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Discover the different study abroad options available at NTU and find out how to apply for your chosen programme.
will pay the NTU tuition fee themselves, applying either independently or through an agent.
Please check with staff at your home university if you are unsure whether your university has an international exchange or Erasmus+ agreement with NTU.
You should discuss your application fully with advisers at your home university before you apply. They will help you ensure you meet our requirements and will provide advice about your module selection and credit transfer.
You should also check you meet our language requirements, have all of the necessary supporting documents, and research your module choices before you complete your application.
If successful, confirmation of acceptance is sent by email with advice about applying for accommodation, visas, etc.
Contact us by email with the following details: You full name, home university, course, year, which subject area you are interested in, when you would like to begin your studies at NTU and duration of your stay.
Term and semester dates may vary by course.
If you would like to apply for a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate degree, please visit our main international application web page. |
If you are a firefighter, your work vehicle has been especially designed for the work that you do. The same is true for paramedic trucks, military vehicles, shipping companies and just about every other profession out there. Police officers are the exception to that rule.
A standard police vehicle with a 'police package' has a more durable suspension and brakes than versions of those cars at the car dealership selling those models. Further, lots of police-specific equipment is added.
A typical agency can — and will — add just about any aftermarket equipment available from hundreds of different manufacturers. The vehicle tests — including crash data — were all done without this added equipment, and thus don't truly reflect the patrol vehicle's safety as it actually exists out there on the road. We need to remedy this.
Other than Ford, Chevy, or Dodge, it is safe to say that the final product that two different departments place on the street will never be the exact same. Carbon Motors attempted to manufacture a car just for law enforcement — and had they been successful, many of our concerns may have been solved — but ultimately the high cost of production and department budgets left a good idea on paper.
Economics indeed is a priority and it will always be cheaper to take an existing civilian car, add a few features and sell to law enforcement. I'm confident none of this will change,so it's time our profession adjusts our behavior so we are placing the safest vehicle we can in the hands of our heroes.
We all have a similar story: My friend has $30,000 of new teeth thanks to a radar device mounted with Velcro. It could have been worse and I fear it has been worse. I was contacted several years ago from the wife of an officer. Her husband had suffered a traumatic brain injury due to police equipment in a car. He could no longer work or function by himself. His wife was left with questions and unfortunately I had no answers.
Our profession has done a terrible job regarding car interior safety. We've suffered injuries — and likely deaths — because of this and we don't discuss it. Maybe we don't have the discussion because we don't see viable alternatives but it has to start somewhere.
Here are six ways we can immediately make the interior of our police cars safer.
1. Limit Equipment: This will definitely not be a popular step but if we truly want a safer vehicle, the issue becomes what is absolutely necessary inside the vehicle. Even a radio microphone could potentially be unsafe but we absolutely need that inside the car. If something is inside your car and you haven't used it in six months then get it out. We need to get back to what is necessary to do our job.
2. "What If" the Inside the Car: On a daily basis, we should look at the contents of our car and think what would happen in a collision. How will that metal ticket book feel hitting me at 60 mph? Could it cause serious injury or death at collision speeds?
If the answer is yes, we need to secure it — and do so using a hard mount when needed. Equipment no doubt will need to be placed inside police vehicles but when it does, Velcro is the enemy and mounting with hardware is a necessity.
3. If You Cannot Secure, Then Relocate Loose Items: If the item isn't critical and timely, it should go where it can't hurt you…in the trunk.
4. Wear a Seatbelt: Unfortunately we can't assume this is being done in our profession. With studies suggesting that half of our officers in fatality crashes were not wearing a seatbelt, we need to also understand that the seatbelt is designed to keep you in the seat and the way to keep mounted equipment away from you in a crash is to stay in your seat. A seatbelt is the only way to ensure this.
5. Integrate Equipment: We need to work on integrating our equipment into our car versus mounting the equipment. Havis has been leading the way on this and their computer screen configurations are being tested in agencies across the country.
Cost has no doubt been an issue on why we haven't done this sooner but it is time for costs to take a back seat to safety.
The United States Military and the National Football League are two organizations that have studied the effects of Brain Trauma and it is time that law enforcement does the same. Currently, we have no idea of how many officers are affected and what caused the injury. To improve safety we have to know this information and it has to start now. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Let's make it happen and together we can work towards a safer profession. |
This month, we have a lot to share about how the Howard Tech Advisors Team is giving back to our community.
Our Field Engineer, Alex Rubenstein, will be supported by others at HTA at the second annual George Wilson Jr. Memorial Scholarship 5k Fun Run & Walk on May 20th in Gaithersburg. Alex and other attendees will be honoring and celebrating the life of George, Alex's stepfather who passed away in November 2015. George was known for his "passion for life." His family, friends, and colleagues valued "his expertise in information technology, and appreciated and benefitted from his vision for the seamless integration of business, information technology, and accounting." All of the proceeds will be donated to the George W. Wilson, Jr. Scholarship Fund that embraces his vision for the future of information technology by supporting deserving students who wish to become CPAs and share George's vision for the profession.
If you would like to join Alex, HTA, and others on May 20th, register or donate here.
At the end of this month, HopeWorks (formerly the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County) is hosting their 10th Annual Hope Bowl to raise awareness and money for victims of sexual and domestic violence.
On April 29th from 7 to 9 p.m. at Brunswick Bowling in Columbia, fundraising teams will bowl, enjoy live music, refreshments, raffles and contests. This is a family-friendly event and you can still register your team here.
HopeWorks is Howard County Maryland's Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Center. Since 1978, the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County has been providing critical services to families affected by domestic violence and raising awareness in the community. In 2010, they added to their mission comprehensive services for survivors of sexual assault and sexual abuse. Learn more about HopeWorks here.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 17th, 2017 at 12:06 pm. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
Tillerson Hitchhiking to Save Money.
(Washington D.C.) Unconfirmed Sources reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been spotted hitchhiking home from his latest trip overseas. Due to budget cuts at the State Department, Tillerson could only fly to Los Angelas before running out of money. The Secretary decided to hitch back to Washington to report on the progress of his Asia trip.
Pitchfield said that he and the Secretary spent many hours talking about the difficulties of starting a new job and working for a difficult boss. Tillerson fretted about budget cuts and openly wondered if he would be able to keep his job.
State Department budget cuts are causing much belt-tightening in Washington and posts overseas. On one occasion during the latest trip, Tillerson and his staff decided to stay in the hotel, rather than go out to dinner with leaders of South Korea. The sub caused a bit of confusion as each party told a different story surrounding the events.
There is still no sign of Tillerson at the State Department, but if gets a few more good rides he will be back ina few days. |
I urge you to vote against any kind of military attack on Syria as considered by our Administration. Absent of an attack on our land, the use of military force without approval from the UN Security Council is in violation of international law. Furthermore, the US government, which used Agent Orange in Vietnam and depleted uranium in Iraq, simply has no moral standing for punishing other governments for possible similar violations. An attack on Syria will undoubtedly result in serious repercussions: it may destabilize larger regions of the Middle East, degrade the relationship with Russia to Cold War lows, halt diplomatic efforts toward a nuclear-free Iran, and all the while not ending the civil war.
When the UN investigation is complete, the international community should try the perpetrators of the attack, whoever they are, in the International Criminal Court. If our Administration is interested in building peace, it should lead by example, ending the arms supply to the opposition forces and getting out of the Middle East altogether.
This is a violation of international law under the United Nations. We are a signatory to the UN. Syria has done nothing to us. Instead of bombing them based on flimsy "evidence" we should provide humanitarian aid through the United Nations. |
ACADEMY: Introducing Rob Williams
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Shrewsbury Town's Academy have appointed Rob Williams as their new Head of Academy Coach Development.
The position has been vacant since Dan Copnall moved to work in the Premier League. Rob has been doing a similar Head of Coaching role at Walsall FC and brings a wealth of experience with him.
Rob has been in the job for a couple of weeks and has been busy getting to see how things work at Shrewsbury Town and seeing how he can support the Academy coaches.
"I've been in the post for a couple of weeks now and have joined as Head of Academy Coach Development, having done exactly the same role at Walsall for the last two years", said Rob.
"This was a really fantastic opportunity to come to Shrewsbury, a well-resourced club and a job that will help me develop.
"The role is Premier League funded, and our job is to primarily to support staff within the Academy whether that be newly qualified coaches or experienced coaches.
"Both of those may need different types of support depending on where they are in their journey, but the role is predominantly about how I can support the coaches.
"The theory is that the better the coaches we have then, the better the players we can bring through the academy."
The Shrewsbury Town Academy has coaches working with players from U7s right up to the U18s. Rob's role is to help support and develop the coaches to help them improve.
"The role is very much about embedding the philosophy and the model that the Academy works to", said Rob.
"The coaches are working in a structured manner, working around the same principles and themes, but the support can be tailored because what one coach needs might be different from what another needs.
"I'm in the process at the moment of meeting with coaches and seeing where they are at, seeing what they think they need and how we are going to put that into place to support them."
David Longwell has been in the role of Academy Manager for since early February. He has been looking at ways of continuing the improvement of the Academy and Rob believes his role will help David achieve that.
"David is very driven and has a clear idea of what he wants and how he wants the Academy to look", said Rob.
"That in itself has brought about a lot of change since he's been in the post.
"My job is also to support David and make sure those changes are happening.
"It's a challenge for him and with Dan moving on from this position a while ago, and now with me joining I feel that will give him the ability offload some thins to me so he can get back to focusing on the bigger picture."
Another of Rob's aims is to continue to improve the relationship between the Academy and Grassroots coaches in Shropshire. The link between the club and these coaches is vital, and Rob is looking to help these coaches develop as well.
"I think there is a real opportunity or us on how we link and support with grassroots coaches", said Rob.
"They are our lifeblood as that is where the players come from, they are the coaches who do the first work on players who may come to work with us in the Academy.
"The more we can support them will help us break down some barriers to help players come, but also help us to recruit new coaches.
"The challenge is to build those relationships and work with coaches, whether than be them coming to observe what we are doing or us doing workshops to help them at their clubs.
"Hopefully it will mean that in a year we will have a succession plan should coaches move then we have got other coaches who can potentially come into the programme and take on those opportunities."
The first Coach Development Workshop will take place on Tuesday 22nd October at the Shrewsbury Sports Village. The event starts at 6:30 pm and runs until 7:45 pm, contact [email protected] to book or for more information. |
The STEAM4U project aims to promote equity in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) education by enhancing 10-14-year-old students' self-efficacy (perception of their own capabilities) in these fields, and particularly targeting those students in disadvantaged situations in STEAM. According to the literature in the field, discrepancies between youths' own identity and STEAM careers' identity (male, white and brainy), family "science capital" (science-related qualifications, knowledge about science, etc.) and students' self-efficacy in STEAM (their believes on their own capacity and competence in the field) are three major causes of students disinterest for STEAM subjects (Macdonald, 2014). This situation triggers off serious inequalities because generates an homogeneous profile of those who go on to study STEAM subjects (those who highly identify themselves with the STEAM identity), silencing the voice of diverse actors, like women, working-class groups and other under-represented collectives not only into STEAM fields, but also as full-citizens (Archer et al., 2013; Kearney, 2016).
lower than their actual performance) (Everis 2015). Self-efficacy, however, is not that easy to raise, as it has been constructed over years. Possible actions in this direction are providing students with experiences of success in STEAM-related activities from early years and increasing their own knowledge on the concept of self-efficacy to empower them to better assess their capacities.
(c) Evaluate the affordances and limitations of the identified and proposed strategies for enhancing students' self-efficacy.
(b) Offer to students of ages 10-14 and their families, empowering resources to know about self-efficacy and its effect on their life choices.
The project will gather together representatives of several European organizations in charge of initiatives focused on empowering young people in the STEAM fields within an equity perspective. These organisations have a wide experience promoting unique initiatives in the STEAM field that have potential regarding the promotion of self-efficacy of students due to its pedagogical characteristics: an interdisciplinary approach to education that integrates STEAM, use of innovative pedagogical methodologies, inclusion of interesting strategies to promote equity… The exchange and cooperative work between these different organisations is expected to enrich each of the existing initiatives and also to develop a common European framework to promote self-efficacy in STEAM-related activities.
Miembros del CRECIM participantes: Digna Couso Largarón (IP), Carme Grimalt Álvaro, Maria Isabel Hernández Rodríguez, Víctor López Simó, Cristina Simarro Rodríguez, Anna Garrido Espeja. |
New Testament scholar Scot McKnight writes, "Hell inspires the abusive tongue." (McKnight, James, 286) Words that tear down rather than build up, words of hatred rather than love, words showing favoritism of one person over another, all rise up out of a heart in touch with hell.
James ramps up the intensity when he writes: "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness."
For James this is crazy because it means blessing a person with your words and then cursing the same person with your words. This is some kind of evil schizophrenia. How so?
2. I curse God (via cursing people who are made in the image of God).
This is the incongruous "double-mindedness" James warns about. James describes Christians who praise God with their mouths on Sunday mornings and are brutal towards other people in their homes or in their work places.
Cursing is tearing down the image of God in other people. N. T. Wright says if "someone turns out to be pouring out curses – cursing other humans who are made in God's likeness – then one must at least question whether their heart has been properly cleansed, rinsed by God's powerful spirit. And if that isn't the case, that person is getting their real inspiration from hell itself."
We cannot get at the springs of our natural life by common sense and Jesus is teaching that growth in spiritual life does not depend on our watching it, but on concentration on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows the circumstances we are in, and if we keep concentrated on Him we will grow spiritually as the lilies."
The message of James 3:3-12 is that, while humanity has failed to tame the human tongue, God can as we abide in him. |
Records (documents) (457)
Compact discs (190)
Newsletters (136)
Oral histories (document genres) (128)
Floppy disks (119)
Architectural drawings (114)
Transcripts (111)
Motion pictures (visual works) (104)
Pamphlets (104)
Museums (1229)
Historians (137)
Natural history museums (131)
Special events (119)
Professional associations (69)
Research grants (64)
Warshaw, Isadore, d. 1969 (58)
Smithsonian Institution (50)
Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications (34)
Lemelson Center (28)
Smithsonian Associates (23)
Smithsonian Institution, Office of Museum Programs (23)
National Museum of American History (20)
National Museum of Natural History, Office of Education and Outreach (19)
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Department of Education (18)
National Museum of Natural History, Office of Education (18)
National Zoological Park, Dept. of Zoological Research (16)
Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies (16)
Smithsonian Productions (16)
Council of American Overseas Research Centers (15)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (15)
Howard University (15)
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (15)
National Museum of American History. Office of the Director (14)
Smithsonian Institution. Office of Planning, Management and Budget (14)
Indians of North America (130)
Navajo Indians (23)
Indians of South America (21)
Dakota Indians (16)
Pueblo Indians (15)
Hopi Indians (13)
Kiowa Indians (13)
Cherokee Indians (11)
Seminole Indians (11)
Cheyenne Indians (10)
Iroquois Indians (10)
Taos Indians (9)
Laguna Indians (8)
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.) (11)
Smithsonian Institution Archives (2001)
National Museum of African American History and Culture (34)
Query: Educators
3366 records — Page 143 of 337
National Zoological Park, Dept. of Zoological Research
6.08 cu. ft. (5 record storage boxes) (1 document box) (1 tall document box)
This accession consists of records documenting the research of Miles Roberts, a specialist in mammals and Deputy Head of the Department of Zoological Research. Animals documented in this research include kangaroo rats, raccoons, gibbons, langurs, sloth bears, spectacled bears, polar bears, red pandas, opossums, giant pandas, bandicoots, e...
Animal Research Records
12.66 cu. ft. (6 record storage boxes) (9 document boxes) (6 5x8 boxes)
This accession consists of records created and maintained by Devra G. Kleiman, documenting research and breeding programs at the National Zoological Park as well as programs in which the National Zoological Park was partially involved. The majority of the records document behavioral studies of giant pandas, the mating of Hsing-Hsing and L...
Smithsonian Institution, Office of the Under Secretary for Science
This accession consists of records documenting the SIguide and the assets that were used in its design and creation. The SIguide project was intended to deliver museum content and information through wireless, handheld mobile devices to Smithsonian visitors at five museums: the National Postal Museum; the Smithsonian Institution Building; ...
Frederick Vernon Coville Papers
Coville, Frederick V. (Frederick Vernon), 1867-1937
3 cu. ft. (6 document boxes)
These papers of Frederick Vernon Coville were part of a group of Smithsonian Department of Botany records which were originally deposited in 1971 at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. In December 1977, the records were returned to the Smithsonian for maintenance in the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Smithsonian Channel Records
Smithsonian Enterprises
Created in 2006, Smithsonian On Demand was a partnership between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution to develop, launch, and operate a Smithsonian video programming channel. The partnership's purpose was to widen and extend the reach of the Smithsonian through unique and original programs that utilized Smithsonian collections, ...
National Portrait Gallery, Office of the Deputy Director
1975, 1986-1987, 1991, 2000-2005
1.5 cu. ft. (1 record storage box) (1 document box)
This accession consists of exhibition records related to "George Washington: A National Treasure," a traveling exhibition which included the recently acquired Lansdowne portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796. This traveling exhibition went to the following venues: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (February 15-June ...
Smithsonian Institution, Traveling Exhibition Service
These records document the organization, design, and promotion of exhibits. Major traveling exhibitions represented include "Fred E. Miller: Photographer of the Crows," "Kids Bridge," "Millennium Messages," "An Ocean Apart: Contemporary Vietnamese Art from the United States and Vietnam," and "VanDerZee Photographer (1886-1983)." The last ...
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Exhibition Manager
This accession consists of exhibition records created and maintained by the Exhibitions Manager, Marie Elena Amatangelo, in her work planning and coordinating exhibitions at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery. Exhibitions represented include "High Fiber;" "Modernism in American Silver: 20th Century Design;" "American ...
George B. Vogt Papers
Vogt, G. B, (George Britton),1920-
The papers of George B. Vogt primarily document his entomological research and field work during his career with the USDA. They also concern, to a lesser extent, his work with the United States Public Health Service, 1942-1947, and entomological research before and after his career in federal service. They include correspondence and memoranda ...
C. S. (Constantine Samuel) Rafinesque Papers
Rafinesque, C. S, (Constantine Samuel), 1783-1840
0.1 linear meter. |
Routes and schedules Tickets Parking services For Riga guests E-services Services
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Check validity of your e-ticket!
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Important information for disabled persons of group 1 and 2 and disabled persons under the age of 18
Information for disabled persons of group 1 and 2, disabled persons under the age of 18 and persons accompanying a disabled person of group 1 or a disabled person under the age of 18*.
When using Riga public transport:
disabled persons of group 1 and 2, disabled persons under the age of 18 and persons accompanying a disabled person of group 1 or a disabled person under the age of 18 are asked to take a FREE TICKET from the driver after presenting a disabled person's certificate;
disabled persons of group 1 and 2, and disabled persons under the age of 18 are asked to register each trip with a personalized e-ticket (it is issued free of charge in "Rīgas satiksme" customer service centres upon presenting an ID document and a disabled person's certificate).
The above changes in the order of using Riga public transport are related to the need of ensuring precise count of passengers**.
Information about disabled persons of group 3 is available here.
* Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 153 of 31.03.2015. "Regulations on the categories of passengers having right to use fare discounts on routes of the route network".
** Cabinet of Ministers regulations No.435 "The Procedure of Assessing and Compensating Losses and Expenditures Related to the Delivery of Public Transport Services and Setting the Tariff of the Public Transport Service" of 28.07.2015.
Other ticket types
Valid for one month from the first registration day.
Ticket for a certain period of time – 5, 3 days, as well as 24 hours
Single tickets for one trip or pets' tickets, which are sold by the driver only
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In this chapter we shed some light onto widely unknown features. Parts like the operator precedence unconsciously are exploited in every-day programming by all of us. Others like the use of function variables are truly unknown, at least to the average Scilab user. So, read on and become a Yedi^H^H^H^HScilab master.
Strange but true, there is no listing of the precedence and associativity of neither class of Scilab's operators anywhere in the documentation. So, we discuss the operator precedence and associativity in detail.
Table 4-1 displays a list of all numeric operators up to digraphs , sorted in descending order of their precedence. An equal precedence value (column 1) means the operators are evaluated following the given associativity (column 3).
The table is generated with a Scilab script, i.e. we had the interpreter determine its own precedence rules, which is neat. These scripts are listed in Chapter 9.
One line asks for an additional warning, and that's the unary minus at level 19. It looses against the power operator, ^. Therefore, -1^2 gives -1 and not 1. In other words Scilab sees -1^2 as -(1^2).
The association rules follow those of standard algebra. Thus, nobody should be surprised that a^b^c is interpreted as a^(b^c).
just with much less line-noise.
Table 4-2 shows the complete list of Scilab's logical (also known as boolean) operators sorted according to decreasing precedence.
Scilab always evaluates boolean expressions completely. No operator is defined with short-circuit evaluation semantics.
The trigraph operators .*., ./., and .\. are left out. |
Raleigh man charged with sexual assault of a minor
Wake County Sheriff's Office file photo.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Raleigh man is behind bars after being arrested in connection with sexual assault of a minor.
The Wake County Sheriff's Office arrested Leobardo Silverio-Chavez. He is charged with statutory sex offense with a child by an adult.
The alleged assaults have taken place during the past several years, the sheriff's office said.
The minor first reported the alleged assaults late last year.
Silverio-Chavez is being held at the Wake County Detention Center under a $1.5 million bond.
The investigation is ongoing and further charges are pending.
See breaking news? Tell us about it here.
Copyright © 2023 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
RALEIGH WAKE COUNTY ARREST CHILD SEX ASSAULT |
Your credit or debit card number and details are your most valuable possessions. You'd never give them out to a stranger because credit card fraud is way too easy to fall into these days.
But it's now become even easier for fraudsters to steal your credit card information. Now, they can get it simply by standing next to you.
Well, while it might sound farfetched, if you carry around a credit card with a RFID chip embedded in it, you're making yourself more vulnerable. But you don't have to be if you invest in a RFID blocking sleeve.
How Do RFID chips work?
Credit cards with RFID chips can make payments simply by swiping or tapping over a card machine rather than having to be inserted into the terminal.
Known as 'Contactless' payments, they're designed for convenience but can actually make you more vulnerable.
Contactless payments work by using scanning technologies that rely on radio frequency signals.
These technologies have been used for around 10 years to track packages and items in inventories. They're also used for passports and travel cards issued from 2006 onwards to track your information.
RFID chips are used in more ways than you know. They're everywhere.
How Can People Get Access To My Details Without Knowing?
It's possible to intercept the radio frequencies used to make contactless payments happen. It's even possible for fraudsters and hackers to scan your card details from through your pocket or wallet.
Hackers only need to be standing 6 inches away to be able to do this. They can pick up and store your data in seconds without you knowing, and even replicate it.
How Does A RFID Blocking Sleeve Work?
Thankfully, while the radio waves are easy to intercept by fraudsters, you can also block them out from your end, too.
This is what a RFID blocking sleeve works. The material they're made from encases your credit cards and prevents hackers from scanning them by interfering with the radio waves.
A proper, well-made RFID blocking card sleeve will counter any communication between your credit cards and any card machines with RFID scanners. It also blocks all electromagnetic fields.
Investing in a RFID blocker will make an excellent addition to your urban survival kit. It ranks alongside your credit card multi-tool, credit card knife, and even your seatbelt cutter.
Alpine Rivers sell excellent quality and extremely reasonably priced RFID shield sleeves and wallets and have rave reviews to boot. Other trustworthy brands include WPPL and Aerb.
You can even find similar products to protect your identity, RFID blocking sleeves for your passport instead of your cards and wallet.
Knowing you're prepared for all eventualities and protecting yourself from danger or potential malicious scans and hacks is one of the best feelings in the world.
Secure your credit card details and money today; invest in a RFID Blocking Sleeve , easily one of the most simple yet important security products made in the past ten years. And while you're at it… check out the other really cool free survival gear and tools on our website. |
Why United pair are crucial for Brazil
Adam Marshall
Monday 28 November 2022 13:02
Former World Cup winner Gilberto Silva believes Casemiro and Fred are key to Brazil's hopes of going all the way at Qatar 2022.
The Manchester United pair are tipped to start the Selecao's game with Switzerland later today (16:00 GMT kick-off), as the tournament favourites look to clinch a place in the knockout stages with a game to spare.
Fred was only introduced off the bench in the 2-0 win over Serbia but is reportedly poised to come into Tite's XI.
Fred's secret weapon with Brazil
Our midfield man says he is able to get advice on what it is like to lift the World Cup.
Former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva, who lifted the trophy in 2002 and is now Fred's agent, is in no doubt about the influence the Reds duo can exert on the biggest stage.
"Casemiro started alongside Lucas Paqueta in Brazil's first group game," he told BBC Sport. "But he finished the game alongside his usual partner for the national team, his Manchester United team-mate Fred. I have watched them play many matches together now and, for Brazil, they have lost only once - the 2021 Copa America final against Argentina.
"It works very well because Casemiro sits at the back, like I did, and Fred is more mobile, like Kleberson was when he was next to me in our midfield at the 2002 World Cup. But Fred is also defensively strong. He is not just in front of Casemiro, he plays alongside him too and helps him do his job. They have an understanding now and I'm hoping this partnership will work well again at this World Cup. If we are going to win it, it will play such an important part."
Casemiro was outstanding in the victory over Serbia but Gilberto Silva believes United's summer signing's performances can go under the radar, particularly considering the dazzling array of attacking talent at Brazil's disposal.
"My job when Brazil won the 2002 World Cup was to be invisible on the pitch," he added. "If I did it right, it made things easier for the players in front of me, as well as for myself. It is the same situation now for Casemiro, the defensive midfielder, who is at the heart of this Brazil team trying to end our 20-year wait to win it again. He has a great responsibility in my old position.
"You have to be smart to play as a holding midfielder for an attack-minded side like Brazil, and you also have to be patient. Let me explain why.
"It is not just about being the tough player, the one who tackles everyone. That is only one small part of the whole role, and even then you have to be clever to choose the right time to actually put a challenge in. Instead, you have to read the game and understand where you should be, which is usually in the middle of everything.
"Your position is the most important thing. If you choose the right line on the pitch then, from there, you can see everything and spot any danger - well, most of the time. For me with Brazil, that usually meant having a few attacking guys further forward and only the centre-backs behind me, with the full-backs in a line between them. If you watch Casemiro, that is where he is too.
"From there, you are the one controlling things. You are in control when the ball goes from one side to another - even if you don't touch it - simply because you are where you need to be.
TeamViewer Diaries: Fred Video
TeamViewer Diaries: Fred
TeamViewer Diaries | Fred discusses the World Cup, our dressing room and what he wants to achieve in the new year...
"Against Serbia, it would have been easy for him to go forward in a game where we had lots of possession, but he only touched the ball once in the final third of the field - when Brazil were 2-0 up with 12 minutes to go, and he hit the bar with a shot from outside the area.
"Instead he kept his discipline, held his territory and was always ready in case we lost the ball. Even when he got it back, he knew that, in his position, he did not need to run with it.
"I was the same. I always thought that at some point the guys up front would lose the ball and that is the time when I would have to run - to get it back, and give it to them to try again!"
Victor Lindelof is on a mission with UNICEF
Our defender has been to The Gambia to help the young people of the African country.
Rashford feeling close to his best again
Marcus is in good shape as he hunts another World Cup goal, when England take on Wales.
What does the World Cup mean to Dalot?
Later today, Diogo could potentially make his debut in a tournament he has had a long-standing admiration for.
Who is United's Player of the Season so far?
Our writers offer their picks for the Red who has impressed the most in the first part of the campaign.
What's happening at United this week? |
Defy Me
The breath-taking and heart-pounding fifth instalment in the incredible New York Times and UK kindle bestselling SHATTER ME series. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Victoria Aveyard and Leigh Bardugo.
She was never meant for you.
She was never meant for any of this.
That girl was sentenced to death the moment I named her Juliette.
Juliette Ferrars isn't who she thinks she is.
Nothing in her world is what it seemed. She thought she'd defeated The Reestablishment. She thought she'd finally taken control of her life, her power, her pain. But a lifetime of lies unravelling before her has changed all that.
Stronger, braver, and more resilient than ever, Juliette must fight for life and love. But first she has to survive the war being raged against her mind.
She has to remember who she was.
Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times bestselling author of the Shatter Me series which has been published in over 30 languages around the world. She is also the author of the ravely reviewed A Very Large Expanse of Sea. he was born in a small city somewhere in Connecticut and currently resides in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, Ransom Riggs, fellow bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, and their young daughter. She can usually be found overcaffeinated and stuck in a book. You can find her online just about anywhere at @TaherehMafi.
Praise for the Shatter Me series:
"Dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense. I dare you to stop reading." – Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series
"Addictive, intense, and oozing with romance. I'm envious. I couldn't put it down." – Lauren Kate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fallen series
"Tahereh Mafi's bold, inventive prose crackles with raw emotion. A thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love, the Shatter Me series is a must-read for fans of dystopian young adult literature – or any literature!" -Ransom Riggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Praise for A Very Large Expanse of Sea:
'This is a gorgeous book. It's tender and fierce, beautiful even as it depicts some ugly truths. The prose is passionate and honest, unsentimental and big-hearted. The very best books move you to reconsider the world around you and this is one of those. I truly loved it.' – Nicola Yoon, bestselling author of Everything, Everything
'A raw yet astoundingly elegant examination of identity, loneliness and family that is unflinching in its honesty and power. Tahereh Mafi holds nothing back – and the reader is better for it.' – Sabaa Tahir, New York Times bestselling author of Ember in the Ashes
'A Very Large Expanse of Sea reads like a beautiful heart – one that shines and aches and yearns, and above all else, one that loves fiercely against all odds. Years from now, you will remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you experienced this. A transcendent story about truth, love and finding joy.' – Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series.'
Author: Tahereh Mafi, Read by Kate Simses, James Fouhey and Vikas Adam
Format: Audio-Book
Ageband: From 12
Detailed Edition: Unabridged edition
Audio-Book |
TODO: generalize LeftIdentity, RightIdentity, and Associative so that we can use them here.
We map the objects and arrows onto types and relations in some kind of structure-preserving ways.
We can specialize cat_sim_trans to account for situations where either e12 or e23 are id, in which case the goal does not need to be of the form sim (_ ∘ _).
HTransitive (sim e12) (sim id) (sim e12) | 2.
intros a b c Hab Hbc.
HTransitive (sim id) (sim e12) (sim e12) | 2.
∀ v, @PreOrder (T v) (sim id).
× intros x y z Hxy Hyz.
We write sim id as (≤).
sim e is compatible with sim id.
∀ v1 v2 e, Proper (sim id --> sim id ++> impl) (simRR v1 v2 e).
intros v1 v2 e x1 x2 Hx y1 y2 Hy Hxy.
sim e is compatible with ≡.
∀ v1 v2 e, Proper ((≡) ==> (≡) ==> impl) (simRR v1 v2 e).
intros v1 v2 e x1 x2 [Hx12 Hx21] y1 y2 [Hy12 Hy21] Hxy. |
Daz Cameron Tigers Prospect We Hope To See In Detroit In 2019
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
As the Detroit Tigers continue their rebuild, one of the players making a case to be in Detroit is future outfielder, Daz Cameron.
Cameron is one of the players that was a part of the Justin Verlander trade back in 2017. Since the trade he has made his way up the Tigers minor league system playing in West Michigan, Lakeland, Erie and now Toledo.
Son of former Major League Outfielder, Mike Cameron, Daz has an exciting future. He is one of the upcoming Tigers that hopefully fans will get to see up at Comerica Park sometime in 2019.
He has had some great plays in Spring Training this year, including hitting a Grand Slam against the Blue Jays.
Unfortunately the team wants to give him more time in Triple A Toledo. He will play there for most of this season. Hopefully later in the year fans will get a chance to see him in Comerica Park for either an injury call up or call up in September.
He is close and it will be exciting when he finally makes the leap to the majors.
COMERICA PARK TO HAVE NEW P.A. ANNOUNCER FOR THIS YEAR
Filed Under: Baseball, Daz Cameron, Detroit Tigers, MLB |
Is Mychal Mulder a two-way contract candidate?
Would the Warriors demote Mulder and, if so, would he accept?
By Brady Klopfer@BradyKlopferNBA Sep 30, 2021, 11:22pm PDT
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It's a bit of an odd question to ask. Mychal Mulder appeared in 60 games for the Golden State Warriors last year, and started six of them. He averaged 12.8 minutes per contest. He scored more points per game than Kevon Looney, and made more threes than Damion Lee and Kent Bazemore.
He was a key contributor, especially down the stretch as the Dubs caught fire in the final month of the season.
But could Golden State try to demote him to a two-way contract this season? And if they do, would he accept, or would he field a better offer elsewhere?
The Warriors are in their first week of training camp, and currently have two spots available: the 15th spot on the roster, as well as a second two-way contract next to point guard Chris Chiozza.
Five players are in camp fighting for the 15th spot. The favorites are Mulder, Gary Payton II, and Avery Bradley, with journeymen Langston Galloway and Jordan Bell also in the mix. Of those five, Mulder — who has just two years of NBA experience — is the only one eligible for a two-way contract, which is limited to players entering one of their first four years in the league.
That fact alone puts Mulder at a disadvantage for earning the final roster spot, unless Bob Myers and Co. think Mulder wouldn't accept a two-way contract.
It's not a coincidence that all of the camp invites are veteran players, rather than youngsters trying to find their footing in the NBA. With roster spots already allocated to James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody, the Warriors are only interested in players who can contribute immediately for their final spots.
It's why you see Mulder, Payton, Bradley, Galloway, and Bell, instead of a roster populated with players from Summer League. It's why trusty Chiozza occupies a two-way spot, instead of a Chris Boucher or Marcus Derrickson, as in prior seasons.
As such, the player or players that the Warriors add — they have been open about potentially keeping the final roster spot unfilled to start the year — will be ones who the Dubs feel confident can contribute.
Halfway through the 2020-21 season, Mulder didn't look like that player. But as injuries and trades mounted, and Mulder's opportunity expanded, he quickly started to look like a player ready to contribute to a playoff team.
Now we find out how much the Warriors, and perhaps the rest of the league, value that.
If the Dubs opt for defense over offense — an understandable choice, given Jordan Poole's emergence and Klay Thompson's impending return — then Payton or Bradley will likely earn the spot. If that happens, Golden State will almost surely offer Mulder a two-way contract. And given that two-way contracts can now be active for 50 games, and travel with the team all year, that would allow Mulder to spend the season with Golden State, rather than bopping down to Santa Cruz.
Would he accept? It's an interesting question. Two-way contracts no longer make a tiny fraction of an NBA salary — now it's a flat rate of half the minimum. Any actual NBA contract will still tower over that sum (a little over $450,000), but Mulder is unlikely to receive anything other than a non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed contract this late in the year. It could be that a two-way contract is the best offer he gets.
It would feel a little harsh after his strong 2020-21, but the NBA is a harsh world. Mulder on a two-way contract is an affordable way to add NBA-caliber shooting to a team that is facing a few months without Thompson, and perhaps 41 games without Andrew Wiggins. |
Clay guns aren't cheap, so protecting your gear is essential!
This new item from one of the world's finest quality outdoor brands, Harkila, is attracting a lot of attention. It is made of 100 per cent waxed, distressed leather with a padded shoulder strap and a reliable YKK zip. At 135cm long, it is plenty big enough to hold those long Trap-shotgun barrels, and there is a matching cartridge bag available to buy for £119.99 if you're into your gear looking sharp.
This lightweight gun slip features water resistant canvas and natural leather trim. The design incorporates a hand stitched blocked end while a fleece lining encases the gun. It has a robust coil zip, fully adjustable sling and brass fittings. The slips have a total inside length 50 inches and are available in forest green and desert sand colour schemes.
Browning's Defender range of safes comes in sizes with capacity for 10 to 23 guns. All models other than the 10-gun safe have a removable, lockable ammunition box. The Defender has an electronic lock and is fire resistant, offering 30 minutes protection against temperatures up to 760°C. Its body is plated with 3mm thick steel, while the door is 3.5mm thick. Browning safes have nine one-inch diameter locking bolts, six outer and three inner. And pre-drilled mounting holes aid installation in your home.
These durable hammer grey cabinets feature a fully welded construction made from 2mm thick steel and seven lever action locks with anti-jemmy return. The double skinned door has a concealed hinge and an anti-lever flange. Inside is a floor mat for gun protection and foam rubber dividers. Plus 24-hour direct delivery to the customer can be arranged upon request.
Brattonsound Gunsafes are built and independently tested to British Standard BS 7558/92 for gun security. The SL5+ model is designed to fit four or five guns and also includes an internal lockable safe for ammunition or other valuables. The safe measures 1515cm x 268cm x 271cm and weighs 38kg. All Brattonsound Gunsafes are covered by a three-year warranty.
Balindore's bespoke, hand built gun safes can be designed to any cabinet style, housing a stainless steel gun safe with an electronic locking system. The leather-lined safes are mainly built in walnut, but can be constructed from a selection of woods to match the aesthetic character of the room where they are installed. The largest versions can house up to 180 guns for the keenest of shooters.
Having a large, metal bulk taking room out of your much-needed cupboard space is unsightly and frustrating, but 21st Century Antiques has, for the past 45 years, been protecting valuable guns in unique ways. Disguised as useful furniture, the Model 302 known as the Escritoire is one example that has been designed as an 18th century writing bureau. It can accommodate 12 guns and the cabinets boast 3mm thick steel, lined using green soft fabric.
Made by British clay shooter Mike Bartlett, a long, 12 or 20-bore rod is wrapped in cleaning material, with a custom-made phosphor bronze brush on the end that is tipped with a rounded, plastic end to avoid touching the inside of your barrel with any metal parts. At the other end of the rod is an aluminum handle so you never have to directly touch the rod, meaning you will stay clean throughout the gun-cleaning process.
This shotgun care kit from John Shooter is made from distressed tan leather, held closed by 3mm leather straps with thick brass buckles. Inside is a removable leather bag held in place by Velcro, and a complete cleaning kit comprising a three-piece rod, jag, mop, oil and brush.
This gunslip from new company ShootGear has been carefully thought through. The outer is constructed to make the slip waterproof, lightweight and durable. It is lined with foam to offer protection to your gun and carry hands and shoulder strap make it easy and versatile to carry. It also comes with a 10-year guarantee. |
The combination of two double DeLuxe rooms is called DBL Deluxe.
*Max. 4pers./apartment. **Max. 6 pers./apartment.
All prices are in EUR and include VAT. Prices are per person per day.
All prices are in EUR and include VAT. Prices are per apartment per day.
* The prices refer to the sauna offer. |
The artist William Luker Jr devoted quite a few pictures to Kensington Gardens as his contribution to W J Loftie's Kensington: Picturesque and Historical. Miss Charlotte Green, from this post, did not of course exist in the strictest sense of the word, but nevertheless for today's purposes we know she travelled abroad, never married, but brought a child back to live in Kensington with her in the 1880s. Miss Miranda Green had a darker complexion than her mother but this was never remarked upon in Kensington. Mrs Green, as she was known, was now wealthy enough for people to ignore any questions about Miranda's father. It must be said however that as Miranda grew up she seemed to prefer her own company and often walked alone through the familiar places her mother had shown her.
She and her mother may have lived in Sheffield Terrace, near to Mr Luker's house so they may have seen some of his work in progress.
They may have known why the artist included a broken ladder in this pictures of the Round Pond frozen at the height of winter, and why the ladder seems to have offered a way out of, or into, the picture. Miranda and her mother walked by the pond all year round.
As a child she learned all the secret places of the park.
As she grew older and walked out on her own she favoured other secluded places.
She liked to stand in the shadows away from view, but when she became a young woman she walked more boldly.
Sometimes she imagined the Gardens as they were in the 18th century.
The past seemed to offer an exotic destination, if a way could be found to reach it.
Perhaps through Mr Luker, Miranda met a sympathetic companion.
He may have been another artist, or an academic, or a writer. The two of them walked through the Gardens often.
Stopping at some of the unusual sights that could be found.
Allowing the Gardens to fill their imaginations.
She imagined that one day she would take her own daughter through a small side entrance.
Out of the Gardens, or out of the picture altogether.
This post is dedicated to my friend Camilla , who liked the last outing of the Green family.
This post should have been published already, but I've been busy with the London History Festival which finishes tonight. I thought it would be a good idea to get a post in before December. Pretty soon Christmas will be on us and there will be the usual short posts for the week before Christmas.
Death has taken this opportunity to add another name to his tally. Nicholas Roeg, director of Performance, Don't look now, the Man who fell to Earth, Bad Timing, Insignificance and many other unconventional films which I have enjoyed over the years. He was one of the UK's true auteurs and we should be grateful for his life and work. Obituary writers have also mentioned his film Eureka as an unacknowledged classic, but I would also mention one more, Cold heaven (1991) which I have a fondness for (another of one the films which featured his third wife, the iconic Theresa Russell). Roeg, of course lived in Kensington for part of his life so we can count him as a local man.
Isabel and I have been discussing future blog posts, and she has more ideas than I do. But you'll probably have to wait until next year for those. In the meantime I have no idea what I'm doing next week. |
The "Battle of the North Cape" campaign is a historical, staged campaign based around the Battle of the North Cape in December 1943. It requires a player to have ships of at least Tier V in order to complete, and is comprised of 30 different tasks spread out over 5 missions. There are achievements for both completing the campaign and completing all tasks in the campaign.
The Battle of the North Cape (26 December 1943) was a naval battle during World War II, in the course of which the Royal Navy ships sank the German battleship Scharnhorst. This battle is considered to be the northernmost naval engagement in history.
This operation, aimed at disrupting the Allied supply chain destined for the U.S.S.R through the Arctic waters by destroying one of the convoys, was given the title "Ostfront" (in German, "The Eastern Front") for a reason. On 22 December 1943, the Germans detected a group of transport ships sailing along the Norwegian coast. After a long period of hesitation and reconnaissance, the British escorting squadron was never found, so the Kriegsmarine Command decided to take a chance. On the night of 25 December 1943, the battleship Scharnhorst set sail, escorted by the 4th Destroyer Flotilla (flotilla leader: Z-29). The combination of the freezing polar night, a violent storm, mistakes made by German admirals and excellent British radars meant that Scharnhorst, who had by that time "lost" her destroyers, encountered the British squadron (consisting of three cruisers led by HMS Belfast) alone. The first salvos fired by the British took the Germans totally by surprise. Shells fired from HMS Norfolk destroyed the battleship's main radar, but Scharnhorst had no intention of engaging the cruisers, and evaded the pursuit by taking advantage of her superior speed in stormy weather to continue her hunt for the convoy.
Final Task - earn (5) from Mission 1 tasks to unlock; complete to grant access to Mission 2.
Vice Admiral Burnett's squadron of British cruisers continued in their duty of defending the transport ships while Scharnhorst spent several hours searching for the convoy, largely in vain. A flotilla of destroyers, comprised of HMS Matchless, HMS Musketeer, HMS Opportune, and HMS Virago, joined forces with Burnett's fleet. Meanwhile, British admirals were becoming increasingly concerned that the battleship had managed to slip through their fingers. However, in the Arctic night and with a crippled radar, Scharnhorst was effectively blind, while the radar equipment aboard the British fleet remained fully operational. At around midday on 26 December, HMS Belfast picked up Scharnhorst on radar once again. A fierce battle ensued with the German battleship hitting back hard. The British had a rough time of it: 283 mm shells from Scharnhorst disabled one of HMS Norfolk's main battery turrets, inflicting extensive damage on the ship's hull; HMS Sheffield was riddled with shrapnel, and destroyer Virago was nearly sunk by the battleship's main battery salvo.
Final Task - earn (5) from Mission 2 tasks to unlock; complete to grant access to Mission 3.
Although unaware of it, the next time Scharnhorst encountered the convoy, she was a mere 12 to 15 miles away. But Rear Admiral Bey, who flew his flag on the battleship, decided to abandon the operation, sending Scharnhorst and the destroyers that were desperately searching for their prey towards the Norwegian coast. Burnett's fleet continued to pursue Scharnhorst at maximum speed, keeping her in the sights of the radar while remaining beyond the battleship's line-of-sight. The damaged British cruisers struggled through the severe storm and eventually had to drop back, one-by-one, until HMS Belfast was left alone in her pursuit of Scharnhorst. The British ship continuously transmitted the whereabouts of Scharnhorst to the forces of Admiral Fraser, who was hurrying to the rendezvous point. The German destroyers, led by Z-29, were too far away to be of any assistance or serve as their flagship's "eyes". Meanwhile, Scharnhorst, with disabled radar, was heading straight into the trap: the battleship Duke of York, the cruiser Jamaica, and four destroyers (HMS Savage, HMS Saumarez, HMS Scorpion, and Norwegian destroyer Stord) which were steaming at full speed to intercept the German "predator". The British flag officer, Vice Admiral Fraser, gave the order to open fire as late as possible, surprising the enemy ship at the shortest possible distance. Finally, at 16:47, the blindsided German battleship was illuminated by a volley of British star shells, and Duke of York immediately began the bombardment with a salvo from all ten of her 356mm guns. The fire coming from the British ships was surprisingly accurate — one of the first hits on Scharnhorst wrecked her main battery tower.
Final Task - earn (5) from Mission 3 tasks to unlock; complete to grant access to Mission 4.
Trapped, Scharnhorst immediately set on a course to shake off the enemy ships, steaming at full speed and returning fire in defense. At this point, the British cruisers joined the battle: Belfast, and later Norfolk, were closing in from the north and Jamaica from the south. Scharnhorst found herself in a dire situation. Duke of York fired a deluge of shells at the enemy ship, scoring hit after hit, knocking down artillery and destroying the ship's superstructures. Nevertheless, the thick armor belt of the German battleship protected her from critical damage, and Scharnhorst, steaming at a speed of over 30 knots, was gradually breaking away from the British ships, reaching a point where she was beyond the reach of the enemy cruisers. Soon after, the British flagship ceased fire, too. However, shortly before that, a 356mm shell fired by Duke of York pierced the thin upper armor belt of the German battleship and exploded in the boiler room. Scharnhorst's speed dropped, and with this critical hit the ship's fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse.
The British ships were approaching the heavily damaged, yet still formidable, German battleship. Admiral Fraser ordered the destroyers to mount a torpedo attack. Savage, Saumarez, Scorpion, and Stord pressed ahead, closing in on the target and, despite counterfire, launched 28 torpedoes scoring four hits. Despite the damage, Scharnhorst demonstrated excellent survivability, maneuvering and firing her remaining guns. HMS Duke of York closed in again and fired at the German battleship. Scharnhorst lost all control of her steering and almost ground to a halt. Cruisers Belfast, Jamaica, and the remaining destroyers dashed forward to finish the enemy ship off. HMS Musketeer fired her four torpedoes at the desperate Scharnhorst from a distance of several hundred meters. The German battleship sustained a total of at least 11 hits. At around 19:45, Scharnhorst disappeared under the waves amid clouds of smoke and fire.
Final Task - earn (6) from Mission 5 tasks to unlock; complete to finish "Battle of the North Cape" campaign.
This page was last modified on 15 February 2019, at 04:24. |
SHANTHI APPURAM NITHYA MOVIE CAST
By admin July 29, 2019
Sharma hails from Bihar. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Archived from the original on 1 December This article about an Indian actor or actress is a stub. This page was last edited on 29 January , at She is trained in Martial arts and has received the Black Belt.
See the full gallery. Start your free trial. She was born in Bangalore and lived in Mumbai before she came to Chennai. Most Anticipated Indian Movies and Shows. Add the first question. She made her acting debut in Thozhi and also appeared in Shanthi Appuram Nithya Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
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For Indian botanist, see Archana Sharma botanist. Movoe Appuram Nithya 6. See what's trending now. Edit Details Official Sites: Archana Sharmaalso credited as Ayshickka Sharmais an Indian actress and model, who appears in Kollywood and Tollywood films.
RIHAEE FULL MOVIE ONLINE FREE
Views Read Edit View history. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Edit Cast Credited cast: Patnaik 's Friends Book. Shanthi Appuram Nithya Most Anticipated Indian Movies and Shows. This page was last nityha on 29 Januaryat Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. This article about an Indian actor or actress is a stub.
Indian film actresses Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Living people 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses from Bangalore births Indian actor stubs. Add the first question. Sharma hails from Bihar.
She later acted in S. Start your free trial.
Shanthi Appuram Nithya () – IMDb
She is trained in Martial arts and has received the Black Belt. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Archana Sharma BangaloreIndia. Archived from the original on 1 December Who was the best-dressed on the Oscars red carpet?
She was born in Bangalore and lived in Mumbai before she came ntihya Chennai. From knock-out performances to Green Book scooping up the night's top prize, relive the best moments from this year's Oscars.
MAW3ID ZIFAF EPISODE 14
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Full Cast and Crew. She has a big fan base for her sensuous role in Shanthi Appuram Nithya. Use the HTML below. Audible Download Audio Books. She made her acting debut in Thozhi and also appeared in Shanthi Appuram Nithya Decide movis yourself with our photos from the hottest red carpet of the year!
Shanthi Appuram Nithya Hot Tamil Full Length Movie Part 10
Real-time popularity on IMDb. The "Most Anticipated Indian Movies and Shows" widget tracks the real-time popularity of relevant pages on IMDb, and displays those that are currently generating the highest number of pageviews on IMDb. She was introduced by director Elango Lakshmanan in the Tamil film Thozhi.
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Cast aside the stresses of everyday life and simply enjoy a few days holiday in Beilstein, one of the most beautiful sites on the Moselle.
Observe the numerous possibilities on offer to you when holidaying in Beilstein and consider the comfortable living conditions you will encounter here.
When seeking appropriate accommodation for your holiday on the Moselle, you will be absolutely right in examining the Nahlen *** apartments!
A warm welcome is extended to all our guests by Gertrud and Herbert Nahlen. Visit our beautiful Beilstein on the Moselle and be accommodated in our lovely and spacious apartments.
Mit dem Gäste-Ticket können Sie während Ihres Aufenthaltes bei uns alle Busse und Züge des öffentlichen Personen-Nahverkehrs (ÖPNV) im Landkreis Cochem-Zell kostenfrei nutzen. |
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Notice of Annual General Meeting of Medivir AB (publ)
HUDDINGE, Sweden, April 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The shareholders of Medivir AB are hereby summoned to the annual general meeting on Tuesday 5 May 2020 at 2 p.m. at Tändstickspalatset, Västra Trädgårdsgatan 15, Stockholm.
Shareholders who wish to participate in the meeting must (a) be recorded in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on Tuesday 28 April 2020, and (b), notify the company of their intention to participate in the meeting not later than on Tuesday 28 April 2020 in writing to Medivir AB, c/o Euroclear Sweden, P.O. Box 191, SE-101 23 Stockholm, Sweden. Such notification can also be made by telephone +46 (0)8-402 92 37 or via the company's website at www.medivir.se. The notification shall set forth the name, address, telephone number (daytime), personal/corporate identity number, the number of shares held and, when applicable, information about representatives and assistants.
As per the day of this notice there are 24,287,818 series B shares corresponding to an equal number of votes in the company. The company holds 11,413 treasury series B shares.
Shareholders represented by proxy shall issue a written and dated power of attorney for the proxy or, should the right to vote for the shares be divided among different representatives, the representatives, together with information on the number of shares each representative is entitled to vote for. If the power of attorney is issued on behalf of a legal entity, a certified copy of a registration certificate for the legal entity (or corresponding document), evidencing the authority to issue the power of attorney, shall be appended. The original of the power of attorney and, when applicable, the registration certificate should be sent to the company at the address indicated above, well before the meeting. A proxy form is available at the company's website, www.medivir.se, and is sent to shareholders who so request.
Shareholders whose shares are registered in the name of a nominee through a bank or a securities institution must re-register their shares in their own names to be entitled to participate in the meeting. Such registration, which may be temporary, must be duly effected in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on Tuesday 28 April 2020, and the shareholders must therefore advise their nominees well in advance of this date.
The shareholders are reminded of their right to request information in accordance with Chapter 7, Section 32 of the Swedish Companies Act (Sw. aktiebolagslagen).
Information relating to the Corona virus
As a result of the Corona virus, Medivir has, to the extent possible, taken certain precautionary measures to limit the physical presence at the meeting. Therefore, Medivir encourages shareholders to carefully consider the possibility of participating in the meeting by way of proxy. Euroclear Sweden AB has informed that Euroclear Sweden, at no cost, offers a possibility for shareholders, who wishes to be represented by proxy, to appoint a proxy designated by Euroclear Sweden, to vote for the shares in accordance with the shareholder's instructions. Further information is available at www.euroclearproxy.se. Any questions to be raised by shareholders at the meeting can be sent to the company by e-mail to [email protected] in advance of the meeting.
The board of Medivir has decided on the following measures to reduce the risks:
Registration will take place starting at 1.45 p.m.
No food or refreshments will be served.
No external guests will be invited.
The reports will be shortened in order to limit the length of the meeting.
Kindly review the information and recommendations issued by the Swedish Public Health Authority. Medivir is closely following developments and authorities' recommendations and will, if needed, update the information on the annual general meeting on the company's website, www.medivir.se.
Proposed agenda
Opening of the meeting.
Election of chairman of the meeting (see below).
Preparation and approval of the voting list.
Approval of the agenda.
Election of two persons to approve the minutes of the meeting.
Determination of whether the meeting has been duly convened.
Reports from the managing director and the chairman of the board.
Presentation of the annual report and the auditor's report as well as the consolidated annual accounts and the auditor's report for the group.
Resolution on approval of the profit and loss account and balance sheet as well as the consolidated profit and loss account and consolidated balance sheet.
Resolution on approval of allocations of the company's profits or losses according to the adopted balance sheet (see below).
Resolution on discharge from liability of the members of the board of directors and the managing director.
Determination of the number of directors, deputy directors, auditors and deputy auditors (see below).
Determination of fees to be paid to the directors and the auditor (see below).
Election of the directors, chairman of the board and auditor (see below).
The nomination committee's proposal concerning nomination committee (see below).
The board's proposal on guidelines for remuneration to the executive management (see below).
The board's proposal regarding amendments to the articles of association (see below).
The board's proposal regarding authorization for the board to resolve on new share issues (see below).
The board's proposal for resolution on the issue of warrants of series 2020:1 (see below).
Allocation of the company's balance (item 10)
The board of directors proposes that the company's results shall be carried forward.
Board of directors etc (items 2 and 12-14)
The nomination committee, comprising Jan Särlvik (Nordea Fonder, chairman), Karl Tobieson (Linc AB),
Bo Öberg (founder and shareholder) and the chairman of the board of directors, Helena Levander, proposes the following:
Chairman of the board of directors, Helena Levander, to be appointed chairman of the meeting (item 2).
The board of directors shall consist of six members with no deputies. The company shall have one auditor without deputy auditors (item 12).
The remuneration to the board of directors shall be paid in a total amount of not more than SEK 1,850,000 annually allocated as follows. The chairman shall receive SEK 650,000 and other board members not employed by the company shall receive SEK 240,000 each. No remuneration for work performed in relation to committees shall be paid (item 13).
Remuneration to the auditor shall be paid in accordance with approved invoices within the auditor's quotation (item 13).
Re-election of members of the board Uli Hacksell, Lennart Hansson, Bengt Julander, Helena Levander, An van Es Johansson and Bengt Westermark (item 14).
Re-election of Helena Levander as chairman of the board (item 14).
Re-election of the auditing company Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers AB. The proposition is in accordance with the audit committee's recommendation (item 14).
Further information on the proposed members of the board is available at www.medivir.se.
Nomination committee (item 15)
The nomination committee proposes that the meeting shall resolve to appoint a nomination committee for the annual general meeting 2021 mainly in accordance with the same procedure as the preceding year.
The chairman of the board shall contact the three largest shareholders in respect of voting power by the end of the third quarter. These three shareholders are offered to appoint one representative each for the nomination committee. In addition, the chairman of the board shall be a member of the nomination committee. If a shareholder chooses not to exercise the right to appoint a representative, the right shall pass on to the shareholder that, after these three shareholders, has the largest shareholding. The nomination committee is to elect a chairman among its members to lead the work of the committee.
If any of the shareholders who has appointed a member of the nomination committee sells a not insignificant part of its shareholding during the nomination committees' term or for any other reason ceases to be a larger shareholder with right to appoint a member of the nomination committee, the member appointed by such shareholder should resign from the nomination committee. This member shall then be replaced by a member appointed by the shareholder who, based on voting power following the sale, instead is one of the three largest shareholders in the company. If such shareholder does not utilize its right to appoint a member of the nomination committee, the above described procedure shall be applied.
In the event a member no longer represents the shareholder who appointed him or her, or otherwise resigns from the nomination committee prior to the completion of the nomination committee's work, the shareholder shall be given the opportunity to appoint a new member of the nomination committee.
The nomination committee shall pursue the tasks that, according to the Swedish Corporate Governance Code, are the responsibility of the nomination committee.
Guidelines for remuneration to the executive management (item 16)
The board proposes that the meeting resolves on the following remuneration guidelines for the executive management in Medivir. The guidelines are forward-looking, i.e. they are applicable to remuneration agreed, and amendments to remuneration already agreed, after adoption of the guidelines by the annual general meeting 2020. These guidelines do not apply to any remuneration decided or approved by the general meeting. These guidelines essentially correspond to the guidelines that were adopted by the annual general meeting 2019 but are described in further detail due to new legal requirements.
The guidelines' promotion of Medivir's business strategy, long-term interests and sustainability
Medivir creates shareholder value through the development of innovative pharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer of high unmet medical need, either on its own or in partnership. For more information regarding Medivir's business strategy, please see www.medivir.se.
A prerequisite for the successful implementation of the business strategy and safeguarding of Medivir's long-term interests, including its sustainability, is that Medivir is able to recruit and retain qualified personnel who are working to achieve the maximum amount of shareholder- and customer value. To this end, it is necessary that Medivir offers competitive remuneration. These guidelines enable Medivir to offer the executive management a competitive total remuneration.
Types of remuneration, etc.
The remuneration to the executive management shall be on market terms and may consist of the following components: fixed cash salary, variable cash remuneration, pension benefits and other benefits. Additionally, the general meeting may - irrespective of these guidelines - resolve on, among other things, share-related or share price-related remuneration. The total remuneration to the executive shall comprise a balanced mix of the above-mentioned components and conditions upon notice. The board of directors shall annually evaluate whether share-related or share price-related long-term incentive programs shall be proposed to the general meeting.
The fixed cash salary shall be individual and relate to the relevant person's responsibilities and experience.
The variable cash remuneration may amount to not more than 50 per cent of the total fixed annual cash salary.
For the executive management, pension benefits shall be premium defined unless the individual concerned is subject to defined benefit pension under mandatory collective agreement provisions. Variable cash remuneration shall qualify for pension benefits. The pension premiums for premium defined pension shall amount to not more than 25 per cent of the fixed annual cash salary. Notwithstanding the above, the board of directors is entitled to offer other solutions than the above-mentioned ones, that are equivalent for the company in terms of costs.
Other benefits may include, for example, company car and health services. Such benefits shall be of limited value in relation to other compensation and shall correspond to customary market terms in each geographic market. Other benefits may amount to not more than 15 per cent of the fixed annual cash salary.
A notice period may not exceed six months. Fixed cash salary shall be disbursed during the period of notice. From a starting point, no severance pay, or the equivalent, shall be disbursed.
Criteria for awarding variable cash remuneration, etc.
Variable cash remuneration shall be linked to predetermined and measurable criteria, which can be financial or non-financial, designed to contribute to the company's long-term value creation. The criteria shall relate to the development of the company's projects and the partnerships the company enters into for acceleration of the clinical development and future commercialization, as well as the remuneration (such as upfront fees when the agreement is entered into, milestone payments, remuneration paid during the term of the agreement for a set number of full-time equivalent research positions (FTEs), or royalties) resulting from this development. Furthermore, the criteria shall be designed so as to contribute to Medivir's business strategy and long-term interests, including its sustainability.
The satisfaction of criteria for awarding variable cash remuneration shall be measured over a period of one year. To which extent the criteria for awarding variable cash remuneration has been satisfied shall be determined when the measurement period has ended. The board of directors is responsible for the evaluation concerning the variable remuneration to the executive management. For financial objectives, the evaluation shall be based on the latest financial information made public by the company.
Salary and employment conditions for employees
In the preparation of the board of directors' proposal for these remuneration guidelines, salary and employment conditions for employees of the company have been taken into account by including information on the employees' total income, the components of the remuneration and increase and growth rate over time, in the board of directors' basis of decision when evaluating whether the guidelines and the limitations set out herein are reasonable.
The decision-making process to determine, review and implement the guidelines
The board of directors has not established a remuneration committee. Instead, the board of directors fulfill the tasks incumbent upon such a committee. The committee's tasks include preparing the board of directors' decision to propose guidelines for executive management remuneration. The board of directors shall prepare a proposal for new guidelines at least every fourth year and submit it to the general meeting. The guidelines shall be in force until new guidelines are adopted by the general meeting. A remuneration committee shall also monitor and evaluate programs for variable remuneration for the executive management, the application of the guidelines for executive remuneration as well as the current remuneration structures and compensation levels in the group. The managing director and other members of the executive management do not participate in the board of directors' processing of and resolutions regarding remuneration-related matters in so far as they are affected by such matters.
Derogation from the guidelines
The board of directors may temporarily resolve to derogate from the guidelines, in whole or in part, if in a specific case there is special cause for the derogation and a derogation is necessary to serve Medivir's long-term interests, including its sustainability, or to ensure Medivir's financial viability.
Further information on the executive remuneration is available in Medivir's annual report.
Amendments of the articles of association (item 17)
The board of directors proposes that the annual general meeting, as a result of statutory amendments, resolves to amend the articles of association as follows.
Current wording
Proposed wording
The company's shares shall be registered in a securities register in accordance with the Swedish Financial Instruments (Accounts) Act (SFS 1998:1479).
The company's shares shall be registered in a securities register in accordance with the Swedish Central Securities Depositories and Financial Instruments (Accounts) Act (SFS 1998:1479).
A shareholder that wishes to participate in a general meeting must be recorded in a printout or other transcript of the share ledger as of five weekdays before the meeting, and notify the company of his or her intention to attend the meeting no later than at 4 p.m. on the date stated in the notice of the meeting. Such a date may not be a Sunday, other public holiday, Saturday, Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve and may not occur earlier than the fifth weekday prior to the meeting.A shareholder or a proxy may be accompanied by not more than two advisors at a general meeting only where he or she has given the company notice of the number of advisors in the manner stated in the section above.
Share issue authorization (item 18)
The board proposes that the annual general meeting resolves to authorize to the board, up and until the next annual general meeting, on one or several occasions and with or without pre-emptive rights for shareholders, to resolve on the issue of new shares of series B, comprising a total of not more than 20 per cent of the total number of outstanding shares in the company after the utilization of the authorization. It shall also be possible to make such an issue resolution stipulating in-kind payment, the right to offset debt or other conditions referred to in Chapter 13 Section 5 first paragraph item 6 in the Swedish Companies Act.
The purpose of the authorization is to provide flexibility to the board in its work to ensure that the company can appropriately raise capital for the financing of the business. Issuances of new shares under the authorization shall be made on market terms.
The board's proposal for resolution on the issue of warrants of series 2020:1 (item 19)
The board proposes that the meeting resolves to issue warrants and to approve of transfer of the warrants in accordance with the following.
Issue of warrants
The board proposes that the general meeting resolves to carry out a directed issue of not more than 600,000 warrants, entailing an increase in the share capital of not more than approximately SEK 4,656,511.64 at full subscription. The resolution shall otherwise be governed by the following terms and conditions.
The right to subscribe for the warrants shall, with deviation from the shareholders' pre-emptive rights, be vested in the company's wholly owned subsidiary Medivir Personal AB, 556598-2823 (the "Subsidiary"), with the right and obligation for the Subsidiary to transfer the warrants to employees pursuant to the below. Over-subscription is not possible.
The reasons for the deviation from the shareholders' pre-emptive rights are to stimulate shareholding in the company by virtue of an incentive program through which employees can take part of and contribute to a positive value increase of the company's share during the period of the proposed program, and that the company shall be able to retain and recruit competent and dedicated staff.
The warrants shall be issued at no consideration. Subscription must be completed no later than three weeks after the resolution on issue of warrants. The board shall be entitled to extend the subscription period.
Each warrant entitles a right to subscribe for one share of series B in the company. The warrants may be exercised to subscribe for new series B shares during the period from and including 1 December 2023 up to and including 15 December 2023. The new shares which may be issued due to subscription are not subject to any restrictive provisions.
The subscription price (strike price) shall correspond to 200 per cent of the volume weighted average price of the series B share according the official share list of Nasdaq Stockholm during the period from and including 6 May 2020 up to and including 19 May 2020.
Shares which are newly issued following subscription by virtue of the warrants shall carry an entitlement to participate in dividends for the first time on the next record date for dividends which occurs after subscription for shares by virtue of the utilization of the warrants is effected.
The company may, by means of a board resolution and with the consent from the board of directors in the Subsidiary, cancel the Subsidiary's warrants that are not transferred in accordance with the below or that have been re-purchased from participants. Cancellation shall be registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office.
The board of directors, or a person appointed by the board of directors, is authorized to make such minor adjustments to the resolution which may prove necessary in order to register the resolution with the Swedish Companies Registration Office.
Approval of transfer of warrants
The board proposes that the general meeting approves of the Subsidiary's transfer of warrants on the following conditions.
The right to subscribe for share warrants from the Subsidiary shall vest in the following categories of employees:
Maximum number of warrants per person
Maximum number of warrants per category
A. Managing director (not more than 1 person)
B. Other members of the executive management (not more than 4 persons)
C. Other employees (not more than 5 persons)
The right to purchase warrants from the Subsidiary shall only vest in employees who, at the end of the application period, have not terminated their employment, have not had their employment terminated or otherwise have given notice, or been notified, of employment termination.
Warrants may also be offered to future employees. For such acquisitions, the conditions shall be the same or equivalent to what is stated in this resolution. This means, inter alia, that acquisitions shall be made to the market value at the time of the acquisition.
Transfer of warrants to participants is conditional upon it being legally possible to purchase the warrants, and that such transfers can be done using reasonable administrative and financial resources according to the assessment of the board.
Application and allotment
Application for acquisition of warrants shall be made during the period from and including 15 May 2020 up until and including 22 May 2020. The board of the company shall however be entitled to extend the application period for acquisitions and to set a corresponding application period for new employees whose acquisitions are made after the expiration of the initial application period.
Should warrants of a certain category remain with the Subsidiary after all applications within the category have been satisfied, the remaining warrants shall be available for allotment to participants in that same or another category whereby the board shall determine the distribution based on participant category, employment category and the number of warrants applied for. However, such distribution must not result in the maximum amount of warrants per person in a certain category being exceeded by more than 50 per cent.
The board of the company shall determine the final allotment.
Price and payment etc.
The warrants shall be transferred on market terms at a price (premium) established on the basis of a market value of the warrants calculated by an independent valuation institute using the Black & Scholes valuation model. A new market value shall be established in an equivalent way for acquisitions made by new employees after the expiration of the initial application period. The value has preliminary been calculated to be SEK 1.30 per warrant based on a share price of SEK 13.14.
Payment for the allocated warrants shall be made in cash no later than five days following the application for acquisition. The board shall establish a corresponding date of payment for acquisitions made by new employees.
Medivir will partly subsidize the participant's acquisition of warrants. The subsidy shall be paid in connection with the allocation of warrants to the participants. The total subsidy, prior to any payroll tax and including social security contributions on the subsidy, shall correspond to half of the participants' investment. The total cost for the subsidy, based on the above preliminary value of the warrants, is estimated at SEK 1,191,949 including social security contributions, for the entire term of the warrant programme of three years. Accrued payroll taxes due to the bonus shall be paid by each participant.
In order to be eligible for the subsidy, the participant must, at the time of the payment of the bonus, not have terminated its employment, not have been dismissed from its employment, or in any other way, given notice or been notified of employment termination. The participant must also remain employed in the company for three years, the subsidy will otherwise be prorated, and must not have transferred its warrants.
Further information on the warrant program
Upon full exercise of all warrants, 600,000 new shares can be issued, which corresponds to a dilution of approximately 2.41 per cent of the total number of shares and votes in the company, however, subject to any potential adjustment which may occur under the terms and conditions for the warrants. Accordingly, the program offers the employees the possibility to increase their shareholding in the company to the corresponding figure.
Impact of financial ratio and costs for the company etc.
The company's earnings per share are not affected by the issue of the warrants as the present value of the warrants' strike price exceeds the current market value of the share at the date of issue. Since the warrants are transferred to the participants at market value it is not expected that the company will incur any personnel costs. The warrant program may incur certain limited costs in terms of external consulting fees and costs relating to the administration of the warrant program.
Preparation of the matter
The principles of the warrant program have been prepared by the board of the company and are based on the warrant programs adopted by the annual general meetings 2017 and 2018. The board has thereafter decided to submit this proposal to the annual general meeting. Except for the officials who prepared the matter pursuant to instructions from the board, no employee that may be included in the program has taken part in the drafting thereof.
Other share related incentive programs etc.
Except from the current proposal to issue warrants and the warrant programs resolved upon at the annual general meetings 2017 and 2018, the company has no outstanding share related incentive programs. It is the board's intention that the program shall recur annually, albeit in varying sizes.
Authorization for the board of directors
The board proposes that the meeting authorizes the board to execute the resolution in accordance with the above and to ensure that the Subsidiary's board of directors carries out the transfer of the warrants in accordance with the above.
Decision rules
In order for a resolution in accordance with this item to be valid, the resolution must be supported by shareholders representing at least nine-tenths of the votes cast and the shares represented at the general meeting.
The annual report and other supporting documentation for resolutions will be available at the company's offices, Medivir AB, Lunastigen 7, SE-141 22 Huddinge, Sweden, and on www.medivir.se, no later than three weeks prior to the meeting and will be sent to shareholders who so request and provide their postal address. This notice is a translation of a Swedish notice and in case of any deviations between the both language versions, the Swedish version shall prevail.
For information about the processing of your personal data, see the integrity policy that is available at Euroclear's website www.euroclear.com/dam/ESw/Legal/Privacy-notice-bolagsstammor-engelska.pdf. Medivir's AB (publ) corporate registration number is 556238-4361 and its registered office is in Huddinge, Sweden.
Huddinge, April 2020
Medivir AB (publ)
https://news.cision.com/medivir/r/notice-of-annual-general-meeting-of-medivir-ab--publ-,c3082081
https://mb.cision.com/Main/652/3082081/1225022.pdf
Notice of Annual General Meeting (PDF)
Uli Hacksell
CEO, Medivir AB
phone: +46(0)8-5468-3100
View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/notice-of-annual-general-meeting-of-medivir-ab-publ-301035675.html
SOURCE Medivir
- 18 Jan 2021
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PSSI's response to COVID-19 and the impact on the food processing industry
PSSI, a food safety company, is sharing their industry expertise in response to COVID-19 through essential sanitation and decontamination services.
COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges for all industries, including food processing and production businesses. Like all crises, planning for every scenario is critical. PSSI CEO Dan Taft shares his thoughts on customers' most pressing concerns and how the food processing industry has been impacted through a Q&A available on PSSI's website.
"I think it is important to plan ahead and work in partnership with sanitation services to protect any scenarios that could play out," says Dan Taft, President and CEO. "We know the situation is constantly changing, so we have to be ready to adapt and change with it."
Partnering with their chemical company, PSSI Chemical Innovations, PSSI is able to provide their customers with the right chemicals and resources to combat COVID-19.
"Our team members' health and safety are always our top priority," says Taft. "To that end, we have implemented extra health and safety measures across our business."
PSSI has implemented new processes at all their partner plants to protect their customer facilities and team members. An outlined guide on their proactive and preventive measures can be found in a fact sheet format on their website at www.pssi.com.
KEYWORDS: COVID-19 pssi
Food Safety Summit keynote address and opening session will focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the food industry
Alltech releases free, on-demand series with global industry experts about the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture
Fleet Advantage's 'Kids Around the Corner' Foundation donates $10,000 to First Responders Children's Foundation in response to COVID-19
Food Safety in the Seafood Industry: A Practical Guide for ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 Implementation
Food Plant of the Future: Global Food Safety Impact on Facilities
On demand SQF 2000, FSMA, ISO 22000/PAS220 and other standards continue to gain traction in an attempt to create safer foods and beverages.
Food Plant of the Future: Raising the Bar on Plant Air Quality
On demand Exclusively for thought-leaders in food and beverage processing facility management, Food Plant of the Future webinars are presented by Hixson, a leading design and engineering firm of food processing facilities in North America.
PMMI - The Assn. for Packaging and Processing Technologies
ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry assn.
Society of the Plastics Industry |
comic relief about cyber stalker Rick Martin, Japan-based "sports writer"
By Globalite Magazine November 11, 2011 joke
How cyber stalker Rick Martin in Japan became "the world's leading volleyball writer", and a key player in a smear campaign against an expelled journalist
by Christopher Johnson
Rick Martin (1rick.com) is a popular writer in Tokyo (or as he spells it on his blog: "Toyko").
He is such a naturally talented writer, he didn't even need to study journalism like thousands of other university and college students in Canada.
He never had to survive a weeding-out process just to enter journalism school, or to graduate. He didn't have to pass tests or evaluations. He didn't have to pay his dues working at small community newspapers in Canada, or work his way up through the ranks to establish his credentials. He didn't even have to endure the training (and punishment) of demanding professors or gruff editors. He never had to deal with sources calling his bosses demanding corrections, or angry letters-to-the-editor about his work.
No, Rick Martin is above all that.
All he had to do was move to China, and call himself a journalist.
Suddenly, thanks to the internet, he was indeed a journalist. Like Mark MacKinnon, the award-winning Beijing-based Asia correspondent for the Globe and Mail, Rick Martin was a foreign correspondent based in China, giving him status above the thousands of journalism school graduates slaving away back home in Canada.
From his base in Dalian, the media capital of northeastern China, Rick Martin didn't just stop there. He called himself an "author", an expert sought out by other media.
by Graham Webster February 13, 2008 10:35 PM PST
Rick Martin, author of CNET Asia's Little Red Blog, was recently interviewed by the China Business Network, a podcasting powerhouse covering, well, business in China. Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13908_3-9871989-59.html#ixz1nT0ewACk
But, in truth, Rick Martin wasn't hacking it as a hack in China, even though he had studied at the prestigious Dongbei University, and was fluent in computer vocabulary in Mandarin. Fed up after 5 years in China, he looked around Asia for a more dynamic, growing economy.
He moved to Japan in 2008. He already knew Japanese, which he had studied in China, and he quickly gained friends and fans on Facebook and Twitter. After only a few years in Tokyo, he now calls himself a "columnist" for the Japan Times, CNNGO, and others. He also out-hustled other competitors to win the posting of Tokyo correspondent for Penn-Olson, a Singapore-based site with correspondents across Asia.
He trumpeted this achievement in a message to his fans:
By rickmartin on 10 Jun 2011
Some of you may have figured out by now that I'm blogging over on Penn-Olson.com, an up-and-coming blog focused on technology in Asia. Think Mashable or Techcrunch but with an Asian focus. It means that I get to cover China again, something I haven't done much of since moving leaving China for Japan back in 2008. But above all else it means that I get to experiment with new web publishing tools, something I seldom get to do when writing freelance for individual clients.
Those clients include CNNGO, a leading travel site in Asia, backed by Turner Broadcasting, which gave the world CNN, CNN International, CNN.com and other world-shaping news organizations that employ hundreds of the most trained and talented journalists in the world.
CNNGO's freelance contract specifically states that contributors should not use the name of "CNN" to gain favours.
Capitalizing on the prestige and fame of writing for CNN's website in Asia, Rick Martin got hired as a match reporter for the world volleyball championships in Japan from October 29 to November 14 2010, by telling officials at the Japan Volleyball Association that he was a sports writer "for CNN." In fact, an internet search finds no evidence that Rick Martin ever wrote a published sports article before his work was posted on the official site (www.fivb.org) of the world volleyball championships on November 3, 2010. His heavily-edited pieces appeared in CNNGO.com after the tournament was over on November 14. HIs feature on running appearedon Nov. 15, and his volleyball feature in CNNGO on Dec. 13, 2010, a month after the tournament was over.
Did Rick Martin lie to the JVA and FIVB about his credentials as a published sports writer? More importantly, did Rick Martin violate his freelancer agreement with CNNGO?
In one of Martin's first volleyball pieces for FIVB and JVA on November 3, (http://1rick.com/samples/resilient-poland-collect-third-win-against-winless-a…, he writes, according to his blog, a misspelled, acrobatic sentence: "The win represetned (sic) a good return of three wins on the trot for Poland after dropping their initial two matches to Japan and Serbia as they move into second round action which kicks off on Saturday."
As for his alleged knowledge of volleyball, the "sports section" (http://1rick.com/sports) of his own blog says:
By rickmartin on 24 Nov 2010
Having played a ton growing up, I still try to write about sports whenever possible.
An internet search finds no evidence that Rick Martin, who is perhaps not taller than 165 cm, played volleyball or any other sport for the Memorial University Seahawks in Newfoundland, or any other team.
Did Rick Martin lie on his own blog when he says "I still try to write about sports whenever possible."
Does this mean that Rick Martin "tried" to write about sports for much of his adult life, but couldn't complete a story?
Or has Rick Martin been so busy his whole life, that it never was "possible" to write about sports until after he got a job writing about volleyball for the world volleyball organizers in early November 2010?
Nevertheless, Rick Martin quickly rose through the world volleyball media ranks in 2010 and 2011, ahead of his colleagues including myself (a veteran published sports writer since age 19), Fred Varcoe (a leading sports writer in Japan for more than 20 years) and Jack Gallagher (longtime Japan Times sports editor, part-time contributor for the Associated Press.)
During the world volleyball championships in Japan in 2011, Rick Martin was often the only English-language writer accredited to cover matches involving teams from the US, Germany, Brazil, Russia and other nations.
Rick Martin alone was assigned to cover the most important matches. Noting his deep understanding of volleyball and his innate writing talent, press officers with the Japan Volleyball Association and the FIVB (the Lausanne-based international volleyball federation) relied on him to be the one and only source of volleyball information for millions of fans worldwide. (Disclosure: FIVB and JVA press officers, apparently satisfied with Rick Martin's coverage, forbid myself or other foreign journalists in Japan to cover the events, though in my case, I had done a story a year earlier for the New York Times.)
How did Rick Martin ascend to such heights of the global media industry so quickly?
It starts with his smug attitude, and disdain for trained, qualified professional reporters.
Since Rick Martin knows how to use other people's copyrighted intellectual property found on youtube and other websites, he considers himself superior to trained, professional journalists who have endured weeding-out processes in Canada. While those hard-working, old school reporters were out risking their lives in the field talking to people braving a hurricane in Newfoundland, the avant-garde Rick Martin had the competitive advantage of "covering it" from a computer in a cozy room on the other side of the world in Tokyo.
http://1rick.com/blog/japan-quake-map
Some of you may recall the Newfoundland Hurricane video map I made back last September. I was a little fed up at the time with what I thought was primarily story-based disaster reporting from local news orgs, when there was an enormous amount of user-generated YouTube clips of the storm that were not being taken advantage of.
http://1rick.com/projects/igor
But it's clear that regular people around the province with handheld cameras and phones have one-upped the local media this time, at least as far as online coverage goes. See the map below for more.
Canadians, who also endure disasters in other provinces, have long criticized Newfoundland for taking an inordinate share of public funds and transfer payments from wealthier provinces. Rick Martin, who is obliged to pay taxes in Japan, Canada and other countries, also championed the cause of Newfoundlanders hoping to evade taxes by using form RC4288. (http://1rick.com/projects/igor)
Showing his respect for privacy and media laws, Rick Martin has also championed the work of hackers.
RT @HacksHackers: Interested in journalism x technology? Subscribe to the @hackshackers jobs newsletter. Beta version. bit.ly/z5O8HU
— Rick Martin (@1rick) February 26, 2012
8:12 PM – 25 Feb 12
Let's see how Rick Martin's writing would compare with journalism students at a Canadian university such as Carleton, where I studied journalism for four years from 1983-87.
Firstly, let's check Rick Martin's volleyball story for CNNGO.com (http://1rick.com/samples/saori-kimura-japans-rising-volleyball-superstar-cnngo), also http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/life/infinite-saorin-kimura-japans-volleyball-star…
Despite the efforts of good editors in Tokyo and Hong Kong (who do excellent edits of my features for CNNGO), Rick Martin's story would have earned a grade of "F" in a first year journalism school assignment.
Why F?
Rick Martin mis-spells Tokyo and the name of the star athlete of his story.
He spells Tokyo "Toyko". (Martin also repeats this mistake in the first line of his own blog posting: When the Women's World Volleyball Championships came to Toyko last month.)
Then, he misspells the name of the story's main subject, Kimura Saori, one of Japan's most popular athletes. Saori is spelled Saorin.
Spiker Saori Kimura is the team's top scorer. Her nickname "Nippon no mirai Saorin Mugendai" or "Infinite Saorin" (Japan's future) tells us exactly how much she means to Japan volleyball.
The story ran almost a month after the tournament finished on November 14, 2010, making the info useless for anybody who wanted to check it out. (Nobody commented on this story, and there were zero tweets).
Lacking any news peg or timeliness, the CNNGO editor at that time (a successful journalist and entrepreneur in Japan) must have struggled to find a way to give Martin's writing some focus, since Martin mostly copied quotes and lines off the tournament's website. So the editor went with: SAORI KIMURA: Japan's Rising Volleyball Star.
The first three lines:
When the Women's World Volleyball Championships came to Toyko last month, hopes were high for the host side.
Ranked number five overall, a place on the podium would have been a great result, and the team would need its stars to raise them to such great heights.
Luckily for the host nation, Japan's best players are also among the world's best.
Unaware of the inverted pyramid structure of news writing, Rick Martin doesn't even tell us that Japan finished third (no small achievement) until half-way through the story. Why not put that at the top, to excite readers about Japan women's volleyball?
Like a high school paper reporter, Rick Martin's writing is pure cheerleading:
But driven by their two stars and an emotional boost from hometown fans throughout the tournament, Japan pulled off a well-earned bronze.
Even more remarkable was that Japan came within only a few points of doing even better, giving fans worldwide some of the most entertaining matches in the history of the sport.
That's right, in the history of the sport, a sport which Martin seemingly had never covered before weaseling his way into a job paying 30,000 yen per day (about $400) writing for the JVA and FIVB official site.
Next, the article digresses into how the tournament unfolded, and it veers off toward other players, instead of focusing on Saori (Saorin) Kimura. Rick Martin goes on to cobble quotes taken from FIVB's website, without crediting them or the reporters who got the quotes (including myself, Varcoe, Gallagher, and FIVB Press Director Richard Baker.)
Finally, after readers wade through muddy passages, Rick Martin's disclaimer appears at the end:
Disclosure: Rick Martin was a FIVB match reporter for the World Championships
More than a year later, Rick Martin is continuing to call himself a "columnist" for CNNGO.com, when in fact he has contributed just a handful of feature stories, mostly about technology.
CNNGO's author posts (http://www.cnngo.com/author/123892/articles) list only 3 stories by Rick Martin:
–50 ultimate trade apps … so far
–Japanese scientists creating lifelike human organs (It generated 5 "likes", 27 "tweets", and no comments)
–CTRL + ALT Tokyo: Tech news with attitude (also nobody bothered to comment)
Rick Martin's article "Japanese scientists creating lifelike human organs" generated 5 "likes", 27 "tweets", and no comments.
It features a Rick Martin original photo with a microphone blocking the mouth of GREE CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka. (another failing grade in journalism school)
HIs writing shows that his cheerleading goes beyond the world of sports:
Say what you want about the economy, but there's rarely a month that passes when we don't see some sort of astounding technology emerge from Japan.
July was no exception. The folks at Kobe University Hospital rolled out 3D printers that can create biological models of organs.
Meanwhile over at Kagawa University, researchers have created a faux human mouth capable of producing speech.
Suddenly, in mid-article, Rick Martin writes about something — sports — that has nothing to do with the topic:
"It was a good month for Japan abroad, however, as the Women's soccer team took the World Cup, knocking out the favored U.S. team on penalties.The moment was pretty sweet for Japan, a nation still struggling to get back on its feet post-quake, but that didn't stop a number of Twitturds from pooping on the parade.
Twitter's trending topics list, besides showing a classy "congrats Japan" also displayed "Japs" and "Pearl Harbor."
Yes, Rick Martin, showing his gift for language, calls people on twitter "twit-turds", and they are "pooping" on the parade. He also makes sure to include the war era racial slur "Japs" in a story about Japan's "astounding technology."
Then he goes further off topic, talking about criticism of the soccer team's coach. What does this have to do with "lifelike human organs"?
Speaking about organs, the article then digresses toward Lady Gag.
"As for foreigners visiting Japan, the most notable visitor in July was Lady Gaga."
Finally, Rick Martin has to get in a word supporting a hacker — a theme of his, as he thinks hackers and stalkers are good for free and open journalism.
In domestic hacking news, 28-year-old Masato Nakatsuji was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on charges of property destruction as a result of his "ika-tako" virus. The malware, once it took over a victim's computer, would replace files with cartoon pictures of squid and octopuses. It's creative, at least.
His interest in hackers also appears in another CNNGO "column" which garnered no comments: CTRL + ALT Tokyo: Tech news with attitude
He writes in the first paragraph: Sony's troubles continued this month, this time as hacker group Lulzsec breached Sony Pictures.
He also panders to a fellow contributor in the Japan Times, which is CNNGO's direct competitor: Brian Ashcraft had a great overview of Sony's situation in The Japan Times for anyone who's not up to speed.
Rick Martin's fascination with hackers and his disdain for old-school journalists showed through in his response to the detention and expulsion of this reporter after legally living and working in Japan on-and-off since 1989.
Though we are both Canadian freelance journalists living in Japan, and we share several friends on Facebook, Rick Martin did not write me to show his support or concern like dozens of other journalists did. Instead, I have strong reasons to suspect that Rick Martin used the smear campaign against me, on several hateful websites about Japan, to take out his grudge against old-school journalists and discredit a competitor in the industry.
For disclosure, I have only met Rick Martin once, during a press conference at a Tokyo hotel in late 2010. That day, the FIVB and JVA assigned me to write the official match report for the women's semi-finals and final matches, since I was perhaps the most experienced sportswriter in their roster.
Rick Martin, losing the assignment, appeared jealous. He did not respond to my calls or emails after that. He had a motive to badmouth me behind my back to our superiors in the JVA and FIVB, and this may have cost me paying work in 2011 worth about $10,000.
Other FIVB and JVA workers noted that Rick Martin was currying favour with his boss, a young Japanese woman named Hiromi Suzuki, in order to take their roles in future tournaments. Whatever happened behind the scenes, the result was that the FIVB and JVA decided not to hire me for any work in 2011, and they gave roles, which I had done in 2010, to a candidate with less experience and training — Rick Martin.
During the height of the character assassination aimed at me during January this year, Rick Martin badmouthed me in tweets to other Tokyo-based journalists.
When I asked him on twitter to explain why he was joining the smear campaign against me, he responded with a strange message on Feb. 3, 2012. He told me that he was digging up dirt about me and my work using "version tracker".
I thus have reason to believe that Rick Martin was behind the Japanprobe.com article on Feb. 8 defaming myself and the Washington Times over our coverage of Japan Tobacco targeting teenage Japanese girls by sponsoring the World Cup of Volleyball in Japan in 2011. (My stories also appeared in CNNGO.com and www.japantoday.com, a popular site among expats in Japan.)
Back in November 2011, I had posted a comedy piece, The Press Office from Hell, on this Globalite Magazine blog. It was meant as a joke story to cheer up a young reporter who had worked in the nuclear and tsunami disaster zones of Fukushima and northeastern Japan.
The reporter was distraught about the nasty way that Rick Martin and the Japan Volleyball Association and FIVB press officers treated her during her attempts to cover an international event for foreign media. JVA and FIVB press officers forbid her to enter a Tokyo arena to cover the international event, even though she was assigned to cover the US volleyball team. Instead of aiding a fellow young journalist, Rick Martin also refused to help her, and told her to stop "yelling from the porch". This was witnessed by other reporters, and Rick Martin also confirmed it in messages to me.
I believe that FIVB and JVA officers, and Rick Martin, were aiming to insult me for writing about the United Nations and anti-tobacco groups in Japan scolding the JVA, FIVB and Japan Tobacco over their market targeting of teenage girls in Japan.
My comedy story "The Press Office from Hell" was all true. Reporters taped conversations with the event's haughty officials, including Hiroshi Takeuchi. Mr. Takeuchi, a veteran employee of the Kyodo News agency, has also been the press attaché for the Japan Olympic team.
My comedy story, which never appeared elsewhere, was buried in my blog, and had only a few views by the time I removed it to make way for more important and popular stories (some stories have garnered between 3000 and 20,000 views).
Few people knew about this joke story other than people involved in it. I wrote briefly about Rick Martin, but not in a negative or attacking way. I mentioned that Martin, as the lone accredited foreign journalist in English, had the job of telling the whole world about the event.
It's possible that Martin felt offended by the story, and didn't enjoy its stated mission to provide comic relief.
During the smear campaign against me in January and February, I noticed Martin badmouthing me behind my back to others in Japan on twitter. When I asked Martin on twitter, "what's this?" Martin answered on Feb. 3:
It's a version tracker.
Rick Martin@1rick
@cjinasia It's a version tracker.
— Rick Martin (@1rick) February 4, 2012
7:57 PM – 3 Feb 12
About 5 days later, on Feb. 8, Japanprobe ran a story featuring a "version tracker" link to a photo capture of the Press Office from Hell story, which I had already removed from my own blog. The story appeared on Japanprobe at the height of the smear campaign, to discredit a journalist exposing inconvenient truths about the abuse of thousands of foreigners, including hundreds of westerners such as Canadians. The JP headline was: Washington Times Freelancer Slams Former Employer, Fails to Ethically Disclose Relationship?
Though he has falsely lambasted me for alleged lack of disclosure or transparency, the editor of Japanprobe does not list his real name on his site, only James: Editor-in-Chief. His twitter account is @jamesJPN, and his email is [email protected]. Though the site often attacks foreigners, called "flyjin" for leaving Japan after the March 11 disasters, Japanprobe claims it is not based in Japan, and thus not subject to Japan's laws against cyber bullying on online defamation.
At the end of the libellous article, Japanprobe praises anonymous "cyber sleuths" for digging up negative information about me.
I feel that Rick Martin is the cyber sleuth. Rick Martin is responsible for helping Japanprobe libel me and the Washington Times. Rick Martin has repeatedly shown a grudge against me and my colleagues, and therefore he has a motive for discrediting me. Rick Martin has repeatedly defended the practice of using "versionista" to dig up, and store, negative information about people, including me. He has defended Japanprobe's actions of using, without my consent, my copyrighted intellectual property, in an abusive way.
In a number of email exchanges with [email protected], I gave Rick Martin several chances to walk away clean from this situation.
Rick Martin denies that he is the "cyber sleuth" which Japanprobe praises for helping them find an article buried deep in my blog, which briefly mentions Rick Martin. However, during email exchanges on Feb. 21, Rick Martin repeatedly defended the practice of "version tracking", which I consider an illegal abuse of my copyrighted work.
I believe that Rick Martin was the only one with a motive to expose the story. Nobody else, other than Martin, could have cared about or found the article, which barely had any views, and was buried several pages inside a blog containing hundreds of feature stories with photos over the past decade. Another cyber-sleuth would have needed days to read every article to finally find something potentially useful as ammunition against me. Other cyber sleuths would have had no idea that I had briefly worked a few weeks for JVA in 2010, among several dozen employers over the past few years.
Thus I believe that Rick Martin dug up the Press Office from Hell story and sent it to Japanprobe, as a way of getting revenge on me.
Rick Martin appears to contradict himself, and cover up his relation with Japanprobe, in a series of emails on Feb. 21, listed in order of appearance.
1- "There's nothing illegal about versionista. See ProPublica's use/advocacy of it here: http://www.propublica.org/article/changetracker
It's an award-winning journalism tool: http://www.propublica.org/article/changetracker-wins-innovation-award-724 If you have doubts, @brianboyer would be happy to clarify.
2- "I have not participated in any smear campaign," he wrote. "But as you know, the repeated edits did raise some eyebrows."
3- "I assume you're referring to the Japan Probe article:
http://www.japanprobe.com/2012/02/08/washington-times-freelancer-slams-former-employer-fails-to-ethically-disclose-relationship/
…which refers to you not disclosing your JVA employment history in this Washington times piece (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/24/japan-tobacco-accused-of-marketing-to-girls-at-wor/).
4- In a following exchange, Rick Martin then admitted to "setting up a couple of version trackers on blog posts which interested me, one of which actually mentioned me (again, just preserving your own words, which you later deleted)."
5- I don't know Japan Probe, but they did point out your JVA rant post to me, not vice versa as you seem to think.
6- Given that you've been sending them (japanprobe) legal notices and threats, I don't plan getting involved further. But suffice it to say that I don't have anything further than a first name (of editors at Japanprobe).
7- I was pointed towards an article that mentioned me, and I put a tracker on it.
Rick Martin has refused to name who at Japanprobe allegedly "pointed" him toward the contentious article stored deep within my blog. Why is Rick Martin protecting Japanprobe, instead of a fellow Canadian journalist? If he had nothing to do with this, why wouldn't he reveal the name of the editor who allegedly "pointed" him toward the contentious article?
In summary, Rick Martin says he knows a first name of someone at Japanprobe. Rick Martin says somebody at Japanprobe pointed out the JVA rant which mentions Rick Martin. Rick Martin also contradicts himself, claiming "I don't know Japanprobe." Rick Martin repeatedly defends his right to track my copyrighted original work on "versionista", and says he has indeed tracked and stored my work. Rick Martin admits that he was hurt by a misunderstanding he had with me over something on Facebook several months ago. "But I haven't participated in any smear campaign," he claims.
Based on our personal and online interactions, I believe Tokyo-based Canadian freelancer journalist Rick Martin is partially responsible for libeling me and my employers, and Rick Martin has abused my copyrighted intellectual property without my consent, in violation of media laws in Japan, Canada and other countries.
Ultimately, the joke is on Rick Martin and Japanprobe. Though I have removed a post which makes fun of Rick Martin and FIVB and JVA press officers, Japanprobe is continuing to show it on the internet. Thus, in a twisted irony, Rick Martin and Japanprobe are now responsible for making fun of Rick Martin and his employers at the FIVB and Japan Volleyball Association. |
Artists to Watch: 17 Alternative & Indie Breakouts For 2019
By Chris Payne
Shervin Lainez
We just got done compiling what dominated last year commercially and critically; now it's time to look to the future. What new faces from the rock and alt worlds will populate 2019's year-end charts and best-of lists?
Last year, we tried our best and hit on a few emerging bands and artists that now appear to be sticking around for the long haul. Across alternative, punk, indie, folk, and beyond, here are 17 sure bets and deep cut candidates to level up significantly this year.
Baltimore's Angel Du$t features members of hardcore party-starters Turnstile and Trapped Under Ice and their last album, 2016's Rock the Fuck On Forever, was about as fun as its title suggests. For 2019, they signed up with Roadrunner Records -- and even better, enlisted producer Will Yip, who's introduced heavy bands like Turnstile, Code Orange, and Title Fight to dizzying new horizons. "The songs are very much Angel Du$t, while the production is some whole other shit," the band said in statement late last year. We tend to agree; see above. Expect a full-length release this year.
The Los Angeles garage rockers really should've gotten much bigger with 2016's Welcome the Worms, a hook-filled sophomore effort bursting with the best parts of the Ramones, Blondie, and early Wipers without sounding hopelessly retro or pastiche-like -- largely thanks to the emotional urgency of vocalist-guitarist Jennifer Clavin. But despite that album being largely slept on, Bleached kept the momentum with 2017's Can You Deal EP, which came accompanied by a zine featuring words and art from numerous forward-thinking female musicians. Then they toured Europe with freakin' Paramore. The band is currently recording a new album to be released later this year, and we think third time's the charm for a larger breakthrough.
The Florida-born Dominic Fike emerged out of nowhere last year, sparking an (alleged) major label bidding war behind his debut EP, Don't Forget About Me. He landed with Columbia, around the time his management at Tha Lights Global (who also rep Lil Pump) partnered with the label's parent company, Sony. Given the fuss around the Soundcloud crooner's guitar chops and Apple logo face tattoo, we'd expect a follow-up before long. And don't let the hypebeasty veneer fool you; Fike's Motown-tinged breakout track "3 Nights" is trend-proof and irresistible, swaying back and forth like a Hawaiian hula dash ornament into your subconscious.
The 25 Best Rock Albums of 2018: Critics' Picks
Rage Against the Machine for 2019? It's been some time since the originals had a chance to defend that title, but their fellow rap-rocking Angelenos are coming on strong. With police brutality, white nationalism, and general inequality in their crosshairs (see above), FEVER 333 blew up last year: Single "Walking In My Shoes" went top 10 at Mainstream Rock Songs, and its follow-up "Made An America" followed as a staple on the chart, even earning a 2019 Grammy nod for best rock performance. That's a tough act to follow for a debut full length, but STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS (out Jan. 18 on Roadrunner) again features production from Blink-182's Travis Barker and John Feldmann (who's worked too many commercial punk hits to count at this point), so look for their ascent to continue.
Hatchie
What if the hooks of shoegaze gems weren't buried under reverb, but bursting loud and proud on the service? Australia's Harriette Pillbeam -- aka Hatchie -- mastered this experiment on last year's Sugar & Spice EP, which evoked turn-of-the-90s dream-pop, as well as the Cranberries at their brightest, and didn't feature a single track that would've sounded out of place on the Clueless soundtrack. Plenty of Hatchie's contemporaries are leaning into pop, but few are doing it this whole-heartedly, or this well. Her full-length debut awaits this summer via Double Double Whammy.
Singer-songwriter-producer Dexter Tortoriello has been releasing music as Houses since the start of the 2010s, alongside production and composition for a wide swath of artists including Lil Yachty, Kali Uchis, and Martin Garrix. On alternative radio, his solo work is starting to have a moment: "Fast Talk," the entrancing lead track from his drum-and-bass-influenced EP Drugstore Heaven, has held strong on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart for eight weeks. It's currently at its peak position of 17 and could become one of the chart's more unexpected top 10 entrants before long.
The Kenya-born, Minneapolis-based Ondara owns a striking singing voice, which ranges from a velvety croon to an immaculate upper-register. Really, you've just got to hear it yourself. Ondara is a longtime Dylan devotee whose modern take on Americana beckoned an all-star supporting cast: producer Mike Viola (Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis), Andrew Bird, and members of Dawes and Milk Carton Kids all contributed to his debut album, Tales of America (due Feb. 15 on Verve Forecast). Don't be surprised to hear Ondara all over Triple A radio soon. Did we mention this guy can sing?
With two Adult Alternative Songs top five hits already to her name, Jade Bird is set to release her debut album April 19 on Glassnote Records. Something American indeed reflects U.S. country-folk tradition; on those two early hits -- "Lottery" and "Uh Huh" -- the 21-year old singer-songwriter belts like Dolly and tells it like it is à la? Kacey Musgraves. ("Uh Huh" in particular just goes so hard.)
Nanami Ozone
Tiny Engines is coming off a such great year that punk, emo, and post-hardcore fans would be smart to follow everything in the pipeline for the Carolina-based indie label. That means venturing into the desert for Phoenix's Nanami Ozone, a dual-vocalist-wielding rock band whose sophomore album is due in early 2019. They've teased it would a two-song taste of both: "Alone Too" (sung by guitarist Sophie Opich) is equal parts nimble and punchy while "3 Mile Drive" (sung by Opich and guitarist Colson Miller) is 100 percent designed for the open road.
We premiered the Florida band's very catchy debut track back in November, and fortunately, "Dead Inside" won't be the lone song sitting on their Spotify page for long. They've signed to the punk and post-hardcore mainstay Equal Vision Records (Saves the Day, Waterparks, formerly Circa Survive) and plan to release their debut EP in the early months of 2019. Produced by Matt Squire, the man behind many of your favorite MySpace era rock hits (and a few pop stars), Never Loved's pop-punk sound is in strong, time-tested hands.
We've been psyched about Pronoun for a couple years, and this spring, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter-producer-label founder Alyse Vellturo is set to release her debut album on Rhyme & Reason Records. As Pronoun, Vellturo has a knack for flipping heartbreak into sunbeam-lit, charismatic indie pop and the three-track teaser she released last October is really, really strong. Post-breakup anthems in the key of Metric and Tegan and Sara, Pronoun's songcraft would sound right at home on alternative radio or late night talk show stages.
The 25 Best Rock Songs of 2018: Critics' Picks
SHAED
Like Houses up above, SHAED is an electro-pop upstart gaining significant hype on alternative radio. Shortly after "Trampoline" appeared in a MacBook Air ad last fall, the chic single broke into our Alternative Songs chart, where it's since risen to 22. Out on tour promoting its debut EP MELT (released last year on the New York indie Photo Finish Records) the trio will try to stick on people's minds as much as "Trampoline" and its well-timed, whistled hook.
Stella Donnelly, a Fremantle, Western Australia-based singer-songwriter, made waves last year at SXSW alongside her debut EP, Thrush Metal. The 26-year old is a jarring storyteller with a beautiful voice and since that six-song collection was essentially just her and her guitar, those core elements were on full display. On her brand new track "Old Man," Donnelly introduces a jangly, full-band indie pop sound to go with her freshly-announced LP, Beware Of the Dogs (due March 8 on Secretly Canadian). Dig into her lyrics and you quickly uncover some compelling and urgent social messages.
Vagabon -- the project of Cameroon-born, New York City-based multi-instrumentalist Lætitia Tamko -- was one of 2017's biggest DIY success stories. It wasn't just that debut LP Infinite Worlds was great, it was how it was great in many different ways. It featured guitar-and-drums gut punches like "The Embers" and "Cold Apartment" -- written early in the process -- alongside the last track recorded, "Mal a? L'aise," a sun-kissed sound collage made entirely in Logic. There are numerous exciting directions Vagabon's second album could go in, and we're happy to report it's arriving later this year. Tamko mentioned Mitski as a particular inspiration in our 2017 interview; if you were one of the many who adored last year's Be the Cowboy, look out for Vagabon's latest as a kindred sonic spirit.
Westerman
A couple months removed from playing his first U.S. shows, we're anxious to hear from London artist Will Westerman, particularly his angelic voice. Lofty Nick Drake and Arthur Russell comparisons are well-earned, and in a modern sense, his dreamy, deeply emotional soundscapes echo Bon Iver, early James Blake, and the subtler moments of last year's acclaimed album by The 1975. His 2018 EP Ark was produced by Bullion, an electronic producer and fellow Londoner whose shown a knack for helping Westerman shine amongst his airy synth beds and skeletal guitars. There's a lot of promise here. Likewise, Westerman is currently working on his debut LP and plans to release it this fall.
Wicca Phase Springs Eternal
Remember those SoundCloud vs. Bandcamp memes that were kind of funny in 2017? Adam McIlwee sits a the center of that Venn diagram, easing the two worlds into peaceful equilibrium. Way back in 2005, he co-founded the Scranton, Penn. band Tigers Jaw, and helped carry the torch for emotional punk music through his departure in 2013. In the years that followed, he morphed into Wicca Phase Springs Eternal and co-founded the emo rap collective GOTHBOICLIQUE. Last year's "Stress" found him rapping alongside, then duetting with, Camp Cope vocalist Georgia Maq, over a beat from Lil Peep collaborator Fish Narc. It's a big mood, as they say, and just in time to prelude Wicca's sophomore album. Suffer On is due Feb. 15 on Run For Cover Records, Tigers Jaw's old label.
We're ending with one more from Tiny Engines Records. New York City's Wild Pink make panoramic rock music that's like the War on Drugs, but with more emphasis on poetic, storytelling lyrics, and a little alt-country thrown in. Their 2018 sophomore effort Yolk In the Fur is a downright spellbinding listen. If it arrived on one of the bigger indie labels, like say Matador or Sub Pop, it would have been all over last year's year-end lists. Tiny Engines suggests they've got more in store for 2019, so here's to hoping for their third LP in as many years.
Jazmine Sullivan Opens Up About Her New Album 'Heaux Tales,' Sexuality & More | Billboard News |
Agenda Focus of EU Summit Talks Shifted to Covid Response
Politics | March 25, 2021, Thursday // 12:48| views
The renewed focus on the COVID-19 crisis and delays with the European vaccination campaign are set to overshadow talks on how to align industrial policy with the EU's climate goals at an EU summit meeting on Thursday (25 March).
The EU is facing two crises – the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic – but while the European Commission has repeatedly said there is no vaccine for climate change, the topic is sorely lacking from the summit's March agenda.
In fact, the topic risks completely dropping off the agenda as EU leaders focus on COVID-19 and ongoing disputes with AstraZeneca despite significant milestones in climate policy coming up in the next few months.
"At the moment heads of state are definitely more focused on COVID-19, concerns about strategic dependencies in global supply chains and vaccine politics," warned Johanna Lehne, senior policy advisor at the climate think tank, E3G.
If climate policy is a top political item, it requires heads of state and finance ministers to be involved, she added.
Campaigners hoped this meeting would be the moment to align industry and climate policy, but while European leaders will exchange views on the single market, industrial policy and competition policy, the Commission's industrial strategy, which should have been released prior to the meeting, has been delayed until the end of April.
"Leaders should be discussing how to leverage the impact, size and integration of the EU's single market to drive the net-zero transition globally and ensure continued European competitiveness," said Lehne.
"As well as the climate imperative, there is a strong economic imperative to ensuring a better linkage of industrial policy and climate," said Lehne, pointing to competition on green technology from the US and China.
The Commission's upcoming June package of energy and climate laws will also have a significant impact on European industry, but there has been little discussion on this, campaigners say.
"So far, we've seen a handful of member states start to position themselves on key files but no discussion space at Heads of State level to ensure a strong consensus is built up on how to deliver the new target," said Lehne.
Important political decisions that should be discussed ahead of the June package are not on the summit's agenda, despite announcements to this effect in December 2020, warned Agora Energiewende, a think tank.
In a study published on Thursday (25 March), the German think tank said the EU is still far off track from reducing emissions by "at least -55%" before the end of the decade, its stated objective.
"The European Commission projects at least a 10% gap for emissions reductions in 2030 based on current scenarios. Quick and decisive action is thus needed across all sectors of the economy to meet the new 2030 target and to prepare for climate neutrality by 2050," says Agora Energiewende.
One of the key questions for the EU is how to incentivise a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and transport, which are currently not included in the EU's carbon market, the emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). While the Commission's June package will chart a way forward on how to do this, the report looks at four alternative options.
"Each option has its benefits and drawbacks, some of which must be dealt with in companion policies. However, for the framework to have environmental integrity and ensure target delivery, member states will have to clearly define who is accountable for reducing emissions, and who will be responsible if targets are not met," said Dr Patrick Graichen, executive director at Agora Energiewende.
"These issues are politically difficult, but EU leaders cannot shy away from taking decisions. Time is of essence, we need a bold 'Fit for 55' package in June this year," he added.
The poor are expected to be the most heavily impacted by a potential inclusion of transport or building emissions into the EU carbon market. "To ensure fairness, policy makers must not only consider the different income levels of households across the EU, but also the different levels of vulnerability to a rising carbon price," the report says.
One way to minimise impact on the poor is to redirect revenues from the carbon market to those affected, Agora Energiewende suggests. "Delivering the EU's climate target will only be successful if environmental integrity and social justice go hand in hand, in particular in the buildings and transport sectors," Graichen said./Euroactiv
Tags: EU Summit, covid response, agenda, climate change, economic recovery
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Robert Arnold, Investigative Reporter
Tags: Texas, News, Local, Politics
Weekend roadwork: Here are the places to avoid so you don't get tied up in traffic
Texas sheriff talks border wall security, government shutdown
HOUSTON – Andy Louderback has been the sheriff of Jackson County for 16 years and he has been to the White House several times to discuss border security and criminal justice issues.
Louderback was seen sitting next to President Trump on Friday as the president answered questions about the ongoing government shutdown and the border wall. Louderback is also the legislative director for the Sheriff's Association of Texas and he said a wall is needed along the border but maintains it is only a partial solution.
"The wall is simply a portion of what we've talked about for decades," said Louderback. "No country exists that doesn't have a border that's controlled."
Jackson County is a little over an hour south of Houston. The county is not on the border, but Louderback said Jackson is a corridor county. He explained what comes across Texas' border with Mexico eventually moves through his jurisdiction on the way to Houston.
"Virtually 100 percent of our narcotics problem is coming out of Mexico," said Louderback.
Louderback points to cocaine, ecstasy, Xanax, heroin and meth seized during recent arrests. He said none of those drugs are manufactured in the rural county and he said he is seeing an increase in meth.
"It's manufactured in laboratories in Mexico and shipped by the metric ton into this country," said Louderback.
Louderback said when he has spoken to President Trump about border security, it is to say a wall is not needed along every mile of the border. However, Louderback said he believes a wall in certain portions is necessary to help law enforcement have greater control over the drugs and other types of crime coming over the border.
"We need physical barrier structures in certain places, we need technology and we need manpower," said Louderback.
Louderback said border security is something he and his counterparts have discussed for decades because of the drugs, human trafficking and other crimes fueled by cartels.
"There's not a single law enforcement agency in this country who doesn't deal with what the cartel is bringing in to this country," said Louderback.
When asked about the government shutdown, Louderback said it is unfortunate but necessary to address what he believes is a national security issue that has been neglected. |
Most of us take our ability to breathe effortlessly for granted. But those of us that suffer with the sinuses, well what can I say, it's pretty appalling. Headache, pain in the face, stuffed or runny nose, post nasal drip, sneezing, awful taste in the mouth, dizziness, upset stomach are only some of the symptoms of a sinus condition. So out comes the neurofen, the paracetamol, the nasal spray, the decongestants and many more over the counter products in the hope that they work immediately and allow you to continue your day in better form. If they don't then it's off to the Dr;s for an antibiotic. But, by this time perhaps a week has passed or more which has allowed the problem to go deeper into the body presenting itself perhaps as a chest infection aswell. Most cases presenting to an acupuncturist have been down this route time and time again. Interestingly, after receiving acupuncture for their sinuses they then opt for acupuncture as their first treatment preference. Why? Apart from the fact that it works, acupuncturists look for the cause, for the weakness or disharmony in the body that has allowed this to happen in the first place.
If we look at what happens anatomically we can better understand not just sinusitis but the terminology and system used by the Chinese to describe and therefore treat this condition. Sinusitis is simply an inflammation of the mucous membranes that line the sinus cavities. Acute or chronic inflammation causes the mucous membranes to secrete more mucous, sometimes to the point where the tissues in the nasal cavities can become swollen. This can then prevent drainage. So the nose becomes congested, you can loose your sense of smell (anosmia) and pain can develop in the face and head area. The drainage route can then move to the back of the nose to get a post nasal drip, a cough, sore throat and yellow or green production of mucous.
Acute sinusitis is usually due to a secondary bacterial infection following a prior viral chest infection or an allergic type reaction in the nasal area from the environment, better known as allergic rhinitis. Chronic sinusitis may have no signs of acute infection but over a period of weeks and months the signs include pain in the face, neck or head, loss of appetite, a cough that is usually worse at night with daytime fatigue or a general sense of malaise. A primary cause of chronic sinusitis is the fact that an acute sinusitis was treated ineffectively, which then leads to further attacks. Other causes are overuse of decongestant nasal sprays, smoking, swimming, diving, allergies, or as the Chinese say an underlying disharmony within the body that presents itself as sinusitis.
The pattern of disharmony identified by your acupuncturist can be varied and different to say your friend that also has the same problem. But that is the uniqueness of the Chinese perspective. For instance, overeating fats, hot spicy foods, sweets, or drinking alcohol, can engender or create what we say is 'damp' and 'heat' in the body. Damp then congeals or thickens to form phlegm while heat moves upwards (a bit like steam) and lodges in the orifices of the lungs, which include the nasal cavities. This damp and heat can be attributed to a weakness in the spleen energy system. But, how does a weakness in this spleen system develop? The spleen is nourished via the stomach, and as we know we eat to derive nourishment for the body overall. So eating or drinking excessively, irregularly and unhealthily damages this spleen energy. This reflects the Chinese thinking of yin and yang, of paired organs. The stomach is considered yin and paired with the spleen, its yang partner. In addition, the emotional aspect affects the spleen. Worry being the biggest factor. This is part of stress. Is there anyone that is not or never worried about something? Can you see how long-term worry affects you? Now if the spleen energy can be harmed, then this can affect the stomach energy or yin. Can you see then how stomach disorders can start and how the complexity of disharmonies arise within this system of thinking?
Apart from the spleen, heat that is considered latent or depressed in the liver system from emotional stress or frustration can also contribute towards developing sinusitis, particularly of a repetitive variety, or as western medicine describes it, chronic sinusitis.
The above patterns of disharmony all involve 'heat', but sinusitis can also be due to 'cold' or to be more precise 'empty cold'. The expression empty means it is a deficiency or weakness. This cold lodges in the body and interferes with the function of transforming and transporting fluids in the body. These fluids gather and transform into 'damp', which can congeal into phlegm if there long enough. Again this is associated with a weakness in the spleen energy system. Now the Chinese say, that the spleen is the mother of the lungs, so if the spleen is weak then the child, the lung, is weak. So if the function of the lung is to inspire and expire and there is fluid or phlegm impairing its downbearing function then these fluids accumulate and spill over into the nasal orifices. This results in a clear watery nasal discharge, nasal congestion, lethargy, loss of appetite, malaise and general lack of strength.
Is there anyone that has not had this variety of what was assumed to be a bit of a cold? A runny nose with no appetite or strength but over a few days or weeks the nasal discharge went but you were left feeling wrecked? But perhaps what you didn't know was, it was a sinusitis of the damp empty cold variety, and as the Chinese say, damp always turns to heat, as does cold.
So, sinusitis can develop from a variety of sources in Chinese medicine, but from a western perspective it is, bacterial, a chronic inflammation or environmental. It does not consider how fluids or heat act, or the present state of the body internally as a complete system with this condition unless of course it is your adenoids. If it is appropriate, these are then removed. Acupuncturists think differently, we look for a root cause and treat the root along with the presenting signs and symptoms. We also consider how one system affects the functioning of another, short term and long term. Ultimately, the intricacies of this system can help prevent long-term illnesses developing. So don't wait for the loss of appetite, the anosmia, the dizziness, the chronic condition, treat a sinus issue early, before it goes deeper and affects the body. And, if you do have an underlying disharmony, well, this will be treated too. |
MEXICO town Mayor Teddy Tumang said they are now in the process of acquiring an eight-hectare land near the new North Luzon Expressway Bypass Road in a bid to transfer the municipal hall and other government and public structures of the town.
Tumang said the move will decongest the old town proper from traffic and enable the municipal government to build more vital structures needed by the town.
Tumang said the current location of the municipal hall and surrounding lands does not provide for space for new vital structures.
"We will also transfer the public market. This will enable us to fully develop the new area to fit standards on traffic management as well as development," Tumang said.
Tumang said the old municipal hall will become an office for other departments of the municipal government along with the old public market. The Sangguniang Bayan is also expected to still have their sessions at the old municipal hall.
Tumang said the move will effectively decongest the town center and also usher in new developments in other parts of the town.
The eight-hectare property will also house the new community college, buildings for the fire department as well as other structures for sectoral groups like senior citizens.
The mayor is confident of getting help from Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales. |
Article Deconstructing Activism
The subversive power of laughter
There's no incongruity in conducting serious business and having fun.
This week I've been reading a biography of Abbie Hoffman, the iconic American antiwar activist. (Sacha-Baren Cohen depicted him memorably in the film The Trial Of The Chicago 7, which I re-watched until 2am this morning.)
Hoffman co-founded the Youth International Party (Yippies), and he understood the power of humour as a political weapon like few others. Through outrageous stunts like nominating a pig for president, trying to levitate the Pentagon and threatening to dump LSD into Chicago's water supply, he manipulated the media into covering his cause. And in so doing, Hoffman helped to mobilise a generation against the injustice, militarism and political corruption of the 1960s and 70s.
A Yippie demonstration (source: Geocities)
Learning about this influentual, imaginative dissident has been inspiring. But also, if I'm honest, a little depressing. Because back here in 2023, I've been having some odd days, attending activist meetings that have been heavy affairs. With more energy dedicated to hand-wringing over the issues, deliberating over process, and resolving perceived slights between participants... than on how to get out there, to confront and campaign.
It's frustrating. And, I'm realising, far too common among activist groups today.
OK, the counterculture may have moved on from beards and flowers and public fornication1. But diving into the activist practices of 50 years ago, shows me that those of today may have lost something vital. The ability to laugh at the establishment, and at each other.
The plan to levitate the Pentagon was the perfect absurdly inspiring protest for the time
How many hippies does it take to make magic happen?
TimelineStephanie Buck
When did it all get so damn solemn?
Sociologists can chart the decline of the Joy Of Activism much better than I. But having seen it up close, I'd say 2016 was a tipping point.
(And let me be American-centric here, because its internet platforms are ubiquitous, and the US is still, today, the driver of global culture.)
2016 was the year Trump got elected, the polariser-in-chief. He exploded onto a landscape of political discourse governed by tech platforms, primed for polarisation and outrage.
This unleashed some dangerous dynamics. Would-be activists fell victim to the tug of tribalism. Meanwhile the establishment targeted them by stoking offence strategically, sometimes with outright lies. While keeping them fed on a daily diet of injustice and horror, splintering their attention, making it hard for them to see any dissident action through to its end.
Activism: today's religion
All this is well documented. But there's a missing piece that's easy to overlook. While these trends were taking shape around 2016, religiosity was at an all-time low.
And political engagement and civic activism stepped in to fill that void.
Once you notice the religiosity in today's mainstream activism, it's hard to unsee. All the hallmarks are there: An in-group and an out-group. A fear of being cast out, cancelled. Unquestionable beliefs; a lack of nuance. A duty to act. Rituals. Heresy. Moral panics. Witch-hunts. A coalescence around charismatic preachers.
And this, I think, is where our fear of laughter comes in.
Why we're afraid...
The Name Of The Rose, a novel about the tension between reason and faith, is one of the best-selling books ever published. In it, the priest Jorge de Burgos is asked what's so alarming about laughter. His reply is instructive:
Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith. Because without fear of the Devil, there is no more need of God.
A key debate on the tension between comedy and religion, from the film version of The Name Of The Rose
Something similar is happening in much of modern-day activism. In its pseudo-religious incarnation, the actions of individuals in activist projects are typically saying first to their peers, then to a wider group: don't worry I'm one of you. And in this way, betraying the solemnity of the cause, making light of Very Serious Things, is an offence worthy of ex-communication. It's a dog-whistle, problematic, uncaring, or unserious.
So activists grumpily push on and fall in line, slogging their way through traditional tactics and performative displays.
And just like that, it's goodbye lightness.
...and how it holds us back
Draining the lightness out of activism is self-defeating. And maddeningly unstrategic.
Lightness is a potent political weapon that Abbie Hoffman used to such great effect. Sure, a provocative stunt on its own won't achieve your political goal. And making light of the impact of the establishment's policies can turn out tasteless, and backfire.
But attacking their methods through humour, if done right, can rally people to your cause, grow your support base, get airtime for your solutions.
And since the establishment are a serious bunch who hate their work to be ridiculed, Hoffman-style tactics can increase the chance they'll over-react. That their masks will slip. That they'll do something you can exploit... to further increase support for your cause.
Meanwhile, inside activist projects, in the kinds of meetings I attended this week, lightness brings freedom. Freedom from judgment and expectation. Freedom to experiment; freedom to fail. It says: losing is not just conceivable, it's likely. But hey, let's give it a shot. And worst case, we'll have fun trying.
Activism without lightness, though, makes for rigid, dull responses to the problems of the world. And it raises the chance that the energy of your activist project will burn up over matters of process, purity and personal offence. It makes the prospect of collapsing into in-fighting – a common fate of activist groups – more likely.
Managing for meltdowns
Leading US activist groups are collapsing inwards. Don't make their mistakes.
SUBVRTMehran Khalili
It's not all bleak. Actually, we might be on the cusp of a sea change. Comedians have never been more popular as interpreters of political news – from Russell Brand to Joe Rogan to Konstantin Kisin – as trust in legacy media craters.
But, my activist citizen friend, the time to get ahead of this is now. Bring Abbie Hoffman into your toolkit. Deride the Establishment's methods, not their ends. Grieve over the heating of the Earth, while ridiculing the policies of our elites that keep it heating. Laugh at the audacity of their corruption. Satirise their fumbling, authoritarian actions, their petty tyranny, their own stifling humourlessness.
The world's elite has arrived in Davos on over 1000 private jets to lecture you about climate change. pic.twitter.com/2WyDiqLbV6
— DiEM25 (@DiEM_25) January 16, 2023
And never, ever lose the subversive power of laughter.
Abbie Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989)
1: I'm not sure what today's counterculture even is. But we have to be open to the possibility – as paradoxical as it sounds – that counterculture itself has become mainstream.
Topic Deconstructing Activism How-To
A better way to confront racism
Could cultural knowledge transfer be the antidote to discrimination?…
Prime them for persuasion
How to get your audiences to consume your campaign material with curiosity and openness.… |
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I began working last year to improve my leadership skills. I have a coach who is helping me and it has been an amazing journey! By focusing positive energy I'm finding I can work from a whole different level. I find it really interesting to observe how much positive energy can move you and everyone around you forward and what a drag negative energy can be. Moving the present forward…not living in the past. I spent some time yesterday on our deck in peace and quiet reflecting on the joy in my life and how I wanted to move those memories forward as we hit 2016. I think it's going to be a great year!
We've celebrated the end of the year with friends over the past couple of days and here is a glimpse at the outfits carrying Rob and I forward!
The night before New Year's Eve…celebrating a good friend's birthday.
White Jacket: Cupcake Boutique [had it for years!]; T-Shirt: Kelly Wearstler; Faux Leather Leggings: Taupe; Earrings and Bird Ring: Space; Shoes: Prada [not available any longer, but some cool options here]; Clutch: Clare V. On Rob: White Leather Jacket: was his brothers, find similar here; Jeans: Hudson; Boots: Aldo. |
Get started with our Overview Handout for detailed information about Clarity. Our User Guide can help you get started with setup, configuration, and deployment of Clarity.
We have also published handbooks that document our Open Source foundation, the Binary Analysis Tool (BAT). Our handbooks are updated to include details about on-site and cloud deployment of our commercial solution.
The handbooks are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
If you have any questions, please contact our service desk. This is hosted on a dedicated support system to allow us to easily track issues.
The best place to get started is through our Overview Handout, which details Clarity: a solution for identifying Open Source security and compliance issues in binary code. |
Leandro Fernández may refer to:
Leandro Fernández (historian) (1889–1948), Filipino historian
Leandro Fernández (footballer, born 1983), Argentine footballer
Leandro Fernández (footballer, born 1991), Argentine footballer for Godoy Cruz
Leandro Fernández (footballer, born 1995), Argentine footballer
Leandro Fernández (artist), comic book artist
Leandro Fernández (actor), musician, actor, director
Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760–1828), Spanish dramatist, translator and neoclassical poet |
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Home/Middle East/Trump Tosses Out Obama Playbook In The Middle East
Middle EastNews/OpinionPresident ObamaPresident Trump
Trump Tosses Out Obama Playbook In The Middle East
Rusty Weiss Follow on Twitter May 23, 2017
President Donald Trump abandoned former President Barack Obama's policy of engagement toward Iran in favor of a tougher stance during his first trip abroad.
Trump decried Iran's growing influence in Syria and Iraq during Monday's public remarks in Jerusalem, according to Reuters. He then identified opportunities for cooperation in the region, including "advancing prosperity, defeating the evils of terrorism and facing the threat of an Iranian regime that is threatening the region and causing so much violence and suffering."
Trump's statements represent a significant departure from Obama's policy of engagement toward Iran, which sought to draw the country into the international community by rewarding good behavior. The policy ultimately manifested in the 2015 signing of the Iran nuclear agreement, which lifted crippling economic sanctions that were decimating Iran's economy.
Critics of the deal pointed out that the agreement rescued Iran's economy and increased Iranian influence in the region. The deal cannot be relied upon to prevent nuclear proliferation, due to inadequate verification measures. (RELATED: Obama's Absolute Foreign Policy Implosion, In One Sentence)
Trump's departure from Obama's emphasis on cooperation with Iran was welcomed by his Israeli hosts.
"I want you to know how much we appreciate the change in American policy on Iran which you enunciated so clearly," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump at his residence Monday. Netanyahu's praise for Trump and his policy realignment is significant in light of his strained relationship with President Barack Obama.
While Netanyahu celebrated this stark reversal in U.S. policy, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani objected to Trump's rhetoric. Rouhani criticized Trump, calling his visit to Israel a "theatrical gathering with no practical or political value" and arguing peace in the region would be impossible without Iranian cooperation, according to CNN.
Read more at the Daily Caller
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]
Rusty Weiss
Rusty Weiss is a freelance journalist focusing on the conservative movement and its political agenda. He has been writing conservatively charged articles for several years in the upstate New York area, and his writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, American Thinker, FoxNews.com, Big Government, the Times Union, and the Troy Record. He is also Editor of one of the top conservative blogs of 2012, the Mental Recession.
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Xeriscape, also referred to as waterwise landscaping, is a seven-step approach that will allow you to develop a lush garden that will do well in your climatic zone. The beauty of this method is that it not only saves water, but it saves time, energy and money. It will assist you in purchasing plants that are native to your area and placing these plants in proper locations. Not only will these plants do well, but the added benefit of xeriscaping is that less maintenance is required — less fertilizing, less pruning, less weeding and less mowing. This leaves more time for summer fun.
UGA Cooperative Extension also published a more detailed guide entitled the "Xeriscape Water Wise Landscaping Guide" which details the seven step process.
Note: Xeriscape is not the same as zeroscape, which uses no landscaping at all or is limited to gravel and rock.
Articles about Hunger Catasauqua's Haunt for Hunger, Oct. Oct. 21. Haunt for Hunger is a door to door campaign which will be conducted within the borough. Residents are asked to donate canned goods for the needy. ARTICLES BY DATEBill White a 'partner in the fight to end louboutin replica hunger' August 9, 2014 I read the Aug. 6 letters to the editor with some amazement and a lot of amusement when I saw the annual criticism of Bill White's eat a thon through Musikfest . Though there are readers who decry Bill's yearly gluttony, there are a great many more who know his interest in promoting the wonderful vendors who cook and serve their specialties at events like Musikfest. red bottom shoes That exposure for many small businesses is priceless. The 10 kilometer walkathon drew 106 walkers from 17 churches, and organizers hope to raise more than the $4,436 collected last year. "Guys in the senior class are the only ones here who have a ring," Parris said Thursday night after the Mountain Hawks completed their first practice of the 2014 season. "But we feel like we didn't really earn that one because we were just on the scout team as freshmen. To the Editor: News reports of famine and mass starvation keep reminding us that world hunger continues. Despite improvements in agricultural research, equipment and technologies, the hunger increases. Never has there been such an awareness and response to hunger. Today more people are helping through gifts of money, replica louboutin working in soup Christian Louboutin Replica kitchens and bringing their skills and caring to Christian Louboutin Online the victims of hunger. Yet world hunger worsens. Olive Garden is asking students to help find solutions by entering its 17th annual Pasta Tales national essay writing contest. From now through March 22, students in first through twelfth grades are invited to submit an essay of 50 to 250 words with their ideas for ending hunger in their local communities. |
The History of Revival and the Coming Move of God
Faith, Holy Spirit, Hope, Prophecy, Prophecy for America, Prophetic Words from Oct 2016 to Today, Third Great Awakening
LISTEN NOW! When oppressive times are at hand, we can often become consumed at what is happening all around us and forget that God is still in control. This couldn't be more true than what was taking place within Israel during the time of Gideon. What Gideon didn't know was that he was about to be chosen to lead Israel out of the oppression that the whole nation was experiencing. Regardless of what we see, or what we don't see, now is the time to look up towards the heavens because these are the moments when God does His best work.
When we look back over the history of the Church over the past few hundred years and the waves of revivals that swept across the Globe, we must remember that each of them took place during very trying times. Because of the faithfulness of those who heard from God, and their unwavering stand for God amidst continual opposition and pressure, countless scores of souls were able to be introduced to the power of God.
The Book of 1 Kings focuses on one such man, Elijah. Evil government was in place, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, and Elijah was the prophet that God revealed His voice to in that particular hour. Through Elijah's obedience to the voice of the Lord, he proclaims loudly that it is not going to rain in the land in 1 Kings 17:1. "…As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." Turns out, not a single drop fell again for another three years.
While the drought had fully settled in and the effects of the drought had been experienced throughout all of the land, Elijah once again heard from the Lord and remained faithful to declare what God had spoken to him. Think about the importance of Elijah's faithfulness to what God had spoken to him about. Even amidst the season of not hearing a new word from the Lord, Elijah remained faithful.
When we are moving in obedience to what the Lord reveals to us, this is exactly what we are going to experience. There may be a drought of His voice all around us, but will we remain faithful to the last word the Lord said to us? Elijah did. Then, in the midst of the parched and dry drought, Elijah once again proclaims a word to the government in 1 Kings 18:41, "…Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." It was about to rain. Remember, Elijah boldly said this without seeing any present rain. After Elijah's servant tells him, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.", Elijah then commands his servant "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you." We must cooperate in accordance with God's word and respond in agreement to it.
God has been continually speaking of such a large harvest that is about to sweep across the nations of the world. God is preparing us for a harvest of 1,000 people coming to Christ, every single week. This is what was revealed to Rick Joyner at Morningstar Ministries. Can you imagine 1,000 people, every week. This is too big to be sustained in any one building. The Church is the people, not the building.
William Seymour was the very man that God chose to be the catalyst of what would be known as the Azusa Street Revival. What broke out in Los Angeles, California in 1906, remained until 1915, eventually reached the world and can still be affected today. What is even more striking about this move of God was Seymour's prophetic word that God would do an even greater move about 100 years later. We are in those very moments right now. When Lou Engle led the gathering of "Azusa Now" at the Los Angeles Coliseum, it was a prophetic gathering and an act of faith believing God to move again powerfully like He did in 1906.
Allow your faith to be radically lifted and stirred as you are encouraged to remain steadfast to what the Lord said to you during these difficult seasons and to hold on to the encouragement of what the Lord desires to do. See the full program to see the entire discussion, and so much more. Also shared in this segment: oppressive government, President John F. Kennedy, The Jesus Movement, obedience, faithfulness, Emmaus Road Discipleship, Kim Jung-Un, Pharaoh, and rain. Greg and Steve shared in this segment.
Courtesy of Willyam Bradberry /shutterstock.com
Revival History Montage
MeetMyFather.org
Elijah Announces a Great Drought, I will send rain, Cloud the Size of a man's Hand
1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 18:1, 1 Kings 18:41-46
Living in the Last Days: Are You Prepared? Difficult Days are Ahead, But So is the Harvest!
A New Reformation of Church; Councils of Leaders Will Begin to Form; A Kingdom Economy Will Begin; New Generation of Prophets & Teachers Will Emerge; Huge Numbers of Christians Arise in Europe & America; Great Awakening! 5 SPIRITUAL TRENDS BEGINNING 2016 THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD, says Rick Joyner, in a Prophetic Word; Morningstar Ministries
What do you do when a Move of God Arrives?
Azusa Now, Azusa Street Revival, Days of Elijah, Rick Joyner
WATCH! Capitalism, Communism, & Socialism; What does God's Word say About it?
United Cry DC16: Repentance, Racial Reconciliation and a Cry for Awakening as 30,000 Ministers Converge on the National Mall
Honoring Recently Martyred Missionary Mike Riddering
Race and the Church, "From every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb" Part 1 |
S&P posts biggest daily percentage decline since June
Lisa Bonarrigo
February 3, 2014, 4:43 PM
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks slumped on Monday, with the S&P 500 suffering its worst drop since June, after weaker-than-expected data on the factory sector in the world's largest economyprovided investors with the latest reason to move away from riskier assets.
U.S. manufacturing grew at a slower pace in January as new order growth plunged by the most in 33 years, while spending onconstruction projects barely rose in December.
Investor sentiment soured sharply after the factory data, driving the cost of protection against a drop on the S&P to its highest level in nearly four months. The CBOE volatility index .VIX jumped 16.5 percent to 21.44, its highest level since December 2012.
S&P e-mini futures showed 2.999 million contracts traded for the session, the largest volume since February 25, 2013.
"Nothing is preserved today - once the market started selling off, that was that," said Keith Bliss, senior vice-president at Cuttone & Co in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 326.05 points or 2.08 percent, to 15,372.8, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 40.7 points or 2.28 percent, to 1,741.89 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXICdropped 106.919 points or 2.61 percent, to 3,996.958.
The Dow closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since December 28, 2012, a technical breakdown which could indicate further declines.
Selling was broad-based, with only nine components in the S&P 500 trading in positive territory. Telecoms .SPLRCL, down 3.7 percent, and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD, down 2.7 percent, were among the worst performing sectors.
The Dow Jones Transportation average .DJT dropped 3.2 percent.
Stocks have been pressured as the Federal Reserve confirmed its commitment to withdrawing its market-friendly stimulus and by concern about growth in China. China's service-sector growth slowed to a five-year low in another sign of stuttering momentum in the world's second-largest economy.
Investors have also become leery about the outlook for emerging markets, where a recent rout in currencies spurred some central banks to raise interest rates or intervene in markets to limit the swings. That, in turn, has pressured bond and stock holdings and forced investors to exit in favor of assets perceived as relatively safe, like the yen and Swiss franc.
"This is the best evidence yet, to me, that people knew the Fed's monetary policy in 2013 was doing nothing but providing a definite floor to the equity markets. As soon as they started signaling they were going to pull out of their extraordinary stimulus you saw the unintended consequences," said Bliss.
For January, the Dow tumbled 5.3 percent and the S&P 500 slid 3.6 percent - their worst monthly percentage declines since May 2012.
With earnings season halfway over, Thomson Reuters data shows that of the 250 companies in the S&P 500 index that have reported earnings, 69.7 percent have topped expectations, above both the 63 percent beat rate since 1994 and the 67 percent rate for the past four quarters.
Telecoms were weaker on speculation AT&T Inc's (T.N) plan to cut prices on its large shared data plans could prompt other U.S. carriers, particularly larger rival Verizon Wireless (VZ.N), to offer new discounts. AT&T lost 4.1 percent to $31.95 and Verizon lost 3.4 percent to $46.41.
Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O) is discussing raising its bid for Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N), according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could pressure its reluctant rival ahead of a proxy deadline. TWC shares added 0.5 percent to $134.01.
Britain's Smith & Nephew (SN.L) is to buy ArthroCare Corp (ARTC.O) for $1.7 billion in cash to strengthen its treatments for sports injuries, an area growing faster than its main replacement hips and knees business. ArthroCare shares rose 8.2 percent to $49.12.
Pfizer's (PFE.N) shares edged up 0.7 percent to $30.60, the only Dow stock to close higher. Pfizer's experimental breast cancer drug significantly delayed progression of symptoms in a mid-stage trial, meeting the study's primary goal.
Volume was heavy, with about 9.46 billion shares traded on U.S. exchanges, well above the 6.94 billion average in January, according to data from BATS Global Markets. Volume was 8.84 billion on January 24, the last session the S&P 500 fell more than 2 percent.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,610 to 463, while on the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers 2,286 to 368.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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London Olympics site to become digital mega-hub
Flamboyant London mayor Boris Johnson has formally inked a deal which will see the enormous press centre built for the 2012 Olympics turned into a "colossal super hangar" crammed with thousands of "digital and creative" workers who won't have needed to be "brilliant at school". The London Legacy Development Corporation and …
Thursday 16th May 2013 16:34 GMT Pen-y-gors
Pardon my cynicism but...
How does providing a large office space with lots of power points and ethernet sockets actually "create 6500 jobs"?
Surely the jobs will be created (if they are) by businesses who use the space which otherwise would not have been established due to their inability to find office space with working power points. And I'm sure it's impossible to find office space anywhere in the UK these days...
Thursday 16th May 2013 17:28 GMT Buzzword
Re: Pardon my cynicism but...
Indeed. The recently-opened Shard provides 575,000 sq ft of office space in zone 1; this "technodome" will provide just 300,000 sq ft in zone 3.
Thursday 16th May 2013 20:40 GMT Yet Another Anonymous coward
Because each "digital social creative media cloud government relations consultant" requires a barrista, a personal assistant, a life coach, a yoga instructor, a nanny .....
So you only need a few government website concepts to be concepted about - to easily create 6500 new jobs
Thursday 16th May 2013 20:49 GMT LarsG
This is another case of throwing money at so called IT because it is the only and most important industry in the world.........
This shows up all that is wrong with Government understanding of IT, where they see the panacea for all ills is another technology park and that higher speed Internet will transform our economy and lives.
Great, so we can download a job application or porn film in a couple of seconds, that will make so much difference.
They want to invest in manufacturing a bit more... Lets start making things again.
Friday 17th May 2013 08:35 GMT Anonymous Coward
You need that many power sockets to create one Boris-load of hot air.
Thursday 16th May 2013 16:37 GMT Mike Brown
ive never understood why people voted for him. He just seems like such a oafish buffoon. Maybe he gets the oafish buffoon vote? Who knows
Thursday 16th May 2013 16:40 GMT gribbler
Re: boris
He makes me laugh. That's more than any other politician ever did for me...
Friday 17th May 2013 11:06 GMT Richard Taylor 2
You have never laughed at a politician before? You need to get out more lad......
Thursday 16th May 2013 16:52 GMT Waspy
" 'cause he is that funny guy wot is off the telly" seems to be a worryingly real reason I've heard from others.
To be fair to him he has done more good for London than I thought he would and he does have a certain charm about him in an everyman Clinton/Kennedy/Blair teflon kind of way...but aside from the fact that he stands against everything I admire politically, I wouldn't trust him as far as I can throw him.
Thursday 16th May 2013 17:07 GMT Cliff
That's the thing with Boris, he *comes across* as oafish, but is actually a smart cookie. Very disarming, people don't realise quite how his front distracts you from what he's actually doing.
Friday 17th May 2013 08:58 GMT ScottAS2
"Boris Johnson, people always ask me the same question, they say, 'Is Boris a very very clever man pretending to be an idiot?' And I always say, 'No.'" - Ian Hislop
Friday 17th May 2013 12:32 GMT TeeCee
While I have a heck of a lot of time for Ian Hislop and find that he tends to be right about most things, when I read Boris' written pieces I have to conclude that, in this case, he's wrong.
Anyone who writes and uses classical references that well cannot be an idiot. Pompous arse possibly, but idiot? No.
Thursday 16th May 2013 17:15 GMT Anonymous Coward
He just seems like such a oafish buffoon
I'm going to give you but one hint: he is not what he seems. He found the buffoon act to work for him, and he's shrewdly used it ever since, which has allowed him to laugh himself past incidents that would have hung other politicians. The man is far shrewder than he lets on, and that includes having the smarts to listen to others.
There is, of course, one other MASSIVE advantage he has: he's not Ken Livingston. That alone is worth a vote :)
But he is a clever idiot.
Friday 17th May 2013 12:23 GMT Lee D
1) It's probably an act, as stated. He went to Eton, so he can't be all THAT stupid (famous last words).
2) He's a politician. That means he's VERY good at projecting a false front, and making people think he's something he's not. It also means he has to come across as harmless and friendly.
3) When he cocks up, he says so. That alone is enough to put him above others who reel out all sorts of excuses about why they did what they (deliberately) did.
4) He cocks up a lot. I'd rather have someone who cocks up than covers up.
5) He's backed several quite good projects - banning alcohol on the Tube, the Olympics (as much as I hated it, people seemed to enjoy it generally), Boris bikes (getting us into the 21st century in terms of transport, behind just about every other EU country that already has them, using a way that doesn't involve pandering to drivers or spending lots of money), and the Thames airport is probably quite a sensible idea. I'm not aware of any completely ludicrous ideas that he's backed (which is either fabulous PR or decent common sense).
6) In the expenses scandal, he had a few taxi fares totally a few hundred pounds that were allowed under the rules. You could say they were excessive (for taxi fares), but you'd be hard-pushed to put them on the same scale as claiming for houses for ducks or second homes costing millions of pounds.
If you want people to trust you, one of the best methods is to make them feel superior to you, and supporting good ideas instead of attacking them. He pretty much has this done.
And, simply, out of all the politicians I've seen, he's probably the least scummy. I imagine I could have a drink with him at a pub and not feel like I was being preached at, or that it was some publicity stunt. You get the feeling you could take him out on a stag night and he'd not feel like the butt of the joke even when he was.
I don't vote (various reasons, but basically because I DO NOT KNOW these people, so how can I honestly put in a claim that they should be running a service/country? And I also can't vote for the people that I *DO* know who would probably do a good job, e.g. a prominent mathematician/economist for a finance minister, etc. because of the way the rules about who can run for election work - it's not a democracy, for example, if I can't vote for ME or Fred Bloggs down the road). But there's something about the way Boris works that makes him more appear approachable and normal than the others. Sure, he's a stereotype (bumbling Eton graduate who knows more about Latin than he does about the working man), but he's comfortable in that stereotype and even panders to it (I'm sure).
Boris is probably the only politician that I actually LIKE (that's very different to wanting him to be put into a position of power with my explicit approval on a ballot sheet). Hell, we all had the same reaction as Paul Merton when the self-styled buffoon managed to get into the mayoral office, but the fact is that enough people put him there because they liked him / trusted him more than the alternatives (and have kept that like / trust).
He's a fool. But he's a lovable fool. And he's different to other politicians. There's something "unofficial" about his demeanour in public. He's not all stuffy and using long words for the sake of it. He has fun, even at the Olympic ceremonies and things talking about "wiff-waff" and entertaining the crowds while getting stuck up on high-wires. You can easily imagine him as "the posh one" in a crowd of people, and he'd be great fun.
Of course it's only an image (which is my primary objection to voting for politicians I don't know). But it's an image different to the others, and one that works. It's like voting in Prince Harry or something. Probably not the most talented person to put into office, but one that you trust and has a public image that suggests he won't DELIBERATELY do things wrong.
Thursday 16th May 2013 16:44 GMT DrZarkov
Look on the bright side.
I pity you Britishers, Ed Millibob is going to be your next PM, lol.
Thursday 16th May 2013 22:34 GMT Neil Greatorex
Re: Look on the bright side.
Not in my lifetime...
"Not in my lifetime..."
Sorry to hear you've got a terminal disease. The polls are pretty unequivocal. The Tory vote has been trashed by Cameron's Blairite NuLab stance and the rise of UKIP, but the Labour voters remain firmly united behind the party that has rained economic death on this country. Which is understandable if you are on the payroll of the state. Looking at the percentage of GDP represented by government spending that's about half of the population dependant one way or another on the public spending (civil servants, state pensioners, welfare claimants, public sector employees, companies who are primarily suppliers to the puiblic sector).
The destruction of the Tory support base is a great things, it shows that people have seen through their cyncial lies and incompetence. Unfortunately that hasn't been matched by an understanding amongst Labour voters that the unsustainable shambles we now have is almost exclusively the fault of the Labour party (with a load of millionaires on their Parliamentary front bench, just like the Tories).
Millitwerp will, without doubt be our next feckless, useless, traitorous prime minister, like so many before him. I'm no happier than I suspect you are with this idea, but "call me Tony" Cameron isn't going to reverse the damage he's done, and Labour support remains united (kif misguided).
Friday 17th May 2013 13:11 GMT Snapper
Thursday 16th May 2013 17:03 GMT handle
40 mega volt-amperes
I hope it has power factor correction and that's pretty close to 40MW.
Thursday 16th May 2013 20:11 GMT Natalie Gritpants
Re: 40 mega volt-amperes
No no, this is the new thing, the amperes are 40 megavolts wide. It makes them go faster. The fuse boxes glow in the dark and the plugs only have one pin.
Friday 17th May 2013 08:52 GMT A Twig
Really hope you're being sarcastic and not confusing your AC & DC ;) If you are being sarcastic, thanks for providing a much needed chuckle on a Friday morning!
Thursday 16th May 2013 17:15 GMT JaitcH
So this is the Olympic Legacy?
I was of the understanding that the IOC party leftovers were to be used for sports related activities.
Given that the shindig cost 12-BILLION POUNDS +++ I wonder what the true cost of this building is and whether the proposed rents will actually help recoup the capital outlay, or is this yet ANOTHER Tory giveaway to business?
I imagine workers in this place won't be too enamoured of it's location when it's a game day at the stadium.
Thursday 16th May 2013 17:41 GMT ratfox
"digital and creative" workers who won't have needed to be "brilliant at school"
Is that the new euphemism after "correctional facility"?
Thursday 16th May 2013 17:44 GMT Neil Lewis
So this will be a "world-leading hub for the digital and creative industries"?
Given that the government's plans for so-called 'orphan works' is likely to decimate the actual creative industries while benefiting those who merely copy and re-use, perhaps he really means this will be a "world-leading hub for those who rip-off the creative industries on an industrial scale".
Thursday 16th May 2013 18:55 GMT ParsleyTheLion
Re: Oh really
Eh? Surely if a work is orphaned it means that nobody claims it and so won't miss the revenue.
Or are you afraid of being out-innovated by dead people?
Thursday 16th May 2013 19:33 GMT BrownishMonstr
E.g, stripping metadata off of images so that the actual owner can't be found and thus won't receive his entitlement.
Friday 17th May 2013 00:07 GMT Yet Another Anonymous coward
If only it was that easy to create an orphaned work
Mr J. J. Abrams - would you mind stepping over here, near the edge of this multi-storey car park
Thursday 16th May 2013 18:19 GMT strangelybrown
The 6,500 jobs bit will be one of those staggering stretches of imagination which seems to involve assuming every person actually employed in the conversion, running, and populating of the thing will create an extra 5 jobs trickling down through the economy.
Then you add a bit, and multiply the figure by 3.14... Then round up to a nice sounding number. Finally release the statement being careful to prefix everything with 'up to' or 'as much as'
Have Boris checked its ok with Apple?
I mean "iCity"..............
If this doesn't inspire confidence among employers, nothing will!!
"The jobs [on offer at iCity] are potentially open to people who haven't been brilliant at school or haven't got fantastic qualifications, but have a natural aptitude for dealing with gizmos that I barely understand."
They're making the press center into the world's largest Best Buy??
Thursday 16th May 2013 20:04 GMT Will Godfrey
"Can nobody rid me of this turbulent priest?"
Thursday 16th May 2013 21:36 GMT Anomalous Cowshed
I want one of them new megavolt hampers!
Thursday 16th May 2013 22:26 GMT David Pollard
Notting Dale Itek?
Does anyone remember the Notting Dale Itek, a sort of free college set up in the 1980s by Dr Chris Webb in the Shepherd's Bush hinterland? He had begged, borrowed and stolen to get a whole lot of computers set up in a disused school together with a staff of a few IT instructors.
There were no formal courses and the pupils were local 'yoof', self-selected on a first come first served basis. The notion was that those who were bright enough to hear about the scheme on the grapevine and go along to enquire about it were bright enough to learn something about computing if they were given access to equipment and a bit of encouragement.
Apparently it did lead to a reduction in crime locally. And a proportion at least of those who studied there found their way into a career rather than remaining unemployed. However plans to roll out similar Information Technology Centres across the country faded.
This present venture seems to have some similarities.
Re: Notting Dale Itek?
>This present venture seems to have some similarities.
Except for the educational aspects and local yoof
This is subsidized office space for big companies who are frends with the government to stick a bunch of call center people in with a couple of felt tip web designers upstairs to get the digital-britannia bit and the occasional school party being shown some of this "multi-media stuff" to justify the educational tag
The 80's were a very different arena in terms of IT. Computers were expensive. Nobody really had one until later in the decade.
And, no, Google knows nothing of Notting Dale Itek, nor of the Dr you state. In fact the only link that matches anything is this very page.
So although it may have been a success back when we were all buying our first BBC's and ZX Spectrums and those kids probably had never seen a computer before, it's long-dead now that even the poorest of kids is carrying a mobile phone around and have broadband at home (even if subsidised by their school).
I work in schools. Putting IT in front of kids does not teach them anything. It's the teachers that teach them. Unfortunately, decent teachers are very rare (I've seen MUCH more than my fair share of teachers that have no knowledge of the subjects they teach, and who aren't actually very good teachers in general anyway). And even with the best tools in the world, you don't get better kids out of the end without some basic teaching skill going on.
I posit that the guy in India (featured on something like Russell Howard a few weeks ago, I think) who painted some blackboards on the underpass of a bridge and gets kids to sit on blankets in the dirt while he teaches them everything from writing to maths to geography, for a few hours after his (and the kid's!) work, is actually doing more good for the planet than anyone involved in an educational IT project in a first-world country that involves slapping thousands of pounds of equipment in front of kids with even an average teacher, and students that probably aren't really bothered about learning in the first place (or else they'd be in school).
IT is a tool. It doesn't kill people. It doesn't educate people. It doesn't make things magically quicker. It doesn't make things more reliable. It's a tool. Used by clever people, you can get some clever stuff going. But just putting a machine into a classroom without either having a decent teacher, or first getting someone to the point they can be decent, is like handing out silicon chips to primates. It won't make them any cleverer primates than they already are.
And, the fact is, a decent teacher could teach computing on a blackboard with chalk and probably do a better job than someone with all the equipment in the world (do we not all feel disdain towards those teachers who teach their kids how to use only Microsoft Office, to paste in an image into a Word doc and send it to someone, but not why they should have a least-permission model on their system, or not take 10bn cycles to draw an image on the screen, or having never tinkered with a piece of basic electronics?).
P.S. I'm NOT a teacher. I spend my professional life dealing with them, which is enough to put me off going into the profession and makes me worry for my daughter's future education. But the fact is that it's the teacher that makes the lesson work, not the fancy equipment. A teacher with fancy equipment can work WONDERS, I agree. But a good teacher with no equipment will beat a bad teacher with fancy equipment EVERY SINGLE TIME.
P.P.S. This is my primary argument against the Raspberry Pi (which I was an early supporter of and own one of the first batch). Technical issues aside, it alone does not make kids better computer users. And the biggest, most prominent, most warned-about piece that's missing even after all this time? Getting effective use out of what is - admittedly - a wonderful tool in the right hands. Fact is, they couldn't be bothered to exhibit properly in BETT, have few teaching resources available and, thus, it's those teachers who can already teach well that are using it and getting results. They made a device "for education" and didn't follow through effectively with any of the actual "education" side. Sure, you can run Scratch. But I can run Scratch on a Windows PC that every school already has. The actual support of the educational side is pathetic, and left to the teachers. As such, schools have bought it thinking it's some magical tool that will make their IT teaching better, and it ends up in a cupboard after a year (along with the tablets, netbooks, interactive whiteboards, visualisers and every other fad that's been misunderstood in the same way).
Friday 17th May 2013 18:16 GMT David Pollard
Notting Dale Itek? @Lee D - it's here
"Google knows nothing of Notting Dale Itek"
After a bit of a search on Google myself, I've found the article I wrote about it. Apparently the place itself was called a 'Technology Centre'. Maybe 'Itek' was the word Chris Webb used when he was talking about his plan to roll out similar setups across the country.
http://yourcomputeronline.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/computer-club-notting-dale-technology-centre/
Friday 17th May 2013 06:53 GMT smudge
Check it for rocket motors
"...a "colossal super hangar" crammed with thousands of "digital and creative" workers who won't have needed to be "brilliant at school"."
Sounds to me suspiciously like the Hitchhiker's Guide's B-Ark.
Friday 17th May 2013 08:52 GMT PassiveSmoking
Technodrome
I hope its security systems are built with keeping ninja turtles out in mind. Shredder and Krang have some very specific security requirements after all.
Not the biggest
Since there are already several 60MVA datacenters in the UK, how does their claim hold any water?
To those questioning a megavolt-amp
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090313184838AAaixeo
Friday 17th May 2013 12:22 GMT Andy The Hat
Greenest?
... and what are they producing the 'green' 40MVA from? Pigeon poo digesters on the roof? The entire average daily output of the UK's windfarms? Hot air from management conferences? 90 acres of solar panels plastered on grade 1 arable land (the occupants of the building will obviously eat McD's and pizza, not food, so that's ok then)?
Or perhaps, it'll just be painted very green?
"...the slightly un-snappily named IBC/MPC."
Thank you Boris, a masterpiece of understated sarcasm there.
Monday 20th May 2013 19:33 GMT Henry Wertz 1
Clueless politicians
"How does providing a large office space with lots of power points and ethernet sockets actually "create 6500 jobs"?"
Oh that's what you get when you have politicians who have no clue pushing for projects. Here in Iowa (midwest US), the politicians in one of our towns just BEGGGGED Google to come in. They said it'd create like at least 1000 jobs, I mean hell, look at that square footage of that data center they want to build, that must mean lots of jobs based on how many jobs a factory that big would create! Google pointed out "No, this is a data center, not a factory, it'll take like 30 people to man it." The politicnas stuck one thumb up their asses and the other in their ears, and gave Google all these tax breaks to put in the data center. NOW, the politicians are like "We don't get it, it's only created 30 jobs!" They started trying to blame Google, who of course pointed out "You idiots, we told you it'd create 30 jobs before hand. Don't pretend it's our fault.", at which point the politicans had to clam up.
This seems to show some cluelessness -- a) Just turning some space into a "digital space" won't magically make it churn out jobs and money. b) Why are they pre-determining it'll use 40 megawatts of power? You've got companies now worrying, if not about the environment, at least about the power and cooling bills. They are saving serious electricity on their racks, among x86 the 8-core systems now use about as much power as a single or maybe dual did a few years back. The ARM servers save even more. |
Posted by: irishhawk | July 26, 2011
A Tribute to Legendary Libertarian Philosopher John Hospers
By Libertarian Defense Caucus Special Columnist Wayne Allen Root.
Our Friend John Hospers Passes Away
I have sad news to report…John Hospers, the very first Libertarian Presidential candidate in 1972, has passed away. John was 93. Because of our close friendship, I was asked to announce his death to the LP and his many fans and supporters.
John passed quietly away in his sleep, on Sunday morning June 12 without pain and suffering, of natural causes. He died only 3 days after his 93rd birthday.
He was a true friend of individual liberty and freedom.
A sad day for all. But a devastatingly sad for me, because John was a true friend to me as well. I spoke to John often. He was a trusted political advisor and confidant. And in his last years, when he was in the hospital, his friends always asked if I could cheer him up with a call. I came to enjoy those calls. John was my personal "Tuesday with Morrie."
He was the sweetest man alive, and a very loyal friend of mine. He will be greatly missed by all. The Libertarian movement has lost a pioneer and hero.
I send my condolences to the Hospers family.
And I wish a lifetime in heaven for John.
The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the author and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions, policies, or strategies of The Libertarian Defense Caucus or any individual Caucus member thereof.
Posted by: irishhawk | April 1, 2011
Perverse incentives in punishment of reformers and tolerance of the worst.
By Kevin Bjornson.
The principles of natural justice (Jus Naturale) are discoverable through
conscience and reason. This natural law applies to all natural persons,
in all places and for all time. The world will choose between natural
law and sharia law.
We know through observation that all existing governments are flawed.
Created to protect rights, these guard dogs often revert to wolf-like
behavior, stealing from and assaulting those they are supposed to
protect. This means, all existing governments should be reformed
or replaced. Yet there are not enough resources to do all that needs
to be done, all at once.
Not all governments are equivalent. Some are worse than others.
Governments that are reforming toward freedom, should be applauded,
rather than overthrown. Governments that are most threatening,
should be top of the list for abolition.
Bad people who reform, should be applauded for their good actions.
If instead they were punished for not coming close enough to good,
that would tend to push them away, back toward evil.
Gadhafii decided to dismantle his nuclear weapons program after
he saw Bush depose Saddam over that very issue (among other
issues). He also paid blood money to atone for his previous
terrorism. One of his sons even studied Austrian economics.
These kinds of good actions earn him respect and a seat at the
table of nations, with diplomatic relations and trade.
In contrast, the mad mullahs of Iran, after a temporary pause
about the same time (after the Iraq invasion), are proceeding at
full speed in pursuit of nuclear weapons. The Iran government
is more powerful than Gadhaffi's, and currently supports an
extensive network of terrorists, including agents helping to
kill American soldiers in Iraq.
The crazy dicatator of N. Korea kills millions of his own
people in a government-induced famine, due to their extreme
communism and international isolation. Yet we bargain with
them, to give them more aid.
The Islamist regime in Pakistan presides over a holocaust
of non-Muslims, expands it's nuclear arsenal, imprisons an
American who resists an armed assault, and continues turning
a blind eye to (or even supporting) terrorists in Afghanistan
and Kashmir. Yet they still receive US aid.
The message this sends is, if you're anti-American enough
and powerful enough, you get a pass. If you reform and try
to work with the west, and you're not very strong militarily,
you will be deposed by the west.
Whatever is rewarded, we will tend to see more of.
Whatever is punished, we will tend to see less of.
The end result in Libya and Egypt will be sharia law and
dictatorship of the Muslim Brotherhood. The result in
Iran and N. Korea will be more of the same. Trust and
belief in America are plumetting, our enemies are
strengthening.
There is something wrong with this picture.
Kevin Bjornson is the National Co – Chairman of The Libertarian Defense Caucus. He is considered one of the foremost libertarian intellectuals in the nation.
Posted by: irishhawk | March 1, 2011
National Co – Chairman Bjornson Responds to LP "Cut and Run" Communique
Libertarian Defense Caucus National Co – Chairman Kevin Bjornson penned this response to LP Executive Director Wes Benedict's intellectually dishonest "Cut and Run" communique. The full text of Benedict's bizarre and baseless rantings follows Co – Chairman Bjornson's response:
Fellow libertarians–
After a temporary lull in hostilities, LP director
Wes Benedict has once again declared war on
history, common sense, and liberty.
Reagan's method and purpose of deploying
US Marines in Lebanon was misguided. They
were lightly armed, bunched together in a
readily-accessible barracks, and given no clear
mission. The phrase "peace keeping" is not a
substitute for strategy, and certainly they were
not tasked with attacking Jihadists.
Lebanon's Christian minority, which was once a
majority, was largely middle-class and built Lebanon
into what was a "Switzerland of the middle east".
That was before Islamists tore their country apart,
through bombs, murder, robbery, and sexual assault.
The US could have charged the Lebanese infidels,
or neighboring Israel, for protection services. That
would have been an option in a libertarian foreign
policy–but apparently not the "non-interventionist"
foreign policy of Rothbardites.
That being said, the US withdrawal sent a wrong
signal to our enemies. We were "punked" and
simply withdrew. That was a reward to Jihadists.
They attacked us, and got what they wanted.
If rewarded, Jihadist demands will keep escalating.
Their ideology commands nothing less than world
domination. They have a bloody history–going
back well before the US was born and before Europe
was a world power. Before the Enlightenment gave
the west the edge, Islamist Barbary coast pirates
would raid Europe's coastal cities, for plunder and slaves;
until the US navy under Jefferson, the British navy,
and French forces, defeated them.
How to deal with Jihadism, is a matter for debate within
the libertarian movement and party. For one faction
to seize control (by showing up at national conventions),
and then proclaim that their plan is the only one possible
for libertarians, is false and misleading.
We cannot assume that US defense costs would fall,
if all US forces were withdrawn to within US borders.
Fighting a war on US soil, would be enormously
expensive to US infrastructure, and result in US
civilian deaths. Not being able to project US power
into the foreign sanctuaries of Jihadists, would force
us into passivity, having to defend every possible
target all the time. Instead of choosing the time and
place of conflict.
If the US adopted Wes' foreign policy,
US military and war costs would skyrocket.
There are ways of financing and privatizing
the US military, which Wes has been made
aware of, but chooses to ignore.
Further, we pledge that if libertarian hawks were to
become the majority faction at LP conventions,
we would not abuse our position of power by
mis-representing our foreign policy views as the only
ones possible under libertarianism. That much is
required by intellectual honesty.
We would welcome libertarian doves for other reasons.
By running only doves in political contests, the LP would
tend to siphon votes disproportionately from the Democrat
party base, which is also dovish. Under current leadership,
the LP is simply a minor shill for Republicans, who have
shown that they are not serious about either liberty or
effective counter-Jihadism.
Consequently, the Libertarian Defense Caucus calls for
the replacement of LP director Wes Benedict and LP chair
Mark Hinkle
The full text of Mr. Benedict's "Cut and Run" screed:
Dear Friend of Liberty,
In the Middle East, it's time to cut and run like Ronald Reagan did in 1984.
In 1982, President Reagan ordered American Marines into Lebanon as part of a "multinational peacekeeping force." In 1983, there were several bombings targeting Americans in Lebanon, including the well-known Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines.
At first, Reagan insisted that the U.S. would keep military forces in Lebanon. But in February 1984, he changed course and ordered a complete troop withdrawal.
The following is from Reagan's autobiography:
Perhaps we didn't appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle. Perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain instant entry to Paradise was so foreign to our own values and consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the marines' safety that it should have.
In the weeks immediately after the bombing, I believed the last thing that we should do was turn tail and leave. Yet the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics forced us to rethink our policy there. If there would be some rethinking of policy before our men die, we would be a lot better off. If that policy had changed towards more of a neutral position and neutrality, those 241 marines would be alive today.
I think our government would be well-advised to think about that quote before they stick their nose into Egypt, Libya, and other Middle Eastern countries in turmoil right now.
I applaud Reagan's decision to withdraw from Lebanon, and I call on President Obama to follow his example by withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the rest of the greater Middle East.
Even though many Arabs hated the American intervention in Lebanon, it's important to remember that Reagan's withdrawal did not result in terrorist attacks in America. It did not result in a spreading takeover of Middle Eastern governments by terrorist groups. What it did was stop further American casualties, and allow for a reduction in military spending.
It was foolish and wrong for Reagan to send American troops into Lebanon, but it was good that Reagan was able to recognize his mistake and withdraw those troops.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, President George W. Bush's pride and stubbornness prevented him from following Reagan's example. Unfortunately, President Obama has shown that same pride and stubbornness so far.
A withdrawal might cause President Obama to lose face, but it would save many American lives, and it would help save our economy as well.
Many people say "cut and run" as if it were cowardly or idiotic, but that may not be accurate. Apparently the term comes from navigation, when in dire circumstances a ship's captain might quickly cut the anchor line, raise sail, and "run" before the wind. You lose the anchor, but you save the ship.
I am so frustrated. Sometimes I think we're spending a trillion dollars and wasting thousands of lives in the Middle East just because politicians are scared of the words "cut and run."
But I say that's exactly what we should do: cut and run.
The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions, policies, or strategies of The Libertarian Defense Caucus or any individual Caucus member thereof.
Posted by: irishhawk | January 26, 2011
Libertarian Defense Caucus Condemnation of Moscow Airport Terrorist Attack
By National Caucus Co – Chairman Kevin Bjornson
The Libertarian Defense Caucus stands in solidarity with Russian people, culture, and defense forces against the horrific terrorist attack at the Moscow airport. An attack which murdered dozens, and maimed scores more.
Let us speak the name of this terror: Islamic Jihad.
Let us make these declarations:
–America and Russia should be allies in this struggle to reverse the spread of Islamist aggression; much as Rome and Byzantium upheld civilization against barbarians.
–America should cooperate by extraditing to Russia, those who are wanted for aiding terrorists and who now have sanctuary in the US. In particular, Imad A. Ahmad of the Islamic-American Zakat foundation, which has supplied terrorists in Chechnya.
*–NATO should expel Turkey because it seeks to restore the caliphate by alliance with terrorists, including those now attacking Russia.
*–Russia should be invited to apply for NATO membership,
and resume it's rightful place as an heir to Byzantium.
* The Caucus holds no official position on the admittance of Russia into NATO nor the expulsion of Turkey from the alliance.
The guiding principle of the Caucus is that all member nation-states should be held to the highest ideals of republican governance.
A Personal Appeal To Anti – War Libertarians
Hi, many of you are longtime foes of mine. That's fine. I wanted to point your attention to an editorial by my friend in the Australia Libertarian movement James Fryar over at Worldwide Liberty, "AntiWar vs. Pro-Defense Libertarians." Jim asks pointedly of the AntiWar faction of the libertarian movement:
"We don't ask the AntiWar swabs to go over there and fight. But at least, they can offer moral support"
And Jim is correct. We Pro-Defense libertarians understand fully that you all hate the Military, and are opposed to all Wars. But surely your opposition to Defense can not include support for Islamo-Fascism and Sharia Law?
No doubt most of you have been witness to the gross atrocities committed by Muslims against Christians, all across South Asia, Africa and the Middle East these past few weeks and months. You've seen the stories, as Clifford May of National Review points out:
Christian churches have been bombed in Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, and the Philippines. In Indonesia a mob of 1,000 Muslims burned down two Christian churches because, according to one commentator, local Islamic authorities determined there were "too many faithful and too many prayers." In Iran, scores of Christians have been arrested. In Pakistan, a Christian woman received the death penalty for the "crime" of insulting Islam; the governor of Punjab promised to pardon her — and was then assassinated for the "crime" of blasphemy.
And that's only half the story. In Europe, in the UK, Pakistani men are raping young British girls, because they "dress like sluts." In Denmark, they are attacking the headquarters of the newspaper that publishes cartoons mocking Muhammed. In Sweden an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist tried to blow up hundreds of Christmas shoppers in downtown Stockholm.
In Uganda and Tanzania, Muslim groups are pressuring the governments to declare homosexuality illegal, punishable by life in prison, or even execution. In Somalia, music has been completely banned, and women are not permitted to work outside the home. The very latest; if they get caught shaking the hands of a non-relative male, they could be beheaded.
Surely, you all recognize how this conflicts enormously with libertarian values.
We understand your position and your personal feelings prevents you all from wanting to do anything about it.
But a compromise…
Why not let us Pro-Defense libertarians take the lead on this?
As Jim says, we don't need you to join us in our call to arms. But we sure as hell would like your moral support.
Isn't that the least you can do? Can you at least give us that? Just an acknowledgement that Yes, Sharia Law sucks, and all libertarians, including leftwing libertarians are opposed to Sharia Law. Further, if some libertarians want to fight back against Radical Islam, "mazeltof"; they are fully free to do so.
You all don't even do that. You don't even acknowledge the threat of Radical Islam. You've got your heads in the sand, and are pretending it doesn't even exist.
Okay, it's overseas. And I understand 99% of all non-interventionists are isolationists at heart and could really give an 'F' about what goes on in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, ect…
But what about Creeping Sharia here in the United States:
1. A restaurant in Nashville, TN was prevented from opening up a bar in the facility cause the Mosque across the street objected to the city council.
2. In Hamtramck, Michigan the Muslim call to prayer blares from speakers outside of 4 different Mosques in the tiny hamlet 5 times a day, despite the pleas of local residents, and the Chamber of Commerce, small businessman that its preventing outsiders from coming into town.
3. In North Philadelphia the city has prevented any new liquor stores from opening up because of objections from the Muslim community.
4. In Wisconsin a publicly-subsidized Pre-School, part of the Head Start program, just eliminated secular Christmas celebrations and banned Santa Claus, cause of objections of Muslim attendees.
5. Corporations across the U.S. are now being sued by CAIR in federal court, and pressured by Muslim groups to be "Sharia compliant."
6. A group of Christian pastors were arrested at a Fair in suburban Detroit last summer for handing out pamplets praising Jesus on a public sidewalk. They were surrounded by 8 squad cars full of cops.
C'mon you all. Surely you can agree with the Pro-Defense wing of the libertarian movement, that these examples are completely contrary to libertarian principles and should be opposed.
All we're asking in the Pro-Defense wing is that you acknowledge that Sharia Law is a threat to Liberty, and that you occasionally lend us Pro-Defensers your moral support.
Something along the lines of: "While we do not advocate foreign intervention to stop Radical Islam, we do recognize it as a threat to libertarian values, and acknowledge that those private efforts of some libertarians who want to fight back, are legitimate."
We're asking for compromise. Can you please meet us half-way?
Eric Dondero, Publisher
LibertarianRepublican.net
Member, Libertarian Defense Caucus since 1985
Fmr. Senior Aide, US Cong. Ron Paul 1997-2003
Ron Paul, Libertarian for President, Travel Aide, 1987/88
Fmr. Libertarian National Committee mbr.
Founder, Republican Liberty Caucus.
Posted by: irishhawk | October 25, 2010
Caucus Co – Chairman Composes Eloquent Rebuttal of Latest LP Press Release
Libertarian Defense Caucus National Co – Chairman, Mr. Kevin Bjornson, fired back at LP Executive Director Wes Benedict's and LP National Chairman Mark Hinkle's latest woefully misguided missive.
The rambling press release, although it should be noted that a press release has to in fact be covered by the press to be considered a press release, covered domestic and International affairs.
Mr. Bjornson eviscerated the juvenile proclamations asserted in the LP release with the following eloquent response.
The nearly incoherent original LP news release is incuded after Co- Chairman Bjornson's response.
Dear fellow libertarians and other concerned persons,
Recently, those of us on the LP e-list received a press release
(appended below) which sets new records for bizarre language;
Benedict and Hinkle seem to have a suicide wish for the LP.
The "libertarian" proposal touted, is that the US pull the plug
on both our foreign friends and retired Americans.
The unstated assumptions are, only government can provide
retirement/medical benefits, and taxes are necessary to
wage war. This flies in the face of liberty theory as well as
human history.
If social security benefits were simply dropped with no
free enterprise replacement, the results would be catastrophic.
Millions of retired Americans would be placed in mortal jeopardy,
and whoever did that would be crucified at the polls. Millions of
old Americans would roam the streets, almost like a scene out of
"Night of the Living Dead". Need I remind these masochistic
gentlemen, the LP is a political party and should be about
proposing solutions most Americans will accept, instead of
framing libertarianism in the worst possible light.
Fortunately there is a libertarian way out of this mess.
The US has vast tracts of land, which could be traded to
insurance companies in exchange for their assuming
Social Security and Medicare liabilities. Benedict and
Hinkle oppose Social Security but offer no positive
solution–other than what would amount to a holocaust
of elderly Americans who have paid into the system
for decades and have planned their retirement accordingly.
The Libertarian Defense Caucus has proposed ways that
US defense could be privatized, or at least financed without
taxation. The protection of property rights of merchant
ships and oil infrastructure should not be treated as a
welfare benefit, but as normal ways of financing the
business of providing government services.
Even if we accept the tax financing of defense,
there is no assurance that retreating to within US borders
would save money. Does anybody seriously propose that
one side in a war may unilaterally declare the conflict over,
without victory and with the enemy unvanquished?
Costs to the US would sky-rocket under military isolationism,
as our enemies would then be free to attack us on US soil,
at times and places of their choosing. We would be in a
defensive mode, forced to defend every possible target.
Jihadists would continue to use nationalized oil and prohibition
to finance their Jihad, safe from attack in their foreign sanctuaries.
If we simply retreat, they will not reciprocate, but will view
that as weakness, and accelerate their terrorist attacks.
If not stopped, sooner or later Jihadists will acquire nuclear weapons.
US infrastructure will be set back by 100 years, and Israel
(with whom we enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship)
will be toast.
Benedict and Hinkle make a mockery of libertarianism.
Fortunately their press releases are ignored. Where has
this latest press release been published? Who is still
listening? Thanks to Dondero and Cristiano, my responses
are likely getting more coverage on the internet than their
messages. We should present libertarianism in the best
possible light, and not go out of our way to alienate
people generally and dissenting libertarians. That much
should be obvious; sadly, the LP is in need of adult supervision.
Kevin Bjornson
Libertarian Defense Caucus.
WASHINGTON – With prospects of a Republican takeover of Congress, Libertarian Party (LP) Chair Mark Hinkle posed this question: "In order to balance the budget, where will the GOP pull the plug first: on Granny, or on foreign wars?"
Hinkle continued, "Of course, Republicans may have no serious intention of cutting federal deficits or spending, and their complaints about 'out-of-control spending' might be hypocrisy."
Over 60% of federal spending is in three areas: Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the military. It would be impossible to eliminate the federal deficit without cutting entitlements or military spending, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tea Party leader Dick Armey recently called Social Security a ponzi scheme.
LP Executive Director Wes Benedict said, "Social Security is universal mandatory welfare for seniors. It's very un-libertarian."
Benedict continued, "I suppose one way to maintain the Social Security scheme would be to rapidly grow the U.S. working population, such as by opening up our borders to increase immigration. However, Republican congressmen have tried to duck their responsibility for the bad economy by scapegoating illegal immigrants, so allowing a massive influx of immigrants is politically infeasible in the near future.
"Each child born in the U.S. immediately faces a debt of over $40,000. Ironically, it might not be long before American youth start ditching this debt foisted on them by their parents and grandparents, and start leaving America in search of better opportunity abroad.
"To make Social Security solvent as our population ages, the federal government either has to raise the tax, or cut the benefits. The last significant change to Social Security was a tax increase approved by Ronald Reagan. Libertarians favor cutting Social Security benefits, and we oppose tax increases. Libertarians would prefer to allow workers to opt out of Social Security. Perhaps entitlements can be cut gradually, rather than slashed abruptly, but that depends on taking action sooner rather than later.
"On the October 17 'Fox News Sunday,' I saw that Republican senate candidate Carly Fiorina was repeatedly asked what parts of entitlements she would cut to balance the budget, and she repeatedly dodged the question."
The recent Republican 'Pledge to America' makes no mention of cutting entitlements or the military.
Benedict continued, "Republicans refuse to say where they would cut entitlement spending, and of course Republicans oppose cutting military spending or ending America's foreign wars. Therefore, I'd say that Republicans are hypocrites who aren't serious about solving the federal debt problem."
A video lampooning John Boehner and the Republican 'Pledge to America' was created by Travis Irvine, Libertarian for U.S. Congress in Ohio District 12.
Benedict continued, "Only Libertarians recognize that we can't have it all for much longer. The longer Republicans and Democrats flush money down the toilet in Iraq and Afghanistan, the sooner the government will have to cut benefits for Granny. Of course, Congress may never have the courage to pass legislation to cut entitlements. In that scenario, Granny will eventually start experiencing 'rolling blackouts,' or perhaps a total system collapse.
"Libertarians stand ready to cut spending across the board. Perhaps the question Granny needs to answer is, 'Which do you love more: your Social Security check, or foreign wars?'"
The 'Liberaltarian' Cometh Once More
Libertarian National Chairman Mark Hinkle appears to have conflated modern statist liberalism with libertariansim when it comes to matters of foreign policy.
Libertarian Defense Caucus National Co – Chairman, Mr. Kevin Bjornson, seeks to help Mr. Hinkle clear up any confusion in his response to a ludicrously illogical LP 'press' relase.
Co – Chairman Bjornson's refutation is follwed by the original LP press release.
Dear Fellow Libertarians,
This is in response to Wes Benedict's latest missive
concerning foreign policy (wherein he quotes himself,
referring to himself in the third person). The letter was
unsigned, which is odd. That would be like me writing
a controversial letter anonymously, quoting myself,
and claiming to speak for all libertarians. People might
accuse me of god-like pretensions (if I were to do the same).
Wes' (or Mister X's) letter points out the obvious; that if the LP
adopts categorical non-interventionism, we will tend to attract
more voters who favor non-interventionism. Since the Democrat
party leans more toward non-interventionism than the GOP
(or at least has that image), this LP strategy tends to siphon from
the Democrat base–thus helping elections of Republicans.
Left unexamined, is the premise that the LP has a duty to
help the GOP. Why should we help the party that is the
main force behind the anti-drugs war, and is about as
bad as Democrats on deficit spending? Why should we
help elect social conservatives?
Wes claims that Obama is spending a higher % of GDP on
military spending than Bush Jr. That maybe true, but is an
example of lying by statistics. Since the economy has shrunk,
military spending can rise as a relative %, while at the same time,
shrink in absolute terms. Let us hope our enemies feel pity for
the sorry state of our nation's economy, and let up on their
attacks until our economy improves. Meanwhile, back in reality,
enemy attacks have increased (due to their cost-effective strategies
and increased oil prices).
If Wes' first premise were true, that categorical non-interventionism
were a good policy, we should be running liber-hawks in order to siphon
votes from the GOP base, in order to help the election of Democrats.
But if his second premise were true, that Obama and the Democrats
were military spending hawks (more so than the Republicans),
this would contradict his third premise–that we should help elect
Republicans. In reality, all three Wes premises are factually false,
and internally inconsistent.
Thus Benedict and Hinkle have helped turn the LP into a madhouse.
But, let's move on to look at the bigger picture.
Overthrowing of tyrants is a distinct and separate type of operation from
replacing them with "social democracy" or altruistic nation-building.
One can oppose the current occupation, without also opposing all
"interventions".
The LP cannot logically be categorically anti-interventionist,
and also respect the US constitution. The US revolutionary war would
not have succeeded, absent French intervention. To oppose all interventions,
one would also have to oppose US entry into WWII. Tyrants would
have free reign to overthrow relatively free nations, picking them off
one at a time.
In any event, even if all US troops were withdrawn to within US borders,
Wes would still have them tax-supported. Likely under such a policy,
aggression would increase, and the cost of a war fought within US
borders would be much worse for the US economy/infrastructure–
than if we confronted our enemies in their foreign sanctuaries.
Instead of foreign civilian casualties, we would be hearing about
American civilian casualties.
The non-aggression principle does not require non-interventionism.
To "intervene" simply means, to take sides in a multi-party dispute.
Under categorical anti-interventionism, every person would have
to defend himself, and could not intervene to help others or seek
help for defense from others. Every man would be a defense island,
leading to a war of all against all.
Of course, brutes would not bind themselves to such a ridiculous principle,
and would be free to organize force against lone individuals (or by analogy,
against lone nations). The result would be a swift collapse of civilization,
and the reign of chaos and tyranny. To seriously propose either categorical
anti-interventionism or categorical interventionism, would be folly.
Every sane person is anti-war; but sometimes wars must be fought to
defend innocent life, liberty, and rightful property. Which Benedict and
Hinkle would know, if they had any idea of what a libertarian foreign
policy would look like.
Libertarian Defense Caucus
Anti-war liberals can vote Libertarian
WASHINGTON – In the violent wake of President Obama's military surge in Afghanistan, and his failure to withdraw the U.S. military from Iraq, the Libertarian Party (LP) says anti-war liberals can vote Libertarian with a clear conscience.
Sadly, President Obama is spending an even larger percentage of America's money on the military than George W. Bush did. According to the tracking website usgovernmentspending.com, during the first two budget years of the Obama administration (FY 2010 and 2011), military spending is expected to be over 6 percent of GDP: a larger percentage of GDP than during any year of the Bush administration.
LP Chair Mark Hinkle commented, "Anti-war liberals who thought President Obama and the Democrats would reduce military spending and American interventionism have been betrayed.
"Liberals have also been betrayed by Obama's unwillingness to reverse the serious civil liberties violations of the Bush administration. Obama has claimed the authority to kill American citizens overseas without indictment or trial. Even worse, he has claimed that 'state secrets' prevent his targets or their families from challenging him in court. Obama's expansion of the 'state secrets' claim is a page taken right out of the neoconservative playbook."
LP Executive Director Wes Benedict added, "In many ways, the Obama administration is looking like four more years of George W. Bush. A vote for Libertarians sends a message for peace and respect for the Constitution."
Benedict continued, "It's important to remember that many congressional Democrats voted for the PATRIOT Act, and many also voted for the War in Iraq. They tried to blame Bush later, even though they deserved just as much blame as Republicans."
The Libertarian National Committee has passed resolutions calling for U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.
On September 12, 2001, the day after the major terrorist attacks, two-time Libertarian Party presidential nominee Harry Browne courageously spoke out against American interventionism. In his article he wrote, "When will we learn that we can't allow our politicians to bully the world without someone bullying back eventually?"
Benedict said, "The Libertarian Party doesn't have the resources to take the lead in organizing mass protests, but we like to join anti-war protests when we can find them. When George W. Bush was president, Democrats helped organize many anti-war protests. Now that Democrats are doing the war-making, protests are hard to find.
"I made an effort to express the Libertarian position at the One Nation March on October 2.
"The terrorists have tricked our government into massive overreaction, spending trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives to fight a small number of America-hating fanatics. Many thousands of innocent Muslims have been killed in the process. We have gotten bogged down trying to rebuild entire governments. Democrats and Republicans have both given in to this terrorist trickery. Libertarians, on the other hand, see through this trickery, and we would stop wasting lives and money on the disastrous policies of foreign interventionism."
Liberal vs. conservative support
There is a myth frequently repeated in the media that Libertarian candidates take votes from conservatives. In reality, the situation is mixed: many polls show that Libertarian candidates actually receive greater support from liberals.
In this Kansas poll, the Libertarian candidates received more support from liberals than conservatives.
This poll showed North Carolina Libertarian candidate Michael Beitler with more support from liberals than conservatives.
Hinkle said, "Libertarians have a lot in common with liberals. In fact, people with a libertarian philosophy often call themselves 'classical liberals,' in the sense of the word as it was used historically. Libertarians sometimes describe themselves as 'fiscally conservative and socially liberal.'
"We Libertarians have a saying that we're 'pro-choice on everything.' We are uncompromising supporters of free speech. We completely oppose corporate welfare, and we hate the way big corporations often manipulate the government to get subsidies and protection from competition. And we are more immigration-friendly than either Republicans or Democrats."
Posted by: irishhawk | July 6, 2010
Co – National LDC Chairman Bjornson Fires Back at LP Executive Director Benedict Over Foreign Policy Communique
Co – National Chairman of The Libertarian Defense Caucus, Kevin Bjornson, has condemned the foreign policy communique composed by Libertarian Party Executive Director, Wes Benedict.
The communique calls for the immediate and precipitous withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. This irresponsible and sophomoric policy stance serves to undermine any foreign policy credibility The Libertarian Party had remaining and demonstrates how wildly disconnected Mr. Benedict, and The Libertarian Party are, from the realities of geopolitics.
The LP Executive Director's communique is published first, followed by Mr. Bjornson's passionate rebuttal:
The long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been back in the news recently, and we just had the bizarre spectacle of the Republican National Committee Chairman saying he didn't like Obama's war in Afghanistan, while the DNC chastised him for failing to support the troops.
Here are ten reasons to end the wars now. I hope you'll take a look at some of the links.
1. American military and contractor casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
2. Iraqi and Afghanistan civilian and military casualties.
3. These wars are a tremendous waste of taxpayer money in a time of extreme deficits, high unemployment and a falling stock market.
4. Invading and occupying Afghanistan and Iraq feeds terrorism.
5. Osama Bin Laden and his co-conspirators who attacked the World Trade Center were Saudi Arabian.
6. As Congressman Ron Paul recently said: "In Afghanistan, we are fighting the Taliban, those dangerous people with guns defending their homeland. Once they were called the Mujahideen, our old allies, along with bin Laden, in the fight to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan in the 1980s."
7. Most Republicans in Congress now admit Iraq was a mistake.
8. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's comments show that even the hawkish Republican Party can't support this war with a straight face.
9. As James Madison said, "If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." (Witness the PATRIOT Act.)
10. The U.S. military has been in Iraq over seven years, and in Afghanistan almost nine years. It's time to give peace a chance.
(Note, the LP doesn't necessarily endorse the organizations linked above. We encourage you to research these issues for yourself.)
Wes Benedict
Libertarian National Committee
The rebuttal of Co – National Chairman Mr. Kevin Bjornson:
Wes Benedict, "LP executive director":
Your recent communique (appended below) tends to alienate
at least half of your LP audience. Is that your intention?
Do you intend to cleanse the LP of all but a tiny clique
centered around spurious sources like IBC and anti-war.com?
Fact-checking your statistics is an Alice-in-Wonderland
journey through America's anti-war fringe, where far-left
meets far-right.
For example: your claims for US-caused civilian casualties
are sourced to this website:
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
However, when I click unto their source, I get this:
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
Clearly, this source is self-referential. They do claim a few sources,
in general terms (like "media reports " or "Iraqi government sources"–with no links as to where specifically all these numbers
were published, or proof linking the statistics to reality.
In fact, the statistics of alleged US victims mostly include:
"suicide bombers" "roadside bombs" and "shot" by insurgents.
So attributing the cause of their misfortune to the US is disingenuous–akin to blaming US attacks on Hitler
as the cause of the holocaust.
In fact, this page reaches a dead-end, wherein they assert as
proof of their statistics, that they are from irregular and
non-transparent sources:
1 We join UNAMI's call for the Iraqi Government to provide this information of important public interest regularly and in a transparent manner. UNAMI HR Report, 1 Jan – 31 Mar 2007. Page 3 Para 2. (PDF)
Yet another "source" is self-referential:
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/about/
Worse, this "source" admits they record all violent deaths,
simply assuming they are all the fault of the US.
And further assuming, our only alternative to present policies
is withdrawal to US soil, in the vain hope that oceans and a
pious attitude will protect our homeland while saving foreign
These series of self-referential websites read as if written by
grad students doing a parody of a superficially academic style.
Pompous enough to persuade the gullible, but without credibility
or substance.
I must protest at this sophomoric display.
This clearly diverges from your job description–
which is executive and not policy-devising.
You are not recruiting libertarians, but trying to re-make
the LP in your image. You are making dovish foreign policy
dovishness, and not the pledge or NAP, the litmus test for
libertarianism.
You pontifications are causing grave harm to the LP.
Thank goodness the LP has near-zero credibility,
or your editorials would cause grave harm to the country.
Civilization is engaged in a war with barbarism and religious zealotry.
This conflict will continue until we are vanquished or victorious,
and cannot be ended unilaterally by the partial surrender you advocate.
If you cannot restrain your actions to those within your legitimate
purview, you have sat too long in your position for any good you
have been doing. In that case, your best course is to depart,
and let us have done with you. In the name of Ayn Rand, go!
National Co – Chairman of The Libertarian Defense Caucus
Editor's Note: The Libertarian Defense Caucus calls on LP News to allow this Caucus to publish a response to the Executive Director's communique. His position is not representative of those in the broader libertarian movement, nor even within The Libertarian Party, itself.
Posted by: irishhawk | June 4, 2010
Communique from modern Libertarian Defense Caucus National Co – Chairman and Founder.
Dear New and Current Members of The Libertarian Defense Caucus,
I am pleased to announce that I have named by good friend Maverick, to the position of Founder's Advisor. He will now be my chief counsel in addition to his current role as National Co – Chairman of The Libertarian Defense Caucus.
Maverick has done an exceptional job in guiding the Caucus in new and exciting directions. He is responsible for establishing the LDC's successful Youtube media channel, and will be tasked with expanding the LDC's role in the new digital age.
All new and current Caucus members should review and familiarize themselves with The Libertarian Defense Caucus Guidelines and Bylaws, accessible on the official website.
The National Co – Chairman and Founder of the modern Libertarian Defense Caucus.
Posted by: maverickwhig | February 12, 2010
2010 Emblem
As some of you may remember, when I first joined the caucus awhile back that I had submitted an official emblem featuring the Statue of Liberty and Statue of Freedom, for 2010 I have submitted a new design.
Say hello to the Gadsden snake, featured next to it is a five point start reminiscent of the "Lone Star State", while above that fly streaks of gold and blue, colors representing the ideology of liberty. We hope it reminds all of you about our common struggle for capitalism and against tyranny.
Tell us what you think, feedback is welcomed! |
Foundations of Buddhism
Vairocana (Jp Dainichi), "The Spreader of Light in All Directions"
Page history last edited by [email protected] 10 years, 9 months ago
Image courtesy of http://z.about.com/d/buddhism/1/0/t/1/-/-/Vairochana.jpg
Vairocana Buddha (Mahavairocana), or Dainichi Buddha (Japan), is a cosmic buddha and central figure in esoteric, or tantric, Buddhist practice. He represents the truth body, a non-physical, abstract body that is wisdom itself. In other words, is the embodiment of the Dharmakaya. The name Vairocana means "luminous" or "embodiment of light" in Sanskrit while in Japanese, Dainichi means "great sun." He is often referred to as the "Life force that illuminates the universe," the "great illuminating one," and most importantly, the "all-encompassing Buddha" (www.onmarkproductions.com/html/dainichi.shtml). Vairocana is believed to be everywhere and in everything; he is omniscient and omnipresent (http://www.tamqui.com/buddhaworld/Vairocana_Buddha). All buddhas are thought to be emanations of him because he represents "transcendental" wisdom, the most clear and powerful form of wisdom. More specifically, he represents the conversion of ignorance into wisdom. In images he is often depicted in the Dharmacakra mudra, a teaching gesture which is meant to reflect the Buddha's first sermon in Deer Park and the turning of the wheel of dharma (www.onmarkproductions.com/html/dainichi.shtml).
Image courtesy of http://buddhistsymbols.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/vairocana-meru.jpg
Vairocana is the central deity among the five primordial buddhas, or the Tathagata. This is often depicted in mandalas where Vairocana sits at the center while the other buddhas sit at the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west). He also represents the color white, which is meant to show that he possesses the qualities and wisdom of all of the primordial buddhas (www.onmarkproductions.com/html/dainichi.shtml). (Akshobhya is blue, Ratnasmbhava is yellow, Amithaba is red, and Amoghasiddhi is green.) Just as white is a reflection of all the colors, Vairocana is a reflection, or representation, of all buddhas. He is the supreme, all-pervasive buddha and the central deity in esoteric Buddhism.
The buddha-field of Vairocana is called the Lotus Repository World. It is described using the metaphor of a giant lotus flower, which represents his embracing of all worlds. In countless images, Vairocana sits on a giant lotus flower (that is often depicted resting on the backs of lions). His great lotus thrown is believed to sit at the top of Mount Meru, the sacred center of the universe. A fragrant ocean is located above the many layers of wind that make up the middle of Mount Meru, and it is out of this ocean that Vairocana's lotus flower blooms ( http://people.virginia.edu/~dcw7a/articles/Wong-Mapping-of-Sacred-Space.pdf). A description of his repository world can be found in the Brahmajala Sutra (also called the Brahma Net Sutra):
Now, I, Vairocana Buddha
Am sitting atop a lotus pedestal;
On a thousand flowers surrounding me
Are a thousand Sakyamuni Buddhas.
Each flower supports a hundred million worlds;
In each world a Sakyamuni Buddha appears.
All are seated beneath a Bodhi-tree,
All simultaneously attain Buddhahood.
All these innumerable Buddhas
Have Vairocana as their original body.
(continue reading at http://www.ymba.org/bns/bnsframe.htm)
The Buddha known in Sanskrit as Vairocana has many names. As the deity made its way into East Asian traditions, "Vairocana" was transliterated into "Birushana" to suit Japanese pronunciation. It was also translated into "Dainichi", literally the Great Sun. Among the slew of other titles bestowed upon Vairocana are "Cosmic Buddha" and "the Spreader of Light in all Directions". Light in the Buddhist tradition represents wisdom and Vairocana is a manifestation of the initial wheel turning, or dharmacakra, that the Historical Buddha undertook at the deer park in Sarnath. And as such, Vairocana is said to be the center and origin of all wisdom and light, thus the image of the Great Sun. With this in mind, we can observe iconographic depictions of the Vairocana Buddha.
Image courtesy of www.onmarkproductions.com
The Vairocana is depicted in statues and images as displaying two primary mudras. The first mudra represents the aforementioned role of Vairocana as the manifestation of the initial wheel-turning. In some depictions, Vairocana employs the dharmacakra mudra. The Vairocana Buddha is frequently shown, especially in a Japanese setting, displaying the mudra of "Six Elements". This mudra is formed by gripping the index finger of the left and with the hand of the right. This mudra is interpreted in a few different ways. Being the mudra of six elements, it is said to represent the unity of the five elements (the fingers of the right hand) with the six element, our mind or consciousness (the index finger of the right). In another interpretation, the hand of the right is said to be the Buddha and the left index finger our self, demonstrating the interaction between the two. It is also said that the mudra has a sexual interpretation, symbolizing the conception and birth of all wisdom, with which Vairocana is equated.
The Vairocana, or Dainichi, Buddha developed a particularly significant role in the Buddhist practices of Japan. The so-called "esoteric" sects of the Japanese Heian era, particularly the Shingon sect, adopted Dainichi as their central figure of worship. Dainichi was believed to represent the utter totality of all reality and experience. As such, the most prevalent depictions of Dainichi are in a Japanese setting. Of these, the Todaiji, in Nara, Japan, is the perhaps the most famous. The Daibutsu, which is housed, at the Todaiji dates to 752. While this "Great Buddha" is certainly linked to the Heian period Dainichi, the statue actually predates the Heian adoption of this Buddha, and as such the statue in fact represents Dainichi's predecessor Birushana. The depiction of Birushana at Todaiji has the Buddha displaying the "Fear Not" mudra, and sitting on a bed of lotus flowers. Lotus flowers, when bearing eight petals, represents the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Japanese monk Kukai traveled to China in 804. Then in Japan, he established a new sect of Buddhism, centered around the art and texts with which he had returned. A central element of the regimen of study which Kukai established at his mountain temple was the contemplation of mandalas. Mandalas are diagrams that illustrate Buddhist cosmology or other spiritual ideas. Vairocana, as the central Buddha of worship in the Esoteric tradition, featured heavily in these mandalas.
The Buddha Vairocana, or Dainichi, is known in Esoteric Buddhism as the Central Buddha of the Universe, the Cosmic Buddha, and the supreme deity of Esoteric Buddhism. Vairocana is seen in Esoteric tradition as the most important Buddha, who is said to be everywhere and everything, "like the air we breathe, with all other Buddha and divine beings considered as emanations of Dainichi" (http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/godai-nyorai.shtml). The Buddha Vairocana is most associated with the Chinese school of Buddhism known as Hua-Yen and the Japanese school known as Kegon Buddhism. Vairocana is also seen in Sino-Japanese Buddhism as the embodiment of emptiness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vairocana). The Buddha Vairocana is mainly associated, however, with Esoteric Buddhism, where Vairocana is scene and venerated as its central figure, as its "supreme deity."
Esoteric Buddhism is one of three schools of Buddhism, the other two being Theravada and Mahayana. Within Esoteric Buddhism exists the Shingon and Tendai sects. These two sects of Esoteric Buddhism are most associated with the Buddha Vairocana. Within the Shingon sect there are 13 deities, Vairocana being one of them, which first appeared in the 14th century. Each deity is present at a different year after an individual passes away. The deities continue up to the thirteenth year, with Vairocana being the 12th.
Esoteric Buddhism is most popular in Japan, Korea, and Tibet. It began in Japan during the Heian Period, which took place from 794 to 1185. The Shingon sect started when a monk went to China to study Buddhism and, from the texts and works that he studied, developed his own practice. This new practice he developed was centered on the Buddha Vairocana. He established a monastery and eventually the name "Shingon" was established (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingon_Buddhism). Shingon was widely popular during the Heian period in Japanese history and continues to be popular today. Although today the mainstream school of Buddhism in Japan is Mahayana, the Shingon and Tendai sects of esoteric Buddhism are still prevalent and strong, especially the Shingon sect (http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/godai-nyorai.shtml). When Shingon first formed, the Buddha Vairocana was the central figure, which is still the case today. Esoteric Buddhism is practiced still by many people in Japan, which makes Vairocana still a central figure in much of Japanese Buddhist culture.
Mantra of Light
Dainichi is the focus of th e Mantra of Light. The Mantra of Light was of great importance to Japanese Buddhism and was used as a way to rebel against the ways of Pure Land Buddhism. The Japanese version of the mantra is "On abokya beiroshanō makabodara mani handoma jimbara harabaritaya un". This translates roughly to "Praise be to the unfailing, all-pervasive illumination of the great seal of the Buddha, the jewel, the lotus, and the radiant light existing in our world". The mantra should be chanted 3, 7, or 21 times per day.
It is believed in Shingon Buddhism that if a monk chants the Mantra of Light without ego, Dianichi will dispel all ignorance and delusion from the chanter. Use of the Mantra of Light was somewhat rare until it was popularized by Myōe, a Japanese Shingon monk, as a way to protest against the Pure Land Buddhism founded in Japan by Hōnen and the practice of nembutsu.
Hōnen (1133-1212) founded the first independent Japanese sect of Pure Land Buddhism. Rather than emphasizing meditation and discipline, Hōnen argued that nembutsu alone was enough for a practitioner to gain rebirth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha. Nembutsu is the practice of uttering the name of Amitabha at all times – sitting, working, walking, lying in bed, standing still etc.
Myōe (1173-1232) sharply criticized Hōnen's method of obtaining rebirth in the Pure Land of Amida. Myōe, ordained in the Shingon school of Buddhism, argued that the practice of nembutsu was too relaxed and argued for a more disciplined approach to Buddhism. He revived a strict regimen that included daily meditation. He also replaced nembutsu with daily recitation of the Mantra of Light. Myōe believed that the Mantra of Light, along with meditation, could result in Pure Land rebirth and that this approach would be more accessible to the general population.
The Japanese later adopted the practice of blessing sand using the Mantra of Light which was then sprinkled onto the bodies of the dead. This was believed to free the deceased from the realms of hell and guarantee a good rebirth.
The Sanskrit version of the Mantra of Light is "Oṃ amogha vairocana mahāmudrā maṇipadma jvāla pravarttaya hūṃ". Here is how it sounds when a computer chants it:Mantra_of_light.OGG Set your player on repeat and listen for at least ten minuets to get the full effect.
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/dainichi.shtml
http://www.tamqui.com/buddhaworld/Vairocana_Buddha
http://people.virginia.edu/~dcw7a/articles/Wong-Mapping-of-Sacred-Space.pdf
http://www.ymba.org/bns/bnsframe.htm
http://www.visiblemantra.org/vairocana.html
Elise Swanson-Introduction
Tobias Cragg-Iconography
Cassie Fosheim-Historical Context
John Fuhrmann-Mantra of Light
Amanda Haynes said
at 12:59 pm on Apr 11, 2010
This page is very informative and well-organized. I liked that you started off with an introduction then went through each of the categories, making it easy to follow. If one thing could be improved, I think the ritual section could be expanded to include more than just the Mantra of Light. Overall, I give this page a rating of 4 out of 5.
Quang Nguyen said
at 1:17 pm on Apr 11, 2010
Well done! This is quite an interesting Bodhisattva that your group has chosen. The page layout is pleasing to the eye without using to many colors and images. I would have to agreee with Amanda on her comment on how this page is well informative and well-organized. My favorite part about this page is the mantra of light of its discussion of the rituals and customs of the mantra. In the future, maybe move the img source link to the sources section. 4/5.
zoe.tomar@... said
I think your group did an excellent job describing the aspects of this Bodhisattva. It must've been difficult to write about a Bodhisattva who is the "all-encompassing Buddha." However, I think you wrote on the most important topics and didn't try to explain every single detail. It makes it much easier to comprehend
Well constructed and thorough. You have done a good job incorporating history and iconography. Several points need addressing. Myths surrounding this figure have been largely omitted, as have specific ritual approaches to veneration. Another issue is reference to esoteric Buddhism, which should be clarified. I am thinking of two phrases in particular, "Esoteric Buddhism is most popular in Japan, Korea, and Tibet. It began in Japan during the Heian Period, which took place from 794 to 1185." If the author is speaking of Vajrayana Buddhism this statement strikes me as misinformed and possibly do to inaccurate source material. An important note for all posts; online sites (e.g. wikipedia) are, generally speaking, a good place to find sources, not citations. That said, the work here is quite good and shows much consideration and effort.
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More women are using long-acting forms of birth control, according to new federal survey data released Tuesday, which found 11.6% of women who used birth control in the U.S. in 2011-2013 opted for long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) like intrauterine devices. That figure was close to double the percentage found in 2006-2010, when 6% of women reported using the methods.
Those numbers are notable because women in the United States have been slower to choose IUDs compared to women in other countries, as TIME previously reported in June 2014. A large part of that is due to widespread misconceptions that persist from versions of the IUDs that caused problems back in the 1970s.
IUDs started emerging in the U.S. in the 1950s, and an early version of the IUD called the Dalkon Shield rose to popularity in the early 1970s, reaching sales in the millions. Unlike the T-shaped IUDs available today, the Dalkon Shield looked a bit like a beetle, with nobs sticking out on both sides. It was considered by some to be difficult to insert, and as TIME reported back then, there were cases of incorrect placement, IUD failure, infections and pregnancy. Misinformation about whether the Shield needed to be removed if a woman got pregnant—it did—also led to serious infections. According to various reports, there were more than a dozen cases of women who died after miscarrying with a Dalkon IUD still inside them. In addition, the Dalkon device was linked to a painful condition called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) which can be linked to infertility.
In 1974 the Department of Health, Education and Welfare ordered over 3,000 federally funded family-planning clinics to stop prescribing the Dalkon Shield, which was used by more than 3 million women at time, TIME Magazine reported. The organization also asked private physicians not to recommend it until concerns about safety and effectiveness were addressed. Plagued with lawsuits, Dalkon Shield manufacturer A.H. Robins Co. pulled the product, and a few years later filed for bankruptcy. The company even alerted women that they should have the product removed in an expensive media campaign. In 1984, TIME reported that hundreds of women got their IUD removed and the company had offered to pay those bills.
"The Dalkon Shield case may turn out to be the worst liability nightmare that a U.S. drugmaker has suffered," TIME wrote in 1985.
By 1986, with customers afraid to use them and manufacturers afraid of potential liability costs if something went wrong, virtually no IUDs were available on the U.S. market.
Nevertheless, new versions of IUDs did make it back to market, including the versions available to women today. Use has slowly, but significantly risen. As the new data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows, among women using LARC, 10.3% reported using an IUD and 1.3% used an implant.
Experts say the misconceptions over whether IUDs are safe for all women persist from decades ago, with some physicians holding concerns that the IUDs of today may have the same flaws—but other medical groups have given it approval, and recommend LARC as first-line birth control methods. |
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Bills' Rafael Bush glad Vikings miracle wasn't his last game
Rafael Bush, 30, said his age gave him perspective on free agency. (John Hickey/Buffalo News)
By Mark Gaughan
Published Thu, Mar 15, 2018 |Updated Thu, Mar 15, 2018
New backup safety Rafael Bush has spent eight years in the NFL since being undrafted 2010 out of South Carolina State. Now with a two-year contract from the Bills, he's likely to hit the 10-year mark in the league.
Bush, 30, said his age gave him perspective on free agency. He was glad to be wanted by the Bills on the first day of free agency. Last year Bush lingered three weeks on free agency before signing with the New Orleans Saints. Bush's 2017 season ended on the miracle, walk-off touchdown pass in the playoffs in Minnesota.
"I was an older guy," Bush said of his status entering this year's free-agency period. "We just came off of a terrible loss in the Minnesota game. It was kind of a bad taste in my mouth. Understanding my age and understanding how the business works, I kind of thought this definitely could be my last game, you never know. So to get the opportunity, man, it's really a blessing from God to have an organization admire the way that you play."
Bush played with the Saints from 2012 to 2015 and spent a year with Detroit before going back to New Orleans last season. Bills coach Sean McDermott's presence in the NFC South as Panthers defensive coordinator turned out benefiting Bush this year.
"Being in the division for a couple years and playing against a team twice a year, you get to see the type of players you're playing against," Bush said. "There's always eyes on you, and there's always people watching you. So it's kind of amazing how things come full circle. Now he's here and I'm here and I'm thankful for the opportunity."
What They Said: Free agents McCarron, Lotulelei, Bush, Murphy and Stanton on joining the Bills
Five things to know about new Bills safety Rafael Bush
Story topics: Rafael Bush
Mark Gaughan– Mark Gaughan has been a sports writer at The Buffalo News for 35 years. He covers the Bills and the NFL and is a past president of the Pro Football Writers of America, as well as a past selector for Pro Football Hall of Fame. |
In consumption market, the growth rate of global consumption is stable. USA, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India are still the mainly consumption regions, due to the advanced production technology and rapid development of economy.
The worldwide market for Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 14.2% over the next five years, will reach 1660 million US$ in 2024, from 850 million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.
This report focuses on the Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.
Chapter 1, to describe Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.
Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM), with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) in 2017 and 2018.
Chapter 3, the Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.
Chapter 4, the Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2019.
Chapter 12, Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024.
Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.
Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) Market Research Report is Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) Market Report. Get Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) market research reports for Market Research, Analysis, Trends & Statistics. Latest Industry findings, analysis and Market Report on Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) . Advanced Phase Change Materials (PCM) Market Report is a syndicated market report to understand, Market Demand, Growth, trends analysis and Factor Influencing market in upcoming years. |
Fashion Marketing Strategies for the Win!
Category: Marketing Strategies & Tips
Fashion marketing is a multi-billion dollar business, supporting the careers of numerous models, cameramen and make up artists, among many others. When done well, fashion campaigns can make a large impact on the marketing world as a whole, not just the fashion world. And with the advent of Instagram, making a successful campaign has become more robust and interesting than ever before.
1 Insta-Communication
2 En Vogue Campaigns
3 Selfie Selfie
4 Every one is a model
5 Creativity for the Creative
Insta-Communication
Instagram is changing the way companies market to their customers because it's changing the way that companies and customers interact. It removes the middleman, allowing for companies to market directly to their target audience. But it also makes way for a two-way conversation, now the audience can instantly show their enthusiasm or give critiques, directly back with just some quick moving fingers. Companies know that they are connecting with their audience because the customer has to opt-in by following the brand's Instagram page. This is great for the company, as they know they are talking to people who are already (even if just slightly) educated about the brand and their products. It makes selling to them that much easier.
Related: Four Ways Instagram is Redefining the Fashion Industry (External)
Source: Business of Fashion
Fashion is about creating a mystique and a desirable world. Successful fashion marketing campaigns have transcended into both realities – they create the fictional one and the one that their target audience aspires to be a part of. They use the online tools, such as Instagram, to enable the audience to easily integrate their products into their real world.
En Vogue Campaigns
Last year, Vogue became the first fashion publication to introduce LikeToKnow.it, which allows for a bridge between the customer and the brand. Instagram doesn't allow links in the caption photos, but LikeToKnow.it eased communication anyway. By signing up for the program, interested people were directly emailed detailed information of all of the photos posted to their Instagram account. All people have to do it "like" the photo on Instagram, and they will be directly emailed with product descriptions, names of the designers and where they can purchase the products. If you like a pair of jeans that the model in the Vogue photo is wearing, simply like the photo and you will know exactly where to buy them. Instead of asking for more information in the comments section, which can get lost in the shuffle of it all, users were sent direct information about the products and designers featured in the posts. It worked, and made for a successful campaign for the renowned publication.
Selfie Selfie
Selfies are likely the most common photos on Instagram, with cat photos a close second. So iconic brand Kenneth Cole decided to try and capitalize on this trend. The #dressforyourselfie campaign was a contest to win free shoes for a year. To enter, people just had to take a selfie, upload it to Instagram and use the hashtag to be entered. This is genius as it doesn't require much creative effort and it allows for the customers to be the content creators for the campaign. Every time that hashtag was used, it was essentially more free marketing for Kenneth Cole. And the underlining message of dressing for your self was inspiring, making people want to participate.
Every one is a model
Along the same lines of the Kenneth Cole #dressforyourselfie campaign, the Marc Jacobs' #CastMeMarc allowed for the users to curate the content. Instead of using traditional methods for casting models, Marc Jacobs took to Instagram, and asked for people to submit their best looks using the hashtag #CastMeMark. They received over 70,000 submissions, and likely had a broader and more diverse scope than they would have gotten using more traditional casting methods.
Creativity for the Creative
What makes fashion such an interesting market is that marketers are essentially playing the role of storytellers. They are designing the world of fashion and hoping to convince people that by buying and using their brand's products, they can integrate a little bit of that fantasy into their reality.
Related: How Fashion Brands Use Digital Storytelling (External)
Source: https://us.burberry.com/acoustic/#/acoustic
The perfect example of this is Burberry. Their campaigns to support their signature rain jackets and accessories goes way past traditional marketing. Their Burberry Acoustic campaign supports indie music in the UK. Executives from Burberry find indie and original musicians and commission them to create music for their campaigns, documenting the songwriting and producing process. Burberry owns every part of the campaign, and can use the music and videos how they see fit, but it works for both parties. The musicians get exposure on the back of one of the most famous fashion brands ever. And Burberry gets original music, created specifically for their brand, and hours of content to use for marketing purposes. Check out "From London, With Love" campaign, starring none other than the genetically perfect offspring of David and Victoria Beckham – Romeo Beckham.
Fashion is about creating different worlds – almost like adult make believe. But now, online marketing is helping people interact with their fantasy worlds, and birthing remarkable fashion campaigns as a result.
If you liked this article, please check out some related links of ours:
– How To Build A Tribe of Brand Followers
– Market Segmentation Benefits: The Beautiful Irony Of A Bullseye Target
– How to Define Strong Brand Vision
– How To Improve Your Organization's Communications
Header photo: Jeff Sheldon via Albumarium
Faye Alexander
Faye Alexander loves to type, scribble and scrawl because words are her favourite play things. As an editor, writer and social media professional, she brought her skill-set to the evolving world of Marketing. She has a passion for inciting meaningful dialogue through crafted content and opening doors to two-way conversations. Some of her favourite words include, but are not limited to: feminism, effervescent, spoon and malarchy.
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How Your Work Culture affects creativity |
The first five minutes of The Guest almost feel like a horror movie, with suspenseful music and abrupt scene changes, which made me a little nervous since I don't generally enjoy horror films. It ended up being a crazy, albeit sometimes cheesy, ride, and it's a film that is sure to entertain.
David (Dan Stevens) shows up at the Peterson's house one day, and introduces himself to Mrs. Peterson (Sheila Kelley), saying he served with her (now deceased) son in the war, and actually was with him when he died. He's welcomed into the house, and when it's revealed to Mr. Peterson (Leland Orser) that David doesn't know where he is headed next, he's invited to stay with them for a few days. He's a handsome guy and makes friends easily, but something seems a bit off to him to Anna Peterson (Maika Monroe), the daughter, and she calls the army to verify he is who he says he is. That spurs into motion a series of events which doesn't sit well with David, and in fact triggers something within him that will have consequences later.
If it weren't for the clothing and the smartphones being utilized in the movie, I would have pegged it as a 1980s film based on the soundtrack. Anna makes David a mix CD, and also likes listening to very synth-y, '80s-style music, which is used as background for the film. The movie is also very cheesy in parts - the audience at the screening I went to was laughing at some of the lines, as was I - but the cheesiness somehow works for the film.
Yes, see this movie. It's not going to win any Oscars, but it's creepy as hell, and does what a movie should do: it entertains. I'd recommend seeing this film at a matinee rather than pay full-price, but it's still a fun ride, though I wish we got more answers in the end about who "David" actually is and how he ended up at the Peterson's front doorstep. The ending is also left open for a sequel, so it will be interesting to see if one is produced, though I'm thinking that this is more of a standalone film overall.
The Guest is in theaters today, September 17th, and is rated R with a runtime of 99 minutes. 3.5 stars out of 5.
I love a film that can keep me on the edge of my seat! This sounds like it's definitely worth renting!
Sounds like an interesting movie!
I've not even heard of this one. You are surely the source for movie knowledge. Every so often a creepy movie is good.
Interesting movie. I don't get to go to the moives that often but I will have to check it out when it's on DVD.
The premise sounds like something I would enjoy, but from your review, maybe I should wait until it comes out on DVD.
This sounds like a movie I could definitely get hubby to watch with me, sounds entertaining and captivating!
I love scary movies but they freak my husband out! My brother in law is my scary-movie buddy.
It's obvious the poster was designed and shot to give the initial impression that the movie stars Bradley Cooper (or maybe that's just my perception.) Yes, the story isn't very original but I love suspenseful scary movies that make me jump or put my hand over my mouth. I will definitely see this film, and I'll take your good advice to wait til it comes to my city's discount theatre.
This looks like a great movie! I love suspense!
Yes - the lead in it was definitely handsome, although his character was psycho, lol! |
Previously home to office space, Putney Point has brought luxury homes to the Wandsworth area, along with a Costa coffee shop and a little Waitrose.
Completed in March 2014, Putney Point is a Section 106 development led by private developer St. James. We purchased a mix of 21 one and two-bedroom homes to sell as Shared Ownership.
Putney Point is in an ideal location for the London commuter, right next to East Putney tube station and only a five-minute walk to Putney overground station.
21 one and two-bedroom homes. |
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Stunning Ekaterinburg to Host SportAccord 2021
Conferences - 02 Dec 2019
SportAccord is delighted to announce that the dynamic and historic Russian city of Ekaterinburg will host the 2021 edition of the annual World Sport & Business Summit.
Sport's No.1 global gathering will take place from 23-28 May 2021 at the IEC Ekaterinburg-Expo convention centre.
Ekaterinburg is Russia's fourth-largest city by population, situated on the banks on the Iset River and considered the crossroads linking Europe to the west and Asia to the east. The city, which is a hotspot for tourism, business and sport, is home to numerous professional teams and has an expanding events portfolio, having hosted 2018 FIFA World Cup matches and the recent 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships. Ekaterinburg will also host games during the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship before staging the 2023 FISU Summer Universiade.
Raffaele Chiulli, President, SportAccord and GAISF said: "The beautiful city of Ekaterinburg will be an ideal host for the 19th edition of SportAccord. This will allow the world of sport to come together for the third SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit in the sport loving country of Russia, facilitating unity, friendship and building joint bridges for athletes and the future development of sport."
"Ekaterinburg is a city that has sport at its heart and will provide plenty of attractions and interests to keep delegates entertained and engaged for what I'm sure will be an outstanding and memorable event. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Russian Federation for embracing SportAccord once again."
Evgeny Kuyvashev, the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, noted: "Ekaterinburg is known for having strong traditions in sports and we are glad that the leading international sports federations and organizations will get an opportunity to see what our wonderful city offers, when we welcome them in 2021".
"Our Region raised many outstanding athletes known worldwide. Sports becomes a key topic for Ekaterinburg as well as for the Sverdlovsk Region. Attraction of the global sports events in the Region shall not only stipulate healthy living standards for people, but it will become an important point of growth. We think that the SportAccord 2021 will become a starting platform for interesting events in the future."
Ekaterinburg founded in 1723 and named after Catherine I is steeped in history. The city boasts a thriving arts and music scene and iconic architecture, ranging from historic stone and wooden buildings and more than 600 cultural monuments through to the world's northernmost skyscrapers. Ekaterinburg will provide a stunning backdrop for a week of high-level meetings, engaging conferences and social events for delegates, exhibitors, partners, executives, officials, media members and athletes.
The city's Koltsovo International Airport has expanded significantly in recent years and now handles more than six million passengers per year, providing direct routes to and from a number of major cities.
The annual World Sport & Business Summit is a six-day event attended by leaders of the global sports community. It is the only global sports business event attended by all the international sport federations and their stakeholders, who host their Annual General Assemblies during SportAccord.
Details about registering, exhibiting and becoming a partner of SportAccord 2021 will be shared in the upcoming months.
Registration is open for the SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit 2020 in Beijing, the 18th annual SportAccord event. Organisations can become an official partner or exhibitor and discuss these investment opportunities with [email protected]. Follow developments and updates via Twitter @sportaccord using #SA2020, or keep up-to-date via LinkedIn and Facebook. For media enquiries, email [email protected].
Registration also remains open for next month's inaugural Regional SportAccord Pan America 2019, which will take place from 10-12 December at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. For more information, request a brochure or contact the sales team via [email protected] or +1 954 204 3081.
You can follow SportAccord's events via Twitter @sportaccord or you can keep up-to-date via LinkedIn and Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.
SportAccord
SportAccord brings together international sports federations and organisations involved in the business of sport. The annual World Sport & Business Summit is a six-day event attended by leaders of the global sports community. It engages international sports federations, athletes, industry, rights holders, organising committees, cities, government, agencies, media, technology, legal teams, medical professionals, inventors, and subject matter experts – represented at the highest levels.
SportAccord is the only global sports business event attended by all the international sports federations and their stakeholders, who host their Annual General Assemblies during SportAccord.
These stakeholders include: ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), AIOWF (Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations), ARISF (Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations), AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport), GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations) and Associate Members. In addition, SportAccord receives the full support of the International Olympic Committee.
Every week we'll share a summary of the previous week's key stories, to give you a taste of the in-depth news, data, insight and analysis available when you subscribe to Sportcal.
Haggerty eyes joint ITF-ATP team tournament during second term
Tennis 13 Dec 2019 Federations & NOCs
Serie A warned BeIN's $500m deal at risk if Supercoppa played in Saudi Arabia
Soccer 26 Nov 2019 Media rights
DAZN 'eyes $500m investment boost' to fund global expansion
Business 25 Oct 2019 Media
Sponsorship industry pays tribute as 'innovator' Hester passes away
Business 03 Sep 2019 Sponsorship
Val Ackerman Op-Ed: My roadmap for women's basketball
Basketball 28 Aug 2019 Federations & NOCs
Ajan stands aside as IWF probes corruption allegations
Weightlifting 23 Jan 2020 Federations & NOCs
DAZN secures MotoGP rights in Italy as Sky ponders exit
Motorcycling 23 Jan 2020 Media rights
Rugby Australia calls on media rights specialist ahead of tender
Rugby union 23 Jan 2020 Media rights
MLS' Earthquakes target stadium sponsor after sealing new shirt deal
Soccer 23 Jan 2020 Sponsorship
Korean star Im signs Lagardère representation contract
Golf 23 Jan 2020 Sponsorship
John Carpenter House, 7 Carmelite Street, London EC4Y 0BS, United Kingdom
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Once upon a time Ibanez released a 7-String version of their much-loved RG style guitar, on the off-chance that it might be well-received. T..
Once upon a time Ibanez released a 7-String version of their much-loved RG style guitar, on the off-chance that it might be well-received. To this day Ibanez continue to receive many requests to bring the model back, and so they've come up with the Ibanez RG2027XL 7-String Prestige RG Dark Tide Blue - a modern -specced answer to the prayers of many guitarists.
Made in Japan as part of the illustrious Prestine linup, the RG2027 was created with three principles in mind: Precision, Performance, and Playability.
Featuring a 27" scale neck that's perfect for down-tuning without compromising string tension, a fantastic Lo-Pro Edge 7 tremolo bridge, and a set of DiMarzio Fustion Edge pickups, the whole package is a perfect fit for the ultra-streamlined RG series.
Made especially for Ibanez by DiMarzio, the Fusion Edge 7 humbuckers in the RG2027XL produce a powerful, distinctive tone. Designed to throw out a crisp, cutting high-end, and a tight, compressed bottom end with no muddy mid-range, these pickups retain the articulation on your lower strings even when drop-tuned.
Further helping these pickups along is the 5-way selector switch, which not online allows you to choose the Neck or Bridge pickup individually, but also gives you the option of running the Neck humbucker in a Parallel sequence, Neck and Bridge together, and even Neck and Bridge together as Single Coils!
Being a member of the Ibanez Prestige lineup, the RG2027XL is built to impeccably high standards. The Bound Macassar Ebony fretboard, for instance, features a tight response and is a dream to play, especially when combined with the Prestige Fret Edge treatment.
Add to this the Lo-Pro Edge 7 tremolo bridge - renowned for offering maximum playing comfort and tuning stability - alongside a locking nut, and a super-fast Wizard-7 neck shape, and you have what could quite possibly be described as the ultimate metal 7-string machine.
Contact your local PMT Store or our Online Sales Team directly if you'd like to know more about the availability of the RG202XL - if it's in stock at your local store, feel free to head on down and request a demonstration, you won't regret it! |
Gilston School is a public school and offers the national curriculum prepared by ACARA and, where no national curriculum has been developed, the Queensland Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Framework.
Teachers have distilled the curriculum to ensure that all critical content and skills are given priority in instruction.
Instruction at Gilston is explicit and focused on student retention of learning. |
Linnanmäki announces Taiga launch coaster
Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland
March 22, 2018 – Linnanmäki Amusement Park, located in the heart of Finland's capital Helsinki, today announced the addition of a new coaster to their lineup in 2019. Taiga, a steel coaster from Intamin AG, will be the tallest and fastest coaster in Finland, with a height of 170.6 feet (52 m) and a speed of 65.9 mph (106 km/h). These stats will also make it the second tallest and fastest coaster in the Nordic countries, barely beaten by Wildfire at Kolmården in both categories.
Taiga will feature two LSM launches and four inversions across its 3,622 feet (1,104 m) of track. It will replace a Premier Liquid Coaster known as Vonkaputous, whose removal was announced at the end of the 2017 season. Over the past few weeks leading up to the announcement, Linnanmäki had posted teasers of the new ride on social media, but the theme park community suspected a new coaster was afoot already when a concept video from S&S was leaked to the Internet in February 2017. The video, which was quickly removed, showed a concept of a coaster with a similar layout to Taiga, located in the same spot in the park. This led to speculation that the new coaster was to be built by S&S, but has later been believed to be S&S' tender for the ride contract, which was ultimately awarded to Intamin.
Read more about Taiga and the early S&S leaks in our Forum Discussion.
Linnanmäki website
This entry was posted in News and tagged 2019, announcement, Finland, Helsinki, Intamin, Launch, Linnanmäki, LSM, Taiga. Bookmark the permalink.
Hasbro to bring the game to Galaxyland |
David Jon Bodette, 56, of Shallotte died Friday, Sept. 30, 2016.
He was born in Middleberry, VT on May 5, 1960, a son of the late Raymond Bodette, and Alice Tucker Bodette who survives. He was preceded in death by a brother, Dan Bodette. He was a member of St. Brendan's Catholic Church.
Surviving in addition to his mother is his wife, Charlene M. Bodette; daughter, Ashley Howard (Justin), Shallotte; brothers, Raymond Bodette, West Addison, VT, Joseph Bodette, Crown Point, NJ, Tom Bodette, West Addison, VT, and Greg Bodette, Glover, VT; and grandchildren, Jacob Lewis, and McKenzie Howard.
A memorial service will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4 in the Brunswick Funeral Service Chapel.
If you wish to sign the Guest Book for David Bodette, please click here. |
Here on the wide open river banks that cut through the red and grey sandstone cliffs, you will find the oldest and most experienced wakeboarding school, Black Diamond. Headed up by the godfather of wakeboarding himself, Scotty Kell.
Scotty is renowned for coaching almost every one of the riders on the pro tour to date.
Black Diamond is a wakeboard only school with more boards and boats then you can poke a stick at. Scotty has all the knowledge and expertise that will get you up to a level you never thought was possible.
Accommodation packages through Black Diamond, are available from beginner to pro from an hourly coaching to a few weeks or more if desired. Black Diamond also has a second wakeboard only school that is ran out of the Gold Coast by Pro Rider John Henson.
The great thing about the Wisemans Ferry Hawkesbury is that almost anyone can get to it easily from Sydney. Because the river is so big, it can handle the boat traffic easily..
With many public boat ramps and caravan parks all along the river, from the mouth (near Gosford) all the way to Windsor there is always accessibility. Better yet the high cliffs and thick shrub and tree lined shores make sure that if one section of the water is rough then around the corner is always flat. |
An oil company's proposal to switch two of the tanks at its Northville location from oil to gasoline storage had a rocky ride in 2015.
Met with almost unanimous opposition from speakers at a public hearing in March, United Riverhead Terminal later withdrew its proposal for the plan.
The proposal was initially presented as a means to avoid the type of gasoline shortages that gripped the East End — not to mention the rest of Long Island — in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
But when some Northville neighbors of the facility caught wind of the plan for the Sound Shore Road facility, the tide started to turn against the project.
Residents came out in force at public hearings in Oct. 2014 and March 2015 to oppose the project, noting that gasoline is much more flammable than heating oil. Opponents also feared the plan would lead to an increase in large tanker trucks traveling down their streets. Town officials also said URT's traffic plan wasn't acceptable, since the large tanker trucks would have to pull into oncoming traffic lanes on Sound Avenue.
URT argued that gasoline had been stored at the site under prior owners and that the only reason they even needed town approval was because they planned to build two new tanks to store ethanol to be blended with the gasoline.
Town officials appeared poised to reject the plan, but as it turned out, they didn't need to.
But seven weeks later, he said he would be exploring legal options to revive the plan to store gasoline at the Northville facility, although he didn't give specifics. Stay tuned. |
Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering (MEng) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Applied Science in Mining Engineering (MASc) May 2022 31 January 2022 31 December 2021
Master of Science in Zoology (MSc) May 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering (PhD) May 2022 31 January 2022 31 December 2021
Master of Applied Science in Civil Engineering (MASc) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Applied Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MASc) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Arts in French (MA) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Arts in French (MA) January 2023 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (PhD) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (PhD) January 2023 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Data Science (MDS) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Arts in Hispanic Studies (MA) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Arts in Hispanic Studies (MA) January 2023 31 January 2022 31 January 2022
Master of Data Science in Computational Linguistics (MDSCL) September 2022 31 January 2022 31 January 2022 |
#Lotte Confectionery #India investment
Lotte Confectionery to invest 70 bln won in new ice cream factory in India
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- Lotte Confectionery Co. said Wednesday it will invest 70 billion won (US$56.6 million) in its ice cream making affiliate in India, Havmor Ice Cream Ltd., over the next five years as the confectionery maker tries to strengthen its rapidly growing India business.
Lotte Confectionery will build a new 60,000-square-meter ice cream factory in Pune, an industrial city in India's western state of Maharashtra.
The envisioned factory will be the first for Havmor Ice Cream in India, after the South Korean confectionery maker acquired the company in 2017 for 167.2 billion won.
Harvmor Ice Cream operates 216 stores in India and distributes two ice cream brands made by Lotte Confectionery -- Snow Ice and World Cone.
Lotte Confectionery said it needed to increase production capacity of its affiliate in India, amid a rapidly growing demand for its ice cream products there.
The new ice cream factory is expected to generate some 1,000 jobs, the confectionery arm of Lotte Group said.
The Pune factory will also become the third manufacturing plant for Lotte Confectionery in India.
Last year, Lotte Confectionery merged with Lotte Foods, a food and dairy products maker of Lotte Group, to improve profitability and streamline overlapping business areas.
The company had posted over 3 trillion won in sales and an operating profit of 1.2 trillion won as of September 2022.
A rendered image of the ice cream making factory of Lotte Confectionery Co. set to be built in Pune, an industrial city in India's western state of Maharashtra, provided by the company on Jan. 18, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
[email protected] |
K-Series engines are normally are supplied with return-less fuel systems, meaning the fuel pressure regulator is inside of the fuel tank and has only one line leading to the engine. In most cases, the chassis that you plan on installing your K series engine (in this case EG,EK,DC) utilizes a return system. In order to have the engine run correctly, you will need to convert the K-Series engine to a return system.
This kit does not fit the EF or DA chassis.
You will receive 3 lines with the appropriate fittings on the ends. The lines are offered in stainless steel or stainless steel / wrapped in black nylon. The black kit is the most popular kit for its stealthy look but they both get the job done perfect.
The kit also comes with 3 -6AN unions, a banjo fitting to connect to your OEM fuel filter and an adapter to connect to your hard line. This kit is not compatible with the Hybrid Racing inline filter.
Each Hybrid Racing product comes with a money back guarantee. |
This page contains links to low resolution versions of the panoramic images I took over the years. Use the links above to navigate. If you want to download the full resolution versions, just click on the download link below each image.
The panoramas can be viewed in more detail by zooming. First click on the link below an image to enable zooming, then move the mouse over the image. A zoom window will appear. Click and drag left to right to increase the zoom window size. Click and drag top to bottom to change the magnification.
The zooming function is a slightly modified TJPZoom, from http://valid.tjp.hu/tjpzoom/. |
CBC is Canada's leading broadcasting company that provides Movies, Music, Entertainment & much much more!
CBC was doing a premiere launch for their show "Working Moms". We provided the Virtual Reality component to coincide with massage chairs and therapeutic Virtual Reality experiences to whisk patrons away to relaxing beaches, underwater oceanscapes, and calming tranquil forest scenes. The event went smoothly and it provided a beautiful aesthetic for visitors to relax and try out Virtual Reality (a lot for the first time).
VR Vision provided three high end HTC Vive Systems setup for a relaxing therapeutic seated VR experience. The activation was 4 hours long. VR staff consisted of; three hosts, one product support specialist and a manager. The content utilized was VR Nature Treks, The Blu VR, and other 360 Interactive Puppy Videos.
For the majority of the CBC Working Moms patrons, including many of the actors from the show, this was their first foray into VR. The activation went off without a hitch and the guests were blown away at just how powerful the technology is, and when paired with a massage chair it added an extra element that really gave it the wow factor we wanted. |
arren Titus has retired -- and this time he means it. The last time Warren retired was in September 1987, but he went back to work in November of that year, becoming the founding president of Seabourn Cruise Line, a position he held until becoming chairman of the line in 1994.
When Seabourn was merged with Cunard in 1998, he joined the executive committee of the new Cunard Line Ltd. and took the role of chairman of Seabourn and Cunard's guest loyalty programs.
It's hard to overestimate the impact that Warren has had on the cruise industry and travel agents who sell cruises. His career has paralleled the history of the cruise industry because, time and again, he was at the center of action when major directional changes were taking place.
His involvement with shipping companies began in Hawaii before World War II, when he was a freight clerk for the Inter-Island Steamship Co.
Following the war, he signed on with Theo H. Davies and Co., among whose interests was a steamship agency. He worked as a rep for Cunard and Holland America Line, whose around-the-world itineraries included stops in Hawaii, and became head of Davies' steamship department and, ultimately, vice president of the company.
In 1959, he was recruited by the Orient Line to set up an office for the company in North America. Shortly after, Orient merged with P&O Steam Navigations Co., and he stayed on with the new company, being named president of P&O Lines Inc. (North America). At that time, the company's fleet of 10 passenger vessels was the largest in the world.
He eventually was lured away by American President Lines to manage its passenger ship operations.
It was during his tenure at APL that Titus grabbed hold of the idea that the passenger ship business, which at that time was represented by two separate trade groups -- the Transpacific Conference and Transatlantic Steamship Conference -- should come together in a single organization to promote the concept of cruising and to help educate travel agents to market and sell cruises more effectively.
The idea was not accepted immediately. The traditional role of these groups was regulatory, and many of the lines couldn't see the sense of an association that was designed primarily to promote their industry.
In fact, Titus had to fight for the creation of the Cruise Lines International Association -- CLIA -- for 10 years.
In the meantime, he was contacted by a consortium of shipping lines in Norway and was invited to participate in the formation of Royal Viking Line. Before Royal Viking had even designed its first ship, he was made president of their U.S. company.
At RVL in the early '70s, Titus helped create the forerunners of the modern cruise ship. Until that time, most passenger ships were built to cross oceans and were quite heavy. RVL commissioned ships for "cruising" -- the cabins were modular, the ships were lighter, and the idea was that they would follow a touristic itinerary rather than haul people from one continent to another.
While building a very different type of cruise line, Warren continued his efforts to organize the new cruise association.
Eventually, thanks largely to his exhaustive efforts, CLIA was born in 1975, and 22 of the 28 major shipping lines joined.
Titus became CLIA's first chairman, focusing the new organization's efforts on educating travel agents on how to sell the new type of cruising that was emerging.
He was asked to stay on as chairman year after year, and ended up leading the organization through its first critical five years of existence.
He didn't do too badly at his day job, either, and was named chairman of Royal Viking Lines in 1982, a position he held until his first retirement in 1987.
Warren Titus is a visionary, a word I don't throw around lightly. And that self-described "ancient mariner" has always believed -- and believes -strongly in the value of travel agents.
"With CLIA, I envisioned that our primary function was to train travel agents, to develop educational programs for them," Warren told me shortly after his retirement dinner earlier this month in Florida.
"The training programs, the education -- I think that's the contribution to the industry that I am most proud of."
Clearly, both the cruise lines and the agents who sell them benefited greatly from Titus' efforts. He not only helped define the modern cruise industry, he had the sense to see it would succeed only by educating its sales and distribution force: travel agents.
Warren, you will be missed.
https://www.travelweekly.com/Arnie-Weissmann/The-Ancient-Mariner |
Will Ranbir Kapoor be hero in Sanjay Dutt biopic to have a sequel?
Ranbir Kapoor's latest release Sanju is setting new records at the box office even after 12 days of its release. The Rajkumar Hirani directorial, which is a biopic of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, is all set to cross the Rs 300 crore mark at the ticket windows with its current total after 12 days standing at Rs 278.58 crore.
With the immense success of the film, the obvious question that is haunting the minds of both Sanjay Dutt and Ranbir Kapoor's fans, is whether the makers will be coming up with a sequl to Sanju. Especially, after the release of the film, the viewers have also highlighted that a number of crucial episodes from the life of Sanjay Dutt went missing in the biopic, be it his early days in the boarding school or his first two wives and daughter Trishala, who don't even find a mention in the film.
The writer Abhijat Joshi had earlier shared while interacting with the mediapersons that the makers have barely used about 150-page material from the life of Sanjay Dutt, out of over 750 pages material from the actor's life. A few reports doing the rounds had suggested that after Sanjay Dutt watched his own biopic, he broke down and hugged both Hirani and Kapoor, post which he apparently told Hirani that a sequel to Sanju should also be made since he has many more stories to tell.
So shall we expect an sequel to Sanju? Well, during an interview with ABP news, talking about the same, Rajkumar Hirani shared that after watching the film, when Sanjay Dutt mentioned that there should be a sequel to Sanju, he told both Dutt and Ranbir that he won't make a sequel to the film since, "A person can have only one biopic." |
Located in Go Dau district, Tay Ninh Province, Thanh Phuoc transit port is managed by Thanh Phuoc VRG Port and Logistics Joint Stock Company which is a joint venture between Saigon VRG and CJ Korea Express. It is designed to receive 30m long corridor beam with less than 2,000 tons of payload and 300m long vessel under 100 tons in the scale of 48.5 ha. With a capacity of 5 million tons of cargo and 1.5 million tons of goods in warehouse system per year, Thanh Phuoc is planning to provide services and storage for investors in Phuoc Dong Industrial Park and surrounding area businesses.
Full container yard: 10,000m2, designed for 4-container stacking up.
Empty container yard: 30,000m2, designed for 4-container stacking up.
Reefer container yard: 10,000m2, designed for 1-container stacking up.
Yard for general cargo: 10,000m2.
01 20%-30% cost reduction compared with road transport.
02 Easy transfer of goods from Tay Ninh Province to Cat Lai Port, Hiep Phuoc Port, and other ports in Ho Chi Minh City.
03 Close to large factories and industrial parks in Tay Ninh Province as well as Moc Bai International Border Gate which is a gateway to Cambodia, Thailand and other ASEAN countries.
05 Many attractive policies for clients.
06 Short time of containers and bulk cargo handling with good quality of service.
07 Thanh Phuoc VRG port has a connection with the deep-sea ports in the South of Vietnam.
08 Meet customers demand in cargo exchange and transport between the East and the West of Vietnam.
09 Integrated logistics services by a perfect combination of the river port, container yard, warehouse, and fast & safe transportation services. |
RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
At Least Five Killed In Explosion In Northern Afghanistan
At least five people were killed on December 6 in a roadside bomb explosion that targeted a vehicle carrying oil workers in northern Afghanistan, police said. "Today at around 7 a.m. a blast took place in...Balkh on a bus that belonged to Hairatan oil employees," said Asif Wazeri, spokesman for the Taliban police in the northern province of Balkh, adding that at least four people were wounded. No group has claimed the attack. To read the original story from RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.
Copyright (c) 2010-2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Balkh Province: At least 5 people killed and 4 injured in roadside bomb explosion targeting a vehicle carrying oil workers
https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-blast-balkh-oil/32163721.html |
We are pleased to announce that from today members can see a complete EPoints transaction record on the website.
Check out this new feature by logging in to your account from the top page, then click on the menu "View my record" under the "Redeem EPoints" button at the upper right hand side of your screen.
Now you can see all of your EPoints record and not limited to just 10 latest records anymore.
Thank you for your kind feedback and suggestion. We look forward to receiving more and more of opinions from members. |
Less than seven years after the Los Angeles riots, on the opposite side of the country, the New York City Police Department fired 41 shots at Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea. He was standing outside the entrance to his Bronx apartment building with his wallet in his hand. The officers claimed they thought Diallo's wallet was a gun. All four officers were acquitted of second-degree murder.
Today marks 20 years since Diallo's death. Just as a riot breaking out in the second-largest city didn't prevent Diallo's demise, his death hasn't moved the needle on cops slaughtering us in the subsequent decades. In fact, it may seem like we're dealing with more police violence than ever before in the past decade, but that's only because we can document and propagate everything now thanks to cell phone cameras and social media.
Despite its manifold failings, social media does a fantastic job of holding folks' toes to the fire in regards to accountability. It's the only thing that allows the outrage of the masses to spread in mere minutes.
In fact, the tragedies and their subsequent #SayHis/HerName social media awareness campaigns have occurred so often that we run the risk of developing emotional calluses to Black people getting senselessly murdered by the people who take an oath to protect us. It's similar to how we're becoming exceedingly numb to mass shootings. In the two decades since Diallo's death at the hands of police, we've had Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Rekia Boyd, Mike Brown, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Stephon Clark, and on and on. Sadly, that list is not even close to providing the full tally of Black people killed by police violence in the last 20 years.
While the L.A. and Ferguson riots were rage come unspooled, there have been countless peaceful protests across the country from angry and desperate souls seeking answers and retribution – or, at the very least, to be seen. Here in Chicago, folks have stormed busy city thoroughfares and interrupted Black Friday sales in popular shopping districts – only to be met with news of it happening again and again.
Jason Van Dyke's imprisonment over the murder of McDonald has very little precedent when it comes to police suffering the consequences of their actions. Damn near every killing of a black person by an on-duty police officer has resulted in an acquittal for the officer if the case ever even made it that far. When cops are convicted, it's often a much lighter sentence than they would receive if they didn't have a badge. If our next president serves two terms, Van Dyke will be out of prison for the second one despite the fact that everyone saw him slaughter a man on tape.
Given the fact that lawmakers still haven't managed to get behind gun control six years after 20 mostly white kids were slaughtered in their elementary school, it's not surprising that the violent death of an innocent Black man at the hands of cops didn't spark significant reform of police procedure not just in the NYPD, but nation-wide.
How many Diallos will there be before we see real change? |
Haryana has become the first state in the north where customers can subscribe to Tata DoCoMo's GSM services. Tata DoCoMo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, kicked off its services in the state on Tuesday. It has pumped in Rs 300 crore to launch its service in its ninth telecom circle.
The investment in Haryana is part of a capital expenditure of $2 billion on the company's pan-India GSM network rollout. The company will extend its GSM operations in 19 circles after obtaining licence by December this year. The company also announced a novel pay-for-what-you-use model, with a pulse of one second, and a rate of just 1 paisa per second.
Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Teleservices, said, "Our GSM mobile service will cover 386 towns and cities and 1,750 villages in Haryana, along 1,800 km of highways, at airports, along 400 km of rail routes and at places of tourist interests. From the day of launch, the reach and coverage of the network is greater in Haryana than that of any other operator at the launch stage.
Coverage in Fatehabad and Sirsa districts will be provided soon. The service will be available through 10,000 retail outlets in Haryana shortly, he added. |
The WHITE HOUSE Pen is part of a Collection created from Witness Wood® acquired by History Salvaged that was removed and made available to the public following the 1927 and the 1950 renovations of the White House, home to every US President since 1800.
In 1927, Calvin Coolidge, tired of the leaky roof, had the attic space expanded into a full third floor by constructing a steel-frame story atop the brick and mortar walls of 1800. According to the Army Corps of Engineers' report, the added weight contributed to the failure of the structure by 1949, prompting our 33rd President, Harry Truman to renovate the entire building, in what has become known as the 1950 Truman Reconstruction.
During both the 1927 and 1950 reconstructions, the US Government sold limited quantities of "mementos" to the public to help support funding of the work. History Salvaged has spent more than 2 years scouring public and private collections, museums and fraternal organizations to acquire enough Witness Wood® to produce this White House Pen Collection, produced from Mid-Atlantic Heart Pine removed during the reconstructions. |
Love Banana Bread? Love Choc Chips? Put them together and what do you get? A really delicious Banana Choc Chip Cake! I tried out A Cooker & a Looker's recipe for this cake on the kids for afternoon tea and it was a real hit and has been requested many times since. I used the Thermomix method but there is a regular method there too. It's now on high rotation in our baking repertoire and I think you may agree if you give it a whirl that it's a winner.
Go on, pop over and have a look, it's a really gorgeous website too, you may get lost there!
If you want a choc chip free banana loaf recipe take a look here for my tried and tested favourite and my "best ever" gluten free Thermomix banana bread recipe – try saying that really fast!
Do you have a great way to fancy up banana bread? Want to share it? |
In US, HPV-Related Cancers On Rise
Despite rising vaccination rates, cancers related to human papillomavirus, a common sexually transmitted infection, are
on the rise in the United States, particularly cancers of the head, neck and throat, officials said Thursday.
In men, most of the increase was in head, neck and throat cancers, while in women, cases of HPV-related anal cancer rose, according to a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "From 1999 to 2015, the number of HPV-associated cancers increased from 30,000 to over 43,000 annually," said the report.
Even though vaccinations against HPV have been on the rise in recent years, the CDC said the increase in cancers is "likely due to increased HPV exposure over the past few decades."
Cervical cancer rates continue to decline -- about 1.6 percent annually since 1999 -- thanks to screening and early detection, added the report. But there is no recommended screening for other HPV-associated cancers. "HPV vaccination can prevent infection with the HPV types most strongly associated with cancer," said the CDC report.
"Increasing HPV vaccination rates among young males and females could prevent many cancers."
The CDC said that last year, nearly 66 percent of adolescents aged 13-17 received the first dose in the vaccine series, and nearly 49 percent of adolescents received all the recommended doses to complete the series. "This vaccine is the best way to protect our youth from developing cancers caused by HPV infection," said CDC Director Robert Redfield.
After adjusting for rises in population, the overall rate of all HPV cancers in US women declined 0.4 percent from 1999 to 2015, largely due to drops in cervical cancer thanks to better screening, the report said. In men, the rate of HPV cancers rose 2.4 percent over the same period.
Leiomyosarcoma
Neuroendocrine liver cancer
Does Eating Organic Food Prevent Cancer?
Jan 8, 2019 • 6 comments
Radiation or surgery and life after treatments
How do you "thrive" with cancer?
Experience with Lupron treatment and side effects
Symptoms and complications of ovarian cancer
Cancer "survivor": How do you feel about this term?
What to eat to prevent breast cancer?
What is your cancer diagnosis?
Staying hydrated while in treatment: What are your tips? |
> please avoid top posting next time, thanks.
please just don't do it!
> Where did you get 1.4.9 from? Did you compile it yourself?
making autom4te more tolerant of this issue.
> I'm not sure if it had been fixed with the recent runtime update.
related to this; it is much more likely to be the m4 CRLF issue.
outside of the source tree. |
A group is claiming to have carried out a successful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on Tumblr due to which the site went down this week and as a result, Tumblr was down on Wednesday for over 2 hours. This group of attackers goes by the handle of R.I.U. Star Patrol who state that they targeted Tumblr just to have some fun.
But their fun time doesn't end here at all. According to a number of new sources including 7421Max and information posted on the group's Twitter handle @StarPatrolling, the group plans to take on Electronic Arts, PSN and Xbox Live on Christmas day.
On December 19, it was reported by 7421Max that R.I.U. Star Patrol has already taken down the servers of League of Legends and Warframe. In a YouTube video, the group did confirm its future plans including how it aims to create havoc for ardent gamers by targeting popular gaming platforms like Xbox. This brings back haunting memories from Christmas 2014 when PlayStation and Xbox platforms were targeted with DDoS attacks leaving countless gamers perplexed and troubled.
In an interview with gaming news website 7421Max, which was published on YouTube, the group's members claimed that they have planned to launch coordinated attacks on Xbox on Christmas 2016 but the reasoning behind this attempt was that they are doing it because they can. Money is not a motivating factor for them as they aren't being paid for their feats at all.
As far as the attack on Tumblr is concerned, the site went down just after 3:15 pm ET; the attack was highlighted when some of the users complained about experiencing "Latency." The site was revived for only a few minutes at about 3:52 pm ET but again went down and resumed operation at 4:22 pm ET. However, the site's full service wasn't restored until 5:45 pm ET.
As per the analysis of security researchers, the attack was carried out using Mirai malware, the same malware that was used to launch the record-breaking 620 GBPS attack on a famous journalist Brian Krebs' website, 1TBPS attack on OVH hosting and the large-scale attack DynDNS' server.
It is believed that Tumblr's attack demonstrated a typical DDoS mechanism but it also depicted how easy it was to launch attacks using Mirai because its source code is already publicly disclosed.
Don't be surprised if Xbox or any other online gaming platform goes offline on Christmas. Yesterday, it was Steam and Origin servers who faced the wrath of hackers and went offline for hours. Similarly, last year, PlayStation and Xbox were forced to go offline as a result of massive DDoS attacks. |
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John XXIII and John Paul II
These saintly yet very human men are greatly admired by people across the entire world ~ Fr. Wm. Watters, SJ
Pope Francis to Canonize Popes John XXIII and John Paul II
April 28, 2014 — For the first time in the Catholic Church's history, two popes will be made saints in the same ceremony when Pope Francis canonizes John XXIII and John Paul II on April 27. The Mass will be held in St. Peter's Square, just outside the basilica where the mortal remains of the two rest.
As many as three million pilgrims are expected in Rome for the occasion, as well as 24 heads of state, 35 prime ministers and 23 government ministers from various countries, according to Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. Millions more are expected to watch the ceremony on TV or the Internet.
Blessed John Paul II, known as a globetrotter who made 104 trips outside Italy, served as pope from 1978 to 2005 and was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 1, 2011. Blessed John XXIII, known particularly for convening the Second Vatican Council, was pope from 1958 to 1963; Pope John Paul beatified him in 2000.
Pope Francis said Blessed John was holy, patient, had a good sense of humor and, especially by calling the Second Vatican Council, was a man of courage. "He was a man who let himself be guided by the Lord."
As for Blessed John Paul, Pope Francis said, "I think of him as the great missionary of the church," because he was "a man who proclaimed the Gospel everywhere."
According to Jesuit Father William Watters, pastor of St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore, "These saintly yet very human men are greatly admired by people across the entire world. In their lifetime they made a lasting impact on the church and the world. Men of deep prayer and great service to others, their lives and accomplishments continue to exemplify a goodness and holiness that inspire us to imitate them in our own lives and actions."
Blessed John XXIII: Short Pontificate, Long Impact
Although he served as pope for less than five years, Blessed John XXIII (1958-1963) left one of the most lasting legacies in the Catholic Church's history by convening the Second Vatican Council.
Citing the Holy Spirit as his source of inspiration, he called the Second Vatican Council to help the church confront the rapid changes and mounting challenges unfolding in the world — and, by inviting non-Catholics to the council, to work toward Christian unity.
As pope from 1958 to 1963, Blessed John launched a renewal of the church, which set in motion major reforms with regard to the church and its structure, the liturgy, ecumenism, social communication and Eastern churches.
He produced a number of historic encyclicals, including "Mater et Magistra" on Christian social doctrine and "Pacem in Terris," issued in 1963 at the height of the Cold War, on the need for global peace and justice.
Blessed John XXIII visited many parishes in Rome, and his contact with the people and his personal warmth, sensitivity and fatherly kindness earned him the nickname, "the Good Pope."
Jesuit Father James Martin wrote that he was drawn to John XXIII "not as much for his wit, or his writings, or his love of the church, or even his accomplishments as for something more basic: his love for God and for other people."
Blessed John XXIII died of cancer on June 3, 1963.
Blessed John Paul II: A Moral Force with Flair
Blessed John Paul II (1978-2005) was one of the most forceful moral leaders of the modern age. He brought a philosopher's intellect, a pilgrim's spiritual intensity and an actor's flair for the dramatic to his role as head of the church for more than 26 years.
The Polish pope was a tireless evangelizer and forceful communicator, speaking to millions in their own languages. But toward the end of his life, his powers of speech faltered with his worsening illness, which left him often unable to even murmur a blessing.
The first non-Italian pope in 455 years, Blessed John Paul became a spiritual protagonist in two global transitions: the fall of European communism, which began in his native Poland in 1989, and the passage to the third millennium of Christianity.
As pastor of the universal church, he jetted around the world, taking his message to 129 countries— including seven trips to the United States.
In his later years, the pope moved with difficulty, tired easily and was less expressive, all symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Yet he pushed himself to the limits of his physical capabilities, convinced that such suffering was itself a form of spiritual leadership.
His social justice encyclicals, including his landmark document, the apostolic letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte" ("At the Beginning of the New Millennium"), made a huge impact, addressing the moral dimensions of human labor, the widening gap between rich and poor and the shortcomings of the free-market system.
After more than 26 years as pope, Blessed John Paul died at the age of 84 at the Vatican on April 2, 2005. [Source and photos: Catholic News Service]
In Memoriam: Br. Henry C. Kuhn, SJ
January 6, 2020 — Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of our brother, Br. Henry C. Kuhn, SJ, who died on January 5, 2020, at Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan. He was 85 years old. May he rest in peace.
Br. Pat Douglas, SJ: Five Spiritual Lessons He's Learned from Powerlifting
December 18, 2019 — Brother Douglas, a competitive powerlifter, lives out the Jesuit value of "finding God in all things."
Pope Francis: Celebrating 50 Years of a Priestly Vocation
December 13, 2019 — Today Pope Francis celebrates the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
Remembering Fr. John Haughey, SJ, beloved pastor, professor and researcher
December 10, 2019 — Fr. John C. Haughey, SJ, beloved pastor, professor and researcher, dies at 89.
St. Patrick's Parish in Milwaukee Celebrates 50 Years of Hispanic Ministry
December 4, 2019 — On Nov. 22, the Jesuits' St. Patrick's Parish in Milwaukee marked half a century of Hispanic ministry.
In Memoriam: Fr. Robert J. Bueter, SJ
December 3, 2019 — Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. Robert J. Bueter, SJ, who died on December 2, 2019 at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Illinois. He was 77 years old. May he rest in peace.
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Located 45 miles east of Omaha, Neb., in rural Iowa, the Creighton University Retreat Center is situated on 154 wooded acres on the Nishnabotna River.
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Final Norwich Hospital cleanup now pegged at $9 million
By Kimberly Glassman
The final cost to finish the environmental cleanup of the former Norwich Hospital property is now projected at $9 million, and while town and Mohegan tribal leaders hope for a quick response to their request for state funding, the issue is tied up in the stalled overall state budget bond package yet to be put before legislators for a vote. The cost estimate to finish the cleanup is now projected at $9 million, including a $2 million low-interest loan the town previously had received from the state and a $7 million grant request to the state. Town officials have said they will not tap into the loan until receiving a commitment from the state for enough grant funding to complete the cleanup. And, if the town is required to remove all underground electrical wires, water and gas piping, that would add to the final cost as well, First Selectman Robert Congdon said Tuesday.
https://www.theday.com/local-news/20191029/final-norwich-hospital-cleanup-now-pegged-at-9-million
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Our Young Ambassadors are a busy bunch, find out what they've recently been up to.
Our Young Ambassadors regularly attend conferences and events, working alongside staff from our Fundraising and Events Teams in a range of roles from meet and greets, to event support, to engaging supporters one to one and also public speaking.
Take a look at what they've been up to below.
We are looking for new young people and parents who would like to become Young Ambassadors!
Almost 40 Young Ambassadors came along to Byte Night this year to help out and speak out. Find out how they got on.
Ellie recently joined us for work experience and caught up with some of our Young Ambassadors.
Our Young Ambassadors met to try out our 'Right Choice' training module ahead of the upcoming Trustee interviews.
"I've lived at Action for Children's New Horizons service for about a month."
Each year Action for Children hosts a Sports Dinner featuring celebrities, guests, and of course, our Young Ambassadors!
One of our Young Ambassadors and aspiring actor, Megan, is the voice of the Extra® Smile Back TV ad!
Our latest Young Ambassador Workshop Day recently took place in Vodafone's swanky offices in Birmingham!
Young voices is a collection of poetry written at last year's ARTiculation youth arts weekend.
We've created a suite of training for our Young Ambassadors, to build their knowledge, skills and confidence.
Read Conor's amazing life story. From being a young carer, looking after his mum to winning a Stephenson Award.
Recently Ryan and Harry showed some special guests around the new wing of our Monksfield service in Hexham.
Find out why Alex loves his role as a Young Ambassador and how Action for Children has changed his life.
"Working with Action for Children has helped me build my confidence and talk to new people."
"Action for Children have helped me a lot with my self-esteem and confidence."
"I was homeless and Action for Children helped me to sort out my benefits and find a house."
Recently, Arainn attended Scotland's 60th birthday and enjoyed it so much he wrote a poem to mark the celebration.
Some of our Young Ambassadors, Catrin, Glesni and Lowri, recently travelled to London to meet our Trustees.
Some of our young people took part in a performance bringing to life 60 years of Action for Children Scotland.
"I am proud to be supporting the Fair Deal campaign, working on getting more support young people!"
Recently Watford Grammar took over our Watford HQ for the day and created their own campaign videos.
Our Young Ambassadors were out in force at this year's Byte Night event.
Read how Tamara felt when she learnt the skills to manage her money.
Watch young people from North Lanarkshire tell us about their lives as young carers.
Our annual Youth Arts Weekend for young people using dance, drama and music to explore themes important to them.
Congratulations to Alex on winning the 'Outstanding Volunteer Award' at this year's Stephenson's Awards.
Read how Nathan has gained confidence managing his money with our Barclay's Money Skills programme.
Follow our Inclusion team on Twitter and join in the conversation.
Find video, photo's, latest news and more on our Inclusion Facebook page.
Subscribe to our YouTube playlist and watch our Young Ambassadors in Action. |
One of the most important decisions facing every project owner is selection of the "project delivery method." This term describes the complete process that will be used to design and construct a project. In a nutshell, this process relates to the number of primary parties involved in a project, the manner in which they are contractually related to each other, and the contractual responsibilities of each party. In recent years, new project delivery methods have been developed as owners have increasingly recognized that the best project outcomes result from the most successful collaboration among the parties involved.
The choice of project delivery method affects almost everything about the project: budgeting and financing, risk assessment and mitigation, relationships among the parties, procurement and contracting methods, compensation process, participants in the design process, sequencing the project phases, scheduling the work, etc. Under certain circumstances, the project delivery method may impact the quality of the finished project.
In the coming weeks, I will discuss these project delivery methods in detail and will highlight the most important reasons for an owner to consider each method for a given project. Each project delivery method has significant advantages and disadvantages. It is especially critical for the project owner to understand what kinds of risks are inherently increased or reduced as a result of using a particular delivery method.
With the traditional Design-Bid-Build (DBB) method, the owner hires a design firm to produce complete construction documents. Then bids are solicited to construct the project based on those documents. Typically, the construction contractor that submits the lowest responsive bid is then hired to construct the project. The Multiple Prime method is similar to traditional DBB, except that the owner contracts directly with multiple specialty contractors for different portions of the work.
Using the Design-Build (DB) method, the owner hires one entity (the design-builder) under a single contract to both design and construct the project. This method facilitates collaboration between the designers and the construction specialists, and it makes one party responsible to the owner for the complete project.
With the Construction Manager at Risk (CMR) method, the owner hires separate firms to design and construct the project. However, the CMR firm is selected either before or during design, which enables the CM to participate in the design process. The CMR commits to a negotiated maximum construction cost and bids out portions of the work to subcontractors. This project delivery method often enables the owner to expedite the start of construction, since the CMR can proceed with preliminary work based on partial construction documents. |
Georgie is my parents' beloved Boerboel puppy who thinks he is a lap dog. He effectively replaced me and my brother as the new baby in the house. He is exceptionally clever and entertaining.
Georgie recently tore a ligament in one of his hind limbs when his foot got caught as he jumped off of a garden bench.
The veterinarian advised that the only viable option was to operate on the knee. Due to Georgie's size and weight the risk of injury to the healthy leg would be too high if left untreated. With euthanasia being the only alternative, my parents decided to go ahead with the surgery.
After paying a deposit of R10 000, the vet bill amounted to almost R25 000!
So far Georgie is recovering well, but my parents are struggling to find the money to cover this bill.
I created this campaign to see if we can help in covering the cost.
Georgie is my parents' beloved Boerboel puppy who thinks he is a lap dog. Georgie recently tore a ligament in one of his hind limbs when his foot got caught as he jumped off of a garden bench. So far Georgie is recovering well, but my parents are struggling to find the money to cover his vet operation bill. |
Are you an enthusiastic and creative writer with a background in marketing or communications? Are you looking for your next exciting opportunity within a company with an amazing culture, fantastic benefits and the drive to expand? Then read on!
An industry leading organisation based near Kidlington in Oxfordshire are searching for a Digital Communications Offer to join their small, but hard-working and growing team! They are an exciting and modern start-up, yet with the balance of a family feel.
You will get stuck in with all things content, for campaigns, social media channels and the website, videos, and much more! Your passion for writing is key, so you will be looking to create engaging content to increase awareness and support the marketing and communications function.
Sound like you? Then apply now!
Their software products are sold into a wide variety of industries, so you will work alongside a wider team of product managers, designs, and developers as well as the marketing team.
Your marketing or communications industry background is not important for this brand new, dynamic role, the creativity is what they need! Plus, although a degree in marketing or English (or similar) would be beneficial, this is not essential either.
Due to the location of the offices, your own transport may be necessary. The role is commutable from areas such as: Oxford, Didcot, Banbury, Bicester, Witney, Headington, Cowley, and the wider Oxfordshire county. |
Obtaining the China Patent Award is a new start for Huada Kejie's innovation and development
Reviewed by the China Patent Award Review Committee, and conferred by the State Intellectual Property Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization, China Patent Award is the highest honor in the field of patent-awarded. In November, 2012, the Laser Beam Line (LP805) (Patent No. ZL201030262566.4) independently designed and developed by Huada Kejie was awarded China Patent Award for the first time, and the 14 th China Appearance Design Excellence Award in the same year, which was the first time for Huada Kejie to gain a national prize for its typical products, which was a mark for the company to step into a new era considering the scientific and technical innovation levels and the intellectual property management standards.
Huada Kejie is among the first batch of the national standard units in Changzhou city to gain the identifications for intellectual property management standardization, is a national advantage enterprise for intellectual property, and an advanced unit in Jiangsu province for enterprise intellectual property management standardization, holding hundred of domestic and foreign patents, having paid great attentions to the creations, managements, usages and protections for the intellectual properties. For example, the laser beam line (LP805) had been given China Patent Award for the first time. The appearance and the module of this product all had been applied for appearance design patent, utility model patent and invention patent, and both its appearance and technologies will be protected by these patents in the forms of appearance and technologies. All these patents will be registered in the Customs, in this way, the technical rights and the market interests of this kind of products will be effectively protected. At the same time, the company also carried out such patent policies for other series of laser products from inside to outside, thus these intellectual property strategies can protect our technologies in a long term, and the covered areas by patents will be enlarged, the risks of patent infringements will be reduced, and the economic values of products will be improved.
The obtaining of China Patent Award will greatly promote the developments of intellectual property in Huada Kejie, will make us understand more about the importance and the urgency of the intellectual property work in the development of the company, the traditional prejudice to the intellectual property work has been broken. In this way, the practical management regulations for intellectual property can be integrated into the running of the company, to enhance the comprehensive capability of the company in R&D and innovation. Huada Kejie will continue to implement the intellectual property development strategy efficiently, will highlight the two focus points of intellectual property standardization & informatization construction and patent rights, towards a higher and more advanced direction. |
Jim Dumont – Professor of Native Studies
Jim Dumont ging in 2000 met pensioen als Professor of Native studies van de Laurentian University in Sudbury. Tegenwoordig geeft hij les bij het Indigenous Masters Program van het Seven Generations Institute.
Meer informatie over Jim Dumont:
University of Sudbury
Onaubinisay at the 2018 Parliament of the World's Religions
Onaubinisay (Jim Dumont) gives the keynote address at the 2018 Parliament of the Worlds Religions in Toronto. He reflects on Creation, the nature of Spirit and our role in appeciating and living this beautiful life.
Jim Dumont - After the Fourth Prophecy -- Finding a Way Back to Traditional Ways
Jim Dumont is Onaubinisay (Walks Above the Ground), an Ojibway-Anishinabe of the Waubezhayshee (Marten) Clan. Since 1970, he has pursued the cultural and spiritual roots of the traditional Anishinabe Way of Life. He retired in 2000 as Professor of Native Studies at the University of Sudbury of Laurentian University. Today, Jim teaches in the Indigenous Masters Program with the Seven Generations Institute.
Steve Wilhelm recently retired from his 34-year career as a journalist, writing mainly about aerospace, advanced manufacturing and international trade. Steve has taught meditation and Buddhism through Eastside Insight Meditation since 2000. He also edits Northwest Dharma News and serves on the board of the Tibetan Nuns Project. He has a master's degree in journalism from the University of Colorado.
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Religica is a comprehensive online platform at the axis of religion and society that provides non-sectarian, coherent, integrated and accessible awareness about the role of religion in society, with a focus on strengthening local communities.
Honouring Our Strengths: Elder Jim Dumont, Methodology
This video provides an introduction to the environmental scan methodology.
Find out more by visiting: www.tinyurl.com/cultureasinterventionresearch
Professor Oren Lyons – American studies & faithkeeper of the turtle clan
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Former Rochester bus driver pleads guilty to shoplifting
A former Rochester Community Schools contract bus driver has pleaded guilty to shoplifting at Parisian during the school day.
Roseanne Stacho was arrested at 2:40 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21 for retail fraud at Parisian in the Village of Rochester Hills shopping center. Stacho's school bus was parked outside, and she was due to pick up students at Stoney Creek High School a short while later.
Stacho pleaded guilty to first-degree retail fraud, a felony, for the theft of items worth between $200 and $1,000. She could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and fines.
After her arrest, Stacho was initially granted a $10,000 personal bond. She was then sentenced to 90 days in jail by 52-3 District Judge Lisa Asadoorian on Oct. 16 for violation of her probation from an earlier conviction, said Stacho's attorney Howard Arnkoff.
At the time of her arrest at the shopping center, Stacho was on probation for a May 11 second-degree retail fraud conviction at 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills.
Stacho pleaded guilty to that earlier offense and was sentenced on July 9 to two years of supervised probation, 150 hours of community service and a required economic crimes class, said Missy Neff, Deputy Court Administrator at 52-3 District Court.
Stacho, 53, of Rochester Hills, stood in Oakland County Jail blues in the jury box of Oakland County Circuit Judge Colleen O'Brien's courtroom at the pretrial hearing Friday morning. Her sentencing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 20 before O'Brien.
After her Sept. 21 arrest, Stacho was placed on leave by Durham School Services, the Warrenville, Ill.-based company that took over the Rochester Community Schools bus garage this summer after transportation services were privatized as a cost-saving measure.
"The only comment I really have is that she's no longer with Durham," Rochester Community Schools Interim Superintendent Tresa Zumsteg said Friday.
Stacho worked for Durham for three years, and for Birmingham Public Schools prior to that.
"Whenever an incident occurs, drivers are placed on leave pending a full investigation," said Durham spokesman Blaine Krage. "She resigned during our investigation."
Krage said the company didn't know about Stacho's retail fraud conviction in May until the incident at Parisian.
"We did not have that previous information," he said.
"This driver was not representative of the quality of Durham employees, and we feel that the appropriate steps have been taken to rectify the situation," Krage said.
When asked about Stacho working in Rochester while on probation, Superintendent Zumsteg said, "We've actually had a meeting with Durham, and we've gone over their procedures to ensure this doesn't happen again, and we're very confident this won't happen again."
Durham will perform random criminal background checks on 25 percent of its employees throughout the year, Zumsteg said.
"We feel confident they have put safeguards in place so this will not happen again."
Contact staff writer Dustin Blitchok at 248-745-4685 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SincerelyDustin. |
Marketing and sales tactics are incredibly important to the success of all senior living communities. Are your initiatives as up-to-snuff as they could, and should, be?
We won't be the first ones to break this news to you, as I am sure you are already seeing this trend in your own senior living communities: Occupancy is down all over the country. Not only is it down, but it's at the lowest levels we've seen in years and the trends aren't pointing north.
According to national data recently compiled by NIC, assisted living and independent living occupancy fell to 86.5% and 90.6%, respectively, in Q2 2017. While demand has been strong for both — assisted living properties experienced a record absorption rate of 4.3% — it hasn't been strong enough to fill the influx of new communities opening across the country. This has led to low occupancy across the board and available housing left empty for long periods.
Given this unfortunate trend, you're probably asking yourself, "What can we be doing to improve occupancy?" and "How can we attract new residents?" If you're not currently in this frame of mind, you will fall behind your competitors.
What can senior living communities do to improve occupancy?
Making immediate improvements to two areas could bolster both interest in your community and your occupancy rates: marketing and sales.
Some communities view marketing and sales initiatives as interchangeable or "one in the same." However, there is a clear distinction: Marketing gets heads turning toward your community, sales happens once your target is already in the door.
Although the difference may seem small, it is important that communities differentiate their sales and marketing tactics. Only by taking a targeted approach within each arena will your community be able to connect meaningfully with potential residents at each stage of sales funnel: awareness, interest, decision, and action.
But don't be fooled into separating them too much: Synchronizing these tactics provides potential residents with a positive, consistent message about the benefits of your community.
Marketing gets heads turning toward your community, sales happens once your target is already in the door.
In conducting marketing and sales audits at many senior living communities, our team has seen communities attempt to deploy many tactics to get seniors interested in moving in. Here are 10 proven marketing and sales tactics that consistently help senior living communities improve occupancy.
#1 Ensure your website is up to par with your competitors'.
Is your website easy to navigate, even for someone who's not tech savvy? Can you type your web address manually without struggling? Does your website load quickly? Are you using high-quality images of your available units, landscaping, amenities, and dining spaces? Is your website mobile friendly? Your community's first impression often happens online. You must invest time and energy to make it inviting, with easy navigation, fast and mobile access, and engaging content.
#2 Consistently track the ROI of every marketing initiative.
Each market is going to respond to marketing initiatives differently. While some may find that printed ads work best to draw in seniors and their families, others may conclude that hosting on-site events or "open houses" are the best way to create interest. Careful tracking is essential to make sure you're investing your valuable marketing dollars only on tactics with high returns.
#3 Be aware of what is being said about your community online.
#4 Use Google AdWords to help you stay visible in web searches.
Google AdWords is a customizable, efficient marketing tool used by millions of businesses to get their organizations noticed online. Chances are, your competitors are already using it. Stay at the top of Google search results — and top of mind for those who are looking for a new place to live — by considering an investment into this service.
#1 Make sure all sales personnel have formal training.
No matter how small or temporary a role, make sure each staff member has formal training on sales etiquette and strategy. Include weekend staff, after-hours reception, and other roles outside of your 9-to-5 lineup. One slip up could mean an irreversible impression and a lost sale.
#2 Be open and transparent with community information.
Residents moving into a community and away from life-long homes have a lot to think about and many questions to ask. Don't hold information hostage as a quid pro quo for contact information. The most important thing you can do is make seniors feel comfortable with the idea of moving in. They need full disclosure to make the decision.
#3 Listen to what the potential resident REALLY needs.
Sales staff are often so hyper-focused on going through the motions of a tour that they forget an important first step. Before the tour, sales staff should get to know perspective residents and learn their needs. A "home body" may be overwhelmed or turned off if the salesperson emphasizes high-activity areas. If the senior is reluctant to move, teach your sales staff how to dig into the root of why so together, with the senior and his or her family, they can work through any insecurities.
#4 Use a CRM system to track lead interaction.
Don't rely on your staff's anecdotal recall to understand your marketing and sales initiatives' effectiveness. Whether staff contact leads in person, via email, or over the phone, track every interaction with every lead, every time. A customer relationship management (CRM) system is the most effective way to gauge the impact of tactics on your sales traffic.
#5 Be willing to ask for the sale.
While you don't want to be too pushy, not asking for a sale could lead to losing out on the sale altogether. Ask the potential resident, "What will it take to make you to move?" or "When can we expect you to move? Let's discuss some potential move-in dates that fit your schedule." You might be surprised at the positive response this gets.
So there you have it: 10 marketing and sales tactics to improve senior living occupancy.
Your next steps? Download our checklist to compare these tactics to your community's marketing and sales initiatives for a quick way to make improvements that will help attract new residents and increase occupancy.
If you prefer a more comprehensive assessment, we would be happy to help you evaluate your departments' initiatives as part of our marketing and sales audit services.
The 10 tactics we provided are a great place to start, but there are still many other areas within your business you should assess to ensure your community's occupancy levels improve year to year. Your facilities, service mix, staffing, and many other factors also affect occupancy.
Plante Moran Living Forward has a multidisciplinary team that can help you think through all of these factors. We bring financial feasibility, market study and site selection, operations consulting, and development advisory services under a single point of contact to help senior living providers stay competitive, grow, and provide quality care. Contact us today to learn more. |
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Nairobi lawyer fights DPP's request to withdraw forgery case against him
By Editor On Jun 14, 2018
A perimeter wall erected around the Karen land at the centre of the forgery case
By Gitahi Ngunyi
A Nairobi lawyer, Guy Elms Spenser yesterday opposed a request by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji to withdraw a case where the advocate has been charged with forging a client's will in relation to a Sh500 million piece of land in Karen.
Instead, Spenser asked the court sitting at City Hall, Nairobi, to allow him to proceed with the case.
The forgery claims were made by Agnes Kagure (Get more about her here) who has been also been accused in a separate court with forging land documents as well as transfer deeds in a bid to grab the land in dispute.
Kagure claims the deceased sold the Karen land to her in 2011 before he died, for Sh100 million in cash.
During the hearing yesterday prosecutor Lillian Obuyo told the court that the DPP had applied for the withdrawal of the case and proposed fresh investigations into the same due to insights that prove prior investigations were inconsistent.
Essentially this means the case was filed without evidence in the first place and the DPP could find himself censored by the court for abuse of the court process if the matter proceeds to the end. Obuyo divulged as much in her submissions yesterday.
The prosecutor said that the DPP was seeking to withdraw from case to avoid abuse of the court process but that the case would be filed afresh on the strength of new evidence.
Yesterday proceedings could mark a turning point in the case particularly because it may turn public attention on the workings of the DPP's office.
Of particular interest to the public will be how the court treats information proving that the DPP's office had a forensic audit report from the National Land Commission on the land dispute which absolved Spenser from the allegations of forgery when it filed the suit.
Last month, Haji who had just recently been appointed to the office called in Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission detectives to vet his officers of corruption.
It is not difficult to see why the veteran lawyer opposed the DPP's request which gives a prosecutor a license to have a discharged person arrested outside the court that had set him free on the same day.
Lawyer Davis Osiemo for Spenser told the magistrate to process with the matter unless the withdrawal of the case was a section of the criminal procedure act that allows the magistrate to grant an accused person complete acquittal in which case it would be difficult for DPP to charge the veteran lawyer afresh based on the facts on this case.
The section that Spenser was referring to provides that a court shall dismiss a case and acquit the accused if at the close of the evidence in support of the charge by a prosecutor and the accused person, it appears to the court that a case is not made out against the accused person sufficiently to require him to make a defense.
Incidentally, DPP relied on section 87 of the criminal procedure act in his request to the court which is a double edged sword. The section allows a DPP to terminate a case against an accused person where evidence is insufficient but also provides him with headroom to charge the accused person afresh based on the facts of the withdrawn case.
The section says that a public prosecutor may with the instruction of the DPP withdraw from the prosecution of any person, and upon withdrawal. If the withdrawal is made the accused person has been called upon to make his defense, he shall be discharged.
"But discharge of an accused person shall not operate as a bar to subsequent proceedings against him on account of the same facts," says the act.
This case has been going on since 2016 where Spenser is being accused of forging late Roger Robson signatures. Spenser was named as the executor of Robson's Will.
Yesterday, Kagure put up a spirited fight against the DPP's request to withdraw from the case. Kagure who spoke through her lawyer, Wandugi Karathe told the court that he had not been served with the new documents that had contributed to the DPP's decision which include a report by the Lands Commission.
But Osiemo, clarified that the said documents had already been shared in other court proceedings.
The Magistrate granted leave to Osiemo to file an affidavit showing when the documents were shared and also set a new hearing date of July 19, 2018.
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This last week Ugandans celebrated the second Janani Luwum national holiday.
The late Arch Bishop has long been a lesson in Ugandan schools about the brutality of the Idi Amin regime that was responsible for his death. Lately, his example stands as something else; the duty to speak truth to power in the face of abuses especially by the State.
In one item, his death and martyrdom were a violent and ultimate disgrace of the regime of Idi Amin but the other aspect, his example of fortitude and resolve even in the face of grave danger has a longer, more useful and present purpose.
I could not reflect on the celebration of the national holiday dedicated to Luwum without a deep sense of its irony. Just before the holiday a priest from the West of the country and the President had gotten into a public quarrel about what the Church could or could not say to the seat of power in the country. But perhaps even more glaring in the celebration held in Kitgum was the absence of Joseph Kony.
Idi Amin may have brutally murdered Janani Luwum but in the aftermath of the downfall of the Amin regime, the collapse of the state in Uganda and retreat of power holders in the north had given rise to the Lord's Resistance Army. Around Mucwini, Janani's ancestral home, one LRA attack in 2002 claimed dozens of victims.
It was known particularly for its brutality.
Babies were smashed by the rebels on trees and their mothers forced to pound them in traditional wooden mortar and pestles – used to soften grains. Others were burnt in huts. The terrorism of the LRA was meant to discredit the Museveni regime and some of Janani Luwum's most fervent disciples like Olara Otuunu blamed the government for failing to protect citizens.
It was Olara Otuunu who re-introduced me to Luwum as an adult. At that time, he was campaigning for the designation of the Northern Uganda war as a particular genocide against the Acholi people – a sentiment that still holds with many members of the Acholi elite.
So to celebrate Luwum – without Joseph Kony, and on a narrative stripped of the context of LRA violence (non-state violence) is a form of rehabilitation of the group if not a powerful sign of the changing times.
While LRA committed heinous crimes – it has always been the state, and violence by the state that enjoins Luwum's martyrdom. With the absence of the LRA from the North for over a decade now, the crimes of the state return to offer a fearfully less urgent reading of their crimes in places like Mucwini.
The ogres of today's violence, the new LRA, are taxpayer enabled security officers caught brutally torturing and killing civilians. These are the monsters that fill the national papers and frighten TV and radio audiences.
With every new story of torture, death and the slow expanse of impunity by amongst others elite police officers the less present LRA has become and the more immediate the violence of power – the kind Luwum stood against.
One of the disagreements I had with Olara Otuunu was that he may have sought some kind of equivalence in the violence of the LRA and that of the government especially amidst the worst period of the Northern Uganda crisis.
If not a false equivalence he at least placed a (reasonable and heavier) burden on the government for not doing enough. A sort of criminal negligence borne out of the duty of care a government has.
Consequently, many thought or even accused him of excusing the rebels whose actions occasioned the harm in the first place.
But with the absence of the LRA at the celebration of Luwum Day, his mentor the late Arch Bishop is also freed to be a symbol of what has always been the genesis of violence in Uganda – the abuse of state power by those responsible for it.
Many who come to this issue today will automatically focus on the many examples of the current violence, the torture in places like Nalufenya, the personal accounts of deprivation, detentions without trial, the fetishization of national security, abuse of superior orders and the cynical – and mostly evil disregard for life.
These things are capable of rehabilitating even the worst crimes of the LRA ( or Amin's other crimes). Luwum was right to stand against them in the 70's. More should speak out against them today. |
NAR: U.S. Existing-Home Sales Drop 2.7% in April
It's the third monthly decline in a row. NAR cites the lack of inventory for the slowdown, as well as the increase in median price to $341,600, up 19.1% year-to-year.
WASHINGTON – Existing-home sales waned in April, marking three straight months of declines, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). All but one of the four major U.S. regions tracked by NAR saw month-over-month drops in home sales, but each also registered double-digit year-over-year gains for April, in part due to the rise of the pandemic one year ago.
Total existing-home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – slipped 2.7% from March to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.85 million in April. Sales overall jumped year-over-year, up 33.9% from a year ago (4.37 million in April 2020).
"Home sales were down again in April from the prior month, as housing supply continues to fall short of demand," says Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "We'll see more inventory come to the market later this year as further COVID-19 vaccinations are administered and potential home sellers become more comfortable listing and showing their homes. The falling number of homeowners in mortgage forbearance will also bring about more inventory.
"Despite the decline, housing demand is still strong compared to one year ago, evidenced by home sales from this January to April, which are up 20% compared to 2020," Yun adds. "The additional supply projected for the market should cool down the torrid pace of price appreciation later in the year."
The median existing-home price for all housing types in April was $341,600, up 19.1% from April 2020 ($286,800) – a record high and a continuation of 110 straight months of year-over-year gains.
Total housing inventory at the end of April amounted to 1.16 million units, up 10.5% from March's inventory but down 20.5% from one year ago (1.46 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 2.4-month supply at the current sales pace, slightly up from March's 2.1-month supply and down from the 4.0-month supply recorded in April 2020.
The inventory numbers continue to represent near-record lows since NAR first began tracking the single-family home supply in 1982.
The time between listing a property and having it go under contract also continued to tighten in April. Properties typically remained on the market for 17 days last month, down from 18 days in March and 27 days in April 2020. Of all homes on the market in April, 88% went under contract in less than a month.
First-time buyers bought almost 1 in 3 homes (31%) in April, down from 32% in March and 36% in April 2020.
"First-time buyers, in particular, are having trouble securing that first home for a multitude of reasons, including not enough affordable properties, competition with cash buyers and properties leaving the market at such a rapid pace," Yun says.
Individual investors or second-home buyers, who account for many cash sales, purchased 17% of homes in April, up from 15% in March and 10% in April 2020. All-cash sales accounted for 25% of transactions in April, up from both 23% in March and 15% in April 2020.
Distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – represented less than 1% of sales in April, equal to March's percentage but down from 3% in April 2020.
According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.06% in April, down slightly from 3.08% in March. Yun expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to remain below 3.5% in 2021.
Single-family and condo/co-op sales: Single-family home sales dropped to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.13 million in April, down 3.2% from 5.30 million in March, and up 28.9% from one year ago. The median existing single-family home price was $347,400 in April, up 20.3% from April 2020.
April existing condominium and co-op sales were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 720,000 units, up 1.4% from March and up 84.6% from one year ago. The median existing condo price was $300,400 in April, a 12.6% increase from a year ago.
"The demand for homeownership in America is as strong as it's ever been, and NAR continues working with policymakers across the country to find solutions to the issues we face in our industry," says NAR President Charlie Oppler. "Ultimately, though, buyers still recognize that securing a home is one of the best ways to build long-term wealth, and Realtors continue their work to make that dream a reality for families everywhere."
© 2021 Florida Realtors®
Posted by Eduardo Brandt at Monday, May 24, 2021 No comments:
Mega Investor Spending Billions on Single-Family Rentals
By Bendix Anderson
Faced with a dearth of affordable existing homes, single-family investors say they'll spend big money creating new rental-home developments in Fla. and other states.
NEW YORK – The single-family housing market is red hot with prices rising at record-shattering rates. Homebuyers, who were briefly sidelined during the pandemic, have been hungry to take new space and take advantage of low mortgage rates to buy homes. Nationally, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index of property values climbed 12% in February from a year earlier, the biggest jump since 2006.
So, it might seem like a challenging time for investors to swoop in and build single-family rental (SFR) portfolios. But that's exactly what Transcendent Electra, a new joint venture, is doing with a war chest enabling it to spend billions to buy and build houses. Transcendent Electra, launched in February, is a partnership between Transcendent Investment Management, a single-family rental (SFR) platform, and Electra America, a longtime owner and operator of apartment properties.
"We're able to leverage Electra's multifamily expertise and presence in those markets to reach prospective residents and capitalize on economies of scale says Jordan Kavana, CEO of Transcendent Electra. "There are a lot more efficiencies the multifamily has realized that single-family rental houses have not."
One appeal is that demand for SFR rentals has been rising right alongside demand for home ownership. In fact, two SFR REITs, American Homes 4 Rent, which owns 54,000 houses, and Invitation Homes Inc., recently announced double-digit percentage increases on rents.
With the economy not back to pre-pandemic levels, some SFR tenants have continued to struggle, but those renters typically are not the ones inhabiting houses in institutional-quality portfolios like the one Transcendent is attempting to build.
"A lot of people move from multifamily to single-family rental houses," says Kavana.
Transcendent Electra announced in May that they were adding 1,889 new homes totaling $1.5 billion to its portfolio of rental properties. Of these, the partnership is already in contract to buy new single-family homes and townhomes totaling $496 million. Transcendent Electra has another $1 billion worth of single-family rental properties in its pipeline. The properties are scattered throughout the following markets: Birmingham and Huntsville, Ala.; Florida; Savannah and Atlanta, Ga.; North Carolina and South Carolina; Nashville, Tenn.; and Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas.
These investments are the first half of Transcendent Electra's plan to acquire or develop rental houses totaling $3 billion over the next three years. Eventually, the partnership plans to own and manage 15,000 to 20,000 units of rental housing.
"We have strategic relationships … builders we have worked with for four or five years," Kavana says. "Our longstanding relationships with some of the nation's top homebuilders have allowed us to locate product in markets where demand exceeds supply."
Transcendent Electra intends to grow its portfolio of rental houses even though home prices are growing very quickly. The median price of an existing home was $329,000 in March 2021, up from $280,000 the year before, according to the National Association of Realtors.
These prices are much higher than the deeply discounted prices investors used to pay to buy houses seized in foreclosures during the Global Financial Crisis. Transcendent stopped focusing buying existing houses years ago as prices rose.
"To buy an old home – you would almost have to twist my arm … unless you were buying a such a deep discount," says Kavana.
Instead, Transcendent Electra plans to buy these homes and townhouses directly from homebuilders in new developments.
"They allow us to buy the first five or so houses at a price that meets our return requirements," says Kavana.
These homebuilders benefit because they can depend on immediately earning income at their planned single-family developments from these sales to Transcendent, instead of waiting for the usual pace of home sales to play out. That allows them to plan more aggressively and move their capital more quickly to new developments. "This is purely accretive from the homebuilder's perspective," says Kavana.
Transcendent Electra will focus of buying homes in the $175,000 to $300,000 price range – and will charge rents averaging between $1,500 and $2,800 per month. That works out to an average cap rate of about 10%.
Other companies focused on single-family rental properties have also started to bid to buy these new properties. "Our competition is the top REITs," says Kavana. "They are starting to understand the value of being in the new product space."
Family offices and high net worth individuals continue to be the biggest investors in Transcendent's platform. A few institutional investors have also put money into Transcendent Electra's platform. About 85% of the investors in Transcendent Electra are based in the U.S., and the rest are international investors. Transcendent has been able to provide these investors returns in the 15% to 20% range.
© 2021 National Real Estate Investor
Locked Out: Low pay, soaring rents, pro-landlord laws set up Florida renters for eviction once COVID hit
How COVID exposed Florida's eviction crisis
By Caroline Glenn - Orlando Sentinel - May 13, 2021
Jocelyn Bennett paints her daughters' toenails, not bothered by the strong scent of nail polish filling the room at the HomeTown Studios in Orlando. The girls show off their pink toes, toddling around the small pay-by-the-week hotel room, one of many the Bennetts have called home since the pandemic began and they got evicted.
It's just one room with a bathroom with not enough space to even open the front door all the way. But it's got a stove and a fridge, and it's better than living in their car or outside. There are two beds, one for mom and dad, and the other is shared by their five kids who are all under 6 years old.
These days, a bottle of Dollar Tree nail polish is one of the only luxuries Jocelyn Bennett can give them.
"That's the worst feeling to have is I can't provide for my kids. That's probably the worst feeling you can have as a parent, not knowing what to do and calling 2-1-1 and them not knowing what to do," Jocelyn, 26, said, referring to United Way's emergency hotline.
In March 2020, Jocelyn lost her nursing assistant job at a senior living facility. Dexter, her husband, had been between jobs, finding work through a temp agency. They were already on food stamps. In April, they couldn't cover the rent. Their landlord told them they needed to be out in 30 days. And the family became homeless in a matter of weeks.
"It was a downward spiral after that," Dexter, 36, said. "Since COVID started, we've been living in hotels."
For renters in Florida, this is what eviction can look like. It doesn't always play out in a courtroom because many renters can't get a court hearing, which results in their landlord automatically winning the case. Some people, like the Bennetts, leave without responding to an eviction notice because they don't think they can fight it.
Housing experts argue Florida has some of the harshest eviction laws in the country, written so landlords can evict people as quickly as possible and without going to court. During the COVID-19 outbreak, those landlord-friendly laws, coupled with the state's severe shortage of affordable homes, rising rents and years of stagnant wages, left thousands of suddenly jobless renters exposed. And even after the government ordered a halt to eviction proceedings and federal dollars were made available to help people pay rent, many tenants were not spared.
Black Floridians, who were already more likely to lose their job to the pandemic and die from COVID-19, were even more likely to be locked out of their homes. In a mostly Black part of downtown Orlando, for example, renters were about six times as likely to face eviction than in another mostly white part of downtown, according to new data compiled for the Orlando Sentinel by the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida.
Shimberg estimates more than 57,000 evictions were filed in Florida just from March 2020 to mid-December, pushing families like the Bennetts into homelessness at a time the government was ordering people to quarantine.
Central Florida renters, many of them the same low-wage workers who power the region's tourism economy, were particularly vulnerable. Even before the pandemic and mass layoffs upended their lives, they lived paycheck to paycheck in a town where rent keeps climbing and wages don't budge.
So when the bottom fell out of the tourism and service industries, there was no safety net for them, and Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature did nothing to help.
"They are the ones who face wrongful eviction, they are the ones who can't get living wages, they are the ones who are struggling to find reliable public transportation. It's all on them," said state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat from Orlando. "And when we ignore these crises with affordable housing, eviction, wages, public transit — we're doing it on the backs of working people.
"They are the ones who pay."
Renters struggled before COVID
Florida ranks among the states with the worst affordable rental housing shortages in the nation, data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition show. New housing has been added to try to keep up with the state's population growth, but developers have largely ignored building places to live for low-income residents.
Over the past 20 years in Florida, nearly 200,000 rental units priced under $1,000 per month disappeared as landlords increased rents. At the same time, about 1 million units priced above $1,000 were added, the Shimberg Center found.
And as rent increased, pay lagged. Since 2005, Florida's minimum wage has gone up by just $2.50. It won't hit $15 per hour — $31,200 annually for full-time workers — until 2026, a voter-mandated move that's expected to lift millions of Floridians out of poverty and help close pay gaps for women and people of color.
Because wages haven't grown, Diane Yentel, president of the NLIHC, said many neighborhoods are still out of reach for renters. NLIHC found an Orlando resident would have to make $23 an hour, or a $47,840 yearly salary, to afford a two-bedroom rental that costs $1,248 per month.
"There was a way for lower-income workers in our country decades ago to be able to afford housing in a way that's simply not possible today," Yentel said.
Some of the most common occupations for renters in Florida — housekeepers, cashiers, janitors, restaurant cooks and servers — not only pay some of the lowest wages, but they were also at the businesses most likely to shut down and conduct mass layoffs to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
Those workers were some of the 1.4 million Floridians displaced by mass layoffs last spring who struggled to collect unemployment benefits and the same renters who later faced eviction.
"They were barely hanging on before COVID," Yentel said. "When you pay so much of your already limited income towards your rent, you're always one financial shock away from missing rent and being evicted, in the worst cases becoming homeless. Pre-COVID, that financial shock might be a natural disaster, or it might be an everyday disaster, you know, a broken-down car, a sick child and missing a day of work.
"Last March, the COVID-19 pandemic and its financial fallout was the financial shock."
That was the case for Jocelyn and Dexter Bennett.
Before the virus, their family didn't make much but had enough each month to scrape together rent. They had the money from Jocelyn's nursing job and Dexter had been finding construction and landscaping work through a temp agency. Now Jocelyn stays at the hotel with the kids — they can't afford child care — and Dexter works at the Second Harvest Food Bank, where he makes $400 a week.
It's just enough to afford their tiny hotel room, which costs $400 a week. Dexter also washes cars and tutors kids, and food stamps help. Sometimes they get meals and toiletries and diapers from the One Heart for Women and Children food pantry.
But Dexter is thankful that at least his family is together. Last year, after the eviction, Jocelyn lived at a homeless shelter for a few weeks and the kids stayed with family. Dexter bunked with his dad in Orlando until he could save enough to move the family down from Tallahassee. Most of their belongings are still in storage.
"We're just by the grace of God making it," Dexter said. "We're trying to figure it out and by God's grace we will."
'I'm just a person in a hard situation'
But the pandemic didn't only displace low-income Floridians.
Alexiss Green, 45, had worked for 20 years as a corporate accountant, earning over $50,000 a year. In 2019 she wanted to reinvent herself, so she quit her job, moved her two teenagers into a rental home in Clermont and used her savings to buy a fixer-upper, the first investment in her new house-flipping business.
Three months after buying the property, COVID hit and she couldn't safely send out crews to work on it. She fell behind on the loan payments and is now working with the lender to relinquish the property. She lost entirely a second investment she made in a joint property.
Without any income, paying the rent — $1,850 for a four-bedroom house — became impossible. In September, she found an eviction notice taped to the front door. She hadn't paid rent since April 2020.
"I'm not a deadbeat person who doesn't pay her bills, I'm just a person in a hard situation," Green said. She said she understands her landlord has bills, too, "but I don't have control over what's going on in the world right now."
Green wasn't living in poverty before the pandemic, but rent ate a big chunk of her income. She's no different from many renters across the state.
In Florida, 1.4 million of the state's 2.7 million renter households, across all income levels, spend at least 30% of their yearly income on rent. Of those, 938,957 pay even more than that, according to the Shimberg Center. That erodes the ability to save money or buy a house, or even have a few months' worth of savings to cover an unexpected expense.
Home prices have also dramatically increased, making lifelong renters out of people who in another time could have afforded to buy a place. In 2000, the median price of a home in the Orlando market was $165,649, when adjusted for inflation, according to the Orlando Regional Realtors Association.
Today it's $285,000.
Homeowners are better protected
In Florida, homeowners as a whole are on more stable financial footing, after the foreclosure crisis in 2008 forced banks and lenders to toughen the requirements to qualify for a home loan. The median income for homeowners is $70,486. In contrast, renters make a median income of $42,527.
Homeownership buys stability and the chance to build wealth. Most monthly mortgage payments don't go up like rent, and even during the pandemic home values improved.
Owning a home also means stronger protections against losing it. For example, a federal foreclosure moratorium shields any person with a federally backed mortgage loan, which covers about 70% of homeowners nationwide. From March 2020 to mid-December, 7,497 foreclosure suits were filed in Florida during the pandemic, compared with 57,381 evictions.
The eviction moratoriums imposed by the state and federal governments because of COVID prevented an immediate deluge of cases, but thousands of renters who should have been protected slipped through.
From April through July 2020, when Gov. Ron DeSantis' original eviction moratorium was in effect, 8,277 evictions were filed by landlords, compared to the 40,000 cases filed in a typical four-month time frame in the state. Then, when DeSantis changed the moratorium's wording to suspend just the "final action at the conclusion of an eviction proceeding," landlords started filing in droves.
There were 7,370 evictions filed in August. In September, there were 8,922. In October, another 10,627.
Some tenants mistakenly thought they were automatically protected and didn't have to answer a summons from the court. If they didn't respond in five days, that was grounds for an "automatic default" for the landlord.
Some homeowners laid off during the pandemic also got behind on mortgage payments. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates 2.3 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
But because the foreclosure process is much lengthier than evictions, homeowners weren't at risk of being homeless in weeks. By law, lenders can't file the first legal notice of foreclosure against a delinquent homeowner until four months after the first missed payment.
"We acknowledge that even in our system, that you're not likely to lose your house in a foreclosure in a matter of weeks," said Chief Judge Donald Myers, who oversees the 9th Circuit Court in Orange and Osceola counties. "It's likely going to take upwards of a year to make that happen."
Most lenders also have programs to prevent foreclosure, such as a short sale where the homeowner sells the house for less than what's due on the mortgage and the money goes straight to the lender, or transferring the title to the lender in exchange for the mortgage debt being erased, or going into forbearance.
None of the options guarantees cancellation of the debt and can be blemishes on a credit report, but they buy time to look for a job, catch up on payments and keep people in housing.
"A homeowner just has protections that the renter doesn't have," said Marissa Vetter, a program director at the St. Johns Housing Partnership, a nonprofit that helps distressed homeowners. "We're going to see the crisis with homeowners, it's just they have a little more time."
No guaranteed court hearing
The unequal protections for renters and homeowners exist in part because of changes by lawmakers that have all but eliminated the opportunity for tenants to explain to a judge why they've fallen behind on rent.
The way the law is now, tenants have five days to deposit the money the landlord says they owe after getting a summons, otherwise, they waive all defenses and "the landlord is entitled to an immediate default judgment for removal of the tenant."
Even access to a mediator who can resolve the case out of court hinges on tenants depositing the back rent.
"This particular statute is probably why Florida is, in my opinion, dead last in tenant rights out of all 50 states," said Jamos "Jay" Mobley, senior housing attorney at The Legal Aid Society in Orange County. "You could have a great defense, but you can't present it unless you can pay upfront. Landlords know this and file questionable suits all the time knowing the tenant can't come up with the amount they allege is due. And they win."
Myers said that part of the law "defines the landscape" for evictions in the state.
"The statute is quite clear," Myers said. "When the Legislature put a requirement for a rent payment into the registry of the court within five days from service, they were saying, 'We're serious.'"
According to statistics provided by the courts, 41% of eviction cases end in automatic default in Florida. Myers said he was surprised the number isn't higher.
The Florida Apartment Association, which represents mostly corporate landlords, supports the deposit requirement because it limits the time landlords go without rent, which they depend on to pay their mortgages and other expenses.
"While we completely understand some of the difficult financial situations that residents might find themselves in, there is another side to this equation, where you have a housing provider on the other side of it," said Amanda Gill, a spokeswoman for the association. "What are you saying to them when they can't pay their mortgage? I mean, they're not able to avoid foreclosure simply because they have a resident who is in pain."
If they moved quickly and submitted the correct paperwork, moratoriums gave tenants a way to at least delay eviction. But landlords have been finding ways to undermine the moratorium, and groups that include the apartment association have sued the federal government to get it overturned.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., recently ruled the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority when it issued the nationwide moratorium, but the Department of Justice has appealed. If the moratorium is struck down, Mobley said courts would have to revert back to strictly enforcing the rent deposit requirement.
The moratorium bought Green, the mother of two from Clermont, a hearing, and a judge halted her case for six months. But a few weeks ago, her landlord asked the court for another hearing because he said Green hadn't followed the rules set by the CDC requiring tenants to make "best efforts to make timely partial payments" — despite the landlord having received $4,000 in rental assistance.
'Not asking for a handout'
On the day of her Zoom hearing, Green has her long braids pulled back from her face and is wearing one of her favorite pair of earrings with the Superwoman logo. Every few seconds she clicks the button to join the meeting, anxious about being late. When it starts, a judge and her landlord's face pop up on the screen.
She doesn't have an attorney to represent her — 90% of tenants facing eviction don't — and Florida's courts aren't funded to provide public defenders for civil cases. She does her best to answer the judge's questions, pausing a few times to check her files and punch numbers into a calculator. She tells the judge about the rental assistance, which she received from United Way, and says she's applied for more aid from Lake County.
She applied for an emergency loan through the Small Business Administration but was denied and has applied to office jobs but hasn't had any luck. She managed to collect some unemployment and received stimulus checks but that money was used to pay other bills and buy food.
"I've been working since 16, and I've never had to use government assistance," Green says. "I am not asking for a handout, but what I am asking for is to be able to remain under this moratorium for the safety and protection of myself and my children."
Her landlord, who's in his 70s, says he's on a fixed income and is using Social Security payments to pay his mortgage. He doesn't have a lawyer, either.
A week later, the judge's ruling arrives in the mail. Green prays over the envelope before ripping it open. It's bad news. The judge ruled she hadn't made any "timely partial payments," even $5 or $10 a month. She has 10 days to move out.
Green shuts herself in her bathroom so her kids won't hear her crying. "I don't understand," she whispers. "I'm just totally numb right now. I don't know what to do right now. I don't know where to go."
The day before Green has to be out of her house, she's finishing packing and loading a moving truck to take the furniture to a storage unit.
Christmas ornaments, the kids' volleyball trophies, a bowl of shells they collected on a family vacation are all shoved into black, plastic garbage bags. The kids are in their rooms taking apart bed frames.
As she starts out of the driveway the next morning, a deputy pulls up. She tells him the keys and garage door opener are on the kitchen counter. A friend in Davenport 45 minutes away offered Green her guest room, and the kids are staying with their dad in Clermont, another family separated by eviction.
But Green is trying to have faith.
"At the end of the day, no matter how unfortunate this entire thing is, there is something better on the horizon that I just can't see yet," Green said. "But this is a circumstance I'm going to have to fight tooth and nail to come back from."
A few days later, Green gets an email from Lake County saying she's been approved for $9,000 in rent relief. According to county staff, it will go to the landlord who evicted her.
[email protected]
Have you fallen behind on rent or faced eviction during the pandemic? We want to hear your story. Click here.
If you've fallen behind on rent, call United Way's emergency helpline at 2-1-1 to learn about rental assistance programs.
If you are currently facing eviction and live in Central Florida, contact Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida at 1-800-405-1417 to find out if you're eligible for free legal guidance. Residents in Orange County can also contact the local Legal Aid Society at 407-841-8310. Seminole County residents can call 407-834-1660.
Florida's median home price is up 17% from the same time last year
The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in 1Q 2021 was $317,500.
by: Marla Martin, Communications Manager, FloridaRealtors
In the first quarter of 2021, Florida's housing market reported more closed sales, higher median prices and more new pending sales compared to a year ago, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors. Closed sales of single-family homes statewide totaled 78,353 in 1Q 2021, up 19.4% from the 1Q 2020 level.
"A year ago, in early March, the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in Florida," said 2021 Florida Realtors President Cheryl Lambert, broker-owner with Only Way Realty Citrus in Inverness. "Looking back at that first quarter, considering everything that we have all endured with the pandemic, and where we are today in the first quarter of 2021, it's almost impossible to believe. While we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and follow guidelines to stay safe and protect our communities, Florida's housing market remains strong. But, with demand for housing greater than the available supply, it continues to drive home prices higher – and tightens the existing home-market even more."
In Florida's condo-townhouse market, statewide closed sales totaled 37,505 during 1Q 2021, up 37% compared to 1Q 2020, according to data from Florida Realtors Research department in partnership with local Realtor boards/associations. Closed sales typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.
The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in 1Q 2021 was $317,500, up 17.6% from the same time a year ago. The statewide median price for condo-townhouse properties during the quarter was $235,422, up 14.8% over the year-ago figure. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.
Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O'Connor took at look at new listings data for 1Q 2021.
"New listings of homes for resale were marginally lower in January and February than they were a year ago before the pandemic, but these were offset by a decent increase in March," he said. "For the quarter overall, there were only 2.5% fewer new listings of single-family homes than in the first quarter of 2020, and over in the condo and townhouse category, we saw a 5% increase.
"Most people I speak with are surprised to learn that, apart from the first couple months of the pandemic, the pace of new listings has been fairly close to what it was before the pandemic. That's an understandable reaction, given how low our inventory levels are."
O'Connor explained, "One way to think about it is to imagine an empty shelf at a supermarket that has been picked clean. It could be the store stopped getting shipments of the product that was on the shelf, but it could also be that demand for this product increased so significantly that – even though shipments have still been coming in – they're getting snapped up as soon as they're stocked. That's what's happening in the housing market right now. But to keep inventory from continuing to fall, we need to see a significant increase in the normal rate of new listings, and that's not happening, either."
Inventory was at a 1.2-months' supply in the first quarter for single-family homes and at a 2.8-months' supply for condo-townhouse properties, according to Florida Realtors.
In 1Q 2021, the median time to a contract (the midpoint of the number of days it took for a property to receive a sales contract during that time) was 19 days for single-family homes and 37 days for condo-townhouse properties.
According to Freddie Mac, the interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.88% for 1Q 2021, down from the 3.51% average recorded during the same quarter a year earlier.
Florida's Housing Market: Sales, Median Prices Up in 1Q 2021
By Marla Martin
Florida Realtors' data: Single-family home sales up 19.4% year-over-year, median sales price up 17.6% to $317.5K; condo sales up 37%, median price up 14.8% to $235.4K.
ORLANDO, Fla. – In the first quarter of 2021, Florida's housing market reported more closed sales, higher median prices and more new pending sales compared to a year ago, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. Closed sales of single-family homes statewide totaled 78,353 in 1Q 2021, up 19.4% from the 1Q 2020 level.
"A year ago, in early March, the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in Florida," said 2021 Florida Realtors President Cheryl Lambert, broker-owner with Only Way Realty Citrus in Inverness. "Looking back at that first quarter, considering everything that we have all endured with the pandemic, and where we are today in the first quarter of 2021, it's almost impossible to believe. While we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and follow guidelines to stay safe and protect our communities, Florida's housing market remains strong.
But, with demand for housing greater than the available supply, it continues to drive home prices higher – and tightens the existing home-market even more."
Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O'Connor took a look at new listings data for 1Q 2021.
To see the full statewide housing activity reports, go to Florida Realtors Tools and Research section. Realtors also have access to local market data (password protected) through Florida Realtors' SunStats resource.
Court Strikes Down Eviction Ban
U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the District of Columbia struck down a nationwide eviction moratorium Wednesday, calling it unlawful. Friedrich's ruling applies nationwide.
The eviction ban was put in place last year by the Trump administration using public health powers granted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during health emergencies.
The ban was most recently extended by President Biden through the end of June.
In her 20-page ruling, Friedrich said, "It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic. The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not."
The Georgia and Alabama Association of REALTORS®, two housing providers, and their property management companies, filed the suit in defense of mom-and-pop property owners around the country struggling to pay bills without rental income for more than a year.
NAR—which helped secure nearly $50 billion in rental assistance provided by Congress since December to help tenants pay their bills and provide relief to housing providers who have lost income—supported the lawsuit, saying the ban was no longer needed.
"NAR has always maintained that the best solution for all parties was rental assistance to cover the rent, taxes and utility bills for tenants struggling during the pandemic," says NAR President Charlie Oppler. "This decision prevents two crises—one for tenants, and one for mom-and-pop housing providers who do not have a reprieve from their bills. With rental assistance secured, the economy growing, and unemployment rates falling, there is no need to continue a blanket, nationwide eviction ban. With this safety net firmly in place, the market needs a return to normalcy and stability."
Oppler adds that "our attention now should turn to the swift and efficient implementation of rental assistance."
The Future of Florida's Growth – Net Migration
Florida Realtors economist: Economists predict there will be an additional 1.4 million Floridians by 2025 – a good omen for real estate. However, not all of the state's counties will see equal growth over the coming years.
ORLANDO, Fla. – What will Florida's population be in 2025? Estimates from both Florida's Office of Economic & Demographic Research (EDR) and the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) anticipate over 23 million people will reside in the Sunshine State.
That's a 7% increase from their 2020 population estimate of 21.6 million (created before the release of the official Census count) and good news for real estate – increased population generates demand for housing.
There's insight to draw from each of the different, but similarly trending, estimates. EDR provides breakdowns into the components of population: net natural increase (births-deaths) and net migration, while BEBR presents a projection for each Florida county.
Before we look ahead, let's revisit the past. Since 2010, Florida added nearly 2.9 million people. Of that growth, approximately 10% of the gain happened through natural increase. The remaining 90% was attributed to net migration; more residents come to Florida than leave, and the share of growth due to net migration increased over the years.
Now we go back, back to the future. EDR provides a bleak picture for natural increase. It anticipates the number of deaths will be higher than births.
Still, net migration will more than cover the losses from natural increase through 2039, where the estimates stop.
Erica Plemmons is an economist and Florida Realtors Director of Housing Statistics
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Not a Concept but a Story. Introduction to Artist's Novels and the Reading Party
Saturday 10 September at 6 pm, the CAC Reading Room
The Book Lovers (collaboration of Joanna Zielińska and David Maroto) are on the Baltic tour which wraps up at the CAC Reading Room. Not a Concept but a Story is a triple event: the research presentation, the reading party and the public display of the personal collection of artist's novels.
First, The Book Lovers are bringing a discussion on the concept of artist's novel. Introducing traits that are particular to narrative literature into the visual arts implies the accentuation of features such as narrative, fiction, imagination and identification. How to write an artist's novel? How to read it? Joanna Zielińska and David Maroto will also give a personal account of their experience in dealing with this kind of practice through five years of collaboration, and the many positions they occupy as curators, as artists, as researchers, as detectives. There will be an emphasis on their current project, Tamam Shud, an artist's novel by Alex Cecchetti, commissioned by The Book Lovers and the Centre of Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw.
After a short break, the audience will be summoned to a Reading Party and the fourth installment of The Loyal Reader Series. A selection of passages from most noticeable artist's novels will be read out loud by Nicholas Matranga, who will invite the audience to participate in a collective reading experience.
Finally, the position of the last in the Baltic tour becomes an occasion for staying longer with the books. The public display of artist's novels from the personal collection of The Book Lovers will be on view at the CAC Reading Room through to September 23rd. This collection includes all the salient examples of the medium of artist's novels: Sweet Sweat by Justine Frank and Roee Rosen (2009), A, a Novel by Andy Warhol (1968), Fuck Seth Price by Seth Price (2015), Rape New York by Jana Leo (2009) and some 23 more.
The Book Lovers is the name of the collaboration between Joanna Zielińska and David Maroto. It is focused on the research of the artist's novel employed as a medium in the visual arts. Its base is the creation of a collection of artist's novels with a parallel online database, which is complemented by a series of exhibitions and public programmes, pop-up bookstores, and publications – all of this in partnership with a number of international art institutions.
thebooklovers.info
The event is supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture and Mondriaan Foundation (The Netherlands).
Image: The Book Lovers pop-up bookstore (de Appel, in collaboration with Buchhandlung Walther König, Amsterdam 2014). A New Refutation of Time, performance by Mark Geffriaud.
Education & Excursions
Screening Hall
Fluxus Cabinet
2019.12.18 7pm
Performance by keyon gaskin
Film programme by Ana Vaz
Nevermore, a new film by Gerda Paliušytė
Srceening of Sudanese Film Group's works
Race Conversation: three films by Ana Vaz
Vokiečių 2, LT–01130, Vilnius
Exhibitions are open Tuesday to Sunday
The CAC exhibitions are open on the following bank holidays: 16 February, 11 March, 24 June, 6 July and the first Sunday of June
The CAC Sculpture Yard is open daily
The CAC Reading Room is open Monday to Friday 12–7 pm
If you wish to arrange a meeting at the CAC Reading Room outside of normal hours or organise an event, please inquire via phone (+370 5) 2608960 or email [email protected]
Full price ticket – 4 EUR
Discounted ticket – 2 EUR
Free admission for all:
Other discounts:
Please follow this link
The Sculpture Yard, Reading Room and exhibition opening nights are always free of charge.
Guided tours:
6pm every Wednesday free of charge for all.
If you wish to book a tour at a different time please email [email protected]
This type of tour carries no additional cost, but purchase of a regular exhibition tickets is required.
Education for schoolchildren:
Please book an appointment via email [email protected]
The exhibition halls and the Reading Room are wheelchair accessible.
For any other access questions or requirements please contact us ahead of your visit so we can advise and make the necessary preparations.
Information via phone:
Front desk: (+370 5) 2121945
Rental inquiries: (+370 5) 2623476
Press and general inquiries: +370 670 10584
Contact information of the CAC team can be found here
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Side Feature, Social System, The Khilafah
Let the Ummah Stand Up to these Malicious Institutions and Thwart their Plans
written by Official Spokeswoman of the Women's Section in Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Sudan
A group of entities and bodies intends to conduct a procession at noon today, Thursday 02/01/2020, to demand the signing of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and said that the procession will meet the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice to deliver the memo, and announced that the bodies participating in the procession include "The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, "The Initiative of No to the Oppression of Women, the Women's Union, as well as the resistance committees and the Kendakat gathering in southern Khartoum. (At-Tayyar Newspaper)
The Women's Section in Hizb ut Tahrir Wilayah Sudan would like to clarify the following facts:
First: The feminist societies demanding the CEDAW agreement represent only themselves because the demand for the application of this agreement reflects a subordination and imitation of the Kaffir West who defies Islam by accusing its provisions of discriminating against women. So, they drafted the terms of this agreement targeting the Muslim woman to keep Muslim women from adhering to the provisions of Shariah by calling for the empowerment of women to dispose of their bodies and abolishing the legal guardianship of men over them in an explicit targeting of the Muslim family, inciting Muslim women against the provisions of Islam, and working to enact laws that rebel against the provisions of Islamic Shariah, in evasion from the noble values and high morals so that her life can go according to the West's liberal view, and the constant incitement to defend what are called freedoms, while constantly manifesting that the gardens of pleasure lie in the Kafir West's way of life, and that backwardness is to remain under the Shariah rules that restrict the freedom of the individual!
Second: These suspicious feminist societies complement the path of perverting women, and their fall in the quagmire of decadence and corruption by educating them the Western culture and concepts with glamorous slogans! Such as claiming to support women, informing them of their rights, helping them to prove themselves, and strengthening their personality in order to enhance their role in life! While the truth is that they want her to be a distorted image of Western women panting behind glamorous slogans and false fame, so she falls into constant misery.
Third: The activities of these associations have increased, as they disseminate their poisons with claims to rehabilitate rural women, spread the concepts of reproductive health, and use of condoms under the pretext of combating AIDS, as well as spreading gender culture, combating violence against women and eliminating all forms of discrimination against them, and other slogans that appear glamorous on the surface. The work of these associations has led ignorant women to rebel against the values of Islam, the family, the father, and the general custom influenced by Islam, which led to the spread of vice, prostitution, divorce, spinsterhood, and other problems that affect women primarily.
The people of Sudan must be cautious of these feminist societies, which do not need to ascertain that they are a Western commodity, whether in terms of the creed on which they are based (secularism), or the system that they follow, which is the capitalist system, which adopts freedoms. This appears in the programs they adopt, and the issues that they raise, and their Western sources of funding speak of treachery and mercenaries. The book, Spotlight on the Sudanese Feminist Movement, revealed this support in a statement by the U.S. Embassy, in which the Embassy announced a $35,000 monthly aid to one of Sudan's leading women's associations, as well as the project "Eradicating habits harmful to family health" adopted by Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Feminist Studies is sponsored by the American Public Welfare Association.
These feminist associations must raise their hand from our honours, for we are fully convinced that we have a great role in this life. A woman in Islam is a mother, a housewife, and an honour that must be protected. And Islam definitely dose not consider the mother, sister, daughter, and wife as slaves to men as it is in the culture of these associations belonging to the West. Rather, it described those who honour them with kindness and those who humiliate them with meanness, and obliged men to take care of them, because the Messenger ﷺ said: «وَالرَّجُلُ رَاعٍ عَلي أَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ وَهُوَ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ» "a man is a guardian of his family and is responsible for them." And considered death for the sake of protecting woman and preserving her as a Shahadah (martyrdom) by the saying of the Messenger ﷺ: «وَمَنْ قُتِلَ دُونَ أَهْلِهِ فَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ» "And he who is killed while defending his family is a martyr."
O Muslims:
Stand up to these malicious institutions, and thwart their plans by preventing your women and daughters from visiting these associations, and attending their destructive malicious activities and events. Let us fortify them with the great Islamic culture, and wise Islamic concepts, especially the Shariah provisions related to women in their rights and duties, and their pivotal role in life. Let all men and women work with men and women workers to establish the second Khilafah Rashidah (righlty guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood, which will protect women, families, society, and indeed all humanity from these institutions, their supporters, and their financiers.
Official Spokeswoman of the Women's Section in Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Sudan
Thursday, 07th Jumada I 1441 AH
Filed under: Side Feature, Social System, The Khilafah
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It seems like such a nice, fun thing to do with the kiddos. Grab the partial loaf of bread and head down to Lucy Park to feed the ducks. But there's a really good reason why you shouldn't do that.
First if all, it's bread, probably white bread, pretty much deficient of any kind of nutritional value whatsoever. But the ducks love it, right? I mean they come right up and take it out of your hand! Well, so would you if someone was handing out free candy. Yes, they love it, but there are better alternatives that will bring you and your kids just as much enjoyment and be a lot better for the ducks.
I called the folks at Wild Birds Unlimited inside Smith's Gardentown Farms and was told that they have bags of dried corn that are great food sources for the ducks, along with all of the other birds you might want to feed from time to time.
But wait, you say. You didn't want to have to go through some big ordeal; you just wanted to get your kids outside doing something in the sunshine. You're in luck! You probably already have a great alternative duck treat in your freezer. It turns out that ducks love peas and carrots and they're much better for them than bread. Just be sure to thaw them out before you feed them to the ducks.
So, by all means, go down to Lucy Park or Sikes Lake and make those ducks happy! Just feed them something that will actually keep them healthy, too. |