TEA & SWEET COOKIES AT HYDE PARK IN THE AFTERNOON

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have been visiting Hyde Park, in Westminster. The park is in front of the hotel and they have been studying some English grammar with the Order of Adjectives, Saxon Genitive and Prepositions of Time before walking across it and taking some tea with some delicious sweet round Arabian cookies made by Osama Winsor.

Hyde Park is the historic urban park in Westminster. It is located in front of their hotel and they have decided to walk slowly and see all the details that this place offers carefully. It has been an interesting morning. They have been studying some English Grammar with the Adverbs of Manner and Saxon Genitive, and talking about how much information can give our surname about our past and our origins. Finally, they have been preparing some necessary things to spend this afternoon together sailing across the Thamesis river. They want to have fun.

More information: Saxon Genitive

More information: The Order of The Adjectives

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More information: Prepositions of Time

Play Battleship

Hyde Park is a 140 ha, historic Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Park, past Buckingham Palace to St James's Park. Hyde Park is divided by the Serpentine and the Long Water lakes.

The park was established by Henry VIII in 1536 when he took the land from Westminster Abbey and used it as a hunting ground. 

It opened to the public in 1637 and quickly became popular, particularly for May Day parades. Major improvements occurred in the early 18th century under the direction of Queen Caroline. The park also became a place for duels during this time, often involving members of the nobility.

In the 19th century, The Great Exhibition of 1851 was held in the park, for which The Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton, was erected.

Free speech and demonstrations have been a key feature of Hyde Park since the 19th century. Speakers' Corner has been established as a point of free speech and debate since 1872, while the Chartists, the Reform League, the suffragettes, and the Stop the War Coalition have all held protests there.

In the late 20th century, the park was known for holding large-scale free rock music concerts, featuring artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Queen. Major events in the park have continued into the 21st century, such as Live 8 in 2005, and the annual Hyde Park Winter Wonderland from 2007.

The park's name comes from the Manor of Hyde, which was the northeast sub-division of the manor of Eia (the other two sub-divisions were Ebury and Neyte) and appears as such in the Domesday Book.

The name is believed to be of Saxon origin, and means a unit of land, the hide, that was appropriate for the support of a single family and dependents. Through the Middle Ages, it was property of Westminster Abbey, and the woods in the manor were used both for firewood and shelter for game.

The Wellington Arch was extensively restored by English Heritage between 1999 and 2001. It is now open to the public, who can see a view of the parks from its platforms above the porticoes.

More information: Royal Parks

The surname Foster is a variation of the name Forster, meaning one who works in the forest. It may also derive from the French forcetier, meaning maker of scissors.

The Foster surname is predominantly English, where it has been recorded in use from the 1100s onwards. Foster derives as an occupational surname from a number of sources. Firstly it comes from a forester, the name for a forest warden or gamekeeper. Secondly the surname Foster is believed to derive from the Old English Forseter (shearer), given to those who shear sheep and their descendants. Most rarely, Foster has been hypothesised to relate to a 'fosterer', someone who feeds and looks after children in place of their parents.

More information: Forebears

 It came to me that Hyde Park

has never belonged to London
–that it has always been, in spirit, 

a stretch of countryside;
and that it links the Londons 

of all periods together most magically
–by remaining forever unchanged at the heart 

of a ever-changing town.

Dodie Smith

ALBUS P.V.B. DUMBLEDORE, WISDOM AND INTELLIGENCE

Today, The Wealeys have assisted to a class about how to be an enterpreneur in our real economical world. After this, the family has continue practising English grammar with the Prepositions of Time and Place, and they have practised with some B1 Cambridge Exam Tests.

More information: Prepositions of Place & Prepositions of Time

 

Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was the Transfiguration Professor, and later Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Professor Dumbledore also served as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. He was a half-blood, Muggle-supporting wizard, the son of Percival and Kendra Dumbledore, and the elder brother of Aberforth and Ariana. His father died in Azkaban when Dumbledore was young, while his mother and sister were later accidentally killed. His early losses greatly affected him early on, even at his death, but in turn made him a better person. He was most famous for his defeat of Gellert Grindelwald, the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with Nicolas Flamel.

More information: Pottermore

It was through Dumbledore that resistance to the rise of Lord Voldemort was formed, as it was he who founded and led both the first and second Order of the Phoenix. Due to the fact that he had a keen mind and legendary power, Dumbledore became the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared. He was the wielder and the master of the Elder Wand from 1945 until 1997 and considered by many as the greatest Headmaster to ever grace Hogwarts. As he was about to die by a cursed ring, he planned his own death with Severus Snape. He was killed by Snape during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.

Then, it was through Dumbledore's manipulations that Voldemort was ultimately defeated and peace restored to the wizarding world. He is the only Headmaster that was laid to rest at Hogwarts.  

Albus Dumbledore's portrait still remains at Hogwarts. Harry Potter later named his second son Albus Severus Potter after him.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was born to Kendra and Percival Dumbledore in the summer of 1881, in the mainly wizarding village of Mould-on-the-Wold. The early years of Dumbledore's life were marked by tragedy when his younger sister, Ariana Dumbledore, was attacked by a group of Muggle boys, who saw her performing magic and were frightened by what they saw.

More information: HP Lexicon

Dumbledore began attending Hogwarts in the autumn of 1892 and was Sorted into Gryffindor house. Dumbledore's first year was met with much whispering about his father's crime. Many of Albus' fellow students mistakenly believed that, like father like son, Albus too hated Muggles. Some praised his father's actions, hoping to gain his trust, but they would not find favour with the young Dumbledore this way. Though later in his young life, under the influence of his love for Gellert Grindelwald, some anti-Muggle prejudice did develop, but he soon saw the error of his intent.

He befriended a young Elphias Doge on his first day at Hogwarts; Doge was suffering from the aftermath of Dragon Pox at the time, greenish skin and pockmarks, which discouraged most from approaching him. 

Dumbledore demonstrated his uncommon kindness and willingness to look past the surface and find inner beauty in people. 

Dumbledore also became very well-connected during his Hogwarts years, making notable friends such as Nicolas Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot, and Griselda Marchbanks, who marked him in his N.E.W.T.s for Charms and Transfiguration and later recalled that he did things with a wand that she had never seen before. He also had several of his papers published during his studies.

After graduating from Hogwarts in June 1899, Dumbledore planned to take the traditional Grand Tour of the world with his friend Doge. However tragedy ensued on the eve of the departure when Kendra Dumbledore was killed by an outburst of Ariana's uncontrollable magic, leaving Albus the head of his own broken family and now in charge of his younger siblings.

More information: British Council

Dumbledore also served in recruiting students for Hogwarts. Most prominent among the students he recruited was Tom Riddle, who he found in Wool's Orphanage in 1938. Alone of all the professors at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was not charmed by the natural charisma and cunning of Tom Riddle. In their first encounter, Dumbledore became immediately suspicious of his "obvious instincts for cruelty, secrecy and domination" and resolved to keep a close eye on him during his studies at the school. As Dumbledore was not so easily taken in by his charming façade, Riddle came to despise and fear him.

In 1943, several Muggle-born students were mysteriously petrified by a beast rumoured to have been released by the Heir of Slytherin from the mythical Chamber of Secrets. Indeed, the final victim of the beast, Myrtle, was actually killed; this act seemed likely to ensure the permanent closure of the school, forcing Riddle to go back to the orphanage. While Dumbledore rightly suspected Riddle was behind the attacks, the aspiring Dark Wizard expertly framed Gryffindor student Rubeus Hagrid as the perpetrator.

After Lord Voldemort started his first rise to power in 1970, Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organisation of witches and wizards willing to risk their lives to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. As the only wizard Voldemort was ever truly afraid of, Dumbledore was the perfect leader of the organisation and was a significant contributor to the fight against Voldemort.

More information: Independent

Later on in the war, Dumbledore was approached by another person who also wanted a job at Hogwarts: Sybill Trelawney, who applied to become the new professor of Divination, lessons that Dumbledore disliked and barely considered a part of necessary education for young wizards and witches. Dumbledore gave her a chance because she was the great-great granddaughter of the celebrated Seer Cassandra Trelawney. To his disappointment, when he was interviewing Sybill at the Hog's Head, he came to the conclusion that she was not a real Seer. 

However, as Dumbledore was about to leave, Trelawney fell into a real trance and made a prophecy about the birth of the one that would have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, who would be born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. 

This fact astonished Dumbledore, but as it turned out, the Death Eater Severus Snape had overheard most of the prophecy, but had been caught in the act of spying and ejected from the tavern by Aberforth Dumbledore. Dumbledore hired Trelawney in order to protect her from the Death Eaters.

Later, Severus Snape approached Dumbledore, having already told Voldemort about the Prophecy. Snape was shocked by the fact that Voldemort had concluded that the prophecy was about Harry Potter, the son of James Potter, and Snape's own loved childhood friend, Lily Evans.

More information: Zimbio

Dumbledore made arrangements to ensure the safety of the three; he advised them to stay hidden in their house in Godric's Hollow, which was protected by a Fidelius Charm. However, their Secret-Keeper, believed by Dumbledore and everyone else to be Sirius Black, but was in truth Peter Pettigrew, betrayed them, resulting in James and Lily's deaths at Voldemort's hands. However, as Voldemort attempted to murder Harry, the curse backfired due to Lily Potter's love for her son and destroyed his body, only keeping a part of his soul alive. 

Dumbledore, who likely already knew by then that a part of Voldemort's soul had concealed itself within Harry, made sure that Harry would be kept safe with his family, the Dursleys, despite them not being selected as his guardians in the event of James and Lily's death, as his spells ensured that Voldemort could not harm Harry there as long as he could have a home with them. He convinced Snape to help him protect Harry, although Dumbledore secretly planned to allow Voldemort to kill Harry in the end, which would destroy the piece of Voldemort's soul inside Harry. However, he also hoped to influence Harry into such a person who would willingly sacrifice his life for the greater good, allowing him the chance to choose between life and death in the end.

More information: The Telegraph

Dumbledore gave Snape employment at Hogwarts as the Potions master, and later defended Snape against the Ministry of Magic, who were rounding up and arresting remaining Death Eaters. Dumbledore attended many Death Eater trials, including that of the Lestranges and Barty Crouch, Jr He was also witness to Igor Karkaroff's testimony which secured his release from Azkaban in return for the names of fellow Death Eaters.

Shortly before the Potters' deaths, Dumbledore discovered that James's Cloak of Invisibility was in fact one of the Deathly Hallows. Although Dumbledore had long given up his desire to unite the Hallows and become Master of Death, he could not resist the thought of studying the Cloak. To that end, he borrowed it from James while James and Lilly were in hiding. He confirmed that it was indeed the cloak of legend, but before he could return it, James and Lilly were killed by Voldemort. This unfortunate occurrence provided Dumbledore with ownership of two of the Hallows.

More information: BBC

Ten years later, Harry Potter started attending Hogwarts, as happy as Dumbledore had hoped, despite suffering child neglect and abuse, and alive and well. That year, Lord Voldemort formulated a plan to regain human form. Dumbledore and his friend Nicolas Flamel, the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone, began to suspect that the disembodied Dark Lord was plotting to steal the invaluable object, which would be capable of restoring him to full power.  

Dumbledore had the stone moved to a medium security vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, but later had it moved to Hogwarts itself; coincidentally, on the same day that an attempted break-in was made upon the vault. It was retrieved by Hagrid, who was also taking Harry to buy his school supplies. 

More information: Pinterest

 It is our choices, Harry, 

that show what we truly are, 

far more than our abilities.

Albus Dumbledore

AURY, CATI & PERLA'S ARRIVAL, THE GRANGERS GROW

Today, The Grangers and The Grandma have rested at hotel after finding their lost member, Johnny Granger. Johnny, who is a great surfer, survived and swam to the shore of the bay, where he was found yesterday.

 

Three new members have joined the family: Aury, Cati and Perla. Welcome girls!

They have chosen the Carlyle Hotel, a luxury complex on the Upper East Side. 

 

They have been planning their trip and working with the Article 'The' and the Prepositions of Time.

 

More information: Article 'The'

 

More information: Prepositions of Time

More information: Download Prepositions of Time

The Carlyle Hotel, known formally as The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is a combination luxury apartment hotel located at 35 East 76th Street on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 76th Street, on the Upper East Side of New York City.

Opened in 1930, the hotel was designed in Art Deco style and was named after Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle.

Owned since 2001 by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, the Carlyle is a cooperative with 190 rental rooms and suites, and 60 privately owned residences.

The Carlyle was built by Moses Ginsberg, maternal grandfather of Rona Jaffe. Designed by architects Sylvan Bien and Harry M. Prince, it opened as an apartment hotel, with apartments costing up to $1 million a year.

Apartment hotels had become increasingly popular since World War I. As the economy boomed and skyscrapers rose, New York was transforming so quickly that owning a townhouse began to fall out of fashion. The new thirty-five floor hotel was to be a masterpiece in the modern idiom, in which shops and restaurants on the lower floors would give residents the convenience and comforts of a community skyscraper.

However, by the time the Carlyle was ready to open its doors in 1930, the 1929 stock market crash had started the Great Depression. The new hotel struggled, went into receivership in 1931, and was sold to the Lyleson Corporation in 1932.

More information: The Carlyle Hotel

The new owners kept the original management, which was able to dramatically improve the property's financial situation through maintaining high occupancy and rates favorable to the hotel's costs. However, the hotel's reputation at this time was staid rather than ritzy.

The next postwar boom allowed the hotel to take on new high-society prominence. 

In 1948, New York businessman Robert Whittle Dowling purchased the Carlyle and began to transform it from a respectable address to a downright fashionable one, frequented by elegant Europeans. 

That year, Harry S. Truman became the first president to visit the Carlyle; each of his successors through Bill Clinton followed.

The Carlyle became known as the New York White House during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, who maintained an apartment on the 34th floor for the last ten years of his life. He stayed at the apartment in a well-publicized visit for a few days just prior to his inauguration in January 1961.

Marilyn Monroe was snuck in through the service entrance on East 77th Street. After famously singing Happy Birthday, Mr. President at Kennedy's birthday gala at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962, Monroe reportedly used a warren of tunnels to enter the Carlyle secretly with Kennedy and friends.

The New York Post reported a Mob smear campaign plot on Robert F. Kennedy planned as an informant passed on information that a Mrs. Jacqueline Hammond had information on the sex-capade; however, the Post article stated An FBI summary of the documents released yesterday said the bureau didn't consider the Milwaukee and Hammond information 'solid'. Years later, longtime bellman Michael O'Connell recalled, Those tunnels. President Kennedy knew more about the tunnels than I did.

More information: Hospitality Net

The Carlyle was the last place John F. Kennedy Jr. ate breakfast before departing on his ill-fated plane trip to Martha's Vineyard with his wife and her sister.

The Council for United Civil Rights Leadership (CUCRL) was organized in a meeting held at the Carlyle. Malcolm X expressed his concerns with having a white man in charge of this new fundraising organization during a November 10, 1963, speech, Message to the Grass Roots. He described the hotel (rather than just one suite) as being owned by the Kennedy family.

In 1967, the hotel was purchased by a partnership of Jerome L. Greene, Norman L. Peck, and Peter Jay Sharp. The hotel is the source of the name for The Carlyle Group, as it was the location where that firm's founders first met in the mid-1980s.

Despite its brushes with history, the hotel retained a reputation for discretion. In June 2000, The New York Times called it a Palace of Secrets. The hotel was the subject of a 2018 documentary film by writer-director Matthew Miele, Always at The Carlyle.

The hotel's Café Carlyle has featured a number of well-known jazz performers -notably George Feyer from 1955 to 1968, and Bobby Short from 1968 to 2004. Woody Allen and his jazz band have played weekly at the café since 1996. According to New York Times writer Joe Heller, Mick Jagger maintains a residence at the Carlyle to use when he visits New York.

Alan Cumming gave a series of concerts at the Café Carlyle in June 2015; the album of the performance, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs features a photograph of a nude Cumming flanked by a male and a female model, also nude, shot in the doorway of the cafe.

The Bemelmans Bar is decorated with murals depicting Madeline in Central Park painted by Ludwig Bemelmans. Bemelmans is the namesake of the bar, and his murals there are his only artwork on display to the public. Instead of accepting payment for his work, Bemelmans received a year and a half of accommodations at the Carlyle for himself and his family.

More information: Tatler

My definition of a good hotel is a place I'd sty at.

Robert De Niro

SING GOSPEL IN HARLEM, GIVE THANKS TO EVA NEWTON

Today, The Newtons and The Grandma have said goodbye to another member of their family. 

Eva Newton has decided to follow her dreams and becomes a new member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where she will be able to guide lost souls and help needed people.

Before saying goodbye to Eva, the family has been practising some English grammar. They have chosen Prepositions of Time and Plurals.

Goodbye, Eva and goodluck! God bless you!

More information: Prepositions of Time & Plurals

Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighbourhoods and extends west to the Hudson River, north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street.

Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. 

Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.

Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the 19th century, but African-American residents began to arrive in large numbers during the Great Migration in the 20th century.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement. With job losses during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly.

In the 21st century, crime rates decreased significantly, and Harlem started to gentrify.

The area is served by the New York City Subway and local bus routes. It contains several public elementary, middle, and high schools, and is close to several colleges including Columbia University and the City College of New York.

Central Harlem is part of Manhattan Community District 10. It is patrolled by the 28th and 32nd Precincts of the New York City Police Department. The greater Harlem area also includes Manhattan Community Districts 9 and 11 and several police precincts, while fire services are provided by four New York City Fire Department companies.

Starting around the time of the end of World War I, Harlem became associated with the New Negro movement, and then the artistic outpouring known as the Harlem Renaissance, which extended to poetry, novels, theater, and the visual arts. So many black people came that it threaten[ed] the very existence of some of the leading industries of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama.

Many settled in Harlem. By 1920, central Harlem was 32.43% black. The 1930 census revealed that 70.18% of central Harlem's residents were black and lived as far south as Central Park, at 110th Street.

More information: Harlem Heritage

Religious life has historically had a strong presence in Black Harlem. The area is home to over 400 churches, some of which are official city or national landmarks.

Major Christian denominations include Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists (generally African Methodist Episcopal Zionist, or "AMEZ" and African Methodist Episcopalian, or "AME"), Episcopalians, and Roman Catholic.

The Abyssinian Baptist Church has long been influential because of its large congregation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built a chapel on 128th Street in 2005.

Many of the area's churches are storefront churches, which operate in an empty store, or a basement, or a converted brownstone townhouse. These congregations may have fewer than 30–50 members each, but there are hundreds of them. Others are old, large, and designated landmarks. Especially in the years before World War II, Harlem produced popular Christian charismatic cult leaders, including George Wilson Becton and Father Divine.

Mosques in Harlem include the Masjid Malcolm Shabazz (formerly Mosque No. 7 Nation of Islam, and the location of the 1972 Harlem mosque incident), the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood and Masjid Aqsa. 

Judaism, too, maintains a presence in Harlem through the Old Broadway Synagogue. A non-mainstream synagogue of Black Hebrews, known as Commandment Keepers, was based in a synagogue at 1 West 123rd Street until 2008.

More information: Abyssinian Baptist Church

And now let the weak say, I am strong
Let the poor say, I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Give thanks with a grateful heart.

Henry Smith

LOGISTICS SERVICES, 3PL-THIRD PARTY LOGISTICS (II)

3PL, Third-Party Logistics

Today, The Grandma has continued her Logistics course in Sant Boi.

She has been talking about value-added services and 3PL (Third-Party Logistics), the integrated operations of warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customers' needs.

Before talking about 3PL, The Grandma and her partners have revised Numbers and ABC in English, something very essential to work in Logistics with product ranges, calendars and Logistics acronyms. They have also worked how to create nouns from a verb (Gerunds), and prepositions of time.

More information: ABC, Numbers & Logistic Acronyms

More information: Gerunds & Prepositions of Time I & II

Third-party logistics (abbreviated as 3PL, or TPL) in logistics and supply chain management is an organization's use of third-party businesses to outsource elements of its distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment services.

Third-party logistics providers typically specialize in integrated operations of warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customers' needs, based on market conditions, to meet the demands and delivery service requirements for their products.

Services often extend beyond logistics to include value-added services related to the production or procurement of goods, such as services that integrate parts of the supply chain. A provider of such integrated services is referenced as a third-party supply chain management provider (3PSCM), or as a supply chain management service provider (SCMSP).

3PL targets particular functions within supply management, such as warehousing, transportation, or raw material provision.

Fabio works under a 3PL system

The global 3PL market reached $75 billion in 2014, and grew to $157 billion in the US; demand growth for 3PL services in the US (7.4% YoY) outpaced the growth of the US economy in 2014. As of 2014, 80 percent of all Fortune 500 companies and 96 percent of Fortune 100 used some form of 3PL services.

Third-party logistics providers include freight forwarders, courier companies, and other companies integrating & offering subcontracted logistics and transportation services.

Hertz and Alfredsson (2003) describe four categories of 3PL providers:

-Standard 3PL Provider: this is the most basic form of a 3PL provider. They would perform activities such as, pick and pack, warehousing, and distribution (business) – the most basic functions of logistics. For a majority of these firms, the 3PL function is not their main activity.

-Service Developer: this type of 3PL provider will offer their customers advanced value-added services such as: tracking and tracing, cross-docking, specific packaging, or providing a unique security system. A solid IT foundation and a focus on economies of scale and scope will enable this type of 3PL provider to perform these types of tasks.

-The Customer Adapter: this type of 3PL provider comes in at the request of the customer and essentially takes over complete control of the company's logistics activities. The 3PL provider improves the logistics dramatically, but does not develop a new service. The customer base for this type of 3PL provider is typically quite small.

-The Customer Developer: this is the highest level that a 3PL provider can attain with respect to its processes and activities. This occurs when the 3PL provider integrates itself with the customer and takes over their entire logistics function. These providers will have few customers, but will perform extensive and detailed tasks for them.

More information: Shopify

 

Outsourcing may involve a subset of an operation's logistics, leaving some products or operating steps untouched because the in-house logistics is able to do the work better or cheaper than an external provider. Another important point is the customer orientation of the 3PL provider. The provider has to fit to the structures and the requirements of the company. This fit is more important than the pure cost savings, like a survey of 3PL providers shows clearly: The customer orientation in form of adaptability to changing customer needs, reliability and the flexibility of third-party logistics provider were mentioned as much more important than pure cost savings.

3PL providers without their own assets are called lead logistics providers. Lead logistics providers have the advantage that they have specialized industry expertise combined with low overhead costs, but lower negotiating power and fewer resources than a third-party provider has based on a normally big company size, a good customer base and established network systems. 3PL providers may sacrifice efficiency by preferring their own assets in order to maximize their own efficiency. Lead logistics providers may also be less bureaucratic with shorter decision-making cycles due to the smaller size of the company.

Pyramid of Actors & Services in Logistics

First party logistics providers (1PL) are single service providers in a specific geographic area that specialize in certain goods or shipping methods.

Examples are: carrying companies, port operators, depot companies. The logistics department of a producing firm can also be a first party logistics provider if they have own transport assets and warehouses.

Second-party logistics providers (2PL) are service providers which provide their specialized logistics services in a larger (national) geographical area than the 1PL do. Often there are frame contracts between the 2PL and the customer, which regulate the conditions for the transport duties that are mostly placed short term.

2PLs provide own and external logistics resources like trucks, forklifts, warehouses etc. for transport, handling of cargo or warehouse management activities. Second-party logistics arose in the course of the globalization and the uprising trend of lean management when the companies began to outsource their logistics activities to focus on their own core companies. Examples are courier, express and parcel services; ocean carriers, freight forwarders and transshipment providers.

The most significant difference between a second party logistics provider and a third-party logistics provider is the fact that a 3PL provider is always integrated into the customer's system. The 2PL is not integrated; in contrast to the 3PL, it is only an outsourced logistics provider with no system integration. A 2PL works often on call (e.g. express parcel services) whereas a 3PL is almost every time informed about the workload of the near future.

More information: Generix Group

As technology progresses, the methodology for notifying a 3PL of inbound workload usually falls on API integrations that connect, for example, an E-commerce store with a fulfilment center. Another point that differs 2 and 3PL is the specification and customizing of services. A 2PL normally only provides standardized services, whereas 3PLs often provide services that are customized and specialized to the needs of their customer. This is possible due to long term contracts that are usual in the third-party logistics market.

Cost-effectiveness of a third-party logistics provider is only given over long periods of time with stable contract and profits. In contrast to that second party logistics services can’t be customized, concerning to the fluctuating market with hard competition and a price battle on a low level. And there we have another distinguishing point between 2PL and 3PL: Durability of contracts. 3PL contracts are long term contracts, whereas 2PL contracts are of low durability so that the customer is flexible in responding to market and price changes.

With companies operating globally, the need to increase supply chain visibility and reduce risk, improve velocity and reduce costs -all at the same time- requires a common technological solution. Non-asset based providers perform functions such as consultation on packaging and transportation, freight quoting, financial settlement, auditing, tracking, customer service and issue resolution. 

3PL Providers

However, they do not employ any truck drivers or warehouse personnel, and they don’t own any physical freight distribution assets of their own –no trucks, no storage trailers, no pallets, and no warehousing.

A non-assets based provider consists of a team of domain experts with accumulated freight industry expertise and information technology assets. They fill a role similar to freight agents or brokers but maintain a significantly greater degree of hands-on involvement in the transportation of products. These providers are 4PL and 5PL services.

A fourth party logistics (4PL) provider has no owned transport assets or warehouse capacity. They have an allocative and integration function within a supply chain with the aim of increasing the efficiency of it. The idea of a fourth-party logistics provider was born in the seventies by the consulting company Accenture. Firms are outsourcing their selection of third-party logistics provider and the optimization process of the integration of these to a PL as an intermediary. That reduces costs and the 4PL have to have an overview of the whole logistics market to choose the ideal 3PL for all operative logistic activities.

For being able to provide such an ideal solution fourth-party logistics providers need a good knowledge of the logistics branch and a good IT infrastructure. A fourth party logistics provider selects the 3PL providers from the market which are most suitable for the logistical issues of their customer. Unlike the allocative function of a 4PL in the supply chain, the core competence of a 3PL provider is the operative logistics.

More information: Cerasis

Fifth party logistics providers (5PL) provide supply chain management and offer system-oriented consulting and supply chain management services to their customers. Advancements in technology and the associated increases in supply chain visibility and inter-company communications have given rise to a relatively new model for third-party logistics operations –the non-asset based logistics provider.

On-demand transportation is a relatively new term coined by 3PL providers to describe their brokerage, ad-hoc, and flyer service offerings. On-demand transportation has become a mandatory capability for today's successful 3PL providers in offering client specific solutions to supply chain needs.

These shipments do not usually move under the lowest rate wins scenario and can be very profitable to the 3PL that wins the business. The cost quoted to customers for on-demand services are based on specific circumstances and availability and can differ greatly from normal published rates.

On-demand transportation is a niche that continues to grow and evolve within the 3PL industry.

More information: Trade Gecko

Specific modes of transport that may be subject to the on-demand model include (but are not limited to) the following:

-FTL, or Full Truck Load

-LTL, or Less-than Truckload

-Hotshot (direct, exclusive courier)

-Next Flight Out, sometimes also referred to as Best Flight Out (commercial airline shipping)

-Expedited services: (direct, exclusive courier) Immediate delivery or just-in-time (JIT)

-International Expedited

Exhausting calendar

New brokers tend to use what has become known as smile and dial brokering that essentially work as telemarketing call centers. Brokers have no obligation to successfully ship all loads (as opposed to contract logistics providers) and almost all sales representatives are heavily (and 100%) commissioned, and much of the workers' day is spent cold-calling sales leads.

Smile-and-dial brokerages typically require a 15% gross profit margin (the difference between what the shipper pays the brokerage and what the brokerage pays the carrier), and the commission compensation scheme means that the turnover of personnel in the call centers approaches 100% per year.

For the occasional shipper, smile-and-dial brokerages can provide a convenient way to have goods shipped. But the lack of deep expertise due to constant turnover, combined with the 15% pricing margins, mean that a reasonably capable traffic professional can obtain transportation services much more economically and reliably, while a shipper needing delivery as soon as possible, from air freight, air charter, ground expedited, flatbed services, refrigerated, LTL or full truckload, liftgate, van or vehicle. With JIT delivery the price will be secondary to on-demand as soon as possible delivery.

ADVANTAGES

Cost and time savings

Logistics is the core competence of third-party logistics providers. Providers may have better related knowledge and greater expertise than the producing or selling company, and may also have more global networks enabling greater time and cost efficiencies.

The equipment and the IT systems of 3PL providers are constantly updated and adapted to match the requirements of their customers and their customer’s suppliers. Producing or selling companies often do not have the time, resources, or expertise to adapt their equipment and systems as quickly.
Low capital commitment

If most or all operative functions are outsourced to a 3PL provider, there is usually no need for the client to own its own warehouse or transport facilities, lowering the amount of capital required for the client's business. This is particularly beneficial if a company's warehouse has high variations in capacity utilization, leading to overpurchasing of warehouse capacity and reducing profitability.
Focus

Logistics outsourcing allows companies with limited logistics expertise to focus on their core business. Increasing complexity in business suggests that companies benefit from not devoting resources to areas in which they are not skilled.
Flexibility

Third-party logistics providers can provide higher flexibility for geographic distribution and may offer a larger variety of services than clients could provide for themselves. Postal services and private couriers typically factor in distance when they calculate the cost of shipping; many 3PL providers market the benefit of what is known as zone skipping to potential clients, because it shortens the distance between products to be shipped and customers, resulting in lower shipping costs. This also allows businesses to more predictably manage their resources including workforce size, and turn fixed costs into variable costs.

More information: Handshake

DISAVANTAGES

Loss of control

One disadvantage is the loss of control a client has by using third-party logistics. With outbound logistics, the 3PL provider usually assumes communication and interactions with a firm's customer or supplier. To mitigate this, some 3PL’s attempt to brand themselves as their clients, such as applying clients' logos on their assets and dressing their employees like their clients' employees.

IT

The IT systems of the provider and the client must be interoperable. Technology helps increase visibility for the client by way of continuous status updates via Dispatch Management Software and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) which does involve a cost, but it can help avoid penalties for delays and subsequent financial losses such as from not unloading freight in time.

Reverse logistics

Numerous studies have shown that selling products online, rather than in a brick and retail environment, adds extra costs when it comes to handling returns (i.e, reverse logistics).

The reliance upon third-party logistics providers to handle aspects of the E-commerce supply chain such as warehousing and pick-and-pack also means these companies must be relied on to handle reverse logistics.

Artificially induced demand events such as Black Friday in the United States or Singles' Day in China come with an influx of returned products, which can slow down warehouse operations and in turn delay the issuing of refunds or other methods for mitigating dissatisfied customers. The additional layer of a third party to handle sensitive customer-facing issues such as returns is thus a heavily-debated topic within the realm of E-commerce.

More information: Ship My Orders

After talking about 3PL, The Grandma has explained the importance of nouns to discover the origin of things, people and places. Every noun hides a story and if we are able to discover it, we will understand better this name and its meaning. She has also talked about surnames and History explaining the story of Salvador de Samà i Torrents, Marquis of Samà, Marianao and Vilanova i la Geltrú, an illustrious man whose lands in Sant Boi are now a popular neighbourhood.

More information: Forebears & BBC I & II

More information: Palau Marianao, From Cuba to Sant Boi

From a logistical standpoint, I learned about when to peak,

when to push, when to recover throughout the season.

Nathan Chen

"APERI MURUM QUAE INIT AUTUMNALIS QUA!"

Minerva & The Jones in the Sorting Cerimony

Open the wall,

that arrives in fall!

The Jones are welcome in Hogwarts. In their first day in the school, they have been received by the masters, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape. 

They have been talking about rules and imperatives  inside Hogwarts and about the routines in their day by day using the Adverbs of Frequency. They have also talked about Prepositions of Time, something very important when you are living in a place where space and time are not determined.

More information: Adverbs of Frequency

The family has revised Present Simple and written a common plot about the first book of the saga, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone in the USA version). They have also created some spells to knock down walls, something very interesting if you want to enter in a place and the door is closed.

After participating in a Bingo Contest, where Merche Addams-Holmes-Jones and Ana Bean-Jones have been the winners and Carla Bean a fantastic speaker, the family has worked the auxiliaries in Present Simple, the structures in questions and the W's: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? which are very necessary to create good compositions.

More information: Prepositions of Time

Finally, The Jones have assisted to 'The Sorting Cerimony' with Minerva McGonagall to know which is going to be their school during their staying in Hogwarts.

It's a dark street. Two old people carry a baby. Some years after, the baby is a boy who loves snakes and speaks with them. Once, he receives a letter. Lots and lots of letters arrive under a terrible storm.

A giant visits a couple in the middle of the night. Two gentlemen talk to a boy named Harry Potter. The giant shows several places to the boy, until he reaches the magic shop where he gets his first wand. Then he remembers his parents. He begins his adventure. He crosses the platform and shows his scar to his new friends in the train destination to Hogwarts, a prestigious school of magic.

Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger

Harry Potter and two friends look a picture. The cat, suddenly, leaps up and transfigures into a professor. Harry Potter puts a magic hat. During the dinner, the head of a ghost appears on the plate. A man waits the arrival of the train. All students listen like the teacher talks about the nest competition. Harry Potter and his friends have dinner while hundreds of candles float in the air.

There are some boys at school. Draco Malfoy finds a clear ball. Harry and his friends are looking for something throughout the school. Behind the door, there is a dog with three heads. They find a trunk. Suddenly, appears a troll at the school.

Harry and his friends wear scarf while they are talking. They put the uniforms to play a quidditch match. Harry receives a kind of clock at Christmas. Harry and Ron rescue Hermione in the bathroom because Ron uses his wand. Harry walks across the corridor with a light. Harry receives a broom for Christmas.

In the dark night, the man observes a little dinosaur. Meanwhile, harry Potter is looking for something in Hogwarts. At the same time, the blond boy sees a big centaur through the window. Finally, Harry Potter finds the object that he was searching. This object is a shiny mirror. In the next morning, he walks with his friends to magic class and the teacher shows them the place where people can see the magic potions. Last, they read the secret recipe of Nicolas Flamel about how to make a Sorcerer's Stone.

The four intrepid boys enter into a cave and discover three dark monsters. When they try to leave, they find magic flying beings which guide them to a large chess board and become a game. When they make the movement, the boy enters into another room with a mirror that through time takes him to see his ancestors.

He fights against a sorcerer. He's wounded in combat. He recovers in the infirmary. A few days after recovering, there is an event in the dining room of Hogwarts. In his farewell, for returning to his home, he receives a gift but not really...

More information: Word Order I, II and III

Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, 

our most inexhaustible source of magic.

Albus Dumbledore

HOW TO CREATE A TIÓ BY THE BEANS FAMILY

The Grandma & The Tió

Last Wednesday, 20, The Beans continued with their English classes and they reviewed some grammar like the Prepositions of Time and The Articles, paying especial attention to the rules of the The article.

More information: A/An Articles

It was an interesting day, The Beans worked hard as always and they could make a Tió, a typical Catalan Christmas figure composed by a trunk and a blanket in its old version and the same elements, with a red hat and a painted-face in its modern one. 

More information: The Article

It was a good chance to use the Imperative to create a little manual about how to create a Tió.

More information: Prepositions of time 

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling. 

Edna Ferber