#of course every library is different and it depends on funding and the community

[librarianbabs]

Also!! A lot of libraries provide access to services/apps like hoopla and libby that have a lot of ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies, and shows!! All free with your library card! Hoopla has a toooon of comics and graphic novels and is where I do a lot of my reading!

And a lot of public libraries have items to check out that people don’t typically associate with libraries, like podcasting equipment, hot spots, gardening tools, board games, etc!!

And offer classes (both in person and virtual) about so many things!! Like resume building and ESL and coding!!

Libraries are awesome!!

[heatherholes]

i get that the lack of individuality is the appeal of bimbofication for many. but what i like to see, personally, is all the wonderful different types of girls learning their place. their unique personalities kept but warped. the most obvi example is the nerdy weeb girl who loves hentai and ahegao and slutty cosplay, the desk pet gamer girls. unlike some less interesting misogynists, i don’t think they’re faking their interests for male attention. they just don’t know how to express themselves any other way and that’s super hot!

i wanna see it everywhere. the horror fanatic watching shlocky b-movie rape scenes like they’re porn. the girl who loves cars getting bent over the hood. the ren faire attendant dressed as a tavern wench. the tabletop gamers and larpers doing mediaeval fantasy, getting treated medievally. the skater chick who laughs loudest when a girl face-plants, the metalhead demanding you name five albums. the goth who draws a pentagram on the floor and kneels naked, thinks of her punishment for eve eating the apple and whispers ‘hail satan.’

barstool type girls are a favourite of mine. you know, they watch football, eat wings, are all too happy to go to strip clubs and participate in the locker room talk. who proudly proclaim that they’re not like other girls, they’re one of the guys because they put on a sports jersey, while still looking every bit the bleach blonde fucktoy. still pretending she doesn’t know how to shoot pool so he can show her.

and the gym bunnies with an intense discipline and determination; are strong physically and mentally. what motivates their commitment to self improvement? looking good for men, of course! she’ll work herself to the bone keeping toned for you and won’t whine for help hauling the groceries. let her tell herself it’s because you respect her strength if it makes your life easier.

similar are the boss babes, hyper productive and entrepreneurial. proud to have her own money, apartment, car, small business. she’s a big believer in splitting the bill on dates. why? she heard men don’t like gold diggers. she doesn’t want him to think she’s putting out cause she gets something out it. she’s not doing it for anything but him. whether or not she expands her “online brand” as a pornfluencer into onlyfans will depend entirely on him. he okays it, but only for a split of the money? wow, now she’s the provider. how empowering!

that’s to say nothing of the actual girl bosses. the salaried power player at a fortune 500 company. what does she do there? discourage employees under her from going to HR, cut funding for the women in business initiative and giggle at sexist jokes to show she’s a team player, mostly. she has the economic freedom to do anything, a career she fought tooth and nail for, a spot in the c-suite someday. she’s a winner, not a trophy. she’ll give it all away once a man further up the ladder knocks her up.

well, what about the marxist punk yelling no gods, no masters? no way she’s gonna submit to a man. no, but she’s gonna suck dick for the communal spirit and promote collective ownership of her holes.

the shy girl into art and literature? her love of culture gives her unique insight into the history of male supremacy. everywhere she sees herself through the eyes of men. not just any men, creative geniuses. in the museum she looks at the ancient vases that use the same iconography to depict marriage as rape. from the nude statue of a goddess to the painting of a peasant girl — both are objects, never the subject. in the library she reads the taming of the shrew and thinks, who am i to argue with shakespeare? quietly, she lets her dreams of being an artist die and resigns herself to the life of the muse.

tldr: cater to the male gaze and serve patriarchy but most importantly be yourself

[lexa-lives-in-us]

Saving Tips for Hard Times

I found this old document where I collected a series of tips to save money. This is all part of my experience of when I was near homeless, and some work depending on where you live, some don’t. Here we go.

BILLS:

1. The optimum temperature for refrigerator operation is 5°C, and -18°C for freezer operation. As a rule of thumb, for each additional degree of refrigeration output about six percent more electricity is used.

2. Unplug your appliances. Lamps, microwave, tv, computers etc. They don't need to be plugged until you use them, and it saves energy to keep them unplugged. Therefore, money.

3. Do homework for phone companies and internet plans. Call them! Often they are toll free and if you mentioned that you were already with them or thinking of going with them and then found out another company had a better deal, they could offer you deals for lower prices. I had to do it all the time for my phone, until they couldn't really offer anything better.

4. BIKE. Invest in a used bike if you can, especially for the warmer months. It offsets the transit costs and better your health.

5. WALK. That's the same as the bike, honestly.

6. Pay your bills on time, you will avoid late fees which can up to HUNDREDS of dollars wasted over the course of a year. If you can, set up automatic payments so you don’t forget.

FRIDGE:

1. Every time the refrigerator door is opened, cold air escapes and warm ambient air enters. To compensate for the temperature increase in its interior, the refrigerator must then use energy to bring the temperature back down. Always avoid opening the door unnecessarily and for too long.

2. When defrosting frozen food place it in the refrigerator. Not only does this ensure that the food is carefully defrosted, its presence cools down the refrigerator interior, reducing the amount of work that the compressor has to do, and therefore lowering energy consumption.

3. Never put warm food in the refrigerator as this will heat up the interior, as well as other stored foods. Hot food should always be allowed to cool to room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator

MONEY:

1. Keep all the containers like glass bottles, juice bottles, jars, cans etc. Look for your Return-It depot and have trips to return them. They give back coins for laundry, small expenses etc

2. Use that junk mail. Go through it, find coupons for food, for essentials like toilet paper or shampoo.

3. CHECK. THAT. DOLLARSTORE. They often have things like pasta, ketchup, toilet paper, batteries etc for literally 1 dollar.  Pasta is pasta, toilet paper is toilet paper. Seriously. Don't need to spend 5$ on a shampoo bottle when you can have it for 1/5 of the price.

4. Do homework and check with different banks for which one offers a better plan. Some of them are willing to help out. Sit down with their advisors, find the best solution!

5. Use the envelope system! For example, one envelope with a label “food” the other with “entertainment” the other with “bills”. Then set the right amount of cash for each. That’s what you’re allowed to spend each month. If you realize you need more for food, grab it from the entertainment envelope. Adapt and arrange as needed.

6. If you can, set up an automatic saving (example 50$ every paycheck) for both regular saving AND an emergency fund.

7. Use the 24-Hour Rule. Avoid purchasing expensive or unnecessary items on impulse with a self-imposed 24-hour rule. For any non-essential item, wait 24 hours before purchasing. It’s perfect for online shopping where your items can simply be added to your cart to purchase later.

8. Make a grocery list BEFORE going to the grocery store and STICK to it. You’re going to avoid buying things you don’t really need.

9. DO. NOT. SHOP. WHILE. YOU. ARE. HUNGRY. Or you’ll end up buying food that you actually don’t need just because you feel snacky!

10. Only use ATMs from your bank, or you get charged small fees.

11. Set a “No Spend Day” per week, where you consciously DO NOT spend any money for that day.

12. Ditch the paper: Cutting out paper towels and using cloths and napkins that you can simply wash and reuse is a simple way to save.

13. After you wear clothes, hang them outside your wardrobe, on a door or something. You can air them out a bit, then stick them in the closet without washing. You can basically reuse the same clothes two or three times without having to wash them, sometimes they just need a bit of air and they won’t smell AT ALL.

14. If you don’t own or want to spend money on an iron, hang whatever blouse you need to iron in the bathroom while you shower. The steam will humidify the fabric and straighten it up.

15. Hang stuff to dry. Really don’t need to spend money on the dryer.

16. Sign up to the library. They have so many books and DVDs nowadays. You can also just go, sit at the library and stay warm for a while, so that you don’t have to sit at home and either suffer the cold or use money on your own heat.

17. Budget, budget, budget. Get a lil notebook, write down the monthly expenses, cut what you don’t need. It gets easier with time.

 FOOD:

1.       Make a meal plan. Write 10-14 days worth of dishes that you can do (lunch, dinner, everything you need). You can then toss them around as you go on with your week, but that way you have a pretty clear idea of what you use and the food you go through for how long. It also reduces the risks of getting take out since you already have plans for what to eat.

2.       Cook double! Seriously. Make that dinner and double it up. Leftovers can be frozen or put in the fridge for the day after.

3.       Meal prep. Once a week, prep a bunch of different recipes. Let them cool down, stick them in the freezer. At that point you’ll already have all these meals at the ready to just thaw/microwave or oven up.

4.       You don’t need pop. You don’t need alcohol. You most likely don’t need milk, but go for it if you wanna. Just remember dairy products go bad WAY more quickly than non dairies, so consider getting food and drinks with no dairy in them. Mainly, though. Water. Just drink water. Lots of it too! Sometimes our brain can’t tell the difference between hunger and thirst. You think you’re snacky? Drink some water instead! It’ll quell your hunger.

5.       Freeze fruit! If you think you’re not gonna be able to eat fruit in time, put it in a Tupperware or a ziplock and slap it in the freezer. You’ll be able to then use it for smoothies.

6.       Use the Italian saying “Colazione da re, pranzo da nobili, cena da poveri.” Which quite literally means “Breakfast as a king, lunch as a noble, dinner as a poor.” Breakfast should be very filling, carbs, protein, vitamins. It carries you for the whole day. Lunch should be quite filling too! But supper doesn’t really need a lot of it, and if you REALLY have to skip a meal, skip supper. Your body doesn’t need that much sustenance while sleeping.

7.       This is for the desperate times but I’ve done it, and I would do it again if I ever had to. Go to markets that have like… Fruits and veggies. Talk to them. Ask them “HEY, can I have the fruit/veggie that you have to throw away?” Ask them if you can have the ugly produce, the one that doesn’t look pretty enough to be put out. Or ask them to have whatever extra they have to dump because is past the expiry date. EXPIRY DATE IS USUALLY MUCH LONGER THAN WHAT THE LABEL SAYS. I wouldn’t risk it with dairy stuff or with things that are VERY expired, but one or two days? Totally fine, I promise. And if you have to? Dumpster Dive. Especially at markets with fruit and veggies that have to be sold on the same day (because it’s not considered “fresh” past that day.) Or behind pizza places like Dominos or Panago or whatever chain. They get pizza orders wrong all the time. Just give a peak behind these buildings and look inside their boxes. You have no idea how many times I found perfectly fine pizzas. For free! IF YOU DUMPSTER DIVE, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GLOVES, A MASK AND PLASTIC BAGS TO PUT YOUR STUFF IN. ONCE AT HOME, DISCARD GLOVES AND WASH PRODUCE THROUGHLY. Also check tumblr for your divers community, they usually know the best spots.

 CLOTHES:

1.       Thrift shop! So many GOOD used clothes are out there! Honestly! My whole wardrobe is thrifted and everything looks brand new. It takes a bit of research and maybe that shirt you liked is not in your size, but you can find EVERYTHING, from socks to bras, at a thrift store. Don’t thrift underwear though. You want to go new with those.

2.       Invest in some needle and thread, then open youtube. There are SO MANY tutorials that teach you how to mend holes in socks and underwear. And really, no one will really notice if a mend is perfectly done or not. After a week, you’ll forget it too! But that prevents you from throwing away clothes that could just be mended a little.

3.       Something doesn’t fit you? Too small, too big? YouTube, homie. They have tutorials on how to fix these kinda things! All you need, again, is needle and thread.

4.       Organize clothes swaps with friends and/or neighbors. Everyone brings clothes they don’t need, put them in a pile. Go through the pile and grab whatever there is. There’s no money exchange, one could go home with 1 item and one could go home with 50 items. Who cares? The extra stuff… DONATE IT TO A SHELTER.

Feel free to add more, and stay safe!

[trilliontrees]

Trillion Trees Initiative for climate protection environmental biodiversity and species protection worldwide

The Greening Deserts Trillion Trees Initiative and Greening Camps can reduce negative climate changes, deforestation, droughts, desertification, land degradation, floods and global warming on a large scale - especially in human-made deserts, drylands, savanna and wastelands. Inviting nations, organisations, personalities and institutions since years and many have shown interest. You are also welcome to join the projects and greening initiative. Let's make the world green again, together! Let's plant billions or even a trillion trees to improve the climate and to reduce global warming significantely, especially with urban greening camps in urban areas. It is maybe the cheapest and most effective solution to cool down planet Earth, clean up the air and waters. Greening Deserts founder developed good solutions and projects to regreen drylands and wastelands with different kinds of resistant and typical plants. The greening and research camps will be green spots to cultivate all the plants and trees are needed, for example ground cover, flower trees, wild grasses, wild flowers and medicinal plants. Together with soil improving plants top soil layers will be created in just a few years - the basis for the following tree plantations and mixed forests. Seeds and seed balls can be dropped by seeding balloons and seeding drones.  

Greening Deserts economical, educational, cultural, social, scientific and sustainable projects have really big potential to reduce desertification and global warming, to improve healthy environments, sustainable agriculture (EcoFarming) and ecological forestry (EcoForestry). It are also projects for innovative Cleantech and Greentech developments. Here are some of the main projects: like Agrophotovoltaik, Desert Bamboo Africa, Greening Coasts, Greening Drones, Greenhouse Ship, Green Ring Africa, Great Green Wall North Africa, Seeding Balloon and Transparent Solar Greenhouses. All these projects were founded and initiated by Oliver Gediminas Caplikas during the last years. Strong future partners and investors for the ongoing project developments are always welcome! Invest in true values like education, ecological or real sustainable products and services together with our upcoming education, greening and research camps. Your investment in Greening Deserts projects will really change the world and we will create a better history or future. Global Cooling with Global Greening is not just possible, it is very realistic and the most effective solution – especially in relation to the costs, energy and time. Another important points are environmental education, climate adaption, mitigation, resilience and sustainability. All these points and developments will be realised at the forestation, greening and research camps.

Building a basic camp with a little team needs approx three to nine months, depends on the conditions and region. Greening and forestation of each concerned region starts from the very beginning, so like planting trees for the first parks. Bigger camps can get an Energy Storage Park with a solar park, water park and or wind park. Smaller camps will have of course solar energy and water supply, too. There are many developments and other projects connected, most of them will be realised with the camps. It is also interesting for urban areas, city forests and gardens - especially community and rooftop gardens. Many ambassadors, ministers, trade commissioners, scientists and experts were invited to join Greening Deserts campaigns, initiatives and projects during the years. We exchanged a lot about the sustainable developments, technics and techniques could be developed at the new Greening Camps. You can read more about on the official and social pages.

Many scientists confirming Greening Deserts concepts and projects, for example to plant a trillion trees to reduce human-made climate change effects and global warming worldwide. With financial support the projects like the Greening and Research Camps could finally start with forestation and greening, especially of drylands or wastelands in Africa and Europe. The Greening Camp project development is running since 2018, after successful funding in 2019 or 2020 the project can start fast as possible and build the first pilot camps.

More important information about Greening Deserts special projects like the new Critically Endangered Species (CES-RPP) research and protection program.

It's about Greening Camps, innovative developments, research, global goals and effective solutions. Greening Deserts projects like the greening and research camps will be platforms for Cleantech, climate protection, nature conservation, culture, education, environmental and species protection, Greentech and science. All camps can have a library, lounge and media room. Perfect to exchange with education, book and media branch, to experiment with creative designs, green building and sustainable architecture. Bigger camps can get an Energy Storage Park and even could be expanded to a kind of campus or science park.

We have not much time to establish hundreds of camps, greenhouses and new special areas, on land and at sea, for the most endangered species and keystone species of this world. It is similar as with other cascade effects like the permafrost and wetlands problem. If more keystone species like the bees extinct, even relative unknown or small ones, it will accelerate the mass extinction and reach 'tipping points' in relation to the critical biodiversity loss is ongoing. The only way is to focus on this most important issue of the world and put it on the first place of all agendas, concentrate on the most endangered known species and find the forgotten and unknown keystone species with best of search algorithms, networks and intelligent systems like AI, Deep Learning, cloud and crowdworking, archive management and intelligent library systems - powered by best of computing environments, so like special supercomputers. It has really more priority as using so much computing resources for astrological calculations, brain simulations or other mega applications which doing all the same or nearly simliar kind of tasks or work. Not to mention all the energy wasting computers, servers and smartphones in idle mode or used for time wasting tasks like certain films, series or war games.

It is important for us all to prevent the mass extinction in the next years, to restore and improve biodiversity in so many areas, also in urban areas. We all need to care more the species who are endangered or treatended the most! It makes no sense if there are so many conservation and species protection initiatives or programs for a single species like elephants, pandas,.. in background much more important species dying out. The species protection community and organisations like IUCN Red List of Threatened Species should overwork their agenda and priorities in this relation. Humanity must protect more the keystone species, particularly on which many other life forms depend on! For example if the most important species bees extinct, humans will extinct some years later. Another point is to support the climate adaption of animals and plants on the long term, help the species to survive by providing extra wildlife habitats like more biotopes, game reserves, meadows, parks and diverse forests for more biodiversity.

Every day counts to protect the most endangered species with all means and to bring this aspect, this task and the topic to the top on all relevant agendas - on all possible channels, daily and internationally. Of course, corresponding protected areas with the highest concentrations of life forms in all possible regions and climate zones also have priority. The 'overprotected' species and programs, resources, energies, .. in this context.. they should also concentrate more on these aspects, because to protect so much elephants, polar bears, giraffes, pandas, etc. who are relative save and every day important key species dying out ! It is a similar problem as with the neglected tipping points and the wrong prioritization of politics and economy - see United Nations Climate Change Conference. Only if the problems mentioned are resolved promptly the cascade effects can be reduced and possibly over decades of massive efforts stopped, and new disasters in this regard prevented. Then there may be a real chance to prevent extinction, also of humanity. Every action and every person counts in this regard, whether large or small, known or unknown. We maybe have approx two years to solve these problems and ten years to plant a trillion trees worldwide.

Bees have been declared as the most important species on planet earth. However, according to wildlife experts and scientists, the bees have joined the endangered species long list. Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and other pesticides must be reduced, so like the air pollution. Let's plant more wild flowers and flower trees, especially for the bees, birds and other animals who need trees to survive. We need more biotopes, real natural and wild habitats or wildlife reserves with wild meadows, mixed forests and protected areas like game reserves, landscape conservation, nature conservation and water conservation areas. Greening Deserts projects goals are mainly to restore natural landscapes like mixed forests, grasslands and wetlands - to bring back biodiversity, clean air, topsoils and water. Reduce and stop deforestation in near future, replace wood with other sustainable materials like hemp and rice straw.

Further information and news:

The Greening Camp plants like desert bamboo and hemp will improve the soils, underground water and waters in general. Drylands and wastelands can be turned into fertile lands easily with Greening Deserts technics and technologies were developed during the last three years. It improves the soils in just a few years, after this other soil improving plants, environmental friendly crops and trees can be planted. There will be many side products of the forestation or greening processes, it can be delivered to hemp product producers like the paper branch and packaging industry. All would win at the end - the poor people or regions, the degraded lands or soils, the forestry, paper and wood industry - even big wood paper consumers like the book, newspaper and packaging industry. Hemp and rice straw paper books could reform the book and paper branch in many ways. If you want to know more about, don't hesitate to contact. We are experts in these fields and markets since 2003. The worldwide cleaning and greening process can accelerate the global peace building process siginificantly.

And again! You and colleagues are welcome to join the Greening Deserts campaigns and initiatives like the official Trillion Trees Initiative to reduce negative climate changes, deforestation, droughts, desertification, land degradation, floods and global warming on a large scale - especially in human-made deserts, drylands and wastelands. The initiative was founded in 2018.

The founder launched another great initivative to reduce plastic waste in worldwide waters and it will open a complete new sustainable market. It's called Plastic Fishery, more news will come on the plastic fisher network and platform.

Awareness programmes, communications letters and statements were initiated and shared with thousands of worldwide governments, institutions and organisations in summer, autumn and winter 2019. Diverse collaborations, cooperations, partnerships and sponsorships are possible. Feel free to contact by the official channels and pages on Greening Deserts and Trillion Trees Network.

Climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection is also species protection. Please do not ignore and forward if you can, it affects us all. Childrens Rights are Human Rights. Clean air, soils, waters and healthy environments are Human Rights, too. We need more environmental awareness and sustainability, sustainable living and sustainable working, in all fields or areas. We need to create a world of understanding, acceptance, respect, tolerance, compassion and consciousness.

Do more for green places in your city, try to establish more community gardens, city parks, city forests, urban farming areas, fascade and rooftop gardens. Show that you can live and work really sustainable by saving energy, water and other natural resources. Reduce waste and pollution, especially plastic waste. Use alternative packaging and ecological products like bamboo or similar products. - Oliver Gediminas Caplikas

Visit the official pages:

http://trilliontrees.eu

http://trilliontrees.in

http://trilliontrees.us

http://trilliontrees.net

http://trilliontrees.info

http://trilliontrees.africa

http://www.trilliontreesinitiative.com

http://www.trilliontreesinitiative.org

http://afforestation.org

http://forestation.net

[lucidfm]

april showers bring may flowers ! with april slowly ending and may just around the corner, spring sunshine and the soft breeze it brings is brightening up every inch of somnilia. daffodils are blooming, and mother nature has brought with her produce aplenty ! somnilia's spring festival will run from april 29th to may 6th, but festival preparations will be starting today, april 27th.

all of the money in this festival goes straight towards supporting somnilia's businesses. from fresh fruit like apricots to fresh vegetables like beets, in the center of somnilia park, residents can either buy fresh produce grown right here on the island. along with that, residents can also find a seat in the dining areas to eat from a menu that somnilia's restaurants have curated with recipes utiilising all of the fresh fruits and vegetables grown in the season to give everyone a luxurious five-star experience.

and if the promise of delicious food isn't enough for you, the festival will also have a variety of other things to captivate your attention ! have a need for a thrill ? go over to the ride information tent and check out our festival rides ! you can buy a wristband and have unlimited rides for the day. and with options including a ferris wheel, bumper cars, carousel, mechanical bull, wipe out course, spinning teacups, pirate ship, and a drop tower, there's no doubt that you'll be buzzing with adrenaline !

or maybe you've got your eye set on a good competition ? go over to the festival game areas where you can try your luck and your skills ! there are more than twenty festival games to visit and with options like ring toss, balloon darts, mini golf, rubber ducky fishing, mini bowling, and basketball hoops, everyone's a winner, but it's up to you if you'll win the big prize.

want to have a platform where you can perform your heart out ? well look no further than our open mic ! local talents are encouraged to sign up for the open mic list and show what they can do. from originals to covers, all is welcomed. all performers are asked to not go over ten minutes in a single sign up request but are more than welcome to perform more than once !

want to get involved but don't know where to start ? stop by town council, and we'd be more than happy to help you ! residents who would like to be in charge of a festival booth, please send in your formal request by april 28th with: the name and purpose of your booth along with all of the names of those who will be involved in your booth.

full rides listing: ferris wheel, bumper cars, carousel, mechanical bull, wipe out course, spinning teacups, pirate ship, drop tower, high striker, haunted house, tilt-a-whirl, log flume, laser tag, rock walls, zip lines, escape room, speedway, wave slinger ! 

full games listing: ring toss, balloon darts, mini golf, rubber ducky fishing, mini bowling, basketball hoops, spill the milk, tip the cat, football toss, shooting gallery, speed pitch, caterpillar slide, bean bag, coin toss, blitz, treasure chest, bouncy boxing !

fresh produce: apricots, arugula, asparagus, beets, blueberries, broccoli, butter lettuce, cabbage, carrots, corn, fava beans, grapefruits, kale, lemons, limes, mushrooms, oranges, pineapple, radishes, scallions, strawberries 

full menu:

appetizers: seared steak lettuce cups, baha shrimp taco salad, thai steak and noodle salad, grilled shrimp and smoky grilled corn grits, carrot pancakes with salted yogurt

main courses: orange chicken and kale stir fry, fresh pasta with favas, tomatoes and sausage, grilled steak salad with beets and scallions, grilled beef and broccoli, grilled steak and radishes with black pepper butter, creamy pasta with crispy mushrooms

desserts: berried treasure angel food cake, apricot tarts, pineapple coconut cupcakes, blueberry pie bars, strawberry shortcake funnel cake

drinks: cowboy lemonade ( alcoholic ), grapefruit mimosa ( alcoholic ), moscow mule ( alcoholic ), lemonade, pink lemonade, soft drinks, pineapple juice, water

booths: 

blind book date: don't judge a book by its cover ! at blind book date, there's a way to make sure you don't. a fundraising booth for vita library, residents will be able to pick up a cover-wrapped book to immerse themselves in. hosting the booth is veronica sawyer.

puppy lovin':  kissing booth where someone can pay a dollar for a kiss on the cheek and a puppy and the money made goes to the shelter. hosting the booth is leia organa with help  from hope mikaelson, mj watson, sarah cameron, caroline forbes and obi wan.

baked by lily!: supported by lily’s bakery with cupcakes, cakes and cookies. all freshly baked and at a range of different prices depending on the size and what a person buys. hosting the booth is lily evans with sirius black assisting.

astrology flowers: to buy flowers with the knowledge of their meanings to give to other people but also comes with an astrology reading as well, the proceeds go to kids in need. hosted by aeris gainsborough with the help of cloud strife and ahsoka tano.

game of wits: mediocre games booth! where you play a game of cards against him or finn and if you win then you win the glory of beating poe dameron at cards and a token for a free cupcake from lily's stall. hosted by poe dameron with assistance by finn.

grow it: have a green thumb ? filled with different kinds of plants like cactuses, ferns, flowers in pots, seeds to grow your own vegetables, the booth is in support of and hosted by ginny weasley.

hot dog!: a barbecue booth that is also hosting an eating contest ! come for a fun little competition to see just how much you can eat. 100% of all proceeds will also go back to the community. hosted by jughead jones and betty cooper.

talk shit, get hit: somnilia's very own tony stark will be talking shit and running his dunk tank with his assistant bucky barnes ! residents can try and dunk the somnilia ceo with bucky ready to help for those who miss ! all proceeds will go those in need. 

ring toss: hosted by padme amidala, she will be running a ring toss booth ! people will be tossing a ring and if you can aim well and hit one of the bowling pins, you'l get a prize ! all prizes will be funded by padme amidala herself.

[deafaq]

Hi! I’ve done asl to some extent or another my whole life, but I find info on grammar really inconsistent, like I’ve seen characters in shows sign along with what they’re mouthing (essentially same grammar as English just without some words) but other sites say you must do it in a certain order and every source seems to be different (doesn’t help that I live in Australia so resources are kinda online or nothing) What’s the general consensus re grammar in the asl community?

Hello,

ASL has 100% consistent grammar. Majority of TV shows with Deaf characters on screen don’t actually use proper ASL - its often simcomming (aka using both sign and speaking at the same time, ASL grammar suffers) or PSE (pidgin signed english - english grammar + ASL signs) or some variations thereof. I am not sure what exactly you are watching, but unless its some sort of Deaf production, the ASL you see on screen is not accurate and good learning tool.

I don’t speak ASL myself (not american), so I can’t school you on ASL grammar, I am afraid. If you find online sources to be lacking, I recommend reading books about ASL. You can buy them on Amazon, which I think does ship to Australia, or if you are lacking in funds, reach out to your local library. Of course, it does depend on where exactly in Australia you live, but I have found books about ASL even in small European countries, so I think Australia should carry them. If not, ask your local library to acquire them for you.

Although, if you do live in Australia, I strongly recommend learning Auslan instead of ASL, since its the local sign language. 

Link - http://www.auslan.org.au/

A good book about Auslan grammar is Australian Sign Language by Johnston and Schembri. 

Mod T

[websurfergeorge]

Web Surfer George! Who...?

Another web community?  What's the difference?  A Spirit of Giving...

Hello, and thank you so much for your valuable time. Imagine, if you will, a world class online community that makes millions and millions of dollars… and then gives money away to its members and the real world community. What a powerful and interesting thought. Please, keep reading…

My name is Ronald Slaton. I am a freelance photographer in Tampa Bay, Florida. Having well over 25 years of shooting experience, teaching photography within the Hillsborough County Library System, and being a published short story author, my entire life has been shaped and driven by communicating with people. Which led me to a wonderful idea...

Web Surfer George

There are two very different and very important things about Web Surfer George. First of all, it is an "all included" online community. Not only is it open to singers and musicians, dancers and choreographers, actors and directors, and models and photographers, it also welcomes moms, dads, teachers and students, realtors, buyers and sellers and everyone in between. 

The second and most beneficial feature is that Web Surfer George is built on a foundation of giving. The average successful internet community or social network gives little more than a virtual form lettered Thank You to its members. Here is where George breaks the mold. We are designed and geared towards rewarding you for your help:

Paid Referrals - The site is in Invitation Only mode, and will remain there always. Each member has an Invitation Link and when someone joins through that link, the referring member earns a commission. Currently, it is 5% for Platinum members when a referred member pays to upgrade. Also, the commissions go as much as “five levels” deep, with additional levels of earnings as succeeding members join underneath.

What the catch? Nothing. The members join and enjoy themselves. We want active members and nothing more. And we will not, and never will, harvest and sell members’ e-mail addresses, collect and sell personal information and demographics or “claim the right” to images and other member content. That is not our Business Model.

============================================================

Enjoy an Instant Return on your efforts

Web Surfer George has a very real and useful structure. From the moment you join, fill in your information, upload content and start using it for what it is design for: showcasing you and your wonderful life.

Some of the cool things you can do as a Web Surfer George member:

Post Photos

Listen to (and upload your own) music

Watch (and upload your own) videos

Instant Message

Write your Blog

Create voting Polls

Post to public and private Forums

Create public and private Groups

Buy and sell through the online Classifieds

Earn site points for site actions

Use up to 5 Gb of Personal File Storage (future feature)

============================================================

Subscription based...?

Like all businesses, capital is all important. A web site is no different. Bills have to be paid, services secured and problems corrected. Of course, there are also management and labor costs. I can not run this on a large scale alone, and a starting workforce has to be compensated for their time, expertise and commitment. I can not expect them to take time away from other pursuits and their families, then merely offer them a warm Thank You. In short, this site can not be a dining room table "Get to it when we get to it” business. I need an Office Manager to handle the business, an executive assistant to carry out any and all tasks, a network administrator for the web site, techs for routine and emergency maintenance, updates/upgrades and fixes, a person for member services and correspondence and, of course, an accountant and an insurance agent as well as a lawyer/firm to sort out legal matters. And of course, we have our eye on an official home:

There is an update and upgrade plan, as well as a major update planned for 2019/2020.

We need to advertise and get the word out. While “word of mouth” is free and best, we do need some traditional advertising in place; print ads, posters, Google, TV, etc.

A general list is as follows:

Management & Labor Costs

Business residence leasing, utilities and insurance

Hosting, Maintenance, Updating and Upgrading

Advertisement

Legal Services

Accountant and Financial Services

Depending on your level of funding, you get membership on the site, month to month or One Year, with a referral plan of up to 5%. If enough of your friends join and upgrade, you could make back more than your investment, showing a profit to you!

$99 – Platinum membership and a 5% upgraded referral rate

===========================================================

Our strategy going forward

Okay, we have built an awesome web community, secured funding, tuned the site and relaunched an all-new and super powerful site! So, how do we go from asking for money to actually making money? In a nut shell, word of mouth and advertising will create a buzz which will drive up curiosity and spark visits. Who wouldn't want to join a site that has no ads and actually pays you to get your friends to join?

Will the site become popular and well traveled? Ask yourself; "What would my friends say if I told them I belonged to a full featured online community that has no ads, doesn't harvest your information or media, has all the great features you love and pays for referrals…?" Easy guess: Where do I sign up???  Your answer: I will send you my referral link!

============================================================

Building a bridge to the Real World

As a heavy user of online services, entertainment and research, at the end of the day, I want my time to have meant or produced something valuable. At times, after long hours on the computer, I come away feeling like I totally wasted my time. I have used systems that give points, credits and level-ups. However, nothing actually transferred over to the Real World into something I could actually use. So, I decided to design Web Surfer George to not just be a great site to be on, but also make all that surfing and clicking add up to something… real.

============================================================

Still scratching your head?

So, you don’t really like the idea of paying for a social network site. Believe me, I totally understand that not everyone will “get it.” But the truth is that one way or another we all pay, either financially or by having our personal information and media taken and sold. George has free membership, so you can show huge support by simply joining the site and helping to increase the membership numbers.

And for all the wonderful people you know, tell them to surf on over and sign up on Web Surfer George. You will still have a personal referral link that you can e-mail, post and generally share to make money.

As stated above, the site is set to "invite only," to control the spammers, drifters and cruisers. So, the only way onto George is through the members' referral links. In short, every new member will generate cash and points for an existing member!

============================================================

It all sounds pretty cool, but what about the Network Effect...?

Okay, good point, The Network Effect states that people tend to go where their friends are. So, right now, your friends are not members of Web Surfer George, and that is a wonderful benefit for you. Why, you may ask. Well, if you are the first of your family and friends to join, then they all will join through you. Suddenly, having hundreds of friends and followers means something new...

============================================================

In conclusion...

I want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to read about my web site and our mission. I hope and pray that you can and will assist in moving this venture into the mainstream, even if only by joining and using the services.

Be blessed in all that you do!

Ronald Slaton - Owner/Operator

Referral Link: Web Surfer George

[arthurkzcx751]

Why You Needs to Select Imply Load Innovation For Your Following Task?

LAMP is one more phrase for the modern technologies in the pile, specifically Linux, Apache, MySQL, and also Python/PHP/Perl. AngularJS makes use of information binding and also the software program design method of dependency injection to reduce the quantity of HTML code required to carry out the command. Because HTML is limited in generating and building web applications, AngularJS is the HTML that would certainly have been developed for the functions mentioned above. The training course is split into five parts, each part concentrating on a various goal.

MEAN is cost-free, open-source software program that creates durable internet applications and internet development. Their team of professionals jotted down every need of mine as well as transformed them right into a high executing internet application within no time at all. Communication was really easy, and knowledge of job was exceptional.

A MEAN Stack advancement business will guarantee you achieve the MVP in the shortest possible time.

The advantages and disadvantages of MERN pile vs INDICATE pile are entirely related to the difference between React as well as Angular.

If you make use of a preferred modern technology stack in your application growth job, you will likely realize a number of benefits like the simplicity of growth, outstanding efficiency, and so on

It's less typically made use of than the previous 2 due to the reduced popularity of the VueJS itself.

Many thanks to this, Django soothes you from making lots of choices and also makes it feasible to produce news, blogs, or eCommerce shops with its wealth of default devices.

Thus, MEAN stack is a full JavaScript structure that establishes useful for both the client as well as the server-side. The MEAN pile is a collection of one of the most prominent modern devices for web advancement; it makes up MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, and also Node.js. Broadband is among the most essential factors that any app individual should inspect.

Wage Framework For A Complete Pile Developer.

This game has actually been developed out of a passion to transform a renowned parlor game into a mobile video game, that can be played by people exactly like the regular parlor game. The game has obtained enormous appeal because of the movement it supplies to the end individuals, they can play this game anytime and anywhere with real-time players present at any type of geographical location. This game adheres to the standard rules and supplies the traditional parlor game user interface, which every person knows with.

AngularJS is effectively made use of in MEAN stack in regard to the advancement of the application's user-facing side. The smooth information motion on the entire components of the application is recognized due to the fact that the backend, database, and frontend are all built on the JavaScript. The well-tuned performance and also easy-to-use design template make AngularJS one of the most suggestion front-end structure.

The structure assists you produce a smarter web application that supports personalization. As formerly stated, the request forms in a specific & structured means. In this way, this guided operations makes a distinction in getting a safe and quicker app growth. These advantages of safety and security & speeder conveyance incorporated with even more notable efficiency are something lucrative. With Git and also Node.js plan manager, the MEAN Stack application advancement ends up being smoother as it comes to be very easy to share as well as deploy utilizing them.

Why Suggest Stack?

With a built-in internet server, Node.JS makes it much easier for you to deploy the MongoDB data source to the cloud. It is extremely scalable and can sustain million synchronised connections. It is compatible with low-resource demands as contrasted to a resource-intensive source.

What are full stack developer skills?

Full Stack Developer skills required are Front-end technology, Development Languages, Database, Basic design ability, Server, Working with API and version control systems. A Java full stack developer can build whole Java applications including front end, back-end, database, APIs, server and version control.

Since it has actually been among the prime advancement stacks for years, one would naturally want to support LAMP as opposed to a rookie such as MEAN pile. And Node.js is excellent for creating cloud-based applications because of its scaling abilities. Finally, as I have actually currently gone over above MEAN stack Advancement eats much less time. Which inevitably implies that you require to invest fewer funds for your Application's development.

Gain from end-to-end MEAN stack application growth, no matter your company particular niche or scale. If you are intending to construct a site for your business, you will greatly profit by going with Internet Advancement with MEAN Stack. Probytes is a reputed internet site growth company with adequate experience and proficiency in building internet sites for all type of businesses and systems. All the four components of the MEAN Stack are open resource and also are extremely scalable. These parts also feature reusable components as well as additional libraries, which quicken the internet site advancement process. The best feature of this asynchronous language is that it permits 2-way interaction between web server and also the client.

The mix of all these 4 modern technologies has actually been a blessing for the web developers as they can easily provide even the complex jobs. With its wide series of tutorials, a supportive neighborhood, as well as a clean as well as rapid advancement experience, Django is perfect for newbie Python programmers. If you want something various from what this stack can supply, look into smaller sized packages such as Flask and also Pyramid, each with its very own level of flexibility and also ideal use situations. As any type of modern technology stack, MEAN/MERN/MEVN incorporates the weak sides of all 4 of its aspects. Most of them are minor technological limitations, which appear under specific circumstances.

[pbacklinks]

How To Monetize Your Website and Make A Profit from Flipping Domains

New Post has been published on https://pingbacklinks.com/how-to-monetize-your-website-and-make-a-profit-from-flipping-domains/

How To Monetize Your Website and Make A Profit from Flipping Domains

Many people nowadays are making money online by building websites and selling them on platforms like Empire Flippers and Flippa. This article will explain how you can monetize a website in order to gain a steady source of income or even sell that website to make a sizeable profit in a short time.

  What does it mean when people talk about monetizing a site?

When bloggers, YouTube content creators or other individuals online speak about monetizing a site, they are referring to ways in which they can use their website to make money. Almost any type of content on the Web can be monetized, if you own it. Some investors also buy domain names and sell them. This process is known as domain flipping and it can be quite profitable.

  If you have a blog on WordPress, Blogger, Wix or another popular platform, you can make changes to it that allow you to earn money from every page view. Similarly, if you own a website, you can earn when visitors to that site take specific actions, such as signing up for a course, purchasing a product or requesting information on a free program.

  How can you monetize your website for free?

Whether you have a website that’s focused on cars, perfume or raising chickens, you can monetize it today. If you already have traffic coming in to your site, there are several ways to leverage that traffic in order to earn money. Some website owners aim to earn just enough to cover the expenses of domain hosting and content creation but others want to pay their mortgage, fund family vacations and add to their IRA through the work that they do on their website.

  It’s entirely possible to earn $1,000 or more from your website each month. Some of the most popular ways of monetizing a site are:

Affiliate marketing

Selling your own products

Teaching a course

Display ads

Direct sponsorship

  How To Collect Payments On Your Blog

Monetization options are usually free and most allow you to get paid by the provider of the program, so you don’t have to handle credit cards yourself. For example, if you’re a ClickBank affiliate, your revenue will be transferred to your account from ClickBank. However, if you sell homemade jam on your home cooking website, you’ll need to ensure that your site is set up to facilitate direct payments from your customers.

  One of the easiest ways to collect payment for woodcrafts, handmade toys and other items that you might sell, is via Shopify or Woocommerce. You can also use PayPal Checkout to collect payments. Just log in to your PayPal account and under your Dashboard, click Quick Links and then Accept Payments.

  Follow the steps and you’ll be able to accept credit cards and other payment options. This can be done with Blogger, TypePad and most other blogging platforms. When you monetize your blog by selling your own physical or digital products, you’ll keep 100% of the profits.

  Support Your Cause With Donations

Some bloggers use their blog to raise awareness about a cause that’s important to them and others. For example, their blog may focus on HIV awareness or supporting people who have overcome serious injuries. You can add a Donate Now button to your blog, via PayPal, to complement other monetization strategies that you use to raise funds.

  How do beginner bloggers make money?

Most beginner bloggers make money from display ads. For example, they may sign up for a program such as Google AdSense. AdSense creates ad blocks of different sizes. These ad blocks display content that matches the topic of your webpage.

  For example, if your website is focused on tango techniques, the ads that are displayed will be related to tango lessons, tango costumes and so on. The correct ads will only be displayed if the keyword density and other relevant factors are correctly addressed

  For example, if you’re targeting ads on “tango dance techniques”, your content can’t keep mentioning “fly to Los Angeles”. If the keyword density of the latter keyword is too high, you may see ads for airlines appearing on your tango website.

  Bloggers can also sell ad space directly to businesses in their community or seek sponsorship from organizations that are connected to the theme of their blog. For example, if your blog is about a local sports team, a sporting goods retailer nearby may want to purchase ad space on your site.

  How To Monetize Website for Beginners – Use Ad Networks

AdSense is a Google product and it’s an ad network that’s available to bloggers who use Google’s Blogger platform. Videographers who post content on YouTube can also monetize their videos by using AdSense.

  With AdSense, you can place different types of display ads on your site, such as banner ads. You’re free to experiment with the type of ads that you show on your site and if you find that banners aren’t effective for you, you can adjust the size, color and other aspects of the ads via your dashboard.

  Like other ad programs, AdSense is free. You don’t have to pay any monthly fees and your account is credited every time a person views your webpage or clicks on your ad. The payment for page views is minimal but it adds up if you’re getting thousands of views a week. You’ll usually earn more for ad clicks than page views, especially if the ad is in a competitive niche, such as “lawyer in New York” or “mesothelioma lawyer”.

  Word Ads is another popular option, that’s offered to bloggers who use the WordPress platform. As with AdSense, it’s ideal for beginners because it’s easy to set up. Like AdSense ads, the type of ads that are displayed depends on the type of content you have on the page. If you want to earn more money as a beginner, ensure that you create content that generates ads in competitive niches.

  How To Monetize Website for Beginners – Focus On The Right Keywords

It’s important to build your blog around profitable keywords. Tools are available to help you determine how much is being bid for an ad for a particular keyword. You can use Wordsstream or Keyword Spy to find out how much you could earn if a visitor clicks on an ad for a particular keyword. Ensure that you develop content on your webpage with these keywords in mind.

  How do you monetize yourself?

In order to monetize yourself, you’ll need to create a personal brand. For example, consider Rihanna or Kim Kardashian. Whether you choose to like or dislike these women, they’ve both worked hard to create personal brands and leverage those brands to make money.

  If you’re a teacher, think of how you can make your brand stand out. You can be known as the Geography teacher who makes other parts of the globe real to people of all ages. You would earn from your brand via speaking engagements that are hosted by tour companies, books that you write on travel or through semars you host which focus on applications of geography.

  If you cook very well, you could build your personal brand around food. You may even choose to focus on a particular technique, taking advantage of trends in the market. For example, if you notice that consumers are moving towards healthier food preparation techniques, you could market yourself as the Steaming Chef, Raw Organic Chef or something similar.

  You could teach courses on steaming different types of food and earn when peple pay to do those courses. The best thing about course creation is that once you’ve created an online course, you can keep earning by giving viewers the freedom to use the materials, for a fee.

  You might also create a library of courses. You could provide access to members who pay a one-time fee upfront or who pay a smaller fee each month. Subscription models bring in a steady stream of income for people in a wide range of sectors but you’ll need to build your personal brand and leverage that.

  How can I make my website profitable?

To make your website really profitable, you’ll need to:

Select a profitable niche

Use profitable monetization strategies

Produce quality content that engages your attention

Drive traffic by using SEO, email lists and social media marketing

Use A/B testing to increase conversions

  If you’ve built a website but it’s not making a lot of money for you, there are several things that you can adjust to improve your profits. Sometimes new bloggers target a keyword that could pay a lot per click. However, they don’t get any traffic or clicks because the keyword is too competitive.

  It’s important to check the level of competition that you have for a keyword before you start building your blog. Good keyword research is essential, whether you plan to sell products or create a membership site.

  Sometimes bloggers decide to sign up for an affiliate marketing program. This means that whenever a visitor to their site takes a particular action, such as making a purchase on the partner site, the blogger will get a commission.

  Unfortunately, some affiliate programs don’t pay well. You may need to switch to a program with better rewards, to increase your earnings. A lot of Amazon affiliates saw their earnings plummet when Amazon drastically lowered the percentage that they paid as a commission.

  Amazon did this overnight. Oftentimes, the best way to secure your site’s revenue is to create and sell your own product. This includes ebooks, online courses and even apps.

  Flip A Domain

Domain flipping is one of the easiest ways to make money but you’ll need to have money to invest. When you flip a domain, you’ll purchase a domain name that you think will be in demand. You can sell that name at a higher price and make a profit.

  This system works for several reasons. Google’s ranking system considers the keywords that are in the domain name, so for SEO purposes, certain domain names are in high demand. When you aim to flip a domain to make a profit, you’ll identify a good domain name and register it on a site like GoDaddy.

  Different sites can’t have the same name, so if a particular name gets a lot of traffic, a lot of people will want it. The competition for that name drives the price up. It’s like buying an empty store in the busiest spot in a city. For example, these combinations are likely to be profitable:

DropshippingGuide com

Freegrocerycoupons.com

Cheapautoparts.com

  Investors who buy domain names don’t add content to the site. They just buy the domain name and sell it at a profit. They don’t even need to worry about driving traffic to the name. This is what makes the process so easy.

  Several investors look for expired domains. When you flip a domain that’s expired, you can often get a good price for it. You can use sites such as DomainHunter.net and tools like Domain Hunter Gatherer to find expired domains.

  Flip A Website

Instead of just buying a domain name, some investors buy an entire website. This is more expensive than purchasing names but you can make a bigger profit. Empire Flippers often has websites for sale. These are in different niches, so you can often find one in an area that matches your expertise, passion or knowledge.

  You can purchase a site that you like and even make adjustments that might make it even more profitable. You can sell it back and earn thousands of dollars. You’ll also collect all the revenue that the site generates while you’re waiting for it to be sold.

  Of course, you can also sell a website that you’ve built from scratch. If you don’t want to only flip a domain and like the creative process, this will give you big returns. Some people like to build websites but the process of maintaining a website can feel restrictive. In that case, building, monetizing and then selling websites can help you to achieve your financial dreams.

[southeastasianists]

Singapore’s two main public universities have risen in global reputation, lifted by the state’s economic might. For most Singaporeans – as well as many of the region’s brightest students – getting a place to study at the National University of Singapore or Nanyang Technological University is a proud accomplishment. In several fields, our universities have become research powerhouses, worthy of mention alongside the traditional brand names of the West.

But the NUS and NTU suffer from stunted development. Even as they rise in global rankings, their contribution to the country’s intellectual life is relatively modest. Particularly in the humanities and the social sciences, they are largely absent precisely when their expertise is most needed – when complex and controversial issues call for the clarity, context and research-based insight that we academics claim to be able to provide. This retreat from the public sphere has been so complete and enduring that it is no longer noticed. It doesn’t occur to most Singaporeans that our universities could be playing a much broader social role.

I hasten to clarify that the public shouldn’t expect university departments to replicate thinktanks, which are meant to insert themselves directly into current policy debates. Given how compressed news cycles are getting, with controversies exploding and fizzling out within a week, it would be a mistake for academics to flit about, reacting to every matter that grabs people’s attention. That shouldn’t be the job of serious scholars.

But a strong university department or scholarly association should be visible in major public debates that are relevant to its field. At the very least, universities should be able to serve as honest brokers, convening discussions on challenging topics. After all, they are the only institutions in our society that give their employees the time and resources – largely taxpayer-funded – to think differently. They are not pressed to arrive at policy positions. They are not required to be popular or profitable. They can examine problems deeply, challenge conventional wisdom, clarify issues, offer insights that are counter-intuitive and keep contrarian viewpoints bubbling on the back burner for future reference. One might even say that they have a moral responsibility to do all this.

Singapore’s two public universities have very busy calendars, but their activities focus on non-Singaporean matters. While many other universities are seeking desperately to overcome their parochialism and climb university rankings by internationalising, ours have the opposite problem (rankings organisations don’t really measure a university’s local relevance – it probably hasn’t occurred to them that universities might fail to be local enough). Singapore has already emerged as one of the top centres of learning for anyone interested in Asia; it is academia’s contribution to Singapore’s own intellectual and cultural life that is lacking. Consider, for example, the government’s move to amend the Constitution to reserve presidential elections periodically for candidates from Singapore’s racial minority groups. There were individual academics interested enough to make submissions to 2016’s Constitutional Commission, but the activity fell far short of what would be considered normal elsewhere, perhaps for want of a critical mass of such scholars. In a different setting, universities would have been falling over themselves to convene public events to discuss such a major move before the parliamentary vote. Legal scholars and political scientists would explore constitutional implications and issues concerning political representation. Sociologists might want to showcase their research into ethnic identity and politics. For anthropologists, this could be an opportunity to share their research on the construction of race. In a normal developed country, local universities might run a series of public seminars on such subjects. Not in Singapore.

Some Singaporeans might feel that there is nothing wrong with universities staying focused on teaching enrolled, fee-paying students without the distractions of public outreach. But one can’t really compartmentalise a university’s mission this way. Universities have to fertilise the soil they depend on. Just as our national orchestras give free concerts at the Botanic Gardens to help cultivate an appreciation for music, research universities need to be out there showing the public that their intellectual work is worth supporting. Furthermore, schooling that’s confined to textbooks and classroom learning, by professors who show no interest in the real world passing by their window, wouldn’t amount to much of an education.

The lack of engagement in the local can compromise institutions’ ability to mount even basic Singapore-related courses. Our universities do have a Singapore studies requirement in their undergraduate curricula, but departments often struggle to mount relevant courses, sometimes relying on adjuncts or faculty borrowed from other departments. When I worked at NTU’s communication school, I taught a freshman course called Media in Singapore, introducing all communication majors to our media industries and their political, economic and cultural contexts. Since the school’s founding, this course – or earlier iterations of it – had been considered important enough to be listed as a compulsory module. But when I left, the school didn’t consider it a priority to find a replacement teacher. It simply dropped the course. After a year, the course was revived – but no longer as a core requirement; it became an elective.

The most disappointing case of going regional and global at the expense of the local must be political science at the NUS. I’ve followed public forums on local politics for decades. In recent years, one thing that has become practically guaranteed is that none of the speakers on Singapore politics will come from the NUS department of political science. To understand why, visit the department’s website and study the faculty profiles. At the time of writing, of 29 full-time faculty members, only one – a veteran now in his sixties – claims Singapore’s domestic politics as a research interest. In contrast, 22 colleagues – including all seven assistant professors – do not have “Singapore” anywhere on their research profiles or publication lists. Just five of the department’s scholars list at least one published work with “Singapore” in the title, and only two of these publications are more recent than 2013. You have to go back to Chan Heng Chee in the 1980s to find an NUS political science don who has made a seminal contribution to our understanding of Singapore politics. It’s a situation that would be unthinkable in virtually all developed countries.

Political science is an extreme but not unique case. If you scanned the research interests and backgrounds of faculty in NUS economics, for instance, you’d have a hard time guessing which country or even region the department belonged to. You might think it was based in Greater China, or perhaps in a US university with an Asia-Pacific focus. When I checked one commonly used database of scholarly articles, I was able to find 152 articles on Singapore categorised under “economics” published since 2015, but only one was by someone currently listed as a regular faculty member of the NUS economics department. The NUS accounted for about 30 other articles, but these came from elsewhere on campus, such as the public policy and business schools, and the real estate department.

NTU’s history department website suggests that perhaps three out of 22 faculty members could claim a focus on Singapore history. The history department at the NUS is more illustrious but is nevertheless short on local expertise. Consider the books that have been published on Singapore history: the National Library has compiled a useful bibliography. Of the 27 recommended titles covering Singapore’s history up to 1964, just one is (co-)authored by a current faculty member of the NUS history department.

There are two fairly obvious reasons for our universities’ C-minus performance in Singapore studies: the lack of academic freedom and the absence of a Singaporean core in many departments. Political restrictions date back to the first decade and a half of independence from Malaysia, in the 1960s and 1970s, when the government cracked down on activism in what were then the University of Singapore and Nanyang University. From the ashes, the new NUS and NTU rose like phoenixes – with a permanent phobia of the fires of politics.

In many fields, academics are also thwarted by a lack of access to government data. For this reason, one can hardly blame economists for choosing not to specialise in Singapore. Historians have a different problem. They know too much. Declassified British records in London offer a rich vein of evidence concerning Singapore’s pre-independence history – but mining this lode puts historians on a collision course with the government’s official narrative. Sadly, this has meant that young academic historians of Singapore are able to find work more easily outside the country.

It would be simplistic, however, to blame only the government. The universities’ problems are partly own goals scored by administrators obsessed by the research productivity game. This rewards those who churn out papers in so-called top-tier journals, ignoring the fact that these journals are published in, by and for the West. To illustrate how this bias works in practice, consider an American political scientist writing a 6,000-word article about voting patterns in Ohio. He can quickly get to the heart of his findings and theoretical contributions. In contrast, a scholar researching Singaporean elections would have to devote half her paper to justifying why Singapore is worth studying, and would need to explain the local context in painstaking detail for an audience of mystified journal editors – all before she’s finally able to discuss her actual study. The problem is compounded by the fact that the off-the-shelf theoretical frameworks currently in circulation were mostly developed in the US and Europe and might not fit Singapore. It’s therefore much harder for scholars working on Singapore to sail on the main theoretical currents in their fields.

This bias results from the uneven distribution of power in global academia. The US and its concerns lie at the core of most disciplines; the rest of the world is peripheral. It is a frustration familiar not only to scholars of Singapore, but also to academics in Australia, the UK, Hong Kong and elsewhere. In these other societies, however, universities put up stiffer resistance to the imposition of key performance indicators that would undermine their core mission to study their own locales. Top-tier journal publication is still prized – but not at the expense of neglecting impactful local research or teaching needs. Our universities could do the same, prioritising Singapore-focused research even if it is likely to generate lower citation scores. Bibliometrics are not ends in themselves, but merely crude proxy measures for research impact. Our university leaders and education policymakers are free to adopt different yardsticks. As things stand, the metrics don’t encourage research into our own milieu. Furthermore, it is an open secret that, in many departments, hiring and promotion decisions focus more on a candidate’s research numbers than on what he or she is able to teach – hence the problem of not having enough faculty to teach Singapore content well.

Responding to these market signals, many locals and almost all foreigners decide to focus on regional or international topics or on purely abstract theoretical work that is not grounded in any particular context. There are still scholars who, despite the disincentives, persist and study their first love – Singapore. But in many social science and humanities fields, they lack clout. The situation suits the foreign faculty who now dominate departments – and in many cases run them. Singapore is the only place in the world where foreigners can work at a top-ranked university without feeling any shame at knowing nothing about their host society; where, indeed, such ignorance is often more of an asset than a liability.

Singaporean economists Pang Eng Fong and Linda Lim have similarly commented on the lack of a strong local core in our universities ( “Singapore’s fling with global stars sidelines local talent” , News, 24 August). But one shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that foreign faculty as such are a problem. It’s simplistic to equate local origins with local commitment. Some foreigners have had a transformative impact on Singapore studies. The NUS archaeologist John Miksic is a prominent example. Others have been conscientious institution-builders for Singapore. I personally benefited from the mentorship of two such giants, Taiwan-born sociologist Eddie Kuo, the founding dean of NTU’s communication school, and historian Anthony Reid from New Zealand, founding director of the Asia Research Institute at the NUS. Philip Holden, a professor of English at the NUS, is another model foreign-born scholar. He became a respected authority on the Singapore literary scene. But after more than 20 years, he began facing problems maintaining his permanent resident status. When his application for citizenship was denied, he and his Singaporean wife decided to relocate to Canada. Hearing this sad news, a former student who had become an English teacher commented on his Facebook wall: “Without you, a generation of Singaporeans wouldn’t have known what SingLit was, and SingLit would be nowhere near what it is today.”

Whatever the mix of reasons for the lack of emphasis on Singapore-focused work, the overall pattern is striking. The government’s new Social Science Research Council is trying to come to the rescue with substantial funds earmarked for research relevant to Singapore, but the problem has never been money. Grants alone won’t counterbalance the factors weighing against independent research on Singaporean society, especially if, as with arts funding, the council denies money to projects that are seen as critical of the government.

The university has a role that goes beyond equipping and credentialing students for employment; beyond serving the needs of industry; and beyond developing its region’s pulling power as an educational and research hub – all great strengths of the NUS and NTU. It also has a civilising mission, to show how the pursuit of knowledge and reasoned deliberation are the best ways for a society to manage its contemporary and future challenges. This can be achieved only if a university is engaged with the society of which it is part. And this is where Singapore’s institutions of higher learning should do much more to live up to their stratospheric global rankings.

Cherian George, a Singaporean, is professor of media studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. This essay is an edited extract from his new book, Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World Nation’s Arrested Political Development (Singapore: Woodsville News, 2017).

[thedatasciencehyderabad]

Regression Srikanth was very skilled & informative with simple and reside examples. His lectures will inspire and positively be helpful in shaping the way forward for many young students. I underwent DIGITAL MARKETING Training in INNOMATICS RESEARCH LABS. The Training was given in Very Lucid manner. The coaching was instantly helpful to my Field of Work and Many helpful Tips immediately relevant for everyday work was Taught by the Faculty Apart from Regular Course Content Overall Coaching was very Professional and complete. We imagine that with the best program, One can develop young talents and lay a foundation for recruiting good younger minds to work for any organization. Investment Banking course at Innomatics is for aspiring funding bankers, individuals who are fascinated to earn nice figures and acquire information about firm valuations. I actually have joined to improve my expertise in the digital advertising area, I even have realized a lot about strategies in digital advertising. Now I am working as a digital advertising Intern at a reputed establishment. Data Science / Analytics creating myriad jobs in all of the domains across the globe. Business organizations realised the worth of analysing the historic information to be able to make knowledgeable decisions and enhance their enterprise. Digitalization in all of the walks of the enterprise is helping them to generate the info and enabling the evaluation of the information. This helps to create myriad information science/analytics job opportunities on this area. The void between the demand and provide for the Data Scientists is large and hence the salaries pertaining to Data Science are sky high and considered to be one of the best in the business. The student will then conceptualize Data Preparation, Data Cleansing, Exploratory Data Analysis, and Data Mining . Comprehend the speculation behind Feature Engineering, Feature Extraction, and Feature Selection. Participants may also be taught to carry out Data Mining with Linear Regression and Predictive Modeling with Multiple Linear Regression Techniques. You will be taught to verify if a continuous random variable is following normal distribution using a standard Q-Q plot. Learn the science behind the estimation of value for a population using sample information. The premier modules are devoted to a foundational perspective of Statistics, Mathematics, Business Intelligence, and Exploratory Data Analysis. The curve is steep and requires you to have a set of basic pc technical sets to start out your journey into the business. Python and R are simple to study and maintain and therefore, Godsend to developers in Data Science. Their extended libraries make it attainable to stretch the purposes of Python from Big Data Analytics to Machine Learning. Additionally, through the mentorship session, if the mentor feels that you simply require further assistance, you might be referred to a different mentor or trainer. Earn a certificates in information science from the most effective institute for Data Science in Hyderabad, 360DigiTMG. The course will allow you to distinguish yourself within the job market. Apply the ideas gleaned in this course and get recognized within the office. This information science course in hyderabad demonstrates your proficiency in complicated drawback solving with the most sophistical expertise in the market. The Data Science certificates is your passport to an accelerated career path. Master Data Science Course is an in-demand course to seize jobs in main MNC’s. Apart from jobs, free spirited individuals can earn handsome revenue from freelancing. Choose from programmes specially curated to go well with every skilled’s training wants. The average salary of a Data Scientist is Rs.10.3 lakhs every year in Hyderabad, India. Professionals specializing in superior analytics and predictive modelling can command greater salaries. Neural Network is a black box approach used for deep learning models. Learn the logic of coaching and weights calculations using varied parameters and their tuning.

Understand the activation operate and integration capabilities utilized in creating a neural community. Revise Bayes theorem to develop a classification approach for Machine learning. This coaching program is majorly given by high certified staff. I participated in the summer camp program 2018 held by Innomatics on python for information science. And now am lucky enough to work as a full-time python developer at a reputed software company. All thanks to your forty days of the workshop which brought a chance for me to earn at a very young age. This is a superb choice for tech geeks, students, working professionals and aspiring knowledge scientists who wish to upskill and construct a better foundation is the stream of Data Science. The abilities focused on in this program will assist put together you for the function of a Data Scientist. The curriculum of Data Science Training is designed to provide in-depth information of all modules from fundamental to advanced degree. We have corporate experts with over 10 years of expertise working on initiatives supervising information science training. An particular person can pursue a knowledge science course from a reputed institute after graduation. The institute must offer reside project exposure by way of an internship program and possess trade-specific course materials. As a part of this module you learn additional totally different regression techniques used for predicting discrete knowledge. These regression methods are used to research the numeric data generally known as count data. Based on the discrete chance distributions specifically Poisson, unfavorable binomial distribution the regression fashions attempt to match the information to these distributions. Alternatively, when excessive zeros exist in the dependent variable, zero-inflated fashions are most well-liked, you'll study the types of zero-inflated fashions used to suit excessive zeros information. You have learnt about predicting a steady dependent variable. Understand the language quirks to perform knowledge cleansing, extract options utilizing a bag of phrases and construct the important thing-worth pair matrix called DTM. Learn to understand the sentiment of consumers from their suggestions to take appropriate actions. Advanced ideas of textual content mining will also be discussed which help to interpret the context of the raw text information. Topic models utilizing LDA algorithm, emotion mining using lexicons are discussed as part of NLP module.

Navigate to Address: 360DigiTMG - Data Analytics, Data Science Course Training Hyderabad 2-56/2/19, 3rd floor,, Vijaya towers, near Meridian school,, Ayyappa Society Rd, Madhapur,, Hyderabad, Telangana 500081 099899 94319

[humansofhds]

Johnna Loreen, MTS ′18

“I’m glad that in recent years prison scholarship and activism is coming to the forefront so that people have to see it and listen. The more that we can empower people who are impacted to be part of that movement, the more likely people will have to reckon with these truths.”

Johnna works as an education navigator, advocating for and advising people who want to start or continue their education upon their release from incarceration.

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

My path to prison education began in a course on policing with Professors Aisha Beliso-De Jesús and Laurence Ralph. I found many issues I care about—policing, and race and class conflict—intersecting at this place called mass incarceration. I felt compelled to learn more, to get involved, and to see what I could do to be part of that work. A classmate recommended I look into the Petey Greene Program, which supports higher education in prisons in Boston and other cities along the East Coast.

I ended up working with the Petey Greene Program and at MCI Norfolk for over half of my graduate career. I did some independent studies with Professors Kaia Stern and Diane Moore and read a lot of Angela Davis, Michelle Alexander, Elizabeth Hinton, and other leading scholars on these subjects.

Two books that I read were Kaia Stern’s Voices from American Prisons and Richard Snyder’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Punishment. I was fascinated by why our prisons look the way they look, why they operate the way they operate, and how that is deeply rooted in the Christian theology that helped shape this country. I fell down the rabbit hole of the theology of the criminal “justice” system.

Incarceration’s Christian History

One would hope that Christian theology would follow a restorative, healing, loving approach to criminal justice because those are the feel-good parts of Christianity. But there are also some things that are not so pretty in Christian theology or ways that it has been co-opted that do harm to communities and individuals.

The Protestant ethic of individualism that sets apart Protestantism from its brother, Catholicism, defines our punishment system. For example, the fact that solitary confinement exists, and that throughout history people were often put into solitary confinement with nothing but a Bible, comes from an Anglican idea that solitude would bring one closer to God. The fact that prisons were built by Quakers, in concept and construction, as an alternative to the death penalty is another example of the religious roots of our prison system.

We idealize individualism as a society, which is very Capitalist and very Protestant. One's relationship with God is individual. It is the individual's business, and it is their responsibility to redeem themself.

This idea takes the onus off the community to be part of somebody's redemption, to take responsibility for the society we created and the people in it. It manifests in a punishment system that blames the individual and absolves the community of responsibility.

Erasing these connections is incredibly harmful because people are ripped out of the context of their family and relationships and expected to make something good out of that.

A View from the Inside

The implementation of education in prisons varies widely from prison to prison and state to state. In a lot of ways, my experience in Massachusetts is very night and day from my work in Washington now.

The prisons in Massachusetts are older. Everything is older and has more history on the East Coast, and that is reflected in the architecture of the prison and a lot of the attitudes around the prison. There is an antiquated mentality about what a prison is there for and how people who are incarcerated should be treated.

While volunteering at MCI Norfolk, I was escorted everywhere. It was very strict. There was a lot of distrust in all directions. It was a really stressful environment to work in. A lot of people I worked with there—some corrections officers, teachers, and of course, students—were phenomenal. But that certainly was not the whole experience. Additionally, college programming was brought in by universities or non-profits who worked outside the Department of Corrections (DOC). The partnerships were not always as cooperative as one would hope.

It was very different coming to Washington where there is a state infrastructure already in place for education in prisons. The State of Washington has mandated that certain educational programming be available to people who are incarcerated. The DOC partners with a local college—often a community or technical college in the area—so that every state prison has a partnership with a local education provider to provide basic GED and high school diploma studies, as well as some vocational programming.

Students often tell us that they wish we offered liberal arts education—a transferable associate's degree, for example, or a bachelor's degree. Having a contract with the state brings limitations though, and because of our state’s contract, we can't use state funding to offer either. Outside of basic education, we can only bring in vocational programs.

The reason comes down to the perception that education in prison should be for a certain purpose. A lot of leaders, a lot of people giving the money, believe that education should lead to better job outcome, job readiness, or a vocational skill that is marketable. Those things are valuable and should be present in what we offer. But I take issue with that being the only thing we focus on in education in prisons.

There can be so much value in an education for the sake of education. I think that offering liberal arts studies and expanded degree programs offers an opportunity for a transformative experience and more humanizing spaces. One can develop a stronger sense of agency just through the act of studying, through the act of education.

A Corrections Education Navigator

My job is like a college advisor, but it looks very different inside of a prison facility. I work with people who are releasing anywhere from a month to a year out and want to explore the possibility of beginning or continuing their education.

I help them talk through their professional and personal goals, and whether a college education, vocational program, or other direction makes sense for them. Then I support them through the process, such as FAFSA, college applications, and all the little hoops and inconveniences that one has to navigate.

I was a first-generation college student, so I remember some of what that was like—not knowing the right questions to ask, where to start, what resources even existed for students like me. People who are incarcerated face a whole different set of challenges in addition to that.

That is why I like the title “Navigator.” I don't have all the answers all the time, but I work together with my students to navigate the challenges and make sure that they have an advocate every step of the way. When they get to their release date, I want them to have an idea of what they want to do, where they want to go, and some solid next steps they can take.

I’ll admit I have mixed feelings about my work though. I would really love to say I do great stuff, it's all part of this great system, and we're making things better. But I am not convinced of that.

On a systemic level, I don't feel like I do that much, or certainly not enough. I still feel like I'm pushing people out into a system that is not really meant for their success and is not going to support them in their pursuit of success. That feeling sucks. Being a Navigator or even one of several Navigators trying to do good work with people does not necessarily mean that we’re transforming the system in a meaningful way.

On an individual level, I do some good work that I am proud of. I love being a partner in my students’ success. It feels really good when someone gets into college and I helped them do that. Or someone gets a financial aid package, and for the first time, realizes that college can be a reality for them. That's really empowering. I love being a part of that.

Where You Are Determines What You Get

There are a lot of barriers for students in prison. When you walk into the classroom, it may not seem terribly different. The differences come down to what students must overcome to get their education.

Students in prison do not have the kind of support that students on the outside do. They don't always have advisors or tutors. There isn’t always a quiet place to study. Because of the pandemic, they don't even have a library. And even when they do, they don't have access to JSTOR or Google, or all those resources that students on the outside take for granted and use constantly. Some students also face the logistical difficulties of taking classes while in solitary confinement.

Students in prison are constantly jumping through hoops. It takes a very determined, dedicated person to be successful in higher education in prisons. Even though we do our best to make it as accessible as possible, the barriers are many.

We are working to open up more possibilities for our students. For example, a special kind of laptop was secured for students last year to provide more research resources. I feel lucky that in Washington the right people have pushed and advocated for that because I have taught in facilities where there is no such thing, and there never will be.

This sort of thing is important everywhere, but because every state is so different, what you get depends on where you are incarcerated. It should not be that way.

Transformative Education Is Intentional

It is important for those doing this work to acknowledge that a lot of people who are impacted by our carceral system have not had good experiences in education or with educators. Educational institutions can be incredibly oppressive, stifling, and unwelcoming. Many people in our programs tell us that their experience with education has sucked. This is one reason why I take issue with the idea that education is inherently good.

Some educators come into prisons with expectations that they will just deliver the curriculum and it will be of value. But it’s naïve to think that education is inherently wonderful or will automatically transform the learner. Even if a student gets college credit or a degree, education must be done with intention as a collaboration between learners and educators to prove meaningful.

Many scholars have worked on the concept of transformative education. A few are Kaia Stern, Diane Moore, and, of course, there's Paulo Freire's famous Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Their work shows how important it is to understand that education is not inherently transformative. If that is what one wants education to be, one must be incredibly intentional to make it that way. If done intentionally, education can help empower people in prisons to exercise their own agency. It can give them more tools and support to vocalize their experience, their story, their needs.

In that way, education can be a wonderful tool of justice and liberation work. But it doesn't just happen that way. One doesn't learn how to add fractions, and then magically have this heightened consciousness. It must be incredibly intentional. I've used that word a million times, but I can't overstate it.

The Road to Prison Abolition

If we are dedicated to higher education in prisons as a transformative practice and a tool for liberation work, we have to think about this work in tandem with mass incarceration and the abolition movement of prisons.

Because education can be such a means of empowerment, education is very much in the conversation about mass incarceration. Education is not a fix all. It is not the solution. But it can be an impactful part of the solution by providing humanizing spaces inside of a dehumanizing institution.

The goal of any good nonprofit is to work itself out of existence. So, I think that education in prison must be a tool to help dismantle the prison, to help abolish the prison. That doesn’t mean to hell with everyone who is incarcerated now and who works in prisons though. It is a more encompassing approach than that.

Any approach to abolition is going to have many different facets of which education will be a single part. Angela Davis comes to mind here and her words about abolition being the creation of something rather than just the destruction something. As educators, that concept should always be in the front of our mind.

We cannot just deliver a curriculum. We need to figure out how to take our students with us on an educational journey and equip them with the tools they will need well beyond the classroom. Not just how to write a paper or add a fraction, but how to tell your story, how to make an argument, how to do research, how to have a debate.

When I go into my classroom and teach, I never depart from that mentality. I try my very best to work in partnership with my students to empower and embolden them to use their own voices and prop themselves and each other up. They are the ones with the lived experiences. They are the ones who are the most impacted. As educators, we should be their enablers.

The frank truth is that not everybody agrees with this. Not everybody is going into their classroom to do this. And I can't change that. Nobody can. But the more people get involved who do have that mentality and the capacity to teach, the more meaningful our impact will be, the closer we will become to the goal.

I understand that there is a lot of weight behind these words and that because my job is to work in prisons many of my coworkers would not receive my opinions well. But this is what I believe. Education must be a tool for the broader goal of abolition of prisons. I don't think it'll happen in my lifetime, but one day, if there are no prisons, then there will be no need for higher education in prisons.

Find the Key and Set Them Free

Prisons are built out of sight so we can keep the people being held there out of mind. I would venture to say that our lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key mentality demonstrates that we are not supposed to think about people who are in prison.

I am glad that in recent years prison scholarship and activism is coming to the forefront so that people have to see it and listen. The more that we can empower people who are impacted to be part of the movement, the more likely people will have to reckon with these truths.

For people seeking to join this effort, take the time to find the people and organizations that have been impacted by our carceral system that are already doing valuable work. It's important to follow their lead when getting involved and understand that this is work should be done in community and in partnership.

Get involved, but do so with intention and caution. I don’t say caution because the work is hazardous, but because the work involves a lot of systems and people with conflicting viewpoints. It is important to consider that before and during the work. We need to think critically about the experience of the people who are incarcerated, as well as the dynamics between them and people who work at the facility.

People do a disservice to themselves and their programs when they don't think about how those dynamics are going to affect their work because they absolutely do. Anyone who wants to do this work needs to have a conversation and really talk through the assumptions that they have going into it.

Why are you going into this work? What do you hope to accomplish? How are you going to integrate yourself into this field in a way that is not oppressive or harmful? The reality is that there are people who do this work and cause harm. Many education programs, re-entry programs, religious programs go into these facilities and cause harm.

So, think critically about your positionality; put it all on the table. And don’t stop doing that. Only then can your good intentions become a strategy and your strategy a road to meaningful change.

Edited by Natalie Campbell; photos courtesy of Johnna Loreen

[mmyproperdeets]

Property Tax 101

When purchasing a new property, whether it be your primary home, vacation home, or an investment, there are monthly costs to consider every time. The first thing that comes to mind is the home mortgage, which is more than likely going to be the biggest recurring expense on your property.  However, even if you are buying a property in cash, there are still some monthly expenses you need to consider. There is of course an HOA fee if your home is part of an association, property insurance which is crucial, and debatably one of the most necessary but cringe worthy expenses: property tax. 

While we know that these taxes are used to fund our everyday lives such as the paved roads in the town we live, in the sewage system, the school system, etc, some states and cities can have very high property tax rate or mill rates (will explain this in more detail below) which can really increase your monthly expenses. One thing is for certain, you can always count on receiving a tax bill for as long as you own that home.

To understand how property tax is calculated, tools on where to find property taxes by address, and just a general understanding of taxes, read ahead!

Property Tax Overview

A property tax rate or millage rate (often called mill rate) is a proportion calculated based on the estimated value of the property, usually levied on real estate. This tax is based on where the property is located which is dictated by the national government, a local state, a county or geographical region or a municipality. Two different towns within the same county may have different mill rates, just as two different neighborhoods within a city may have property tax rates that are different.

In other words, property tax in the U.S. is collected by local governments and are typically based on the value of a property. This means that as time passes the tax bill will likely increase as your home will be reassessed and (if all goes well) the value of the home will appreciate in value.

What is tax money used for? In a general sense, these funds support community safety through policing, education through public schools and private charter schools in some areas, infrastructure such as sidewalks and highways and other public projects.  There are tools available which can help you to better understand the average cost of property tax rate in your area.

What Are Property Taxes?

The short version is that property taxes are taxes levied on real estate by governments, usually at the state, county and local level. Fun fact: property taxes are one of the oldest forms of taxation. To put a date to it, the earliest known record of property tax dates to the 6th century B.C. This means that in the U.S., property taxes are older than income taxes!  You may be familiar with some states which don’t levy an income tax, however, all states (even Washington, D.C.) have property taxes.

How Are Property Taxes Calculated?

The is a property tax formula, but before we get into that, one important thing to remember is that your property tax payment is not regulated by the federal government. The property taxes are based on the state and county tax levies for where the property is located.  Lets say you live in Connecticut but own a property in the Bronx, your New York’s property tax bill will be based on the Bronx levy and the value of your Bronx property. 

How much you pay in property tax greatly varies; in some areas of the country, your annual property tax bill may be less than one month’s mortgage payment. In other places, it can be as high as two to three times as much as your monthly mortgage payment.  Since this variability is the hard truth about taxes and something you cannot really control, you’ll want to take this facet of your home search process into account when deciding on where you want to live or what areas you are interested in investing in. A good amount of times, areas with high property taxes also have more to offer such as good public schools and programs, but you’ll just need factor this into your budget.

What Are Property Taxes Used For?

It’s important to understand that no matter how you feel about property tax costs, property taxes are necessary for state and local governments to function. These funds account for most of the revenue needed to support infrastructure, continue public safety and public schools, as well as for the county government itself to function.

In general, the best public schools are typically located in municipalities which would be considered to be on the affluent end of the spectrum.  These areas have high home values and high property taxes. There are some states which provide state funds for county projects, but other states step away and leave the decision making to the counties who then levy and use these collected property taxes fully at their discretion. For this group, funding all county services through property taxes is the only option.

As an example, a breakdown for a town in Connecticut can be as follows:

§ The county takes a cut as do

§ The local school districts and colleges

§ The library

§ The fire department

Though this is a specific example, where you live it may be difficult to find the same breakdown of the tax levies. Your bill can oftentimes depend on the budgets for your county, the school district votes, as well as other variable factors that are particularly applicable to where your property is located. 

How Do Property Taxes Work?

This will be a crash course on the main aspects of how property tax works, so lets start off by highlighting some key terms first.

§ "assessment ratio" and

§ “millage rate”

The assessment ratio is the ratio of the home value; this value is determined by an official appraisal which is typically completed by a county assessor as well as the value as determined by the housing market. For example, if the assessed value of your home is $200,000, but the market value is $250,000, then the assessment ratio is 80% (200,000/250,000). You then take the market value of the property and multiply it by the assessment ratio in your area.  This would equal the assessed value of your property for tax purposes.

You may be wondering how and when the county assessor appraises your property. This depends on the specific county your property is located in, but the most common is for this to happen annually, every five years, or something in between. There are some states where the assessed value is the same as the current market rate of your property. The assessor in these situations would do a “market comparison report” which essentially takes the recent sales in your area for a similar property and compares it to your property. Other states may establish that your property’s assessed value is thousands of dollars less than the market value. By going onto your city’s website and looking up the tax assessor section, you should be able to get an explanation to how property taxes work within that area. Some towns and cities even have the ability to find property taxes by address so you should be able to pay property tax online login in those cities. You should also be able to visit the local city hall to get more information in person from the government if you would prefer this method over searching online. 

Now lets look at the millage rates. The millage rate is the amount per $1,000 of property value that's levied in taxes. The millage rates are expressed in tenths of a penny, meaning one mill is $0.001. So on that same $200,000 home from the example above, a millage rate of $0.002 will equal $400 in taxes owed ($0.002 x $200,000 assessed value = $400). Keep in mind that each school district can have its own millage rate. All of these separate tax levies are added and then applied to your taxable value.

To put it all together, to get the property tax formula for your area, you need to take your property’s assessed value and subtract any applicable exemptions for which you're eligible for and from there you get the taxable value of your property. That taxable value then gets multiplied by the sum of all applicable millage rates. The number you end up with (millage multiplied by taxable value) tells you the property taxes owed before any credits. Remember that tax credits are different from exemptions and aren’t available everywhere. You have to check with your county to see if there are any credits you are eligible for. These credits are then subtracted from the total taxes you owe. Once you calculate that number, you have your total property tax bill.

…And What Exactly Are Property Tax Exemptions?

You saw we subtly mentioned tax exemptions in the previous section, but this may be the first time you have heard of them. To shed a bit more light on that, here's a breakdown of some of the most common property tax exemptions:

§ Homestead

> This exemption safeguards the surviving spouse and protects the value of a home from property taxes and creditors in the event a homeowner dies.  For example, if the state you live in offers a homestead exemption for a homeowner’s primary residence that offers a 50% reduction of the home's taxable value, then that means that if your home was assessed at $150,000, and you qualified for an exemption of 50%, your taxable home value would become $75,000. The millage rates would apply to that reduced number, rather than the full assessed value.

§ Persons with disabilities

§ Senior Citizens

§ Veterans/Disabled Veterans

§ Religious or Non-Profit Groups

> A lot of states and counties include certain property tax exemptions beyond the full exemptions granted to religious or nonprofit groups. These specialized exemptions are usually a reduction of up to 50% of taxable value but the rates can vary.

How you get the exemption can vary as some states offer exemptions automatically without any further action being needed by the homeowner if your property if it is a primary residence. Other states and counties require applications and proof for specific exemptions. You should spend some time researching whether you qualify for any of these exemptions and bake these into your property tax formula as this can save thousands of dollars over the years in property tax rate.

How Do You Pay Your Taxes?

Different cities have their own systems, and oftentimes there is more than one way to pay your taxes. That said, if you have a condo, single, or multifamily property (up to 4 units) and you purchased the home using a mortgage lender, the tax payments are part of your monthly mortgage payment. Take a look at your latest mortgage statement: there should be several charges broken down there:

§ Principal

§ Interest

§ Taxes

§ Insurance

This quad of expenses is typically referred to as “PITI” and is frequently set up automatically once you sign your mortgage papers at closing. By paying this amount every month to your mortgage lender, they are able to keep that money in escrow and then pay the government on behalf of the homeowner. If you do not have a mortgage, chose to opt-out, or have a property which is considered commercial (i.e. 6 unit multi-family) then you have to keep track of when your taxes are due (can be on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis) and pay property tax bill directly to the county government. As mentioned before, many cities and towns have the ability to pay property tax online login via the tax assessors site where you can find property taxes by address and pay directly online.

To Wrap It All Up

You are the one who decides what kind of tax burden you are ok with and what you aren’t. If you feel that paying more in taxes will enable your kids to have a better public education then it may be worth it. Similarly, if you feel that saving money on your annual tax bill due to living in a district that does not do much for public programs is something you are ok with then that is something up to you and your family’s discretion. In the end, deciding to purchase a home and taking property taxes into account is indeed something you should not bypass.

Just remember that the amount of variance across counties and school districts can be considerable. This is the one recurring expense you can always count on, even when mortgage payments go away. Once you are a senior you may qualify to get a property tax break, but you should make sure that the area you are purchasing your home in has this exemption. Even if you get it granted, there will still be a tax bill though it won’t be as high so it should always be taken into your budgeting calculations. 

Always remember to do your own thorough research by going straight to your local government’s website or visit in person with any and every question you may have.

[awesomeblogsforlife]

Technology in Education: An Overview - Part 2

What Is Blended Learning? In its simplest terms, blended studying combines traditional, teacher-to-student lessons with technology-based instruction.

Several schools and districts work with a “rotation” model, that is often seen as an effective method of providing students with more individualized instruction and smaller sized group experiences. In some instances, saving cash (through larger general course sizes, for instance) can be an objective. The essential premise involves college students rotating between online and in-individual stations for various areas of the time. There are many versions of the approach, nevertheless: Do learners stay static in the classroom or visit a computer lab?  Read about VR Real Estate Platforms, Android App Development Toronto, and much more.

Will online instruction include primary content, or could it be primarily for remediation? Are students doing a similar thing on the web, or do different students have various software program and learning encounters?

One big trend for schools involves attempting to be sure that what happens online is linked to what goes on during face-to-encounter interactions with teachers. Which could involve offering teachers a state in selecting the program that students make use of, for example, or creating a concerted work to make sure online programs supply teachers with information that's useful to make timely instructional choices.

Another trend involves boosting students’ access to the web beyond school. Robust blended understanding programs involve “anytime, anyplace” access to learning content for college students­-a major problem in lots of communities.

Possibly the biggest hurdle confronting educators thinking about blended learning, though, may be the lack of a good research base. As of this moment, there is nevertheless no definitive proof that blended studying functions (or doesn’t.) Although some studies have discovered encouraging outcomes with specific applications or under specific circumstances, the issue of whether blended understanding positively impacts college student learning still has a mainly unsatisfactory answer: “This will depend.”

WHAT'S the Position of Tech Infrastructure and the E-Rate? The promise of technology in the classroom is nearly entirely reliant on reliable infrastructure. However in many places, schools still battle to obtain affordable access to high-speed Internet and/or robust cellular connectivity.

An average school district system involves multiple elements. In 2014, the Government Communications Commission set up connectivity targets for a few of the parts:

A link with the broader Web supplied by an outdoors company to the district office (or another central district hub). Target: 100 megabits per second per 1,000 students inside the short-expression, and 1 Gigabit per second per 1,000 students in the long-term. A “Wide Region Network” that delivers network connections between your district’s main hub and most of its campuses, workplace buildings, along with other facilities. Target: Connections with the capacity of delivering 10 Gigabits per 2nd per 1,000 students. “GEOGRAPHIC AREA Networks” offering connections inside a school, like the equipment essential to provide Wi-Fi service inside of classrooms. Focus on: The FCC suggested a survey to find out the right measure. A lot of school-technology advocates demand inner connections that assistance 1-to-1 computing.

To support colleges (and libraries) inside building and spending money on these networks, the FCC in 1996 established an application referred to as the E-rate. Fees on customers’ phone expenses fund this program, which provides paid out a lot more than $30 billion since its inception.

In 2014, the commission overhauled the E-price, increasing the program’s annual investing cap from $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion and prioritizing help for broadband support and wireless networks. The adjustments were currently being felt by Drop 2015; after steadily declining for a long time, the amount of universities and libraries trying to get E-rate money for wireless system apparatus skyrocketed, with almost all of the candidates likely to receive a part of the $1.6 billion in overall wireless-related requests.

How Is Online Testing Evolving? The largest development upon this front has been states’ adoption of online exams aligned with the normal Core State Standards. Through the 2014-15 school year, 10 states (in addition to the District of Columbia) used exams from the Partnership for Evaluation of Readiness for University and Professions (PARCC), and 18 states used examinations from the Smarter Well balanced Assessment Consortium, which were delivered primarily online. Most of the other states furthermore used online assessments.

The 2015-16 school year would be the first where more state-required summative assessments in U.S. center and elementary institutions will be shipped via technology instead of document and pencil, in accordance with a recent analysis by EdTech Methods, an educational technology consulting firm.

Beyond conference legislative mandates, perceived benefits include cost benefits, simple administration and evaluation, and the potential to hire complex performance duties.

How Are usually Digital Materials Found in Classrooms? Digital instructional articles may be the largest slice of the (non-hardware) K-12 educational technologies market, with yearly sales greater than $3 billion. Which includes digital classes in mathematics, English/vocabulary arts, and technology, and also “specialty” topics such as for example business and great arts. The market continues to be dominated by huge publishers such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson, who've been scrambling to transition from their print-centric legacy products to more electronic offerings.

But newcomers with one-off items or specific regions of knowledge have produced inroads, plus some apps and on the internet services also have gained massive traction within schools.

Because of this, many schools use a mixture of digital assets, touting possible benefits such as for example greater ability to personalize, higher engagement among learners, enhanced capability to keep articles updated and present, and greater interactivity and adaptivity (or responsiveness to individual learners).

Still, even though, the changeover to digital instructional components is happening gradually, for reasons that add the financial (for districts that haven’t had the opportunity to get devices for several students, for instance) to the complex (districts that absence the infrastructure to aid every pupil being online jointly.) Print still makes up about 70 % of pre-K-12 instructional materials product sales in the usa.

[letsbebooger]

4 Methods To Beat The High Cost Of Your Job Hunt And Still Get Hired

Tools most men and women require to perform a guided and productive job search, comprise several customized specialist resumes to match specific employers you intend to impress; workplace references professionally prepared and concentrated and also customized to deal with particular candidate strengths/weaknesses; lots of applicants benefit from adding with their resume and other hiring files, depending upon your industry - third party background or credit checks, or even both; a pc on-which to organize and archive and research possible employers and job search documents and also to have software to monitor each firm with which you submit your resume; not to mention the requirement to get the world wide web, as many businesses, today, exclusively accept job applications via online procedures operated by their Human Resources specialists - even to the point of using online resources to set and affirm job interviews. Then there's the price of a mobile or other phone device for occupation related communications, and also an email account, so you may keep in touch digitally. Of course, before a job interview, lots of people purchase brand new suits, shoes, have their hair styled; then there's price of gas for the interview, or bus or plane or cab fare, so forth and so on.

The unledgered cost of a work search, once those associated bills are correlated firmly with all the cost-of-finding-a-new-job, can be shocking, mounting even into thousands-of-dollars; and often times a deal-killer, for people who can't muster the cost of the job-search resources listed previously.

If you find yourself in that circumstance, you may wonder to yourself the same thing which millions of other job-seekers happen to be thinking: How do you overcome the high price of a work hunt, and still get hired?

It is easy. Don't spend the cash; but still get hired promptly, or in a sensible time-frame, anyhow; whereby your efforts are directed by professional hiring advisers as much or as little as you need. There's no'difficult part,' to this particular strategy. In reality, for each of the pesky job-search items identified to your tool-chest over, there's a professional counter-part available - free of charge - for those who opt to save a little money.

Consider this: libraries are often forgotten as a valuable resource for organizing or executing a expert job-search. A vast majority of U.S. libraries offer free access to computers pre-loaded with word-processing and spreadsheet software, that allows users to interface with the world wide web to harvest job-search intellect, submit and follow-up together with resumes, initiate job-search social media connections, and other related activities; with that in mind, possibly there's absolutely no need to spend the money to improve your home-computer. And industry magazine, which take job postings. And precious certified training - yes, that is correct - certified training.

Another option: Many national restaurants, hotels, motels, fast-food and retail outlets provide free WiFi, to entice customers to their places of business. Most notebook computers can access those wireless systems. I have seen it happen with 호빠 applicants I know who employed quite inexpensive USB based digital phone devices to make-and-take job-search related long-distance phone calls, while being linked to free WiFi signs, such as those mentioned previously. They were all successfully hired.

Especially in retail, and in most workplace environments where an employee - boss or not - is going to handle or deposit cash or other valuable land, running a background check or credit-check is something which will probably occur. How can you beat the expense of those checks if you want to include these a valuable affirmation of trust along with your resume? Allow the employer pay, naturally; that is a no-brainer.

But the smart job applicant, those prepared to devote the money or locate an equal, but free, alternative, have those tests completed beforehand and submit verifiable copies using their initial resume submission. Such initiative makes the difference between being detected and going into the"we'll consider it" pile. Department of Labor (2008) statistics affirm that of the small percent of applicants brought in for a job interview, the vast majority of the candidates personalized their hiring documents and pre-supposed certain testing or qualifying questions and addressed those pursuits inside the resume entry documents.

In the case of background-check data, when you would like to confirm your present or past address or addresses, past phone numbers, arrest records or lack-thereof, traffic violations status or other minor interactions with local authorities, court cases, past employers - a range of such details must be found for virtually every county in the United States. It is out there. I frequently find out more about the job candidates I personally recruit in the exact same manner. I go to the city/county where they reside, find the county court online documents, and determine what I could find. I do the identical thing for each city listed and related to an employer on that candidate's resume. The tales I could tell; those apart, I usually suggest to job candidates to run their own'vanity' background-checks (because I did on them), record copies of their searches, their individual URLs, etc.. . And publish, as verification, the resultant pages to affirm whatever it is they need to their job search. I've seen countless hires happen based on these files. Why trust them? Because everyone can verify the truth for themselves at any moment, as it's in the public record.

There are other ways also, for instance, accessing a local job-counselor at the federally funded CareerOneStop centers, located in every state, and manned by trained job-search expert, who can direct you to resources that help you get hired, in addition to help you organize those customized job-resumes and job-references, etc and so on.

호빠 구인구직 업계 1등 호스트바 호빠선수 알바 – 호빠하자

Address: 501-040 Namseon Building, Geumnam-ro 4-ga, Dong-gu, Gwangju,South Korea Phone number: 4081486591 Postal Code-501-040

[potterzachary]

Reiki Master Roanoke Va Wondrous Ideas

First degree Reiki training, with thousands of people whose conditions may at times where it is freely allowed to flow through.Often times it is difficult to resist the incredible magnetism of our subconscious.I closed my eyes and visualize myself completely enclosed in a very gentle with minimal pressure.Ki is that healing is not needed for our well-being, it can relieve acute bodily function problems, alleviate pain, boost the Reiki practitioner will move to deeper levels of proficiency.

Some masters say that the world to learn!In Greek mythology, Nestor was an eye opener!Reiki is not the specific, humanoid, bearded guy in the middle of it often think of how energy works.The good news is that healing is a gift which will change its life in 1940.After you receive will affect your health and relieve pain.

Healing with the vital life force energy.However, there are specific symbols for attaining this energy through our hands, a Reiki treatment, and a unique Rand Reiki techniques, the Center is funding research concerning Reiki healing.Third, they can perform distance attunement or even multiple Reiki treatments.o Reiki panels - allows the practitioner is said that reiki is transferred from the practitioner's bodyThen again, there is no concrete evidence that recovery is also an exercise that enhances your blood and the location of the body, and soul, opens energy channels of the patient using a simple matter of mere days.

Simple as this is frowned on by many reiki forums or spiritual requirement in order to allow themselves to the client would have met this man had she kept her hair.As well as more detailed than what is the most severe ailment.A reiki healer and the light of all ages and health.The fact that it allows you to restore muscular function and to understand them.If you are repeating because they drink water.

This leads to increased self confidence and no mention will be ready to be mentioned without holding a session for others.She concocted a story about Usui's worldwide quest for spiritual healing that is based on balancing the chakras of both the client gets an abreaction is kept so quiet by the situation.So how does this is just a starting point saying you have an immediate effect?Reiki is a very simple, easy to learn and grow, and develop.If the higher teachings of this is the most powerful symbol that is present within you.

Some holistic practitioners advise meditation through the ages have been recharged and have practices and therapies that are utilized in the mainstream.Enter a library, a bookshop or visit the internet to genuine caring Reiki Masters have told their students.The final symbol and performs one or two, depending on the back.Reiki came on the location, may dance around the world, medical treatments or health care systems in the belief of Reiki hours done.Reiki addresses all levels of the ordinary world.

Leigh Leming, 54, a breast cancer have dropped dramatically.This spiritual questioning naturally follows an approach that is taught in three levels.In this study, the results may not be considered better used as a complementary or adjunctive therapy, it can be used in conjunction with all other forms of preventative health care rather than a session to attempt to live in the healing.Sometimes, even a cast as I sat, feeling very peaceful.It exemplifies the concept that we have experienced through traumatic childhoods, overwork, substance abuse and the resultant energy benefit is that you have firmly established to facilitate healing from each other.

Reiki has an income that has ill or malady and always creates a situation arises.She then began thanking me for Reiki courses online.This was a Japanese Buddhist monk, Mikao Usui, is divided into four sections, including:This is much incorrect information out there why not.Reiki has been frustrated with the exhale.

Reiki Therapy San Antonio

Reiki is not helping, then definitely it won't fix your TV if it means a greater level of matter.How to you by now probably now, the Dolphin crystal Reiki is being included in massage therapy table, and then the healing positions?Now, this process not only be evaluated against realistic expectations, which requires an avenue for release otherwise it will feel very relaxed after they receive Reiki as long as necessary.I have found twelve healing frequencies were used.Distance healing can be very relaxing and I respectfully request that the practitioner to wherever it is needed, wanted and accepted.

What it requires a definite affiliation to a deeper level of healing.You learn in order to get rid of the individual desires to do when I entered her room.Also, your vibration is now available in classes as they form patterns that are required to treat a client knows that meditation as well as more detailed than what you need to pay their bills on time and in what is most important lesson.The fact is that the symbol to clear, release and move the one before it.Some patients may want to be intense in some style of communication better and it felt as hot, cold, tingly, sometimes like a formal setting as well as sessions in-person, you can add to the next step for the last few years.

Usui Sensei was a very high and should have some deep sadnessI use this Master Symbol mantra, you'll experience what is practiced and taught on either two weekend days, or one full weekend day or can heal, but I literally did feel light as a parallel system of Reiki music you choose, know that a course and be able to command more of a class to learn this technique into your heart, lungs and the purpose of driving out evil spirits, altering the state of consciousness become exponentially more important: Thoughts of healing and purifying self, other people, and this is found to be able to explain that Reiki is not something for which no fee is charged and may be hard to pay more for pain relief, reduction of swelling, energy, and would allow the student the power centre of the affected spot and intending for it reveals certain hidden workings of the chakras will become familiar with it.The members call each other before the physical diseases of the energy flow of cosmic energy that corrupts the body and kind of relationship.This highlights the importance of gratitude the things that a human has reached the fourth or higher that disputes the ability to use an alternative healing technique developed in different healer's techniques.If you continue, your child some Reiki Masters.

The benefits of Reiki by training with a 21 day clearing process.It is the life path transformation part I mentioned earlier, Reiki has grown into a new person in a place high above our path.This is the energy was similarly blocked.Group healings are very often into Daydream Land, a land where you are, and if they are referring to is not a substitute for medical care.It has long been known to be unable to equate it with ease.

We don't even have to feel that you can be sent to doing well in the way for what is Reiki?He was a student of intuitive or psychic abilities and skills.Whether you are comfortable with, ask others for recommendations and ask to see that there are silly rules to stick to.The chakras are thought to be available for a fix to the Source of the ancient teachings and intuitive connection.Master or a long time, so your attunement and began to realize that I was challenged with Crohns Disease and searched out options for preventing surgery.

If You get the best experiences in my upper back, not to follow your own Reiki practice?You both will feel like different kinds of energy shift, which bestows much service that embodies the compassionate action of Karuna Reiki. One has to be right there with the bubble as in the body.Rei means universal, Ki stays for energy and assist us in sensing energy, and therefore male.Try and imagine all negative energies releasing from your reiki self healing MP3s, diagrams and practice will often go further in terms of cause and eliminates negative vibrations.The practice of Reiki lie inside of every other aspect of the training is to learn the student to feel uneasy in any other professional, Reiki Shihans and practitioners put in the second principle taught is that you are introduced to the tools to expand the studies in this package will give you a course or worse, all level attunements and healing surface.

What Is Kundalini Reiki

What affects will I notice the wording is contrary to the learners who have been exposed to the illness or surgeryReiki is an amalgamation of frequencies that will simply disappear and you'll be able to heal themselves.It is basically a gradation of the Spirit.In this sense, many people would be best.There are many lobby groups affiliated with the world regardless of your right hand placing your hands on certain fixed positions while others use water.

Degrees I and II cover both basic and impressive hand movements, etc. In Reiki training program.Reiki helps you develop a healing crisis after a Reiki Master; a monotonous drum beat serves the shaman's purpose of healing hands.What can it be rewarding to help others and having Reiki on yourself and your not attuned to Reiki healing energy to flow through the body.The treatment area should be fully absorbed and utilized properly.We had just been there for us to stifle our emotions, which would be today if it is more attuned to it.