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The prettiest yoga poses are often the hardest (if only mermaid posewere as simple as some graceful yogis make it seem) but learning to master them is more than just a sure-fire boon for your Instagram accountits a great way to inspireinner beauty.

For Sky Ting Yoga co-founder and Nike Master Trainer Krissy Jones, one of those poses is svarga dvijasana, or bird of paradise pose (even the name is beautiful!).

I feel elegant in this pose, Jones says. Its very pretty when the form is correct. Its also a very energizing pose, thanks to the transition from side angle to standing.

The combo of body benefits plus good vibes is what hooked Jones on yoga, and what has motivated her to help others develop their practices through the Nike+ Training Club app.

[Yoga] makes me feel radiant and healthy from the inside out.

Ive been doing yoga for years and its still so effective, Jones says. It makes me feel radiant and healthy from the inside out. The combination of mental clarity and a strong yet flexible body keeps me coming back. The yoga practice gives you practical techniques to maintain the health of your body and mind, which ultimately enhances your life off the mat.

But before youstart your flow, youll need no-fuss activewear that will free your mind to absorb those mind-calming benefits(rather than getting distracted by an impending wardrobe malfunction).

Enter: TheNike Bra Collection. Designed with high-vibe workouts in mind, theres a range of options to provide the perfect amount of support without skimping on style.

I love the way Nike activewear fits on my body. Im not being biased when I say its all I want to wear when I practice yoga, Jones says. I also really love how everything is made to move well inyou never have to adjust anything with Nike because its designed perfectly for performance.

To see if her glowing review held up IRL, we sent Jones out on the streets of New York City to test it outin some of the most challenging asanas, while providing a tutorial on how to do eachmove.

Now on tap? Bird of paradise pose, the challenging asana (which is named after a tropical flower, BTW) thatsgreat for encouraging balance, stability, and flexibility while building strength in the hips and hamstrings.

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Start in Side Angle B pose. Drape yourtop arm behind your back and reach your bottom arm under yourthigh. Grab hold of your top wrist for a bind. Then look down at your front foot, and step the back foot up to meet it at the front of yourmat.

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Maintain the bind and stand all the way up on your supporting leg. Engage your core muscles and focus your gaze on a point directly in front of you to keep your balance!

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Finally, straighten your lifted leg and point your toes to the sky. Look past your opposite shoulder and soak in the regal vibes.

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Though this posedoesnt involvea ton of movement, having a bra that wontrequire readjusting is still paramount (with your hands locked in the bind you cant exactly be fidgeting with your clothes). Not fussing over your clothesso you can focus on more important things (like perfecting super-cool yoga poses) sounds like a win to us.

Ready to unlock a better you? Discover the power of yoga anytime, anywhereby downloading the Nike+ Training Club app now.

In partnership with Nike

Photos: Tim Gibson for Well+Good

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Your complete guide to bird of paradise pose (with pro tips from a Nike master trainer) - Well+Good

Residents of Pella now have free access to a wealth of new online resources thanks to new a partnership among the State Library of Iowa, the Iowa Academic Library Alliance, and Gale.

Pella Library Director Wendy Street says there are now new resources that cover car repair, health information, small business resources, K12 homework and assignment help, books and reading, gardening, history, and home improvementall online. Street says the information in the databases is often more reliable than a typical online search, and allows users to find more specific information.

To start using the new resources visit the library or go to the Pella Librarys website and click on Gale databases.

Highlights of the new resources include:

Chilton Library: An online library of step-by-step repair instructions, troubleshooting guide, and more supplemented with images, illustrations, videos, and animations for most cars, trucks, and SUVs on the road today.

Books & Authors: Attention book lovers, book clubs, and summer readers your next reading adventure awaits! Find book reviews, author biographies, and recommended reading suggestions for genres, topics, authors, and more.

Kids Infobits: A visually engaging resource with K6 students in mind, it includes a wealth of age-appropriate reference content, full-text magazines and newspapers, maps, charts, graphs, and more than 13,000 searchable images and on a wide range of subjects.

Research in Context: Developed specifically for the research needs of middle school students, Research in Context includes reference, periodical, and multimedia content encompassing the middle school curriculum.

See the article here:
Pella Library Providing New Online Databases to Users - KNIA / KRLS Radio

Several residents were present at the Mason County Public Library Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday, to voice concerns on the location of a new library building.

Discussion on the location of the library has been ongoing for more than a year, as board members are looking for an ideal location that would allow for further expansion and programming, if the library should want to do so in the future.

Several ideas have been discussed for the library, including trying to find locations downtown and along U.S. 62.

Maysville resident Sally Parker asked why board members had considered moving the building to U.S. 62 instead of remaining downtown.

According to Trustee Sally Teegarden, the current location of the building, which is on East Third Street, will allow for one more expansion, but nothing afterward.

"We could expand once more in this building," she said. "But, it would be a one-and-done expansion."

Teegarden said reasons for moving the building to a site along U.S. 62 were outlined in a paper provided to those attending the meeting. The reasons include increased traffic that would support increased library use, better visibility, library services would be more available to county residents and several conditions limit the amount and type of construction in the current location.

The current facility, built about 20 years ago, is faced with significant foundation problems and there are issues with the underlying soil. The foundation and soil problems first surfaced several years ago when the library added a children's section to the present building.

Maysville Young Professional Network President Ellen Cartmell said she was speaking not only on behalf of herself, but also the MYPN and others in the community.

"There are studies that show more millenials use libraries more than any other age group," she said. "Revilitilzation is also a focus of millenials, rather than new construction. There is also a petition being circulated that has almost 1,000 signatures from people who want the library to stay downtown."

Maysville resident Sarah Winter provided the online petition that garnered 970 signatures.

"It is clearly the will of the people for the library to stay downtown," she said.

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Cartmell also said that, though it isn't the concern of the library, if there were a community center located downtown, access to the library wouldn't be as big of a concern with the public.

Trustees said they are looking at all their options, including locations downtown and will continue the discussion at the September board meeting.

During the meeting, MCPL Director Valerie Zempter also offered a suggestion for the library to begin allowing children under 18 to rent movies.

"It's always been the policy to not allow those under 18 to rent movies because we were unable to screen the restricted material and prove their age. With that changing, I think it would be a good idea to allow those under 18 to rent movies," she said.

Zempter said the new policy will begin around Sept. 1.

Also during the meeting, trustees approved the tax rates for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The tax rates are 6.7 cents per $100 of real property, 6.7 cents per $100 of personal property and 4 cents per $100 for watercraft/motor vehicles. The rates are the same as last year.

Read more here:
Library location; tax rates discussed by board | Local | maysville ... - Ledger Independent

Published: August 10, 2017 3:00 AM

The Portage Library Consortium (PLC) has announced the upcoming arrival of its new online catalog and circulation system on Aug. 31.

The PLC partners, Kent Free Library, Portage County District Library and Reed Memorial Library, are now in the final stages of preparation before deploying the new system at the end of the month.

Checkout and catalog data will be moved to the new Symphony software, by SirsiDynix, between Aug. 28 and 30. During that transition time, library users and staff will not have access to library accounts.

Library patrons will need to have a library card when checking out materials during the transition as the old circulation system is taken offline and library information is moved to the new one.

The new online catalog will debut on Aug. 31 as well. Links to the new catalog page will be on each library's website.

Library patrons accessing their accounts should note that personal identification numbers (PINs) will have changed to the last four digits of their phone number.

After logging in, patrons will be able to change the PIN.

"We are very excited about this change," said PCDL director Cecilia Swanson. "We are going to have a more modern online catalog for library users, with better searching capabilities and our libraries will be saving money on the cost of the software. It is a win-win situation for all of us."

Online users will see more search options in the catalog, will be able to opt in to save their borrowing history, and will be able to email or text titles to themselves. Patrons will still be able to pay fines and fees online as they can now.

"One of the best new online catalog features is integration of our eMedia materials," said Reed Memorial director Brian Hare. "Patrons will be able to see everything we offer, whether it is physical or digital, all in one place."

The Portage Library Consortium partners have been preparing the move since the beginning of the year after a lengthy process of examining circulation system options. The final selection was based on improving the library experience for patrons and on cost-saving factors.

"The current library software is 14 years old. I'm very happy that the consortium is able to purchase new software, at a lower cost, that offers improvements that will benefit both library staff and library users" said Stacey Richardson, Kent Free Library director.

The change in circulation software has required a temporary halt to the SearchOhio and OhioLINK services, but the consortium expects to resume these services before the end of the year.

For more information about library services and programs, visit http://www.kentfreelibrary.org, http://www.portagelibrary.org or http://www.reedlibrary.org.

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Portage libraries to launch new online catalog system - The-review

If Netflix and Hulu are boring you with crass, lowbrow content, if you gravitate to arthouse and indie movies, if you're less into Song of Ice and Fire and more into India Song, it might be worth checking out your local library. But no need to get up from the couch and potentially spill your can of Pabst over your perfectly manicured beard you can now stream these movies directly to your device.

Public libraries might be fighting with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu for your eyeballs in the online content wars.

Last Friday the New York Public Library let patrons stream videos and movies for the first time. The service, which is run by online video-streaming service Kanopy, includes a collection of arthouse, independent and classical films on demand. Users can browse content on the Kanopy website after logging into the NYPL online. "This content offering is so unique and worth presenting and logical to us that it makes absolute sense to do so," said Christopher Platt, chief branch library officer of the NYPL.

Platt says offering movies for streaming is part of the library's perpetual goal to offer formats patrons need.

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It's also hard to argue with a service that's free. Derek O'Donnell, senior analyst at Gartner, said the library's service might hit smaller players in the streaming space, like Amazon Prime, which has a thinner selection of streaming movies compared to larger competitors, like Hulu and Netflix. The library's offering may also find a niche with audiences seeking content inaccessible anywhere else, O'Donnell said.

The launch also reflects changing trends: mobile, connected and oftentimes younger users. A Fall 2016 Pew Research Center survey found 53 percent of millennials used a public library or bookmobile in the last 12 months, compared to 45 percent of Gen Xers and only 43 percent of baby boomers.

San Francisco-based Kanopy sees itself as an alternative and not a competitor to more mainstream services, like Netflix. "Many users come to watch films that aren't available on other platforms," said Kanopy CEO Olivia Humphrey. The emphasis, she says, is on "thoughtful entertainment" and focuses on independent films that touch on topics like immigration, diversity and LGBT rights. "It's really a different reason for coming to watch Kanopy," said Humphrey.

Kanopy founded in 2008 in Western Australia previously partnered with universities such as Yale and the University of Cambridge to make Kanopy's collection of films available to students for study. The company most recently launched their service to patrons of the Los Angeles Public Library and other regional libraries, in Illinois, Connecticut, California and other states, before the NYPL rollout. The company has partnered with local libraries across the country in the past and says other, smaller libraries are to be added soon.

The NYPL, which serves more than 17 million patrons across Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, launched the service with Kanopy collection last Friday to offer "quality, literate" movies to its patrons. The service is available now to all NYPL patrons with a valid library card.

Continued here:
Public libraries offering free streaming to rival Netflix, Hulu - CNBC

The Farmington History Museum Committee is taking the Farmington Public Library to a new dimension with a Moon Shadow Party in honor of the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse.

The event is scheduled from 2 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 20 the day before the big event and is for students in grades 3 through 8. The cost is $2 per youth. Sign-up is required at the library, located at 101 North A. St. and space is limited.

The library and committee want to give young people their own space for the solar event.

There are many activities going on in the area for research and education on the solar eclipse, Committee Chair Jessie Williams said. We felt it was important to include children in some activities related to learning and having fun with the solar eclipse.

We really wanted to transform the library conference area into a space for youth, Committee member Nancy Cozean said. The Moon Shadow event will be fun, beginning with a short discussion on the Solar Eclipse. We'll also introduce our own Space Commander, Steve Slinkard, who will discuss another extraterrestrial event that occurred during the Civil War when a large meteor careened from space into the Ste. Genevieve area."

The incident was described in a book by local author Robert Schmidt.

To the sounds of Cat Stevens' Moonshadow and other sonic tunes, the event will feature galaxy events including a costume contest of an outer space being. Contestants are also encouraged to create a poster of "my favorite alien and bring it to the event. Plus, the classic modern movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still will be presented by Jon Cozean.

Prizes will be awarded for the best space costume and best space creature poster. All contestants will receive a certified Space Cadet certificate and solar eclipse watching survival bag.

Proceeds from the event will go to the Farmington History Museum, scheduled for a future opening. Sponsors for Moon Shadow include Plummers Ace Hardware, Prairie Farms, Save-A-Lot and Cozean Funeral Home.

For more information, contact the library at 573-756-5779.

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Museum, library 'lift off' on solar eclipse special - Daily Journal Online

SAFFORD - The city of Safford, and the entire Gila Valley, suffered a tremendous loss this week with the unexpected passing of Safford City-Graham County Library Director Leanne McElroy.

Sunday evening, McElroy was flown from Mount Graham Regional Medical Center to Banner University Medical Center in Tucson after suffering a massive heart attack at home. After what her brother-in-law, Paul David, called a valiant effort by hospital staff, she was taken off life support on Wednesday and died that afternoon.

It is with a heavy heart that the library announces the passing of our leader, our inspiration and our dear friend, the LIbrary said in a Thursday morning press release.

She leaves behind the legacy of a library for everyone, the release continued, nurturing of knowledge and growth for all ages. Bringing her experience from Habitat for Humanity and her travels across the world, she set the library on a path toward becoming a centerpiece of learning and compassion in the community. We will dearly miss her smile, her guidance and her loving kindness.

McElroy, who earned a Masters degree in Russian Studies from Georgetown University, started as Library Director in November 2012. Her legacy includes a rich variety of educational and community activities including ScienceCity, Star Wars Day, the Library Coding Club, Library-Con and the Local Author BookFest, which debuted this February. Under her direction, the library also made its childrens book section easier for young readers to use and planned to expand its large print collection.

She was an amazing woman and an amazing director, said Senior Library Technician Brandon Nite. It was a pleasure to work with her.

Services for McElroy are tentatively scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 14 at the Safford Stake Center, 515 Catalina Dr. The library will close that day in her memory.

Her interment is tentatively planned for Tuesday the 15th, at a family ranch near Douglas. She is survived by her husband Philip McElroy and daughter Lydia.

David Sowders is a member of the Safford City-Graham County Library Advisory Board.

More here:
Library director McElroy passes - Eastern Arizona Courier

Editor-In-Chief Scott Peterson's take on life(Photo: Matt Colby/Now Media Group)Buy Photo

I had forgotten how much joy I could get from looking up a word in the dictionary.

But I did that surprising thing when I was out of range ofcell phones and beyond the Wi-Fi frontier, and was desperate to understand a word in the book I was reading.

I dusted off a 1956-vintage Webster's dictionary that probably had not moved from the shelf in this cottage since the day it was published. But there it was, page after page of words, new (well knew to bobby socksers) and old alike, ready for me to browse and discover new things.

As a certifiable word nerd,I own literally dozens of dictionaries, but as the Internet turned my brain into oatmeal, I almost never get them out anymore. Who wants to go to "all that trouble" to look up a word when there is a tool in your pocket that makes it so fast and easy.

Northern Wisconsin has always been one of my favorite getaways, a state of mind where you can sample the best of how things used to be before modern life steamrollered over them.

But even the great indoors has new adventures, too, when you free yourself from the shackles of technology.

I saw my wife actually laying out kings and aceson the table to play solitaire with real playing cards. It was like I was reliving my childhood on days when I was sick and needed to entertain myself. No buttons, no flashing ads, no music. Just tactile and visual nourishment.

In a restaurant on the lake, it was the same thing. Back at home, couples would be staring at the little slabs from their pockets, conversing only to share the occasional Facebook post, if they talked at all, but here was a dining room filled with people talking to each other! The din from a roomful of chatter was invigorating.

Out on the lake, when we ran out of gas in the boat, I could have grabbed my phone and tried desperately to reach someone, but we did the old fashioned thing. We flagged down a passing boat, and met a friendly couple who gave me a ride back to our cottage, where we picked up gas and refueled. This is what people did back in the day.

I played Yahtzee with my wife. I got to know my future daughter-in-law better. I listened to the Brewers game on the radio. I sat by the lake and watched the sunset. I watched them make fudge through a storefront window in Minocqua. I bought groceries in a story that did not have 10,000 choices. I saw an otter swim past our boat. I went out for an ice-cream cone. I browsed in a book store (and it was crowded with other people doing the same thing). I meandered into an antique store, another place that has timeless treasures.

There are a lot of great reasons to escape in Wisconsin, but the ride in the time-machine is the most underappreciated part. You have the time to go back in time to remember the things that mattered. Sometimes, you have to go backward in order to find the way forward.

Read or Share this story: http://www.lakecountrynow.com/story/opinion/columnists/scott-peterson/2017/08/10/going-off-grid-life-really-ever-relaxing/556610001/

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Going off the grid: Was life really ever this relaxing? - Lake Country Now

It wasn't THAT long ago that it was a big deal for a college student to have their phone in their room. Of course I'm probably dating myself, still college students have always needed some small comforts of home to make their dorm room their own space. While smart homes have been kind-of-a-thing for the past few years, smart dorms are arriving on college campuses this fall.

Here are some of my favorite gadgets for college students:

The Nox Sleep Light from Sleepace connects to your smartphone and will help you start and end your day in a peaceful way. At night, the light gives up an amber glow which has been proven to help people relax. It also plays soothing music or relaxing sounds that gradually silence once it determines that you've fallen asleep. It does that by picking up and reading your breathing patterns. In the morning, rather than jolting you out of bed with an alarm sound or loud music, the Nox slowly raises the light in the room to simulate the rising sun. I have it set to chirping birds at 7 a.m. The Nox attempts to sense when you're at your lightest moment of sleep and will begin waking you up with the sound of birds chirping louder and louder and the light becoming brighter. In addition, the Nox Sleep Light is designed to monitor, track and improve your sleep quality through the app. It's $150.00

The Sound Oasis bluetooth speaker will help drown out noisy neighbors or roomates with several 'soothing' sounds that are stored on an included SD card. There are sounds of waves, a brook, music, white noise and a heartbeat (yep, it is a little creepy sounding, but it works for some people). The 360-degree speaker also connects to any smartphone device to stream music from Pandora, Spotify or any other music app on the phone. The BST-400 Stereo Bluetooth Sleep Sound Therapy System is $130.

The Amazon Echo Dot and Tap are two of the more popular Amazon Alexa products. Both these devices will answer questions, read news and audio books, set reminders and control smart home devices. The Tap has an included 360-degree speaker while the Dot should be connected to an external speaker for great sound. The Amazon Tap is $130.00 while the Dot is $50.

If you do get an Echo Dot you'll want a bluetooth speaker to go with it. The Vaux speaker has good sound but it also turns an Echo Dot into a wireless device by keeping it charged even when the speaker is not connected to a wall outlet. The Vaux is like a 'puck holder' cradling the Dot and providing power. It has a mini-audio plug that connects to the Dot's external audio plug and can hold a charge for hours.

The Vaux Cordless Portable Battery and speaker for the Amazon Echo Dot is $50.

A printer is something that doesn't immediately pop into your mind when moving into a dorm room, but it can certainly make a difference as the semester begins. Rather than running down to the library or another building to print out a paper the student will have it in their room connected to their computer. Printers are small enough to keep on a desktop now and prices have dropped to below $50.

Wish I had been able to do that when I was in school.

See the article here:

What the Tech? Smart dorm gadgets - WRCB-TV

Kkiftlik Park ontinues to present various types of music in its very unique atmosphere.

A free spirit swirls around the %100 Urban Music series at Kkiftlik Park's Kkiftlik Bahe. The festival brings together many local and international bands in a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere.

The first event of %100 Urban Music starts on Aug. 27 with Asian Dub Foundation, the famous figure of reggae in Turkey, Sattas, and favorite rapper Sansar Salvo in addition to Ais Ezhel, who combines different styles.

Combining dub bass, punk rock guitar, jungle rhythms and traditional Indian music with dance hall lyrics, Asian Dub Foundation has performed at many music festivals, including Exit Festival in Serbia, Rock For People in the Czech Republic and Couleur Cafe in Belgium. The band has also shared the stage with bands such as Rage Against the Machine, The Cure and Radiohead.

Sattas, and the popular rapper Sansar Salvo will warm up the stage after sunset.

A promising artist that broke through with the latest album combining new school hip-hop and rap, Ais Ezhel, will add color to this selection and motivate people to move to the dynamic sound.

%100 Urban Music bringing together different music genres at Kkiftlik Bahe, starts with one of the few dub bands of Turkish underground electronic music, Alphadub, which rose to fame with their "Beton Orman" (Concrete Jungle) program at Ak Radio.

Originally posted here:

Eclectic styles at %100 Urban Music series - Daily Sabah