View allAll Photos Tagged diversification
Sims Crane works with Diversified Environmental Services, lifting their oil diaster response boats and barges in and out of the Port of Tampa for training.
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
The landscape with colourful diversified floating gardens has a unique aesthetic view. Dealing with nature and human needs, floating garden are integrated and sustainable in the Bengali landscape. In summer, flowers of water hyacinth bloom on the water. Contrast between light purple of flowers and deep green of leaves creates beautiful scenery.
Photo credit must be given to (c) Badal Sarker for the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh.
More information:
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
American postcard by Disneyland Inc., Anaheim, California. Caption: "Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals. the dreams and the heart facts that have created America... with the hope that it will be a source of joy to all the world." Walt Disney.
On 16 October 1923, Walt Disney (1901-1966) and his brother Roy O. Disney founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Later the studio operated under The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions. The company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. But it all started with Mickey Mouse, who Disney created in 1928 and is still Disney's signature mascot and emblem.
Walt Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1901. His father, Elias Disney, was an Irish-Canadian. His mother, Flora Call Disney, was of German-American descent. Walt was one of five children, four boys and a girl and was raised on a farm near Marceline, Missouri. He became interested in drawing early, selling his first sketches to neighbours when he was only seven. At McKinley High School in Chicago, Walt divided his attention between drawing and photography, contributing to the school paper. At night he attended the Academy of Fine Arts. During the fall of 1918, Disney attempted to enlist for military service. Rejected because he was only 16, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas, where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. His ambulance was covered from stem to stern, not with stock camouflage, but with drawings and cartoons. After the war, Walt returned to Kansas City, where he began his career as an advertising cartoonist. Here, in 1920, he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons, and later perfected a new method for combining live-action and animation. In early 1923, animator Walt Disney created a short film entitled Alice's Wonderland, which featured child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. After the bankruptcy in 1923 of his previous firm, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Disney moved to Hollywood to join his brother, Roy O. Disney. Film distributor Margaret J. Winkler of M.J. Winkler Productions contacted Disney with plans to distribute a series of Alice Comedies purchased for $1,500 per reel with Disney as a production partner. Walt and Roy Disney formed the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio that same year. More animated films followed after Alice. In January 1926, with the completion of the Disney studio on Hyperion Street, the Disney Brothers Studio's name was changed to the Walt Disney Studio. Hundreds of Alice Comedies were produced between 1923 and 1927 before they lost popularity. After the demise of the Alice Comedies, Disney developed an all-cartoon series starring his first original character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which Winkler Pictures distributed through Universal Pictures. The distributor owned Oswald, so Disney only made a few hundred dollars. From 1927 on, Disney completed 26 Oswald shorts before losing the contract in February 1928, due to a legal loophole, when Winkler's husband Charles Mintz took over their distribution company. After failing to take over the Disney Studio, Mintz hired away four of Disney's primary animators (the exception being Ub Iwerks) to start another animation studio, Snappy Comedies. In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse and starred in several Disney-produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disney's first sound film Steamboat Willie (Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, 1928), a cartoon starring Mickey, was released in 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind Plane Crazy (Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, 1928), and The Gallopin' Gaucho (Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, 1928). Steamboat Willie, with Walt as the voice of Mickey, was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronised sound. Disney's Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho were then retrofitted with synchronised soundtracks and re-released successfully in 1929. Disney continued to produce cartoons with Mickey Mouse and friends, including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and plenty more. He began the Silly Symphony series, a cartoon series that didn't have a continuous character, with Columbia Pictures signing on as Symphonies distributor in August 1929. In September 1929, theatre manager Harry Woodin requested permission to start a Mickey Mouse Club which Walt approved. In November, test comic strips were sent to King Features, who requested additional samples to show to the publisher, William Randolph Hearst. On 30 December, King Features signed its first newspaper, New York Mirror, to publish the Mickey Mouse comic strip with Walt's permission. In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive contract with Technicolor (through the end of 1935) to produce cartoons in colour. The first, Flowers and Trees (Burt Gillett, 1932), was also the first cartoon to win an Oscar. Another cartoon, Three Little Pigs (Burt Gillett, 1933), was so popular it was often billed above the feature films it accompanied. Disney released cartoons through Powers' Celebrity Pictures (1928–1930), Columbia Pictures (1930–1932), and United Artists (1932–1937). The popularity of the Mickey Mouse series allowed Disney to plan for his first feature-length animation. Criticasters called it "Disney's Folly".
Walt Disney decided to push the boundaries of animation further. He began production of his first feature-length animated film in 1934. Taking three years to complete, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen, 1937), premiered in December 1937 and by 1939 became the highest-grossing film of that time. Snow White was released through RKO Radio Pictures, which had assumed distribution of Disney's product in July 1937, after United Artists attempted to attain future television rights to the Disney shorts. Using the profits from Snow White, Disney financed the construction of a new 51-acre (210,000 m2) studio complex in Burbank, California. The new Walt Disney Studios, in which the company is headquartered to this day, was completed and open for business by the end of 1939. The studio continued releasing animated shorts and features, such as Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940), Fantasia (James Algar, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1940), Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, a.o., 1941), and Bambi (David Hand, 1942). After World War II began, box office profits declined. When the United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many of Disney's animators were drafted into the armed forces. The U.S. and Canadian governments commissioned the studio to produce training and propaganda films. By 1942, 90% of its 550 employees were working on war-related films. Films such as the feature Victory Through Air Power (Perce Pearce, a.o., 1943) and the short Education for Death (Clyde Geronimi, 1943) were meant to increase public support for the war effort. Even the studio's characters joined the effort, as Donald Duck appeared in several comical propaganda shorts, including the Academy Award-winning Der Fuehrer's Face (Jack Kinney, 1943). With limited staff and little operating capital during and after the war, Disney's feature films during much of the 1940s were 'package films', or collections of shorts, such as The Three Caballeros (Norman Ferguson, a.o., 1944) and Melody Time (Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, 1948), which performed poorly at the box office. At the same time, the studio began producing live-action films and documentaries. Song of the South (Harve Foster, Wilfred Jackson, 1946) and So Dear to My Heart (Harold D. Schuster, Hamilton Luske, 1948) featured animated segments, while the True-Life Adventures series, which included such films as Seal Island (James Algar, 1948) and The Vanishing Prairie (James Algar, 1954), were also popular. Eight of the films in the series won Academy Awards. The release of Cinderella (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson, 1950) proved that feature-length animation could still succeed in the marketplace. Other releases of the period included Alice in Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1951) and Peter Pan (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1953), both in production before the war began, and Disney's first all-live action feature, Treasure Island (Byron Haskin, 1950). Disney ended its distribution contract with RKO in 1953, forming its distribution arm, Buena Vista Distribution. In December 1950, Walt Disney Productions and the Coca-Cola Company teamed up for Disney's first venture into television, the NBC television network special An Hour in Wonderland. In October 1954, the ABC network launched Disney's first regular television series.
In 1954, Walt Disney used his Disneyland series to unveil what would become Disneyland, an idea conceived out of a desire for a place where parents and children could both have fun at the same time. In 1955, Disney opened Disneyland to the general public. After a shaky start, Disneyland continued to grow and attract visitors from across the country and around the world. In 1965, a second Disney theme park, Disney World', was announced, outside of Orlando, Florida. Disney continued to focus its talents on television throughout the 1950s. Its weekday afternoon children's television program The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) was a great success, as was the Davy Crockett miniseries, starring Fess Parker and broadcast on the Disneyland anthology show. Two years later, Zorro (1957) would prove just as popular, running for two seasons on ABC. Disney's film studios stayed busy as well, averaging five or six releases per year during this period. While the production of shorts slowed significantly during the 1950s and 1960s, the studio released many popular animated features, like Lady and the Tramp (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1955), Sleeping Beauty (Clyde Geronimi, a.o., 1959) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961), which introduced a new xerography process to transfer the drawings to animation cels. Disney's live-action releases were spread across several genres, including the historical fiction film Johnny Tremain (Robert Stevenson, 1957), the children's book adaptation Pollyanna (David Swift, 1960) starring Hayley Mills, and the modern-day comedy The Shaggy Dog (Charles Barton, 1959), with Fred MacMurray. Disney's most successful film of the 1960s was a musical adaptation of Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964), which mixed live-action with animation. It is considered by many to be Walt Disney's magnum opus. Mary Poppins became one of the all-time highest-grossing films and received five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews and Best Song for Robert B. Sherman & Richard M. Sherman for 'Chim Chim Cher-ee'. In 1966, Walt Disney died of complications relating to lung cancer. His brother Roy Disney took over as chairman, CEO, and president of the company. In 1925, Walt Disney married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds. They had two daughters — Diane, married to Ron Miller, former president and chief executive officer of Walt Disney Productions, and Sharon Disney Lund, formerly a member of Disney’s Board of Directors.
Sources: D23: The Official Disney Fan Club, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
The landscape with colourful diversified floating gardens has a unique aesthetic view. Dealing with nature and human needs, floating garden are integrated and sustainable in the Bengali landscape. In summer, flowers of water hyacinth bloom on the water. Contrast between light purple of flowers and deep green of leaves creates beautiful scenery.
Photo credit must be given to (c) Badal Sarker for the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh.
More information:
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
The landscape with colourful diversified floating gardens has a unique aesthetic view. Dealing with nature and human needs, floating garden are integrated and sustainable in the Bengali landscape. In summer, flowers of water hyacinth bloom on the water. Contrast between light purple of flowers and deep green of leaves creates beautiful scenery.
Photo credit must be given to (c) Badal Sarker for the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh.
More information:
Premier Jason Kenney and Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon marked the United Nations Climate Change Conference underway in Glasgow, Scotland, by announcing new emissions reduction projects in Alberta.
Local governments, First Nations and other organizations looking to strengthen their communities can apply for new funding to build capacity and diversify rural and remote economies in B.C. Learn more:
Local governments, First Nations and other organizations looking to strengthen their communities can apply for new funding to build capacity and diversify rural and remote economies in B.C. Learn more:
7/6/2015
Image source: realbusiness.co.uk
media.caspianmedia.com/image/e38776771bed042bc68ed5395d33...
The landscape with colourful diversified floating gardens has a unique aesthetic view. Dealing with nature and human needs, floating garden are integrated and sustainable in the Bengali landscape. In summer, flowers of water hyacinth bloom on the water. Contrast between light purple of flowers and deep green of leaves creates beautiful scenery.
Photo credit must be given to (c) Badal Sarker for the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh.
More information:
To diversify livelihoods and improve women’s economic freedom, UNDP has implemented several other projects in Herat districts. These include: 6 raisin houses, 10 greenhouses, 1 apiary, and kitchen gardens for 30 women.
UNDP’s Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP), is a five-year project, made possible by the Global Environment Facility Least Developed Countries Fund. Over the next three years, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, UNDP will implement more than 100 livelihoods projects, including building more greenhouses and training farmers on food processing and food storage, as well as protecting 800 hectares of land from flooding, irrigate 4,000 hectares of agricultural land and repairing 30 canals.
© UNDP Afghanistan / S. Omer Sadaat / 2017
THE AGE OF FLOWERING PLANTS
ANGIOSPERM means "seed borne in vessel," while GYMNOSPERM means "naked seed," a reference to the lack of protective structure enveloping the seed. One reason that flowering plants were able to diversify so dramatically and spread during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic, or MODERN, the era was the evolution of new structures and tissues such as the carpel, a womb-like vessel that encloses angiosperm seeds and endosperm, a placenta-like tissue that nourishes the young plant as it develop within the seed, Today, angiosperm dominate terrestrial life on the planet. At an estimated 422,000 species, they compose by far the largest group of plants. They grow in greater range of environments, exhibits a wider range of growth habits, and display more variation in form than any living group of plants. In size, angiosperm range from tiny duckweed to eucaplytuses more than 330 ft (100 m) tall.
The explosion of angiosperm diversity has gone hand in hand with the proliferation of INSECTS, BIRDS, and OTHER ANIMALS that pollinate their flowers, disperse their fruits and seeds, and eat their leaves.
THE ULTIMATE VISUAL REFERENCE TO PLANTS AND FLOWERS OF THE WORLD - Janet Marinelli, Ed-in-Chief
Mindanao Tourist Destinations Local/Travel Website and Angelique Ross Kaamiño/TravelEscapade TRAVEL Leisure Cebu/CdO/Butuan
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Family Home Stamp Size Garden; Roadside Ornamental Plants, Flowers, Trees and Skyline views and Nature Garden over Barangay 17- Pareja Subdv., Imadejas, Estacio and Luz Village, Butuan City . .
STAMP SIZE ROADSIDE GARDEN@ 2nd. St. Pareja, Subdv., Butuan City. -wilfredosrb/photography&Story
Mindanao Tourist Destinations created an event.
June 28, 2012 ·
Let us help promote Mindanao Tourism
July 31, 2012
PHOTO TRAVEL- wilfredosrb
Photo by LendingMemo under CC 2.0
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LendingMemo is a peer to peer lending website that has been mentioned in major press like CNBC (Aug 27, 2014) and The Wall Street Journal (March 8, 2016).
On the final day of the economic diversification symposium, various international companies signed MOUs with Ministers of Equatorial Guinea, forming strategic partnerships that will help diversify the national economy.
Caption:
Diversified livelihoods such as beekeeping can help improve the income of rural communities. Apart from producing honey to sell to market, beekeeping helps promote conservation of the natural environment, which many poor communities depend on for food and energy
UNDP’s Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP) is committed to helping vulnerable rural families increase their incomes.
As part of the livelihood component, the project provided four beehives, beekeeping tools and jars for honey, including a 12-day training that gave beneficiaries the necessary skills to maintain their beekeeping business.
© UNDP Afghanistan / S. Omer Sadaat / 2018
Text story:
_________
For Karima, one of the happiest moments of her life was when she earned her first thousand Afghani (US$ 15), when she sold a kilo of honey made from her own bee-keeping business. It may seem like a small amount, but for Karima, it was life changing!
Karima is a housewife and a mother of four. Her husband could barely feed the family from the work he could get, so Karima’s contribution to the household income was significant.
She has seen a lot in her life. She still remembers the agony and frustration when they had no money and their son was sick. As tears well in her eyes, she relates, “We were not able to buy him medicine. We couldn’t do anything but cry and wait for him to either die or recover by himself.”
Her husband, Khalil, who was very fond of honey, tried his hand at beekeeping before, but because he didn’t know how to maintain his beehives, his bees all died.
But, Karima and Khalil did not give up. They decided to seek help from the Directorate of Agriculture in Herat city.
UNDP’s Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP) is committed to helping vulnerable rural families increase their incomes.
As part of the livelihood component, the project provided four beehives, beekeeping tools and jars for honey, and, crucially, a 12-day training that gave beneficiaries the necessary skills to maintain their beekeeping business. Karima, who lives in in Qala Safid village in Herat province, was one of the recipients.
“We learned many things about the bee keeping,” says Karima, “like feeding times, honey extraction and reproduction of honey bees - things I never knew before.” She adds, “I once used lemon to bring back unconscious bees back to normal.”
Now, equipped with the knowledge and materials, Karima and Khalil expanded their apiary from just four to ten beehives, and they plan to increase the number to 13 in the next year. With the business growing, they are now making 80 to 90 thousand Afghanis each year by selling their honey.
“My bees are our breadwinners now!” Karima says, looking at her queen bee proudly. “I feel like the queen is representing me and looking after the honey factory!”
Beekeeping requires less inputs for production compared to other agricultural activities and livelihoods. It requires less land, water and labor to generate high levels of income.
With low initial support, beekeepers can get an immediate high income. That’s why beekeeping has the potential to transform thousands of lives here in Herat province.
“By the grace of God, we have a reliable income now and can buy what we need, including medicines or treatment,” says Karima.
Beekeeping in rural areas, where the communities have limited resources such as land and water, can help boost incomes for families like Karima’s. In addition, beekeeping helps boost food security, and assists crop production through pollination. Almonds, apples, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon and many other crops all rely on honey bees for pollination. Diversified livelihoods such as bee increasingly improve the income of rural communities consequently people can adapt and manage climate change risks.
So, thanks to her new beekeeping skills, Karima and Khalil truly have a reason to ‘bee’ cheerful!
© UNDP Afghanistan / S. Omer Sadaat / 2018
Austrian armaments manufacturer Steyr diversified into automobile production in 1915 and introduced the streamlined 120. The six-cylinder, 1385cc side-valve engine was replaced in 1937 with an overhead-valve 2260cc engine, and the 220 was born. The sleek, aerodynamic body was available in four body styles: five-passenger limousine, five-passenger cabriolet, and two different specially-bodied cabriolets, both by Gläser Coachworks of Dresden, Germany. The two-passenger roadster is very rare, with only six ever made; only two have survived. With 55hp and a four-speed transmission, all the 220s would have been considered high-performance cars in their day. A Steyr 220 was also involved in one of the few successful escapes from the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Three Polish political prisoners and a Ukrainian mechanic managed to steal a few Nazi staff uniforms from the laundry room, as well as the camp commandant’s Steyr 220. Armed and disguised as Nazi officers, they drove up to the main gate, which didn’t immediately open. One of the prisoners happened to be dressed as an SS officer, and, although terrified, summoned the courage to bark a command at the guards. The guards proceeded to open the barrier, and the four men drove straight out of the camp, never to be recaptured.
As seen at the 2021 Greenwich Concours d'Elegance, Greenwich, CT.
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
The Blue Man Group. Luxor Hotel. Las Vegas, Nevada. April/2018
Blue Man Group is a performance art company formed in 1987.[1][2][3] It is best known for its stage productions around the world. It combines many different categories of music and art, both popular and obscure, in its performances.[4]
Blue Man Group currently has continuing theatrical productions in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City, and Orlando. In addition to the stage theatre show, Blue Man Group has had multiple national and global tours, appeared on various TV programs as both characters and performers, appeared on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Epic, released multiple studio albums, contributed to a number of film scores, performed with orchestras around the US, and appeared in ad campaigns.
In July 2017, Cirque du Soleil purchased the Blue Man Productions for an undisclosed sum. Cirque announced plans to expand Blue Man Group globally and diversify the live entertainment production.
Source: Wikipedia
Blue Man Group é uma companhia de conteúdo e entretenimento fundada em 1987 por Phil Stanton, Chris Wink e Matt Goldman. A organização, que conta com um centro de pesquisa e desenvolvimento próprio, produz experiências para diversos meios, sendo mais conhecida pelos inventivos espetáculos teatrais e concertos de música. Nas performances, lideradas por três integrantes azuis e carecas, o grupo incorpora música experimental (com ênfase na percussão), a esquetes de comédia e experiências multimídia. Com shows (fixos, especiais e turnês) que se espalham por quatro continentes, estima-se que mais de 25 milhões de pessoas já tenham visto uma performance do Blue Man Group.
Fonte: Wikipedia
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
Local governments, First Nations and other organizations looking to strengthen their communities can apply for new funding to build capacity and diversify rural and remote economies in B.C. Learn more:
Villagers in Injil district, Herat province. To diversify livelihoods and improve women’s economic freedom, UNDP has implemented several other projects in Herat districts. These include: 6 raisin houses, 10 greenhouses, 1 apiary, and kitchen gardens for 30 women.
UNDP’s Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP), is a five-year project, made possible by the Global Environment Facility Least Developed Countries Fund. Over the next three years, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, UNDP will implement more than 100 livelihoods projects, including building more greenhouses and training farmers on food processing and food storage, as well as protecting 800 hectares of land from flooding, irrigate 4,000 hectares of agricultural land and repairing 30 canals.
© UNDP Afghanistan / S. Omer Sadaat / 2017
The landscape with colourful diversified floating gardens has a unique aesthetic view. Dealing with nature and human needs, floating garden are integrated and sustainable in the Bengali landscape. In summer, flowers of water hyacinth bloom on the water. Contrast between light purple of flowers and deep green of leaves creates beautiful scenery.
Photo credit must be given to (c) Badal Sarker for the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh.
More information:
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
The session outlined the main objectives of the government to create a framework for development of sustainable industry that allows diversification and boosts the national economy. The ministers will provide insight into the PEGI 2020, the institutions of governance of the country, and the official policy perspective regarding key macroeconomic topics. Participants will achieve a greater understanding of the country’s physical, natural and human resources, as well as how the country uniquely positions itself as an investment destination.
Stacy L. Smith, Director, Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative, talks about misrepresentation of women and minorities in movies during Transforming Hollywood 7: Diversifying Entertainment, a conference about issues of diversity, inclusion and equality in the film sphere. Photo/Benjamin Dunn
This sign beckons back to years gone by....
The rust and patina let you know that the sign has been here for quite some time.
Taken in Ballground, GA.
Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic, with a population of 364,134 and an area of 103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi), making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavik and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains, and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a polar climate.
According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, bringing with them thralls (i.e., slaves or serfs) of Gaelic origin.
The island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the world's oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of civil strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Iceland thus followed Norway's integration into that union, coming under Danish rule after Sweden's secession from the union in 1523. Although the Danish kingdom introduced Lutheranism forcefully in 1550, Iceland remained a distant semi-colonial territory in which Danish institutions and infrastructures were conspicuous by their absence.
In the wake of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Iceland's struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918 and the founding of a republic in 1944. Although its parliament (Althing) was suspended from 1799 to 1845, the island republic has been credited with sustaining the world's oldest and longest-running parliament.
Until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity and Iceland became one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world. In 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing.
Iceland has a market economy with relatively low taxes, compared to other OECD countries, as well as the highest trade union membership in the world.It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens. Iceland ranks high in economic, democratic, social stability, and equality, currently ranking third in the world by median wealth per adult. In 2018, it was ranked as the sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations' Human Development Index, and it ranks first on the Global Peace Index.Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy.
Hit hard by the worldwide financial crisis, the nation's entire banking system systemically failed in October 2008, leading to a severe depression, substantial political unrest, the Icesave dispute, and the institution of capital controls. Some bankers were jailed. Since then, the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism.
Icelandic culture is founded upon the nation's Scandinavian heritage. Most Icelanders are descendants of Norse and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old West Norse and is closely related to Faroese. The country's cultural heritage includes traditional Icelandic cuisine, Icelandic literature, and medieval sagas. Iceland has the smallest population of any NATO member and is the only one with no standing army, with a lightly armed coast guard.
Fund, Find, Franchise: Exploring the New Age of Developer-Driven Marketing
Ted Price | CEO, Insomniac Games
Rami Ismail | Business and Development Guy, Vlambeer
Chris Kohler | Games Editor, WIRED
Mark Stanley | Global Lead, Internal Development & Diversification, GameStop
Location: Room 2010, West Hall
Date: Wednesday, March 16
Time: 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Just diversifying my photostream with a quick HDR image (YES, this time it it REALLY is a HDR image!!!). :-)
Processed three exposures from one raw file.
I think, this was a 64s@f3.5 exposure.
Bangladeshi farmer Gopal Mohanta outside his old home in the village of Boiragee, Dinajpur. His family has been able to leave this house behind and build a larger one, thanks to a dramatic improvement in their livelihoods after they began to work with CIMMYT.
This change in fortunes began when Mohanta attended a farmer training session provided by CIMMYT in collaboration with partners in Bangladesh. This opened a door for him to take advantage of a range of resources from CIMMYT and its partners—including seed, technologies, and practices—and to combine these with his own hard work and talent.
One of the changes Mohanta made was to plant a more diverse range of crops, and in 2005 he planted maize for the first time, using improved seed based on CIMMYT materials. He achieves high yields of 12-13 t/ha, which he is able to sell at a good profit, as a growing market is fueling high and stable maize prices in Bangladesh. As well as building a new house, the increased income has brought other benefits such as a better education for the family's two children. Mohanta has also been able to invest in livestock and a pond stocked with fish, further diversifying his farm.
The family has come a long way, providing a shining example of what is possible to others in their community. However, the success story is far from over; looking to the future, Mohanta plans to buy more land and to plant more crops.
Photo credit: S. Mojumder/Drik/CIMMYT.
For the latest on CIMMYT in Bangladesh, see CIMMYT's blog at: blog.cimmyt.org/?tag=bangladesh.
Local governments, First Nations and other organizations looking to strengthen their communities can apply for new funding to build capacity and diversify rural and remote economies in B.C. Learn more:
ERF Policy Seminar on Export Diversification in the ERF Region
March 21st, 2014
Cairo, Egypt
Photographed by: Emad Samir
Edited by: Shady Helal
Diversified agricultural landscape with hedges, a forest edge and an extensive grassland where many ladybirds species can live.
Equatorial Guinea's two-day conference welcomed investors, including more than 400 international business representatives from countries ranging from Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the Americas, and Africa. Equatorial Guinea has targeted agriculture and ranching, fisheries, petrochemicals and mining, financial services, tourism, aviation, transport and telecommunications.
Conference attendees learned about development and investment opportunities in Equatorial Guinea and were able to meet with local counterparts.