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The Presumed Suicide of "Storage Wars" Character Mark Balelo
The one thing truly real about "reality" TV is that the character/actors on these shows can have complicated and troubled lives off-camera. This may have been true for Mark Balelo, a 40-year-old Simi Valley auctioneer who appeared regularly on A& E's "Storage Wars." The series features a team of auctioneers who travel around southern California selling off the contents of reclaimed storage units. The handful of regular buyers who bid for the unseen locker contents comprise the stars of the show. These regular bidders each play to their assigned character roles featuring a lot of false bravado and fake trash-talking. Each week they compete with each other to see who profits most from their blind purchases. (They also compete for screen time.) The show has become so popular there have been spin-off series set in Texas and other venues. (Dave Hester, a former "Storage Wars" star, recently sued the show. According to the plaintiff, producers salt the storage units with valuables to make the episodes more exciting.)
Mark Balelo, born in Portugal, came to America from Brazil at age fourteen. He lived in Simi Valley where he owned and operated a gaming store called The Game Exchange. In 2011, Balelo opened his auction house, Balelo, Inc. That year, as the character "Rico Suave," Balelo, who'd show up at auction sites carrying a bag filled with $50,000 in cash, began bidding against the show's stars. In 2011, Balelo made his "Storage Wars" mark when he purchased a $1 million Superman comic book that had been missing from the actor Nicolas Cage's collection for ten years. Balelo returned the 1938 Action Comics edition to its former owner.
Through the reality TV show, Balelo developed a larger-than-life persona of the high-rolling, playboy/entrepreneur. He promoted this phony image on his Facebook page with statements like: "I fly private planes, race cars, and love going to Las Vegas and put on a show. I own several businesses and participate in many TV shows including "Storage Wars." I am currently working on a new reality show of my own."
In 2011, at the height of his "Storage Wars" notoriety, Balelo served 45 days in the Ventura County Jail after violating the terms of his 2010 probated sentence stemming from a 2009 drug conviction. He had been caught transporting a gun he had acquired pursuant to a storage unit purchase.
On Saturday, February 9, 2013, the Simi Valley police arrested Mark Balelo for being under the influence of a controlled substance, and the possession of methamphetamine. On Sunday, after making bail, Balelo asked his fiancee to come to his office. According to his girlfriend, Balelo was so distraught over his drug arrest he was afraid that if he were left alone he'd harm himself. After they talked awhile in the auction house office, Balelo took a nap. When he awoke he said he felt a lot better. His fiancee, no longer worried about him, went home.
On Monday morning, February 11, 2013, an auction house employee found Mark Balelo slumped in his car parked inside the company garage. The engine was running, and Balelo was not breathing. According to the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office, Mark Balelo had died of asphyxiation from carbon monoxide and exhaust fumes.
On February 19, 2013, the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office officially declared Mark Balelo's death a suicide.
Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius: Girlfriend's Death Accident or Murder?
In South Africa, 26-year-old Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Paralympic champion and 2012 Olympics sprinter, is a hero and household name. Born without fibulas, Pistorius had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday. In America, he has appeared on the cover of GQ Style magazine, and made last year's People's list of "Sexiest Man Alive." The athlete's Twitter followers number 230,000. Because he competes with carbon fiber prosthetic blades, Pistorius is known around the world as the "Blade Runner."
In 2009, Oscar Pistorius moved into an upscale neighborhood near Pretoria with his three dogs. In his house nestled amid an enclave of dwellings surrounded by a high, razor-wire-topped wall, Pistorius kept a handgun by his bedside, a baseball bat and cricket bat behind his bedroom door, and a machine gun near a window. Over the past few years Pistorius had crashed one of his cars, his boat, and had injured himself on a dirt bike.
In September 2009, Pistorius spent 17 hours in jail after being charged with common assault, a charge based upon a complaint filed by Cassidy Taylor-Memmory, a student at the University of Pretoria. The student accused him of slamming a door on her during a fight at his house following a party. In November 2012, he threatened to "break the legs" of a South African football (soccer) player whom he believed had slept with his then girlfriend. The director of public prosecutions decided not to go forward with the case.
In the tradition of dashing, world-class athletes, the blade runner, in 2013, was dating a tall, blond cover-girl. Reeva Steenkamp, however, was more than just a trophy-squeeze. The 30-year-old South African face of Avon cosmetics, and recent contestant on a South African reality TV show, possessed a law degree. She was also a spokesperson on behalf of the nation's battered and raped women. Steenkamp was better educated than her boyfriend, and just as famous.
On Thursday, February 14, 2013, Steenkamp had been scheduled to speak at a Johannesburg school. It was going to be one of those follow-your-dreams motivational talks. (When you're not smart, beautiful, or healthy, there are no dreams to follow. I'm not a fan of this "look-at-me" genre of speeches. I think they do more harm than good.) Reeva Steenkamp didn't make it to the school that day. Instead of seeing a celebrity, kids would be watching her on television news. So much for chasing your dreams.
During the early morning hours of February 14, 2013, Pretoria police officers and paramedics responded to a report of a shooting at Oscar Pistorius' luxury house. The first responders found Reeva Steenkamp lying on the floor bleeding from several gunshot wounds. Paramedics pronounced the woman dead.
Oscar Pistorius told the officers he had mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder. He had shot her four times through a bathroom door. Accidental killings of this nature are not uncommon in South Africa, one of the most violent and dangerous countries in the world. There were 16,766 home invasions in the nation last year.
Because the police had been previously called to the Pistorius house on domestic violence complaints, and the overall look of the death scene, the police arrested one of People magazine's most sexy men on suspicion of murder.
On Friday, February 15, Oscar Pistorius, after being formally charged of murder, broke down in tears as he stood before magistrate Desmond Nair. The magistrate postponed the suspect's bail hearing to give prosecutors time to make their case of premeditated murder.
The Pistorius affair might remind some American true crime buffs of the Phil Spector murder case in southern California. While Spector wasn't a hero or household name, he had been an eccentric icon in the music business. The homicides are similar in that women were shot to death in the homes of these men in cases without third-party eyewitnesses. Spector, who claimed the dead woman had committed suicide by shooting herself in the mouth, was convicted after two trials. The Pistorius case, because it involves an internationally known athlete and a beautiful young woman at the peak of her fame, will remain in the world's headlines until it is resolved. The Spector case received little media attention outside of southern California. In all probability, the Pistorius case, like the Spector murder, will feature forensic ballistics, blood spatter interpretation evidence, and dueling criminalists.
According to the City Press, the local Pretoria newspaper, police found a bloody cricket bat at the scene of the alleged murder. According to the paper, Steenkamp's skull had been crushed.
Neighbors reported having heard a couple arguing in the Pistorius house at l:10 that morning. They next heard intermittent gun shots starting at 3:30 AM. Police have found steroids in the house which has prompted speculation that Pistorius killed Steenkamp in a steroid-fueled rage. It appears that the suspect's claim that he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder is out the window. Pistorius might be heading toward an insanity plea.
Two Hit-and-Run Cases In Youngstown, Ohio: Was Robert Brown the Victim of Premeditated Murder?
On the night of February 2, 2013, Robert Brown was walking to his pickup truck from Duka's Bar on Youngstown, Ohio's south side. As the 23-year-old and a friend were crossing the street that Saturday, a speeding car ran him down and kept going. Brown, who was engaged to be married, died of his injuries shortly after the hit-and-run.
Five days after Brown's violent death, the Youngstown Vindicator published an article about a candlelight vigil in Brown's honor to be held in front of Duka's Bar on Friday evening, February 8. Brown's mother Jewell and his fiancee Bianca Caradine had organized the event.
The day after the newspaper article, fifty people were gathered at the spot of the fatal hit-and-run. At 6:30 that evening, a vehicle described by witnesses as a white Pontiac with its headlights off, smashed into a couple of parked cars before plowing into the gathering of Brown's family and friends. As the car sped from the scene, it dragged one of the victims, 19-year-old Tyler Austin, 70 feet.
Five young men were rushed to the St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown where Tyler Austin, the most seriously injured, was in critical condition. (The other four victims have been treated and released.)
The day after the candlelight vigil, the Youngstown police received a tip regarding a damaged vehicle that may have been involved in the hit-and-run. The car, parked outside a house in Youngstown, was a 1997 white Pontiac Sunfire. Officers had the suspect vehicle towed to the police impound lot where it would be processed for evidence that might link it to the crime. The police did not arrest the owner or anyone else associated with this vehicle.
It doesn't seem likely that the vigil hit-and-run was some kind of fluke coincidence. If one assumes that the second hit-and-run incident was connected to Robert Brown's death a week earlier, it follows that he could have been the victim of a premeditated murder. This begs the questions: who murdered Robert Brown, and why?
Labels: Hit-And-Run
Did Mailman Daniel Villasensor "Go Postal" With Girl in Park?
On Monday afternoon, February 4, 2013, Daniel Villasensor, a 55-year-old U.S. Post Office employee who'd been on the job since 1981, was in a public park outside of Los Angeles. Dressed in his postal uniform, Villasensor asked an 11-year-old girl directions to the public restrooms. After the girl directed him to the facility, Villasensor accidentally entered the women's section. He realized his mistake and quickly retreated from the women's room. Outside the facility he was greeted by the girl and her friend who laughed and made fun of him.
Apparently infuriated and humiliated by what he considered taunting, the postman pushed the 11-year-old girl. When the frightened kid ran, he gave chase. Villasensor caught up with the girl, and according to reports, grabbed her by the throat and began choking her. Employees of Bristow Park heard the young victim's screams and came to her rescue.
Villasensor, with the park employees approaching, let the girl go, ran to his car and drove out of the park. Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office arrested him a short time later.
A Los Angeles County prosecutor has charged the postal worker with felony cruelty to a child, and assault on park property. Daniel Villasensor has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The judge set his bail at $100,000.
Villasensor, who was on duty at the time of the alleged attack, has been placed unpaid leave.
This is one of those crime stories that, without more information, doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would a man who has worked for the federal government 32 years attack an 11-year-old girl for laughing at him? Is he married? Does he have children? One also wonders what Villasensor was doing in the park, and why he couldn't find the public restrooms? If he had been delivering mail, he should have been familiar with the area. Was he there with someone else? Does he live near the park? Since this is not a headline case, we may never know the answers to these and other questions.
Six Spanish Tourists Raped by Acapulco, Mexico Gang
Acapulco, the famous vacation mecca in the Mexican state of Guerrero on the country's Pacific Coast, has become increasingly more dangerous. Once an oasis amid rampant drug gang violence, the crime has filtered into the city. The violence comes from rival drug cartels fighting for control of drug routes from South America.
In 2010, 20 million Americans visited Acapulco. Today, following travel warnings issued by authorities in the United States and Great Britain, hotel occupancy rates in the city have fallen to 46 percent. It's the threat of crime that is killing Acapulco's tourist industry.
On February 1, 2013, a pair of Mexican tourists returning from a beach east of Acapulco were shot and wounded by members of a masked self-defense squad at an improvised roadblock. To defend their neighborhoods against drug gang violence, citizen self-protection units have sprung up throughout the region. The tourists were fired upon because they failed to stop at the roadblock. (The tourists probably thought the men blocking the road were drug criminals.)
At two in the morning of Monday, February 4, 2013, five men wearing face-masks broke into a beach bungalow on the outskirts of Acapulco. The picturesque beach house had been rented by a Mexican woman, six Spanish women, and seven Spanish men. The armed intruders, motivated by robbery and "to have some fun," tied-up the seven men with phone cords and bikini straps. Over the next five hours, the robbers raped the six Spanish women. The rapists spared the Mexican woman because of her nationality. The rape victims were in their twenties.
According to the Guerrero state attorney general, if investigators determine that the crime was related to drug cartel activity, the case will be turned over to the federal authorities. Military checkpoints have been set up in an attempt to quickly identify and arrest these violent intruders. The crime has attracted international media attention, and presents a nightmare for Acapulco's tourism business, an industry already suffering from Mexican drug violence.
To a large extent, Mexico's out-of-control crime problem, and the corruption of its government, is caused by America's insatiable appetite for drugs.
Labels: Rape
Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan: Engaged Jocks Found Dead in Irvine, CA Condo Garage
Keith Lawrence, a 27-year-old public safety officer on the campus of the University of Southern California and his fiancee, Monica Quan, a 28-year-old assistant women's basketball coach at California State Fullerton, had recently moved into a condominium complex in the Orange County town of Irvine. Some of the units in the complex, located near the University of California Irvine, cost more than $1million. For the past eight years, Irvine has been named by the FBI as America's safest city.
In 2002, Monica Quan graduated from Walnut High School located in the town of that name in the San Jose Hills of the San Gabriel Valley. As a star on the women's basketball team, Quan set records for making the most three-pointers. Her father, Randal Quan, was the first Chinese-American to rise to the rank of Captain in the Los Angeles Police Department. After retiring from the force in 2002, Quan became chief of campus police at Cal Poly in Pomona. (Six months after taking the job, he was fired.)
After graduating from Walnut High School, Monica Quan played basketball for Cal State Long Beach. From there she transferred to Concordia University in Irvine where she starred in basketball while earning her degree in exercise and sports science. Following assistant coaching positions at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks and Diamond Bar High School, Quan, in 2011, joined the coaching staff at California State Fullerton.
Keith Lawrence met Quan at Concordia University where he was a basketball standout. (Before Concordia, Lawrence played for Moorpack College.) After graduating with a degree in business in 2008, Lawrence completed a police certification program run by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. In 2012 the former basketball star began working as a security officer at USC.
At nine o'clock on the night of Sunday, February 3, 2013, a resident of the Irvine condo complex, while walking to her car in the parking structure, saw a young couple slumped over in the front seat of a white Kia. The man was seated behind the wheel. He and the woman next to him had been shot to death. The victims were identified as Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan. The white Kia was parked on the top floor of the parking structure.
Homicide detectives have ruled out robbery as a motive for the shootings, and consider murder-suicide possible but unlikely. Access to the condo garage requires a key code, and every inch of the structure is in view of surveillance cameras. Homicide investigators are reviewing hours of video footage from these cameras in hopes of catching a break in the case.
Irvine Police Chief David Maggard, at a press conference, identified former LAPD officer Jordan Dorner as a suspect in the double murder. The 33-year-old has incriminated himself in a multi-page "manifesto" containing death threats against several people. Apparently Lawrence and Quan are mentioned in that document.
Monica Quan's father Randal, after leaving police work, became an attorney. In October 2011, he represented Dorner before the LAPD disciplinary board that fired him. Dorner's last known address is in La Palma, California, a northern Orange County town not far from Fullerton. The fugitive is believed to be driving a blue, 2005 Nissan Titan pickup truck. He is considered armed and dangerous.
FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
In 1949, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover started the bureau's top ten wanted program as a way of involving the public in the apprehension of the nation's worst criminals. As of June 2012, 497 fugitives have made the list. Patricia Hearst was one of only eight women ever considered bad enough to make the program. (The bureau had a hell of a time catching her.) Since the inception of the program, 94 percent of top ten fugitives have been captured. A third of these apprehensions involved tips from member of the public.
Today, information that leads to the arrest of a top ten fugitive earns the tipster a $100,000 reward. (In the 1950s, the man who turned in the infamous bank robber Willie Sutton was murdered for his troubles. The tipster had ignored advice from the New York police not to go public. After that, law enforcement agencies, to encourage people to come forward, began offering rewards.)
What follows is the current roster of the FBI's top ten most wanted fugitives:
Joe Luis Saenz
In July 1998, Saenz shot and killed two Los Angeles gang rivals. Two weeks later, he raped and murdered his girlfriend, and in October of that year, murdered a fourth person.
Glen Steward Godwin
In 1987, while serving time for murder in California's Folsom Prison, Godwin escaped. Later that year the police in Mexico arrested him for dealing in drugs. While serving time in Mexico, Godwin murdered a fellow inmate, and five months later, escaped.
Eduardo Ravelo
A Texas grand jury indicted Ravelo in 2008 for trafficking in heroin, marijuana, and cocaine. The capo with the Barrio Azieca crime enterprise had been an active interstate drug racketeer since 2003.
In April 2003, a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania indicted Mogilevich for his role in a stock fraud that cost investors $150 million. The public corporation, headquarters in Bucks County, collapsed in 1998.
Jason Derek Brown
In November 2004, Brown murdered an armored car guard in a robbery outside a Phoenix a movie theater.
Eric Justin Toth
Toth, a graduate of Purdue University and a former private school teacher, was indicted in 2008 on charges related to child pornography. The computer expert stands accused of producing, for the Internet, child pornography in the state of Maryland.
Flores, in July 2000, kidnapped and murdered a 5-year-old Philadelphia girl. The victim's strangled and stabbed body was found three months later in a nearby apartment.
Robert William Fisher
Fisher is accused of the April 2001 murder of his wife and two young children in Scotsdale, Arizona.
Fidel Urbina
In March 1998, Urbina beat and raped a woman in Chicago. Seven months later, while free on bail, he assaulted, raped and strangled to death another woman. His last victim was found in the trunk of a burned-out car.
Victor Manuel Gerena
In 1983, Gerena, in the commission of a $7 million robbery of a Connecticut security company, took two employees hostage at gunpoint. After placing his hostages in handcuffs, Gerena injected them with a toxic substance to further disable them.
All of the fugitives on the top ten list but the swindler Mogilevich, were in their 20s and 30s when they committed their crimes. Mogilevich was in his 50s.
Labels: FBI
The Baseball Bat as a Deadly Weapon
If there is a one-stop shopping place for people contemplating criminal homicide or aggravated assault, it's the sports store. Would-be assailants can choose from a wide variety of handguns, rifles, shotguns, knives, ropes, and baseball bats.
Two-thirds of all criminal homicides in the United States involve handguns. Knives come in second as the weapon of choice, accounting for about 14 percent of all homicidal deaths. Blunt objects--hammers, clubs, tire irons, and baseball bats--come in third at about five percent. That leaves hands, fists, feet, rifles, shotguns, ropes, pillows, poisons, bath tubs, vehicles, and matches.
In 2011, of the 12,664 criminal homicides perpetrated in the United States, 500 were committed with blunt objects of which aluminum baseball bats were the most popular. While no one knows exactly how many people are assaulted every year by bat wielding assailants, the number would have to be in the several hundreds. (It is a fact that more people are murdered every year by baseball bats than assault rifles.)
In 2001, corrections authorities in Texas finally got around to executing Adolpho Gil Hernandez who, in 1988, used a baseball bat to murder a 69-year-old woman in the course of a Lubbock robbery. More recently, in June 2012, a jury in Bend, Oregon found Richard Clarke guilty of murdering Matthew Fitzhenry in October 2010. Clarke, who beat the victim to death with a baseball bat, was sentenced to life in prison.
Every year, police officers in the United States shoot dozens of people who threaten them with baseball bats. More than half of these police involved shoots are fatal.
In New Castle, Pennsylvania, a former mill town of 26,000 in the west central part of the state not far from the Ohio line, a man attacked women with a baseball bat.
At nine o'clock in the evening on January 20, 2013 New Castle police responded to a call involving a fight outside a city house. Matthew Green, armed with a baseball bat, was fighting with his girlfriend's son who possessed a metal pipe. According to witnesses, the 49-year-old Green chased the son onto the front porch where he tried to hit him with the bat. Green missed and smashed the porch banister instead. A witness to the fight sprayed mace in Green's face. The bat wielding assailant responded by using the weapon to break his girlfriend's left arm.
While incarcerated in a holding cell, Matthew Green complained of chest pains, and asked for an ambulance. On his way to the hospital, Green informed the ambulance crew that he had previously suffered a heart attack. Police notified hospital personnel that Green was under arrest for aggravated assault and other crimes. Officers, however, did not accompany him to the hospital.
Shortly after being admitted, Matthew Green, after faking the heart attack, walked out of the hospital. No one knew where he went. (He could have returned to the scene of the fight and attacked his girlfriend again.) Later that night, officers arrested Green at his home and hauled him to the Lawrence County Jail.
At Matthew Green's arraignment hearing, the district magistrate set his bond at $1,000. Given the fact this man had used a baseball bat as a deadly weapon, then escaped police custody by faking a heart attack, the judge set Green's bail extremely low. This lenient magistrate might as well have given the alleged assailant a bus ticket to Florida.
Law School Admissions at a 30-year Low: What Does That Mean?
For the country's 200 law schools, 2013 is not going to be a good year. In 2004, law schools admitted 100,000 students. This fall, only 54,000 students will be seeking a legal education, a 30-year low in enrollment. There are two main reasons for this stunning drop-off: a lousy job market, and the staggering cost of a legal education. It's a double-whammy, who wants to pay all of that money to become an unemployed attorney?
With annual law school tuition costs ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 or more, the average law graduate enters the job market $125,000 in debt. Only 55 percent of these graduates find full time positions that require passage of a state bar exam. And a good number of those jobs are not financially rewarding. Over the past several years, various law profession surveys have revealed a continuous drop in job satisfaction among practicing attorneys.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in promoting her memoir My Beloved Life on Oprah, said that "... being a lawyer is one of the best jobs in the whole wide world, because every lawyer, no matter whom they represent, is trying to help someone..." What a load of crap. In an article about the legal profession in Time Magazine, author Paul Campos points out that after twenty years as a federal judge, Sotomayor is detached from "any sense of the increasingly severe problems faced by so many members of the legal profession. For young law graduates, especially, Sotomayor's words about service and happiness are likely to ring hollow."
To make his point, Paul Compos cited part of a letter he received from a young lawyer who entered the field $150,000 in debt. The lawyer wrote: "Over the last six years, I have discovered that I hate our system of justice, our courts, our law and everyone remotely connected to them. I hate the actual work of being a lawyer and having to deal with other lawyers. Being chained to the computer and phone every day feels like torture. It has affected my physical and mental health negatively..."
The diminishing prospects of a lucrative and satisfying career as a lawyer exists because there are too many practitioners at a time when fewer citizens need the services of an attorney. People who used to hire lawyers can find answers to their law questions on the Internet which also provides a wide variety of legal forms. For example, if you need a simple will, a lease agreement, an employment contract, or a loan document, go online. Law firms are also employing paralegal personnel to do work once done by lawyers.
As a result of fewer young people entering the legal profession, many law schools have reduced faculty and staff. Several institutions are also offering tuition discounts, and accepting less qualified applicants. Some in the profession have suggested conferring law degrees after two rather than three years of schooling. Costly law classes are also being replaced with cheaper field training programs.
So, what does all of this mean for the future of the legal profession? I think it means that to keep 200 law schools in business, less qualified practitioners will be funneled into the profession. In the long run, this will make the lawyer problem even worse.
Labels: Whackademia
Texas Prosecutor Mark Hasse Assassinated Near Kaufman County Court House
Mark Hasse graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School in 1981. In 1988, as an assistant prosecutor in the Dallas County, Texas District Attorney's Office, he became a certified police officer which gave him the right to carry a concealed firearm. In Dallas, Hasse was in charge of the D.A.'s organized crime unit. He was also president of the Dallas Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
In July 2010, Mark Hasse moved to Kaufman, a northeast Texas town of 6,700 35 miles southeast of Dallas where he joined the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office as the lead felony prosecutor.
Just before nine in the morning of Thursday, January 31, 2013, two men ambushed the 57-year-old prosecutor as he got out of his car in a parking lot near the Kaufman Court House used by judges and prosecutors. The men, dressed in black and wearing ski-masks and bullet-proof vests, shot Hasse five times. Doctors at the nearby Texas Presbyterian Hospital pronounced him dead a short time later.
Following the execution-style murder, witnesses saw two man in a late model silver Ford Taurus speed from the scene. In a search for suspects, homicide investigators began combing through the prosecutor's caseload. One of Hasse's 400 case ssignments involved a probe of Aryan Brotherhood activities.
The authorities have posted a $20,000 reward leading to the identification and arrest of the prosecutor's assassins. In all probability homicide detectives are looking for a connection between the Ford Taurus and a member of the Aryan Brotherhood.
At a Thursday January 31 press conference, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland said, "I hope the people who did this are watching, because we're very confident that we're going to pull you out of whatever hole you're in. We're going to bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
The Presumed Suicide of "Storage Wars" Character M...
Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius: Girlfriend's Death A...
Two Hit-and-Run Cases In Youngstown, Ohio: Was Rob...
Did Mailman Daniel Villasensor "Go Postal" With Gi...
Six Spanish Tourists Raped by Acapulco, Mexico Gan...
Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan: Engaged Jocks Foun...
Law School Admissions at a 30-year Low: What Does ...
Texas Prosecutor Mark Hasse Assassinated Near Kauf...


In early 2004 I started a spreadsheet to track what I was reading for a librarians read challenge. I kept going past the end of the challenge and past the end of the year. I kept that spreadsheet going until 2014 when pregnancy brain and baby brain caused it to fall apart.
I've had middling success with goodreads. I go on a tear for a few months and then abandon it again for the next 6 months. I'm going back to my spreadsheet again. If you ignore the last year, it worked for me for a decade and I know I can commit to it.
However I want to try a new reading challenge. There are lots of them floating around. Cannonball read (a book a week, 52 books), or two a month (24 total), or this one by category/feature is really cool. (ie a book more than 500 pages, a book by a female author). I also saw one group of people dedicating to reading books only by women and/or people of color this year. There are a lot of ways to do a reading challenge. I encourage you to choose one.
My reading challenge is to conquer my personal dirty dozen. In library school, my children's librarianship professor defined your "dirty dozen" as the classic children's books you are a little bit ashamed to admit you have never read. It is probably more or less than a dozen (probably more), but it is a good term.
This year I will read one classic children's book I've never read before a month.
I'm also defining what is a classic. It may be a newer book that is an award winner. It may be 70 years old.
Some adult books may sneak in there, particularly adult books with teen/advanced child appeal. Today I helped a teen find To Kill A Mockingbird which she had expected to find in the teen section. She was a little bemused to be going to the adult section. I read that as a teen and adored it. In fact I was so excited about her starting that journey, getting to experience it for the first time that I almost hugged her. But I didn't because that is creepy. I just tweeted about it instead.
This morning I started Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. So far it is okay, sweet, a bit didactic, but good. I'll try to blog about the books as I read them, but no promise.


The Controller Plus is engineered to blend with and complement modern building styles, without sacrificing any of the security features, making it suitable for installation in private car parks, drives and commercial properties.
The Controller Plus is very easily operated. To lower simply unlock and give a gentle push and the post reclines to the ground. To return to the upright position simply press the pedal located in the base.
The post features a very low 75mm when in the lowered position making it suitable for use with most vehicles.


In my last few articles, I've looked at a number of ways machine learning can help make predictions. The basic idea is that you create a model using existing data and then ask that model to predict an outcome based on new data.
So, it's not surprising that one of the most amazing ways machine learning is being applied is in predicting the future. Just a few days before writing this piece, it was announced that machine learning models actually might be able to predict earthquakes—a goal that has eluded scientists for many years and that has the potential to save thousands, and maybe even millions, of lives.
But as you've also seen, machine learning can be used to "cluster" data—that is, to find patterns that humans either can't or won't see, and to try to put the data into various "clusters", or machine-driven categories. By asking the computer to divide data into distinct groups, you gain the opportunity to find and make use of previously undetected patterns.
Just as clustering can be used to divide data into a number of coherent groups, it also can be used to decide which data points belong inside a group and which don't. In "novelty detection", you have a data set that contains only good data, and you're trying to determine whether new observations fit within the existing data set. In "outlier detection", the data may contain outliers, which you want to identify.
Are there an unusual amount of login attempts from a particular IP address?
Are any customers buying more than the typical number of products at a given hour?
Which homes are consuming above-average amounts of water during a drought?
Which judges convict an unusual number of defendants?
Should a patient's blood tests be considered normal, or are there outliers that require further checks and examinations?
In all of those cases, you could set thresholds for minimum and maximum values and then tell the computer to use those thresholds in determining what's suspicious. But machine learning changes that around, letting the computer figure out what is considered "normal" and then identify the anomalies, which humans then can investigate. This allows people to concentrate their energies on understanding whether the outliers are indeed problematic, rather than on identifying them in the first place.
So in this article, I look at a number of ways you can try to identify outliers using the tools and libraries that Python provides for working with data: NumPy, Pandas and scikit-learn. Just which technique and tools will be appropriate for your data depend on what you're doing, but the basic theory and practice presented here should at least provide you with some food for thought.
Humans are excellent at finding patterns, and they're also quite good at finding things that don't fit a pattern. But, what sort of algorithm can look at a group of data sets and figure out which is unlike the others?
In the above example, I have a NumPy array containing seven instances of the number ten. People often think of the mean as describing the data, and it does, but it's only when combined with the standard deviation that you can know how much the numbers differ from one another. In this case, they're all identical, so the standard deviation is 0.
Here, the mean has not changed, but the standard deviation has. You can see, from just those two numbers, that although the numbers remain centered around 10, they also are spread out quite a bit.
Sure enough, that found an outlier in the data.
The good news is that this is simple—simple to understand, simple to implement and simple to automate.
However, it's also too simple for most data. You're unlikely to be looking at a single-dimensional vector. The baseline (mean) is likely to shift over time. And besides, there must be other, better ways to measure whether something is "inside" or "outside", right?
For real-world anomaly detection, you're going to need to improve on a few fronts. You'll need to consider the data and determine what's "in" and what's "out". You'll also need to figure out ways to evaluate your model.
Let's consider novelty detection: there is initial data, and you want to know if a new piece of data would fit inside the existing data or if it would be considered an outlier. For example, consider a patient who comes in with values from a blood test. Do those tests indicate that the patient is normal, because the data's values are similar to the ones you've already seen? Or are those new values statistical outliers, indicating that the patient needs additional attention?
In order to experiment with novelty and outlier detection, I downloaded historic precipitation data for an area of Pennsylvania (Wyncote), just outside Philadelphia, for every day in 2016. Because I'm a scientific kind of guy, I downloaded the data in metric units. The data came from the US government.
That site contains clear instructions for downloading data from here.
It's quite amazing what government data is freely available, and the sorts of analysis you can do with it once you've retrieved it.
Why would I break the date apart? Because it'll likely be easier for models to work with three separate numeric columns, rather than a single date-time column. Besides, having these columns as part of my model will make it easier to understand whether snow in July is abnormal. I ignore the year, since it's the same for every record, which means that it can't help me as a predictor in this model.
My data frame now contains 353 rows—I'm not sure why it's not 365—of data from 2016, with columns indicating the amount of rain (in mm), the date and the month.
Based on this, how can you build a model to indicate whether rainfall on a given day is normal or an outlier?
In scikit-learn, you always use the same method: you import the estimator class, create an instance of that class and then fit the model. In the case of supervised learning, "fitting" means teaching the model which inputs go with which outputs. In the case of unsupervised learning, which I'm doing here, you use "fit" with just a set of inputs, allowing the model to distinguish between inliers and outliers.
The model now has been trained, so I can find out whether a given amount of rain, on a certain month and day, is considered normal.
Although it falsely marked 36 days as outliers, maybe those days were unusual. The model certainly would be improved if it had multiple years' worth of data, rather than just one year's worth.
It turns out that no matter what month, it's never an outlier to have zero rain on the 16th of the month.
In other words, given data that should all be classified as inliers, you can see here that the overwhelming majority is indeed classified correctly.
There are other types of estimators you can use as well. In particular, the One-Class SVM estimator has had a good track record of working with input data. That, combined with a larger data set, might well improve the results shown above—although in trying One-Class SVM for this article, I didn't see any such results. It's possible that if I were to add several more years' worth of data, other estimators would work better.
Novelty and outlier detection is (yet another) large, exciting and growing use for machine learning. As usual with machine learning, the problem is not one of coding, but rather of massaging the data into a format that you can use, and then tinkering with model definitions until you find one that predicts or identifies outliers with a high degree of confidence.
I used Python and many parts of the SciPy stack (NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, Matplotlib and scikit-learn) in this article. All are available from PyPI or from SciPy.org.
The documentation for scikit-learn has some (but not a great deal of) documentation on novelty/outlier detection.
A simple Python package for detecting anomalies, lsanomaly, is available on PyPI and GitHub. It might be worth consideration for simple data sets.
As I mentioned previously, the US government's NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) site contains a treasure trove of weather and climate data, which you can download for free.


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Economic commentary
Weekly Economic Commentary – Sep 22, 2019
read 7 minutes
Stimulus measures across major global central banks (including Fed and PBoC after ECB's move the week before) supported equity markets. However, shares dampened on Fri after news of the cancellation of US farm visits (as a goodwill gesture) by the Chinese trade delegation, which renewed uncertainty about trade talks. Regional markets began last week in the red on the weekend attacks on Saudi oil fields; Saudi stocks picked up on news about oil restoration by end-Sep as well as its inclusion in FTSE Russel and S&P Dow Jones indexes. Among currencies, the pound touched a 9-week high (https://tmsnrt.rs/2msXtmX) on comments from the European Commission president that a Brexit deal was possible. Gold price posted a weekly rise; oil prices, which spiked immediately after the attacks and have since declined, still remain almost 20% below last Oct's peak of USD 86 per barrel.
Global Developments
US/Americas:
The Fed cut interest rates, as expected, by 25bps to a target range between 1.75%-2%. After short-term rates touched highs of 10% last week, the Fed injected over USD 200bn in repos– for the first time since the crisis a decade ago.
US industrial production bounced back in Aug, rising by 0.6% following the previous month's 0.2% contraction. Growth was largely due to the mining sector which rose by 1.4%.
Housing starts hit a 12-year high, rising by 12.3% mom in Aug to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.364mn (Jul: 1.215mn), driven mostly by an increase in the volatile multi-family apartments segment (+30.9% mom). Building permits also grew to the highest since Jun 2007 to a rate of 1.419mn (Jul: 1.317mn).
Existing home sales in the US grew to a 17-month high, up by 1.3% mom to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.49mn units in Aug. The median existing house price increased 4.7% yoy to USD 278,200 in Aug.
Initial jobless claims inched up by 2k to 208k for the week ended Sep 14 while the 4-week moving average dipped by 750 to 212,250.
German ZEW economic sentiment index picked up by 21.6 points to -22.5 in Sep but remained well below the long-term average of 21.5 points; assessment of the current situation worsened by 6.4 points to -19.9. Separately, the EU ZEW economic sentiment climbed by 21.2 points to -22.4 in Sep while the current economic situation assessment was down by 1.1 points to a reading of -15.6.
Inflation in the EU was 1.4% yoy in Aug,with the highest rates reported in Romania (+4.1%), Hungary (+3.2%), the Netherlands and Latvia (both 3.1%).
UK inflation fell to 1.7% yoy in Aug – the weakest level since Dec 2016 – after a 2.1% rise in Jul.
Retail sales in the UK dropped in Aug, declining by 0.2% mom, after "non-store retailing" posted a 3.2% dip (the biggest fall since Aug 2015). In yoy terms, retail sales were up by 2.7% (Jul: 3.4%).
The Bank of England left rates on hold at 0.75%, while warning that prolonged Brexit uncertainty would hurt growth. The Bank emphasized that interest rates could move up or down if the UK left the European Union without a deal.
Asia Pacific:
China lowered borrowing costs for the second month in a row to support its flailing economy: it reduced its Loan Prime Rate (LPR) by 5 bps to 4.2%.
Industrial production in China weakened again, slowing to 4.4% in Aug from Jul's 4.8% – this was the slowest pace of expansion since Feb 2002. Fixed asset investment dropped to 5.5% growth over the first eight months of the year, from 5.6% in the Jan-Jul period. Retail sales meanwhile grew by 7.5% yoy in Aug.
Japan's exports fell for the 9th consecutive month in Aug, down 8.2% yoy, while imports also slipped by 12% to JPY 6.28trn. This brought the trade deficit to 136.3bn. Its bilateral ties with China and South Korea continued to deteriorate with exports to these nations shrinking by 12.1% and 9.4% respectively.
Core inflation in Japan cooled to a new 2-year low, touching 0.5% yoy in Aug (Jul: 0.6%), on lower oil prices. Earlier in the week, the central bank had left rates unchanged while signaling that it was ready to expand stimulus as early as Oct.
South Korea posted a trade surplus for the 91st consecutive month: the surplus of USD 1.7bn in Aug came on the back of lower exports (-13.8% to USD 44.1bn) and imports (-4.2% to USD 42.4bn).
India lowered the headline corporate tax rate to 22% from 30% previously, in a bid to increase growth. Separately, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council revised rates on 20 goods and 12 services(including lower rates on hotel rooms, though refraining from reducing taxes on automobiles).
Bottom line: The focus has shifted slightly from trade uncertainty (still unresolved, with the latest being the Chinese delegation's abrupt departure without visiting few US farms, as was expected before) to geopolitics in the region, following the attacks on Saudi oil fields. The attack on Saudi Aramco facilities has raised uncertainty about Saudi oil production as well as reserves (oil fields) that may be subject to other attacks leading to supply disruption. As the Aramco IPO plans continue, a quick turnaround on restoring oil production will work in its favour. However, more problematic and a much higher source of risk and determining factor on the future course of oil prices is whether the attacks could become a casus belli for military confrontation and war with Iran.
Regional Developments
After the Fed cut policy rates by 25bps, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar followed suit while Bahrain (pegged to the dollar) and Kuwait (pegged to a currency basket) stayed put.
Bahrain is planning to issue 7-year Islamic bonds and 12-year conventional bonds, reported Reuters, and has accordingly mandated banks for the dual-tranche dollar-denominated issue (subject to market conditions).
Egypt expects to grow by an annual rate of 8% by 2022, supported by a better investment climate, disclosed the nation's PM.
Banks in Egypt have lent EGP 146bn (USD 8.93bn) to SMEs since the central bank directive for banks to allocate 20% of their loan portfolios to SMEs. Under the initiative, banks offer SMEs soft loans with interest rates of 5% and 7%.
Egypt's household sector accounts for 80.4% of total bank deposits in Jun 2019, as per the central bank.Government deposits grew by 3.1% mom to EGP 610. 45bn in Jun. Banks have reduced their NPL allocations by 2.3% mom to EGP 122.27bn as of Jun 2019.
Egypt plans to establish 7 new free zones in the country – bringing the total up to 16– with an estimated 1000+ projects and creating about 120k jobs.
At least two state companies and one private pharmaceuticals firm (worth EGP 1bn+) are expected to make share offerings in the Egyptian stock exchange this year.
Egypt-US bilateral trade increased by 19.7% yoy to USD 5.35bn during Jan-Jul 2019, with exports to the US up 37.5% to USD 1.9bn.
Jordan's tourism revenues increased by 9.2% yoy to USD 3.9bn in Jan-Aug 2019, according to the central bank. This was driven by a 7% uptick in number of tourists.
About 153k Syrians (including 33k registered as refugees with the UNCHR) have left Jordan for Syria after the Jaber-Nasib border crossing was reopened on Oct 15, disclosed the interior ministry.
Kuwait's oil revenues declined by 16.09% yoy to KWD 6.78bn (USD 22.37bn) in Apr-Aug this year, after the price of Kuwaiti crude averaged USD 60 per barrel during this period. Budget surplus narrowed by 90.49% to KWD 247.65mn during this period (after deducting the future generations' reserve) after expenses grew by 20.71% yoy to KWD 7.11bn and revenues declined by 13.31% to KWD 8.49bn.
Kuwait's bank deposits edged up by 1.2% yoy to KWD 43.6bn in Jul, while credit grew by 4.2% to KWD 37.8bn.
Kuwait's trade surplus with Japan narrowed by 18.3% yoy to USD 552mn in Aug; exports to Japan fell 18.2% to USD 649mn and imports also dipped by 18.2% to USD 97mn.
Saudi Arabia was in discussions with Lebanon about providing financial support, revealed the former's finance minister, though no details were provided. Lebanon dollar bonds gained 1.8-1.9 cents on the dollar on this news. According to the Lebanese PM, a new bilateral council was being set up, with work expected to start in Oct.
Oman's August oil output touched 30.08mn barrels, recording a daily average production of 970,305 barrels. While oil exports during the month was 29.74mn barrels, exports to China tumbled by 22.5% mom.
Oman reported real estate transactions worth OMR 155.22mn(USD 402mn) in Aug while collected fees was reported at OMR 2.367mn.
Hotel revenues in Oman crossed USD 300mn in H1 this year, welcoming 115k guests in Jun alone when occupancy rates increased to 37.6% (Jun 2018: 36.1%).
Saudi Aramco will resume full oil production from its attacked sites by end-Sep. The attacks halved the crude output, by shutting down 5.7mn barrels per day (bpd) though it was later disclosed that about 2mn bpd were brought back in Abqaiq (of 4.5mn bpd before) and 30% of Khurais's output (1.2mn bpd before). Separately, the finance minister stated that the attacks had "zero impact" on revenue though the OPEC cuts would lower economic growth.
Saudi Arabia's foreign reserve assets grew by 2.7% qoq and 1.5% yoy to SAR 1.913trn in Q2. Total reserve assets meanwhile picked up by 2.7% qoq and 1.2% yoy to SAR 1.9233trn.
In a bid to support industrial investment, Saudi government announced that it would bear the expat fees in industrial installations (holding industrial licenses) for 5 years, reported Okaz. The required criteria will be laid down by the ministry of industry and mineral resources.
Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports rose to 6.88mn barrels per day (bpd) in Jul from 6.72mn bpd in Jun, as per data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative
Saudi Arabia increased its US Treasury bills ownership by 8.4% yoy and 0.67% mom to USD 180.8bn at end-Jul.
Saudi Arabia raised SAR 8.834bn in sukuk issuances, disclosed the finance ministry last week.
Saudi Arabia joined the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) for publishing government, financial and economic data. (Access the page at: https://dsbb.imf.org/sdds/country/SAU/category)
Saudi Arabia's civil aviation sector will create about 100k direct jobs and almost 427k indirect jobs in aviation and related sectors including tourism, according to a study by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
UAE Focus
UAE's monetary base grew by 1.7% from end-2018 to AED 386.3bn by end-Aug.
CPI in Abu Dhabi declined by 0.8% yoy in Jan-Aug, with the housing and utilities as well as transport prices down by 3.6% and 6% respectively during the period.
The logistics sector in UAE is expected to contribute 8% of GDP by 2021; last year, the sector's gross output touched AED 219bn (USD 59.67bn).
The contribution of Dubai's construction sector to GDP grew to 6.4% in 2018 versus 6.2% in the two years prior. In its Annual Report, the Dubai Land Department also disclosed that the value of real estate transactions grew by 12% yoy to AED 106bn (USD 28.8bn) in Jan-May 2019.
Dubai Economy's Business Confidence Index improved in Q2, rising by 2.2 points from Q1 to 114.9 points, supported by potential expansion to new export markets and Expo-related projects.
DIFC reported a three-fold growth in registered FinTech firms to more than 100 since the end of 2018.
Dubai moved up to 8th ranking in the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), rising from 12th last year.
Will stress in the repo market abate?
https://www.ft.com/content/ea6e0d6e-dad3-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17
Oil & other turmoil: The Economist's charts
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/09/20/oil-and-other-turmoil
A Warming World
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/09/19/the-climate-issue
How big was the Global Climate Strike
https://qz.com/1713587/global-climate-strike-city-by-city-crowd-estimate/
Digital Currencies: The Rise of Stablecoins
https://blogs.imf.org/2019/09/19/digital-currencies-the-rise-of-stablecoins/
Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not
https://ourworldindata.org/talent-is-everywhere-opportunity-is-not
Weekly Economic Commentary – Jan 30, 2023
Markets Global equity markets had an uplifting week: MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific index (outside Japan) touched
Weekly Insights 27 Jan 2023: GCC nations embrace fiscal consolidation, save oil windfall
Saudi oil exports. UAE & Oman fiscal update. Saudi financing needs 2023. UAE SME lending. Dubai inflation.
Markets Global equity indices rose sharply on Fri, though posting losses for the week (including

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


National Recovery Month has a dual meaning for the state of Texas this year where earlier this month Hurricane Harvey devastated much of our coastline communities from Corpus Christi to Galveston.
Houston was particularly hard hit; as the nation's fourth largest city a majority of businesses—not to mention homes, churches and community centers—went underwater.
Gov. Greg Abbott estimates that recovery efforts related to this storm could skyrocket to as much as $180 billion. Those hard costs do not include the emotional toll on our fellow Texans, including those dealing with substance use. There's no way to put a price tag on those traumatic costs.
I find myself wondering how much money will be spent on addiction recovery efforts this month, as the effects of substance use disorders—particularly with alcohol and opioids—continue to ravage our country. How much are we willing to spend to offset the cost of substance use disorders?
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimates the annual costs of substance use disorders is about $740 billion. These include addiction treatment, lost earnings, healthcare, family and societal costs, including accidents and crimes.
That means we the taxpayers spend nearly $62 billion every single month to "recover" the costs of substance use disorders. This is roughly one-third of the cost of Hurricane Harvey cleanup.
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of this clean up routine. How I wish we could be proactive and spend more money on the front end—in prevention dollars—to save spending even more to clean up on the back-end—after addiction has caused a different kind of storm in our communities.
This year's theme for Recovery Month is "Join the Voices for Recovery: Strengthen Families and Communities." Drug Prevention Resources is all about strengthening families and communities. Ironically, the per-child cost of providing a solid, school-based prevention program is $220. Nationwide implementation of prevention programs could save up to $64 for every $1 invested. (Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health, 2016).
Please don't misunderstand me. I am all-in with Recovery Month. I hope hundreds of people show up in Galveston on October 7 for the Big Texas Rally for Recovery. My 29 years of recovery mean the world to me.
But prevention and creating a drug-free generation is my mantra. It's what the "new and improved" DPR is all about. We hope you'll agree and join the voices of recovery AND prevention!


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Април и детективи је југословенски филм из 1958. године. Режирала га је Мирјана Самарџић, а сценарио је писала Душица Манојловић.

Улоге

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|Душан Антонијевић ||
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|Северин Бијелић ||
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|Бранивој Ђорђевић ||
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|Бранко Ђорђевић ||
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|Стеван Миња ||
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|Љубица Секулић ||
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|Милан Срдоч ||
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| Иво Вентурин || Дечак
|}

Спољашње везе

Југословенски филмови
Српски филмови
Филмови 1958.
Телевизијски филмови
Српски телевизијски филмови
Српске телевизијске комедије
Филмске комедије

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


"A secure lightweight currency service provider" by Chih-Wen Hsiao, David Turner et al.
The main purpose of this project is to build a bank system that offers a friendly and simple interface to let users easily manage their lightweight currencies. The Lightweight Currency Protocol (LCP) was originally proposed to solve the problem of fairness in resource cooperatives. However, there are other possible applications of the protocol, including the control of spam and as a general purpose medium of exchange for low value transactions. This project investigates the implementation issues of the LCP, and also investigates LCP bank services to provide human interface to currency operations.
Hsiao, Chih-Wen; Turner, David; and Ross, Keith, "A secure lightweight currency service provider" (2004). Theses Digitization Project. 2594.


Baidu, China's search and ad giant, has aggressively re-focused its business on artificial intelligence (AI) and connected vehicles as the U.S.-China trade war heats up and online advertising matures and becomes less profitable.
The company earned 80 percent of its revenues in advertising in 2017, but that could change dramatically in coming years. Baidu's $1.5 billion, three-year investment in Apollo, its open source autonomous vehicle (AV) platform, has fueled scores of of innovations and partnerships.
At CES in early January, Baidu released Apollo 3.5, which will be featured in a new self-delivery van from Udelv that begins trials in February in Surprise, Arizona.
Apollo is already used by more than 130 carmakers and tech firms globally, including Ford, Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel, and Bosch.
"Baidu is going all out in the autonomous vehicles space with big R&D projects and a broad network-partner ecosystem supporting its Apollo self driving platform," wrote Matt Walker and Arun Menon at MTN Consulting, an independent research firm. The firm's latest report, Webscale Playbook: Baidu, is the fourth in a series analyzing eight webscale network operators: Baidu, Alibaba, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Tencent, and Alphabet, the subject of MTN's most previous Playbook.
The company's Apollo research and partnerships span across operating systems, semiconductors, hardware components, and cloud alliances, MTN noted. For example, BlackBerry's QNX vehicle OS will be bundled into Apollo, including Baidu's CarLife smartphone integration software for connected cars which will be paired with high-def maps to operate in QNX Car, an infotainment platform.
Baidu uses Nvidia's Drive PX 2 AI supercomputer and Nvidia Tesla GPUs to power Apollo vehicles. Bosch will provide sensors and other hardware components, while Baidu has a joint investment with Ford in Velodyne for lidar sensor components.
The company has also partnered with Microsoft Azure cloud services for support of companies using Apollo outside of China. Within China, Baidu relies on its own cloud, through its own data centers and partnerships. "The lack of this computational and processing power outside China could make it tough for Baidu to take on the likes of Alphabet's Waymo and Uber's self-driving initiative, but tapping Microsoft would help Baidu counter that," MTN said.
Also, Baidu has spurred an ambitious AI technology quest, announcing its Kunlun AI chip in July. MTN described Kunlun as a rival to Google's Edge TPU and GPUs from Nvidia and Intel. Kunlun already is deployed in Baidu's data centers to run machine-learning jobs for its own apps. Baidu collaborated with China Mobile on AI, 5G wireless, and big data in June and completed road tests for autonomous vehicles in a 5G network in March with ZTE and China Telecom.
DuerOS, the conversational AI platform from Baidu, last August reached an installed base of 100 million devices, including smart speakers, smart lamps, and cell phones.
MTN warned that "Baidu's healthy topline growth (from advertising) could slow down…amid tightened regulations and trade war." Specifically, the company could face some supply chain constraints for AV or potential restrictions on tech trials and R&D partnerships, Walker said in an email.


Tassel-eared (or Abert's) Squirrels get their name from the large furry tufts. They are fairly common residents on the Navajo Nation. They can be found nearly exclusively within the ponderosa pine forests within the Chuska Mountains and Defiance Plateau. Abert's Squirrel depend on ponderosa pine trees for nesting and avoiding predators. Most of their herbivorous diet comes from these pine trees too. They mostly on the seeds, bark, cones, and buds of this pine tree.
Abert's Squirrel is named "Tsin dit'inii bidee'í" in the Navajo language. This squirrel was culturally important as a food source for the Navajo People in earlier times. Some Navajos believe that expectant parents should not eat the squirrel after a ceremony is done for them.


Another great combo for Summer street walks. We see a sleeveless blouse tucked in a knife-pleated midi skirt. Complete this Summer style with a brown leather clutch bag and cream-white heeled sandals.
If you want to make a wow statement during your Summer vacation, then be sure to try all white outfit. Here we see a simple white pinafore corset blouse with perforated details teamed with a white mini skirt. Add drop earrings and a statement necklace to complete this combination.
Make a real statement this Summer by wearing an all-white look. We see a white lace dress completed with white pumps. It might sound quite simple, but the whole appearance is hot!
If you are in search of a ladylike look for the upcoming Summer season, then be sure to check this classy all-white pantsuit completed with stylish sunglasses and white clutch bag. It's a stylish outfit idea for Summer vacation.


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Bob Olinger primed for Punchestown spin
Bob Olinger is set to light up Punchestown on Sunday, with Henry de Bromhead keen to run him in the Kildare Novice Chase.
The seven-year-old was a dual Grade One winner over hurdles last term, running out a seven-and-a-half-length victor in the Ballymore on what was his final start of the season.
He has only been seen once so far this campaign, when making a winning debut over fences at Gowran.
De Bromhead has been looking for the best suitable option, which included two entries in England, but he will stay closer to home and is one of 11 possibles for the Grade Three.
"We're certainly aiming to bring Bob Olinger to Punchestown. He seems in good form and he worked well this morning," said De Bromhead on Tuesday.
Cheltenham Festival winner Bob Olinger wins well on chasing debut 👊 pic.twitter.com/9aq28dwpcc
— Great British Racing (@GBRacing) November 20, 2021
"There were a few options for him but this one was the one that stood out to us, so we said we'd have a go with this.
"He's doing plenty of schooling. He's jumping fine at home so we have no reason to worry about that having had that experience behind him. We're looking forward to Sunday."
Stablemate Embrun Mitja is also entered along with the Willie Mullins pair of Capodanno and Gaillard Du Mesnil, who was second to Bob Olinger at Cheltenham.
Mullins' Dysart Dynamo and Hawai Game, both unbeaten, are among seven in the Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle in which De Bromhead is looking to run Guily Billy.
Dysart Dynamo could run at Punchestown on Sunday (Brian Lawless/PA)
"We were disappointed but it was his first run (when second at Clonmel in October)," said De Bromhead.
"He possibly got bogged down in the ground but I'm not sure really. There was no obvious reason and he came out and did the job well in Tramore next time, which was good to see.
"Going to Punchestown for the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle was the next logical step for him after that."
Gordon Elliott's Gringo D'aubrelle, third in the Challow Hurdle at Newbury, is another possible.
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2.58657926-scaled.jpg 1280 2560 Geegeez News https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.png Geegeez News2022-01-11 15:45:532022-01-11 15:45:53Bob Olinger primed for Punchestown spin
Dual Classic winner Snowfall suffers fatal pelvic injury Wonderwall sparks Festival dream with Doncaster verdict


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Mom Customizes Christmas Elf Dolls for Kids With Disabilities
Emily Gobbett
For children who are sadly born with deformities and disabilities, the world can be a pretty tough place. But one woman has made it her mission to make sure all children feel accepted no matter what they look like...
It is a well-known fact that children (and, even more sadly, most adults) are more inclined to like somebody if they find them pleasant to look at.
If a child looks a little different from their peers, they are more likely to be divided from the group.
Which can often result in bullying.
It's a sad reality that some children, from very young ages, hold a cruel streak.
But one woman has made it her task to make sure children who suffer from physical disabilities feel included in society...
And how is she doing that?
Clare Tawell has a mission to help make kids feel accepted...
The thirty-nine-year-old mom from the UK is a medical radiation technologist, but after hours, she designs dolls for children who suffer from a variety of disabilities.
Her latest venture is turning "Elf on the Shelf" dolls into relatable Christmas dolls with the same challenges some children face.
Helping children to accept their differences.
They are all totally unique...
Tawell sells her altered dolls on her Etsy shop, BrightEars.
The results are pretty amazing...
They really are the perfect Christmas gift.
Some have cochlear implants or feeding tubes...
While others have limb differences or insulin pumps. She can do pretty much anything!
And it's not just elves...
Tawell's Etsy shop is full to the brim with all kinds of dolls perfect for young children.
She prides herself on diversity...
"We still live in a world that puts great emphasis on 'being normal,' so if you have a physical/visible difference you are often made to feel abnormal," she said.
She continued...
"To a child, this can really affect their self-confidence and esteem. When they go into a toy shop and see dolls with all 'normal' features, it only strengthens the feeling of not belonging or feeling like the odd one out. I want to change that."
She has even adapted some well-known Disney characters...
Admitting it isn't easy as most manufacturers don't cater to "different" appearances.
"Unfortunately there is a great lack of dolls made by manufacturers of other ethnicities," she said.
"When I adapt dolls, I need to be able to take them apart so that I can safely attach devices, and a lot of the available dolls do not allow me to do this. It is very much an ongoing process to increase the diversity of dolls offered at BrightEars."
Currently, she has made more than two-thousand dolls and shipped them all over the world.
Making them all by hand after she gets home from work.
Customers clearly appreciate her labor of love.
Her Etsy page is brimming with positive comments.
One shopper said...
"The doll is so cute, and the hearing aids are PERFECT! My 4-year-old loves her baby, and it made her want to wear her hearing aids more since she and 'baby' match."
Tawell started this whole business thanks to her daughter...
She has 2 daughters, 8-year-old Evelyn and 4-year-old Matilda, who has to wear hearing aids.
After unsuccessfully trying to find a doll that looked like her daughter, she decided to do something about it.
"I became really disheartened when I couldn't find a doll or any toy with hearing aids," Tawell shared. "It felt to me that society didn't deem her important and therefore she shouldn't be 'acknowledged.'"
This set Tawell off...
Modifying her very fist doll with hearing aids.
And her daughter fell in love with it...
Tawell said her daughter touched the dolls' ears then her own.
After that, she knew she was on the right path...
And as she grew, more and more people discovered her.
Eventually, it turned into a full-blown side business...
With moms from the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) asking to buy her dolls.
She wants doll manufacturers to adapt to making dolls more representative to a variety of children...
"I would love for children in the future to be able to go into a shop and see dolls with hearing aids and cleft lips next to the regular dolls, because then it makes it normal, not different," Tawell continued. "When people see these dolls, it can open up a dialogue and increase awareness and understanding of these differences."
What an inspiring woman...
This is exactly what 2020 needed. Take a look at all the dolls available on her Etsy shop here. Keep scrolling for more...


text:
Home > NATIONWIDE > Merging JAL and ANA Would Be a Big Mistake
Merging JAL and ANA Would Be a Big Mistake
Here is an interesting piece of news: Heizo Takenaka, one of the experts of the Growth Strategy Council, has stated that All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) would need capital injection in the future, mentioning that JAL and ANA should work together and integrate.
by Martin Danker
While this remains the sole opinion of a Japanese bureaucrat, both ANA Holding's and JAL's stocks went up after the statements. However, Takenaka's drastic proposal would end up having disastrous consequences in the aviation industry both in Japan and Asia.
ANA and JAL are two airlines that offer great products and services, and this is not solely because of both company's values. Competition is a very important factor since it forces companies to continue innovating and upping their game. When companies don't face healthy competition, they are free to do as they please, resulting in a worse experience for customers. As such, just because they are ANA and JAL, it does not guarantee that the surviving airline after the merger would continue to care for consumers' interests.
A post shared by ANA✈ (@ana.japan)
Besides the possibility of the quality of products and services provided going down after a merger, there is also the risk of prices skyrocketing. ANA and JAL are already expensive airlines, and both have LCCs under their umbrella (Peach for ANA and ZIPAIR Tokyo for JAL). However, without ANA and JAL competing against each other, having a single national airline would mean that prices could go up simply because consumers don't have other options. This is not a novel discovery since it's something that happens continuously.
Putting it simply, competition is always important and monopolies are bad for consumers.
Because of this, it is very surprising that Takenaka has made such comments even if consolidating both airlines seems like a good decision right now. His idea to merge ANA and JAL falls into a myopic vision of what Japan and its citizens need in the future, particularly with Japan hoping to attract more tourists once the pandemic is over.
What's more, Takenaka's comments come out after seeing Korean airline Asiana being acquired by Korean Air. However, the Korean aviation market is not the same as the Japanese one, not to mention that Asiana had been struggling for years, while ANA and JAL had been both profitable prior to the pandemic.
In fact, ANA and JAL are doing everything they can to survive, from downsizing and restructuring their companies. With the right support, both airlines would be able to emerge victorious from the pandemic.
A post shared by Japan Airlines (@japanairlines_jal)
Another factor that Takenaka is ignoring is that ANA's and JAL's domestic performance in 2019 was very strong, and all analyses have suggested that domestic travel will recover faster than international travel. Airlines that solely rely on international routes are the ones at bigger risk of collapsing, while those with domestic markets are far more likely to endure. Since both ANA and JAL have an extensive presence in Japan, a country that needs domestic flights due to its size, the need to merge or split them into an international airline and a domestic one decreases.
After domestic travel, regional travel is expected to be the next one to recover. As such, ANA is even forming a new LCC that is similar to JAL's ZIPAIR Tokyo to fill that demand and offer a product that is more affordable to their customers. Such planning has shown that ANA and JAL are both thoroughly planning for the future as they continue with their restructuring efforts.
The idea to merge JAL and ANA is also not new. Back in 2009 when JAL filed for bankruptcy, it was suggested that JAL and ANA could merge. However, this was an option that never materialized as ANA was in a financially healthy situation. Sadly, the problem this time is that both airlines are suffering, though neither of them are at fault for their financial losses. The fact that both airlines need help could be the excuse the government needs to push for a merger even if it ends up hurting consumers.
The existence of ANA and JAL is important for its over 126 million citizens and for the future role of the nation and its aviation industry. If a capital injection is imminent, the Japanese government should be doing everything it can to support both airlines, not encouraging its two successful airlines to merge.
New ANA and JAL Flights from Haneda to the U.S.!
Why ANA and JAL Will Survive the Pandemic
Do You Hate Babies On Planes? Japanese Airlines Are Here For You
Should ANA Cancel Its Boeing 737 MAX Orders?
Capital Injection
Japanese Airlines
How to Eat SUSHI for FREE in Japan!
When it comes to the airports that serve Tokyo, people tend to be very vocal about their preferences. Among tourists, the general consensus is that Haneda is the better airport simply because of its proximity to central Tokyo. Narita has its merits, particularly when considering where you live or are staying, and the convenience of…
Updated to reflect new information. While the coronavirus pandemic has affected many countries and companies, the airline industry has been hit particularly hard. Multiple airlines around the world have been declaring bankruptcy and going through restructuring in order to survive. Japanese carriers Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) are also facing problems. by…
by Martin Danker Dramatic stories about people who complained about the babies they had to sit next to during a long flight are far too common, from this model who was criticized after posting an Instagram Story complaining about a baby , to this passenger who was kicked out of a plane for refusing to…
On Sunday, March 10th, headlines across the globe notified people of the very saddening accident involving Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which ended up plummeting minutes after takeoff. The crash resulted in the deaths of all 157 on board. The accident is still under investigation, but that has not stopped people, airlines, and governments around the…
Herbivores: the Men in Japan Who Don't Want a Girlfriend Nov 25, 2015
Join the Fun and Dancing at the Unmissable Tokyo Yosakoi Festival This 2017! Aug 17, 2017
Gamers, Assemble! The Biggest Gaming Event of 2018 Is Coming to Chiba, Japan! Jan 5, 2018
Don't Miss These 3 Major Summer Festivals in Osaka Held in July! Jun 30, 2017
What Is Japan's "Silver Market"? What Are Some of The "Silver Goods"? Jan 4, 2017


text:
Sangram () is a Bangladeshi war drama film that was released in 1974. The film was directed by Chashi Nazrul Islam and produced by Kazi Sobuz. Its story is based on true events Khaled Mosharraf wrote in a diary; it depicts the East Bengal Regiment's battles against the Pakistan army and the contribution of Bengali armies to Bangladesh's war of liberation.

Plot
People are marching in the streets of East Pakistan in protests against the country's military junta. At his home, Captain Asad of the Pakistan Army is arguing about the country's future with his sister and her friend. Several days later, Captain Asad and some armies from East Bengal Regiment go to talk with Major Hassan; they learn the Pakistani army has started distrusting Bengali officials. Large numbers of troops are coming from West Pakistan to East Pakistan, which is a sign of danger, and troops of Punjab Regiment are strengthening their area's security system.

An officer of the Punjab Regiment, on the pretext of the presence of Naxalites, sends a section of the East Bengal Regiment to Shamserganj, far from Chittagong Cantonment, and orders them to remain there. Senior Pakistan Army officials order the return of arms to the Bengali troops. The Bengalis reject this order. Realizing the Pakistanis will soon attack them, the Bengali armies revolt and capture the Punjabi regiment troops. After the declaration of Bangladeshi independence, the war of liberation begins. Pakistani troops detain Captain Asad and a soldier but Asad escapes from the local prison.

Pakistani troops searching for Asad arrive at his house with Razakar Daliluddin and snatch his sister's friend Rikta from his mother. Asad returns home and learns everything from his mother. Asad joins with Major Hassan and they conduct a military operation to liberate his village and rescue the tortured Rikta from Pakistani troops. They win the battle. For nine months Asad fights with the freedom fighters and liberate Bangladesh from Pakistan, undergoing for many hardships.

Cast

Darashiko as Major Hassan
Khosru as Captain Asad
Shuchanda as Mukta, sister of Asad
Nuton as Rikta, friend of Mukta
Hasan Imam as Dr Kabir, a doctor in a camp of freedom fighters
Khalil as a Punjabi officer
ATM Shamsuzzaman as Daliluddin, a razakar
Soldiers from Bangladesh Army
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( Bangabandhu) as himself (cameo appearance)

Production
The cast of Sangram includes Bangladeshi veterans of the War of Liberation. In the film's final scene, the Bangladesh Army is honoring Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh, after the country achieved its independence. The filmmaker wanted to cast Rahman in this scene; he and actor Khasru invited Rahman to act in the film but he rejected their initial offer. Khasru later enlisted the help of Abdul Mannan, who persuaded Rahman to appear in the scene.

Music

Reception

Critical response
According to columnist Bidhan Biberu, some scenes in Sangram present the use of religion by enemy as a tactic during the war. Sangram received positive reviews and acclaim. Alamgir Kabir said about the film; "Except in Ora Egarojon and Sangram, most other films appear to use the phenomenon of war time rape as substitute for similar acts when portrayed in a normal commercial Bengali movie". Alamgir also criticized the film, saying due to a lack of experience, the film fails to present the battle scenes in a realistic way. Film critic Chinmoy Mutsuddi has said the film has a number of inconsistent scenes, which have diminished its appeal. According to columnist Nadir Junaid, the film is not unique but was produced like other, ordinary films.

Accolades

References

Notes

Citations

1974 films
1970s Bengali-language films
Bangladeshi war drama films
Bengali-language Bangladeshi films
Bangladeshi black-and-white films
Films based on diaries
Films about Islam
Films scored by Khandaker Nurul Alam
Films directed by Chashi Nazrul Islam
Films based on the Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladeshi films based on actual events
Cultural depictions of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman


We all have that friend, the one who is always complaining, negativity constantly spewing from his mouth, nothing positive to say about anything.
If we're not careful, we may buy into his constant grumblings and become negative ourselves. Or, we try to reassure this friend, hoping to turn his attitude around. Some of us may end up distancing ourselves from him, in the interest of our own well-being.
Paul was the perfect example of positivity. Instead of complaining about his imprisonment, he wrote letters to his friends in Philippi, sending them positive thoughts, continuing to minister to them from his cell, where he could have drowned himself in sorrow and self-pity. Paul continued his friendship with Timothy, his mentee, companion, partner, and sent Timothy to Philippi to check on the well-being of his friends there. Paul set an example for his friends, an example of being Christ-like. He did what Jesus would have done.
Pray for your friends who are negative.
Pray that their negativity will not affect your relationship with Christ.
Be an example of light in the face of sorrow.


text:
package org.drools.workbench.screens.guided.template.server.indexing;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import javax.annotation.concurrent.NotThreadSafe;

import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
import org.drools.workbench.models.guided.template.backend.RuleTemplateModelXMLPersistenceImpl;
import org.drools.workbench.models.guided.template.shared.TemplateModel;
import org.drools.workbench.screens.guided.template.type.GuidedRuleTemplateResourceTypeDefinition;
import org.guvnor.common.services.project.categories.Decision;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.kie.soup.project.datamodel.imports.Import;
import org.kie.workbench.common.services.refactoring.backend.server.BaseIndexingTest;
import org.kie.workbench.common.services.refactoring.backend.server.TestIndexer;
import org.kie.workbench.common.services.refactoring.backend.server.query.builder.SingleTermQueryBuilder;
import org.kie.workbench.common.services.refactoring.model.index.terms.valueterms.ValueIndexTerm.TermSearchType;
import org.kie.workbench.common.services.refactoring.model.index.terms.valueterms.ValueSharedPartIndexTerm;
import org.kie.workbench.common.services.refactoring.service.PartType;
import org.uberfire.ext.metadata.io.KObjectUtil;
import org.uberfire.java.nio.file.Path;

@NotThreadSafe
public class IndexGuidedRuleTemplateAttributesTest extends BaseIndexingTest<GuidedRuleTemplateResourceTypeDefinition> {

    @Test
    public void testIndexGuidedRuleTemplateAttributes() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
        //Add test files
        final Path path = basePath.resolve("template1.template");
        final TemplateModel model = GuidedRuleTemplateFactory.makeModelWithAttributes("org.drools.workbench.screens.guided.template.server.indexing",
                                                                                new ArrayList<Import>() {{
                                                                                add(new Import("org.drools.workbench.screens.guided.template.server.indexing.classes.Applicant"));
                                                                                add(new Import("org.drools.workbench.screens.guided.template.server.indexing.classes.Mortgage"));
                                                                                }},
                                                                                "template1");
        final String xml = RuleTemplateModelXMLPersistenceImpl.getInstance().marshal(model);
        ioService().write(path,
                          xml);

        Thread.sleep(5000); //wait for events to be consumed from jgit -> (notify changes -> watcher -> index) -> lucene index

        List<String> index = Arrays.asList(KObjectUtil.toKCluster(basePath.getFileSystem()).getClusterId());

        {
            final Query query = new SingleTermQueryBuilder(new ValueSharedPartIndexTerm("*", PartType.RULEFLOW_GROUP, TermSearchType.WILDCARD))
                    .build();
            searchFor(index, query, 1, path);
        }

        //Rule Template defining a RuleFlow-Group named myRuleFlowGroup. This should match template1.template
        //This checks whether there is a Rule Attribute "ruleflow-group" and its Value is "myRuleflowGroup"
        {
            final Query query = new SingleTermQueryBuilder(new ValueSharedPartIndexTerm("myRuleFlowGroup", PartType.RULEFLOW_GROUP))
                    .build();
            searchFor(index, query, 1, path);
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected TestIndexer getIndexer() {
        return new TestGuidedRuleTemplateFileIndexer();
    }

    @Override
    protected GuidedRuleTemplateResourceTypeDefinition getResourceTypeDefinition() {
        return new GuidedRuleTemplateResourceTypeDefinition(new Decision());
    }

    @Override
    protected String getRepositoryName() {
        return this.getClass().getSimpleName();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


for close to two decades, we balavigna weaving mills, have woven excellent fabrics comprising organic cotton and blended materials. we were incorporated in the year 1995 and have been involved in textile manufacturing adapting fast to the changing fashion trends.
· and santana textiles, a large brazilian denim manufacturer, announced in 2012 that it would open a spinning, dyeing and weaving facility in edinburg, tex., though full scale production has been delayed.
moltissimi esempi di frasi con "weaving mill" – dizionario italiano inglese e motore di ricerca per milioni di traduzioni in italiano.
prosperity weaving mills ltd. annual report, contact information and more. videos, webcasts, presentations and annual reports for more than 30,000 companies.
flax processing, spinning and weaving course. april 12th to 15th – full. august 27th to 30th – full. october 6th to 9th – full. susie will show you how to process and spin the flax grown in her orchard to make a hank of linen and then weave a linen cushion cover or piece of artwork on large four shaft floor looms in her studio.
find company research, competitor information, contact details & financial data for pasupati spinning & weaving mills limited. get the latest business insights from d&b hoovers.
our products atlantic mills' (amc) attention goes beyond providing top tier high fashion denim fabric. our research and development is the pulse which keeps our organization beating, providing atlantic mills with the opportunity to continuously splash audacious yet inventive qualities while keeping up with global trends.
pasupati spinning & weaving mills limited is an india based textile company. the company's products/services include synthetic yarn, cotton yarn, sewing thread, knitted fabric, readymade garments, polyester waste and cotton waste.


19/11/2012 · Overview. Unlike earlier versions of Microsoft Office, the Microsoft Office 2013 applications, when started, show a Start screen similar to the following, rather than opening the default blank …... 18/10/2012 · Learn how to add a page using MAC's OpenOffice Write. This video uses a funeral program template to demonstrate how. This video uses a funeral program template to demonstrate how.
That's a very confusing section and the "Help" doesn't explain it. I would have interpreted that as "Insert a page before this page IF this page is a 'Right' page" but apparently it means "Insert a page before this page IF this page is a 'Left' page".... That way the images should move when you add new text or insert a new blank page. I agree with @ROSt52 . A 200 page document could be a good candidate for a master document.
That way the images should move when you add new text or insert a new blank page. I agree with @ROSt52 . A 200 page document could be a good candidate for a master document.
3 Click the Blank Page button. This button inserts two hard page breaks into a document, which creates a blank sheet of paper. Use this command only is you really need a blank page in the midst of a document — that is, only if you never plan on writing on that page.


text:
News > Electric EQ brand launches with Smart EQ ForTwo, ForFour and ForTwo Cabrio
Electric EQ brand launches with Smart EQ ForTwo, ForFour and ForTwo Cabrio
The new Mercedes-Benz EQ electric car range has been launched at the Geneva Motor Show in the form of smart EQ versions of the ForTwo, ForFour and ForTwo Cabrio. These battery-electric smart models are the first series-produced vehicles of the new Mercedes-Benz Cars EQ family, and smart is the only car manufacturer worldwide to offer its entire current model range in both combustion-engine and all-electric versions.
Smart is well on its way to converting its entire range to electric-only from combustion engines, and the brand has been selling only electric vehicles in the USA, Canada and Norway since last year. From 2020, smart intends to sell only electric battery-powered vehicles in Germany and the rest of Western Europe, with the rest of the world set to follow suit a short time after.
The company's CEO, Dr. Annette Winkler, explains, "smart is electric, innovative, intelligent and totally unique....With the smart EQ fortwo and forfour, we are putting the first products from the Mercedes-Benz Cars EQ family on urban roads and showing how much fun electric mobility can be."
These battery-electric smart cars are the first series-produced models of the EQ product and technology brand so far, and the company is set to present the special nightsky editions at the Geneva Motor Show as the first series-produced model in the brand's hallmark blue EQ paint color. As well as the special exterior paint finish, nightsky editions will also feature BRABUS exterior styling.
EQ isn't just about the cars though, and that's because this is a brand that sees itself as a comprehensive electric mobility eco-system made up of products, services, technologies and innovations. The brand ranges from electric vehicles to wall boxes and charging services to home energy storage units, which is why it's adopted the name EQ that stands for "Electric Intelligence." The new brand plans to offer itself as a one-stop shop covering all key aspects of customer-focused electric mobility, and is intended to extend well beyond the boundaries of just the vehicle.
The Smart EQ ForTwo, EQ ForFour and EQ ForTwo Cabrio will be available with an optional fast 22 kW on-board charger from May of this year. The charger will be priced at €840, which will allow the batteries to be charged from 10 to 80 percent in less than 40 minutes.
Photo : © smart EQ


This is a beautiful earrings for your lovely neckline which will enhance the beauty and grace of you your attire and you. This mesmerizing earrings features genuine black onyx and marcasite gemstones. The flower shaped earrings comes with an appealing metal chain.


text:
NASHVILLE NEWS AND NOTES FOR THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016!
Look for Justin Moore tonight showing his more mischievous side! Justin guest stars on the premiere of YouTube prankster Ed Bassmaster's new show on CMT. In the episode, Justin dons a disguise and comes face-to-face with one of his biggest fans, though she has no idea who he is. Dustin Lynch also gets in on the fun, in a hilarious stunt set in a boot store. The Ed Bassmaster Show premieres tonight at 10 p.m. ET on CMT, and re-airs throughout the weekend.
Hillary Scott is rubbing elbows with some serious A-listers these days. Hillary recently sang at Stand Up to Cancer's New York City gala, which was hosted by Reese Witherspoon. Sheryl Crow, Tony Bennett and Jamie Foxx also took the stage, performing for Katie Couric, Alec Baldwin and fashion icon Donna Karan. In all, the event raised more than $42 million for cancer research.
Some lucky fans got to enjoy a surprise Dierks Bentley concert over the weekend, and now you can too. Dierks did a pop-up show at a local hot spot on Sunday night in Knoxville, Tennessee. Now we know it was all part of a taping for CMT Instant Jam. You can check it out Saturday, May 28 at 9 p.m. ET.


text:
Below is a snapshot of the Web page as it appeared on 1/3/2021 (the last time our crawler visited it). This is the version of the page that was used for ranking your search results. The page may have changed since we last cached it. To see what might have changed (without the highlights), go to the current page.
You searched for: Search and Destroy movie We have highlighted matching words that appear in the page below.
Search and Destroy (1979 film) - Wikipedia
Search and Destroy (1979 film)
William Fruet
James Margellos
Don Enright
Don Stroud
Martin Deller
Ben Mink
René Verzier
Search and Destroy is a 1979 Canadian action-thriller film directed by William Fruet and starring Perry King, Don Stroud, and Tisa Farrow.[1][2][3]
Members of a Vietnam veteran's old Army unit start turning up dead in Los Angeles and Niagara Falls. Ex-Colonel Kip Moore (Perry King), is pressed by Upstate New York police for details. Meanwhile, a mysterious killer with a black glove is on the loose.
Perry King as Kip Moore
Don Stroud as Buddy Grant
Tisa Farrow as Kate Barthel
George Kennedy as Anthony Fusqua
Jong Soo Park as Assassin
Tony Sheer as Frank Malone
Phil Aikin as Rosie Washington
Rummy Bishop as Ernie Cappel
Daniel Buccos as Sinclair
Rob Garrison as R.J.
Really Awful Movies called it..."Great Canadian exploitation fun,"[4] while TV Guide said Search and Destroy was an "empty variation on the "let's win in Vietnam" theme that emerged in the years following the American defeat."[5]
^ Devine, Jeremy M. Vietnam at 24 Frames a Second: A Critical and Thematic Analysis of Over 400 Films about the Vietnam War. University of Texas Press, 1999. ISBN 029271601X.
^ Cohn, Lawrence L.. "Review: Search and Destroy". Variety (303). June 10, 1981. p. 20.
^ Herridge, Frances. "Search and destroy" New York Post. June 6, 1981. p. 12.
^ https://reallyawfulmovies.com/2016/11/21/search-and-destroy/
^ http://www.tvguide.com/movies/search-and-destroy/117042/
Search and Destroy on IMDb
William Fruet filmography
Wedding in White (1972)
Death Weekend (1976)
Search and Destroy (1979)
One of Our Own (1979)
Funeral Home (1980)
Trapped (1982)
Bedroom Eyes (1984)
Brothers by Choice (1986)
Blue Monkey (1987)
Imaginary Playmate (2006)
The Egg Factory (2008)
Matty Hanson and the Invisibility Ray (2011)
This article related to a Canadian film of the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This article about an action thriller film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Search_and_Destroy_(1979_film)&oldid=989699608"
Canadian films
1970s action thriller films
Films directed by William Fruet
Vietnam War films
1970s Canadian film stubs
Action thriller film stubs