regulations should promote smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles to conserve oil as well as reduce the overall carbon footprint. As it turns out, one of the US government’s policies to do exactly that backfired over time. It all goes back to the 1973 oil crisis, when a bunch of Arab countries imposed an embargo on all the countries that supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Oil became insanely expensive and hard to obtain, which led the US government to introduce a new set of rules to promote smaller, more efficient vehicles instead of bigger ones. Known as CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy), these rules put stringent checks on the fuel efficiency of smaller vehicles, requiring that all the small cars hitting the market meet minimum fuel economy targets. On paper, it sounds perfect, as it would force carmakers to make better, more efficient small cars, as well as encourage buyers to go for them instead of bigger vehicles. In practice, it ended up doing the exact opposite. What was actually, “Smaller cars need to have better fuel economy,” was read by carmakers as, “Bigger vehicles don’t need to care about fuel economy,” as the checks on the latter were far less strict. As a result, auto companies simply started rolling out more SUVs and pickup trucks instead of smaller cars, and because of that, the consumers also started preferring more room and bigger vehicles than their smaller counterparts, as the options are readily available.[8] 2 Smoking Bans Cause A Rise In Drunk Driving Fatalities

Smokers (including the writer of this article) tend to justify their habit by freedom of choice but often conveniently forget that part when lighting one up in public spaces. Sure, it’s not like they’re blowing smoke in other people’s faces, but for someone who doesn’t smoke, it’s terribly inconvenient to even catch a whiff of it from a distance. There are no easy or black and white solutions to this; just as someone has the freedom to smoke anywhere, other people also have the freedom to not have to breathe that smoke if they don’t want to. You could try outright banning smoking in public places and force the smokers to either quit or head to a smoking zone, as many places in the US have done at various points in time, though that hasn’t worked out too well, either. In a study conducted in the Journal of Public Economics, researchers studied data from 120 counties, 20 of which were smoke-free. They figured that people who weren’t allowed to smoke at a bar must be going somewhere to do it, as anyone who has met a smoker will tell you. And yup, they were right; in the smoke-free counties, drunk driving was found to be on the rise by as much as 19 percent. And the fatalities weren’t just limited to the places that banned smoking; neighboring areas also saw a sharp rise (by as much as 40 percent!) in cases of drunk driving immediately after smoking bans went into effect.[9] 1 Anti-Bullying Campaign Actually Helped Bullies To Identify Potential Targets

Bullying is one of the most important issues facing students at all levels and grades. Not only does it create an unhealthy environment for the others, but it also leaves the victims with years of trauma, lowered self-esteem, and a bunch of other issues that stay for life. It’s also a tricky problem to handle, as the ones on the receiving end of it seldom speak up due to fear of retribution. So when Bullywatch, an organization that donated all its proceeds to families of bullying victims, came up with their own distinct wristband to be worn by anyone who was against bullying as a gesture of unity against the bullies, they had their heads in the right place. Unfortunately, one important thing they failed to consider was how a bully’s mind actually works. What others may have seen as a pretty powerful message against bullies and harassment, the bullies saw as a marker for who to bully next.[10] The kids wearing the wristband were reported to have been especially targeted for bullying, something this whole idea was meant to stop and fight against. If you ask us, though, this whole thing could have been avoided if they had just consulted a bully/ex-bully before embarking on this project. You can check out Himanshu’s stuff at Cracked and Screen Rant, get in touch with him for writing gigs, or just say hello to him on Twitter.

Himanshu Sharma Himanshu has written for sites like Cracked, Screen Rant, The Gamer and Forbes. He could be found shouting obscenities at strangers on Twitter, or trying his hand at amateur art on Instagram. Read More: Twitter Facebook Instagram Email

https://ift.tt/2s2Dez6 . Foreign Articles December 06, 2019 at 11:27AM

#. Foreign Articles Supposedly Good Ideas That Backfired

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tsgcharlottesvillevirginia · 5 years ago

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Our Week Scouted // 10.31.19

We’ve got a lot going on this week, from openings of new art shows and Jefferson’s dream-realized planetarium, to a lust-worthy catalogue and ways to get your heart racing. And of course, the best way to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

📷: Beatrix Ost, Nature Politely Declines - Metamorphosis of Order, 2002, Oil on canvas, 66 x 60 inches

SEE: Find your way downtown on Friday, November 1 for an opening reception of Beatrix Ost’s Iluminations & Illusions at Second Street Gallery. An opening reception will be held in the gallery from 5:30 – 7:30pm, with a reading by Ost at 6:30pm. Ost’s evocative and dreamlike work has been exhibited all over the world, exploring the nature of time and intimacy, as well as the fragility of the beauty that surrounds us. The multi-sensory show at Second Street Gallery will include a tightly curated selection of Beatrix’s dark, surrealist-inspired paintings and sculptures, accompanied by a musical score by Abel Okugawa composed specially for the exhibition. There will also be an olfactory element to the exhibition, celebrating fragrance as an artistic medium. Second Street Gallery | 115 Second Street SE | 434.977.7284 Open Tuesday- Friday, 11am - 6pm and Saturday, 11am - 4pm

SHOP: We’ve loved perusing Beecroft & Bull’s Fall 2019 Online Magazine. It’s unlike any publication a local retailer produces and full of so many gorgeous things we’re dying to add to the wardrobes of the men in our lives. And we have to admit, as evidenced below, there might be an item or two you want to snag for yourself. Peruse it online through the link above, or better yet, pop into the store to pick up your copy.

As a matter of fact, you can head on over to Beecroft & Bull on Friday, November 1 to check out the “Costal Cool” vintage vibe of Faherty Brand as they present their fall ‘19 collection. Plus, special guest Loretta Schneider from PTO5 will be on hand with her caravan of goods from Italy. Beecroft & Bull | Barracks Road Shopping Center, North Wing |2126 Barracks Road | 434.979.9010

EXPERIENCE: Tom Tom’s 8th annual fall festival, TOMTOBERFEST, is going down on Friday, November 1 from 5pm - 2am and it’s open to all. Head on down to the IX Park to build community and celebrate our hometown in style.First, shake hands and make professional connections at the Charlottesville Mixer. Then, enjoy a spirit or two at the Beer Garden, grab a bite from your favorite food truck, and jam to live music at the free Block Party featuring reggae surprises from The Elovaters, local favorite Free Union Music, and funky change-makers with a message of hope, The Change.

LOVE: Join Magpie Knits this Friday, November 1 from 5-8pm to celebrate their 3rd anniversary and for their premier First Fridays exhibit. They are welcoming local artist Amy Varner and her first beautiful yarn-inspired painting, “Looking at Yarn.” This is also a great opportunity to check out all of their amazing yards from all over the world, needlepoint canvases and exquisite linens. They also have great bags and other items that that are perfect for gifting. Magpie Knits | Downtown Mall, 111 West Main St. |(434) 296 – 4625

CELEBRATE: Take part in Dia de Los Muertos at IX Park on Saturday, November 2 from 7pm-midnight. Take part in this beautiful Mexican tradition that celebrates and honors the lives of ancestors and loved ones. Bring flowers, photos, poems, letters, creations, food, and things that represent your loved ones to place on offering table, Ofrenda. Each person or family will receive a luminary bag to decorate for the Ofrenda. Stay for a live show by Lua Project and a DJ dance party. This year’s event will fundraise for Sin Barreras Charlottesville, who provides legal aide, justice advocacy, and so much more to our local immigrant community. Kids free; suggested adult donation of $10 (all proceeds for Sin Barreras). 7-9pm: Art and decorating for the Memorial Altar 8-10pm: Live show by Lua Project and Special Guests 10-midnight: DJ Party

LEARN: In 1819, Thomas Jefferson sketched plans for a planetarium spanning the dome of the University of Virginia’s Rotunda Library. Unfortunately, Jefferson’s proposed celestial dome was never realized—until now. The Rotunda Planetarium is scheduled to open on November 1 where an array of digital projectors will transform the Rotunda’s dome room (UVa’s architectural centerpiece and a UNESCO world heritage site) into a vast enlightenment planetarium. A public symposium will be held in the Rotunda from 2-8:30pm. This event will culminate with a keynote lecture by Sara J. Schechner, David P. Wheatland, Curator of Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University, titled, “Astronomy Inside and Out: Jefferson’s Vision for the University of Virginia,” at 6:30pm. The launch of the Rotunda Planetarium projection will follow at 7:30pm. All are welcome to witness the fruition of one of Jefferson’s dreams.

HONOR: The Club at Glenmore is teaming up with Michael Kaminski of the Freedom 5k and Gratitude Charlottesville to honor and benefit those who serve this Veterans Day weekend. The Freedom 5k race will take place Saturday November 9 and is open to 350 runners. I have run in this race and it’s a moving event with spectacular fall foliage. Register here.

The Club at Glenmore has also added a golfing event, “Town Day” on Veterans Day, Monday November 11 to raise even more funds for veterans and their families. Non-member golfers are invited to play Glenmore’s private, members-only golf course for just $75, which includes green fee, cart fee, range and a boxed lunch. Active military or veteran players are welcome to play for $65. There will be an 11am shotgun start for all players, with check-in at 10:30am. To make reservations email [email protected] or call the Glenmore Pro Shop (434) 817-0502.

SWEAT: Get ahead of the lethargy that sets in once cold weather hits and check out the newly-opened Club Pilates. The 2,100 square-foot fitness studio is located on the second level of Barracks Road North, above Folly. The studio will offer free introductory classes year-round to anyone who is interested in trying it out for the first time.“Our full-body, low-impact workouts can work for any skill level, from someone who is just establishing a fitness routine to an experienced athlete,” Marvin Schettgen, owner of the Cville Club Pilates, said. “With seven different class formats, four different skill levels and an array of specialized equipment, we’re confident we have something for everyone.” Their regular class schedule is up and running, with 50-minute classes offered seven days a week. Go ahead and sign up for your free class here www.clubpilates.com/charlottesville. You might just discover your favorite new workout. Club Pilates Charlottesville | 2140 Barracks Road | (434) 202-4219

#ourweekscouted #TheScoutGuideCharlottesville #livelovelocal

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ramajmedia · 5 years ago

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Two And A Half Men, 10 Questions About Lyndsey, Answered

Lyndsey McElroy is Alan's on and off-again flame on Two And A Half Men. She is played by talented actress Courtney Thorne-Smith. Her back story is filled with scandal and she is never short of eyebrow-raising moments in the narrative.

RELATED: Two And A Half Men, The 10 Worst Things Alan Has Ever Done, Ranked

Still, she is neat and well-presented, usually slipping up when a drink is placed in her hands, as a former alcoholic. Still, there are some things fans of the show might not have noticed or might not know about Lyndsey. Here are just 10 of them:

10 Hidden vices

Slim and well-presented, viewers have to ask, does Lyndsey have any vices? The attractive blonde is, as the narrative suggests, an undercover alcoholic. Fans will know that she enjoys beer but might not realize the extent to which she has an alcohol problem.

The series suggests that she is a recovered alcoholic who has the occasional lapse in terms of drinking. In one episode, she vomits inside Walden's private jet. This, after becoming hopelessly drunk.

9 Too close for comfort

What is Lyndsey's connection to Judith? Judith is a character who seems a larger-than-life presence in Alan's life. She seems to wield far too much power over Alan, despite the couple having divorced. Fans might be surprised to find out that she is actually Lyndsey's neighbor.

What's more, when Alan still lived with Judith, Lyndsey was both Alan and Lyndsey's neighbor. She continues to know Judith and so Judith continues to have some kind of presence in the series' narrative.

8 An unlikely relationship

With Alan's lack of social life, one has to wonder: how did he manage to clinch a relationship with Lyndsey? The answer lies in his son, Jake who is friends with Lyndsey's son Eldridge McElroy. Alan's son's social life opened a way for him to have some kind of a life - separate from all his work and anxiety.

RELATED: 10 Guest Stars We Forgot Were On Two And A Half Men

His son's friendship to Elridge meant that Elridge continued to visit Jake after Judith and Alan were no longer an item, and Alan was no longer Lyndsey's neighbor.

7 A past worth writing about

What did Lyndsey reveal to Charlie and Alan about her past which made viewers sit up in their seats? Let's face it, Lyndsey comes with a fair measure of scandal to her name but some of the things revealed by the character raise eyebrows just that much higher than others.

In one episode, Lyndsey tells Alan and Charlie how when she was in high school, she had struggled financially and had decided to get a job. This all seems reasonable until she explains this 'job' was in a pornographic film called 'Cinnamon Buns', for which she had to be covered as frosting in a fantasy bakery shop scene.

6 Moving in together

Why does Alan agree to move in with Lyndsey? In the story, Alan and Lyndsey move in together shortly after announcing their relationship to their children, Jake and Eldrige.

After this, Lyndsey is the one who suggests they take their relationship to a new level and move in together. Alan is reluctant to take this big step. However, after some deliberation he agrees to do so, realizing it will annoy Judith - something he is always happy to do.

5 House on fire

How does Lyndsey's house burn down in the series? Viewers will remember the episode where Lyndsey's house is burned down, forcing Jake, Eldridge, Alan and herself to move back into Charlie's beach house. The reason behind the whole inconvenience is Alan and his smoking habit.

RELATED: Two And A Half Men, 10 Questions About Alan, Answered

He manages to successfully burn her house down from smoking his pipe in a careless fashion. It would come as no surprise that Lyndsey becomes cold towards Alan after this incident and even temporarily leaves him at her ex-husband's suggestion.

4 Controversial, to say the least

Why do viewers keep such a close watch on Lyndsey? The answer lies in her off-the-beaten-track antics and the endless surprises she brings to the narrative. Remember how she slept with Alan's ex-wife Kandi?

This was a huge surprise for viewers who, while hearing all kinds of stories about Lyndsey's past, didn't quite expect her to something as unlikely as showing affection towards Kandi. This happened after Alan and Lyndsey had supposedly broken up for the last time.

3 Alan's insecurity

What brings the downfall of Alan and Lyndsey's relationship? In Season 8 of the show, Lyndsey and Charlie sit down to talk about sports betting, with Lyndsey explaining she was formerly a Las Vegas sports bookie, in her more than shady, vice-filled past.

Seeing the two chatting, Alan immediately assumed Charlie had stolen his love (as Charlie tended to do with his girlfriends). This resulted in a fight between Alan and Lyndsey. Poor Alan had reason to be wary of Charlie, however, this time he was clearly off the mark, and it would seem that his unfounded suspicions... and the arguments they brought... eventually caused a rift in his relationship with Lyndsey.

2 A toughie

Is there anything that makes Lyndsey afraid? She seems streetwise and appears to dodge life's downturns with great skill. Still, she does have a fear and this is possibly evidenced by the way she flitters from love affair to love affair, having unstable relationships and flings with both men and women.

Furthermore, it seems that her fear is the same one that Alan has and possibly the couple was drawn together to begin with. Lyndsey's number one fear, as the series' narrative suggests, is being alone.

1 Hypocritical

Why could Lyndsey be considered to be hypocritical? Fans of the series will know how frequently Lyndsey cheats on Alan. She cheated on him with Jenny, Larry, Kandi... the list goes on. She also seemed oblivious to the effect this had on him and even got slightly annoyed when he confronted her frivolous ways.

Strangely, when Alan has been suspected of cheating by her, all hell breaks loose and she feels justified in accusing him and demanding explanation.

NEXT: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Two And A Half Men

source https://screenrant.com/two-half-men-lyndsey-questions/

#screenrant

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davidjuice93-blog · 6 years ago

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The John Gerdes House - 59 Charles Street

The handsome Italianate home was originally numbered No. 5 Van Nest Place.

Abraham Van Nest, president of the Greenwich Savings Bank, purchased "Greenwich," the former country mansion of British vice-admiral Peter Warren in 1821. By then the once-sprawling grounds had been reduced to a city block, bounded by Charles, Hammond (later Bleecker), West 4th and Amos Street. As Greenwich Village grew up around it, the mansion and its grounds survived until shortly after Van Nest's death in 1864.

Charles Christopher Amos had inherited the portion of the Peter Warren estate directly to the south of the mansion, which he portioned into building plots. He named three of the streets on his property after himself: Charles, Christopher and Amos (later West 10th) Streets. But he gave a nod to Abraham Van Nest by christening the north side of one block of Charles Street, between Bleecker and West 4th Street, Van Nest Place. It was not uncommon at the time to give short sections of streets separate names, implying their upscale status. It resulted in three blocks of East 8th Street becoming St. Mark's Place, for instance.

Because only the north side of the block was Van Nest Place, the addresses were sequential, Wealthy brewer Walter W. Price purchased the lots at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 Van Nest Place. He commissioned architect Gage Inslee to design the middle house, and almost assuredly the nearly identical flanking houses as well.

Completed in 1866, the houses were three bays wide and three stories tall above brownstone-fronted English basements. No. 5, like its neighbors, was faced in red brick and trimmed in stone. The elevated financial position of its intended occupants was reflected in the heavy Italianate ironwork of the stoop and areaway, the double-doored entrance and its especially attractive stone enframement.

Price had come to America in 1840, and in 1860 partnered with Ebenezer Beadelston in the brewing firm of Beadleston & Price on West 10th Street. Two important events occurred in Price's life just weeks apart in 1865. On July 1 he married Constance Bridge Tallon, and on July 26, with the retirement of Beadelston, the brewery was reorganized. Ernest G. W. Woerz became vice-president and Price's new partner. The firm was renamed Beadelston, Price & Woerz.

It is unclear whether Price and his new bride moved into No. 5 Van Nest Place. The couple would soon have two children, but there would be significant problems in their domestic tranquility. On April 23, 1839, the year before Price arrived in New York, he had married Susanna Butler in England. He neglected to inform Constance of the marriage nor did he move to divorce Susanna.

But, although Constance left him in 1871, things worked out well enough. The courts annulled the first marriage in 1874, deciding that Price had assumed his first wife dead, and declared the couple's two children legitimate.

By then No. 5 Van Nest Place had been home for several years to Price's partner. Price sold it to Ernest G. W. Woerz in 1869. Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1835, he had come to the United States while still a young man and, like Price, had immediately gone into the brewing business. His significant wealth by now was evidenced by his memberships in the Larchmont Yacht Club in Westchester County and the Seabright Yacht Club in New Jersey.

On the night of October 22, 1879, the Weorz house and the John Loughlin house nearby had intruders. Two days later The New York Times reported "On Wednesday night burglars, with a patent 'jack,' broke the bars from he rear basement windows of No. 62 Perry-street and Nos. 3 and 5 Van Nest-place." The rear yards of the Perry Street and Van Nest Place houses were back-to-back.

Having broken into Nos 3 and 5 Van Nest Place, the burglars were inside the Perry Street house when the next door neighbor heard them. He rushed to the street and found a policeman. One of the armed thieves was captured. "Mr. E. G. W. Woertz, of No. 5 Van Nest-place, lost a few articles of clothing," reported The Times. The family seems to have gotten off lightly, considering the silverware and other valuable items missing from the other houses.

On December 27, 1880 Woertz sold No. 5 to William F. Schneider for $13,000, about $322,000 today. Schneider leased it to Dr. C. E. Locke, who operated his office from the house. He announced his office hours as from 8 to 10 a.m., 2 to 4 p.m., and 7 to 9 p.m.

John H. Seaman and his wife, Matilda, next owned the house. He was the principal in the John H. Seaman Co., dealers in "masons' building materials." The couple sold it on February 10, 1887 to John Henry Gerdes and his wife, the former Anna Catherine Tienken. Property values had increased on the affluent block. The $16,000 price tag would translate to about $425,000 today. As was common, the title was put in Anna's name.

A German immigrant, Gerdes was a liquor concessionaire--providing refreshments in several taverns throughout the city. He also dealt in real estate. At the time of the purchase the couple had three children, 13-year old Emma, 10-year old Henry Theodore, and 8-year old Theodore Richard Nicholas.

As the century drew to a close, the boys attended the Stevens Institute of Technology. Both were graduated in 1902 and embarked on rather remarkable careers. In 1905 Henry was an inspector in the mechanical engineer's office of the New York Central Railroad, and Theodore was an inspector of electric subways for the Interborough Rapid Transit Co.

The Gerdes brothers, Henry (top) and Theodore R. N. as they appeared in 1905. A History of the Stevens Institute of Technology (copyright expired)

The ambitious young men went on to other endeavors. In 1906 Henry and his father incorporated the Ross Steam Specialty Company with other two other investors. John took on the position of president. And by 1911 Henry was a director in the Manhattan High Powered Motor Co., as well.

While the men of the family were tied up with business projects, Anna and Emma enjoyed a more relaxed lifestyle. On September 6, 1906 The New York Times noted "Mrs. John H. Gerdes and Miss Gerdes of New York City have arrived at the Montanesco [in Mount Pocono], where they will occupy suites during the Autumn weeks."

Spring was the season of love for neighborhood cats in 1912, a situation that disturbed Theodore's peace. He wrote to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to the State Board of Charities and, according to him, "several other unsympathetic organizations," asking them to do something about the nighttime yowling. When he got no satisfaction, he wrote to the mayor, William Jay Gaynor.

The mayor, too, was unsympathetic. His letter of March 8, 1912 dripped with sarcasm:

Dear Mr. Gerdes: I regret to say that I have so many official duties pressing upon me that I cannot just now devote any time to the tomcats. There are a few in my neighborhood, but I go to sleep and let them howl. It amuses them and doesn't hurt me. But some say that it is the pussycats that howl, and not the tomcats. How is that? We must not kill tommy for the sins of pussy. And, also, let us remember that the '"female of the species is more deadly than the male."

W. J. GAYNOR, Mayor

The noisy cat episode notwithstanding, Theodore and his brother were well respected in the engineering and business communities. In 1914 they formed Gerdes & Company with their father. The firm was described as "engineering, realty, metal products." And Theodore headed his own company, Theodore R. N. Gerdes, M. E., designing and manufacturing ventilation equipment. He held patents for inventions like the Gerdes Air Moistener, the Gerdes Electric Window Ventilator and the Gerdes Roof Ventilator.

One of Theodore's inventions, the Gerdes Roof Ventilator. Sweet's Architectural Catalog, 1918 (copyright expired)

On August 17, 1918 Theodore was married to Olive White Richardson. Although his brother had moved to Brooklyn following his own wedding, Theodore brought his bride back to the Van Nest Place house.

Commerce & Finance, March 10, 1920 (copyright expired)

On Saturday, January 23, 1926 John H. Gerdes died suddenly in the house he had called home for 39 years. He was 80 years old. His funeral was held in the house three days later. The following year on April 29, 1927, Anna died at the age of 78. Her funeral, too, was held in the house.

The title to No. 5 was passed to the unmarried Emma. At the time property owners on the block were beginning to question the advisability of keeping the Victorian name. On May 6, 1928 The New York Times reported "Residents of that little-known thoroughfare in the heart of Greenwich Village, designated on the city map as Van Nest Place, feel that the time has come to abandon that name as has been done in the past with many other names of small and once select localities." A petition had been drawn up to rename the block; but it would be years before change came. Finally, in 1936 the Gerdes house was renumbered 59 Charles Street.

The block as it appeared at the time of the name change. The New York Times, June 7, 1936

The 20th century did not infiltrate the world inside the mid-19th century residence. Although her brothers were successful engineers, the only concession to modernity within the house was the conversion from gas to electric lighting. In 1923 Anna had replaced the wallpaper on the stairwell. It was the last updating that would take place during a Gerdes residency.

Emma lived on alone in the house--Henry died in 1948 and Theodore in 1953. Along with the house she had inherited her father's real estate holdings. The New York Times reported, for instance, on June 1, 1961, that "After an ownership of forty-three years, Emma C. Gerdes has sold the four-story store and apartment building at 542 Third Avenue."

Having lived in her Victorian time capsule for 92 years, Emma died on October 6, 1966. Her funeral was held in St. John's Lutheran Church on Christopher Street.

The Charles Street house was sold the following spring. Gordon F. McClure and his wife bought a page torn from 1866. On April 23, 1967 The New York Times reported "The house is virtually the same as it was when Miss Gerdes was a little girl." The article described the zinc-lined bathtub in the only bathroom and noted "The bedrooms are still equipped with cabinet-enclosed washstands that had running water."

Photos of the parlor mantel and the cast iron kitchen stove appeared in April 23, 1967 the The New York Times article. photos by Allyn Baum

"All the rooms have marble-mantled fireplaces and these are especially elaborate in the parlor and adjoining library in the rear. Large, gilt-framed mirrors are placed over the parlor and library fireplaces, and a floor-to-ceiling pier glass between the parlor's two front windows supports a heavily carved gilt cornice." From the frescoed parlor ceiling hung the original gilded chandelier with frosted glass globes.

The McClures anticipated making obvious updates, including new plumbing and electricity and installing central heating and air conditioning. An additional bathroom was installed (and the zinc tub replaced) and the kitchen modernized. Nevertheless, the cast iron stove was kept, "if only to look at." The couple assured they would make "as few changes as possible."

No substantial renovation plans have been filed since the McClures gently updated the house, suggesting the Emma Gerdes's well-preserved 19th century interiors still survive.

photographs by the author

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-john-gerdes-house-59-charles-street.html

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bemanistyle · 7 years ago

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beatmania IIDX 25 CANNON BALLERS Location Test New Features and Songs (UPDATING LIVE!)

Just announced 2 days ago, beatmania IIDX 25 CANNON BALLERS is the latest entry in one of Konami’s most popular music simulation game, and of course, we’re here at the location test in Japan to bring you all the latest news as it happens. We’re also giving live updates on Twitter, so be sure to follow us there if you aren’t already!

As with almost every other BEMANI location test, random-numbered tickets are given out to determine the day’s play order. Last year, we had #82, and this year…

51, not too bad. As there’s only one cabinet to play on, it took almost 7 hours for our turn…but, we made it!

The game’s theme obviously has plenty of racing-inspired elements, as evidenced by the official poster, drawn by none other than GOLI:

As usual, a signboard displayed the major new features and changes:

NEW FEATURES:

New Shop (Arcade) Ranking: Stars added, similar to weekly ranking stars. Pacemaker can be set to display shop ranking tiers/borderlines

Daily Bonuses: Sun: DJ VIP PASS BLACK Present Mon: PREMIUM FREE Mode Bonus +1 minute Tue: TIME HAZARD Mode Wed: TIME FREE & TIME FREE PLUS Modes available Thu: No STEP UP LVL Folder Restrictions Fri: VDISC Bonus Sat: TIME HELL Mode available

DJ RANK Renewal: (replacing NINJA RANK, better details/organization shown/Series Ranks added)

More Customizations: Turn off your groove gauge’s colors (it won’t fill) & Lane brightness/darkness can be adjusted

Interestingly enough, this time around, despite the “No Photos” icon on the cabinet, taking pictures was actually not forbidden (Really. Confirmed with Staff, don’t get on us abut this.) So let’s check out the cabinet!

GAMEPLAY:

As usual, STANDARD and FREE (FREE+ for 2 players) were available, with a standard credit costing double the normal rate:

To be honest, I was skeptical about the theme at first, but it turned out MUCH better than expected. The racing theme isn’t in-your-face at all. Instead we got a nice blend of copula, DJ TROOPERS, and DistorteD, with lots of neat mechanical parts and car-related items mixed in:

When playing with 2 players, the Speedometer shows 2 gauges, each displaying the currently-selected song’s level. The needle is actually based on scroll speed, just one more little touch that makes the theme that much cooler:

Here are some more Song Select pics:

The BG Movie is actually the “default” movie, used in various songs.

1st Stage: Morning → 2nd Stage: Midday → Final Stage: Sunset

On the Results Screen (grades) as well and the Song Select, an Announcer is present. It might be Mori-Icchou, the famous voice of KAC.

Oh, what’s this?

When playing in FREE (PLUS) mode, a Numpad [4] option will appear (toggles on/off) to let you retry a song easily, without having to remember to hold VEFX/Effect. This is particularly useful if you want to replay a song multiple/many times. Just don’t forget to turn it off when you’re done!

After you finish playing, the new DJ RANK DATA Screen is shown with detailed and separate ranks for New/Old songs:

Finally, one more lovely change for players in the USA, 英国 has now been changed to アメリカ in Katakana. Some may prefer the old notation (it’s rare and somewhat cool) but I think AMERICA is a better identifier:

After playing, most players will write down their thoughts in the the “Location Test Note” feedback book, which also has the same great artwork as the poster, accompanied by a real-life PENDUAL set:

NEW SONGS (23)

[RENAISSANCE] AA -rebuild- / D.J.Amuro (BPM 174) SP 7/10/- DP /10/ *

[DUBSTEP] Abraxas / SYUNN (BPM 165) SP 5/9/11 DP 5/9/11

[SYNTH-TECH] ACCELERATE / Sota Fujimori (BPM 153) SP 6/8/10 DP //

[熱帯THE BASS] Amor De Verão / かめりあ feat. ななひら (BPM 138) SP 5/8/11 DP 5/8/11

[WAGON WHEEL TRANCE] Back Spin Sweeper / DJ TOTTO (BPM 155) SP 6/9/11 DP 6/9/11 {All HCN}

[SCHRANZ] Battleground / kors k (BPM 165) SP 6/9/11 DP /9/11

[CYBER LIQUID FUNK] Best Of Me / Maozon (BPM 177) SP 4/8/10 DP /8/

[DRUMSTEP/HARDCORE] Break Stasis / Hommarju & Akira Complex (BPM 184) SP 6/8/10 DP /8/

[CYBERNETICS PIANO HOUSE] ChaserXX / HuΣeR (BPM 140) SP 6/9/11 DP 6/9/11

[FUTURE BASS] Chemical Cookie / YUC’e (BPM 180) SP 5/8/10 DP //

[COSMIC POP] COSMIC☆WONDER☆REVOLUTION / 猫叉Master+ (BPM 152) SP 4/7/9 DP //9

[HARD BASS HOUSE] Exhaust Hype / DJ Noriken (BPM 147) SP 5/9/11 DP /9/

[HANDZ STYLE] HAT TRICK / P*Light (BPM 150) SP 5/8/10 DP //

[POP CORE] LUV DRIVE / RoughSketch feat. Aikapin (BPM 188) SP 5/7/10 DP 5/7/11

[ALTERNATIVE FUGUE] Mira / Akhuta (BPM 184) SP 5/9/11 DP //11

[ULTRA JAZZFUNKTION] Nothing But Theory / lapix (BPM 160) SP 5/8/11 DP 6/9/11

[PSYSTYLE] Temple of Anubis / Massive New Krew (BPM 155) SP 5/8/11 DP // {All CN}

[EUROBEAT] THE CANNONBALLER / L.E.D. feat YuRiCa/花たん (BPM 170) SP 6/10/11 DP //11

[ROTTERDAM RAVE] VOX RUSH / 青龍 × sampling masters MEGA & sampling masters AYA (BPM 202) SP 7/10/- DP // *

[HYBRID HARDCORE] Xperanza / aran (BPM 200) SP 7/10/- DP /10/11 *

[HARD FRENCH] エディブルフラワーの独白 / OSTER project feat. 常盤ゆう (BPM 180) SP 4/8/10 DP /8/

[YANKEE CAR J TRANCE] ハイ＊ビスカス ft. Kanae Asaba / Xceon (BPM 157) SP 4/7/10 DP 5/8/11

[JOURNEY SCENE] 草原の王女 -奇跡を辿って- / 劇団レコード (BPM 142) SP 3/7/10 DP //

(* songs have colored backgrounds, and are most likely unlocks)

REMOVED SONGS

(This list was compiled by myself and a group of awesome players, who helped to quickly identify the removed songs. It’s 100% accurate.)

SINOBUZ (0*) (Wind/Shadow schools 風巻/影月流 & Surf on the Light not present)

PENDUAL (5) -Hollywood Galaxy (DJ NAGAI Remix) -Light My Fire -Sometimes feat. Kanae Asaba -subtractive -フェイクアウト

SPADA (2) -Smug Face -どうだ、オレの生き様は- (ONLY ONE EDITION) -御千手メディテーション

tricoro (2) -Echo of Forever -Spinning Around

Resort Anthem (2) -Survival Games -Programmed Sun (xac Antarctic Ocean mix)

SIRIUS (1) -Brazilian Fire

DJTROOPERS (1) -高高度降下低高度開傘

DistorteD (1) -Crazy K.I.N.O.

RED (1) -INJECTION OF LOVE

10th (1) -Ready to Rockit Blues

9th (2) -ECHOES -POWER DREAM

8th (1) -Hormiga obrera

7th (1) -Marmalade Reverie

5th (1) -Kiss me all night long

(Others, no removals / その他は削除曲なし)

Version: LDJ J:B:A: 2017080400

So, what do you think?

beatmania IIDX 25 CANNON BALLERS Location Test New Features and Songs (UPDATING LIVE!) was originally published on bemanistyle ♪

#beatmania #beatmania iidx #CANNON BALLERS #iidx #iidx25 #location test #new game #New Songs #bemanistyle

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prosperopedia · 6 years ago

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Why Honesty and Integrity Are Critical for Prosperity

What if all people were honest?

What if we could all trust that when a person gives his or her word to us, we didn’t have to worry about whether that person truly meant what was said? What if when we hired someone to do a job, when we conducted a transaction, when we loan someone money, or when we enter into could always expect the person we’re interacting with to do what they’ve promised to do? What if we could be always sure that others aren’t misrepresenting themselves or what they’re selling us for their own benefit?

These questions are obviously rhetorical. It’s impossible to imagine a world in which everyone demonstrated utmost integrity and where nobody lies. Humankind has for all of recorded history had a propensity toward dishonesty.

A study summarized in a June 2017 National Geographic article entitled, Why We Lie: The Science Behind Our Deceptive Ways, categorized the reasons people are dishonest. The study grouped the ten reasons people lie into two main categories: to protect oneself and to promote oneself. The top reasons for lying according to the study (originally published by the Journal of Intercultural Communication Research) included covering up mistakes, gaining economic benefits, securing (non-financial) personal advantage, evading people, and to shape a positive image of oneself.

Although the publishers of this study and many others that take on the reasons why people are dishonest note that dishonesty can often be healthy and is at least natural, the cost to society and to any particular individual from intentionally lacking the discipline required to tell the truth is difficult to measure.

Is Your Integrity Not Worth $1,000?

Several years ago I had an experience that became an epiphany for me with regard to my own commitment to being honest, even in a situation where choosing honesty over dishonesty didn’t seem like such a big deal.

I was operating an online store that sold medical equipment that we drop-shipped (meaning we didn’t keep it in stock at our location) from one of our suppliers. One day we received a phone call from someone who placed an order on behalf of her company for a dozen or so of one of the physical therapy evaluation devices we advertised on our website. My wife and I were excited about the order. We calculated our profit on the order: just over $1,000. It made our day!

Shortly after the order was placed, we left the office (which was in our home) to help my sister-in-law with some car problems she was having. While we were unavailable to answer the phone, this customer called back and left a message saying that she needed to cancel the order.

Man, what a bummer! Just as quickly as we’d made the $1,000, it was gone.

My wife (my business partner and one of the best customer service reps we’ve ever had) called back the customer to confirm that she wanted to cancel the order. She told this customer that it’s possible that the order had already been shipped out by our supplier, in which case she would simply need to reject the package once it arrived.

The customer’s response became an unexpected test of my integrity.

She told my wife that if the order had already been shipped, her company would find some purpose to use the products. But if the order had not been shipped, she wanted the order canceled.

When I arrived back in the office, I immediately called our supplier and asked about the order, which we’d placed with them hours before, soon after it had been placed by the customer. The rep I talked to checked with the company’s warehouse crew and called me back nearly 15 minutes later. The order had in fact not been shipped out yet. There was still time to stop it.

Through my mind went these thoughts…

“Well, it would be just as easy to tell the customer that I wasn’t able to stop the order, and it has already been shipped. It’s a big company. They have a budget for this type of thing. What difference would it make if I just call back and tell her we were not able to stop the shipment?”

Then I was received this distinct impression from my conscience (or from what most Christians would call the Holy Spirit, which tends to prick one’s conscience once in awhile): “Is your integrity not worth $1,000?”

The resolution for the situation became clear to me. I felt like my integrity was worth at least $1,000. In fact, I wouldn’t even want to attempt to put a dollar value on what’s it’s worth to me to be honest. I’d like to hope that under any situation like this, no matter what amount of money was at stake, I’d make the same decision.

I asked my supplier to cancel the shipment, then called the customer back to let her know we were able to cancel the order before it was shipped. Although some might argue (and it makes perfect sense taken from a purely secular vantage point) that I lost $1,000 for making that decision, I’d argue that I gained a lot more than that, including a reinforcement that I was

The Law of the Harvest

One of the guiding principles I’ve always try to use in my dealings with people, whether in business or personal matters, is the law of the harvest, a scriptural principle found many times in the Bible, but most commonly referenced from Galations 6:7, which reads: “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.“

The law of the harvest is a universally applicable idea that there is always a connection between what a person does, how a person chooses to think and act, and what that person ultimately experiences in terms of blessing or cursing in his life. The law of the harvest doesn’t require earthly policing or monitoring. Understanding and applying the law motivates one to transcend the need for constant external correction and instead rely instead upon an internal conscience to choose to do what’s right, regardless of the short-term consequences. Those who understand and live by the law of the harvest wisely comprehend that ultimately justice and equity will be dealt out fairly to everyone.

In my situation with the customer who I could have easily lied to and told her that the order had already shipped, the law of the harvest says that regardless of whether she knew or cared much about the outcome, the most important aspect of the interaction for me was being honest. The law of the harvest says that any other course of action on my part would have eventually been returned back to me negatively in one way or another.

What’s a Lost and Found?

While I was living in China with my wife early in our marriage, I got a taste of a cultural difference in perspective that has left an impression on me ever since this experience happened.

I was on the corner of a busy street in Shanghai helping my wife hail a taxi when my cell phone fell out of my sweatshirt pocket as I jogged to catch up to an available taxi. I immediately (in about 10-20 steps) recognized that my cell phone had just fallen out of my pocket when I reached inside to make sure it was still secure.

As I retraced my steps, expecting to see my phone lying on the ground, I quickly became disappointed that I couldn’t find it. As I watched the streams of people biking and walking past me, I thought, “Surely one of these people would have seen my phone and noticed that I dropped it.” I half expected that someone was going to walk up to me and hand me the phone I had just dropped.

That never happened. I was blown away.

I quickly asked my wife to call my phone. She did. It didn’t even ring, and it was obvious that whoever picked up the phone turned it off immediately to avoid being confronted or having us track down where it was.

Later that day, as I was talking to my Chinese business partner, I explained to him how disappointing that situation was, and I lamented that someone (not even a professional thief, but a regular commuting worker) would be so dishonest as to see my cell phone fall from my pocket and not return it to me. His response was surprising, “Of course, the person who saw you drop your phone was lucky. He got a free phone.” He then explained that almost anyone who would have seen me lose my phone would have been inclined to keep it, even to hide it from me to avoid being caught.

In all my time growing up in the United States, I had almost never experienced that general mentality. Sure, there are dishonest people who steal things all the time in the US, but by and large people are more likely to return something that they find, especially in situations where the owner can easily be identified, rather than to keep it.

A friend of mine from Mexico recently told me that she was surprised to learn of something called the “lost and found” when she came to the United States. It was shocking to her to learn that when people lose items of value at a rec center and other public places, other people will often turn those things in so that they can be returned to their rightful owners.

Despite the steady decline in honesty among our politicians, business leaders, and the general public, it still feels like the majority of Americans are honest, as evidenced by stories in the news like one that I read recently about two women finding almost $18,000 in cash and making the effort to get it back to the rightful owner.

A Large Credit Risk Industry

Perhaps one of the major indicators of a society hedging against dishonesty is the size of the credit risk industry. Companies like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion make most of their income helping companies determine how much integrity can be expected of potential borrowers of money and other capital. Equifax has almost $3.5 in annual revenue. Experian takes in almost $5 billion each year. TransUnion’s yearly revenue is about $2 billion. The majority of the income from these companies, which represent the most prominent in the credit risk industry, comes from various products that protect lenders against loaning out money to people who will default or renege on their commitments.

A boost in general commitments to honesty would likely lead to a reduction in the need by banks and other creditors to evaluate to such an extent the risk potential of people who apply for credit.

Economies Are Founded Upon Trust

When I talk to my kids about the implications of dishonesty, I often show them a dollar bill and ask them why it is that stores and others from who something can be purchased are willing to accept a dollar bill and other forms of payment in exchange for something they give of value.

Ultimately it comes down to trust. Our economy, our financial transactions, our ability to buy and sell using any kind of currency is based upon the integrity of those who are associated with the markets that comprise our entire financial and social system.

If our cumulative level of integrity continues to decline as it gradually has since the founding of the United States of America by a group of people who had impeccable integrity, more waste, more fraud, more overhead will continue to be introduced into our system, and it will affect the entire population significantly.

For my part, I will continue to work to be more honest in my dealings, regardless of the financial cost to me personally. And I will teach my children have integrity.

I hope you’ll do the same.

The post Why Honesty and Integrity Are Critical for Prosperity appeared first on The Handbook for Happiness, and Success, and Prosperity Prosperopedia.

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#Prosperity #Wealth #Riches

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ohsoethical · 7 years ago

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The Shy Activist- Beware of the Plastics

The world is in love with plastics for many reasons. Not the Mean Girls plastics, everyone hates them.

But the water bottles, shavers, cutlery, toothbrushes etc. It’s lightweight, flexible, durable and versatile. It’s advanced medicine, transport, electronics – and food packaging. It’s great right!

But did you know that the demand for these disposable items mean that plastic is produced at 350m tonnes per years and it’s continuously increasing.

The trouble with this is that plastic never breaks down and every piece of plastic ever made is still living somewhere on our planet. Some of these plastics can be recycled and continue living on earth as a new product. Margarine and ice cream tubs, yogurt pots, fruit punnets and ready meal trays, drink, shampoo and detergent bottles could be reincarnated if you like.

However, there are many different types of plastic and the sorting process is very labor intensive.

“Only 14 per cent of plastic packaging is recycled, with the remainder, worth £60-90 billion worldwide lost as waste.”

There are plastics that can’t be recycled including plastic wrap, cling film, bubble wrap (I know it hurts, I'm sorry), plastic bags, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, polystyrene, soft plastic/metallic packaging, plastic bottle caps TO NAME BUT A FEW.

Simon Ellin the Chief of the Recycling Association singled out Pringles, Lucozade, supermarket black plastic meat trays and cleaning spray bottles to be themes difficult/impossible to recycle.

So one major problem is that we keep producing tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of plastic and were just leaving it around the world. But there are other negative impacts.

Look at this little guy. He shouldn’t be eating plastic. He should be eating plants and insects! But the poor thing and 100,000 other marine creatures like him are eating plastic and 10% of marine life have died from being entangled in plastic bags that we are manufacturing and not taking responsibility for. It’s said that by 2050 there could be more plastic in the sea that fish!

It also pollutes the air, land and water as well as exposing worker to toxic chemicals when it’s being manufactured and incinerated. “Serious accidents have included explosions, chemical fires, chemical spills, and clouds of toxic vapor. These kinds of occurrences have caused deaths, injuries, evacuations and major property damage.”

Plastics used in cooking and food storage is also affecting our health. Chemicals that are typically hormone-mimicking and endocrine disrupters are evidenced to be coming from plastics.

There is a link between these chemicals and health problems “chromosomal and reproductive system abnormalities, impaired brain and neurological functions, cancer, cardiovascular system damage, adult-onset diabetes, early puberty, obesity and resistance to chemotherapy. Exposure to BPA at a young age can cause genetic damage, and BPA has been linked to recurrent miscarriage in women. The health risks of plastic are significantly amplified in children, whose immune and organ systems are developing and are more vulnerable. The evidence of health risks from certain plastics is increasingly appearing in established, peer-reviewed scientific journals.”

We can tackle plastic pollution and we should as soon as possible. In fact there is a prize of £1.5million prize for environmentally friendly packaging design, backed by the conservation charity the Ellen MacArthur Foundation - New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize.

Chris Grantham from the London branch of the global design consultancy Ideo said, designers would need to produce items that could be used again and again as pressure on materials increases from a growing population. Mr Grantham’s ideas about how to tackle the issue include; if products are bought online products do not need branding and complex designs; supermarkets can fit a mini projector to project branding onto blank containers.

Here’s a short list of ways to reduce plastic pollution with your own bare hands from the Natural Resources Defences Council:

1. Wean yourself off disposable plastics. Ninety percent of the plastic items in our daily lives are used once and then chucked: grocery bags, plastic wrap, disposable cutlery, straws, coffee-cup lids. Take note of how often you rely on these products and replace them with reusable versions. It only takes a few times of bringing your own bags to the store, silverware to the office, or travel mug to Starbucks before it becomes habit.

2. Stop buying water. Each year, close to 20 billion plastic bottles are tossed in the trash. Carry a reusable bottle in your bag, and you’ll never be caught having to resort to a Poland Spring or Evian again. If you’re nervous about the quality of your local tap water, look for a model with a built-in filter.

3. Boycott microbeads. Those little plastic scrubbers found in so many beauty products—facial scrubs, toothpaste, body washes—might look harmless, but their tiny size allows them to slip through water-treatment plants. Unfortunately, they also look just like food to some marine animals. Opt for products with natural exfoliants, like oatmeal or salt, instead.

4. Cook more. Not only is it healthier, but making your own meals doesn’t involve takeout containers or doggy bags. For those times when you do order in or eat out, tell the establishment you don’t need any plastic cutlery or, for some serious extra credit, bring your own food-storage containers to restaurants for leftovers.

5. Purchase items secondhand. New toys and electronic gadgets, especially, come with all kinds of plastic packaging—from those frustrating hard-to-crack shells to twisty ties. Search the shelves of thrift stores, neighborhood garage sales, or online postings for items that are just as good when previously used. You’ll save yourself a few bucks, too.

6. Recycle (duh). It seems obvious, but we’re not doing a great job of it. For example, less than 14 percent of plastic packaging is recycled. Confused about what can and can’t go in the bin? Check out the number on the bottom of the container. Most beverage and liquid cleaner bottles will be #1 (PET), which is commonly accepted by most curbside recycling companies. Containers marked #2 (HDPE; typically slightly heavier-duty bottles for milk, juice, and laundry detergent) and #5 (PP; plastic cutlery, yogurt and margarine tubs, ketchup bottles) are also recyclable in some areas. For the specifics on your area, check out Earth911.org’s recycling directory.

7. Support a bag tax or ban. Urge your elected officials to follow the lead of those in San Francisco, Chicago, and close to 150 other cities and counties by introducing or supporting legislation that would make plastic-bag use less desirable.

8. Buy in bulk. Single-serving yogurts, travel-size toiletries, tiny packages of nuts—consider the product-to-packaging ratio of items you tend to buy often and select the bigger container instead of buying several smaller ones over time.

9. Bring your own garment bag to the dry cleaner. Invest in a zippered fabric bag and request that your cleaned items be returned in it instead of sheathed in plastic. (And while you’re at it, make sure you’re frequenting a dry cleaner that skips the perc, a toxic chemical found in some cleaning solvents.)

10. Put pressure on manufacturers. Though we can make a difference through our own habits, corporations obviously have a much bigger footprint. If you believe a company could be smarter about its packaging, make your voice heard. Write a letter, send a tweet, or hit them where it really hurts: Give your money to a more sustainable competitor.

So you know what to do. Go do it. Please.

FAIR FAVOURITES

Mean It fashion- it was hard to stop choosing things I like from here. What a great selection!

“Our mission is to source ethical fashion around the world and offer well-designed, desirable and luxurious pieces in one marketplace. Clothing and accessories designed and produced in a sustainable way, using environment-friendly materials. Vegan pieces. Fair trade and upcycled items. All made by teams that have control over the production process, making sure there is no wrongdoing in any sense. Brands we are very proud to sell.”

Maya Day Dreamer Maxi Dress

Kelly Cotton Chambray Shirt Dress

Queenie Dress

Verushka Denin Skirt

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/16/toxic-timebomb-why-we-must-fight-back-against-the-worlds-plague-of-plastic

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39953209

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4519380/Prince-Charles-Dame-Ellen-MacArthur-tackle-plastics.html

https://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/store/the_plastic_problem#.WSAkiXeZPqQ

http://www.plasticsindustry.com/plastics-environment.asp

http://www.therecyclingassociation.com/latest-news/ceo-simon-ellin-picks-out-worst-packaging-offenders-for-recyclability-for-the-bbc

https://www.nrdc.org

#plastic #pollution #environment #recycling #fashion #ethical #hide #getinspired #inspiration #shy #shy activist

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nightmare-afton-cosplay · 7 years ago

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Watch Out, Dollar Stores: These Under-$10 Home Bargains May Change Your Life

amazon.com

In a day and age when scarily ubiquitous online behemoth Amazon is causing brick-and-mortar retailers to cave left and right, lowly dollar stores—such as Dollar Tree or Five Below—seem to be doing just fine. After all, who doesn’t love a bargain?

But alas, Amazon is trying to annihilate those relatively little guys, too, with its new $10 & Under department—a collection of deals broken down into an array of categories, including home decor. It’s even offering free shipping for all, not just customers of its Prime service. Experts admit this is a smart move, particularly since a recent Morgan Stanley report suggested that Prime membership growth has slowed, rarely luring those in lower-income brackets.

But are the goods for offer on Amazon’s $10 & Under department truly bargains worth buying? Only you can be the judge of that by perusing this sampling of home items for sale on the site below.

1. Gingham pillowcase

A gingham pillowcase suits many decor styles.

amazon.com

Fashion trends often influence home trends, as evidenced by the resurgence of gingham as one of last year’s hottest prints. This pillowcase ($6.99, amazon.com) seems tasteful enough for a number of decor styles from farmhouse chic (we’d wager Joanna Gaines would dig it, maybe) to a more traditional home.

2. Gold oval tray

You can never have too many trays around your house.

amazon.com

Trays are an organizing pro’s secret weapon, which is why you can’t really have too many in your home. This gold-colored version ($8.69, amazon.com) is the perfect size for the side of your bed or the top of your dresser to hold jewelry, cosmetics, or any little doodad you don’t want to lose track of.

3. Photo mobile

Displaying your favorite photos is as simple as clipping them to this photo mobile.

amazon.com

A gallery wall is great for displaying your favorite photos and art, but if you’re looking for a less permanent (and less time-consuming) solution, grab a photo mobile ($7.48, amazon.com). This one is affordable and allows you to display your favorite snaps in no time. The hardest part will be deciding which memorabilia make the cut.

4. Set of 4 place mats

Looking for an inexpensive way to spruce up your dining table? Try some new place mats.

amazon.com

Place mats are another good home item to have on hand in abundance—and a fun way to spark up your mealtimes. These striped vinyl ones ($8.99, amazon.com) won’t come close to breaking the bank, at less than $3 a place mat. Plus, they’re heat-resistant and washable—perfect for kids or spill-prone guests.

5. Storage basket

Stay organized with storage baskets in a fresh print.

amazon.com

Stash a trio of these storage baskets ($8.99, amazon.com) on a shelf, or leave one on the ground. Either way, they’re great for corralling toys, papers, or art supplies. Think of it as your new junk drawer in a snappy print that actually looks good in your home.

6. Glass coasters

This set of glass coasters looks way more expensive than it actually is.

amazon.com

Scoring a deal is great, but scoring a deal that looks way more expensive than it actually is will make you feel like a shopping wizard. Add a bit of vintage-glam into your living room decor with these glass coasters ($8.99, amazon.com) which come in a set of four.

7. Sheer curtains

Let just the right amount of mood lighting in with these sheer curtains.

amazon.com

If you’re looking for sheer curtains ($4, amazon.com) to let in just the right amount of light while maintaining some privacy, these are the ones for you. The price includes a set of two curtains!

8. Hanging basket planter

Keep this hanging planter on your patio or front porch to liven up your space.

amazon.com

No home is complete without a potted plant or 12 (as evidenced by the recent #plantgang trend that’s exploded on social media). Green thumbs will love this outdoor hanging planter ($6.68, amazon.com), which is ideal for flowers, succulents, and trailing vines.

9. Linen towel

A multipurpose towel (especially one this chic) is necessary to have on hand.

amazon.com

This linen towel ($9.98, amazon.com) is bigger than a dish towel but not quite big enough to be a beach towel. But that makes it perfect for the gym, yoga, travel, or to wrap up wet hair after a shower. It’s quick-drying and machine-washable and comes in a variety of colors.

10. Lightbulb glass vase

The flat bottom of this lightbulb vase allows it to stand upright.

amazon.com

We challenge you to find a more quirky, industrial plant vase that’s priced as well as this one ($2.99, amazon.com). At a price this good, it makes sense if you want to buy one for yourself and one for a friend.

The post Watch Out, Dollar Stores: These Under-$10 Home Bargains May Change Your Life appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/amazon-10-and-under-dollar-store/

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nyalapeno · 8 years ago

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10 Days of Bungou Stray Dogs

Day 2: Character you relate to the most

There's no character who made me go: "woah, this person is so like me" from the get go, but the farther I got into the series the more obvious it became... gdi, it was not on purpose I swear and I don’t wanna sound like a narcissist since he's my fav character... but we're really alike in a lot of ways, major and minor...

Chuuya Nakahara ♥ Item 12 is the most important to me~~ but there’s a bunch of things once I got to writing it down!

1) He's 160cm tall. (my exact height to a centimeter~)

2) He weights 60kg. (again, my exact weight... our body types are different tho, Chuuya's all lean muscle and I'm... not, ahaha)

3) Redhead. (not natural like Chuuya, but still. Ever since high school I've been dying my hair an orange-red color, since I like it and it fits me. It’s kinda a Chuuyaish shade too, being more orange than red~)

4) Prefers stylish outfits in dark colors. (my entire wardrobe... and shoes. Especially shoes. Well, except the neon green t-shirts I wear at work...)

5) Sometimes gullible when interacting with important people.

(totally! I don't have a Dazai so this happens mostly with my parents. Especially Dad, whose poker face could rival Odasaku's)

6) Has a temper. (yep, that's me too. I mostly have a handle on it at work and around strangers, but with people I love... nope. Firecracker. Mom's the same way, shit must be genetic...)

7) Loyal and caring towards people he's close to. (for me it's just my parents and two friends, but yes. Very much so. When asked to describe me, people always mention loyalty, whatever else they may say)

8) Skewed morality when loyalty is invoked. (yes, I mean the Q thing. I'm the same way... my parents mean more to me than anyone else, if I had to choose between their lives and the lives of 100 strangers I'd pick my parents every time. Not without any regrets - loss of life, shitty choices - but never regretting the choice itself. I scare myself sometimes tbh...)

9) Going along with important people's stupid/ embarassing shit whether it's necessary or not.

(yep! Because why not? Especially if it means making them laugh so hard they cried~~♥)

10) When upset but in polite company, will grumble to himself on the side.

(me x1000, it turns into monologues sometimes)

11) Likes wine but is a lightweight. (yep, I like wine but after like two glasses I get bubbly/ giggly and then sleepy... wonder how it affects Chuuya? It'd be fun if we were the same~~)

♥12) Somehow still has an innocent/ light side despite his circumstances. (this is pretty much my entire life philosophy. There's enough dark shit and cynicism in the world, I don't wanna drown in it or become it. I always look for the light and try to be the light and take joy in small things. When I find a character who lives/ shares this philosophy on any level I just~~♥)

13) He's quick to act, but can analyze situations well enough given time. (This. Once, Dad tried to teach me to play chess; I never once thought ahead and used my "instinct" the whole time. Tried to learn Go, did the same thing. I actually won sometimes! But I can be analytical and thing stuff through, as evidenced by my skill with Miner~ I just... usually don't feel like it lol)

14) (RL/fanon) Knows French. (j'ai commencé à apprendre au collège; mon anglais est beaucoup mieux mais je ne suis pas terrible non plus ^_^)

15) and just for fun - Zodiac-wise, we're both Earth signs whose animal totems have horns :D (Taurus & Capricorn)

I think that’s it! Maybe I’ll think of/ discover something else later but this is already plenty~

(also, now that I think about it, I’m basically a Soukoku lovechild~~ in addition to everything above: I have Dazai’s eye color, my natural hair color from before I dyed it Chuuya red is the same as Dazai’s, I clown around like Dazai does (no suicide tangents tho, for me the tangent is anime), I have the same lack of work ethic, I get those melancholic/ depressive moods at times, and I even have a coat that’s just like Dazai’s. Cool! Just insert me in the series and they’ll have a daughter~~ oops, no, wait, I’m older than them! Tch, failed...)

#10 days of bungou stray dogs #chuuya nakahara #bsd #bungou stray dogs #wow there's more stuff than i thought #haha soulmate~#soukoku lovechild #the shit i come up with #it's true tho

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flipfundingstuff · 4 years ago

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Zoom Taboos to Avoid on Your Video Calls

Americans across the country are staying inside to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and many are turning to video as a way to connect with friends and family, learn new skills, and attend work meetings.

In particular, the video communications service Zoom has grown exponentially during the pandemic—seeing a Q1 revenue increase of 169%—as thousands of companies and organizations hold video calls for various participants.

If you are new to the world of video calls, there is some basic Zoom etiquette that you should know. Follow the 8 tips below if you’re planning to attend an upcoming Zoom meeting.

1. Invest in a ‘Zoom Shirt’

At the start of the pandemic, toilet paper wasn’t the only item people stockpiled. Many retailers reported an increase in dress shirt sales—but not pants.

Walmart’s executive vice president of corporate affairs Dan Bartlett said, “we’re seeing increased sales in tops, but not bottoms.” He goes on to note that people are obviously concerned about their appearance “…from the waist up.”

Employees jumping on virtual calls know they need to look professional, but they also realize that a virtual office gives them much more freedom than a physical one. This freedom can have its downsides—as evidenced by the woman who went viral for using the bathroom mid-call.

If you wear casual clothes (or no clothes) throughout the day but need to look professional for a call, invest in a dedicated Zoom shirt. This shirt should be a clean, ironed button-down that you wear exclusively for your Zoom calls. Put it on prior to the call, and you’ll be ready for any board meeting or job interview.

2. Take Advantage of the Video Preview Feature

When you log into Zoom, it will show you a video preview of what you’ll look like on camera. Use this preview to your advantage.

Adjust your camera so your unmade bed isn’t in the background, check your teeth for any food stuck from lunch, and remove anything inappropriate from the camera’s view. This step will prevent you from scrambling once the video goes live.

3. Look for a Zoom Spot With Good Lighting

Unless you’re telling virtual campfire stories, nobody wants to chat with someone they can’t see. Before jumping on a Zoom call, make sure you’re sitting in a well-lit area. If you’re going to have frequent video calls, consider moving your office near a window or finding a convenient place in your home with good lighting.

Test out your lighting beforehand and look for a spot that highlights your face so that other people are comfortable talking to you.

4. Turn On Mute Unless You’re Talking

When you log into a Zoom call, your microphone will automatically be muted. For good etiquette, you can unmute to say hello to everyone on the call, but you should keep it muted through the duration of the video. In fact, only unmute your microphone if you’re speaking.

Your phone or laptop camera might be more sensitive than you realize. It will pick up background noise that can overpower the main presenter’s voice and make you the sole focus. No one logged into the Zoom call to listen to you eat chips or hear your dog bark in the background.

Even if you’re in a quiet area, muting your microphone can prevent any unexpected disturbances, like sirens from an ambulance going by outside.

5. Use Your Camera as Often as You Can

You may have the option to avoid turning your camera on for the call, but you should still consider logging in via video. People still like talking to other humans and enjoy seeing their faces. If you are attending a webinar or training, the presenter will feel more comfortable looking at your face.

Almost everyone feels self-conscious about how they look on a video call. Bad lighting and weird angles can make anyone feel insecure. However, you can help whomever you talk to by using video and interacting with the host person-to-person.

6. Be Present on Your Call

It is so easy to get distracted when you are on a Zoom call. Not only are you tempted by social media and the rest of the internet, but you also have your pets, your home, and everything else around you.

Try to be mindful of the presenter and give them your full attention. Eliminate distractions—even if it means turning off your phone and using a social media blocker during that time.

7. Use Hand Raising and Questions in the Chat Box

Zoom calls can get frustrating when people blurt out questions, interrupt, and talk over each other. Take advantage of the “Raise Hand” option to let the presenter know you want to speak. You may also want to discuss signals with your other participants to signal directly in the video when you want to speak.

You can also put your question or comment in the chat box for them to address. If the presenter wants you to elaborate, they will ask you to unmute yourself and then will give you time to talk.

8. Create Breaks Between Meetings

A tip for Zoom hosts out there: take breaks between your meetings and calls. If you’re leading multiple trainings or have back-to-back meetings with employees, build at least a 10-minute break between each section. This window allows attendees to stand, stretch, and take a break while also giving you time to recharge—helping to prevent Zoom fatigue.

Zoom can be a great tool to connect with friends, family, and colleagues. However, it helps to be mindful of the other people logging in. Consider how you present yourself and follow these tips for a successful video call.

The post Zoom Taboos to Avoid on Your Video Calls appeared first on Lendio.

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