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Changing The Game Interview Outbox
Changing The Game: "Getting people through the gate is obviously a major revenue generator but the fan experience starts with the ticket purchase"
By Community | December 14, 2022
Ben Phillips, Business Development Lead at Outbox, spoke to the iSportConnect Content Manager Alex Brinton about the transition from paper to digital ticketing and the commercial opportunities an effective ticketing platform can create for sports businesses.
So for those who don't know, what is it you do at Outbox?
Outbox is a cloud-based, all-in-one ticketing solution designed for the sports and entertainment industry. The business is built on software which has been created to provide a single point of control when managing large, complex and multifaceted events. We are currently managing the ticketing operations for Cirque du Soleil shows all over the world, as well as the European Tour Group and Ascot here in the UK.
The solution is designed to enable sports organisations to take complete control of their ticketing operation. That includes everything from customer experience and fan data to inventory management. We are trying to switch the perception of ticketing from something that is purely operational and cost based, to something that is considered a revenue generating asset for sports organisations.
We have seen a massive evolution over the last few years in the ticketing space from paper to digital, tell us a bit about that journey from your perspective?
The journey from paper to digital tickets has been driven a few factors. For sports organisations it's generally safer, cheaper and offers a better customer experience. But it's also been accelerated on the fan side by people's consumption habits and the 'Amazon effect' of expecting things to be more instant and conveniently accessible. The notion of a paper ticket in any situation, take a boarding pass at an airport for example, is considered inconvenient for a lot of people now. When the ticket is digital and accessible on your phone it just gives you one less thing to worry about.
The other aspect of course is data collection. Understandably lots of sports organisations are making a push for digital-only event ticketing for exactly that reason. If your fans are all utilising digital tickets, it becomes much easier for an organisation to gather more data and better understanding of the fans as a result.
We do understand though that sport is built on nostalgia and a connection to occasions that is often created through physical items whether that be a shirt, scarf or a ticket. And with a digital ticket you remove that physical token of attendance which means that feeling can get lost.
I think we're kind of walking this interesting balance between providing complete convenience, flexibility for fans, and on the rights holder side a rich fan data source, while understanding and trying not to lose sight of the elements of an event experience that are meaningful to sports fans.
If we want to take a look into the future and consider Web3 and NFTs, I think ticketing is in a prime position as an early step into that world for sports organisations and their fans. Creating that token of attendance, that collectable, just like the paper ticket but in a digital world is really interesting. For sports organisations it represents an opportunity to add to the mix and offer the best options to fans.
As someone who has a board in his room with tickets from FA Cup finals, Ashes Test matches and music festivals. I feel like that special connection to the event is lost from not having paper tickets. How do you feel about that and is there any way digital tickets can help improve this?
I think you could definitely argue that not having the physical ticket does remove some of that special connection. That traditional aspect of getting your ticket for the game is something we are all pretty familiar with and it makes up part of the event experience. We have a connection to the physical ticket, a sense of ownership and a sense of responsibility that you need to look after it, because that's how you're going to get in!
In contrast there is a younger and newer audience who are less wedded to the 'old school' paper ticket. As I mentioned earlier, they now see paper as an inconvenience and that desire for a smoother, easier experience using a digital barcode outweighs the sentimental aspect of the ticket itself.
What is interesting is how sports organisations can use those differing attitudes to their advantage. Yes, deliver digital tickets for a better fan experience and the obvious data capture benefits, but play on the nostalgia and sentimental value of a physical ticket too. As an example, you could offer a physical souvenir version of your match ticket as an optional add-on to the ticket purchase. That way you open up supplemental revenue streams and maybe even new sponsorship opportunities.
The final part is obviously that as fans begin to adopt NFTs and place more value on digital assets, that digital ticket could well end up playing the same sentimental role as our paper tickets have for us. They'll just be in a digital wallet rather than on the wall in your room!
Tickets aren't just something that get you into the event; they can be used for lots of commercial opportunities as well. Tell us more about how you see ticketing as a gateway for sports organisations to grow?
What I have learnt since being with Outbox is that ticketing is often viewed by sports organisations as a cost centre, rather than a place for generating revenue. If you are going to put on an event you need to have tickets to get people through the door, so you have to have a ticketing provider, and that's a cost.
Where we see the opportunity is for sports organisations to switch that way of thinking and start utilising their ticketing platform as a revenue generating asset. Not just for selling the tickets themselves, but for tailored upsells, cross-sells, upgrades and new sponsorship opportunities. Most of the time the period between ticket purchase and event day isn't really utilised to its full potential. But you've got a pre-engaged audience there, and with the right platform and approach, you can really maximise that.
With the right platform, sports organisations can fully control and customise their customer experiences from start to finish. We often think of a fan experience starting at the gate of the venue, but if you consider it to start at the point a fan decides to look for a ticket, there are a whole host of commercial opportunities you can exploit. Take regional partnerships as an example. If you're using an effective white-label ticketing solution like Outbox, you can create unique branded customer ticketing journeys for every territory that you sell in. If you sell globally, that's a huge number of new partnership opportunities you have just created for regional partners to own a slice of the customer experience for your event.
Another commercial opportunity is the fact that an effective ticketing operation can be a lucrative data capture opportunity, which in turn can allow sports organisations to deliver more personalised messaging. With traditional ticketing methods, organisations will often only know the ticket bookers details. Say for example I go with five friends to an event, and I buy the tickets every year. The event organisers know me and can market to me, but they know nothing about the other four people that come to their event every year and have no way of communicating with them. With digital ticketing and ticket journey tracking, you can understand the details of everyone that interacts with your event, which means more bespoke upsell opportunities and far more targeted activations for potential partners.
Where do you see the biggest challenges in the ticketing space at the moment?
I think adoption presents our biggest challenge to be honest with you. Just today we have spoken a lot about the move from paper to digital tickets and a lot of people are naturally a bit reluctant to make the switch. So I really think our biggest challenge as an industry is to make that transition as smooth for fans as possible.
I think we also need to educate sports teams and rights holders about the opportunities that digital ticketing can present to them in terms of both data collection and sponsorship activation.
They need to know they've got this great window of opportunity to communicate with fans and need to grab it with both hands to maximise their own revenue generating opportunities.
There is a lot of talk about the role Web3 can play in ticketing, how do you see the future and is Web3 an exciting new opportunity?
For ticketing it does present an exciting opportunity. With its emphasis on ownership, collectibles and NFTs seem such a natural place for the sports business to start in Web3. But education has a big role to play first. We are still working through a transition to digital ticketing, so the introduction of NFTs and how they are associated with the ticket journey and event experience needs to be navigated with caution to begin with.
But we spoke earlier about your wall of tickets, you can easily see a world where having that isn't the thing anymore, and instead you have your tickets displayed as part of our online persona. My view is that the first steps should be to link the physical and digital assets together. Having a physical asset that fans already understand (a ticket) directly associated with a corresponding digital asset (an NFT) will help to build some trust and bridge that initial gap of understanding for sports fans.
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March has been an amazing month for us.
We have been sharing our brand new show created for British Science Week around the North West.
An Amazing Journey has lots of dressing up and joining in as we explore the microscopic things that make us healthy.
Here are just a few images from some of the schools we have visited - thanks to everyone for making us so welcome and allowing us to share your pictures.
Thanks also to those schools where we have had such a good time but we can't share pictures.
This week we were with our old friends from Summerhill Primary School Maghull for a day of shows and workshops themed around POTIONS.
The show is full of magical colour changes and dry ice fog.
how shall we wake it I hear you ask!
a quick shake of the bottle turns the clear liquid bright pink!
And so the show continued with disappearing magic wand and black cat ( made from polystyrene and dunked into acetone) and an umbrella that changes colour when wet.
Then Helen created a huge fireball with milk powder and we set off the whoosh bottle.
The finale was all dry ice - cauldrons of fog, crystal ball bubbles and lids popping all over the place.
In the afternoon we worked with year 3 and then year 4 letting them get up close with some of the colour change kit - heat sensitive paper and colour change straws and finally decked in gloves and safety glasses everyone got very close with the dry ice making banana smelling fog and blowing up some of the gloves with carbon dioxide gas.
There is just time left to organise some Valentine themed science for your classroom.
A quick browse of Pinterest brings up HUGE quantities of glitter slime, red hearts and love heart sweetie science so it is well worth having a look yourself.
Here are just a couple of ideas I have found that are a little bit different.
The creative people who are Little Bins have a great set of web pages with ideas for love themed science especially this very simple but effective oil and water experiment.
You will need to use baby oil to get that lovely clear effect and a couple of love themed colours .
The images tell the story - well done to Little Bins for a great idea.
Inspiration Laboratories have a brilliant site with lots of ideas that are just a little bit different but you will also be able to find your favourites there too.
And finally from The Best Ideas for Kids a brilliantly simple love themed take on our own Art on a Plate. Using full fat milk, a heart shaped cake tin, red food colouring, a little washing up liquid and a cotton bud.
Pour a small amount of milk into the cake tin and add a few drops of colour. Then touch the surface with the cotton bud dipped in the washing up liquid and watch the results. Amazing and well worth getting the video camera out.
Have fun and enjoy Valentines Day!
Whether or not you are joining in with British Science Week next March you can still download and use their 2019 activity packs to add extra hands on in your classroom.
The theme for 2019 is Journeys and as the Channel Tunnel is celebrating 25 years of being operational there are science and engineering ideas using that theme in every pack.
The Primary and Secondary packs have ideas for assemblies and all packs have a range of activities covering all aspects of science and abilities.
In the secondary pack I quite iked the wind up car which is a starting point for a range of D&T activities. This activity is taken from Robert Winston's new book, Science Lab, and during it pupils learn how to use energy to move a vehicle by building a wind-up car. The aim is to discover that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred.
Of all the pack I think my favourite has to be the Journey to the Afterlife—an exploration of mummification.
The mummification process involved removing all the internal organs, packing the body with natron (a type of salt) to soak up all the moisture, and coating the remains in resin to prevent decomposition. Finally, the body was completely wrapped in linen bandages. After some research on the process your students will be ready to mummify their own body.
For a handy body students use an orange, scoop out the insides through a very small slit and stuff with kitchen paper. The paper is replaced as it gets soggy so that eventually the inside of the orange is dry. They then have to make their own spices mix and a version of natron using salt and bicarbonate of soda. The orange is then wrapped up mummy style and left somewhere warm and dry.
Whether or not you are joining in with British Science Week in March you can still download and use their 2019 activity packs to add extra hands on in your classroom.
At 37.9km (23.5miles), the Tunnel still holds the record for the world's longest under-sea tunnel. The project took five years to complete and involved over 13,000 engineers, technicians and workers. However, its journey started over 100 years before that; the first design for a cross-Channel tunnel was produced in 1802 and the first attempt at a tunnel excavation was in 1880.
In the primary pack there are quite a few very simple activities needing hardly any resources such as making a "snakes and ladders" type game but using tunnels as a theme or designing an infographic using the tunnel statistics as a focus.
There are also a few more unusual activities such as designing a lunar rover and I would build it too!
I particularly like the Sneeze Zone experiment which shows how far droplets can travel when we sneeze. Use a water spray to demonstrate the difference between just sneezing, using your hand to cover your face and using a tissue.
This could also be linked to activities explaining why we need to wash our hands.
I also like the electric dough experiments from the popular science magazine Whiz Pop Bang.
The idea is to make some very salty dough and using the science fact that salt is a great conductor of electricity use it to replace wires in an electric circuit.
Pupils can use LEDs as eyes in a creature or make light up pieces of art or use LEDs as headlights.
The show An Amazing Journey goes ultra small—into the microscopic world that makes us healthy humans.
In the show we meet RBC—the brand new red blood cell who is busy learning how to deliver oxygen all around the body meeting other cells with important jobs like the superhero white blood cells who are busy fighting off diseases.
We will be using our little friend the rhinovirus to show how germs spread, and measuring how far sneeze droplets can travel.
Our friend Cal ( calcium) will helps us discover how we need a healthy diet to give us strong teeth and bones and with audience help will build a skeleton .
We will also be finding out and decoding the secret messages deep inside every cell making us totally unique.
This show for both Key Stages at Primary school has lots of dressing up and joining in and we are quite excited about it!!
The class sized workshops to go with the show are KS1 Super Senses including feely tubs, smelly eggs and "the mystery liquid challenge" and for KS2 How Clean Are You? where we will be looking closely at gross and gruesome body bits plus making and testing toothpaste.
orange or making reflective clothing?
The Primary and Secondary packs have ideas for assemblies and all packs have a range of activities covering all aspects of science and abilities. Many require very little equipment, often you will find a literacy link such as the journey of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Some will be enough all on their own others will link into many other topics that you may be doing.
All of the packs have health and safety info for a risk assessment should it be needed for that activity.
I like the Early Years everyday journeys Be Seen Be Safe exploring different materials for brightness and reflectivity and I think it is something that your pupils will be able to relate to.
So many youngsters love dinosaurs so the activity Dinosaur Adaptation where pupils create their own dino, thinking about where it lives and how that impacts on the design plus things like colour and camouflage will really hit the mark.
Your pupils can use model dinosaurs and pictures to think about how they are adapted to their environment. They could make modelling clay dinos and create a habitat using found items. they can also create large drawings or paintings of their own design coming up with a scientific name.


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Obama is driving the country to ruin
If you think of the United States of America as a store, its recent decisions and scandals resemble a sale, perhaps a fire sale. Or maybe even a "Going Out of Business" sale.
The list of dramatic markdowns is breathtaking. They include trading away five murderous terrorists for a likely Army deserter, an open invitation to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to cross the Mexican border, and a decision to recognize the terrorist group Hamas as part of the Palestinian government.
On the home front, environmental regulations will cost thousands of coal miners their jobs and drive up the cost of electricity for millions. The ObamaCare mess is hardly resolved, and the Veterans Affairs scandal keeps getting worse. The acting agency head reported the deaths of 18 more vets who were kept off the official waiting list in Phoenix.
Ticking quietly in the background is the mother of all threats — an Iranian nuclear bomb. That ticking grew louder last week as the ayatollah mocked our nation by standing in front of a banner that proclaimed, "America cannot do a damn thing."
Technically, he's wrong. It's not that we cannot stop the mad mullahs' march. It's that President Obama has taken the military option off the table, and without it, Iran has nothing to fear. Our impotence was a choice.
Add to the combustible mix the expansionist moods in Russia and China, and the series of events recalls an observation by the late economist Herb Stein. Speaking in another context, he said that, "If something can't go on forever, it won't." That sums up the current sense of the nation as a whole.
What seemed for years a steady and slow decline increasingly feels like a headlong race to the bottom. America is careening downhill, and a crack-up appears inevitable.
It is no coincidence that the deal with the Taliban to release five terrorist leaders from Guantanamo brought the first threat of presidential impeachment from a respected member of Congress. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that if Obama tried to release others without lawmakers' approval, it would lead to "people on our side calling for his impeachment."
That is the nuclear option, and there is good reason why it has been so rarely invoked throughout history. And yet the intense fever gripping Washington, largely created by Obama's go-it-alone approach, needs to be broken. The country simply cannot continue to remain the beacon of the free world if we are consumed by our own dysfunction and distrust.
Impeachment is one way to try to resolve a political crisis, but as former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy argues in his new book, public opinion is a vital ingredient, and it is missing. Titled "Faithless Execution," his book's subtitle, "Building the Political Case for Obama's Impeachment," is based on McCarthy's claim that the legal case is solid that Obama has violated his oath to execute the laws faithfully.
That's an arguable point, but even to concede it means nothing because the Democratic Party has been so cowed into supporting Obama, regardless of what he does, that there is no chance to make the political case.
Indeed, we have reached this crisis largely because centrist Democrats have failed to stand up against Obama and demand more moderate policies.
Leaving aside occasional grumbling from party elders, he gets almost unanimous support from every Dem in Congress for every piece of his radical agenda. Evidence shows that one of his most pernicious practices, using the IRS to punish conservative groups, grew out of congressional demands from liberals. While that doesn't excuse Obama's role, it does demonstrate that his party has enabled and encouraged his improper conduct.
The result is that the constitutional system of checks and balances has been gutted as Democrats act as an amen chorus for the executive branch.
The framers put a high bar on impeachment, and merely attempting to draw up the articles is viable only when there is a bipartisan consensus that the president's immediate removal is necessary. We are a long way from that consensus.
Still, something has to give. And unless Democrats begin to put duty to country over loyalty to Obama, America as we know it is headed to a point of no return.
Pol-pal unions wal the shots
After reading the City Council letter demanding that Walmart stop giving money to city charities, it's easy to conclude the council members are misguided, mistaken or just plain nuts.
They may be all of those things, but they are something else, too: They are union puppets who have sold their souls for votes.
The 26 council members who signed the letter — a majority of the entire body — claim that Walmart and the Walton Family Foundation are trying to "find a foothold in New York City" by buying "influence and support."
Shrinks would call that projection — accusing others of your own sins. Or maybe it just takes a sellout to know a sellout.
Whatever its motives, Walmart is doing something good with its philanthropy and ought to be applauded.
It announced that it distributed $3 million last year, including $1 million to the New York Women's Foundation, which offers job training, and $30,000 to Bailey House, which provides support to low-income residents with HIV/AIDS.
Faced with such generosity, council members demanded that it "stop spending your dangerous dollars in our city" and added: "That's right: this is a cease-and-desist letter."
Tsk, tsk. The issue is that unions don't want Walmart's non-union competition, and the scandal is that local pols blocked the company from opening a single store in the five boroughs. Never mind that New Yorkers would benefit from new jobs and low prices on a wide array of products.
Almost as shameful, Mayor Bill de Blasio voted "present" on the issue. Asked by reporters, he declined to take a stance on the letter.
Apparently he wants to confront inequality only when it means keeping unions happy. Otherwise, the poor can take a hike.
Salute to the heroes of D-Day
The importance of the D-Day invasion cannot be overstated, but its meaning becomes more easily understood during times of global chaos, such as the one we live in now. The 70th anniversary, then, captured both the magnitude of the unmatched operation and the stakes that led so many young men to bravely face the German guns.
To fully appreciate their courage, make yourself a promise. Promise that, before you die, you will go to Normandy. Promise that you will stand on the beach, climb into the bomb craters and bunkers and that, most of all, you will walk quietly through the cemeteries, which hold the remains of 9,386 Americans.
My promise is that you will never regret your visit, nor will you ever forget those brave souls. – nypost.com
Category : Signs in Evil Humanity, Signs in Global Monetary Collapse, Signs in Government, Signs in the Economy
Tags : Economy, Obama, United States
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Where are the sane Democrats emerging to denounce the Russia collusion hoax?
Where are the sane Democrats emerging to denounce the Russia collusion hoax after Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report to the Attorney General found no coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election?
Admittedly, it is certainly hard for members of Congress who staked out unequivocal ground that President Donald Trump was a Russian agent to now backtrack. House Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) still cannot let it go — and nobody really expects him to.
President Trump and several Republicans in Congress have called for Schiff to resign, but that likely won't happen either, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi emerged to declare she was "so proud" of Schiff's work. Schiff staked his entire reputation on peddling the Russia conspiracy theory. He will forever be remembered as the wild-eyed McCarthyist who falsely accused Trump of being a Russian agent. That is his legacy.
But what about the other members of Congress, who have remained relatively quiet throughout this ordeal?
Where are the thoughtful voices who ought to be appalled at the fact that the Obama administration ordered surveillance of the Trump campaign, the opposition party, in an election year to investigate imagined crimes of treason?
Democrats used to stand for reforming the abuses that have taken place at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court. Where are they now?
This was the greatest abuse of the FISA court system since it was created in 1978, which was founded to stop political abuse of the nation's intelligence agencies that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, with mass surveillance of anti-war protesters, members of Congress and others.
Because of these new abuses, the case for FISA reform might be stronger now than ever. But to get there, Democrats would have to acknowledge that spying on the Trump campaign under suspicion of being Russian agents — when they weren't — was wrong and must never be allowed to happen again.
If Democrats cannot bring themselves to denounce this, they have no credibility left on the issue of mass surveillance. They are Big Brother.
What about Democrats who used to be supportive of détente policies towards the Soviet Union to avert nuclear war?
Since Russia hysteria hit Washington, D.C. in 2016, the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty — which was ratified in overwhelming bipartisan fashion by the Senate 93 to 5 — has disintegrated. The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which passed the Senate 93 to 6, could be the next to fall.
We're in a new nuclear arms race now, and it is hard not to point to the poisoning of U.S.-Russian relations since the election as being the main culprit for the current escalation cycle.
Add to the mix ongoing tensions in Ukraine including Crimea and Syria, which have the potential of pitting U.S. military forces against Russia's, and it is clear that the Russiagate allegations have made the world a more dangerous place and made it more difficult for President Trump to defuse these hotspots. That won't end, even after Trump has left office.
Which might be the most unfortunate outcome of this hysteria: the diminished ability of future presidents to diplomatically engage with Russia on critical issues surrounding nuclear proliferation and security. It is hard to overstate the damage that has been done here.
Mind you, this could have been largely avoided, but it would have required statesmen on the Democratic side of the aisle to think about the long-term consequences of destroying U.S.-Russian relations, the DNC and Podesta email hacks and Wikileaks publication notwithstanding.
To be fair, there have been since the beginning of the Russiagate allegations perfectly sane liberal voices in media. Matt Taibbi calls the Russia collusion hoax the Democrats' version of the Iraq WMD intelligence failure. Glenn Greenwald has made a sport out of debunking Russia collusion, as have Alan Dershowitz and Stephen Cohen. They and others have rightly pointed to the geopolitical dangers of all this, but they have also largely been voices in the wilderness on the left.
Certainly some sage advice about the impending catastrophe Democrats might face in 2020 if they continue down this path, but is anyone really listening?
If nothing else, this shows some level of contrition however inadequate is possible.
But notable outlets like the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN and MSNBC have not really, fully acknowledged just how wrong they were for uncritically reporting the intelligence assessments that falsely alleged Trump-Russia collusion. Which is all the same. They will forever be remembered as fake news.
The question of where Democrats go from here is a good one. Their promises to their supporters of a grand conspiracy between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been proven to be a hoax. Their supporters are going to feel betrayed. It was all a lie, after all. But continuing to defend that lie will not make it get any better.


I have a week full of conferences. I highlight one in Seva, open to everybody, about sustainable living.
On Sunday 27 at 18pm in Seva, I will speak about "Sustainable Leadership". Each of us has an important leadership capacity at whatever level: In the personal side, or professional, business, social, etc.. And as leaders we are all of our own life, we must be aware that our actions involve reactions. And if we focus on sustainable actions that respect the environment, we all collaborate to have a better planet for future generations. The great politicians, big business and big ideas are important. But our individual action is also a key factor, and we must be aware of and engaged.
– Monday 21 – 19h: IV HUMAN FACTOR AWARD MERCÈ SALA under the motto "We are part of the solution.". Event held in the Auditorium of the CaixaForum in Barcelona, and hosted by journalist Manuel Fuentes.
– Wednesday 23 – 12h: EXPOMANAGEMENT. One of the most powerful leadership events that are made in Europe. It is organized in the Congress Palace of Campo de las Naciones in Madrid.
– Thursday 24 – 21h: AMPA Association of Vic, talking about how to apply the Spirit of Adventure and ambitious project management to the education and the inculcation of values to children.
– Saturday 26 – 12h: National Convention of the "ENGINEERS BANK". A pleasure to participate in an act of a small bank, serious, super healthy, moderate and very well managed. ESADE's Auditorium in Barcelona.
– Sunday 27 – 18h: Fair SUSTAINABLE SEVA. Already mentioned before, and more information on the poster attached.


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Oil prices are surging: Here's why not everyone is cheering
Crude has climbed by 75 percent since November while other commodities have also surged as vaccinations raise hopes of a swift economic rebound.
You'd think a world tiptoeing its way out of the coronavirus pandemic might only be good news for governments and economies. Yet the consequent surge in the price of energy, metals and crops is highlighting the strengths of some and the vulnerabilities of others.
Oil has climbed 75% since the start of November as major economies vaccinate their populations and reopen after the pandemic shut down factories and grounded planes. Copper, used in everything from cars to washing machines and wind turbines, is trading at levels last seen a decade ago. Food prices have jumped every month since May.
That's been a boon for exporters. The flood of cash is a welcome relief for energy behemoths such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, whose leaderships have domestic challenges to contend with.
But there are always two sides to a trade. Some countries that depend on imports are feeling the squeeze in bond and currency markets. Rising fuel prices cost the head of Brazil's state oil company his job. They've led India—the world's third-largest crude importer—to call on the OPEC+ cartel to raise oil production and pushed Turkey's inflation rate above 15%.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and some Wall Street rivals are talking of a new commodities "supercycle." That's raising the specter of more damaging inflation down the line—and richer countries aren't immune, either.
The U.K. government backtracked on raising gasoline tax so as not to rile lockdown-weary drivers. In the U.S., Texan oil drillers and Corn Belt farmers may be benefiting, though others including tech billionaires are being squeezed. Elon Musk has pleaded with miners to dig up more nickel, a metal he needs to make batteries for Tesla Inc.'s electric vehicles.
Last year's lockdowns and commodity downturn stung Australia, which experienced its first recession in almost three decades. But the government can expect a windfall in 2021. Sales of iron ore, its top export, hit a record in December, while those of wheat are edging toward the same level and cattle farmers are struggling to keep up with demand for beef.
The Australian dollar has performed better than any other major currency since the end of November, strengthening 5% against the U.S. dollar.
It isn't all plain sailing. A diplomatic spat has seen China bar Australian goods ranging from coal to copper, wine and lobsters. Still, iron ore has been spared because Beijing can't source enough of the steel ingredient from elsewhere. That helped ensure the trade fight only cost Australia about $3 billion last year, a small amount for a nation that's seen its shipments to China balloon from around $5 billion annually at the start of the century to $120 billion.
The relative strength of Chile, the world's biggest copper producer, has also been evident in financial markets. The peso is the only major Latin American currency to appreciate against the dollar over the past three months and Chile's stock market has been among the world's most buoyant.
The pandemic caught the country on the back foot. It had just endured months of violent demonstrations over social injustice and rising living costs. The virus then upended global trading and presented the biggest economic challenge to Chile since its return to democracy three decades ago. Copper plunged.
The downturn didn't last long as Chinese factories fired back up after the Lunar New Year holiday. With prices of the red metal rising above $4 a pound for the first time in about a decade, Chile's finances are improving. Copper exports stood at $3.9 billion in February, up 42% from the month before.
Similar can be said for Zambia, which relies on copper for almost 80% of export earnings. The country has been desperate for money after it became the first in Africa to default on its Eurobonds following the onset of the pandemic.
President Edgar Lungu faces a re-election battle in August and is trying to get a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, restructure Chinese loans and stem soaring food prices, which have caused inflation to accelerate to 22%.
The country bought the local operations of Glencore Plc in January at what's looking more and more like a favorable price and global investors have started to become more bullish. Zambia's dollar debt has rallied the most this year among the roughly 75 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg Barclays indexes.
All petrostates suffered last year, but Iraq stood out. Its economy sank around 11%, more than that of almost any other major oil exporter, according to the International Monetary Fund. The government couldn't pay teachers and civil servants on time and Iraqis took to the streets to rail against power cuts, dilapidated hospitals, crumbling roads and a lack of jobs.
The situation caused problems for OPEC, of which Iraq is the second-biggest oil producer. Other members, including Saudi Arabia, criticized Baghdad for failing to cut output enough as the cartel tried to bolster prices.
As the crude market picked up, Iraq's monthly fiscal revenue climbed to $5 billion from about $3 billion in the second quarter of 2020. They're still far below what's needed to balance the state budget, but there's clear respite.
It may be a big producer of everything from oil and zinc to food, but China is also the most important buyer of commodities and was almost single-handedly responsible for the last "super cycle" that ended roughly a decade ago. The rapid recovery of the world's second-biggest economy from the coronavirus is one of the main reasons energy, metals and agricultural goods are rising this time around.
The rally can only go so far, however, before President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party step in. The topic of food security and pork prices featured prominently during China's annual parliamentary pageant—the National People's Congress—this month. The government announced a five-year roadmap to boost crop and livestock production.
As the world's biggest buyer of wheat and a net oil importer, Egypt suffers badly whenever commodity prices pick up. It's also politically sensitive because millions of people depend on subsidized bread. The Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago were triggered in part by increasing food costs and swept long-standing ruler Hosni Mubarak from power.
So far, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's government has managed to keep a lid on inflation. Egypt is trying to protect itself against higher oil costs by buying more hedging contracts in the market, and foreign investors are still purchasing local bonds. But gross domestic product will rebound just 2.9% this year, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts, around half the level expected for the global economy.
Higher food and fuel prices have already triggered social unrest in Pakistan, with opposition parties holding nationwide rallies last year to call on Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign. His government responded by increasing salaries for state employees by 25% last month.
The pressure has scarcely eased, however, with Khan only narrowing winning a vote of confidence in parliament this month. The economic impact of business shutdowns and social restrictions to curb the spread of the virus will only be exacerbated if commodities keep climbing and add to the import bill of Pakistan, which produces barely any oil or minerals of its own.
If big countries like Egypt and Pakistan are struggling with the commodities cycle, spare a thought for smaller places on the map. The Dominican Republic may be the largest economy in the Caribbean, but its GDP is barely greater than New Hampshire's and rising fuel prices are hitting before the key tourism industry has had a chance to recover from the pandemic.
The nation of 11 million people is heavily dependent on imports. Apart from gasoline and diesel for vehicles, it has to ship in natural gas, coal and fuel oil for the bulk of its power generation.
It has responded to previous commodity price booms with food subsidies. That might be difficult this time given its stretched finances. The country's dollar bonds have lost 9% this year, making it one of the worst-performing emerging markets.
Source : Aljazeera
Tags #Economy #News #World
Phrase of the Day: by and large
Dr. Hamdouk Returns home
ICC Prosecutor visits N. Darfur State
Sudanese army chases Ethiopian militia out of border area
Sudan Wins Membership of ILO as Representative of East Africa
Acting Minister for Higher Education appointed
Sudan says Ethiopia has no justification for rejecting mediation
Dr. Al-Amin: Renaissance Dam is one of most critical issues facing Sudan


text:
Q: How to pass an array list to the constructor within loop This is more of a code optimization question. Let's say I'm having the following code. I need to call the constructor lots of times and it expects 4 arguments, calling this constructor many times manually and then passing arguments to them would be a time-consuming process. So I'm trying to shorten this process
constructor(argument1, argument2, argument3, argument4);
constructor(argument5, argument6, argument7, argument8);
constructor(argument9, argument10, argument11, argument12);
constructor(argument13, argument14, argument15, argument16);

Trying to achieve the same result in a shorter way
List = [argument1, argument2, argument3, argument4, argument5, argument6, argument7, argument8, argument9, argument10, argument11, argument12, argument13, argument14, argument15, argument16] // Stored all the arguments in an array or list

// Assuming constructor needs to be called 4 times

for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++){
    constructor(); // this is where I need your help, how to pass value to them
}

A: At first, you have loop error, in you case "for-loop" will be complete only 3 times, if you would like 4 times, it's should be like this:
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++){
    constructor(); // this is where I need your help, how to pass value to them
}

About your question, you can do it like this:
List<String> arguments = [
    "arg01",
    "arg02",
    "arg03",
    "arg04",
    "arg05",
    "arg06",
    "arg07",
    "arg08",
    "arg09",
    "arg10",
    "arg11",
    "arg12",
    "arg13",
    "arg14",
    "arg15",
    "arg16"
  ];

  for (int i = 0; i < 16; i += 4) {
    constructor(arguments[i], arguments[i + 1], arguments[i + 2], arguments[i + 3]);
  }

More flexible solution is:
List<String> arguments = [
    "arg01",
    "arg02",
    "arg03",
    "arg04",
    "arg05",
    "arg06",
    "arg07",
    "arg08",
    "arg09",
    "arg10",
    "arg11",
    "arg12",
    "arg13",
    "arg14",
    "arg15",
    "arg16"
  ];

  // Number of arguments in constructor
  int argsNumber = 4;

  for (int i = 0; i < arguments.length; i += argsNumber) {
    constructor(arguments[i], arguments[i + 1], arguments[i + 2], arguments[i + 3]);
  }

If you have different types of arguments, better solution would be to create entity-class(object) to contain arguments, for example:
void main() {
  // List with objects
  List<Item> items = [
    Item("Name1", 23, 80.2),
    Item("Name2", 32, 77.1),
    Item("Name3", 54, 78.8),
    Item("Name4", 18, 67.5),
  ];

  // Call constructor for each object
  items.forEach((it) => constructor(it));
}

// Object to contain arguments
class Item {
  String name;
  int age;
  double weight;

  Item(this.name, this.age, this.weight);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Project Plan – Mobilise Grimm and Co.
Thank you to everyone that made it on Saturday, it looks like a lot was covered and finalised. This Blog is to bring everything together to make sure we are all still on the same page and collate the work done on Saturday.
The Design group will design and create everything we need for to bring this concept to life.
Plan of Action: This group will create a group chat and collaboratively / communally assign work for procuring items.
The Delivery Group will create the content for the workshops and physically deliver them at any events we sign up for.
We have a few dates booked in and some more to follow very soon.
Thurs 25 Jan: observing a workshop + (optional, but encouraged) catching up with Lauren afterwards. The students will get the 07.42 train from Manchester Piccadilly, changing at Sheffield to catch the 08.53 train to Rotherham Central. This means they will arrive at Grimm & Co for around 09.15.
Mon 19 Feb TBC: this is the date that the majority of students can do for their first run-through / presentation. The morning is better! However, note that we couldn't find a date that everyone could do during this week. We will discuss this further in the next week.
Late January/Early February TBC: Arrange a meeting with Lauren to go through ideas and problem solve any issues. This can be one for each group if needs be. It can also be a couple of spokespersons from the group to meet with Lauren if the whole group are struggling to find a suitable day together.
Keep me up to date with everything!!!!


text:
Q: preg_match behaviour unexpected on string \x00\x01 I have a loop which sometimes contains this data:
b"\x01\x00\x00\x00\x05\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00X\x1D›¿\x04\x04›?‹"\x12¿Ã'\x11?"
When I put this into regex101, I can match items using the following regex:
/((\\x[\d]{2}){4,}.*)/gm
See example: https://regex101.com/r/cMyKVg/1/
When I put this in my php script it's like this:
preg_match( '/(x)/m', $value, $matches )

$value has the value of the string above.
I have no matches using this code.
I've also tried matching it literally:
preg_match( '/((\\x[\d]{2}){4,}.*)/m', 'b"\x01\x00\x00\x00\x05\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00X\x1D›¿\x04\x04›?‹"\x12¿Ã'\x11?"', $matches ),

But it doesn't match anything.
I don't want this value in my database, therefore I want to use a regex to skip values like this.
Can someone please explain this behaviour to me and maybe help to fix it?
EDIT:
I have a feeling that the string I used is not actually what is going in the preg_match, it is the value I get with a var_dump but it seems like preg_match gets a different value. I accidentally typed an error and then I got this message:
ErrorException  : preg_match(): Compilation failed: missing ) at offset 3

  at /Users/used/Sites/project/app/Console/Commands/ExtractLibraryFileMetaData.php:204
    200|            dd(
    201|                $value,
    202|                \gettype($value),
    203|                $regex = '/(\\)/',
  > 204|                preg_match( $regex, $value, $matches ),
    205|                $matches
    206|            );
    207|        }
    208|        if ( preg_match( '/((\\x[\d]{2}){4,}.*)/m', $value ) ) {

  Exception trace:

  1   preg_match("/(\)/", "\\\\\\\\\\X���?���Ò?")

I have no idea what causes this. It's still the same value but it's displayed differently...

A: The hexadecimal characters aren't treated as strings, the actual output of the string is probably:
b"X›¿›?‹"¿Ã'?"

You could then match using hexadecimal range:
// I double-quoted the string
$str = "b\"\x01\x00\x00\x00\x05\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00X\x1D›¿\x04\x04›?‹"\x12¿Ã'\x11?\"";

// Matches characters from char code 0 to 31
preg_match_all('/([\x00-\x1F])/', $str, $m);

Output:
echo '<pre>' . print_r($m[0], true) . '</pre>';

/*
Array
(
    [0] =>
    [1] =>
    [2] =>
    [3] =>
    [4] =>
    [5] =>
    [6] =>
    [7] =>
    [8] =>
    [9] =>
    [10] =>
    [11] =>
    [12] =>
    [13] =>
    [14] =>
    [15] =>
    [16] =>
)
*/

Replace:
echo preg_replace('/([\x00-\x1F])/', '', $str);

// b"X›¿›?‹"¿Ã'?"

A: It seems for whatever reason that preg_match in PHP needs three backward-slashes for escaping the \x correctly. I tested with this regex preg_match('/((?:\\\x[\d]{2}){4,}.*)/m', $str, $matches) and it worked.
You can find a live demo over here: http://sandbox.onlinephpfunctions.com/code/4aecc4bf25ec82a98c8fbaee32b34693f3316f64

A: Take a look at regex101 code generator at the bottom left under 'Tools'. You'll see some changes are made to both your regex and input string which is related to backslashes.
You can follow that approach or use a nowdoc like below:
preg_match(<<< 'RE'
/(?:\\x\d{2}){4,}.*/
RE
,$str, $matches);

See PHP live demo here


What is a Cayman LLC?
This is the first in a series of blogs pertaining to the pros and cons of a Cayman LLC, how to form and convert one and who most benefits. We'll start with a basic overview here.
The laws of the Cayman Islands make it a popular choice for conducting a range of business objectives. With options that call for no taxes on income or sales, no withholding taxes, and no inheritance or capital gains taxes, the Cayman Islands actively pursues policies intended to attract business ventures. To that end, 2015 saw the introduction of a new type of vehicle called a Cayman Islands limited liability company.
The Limited Liability Companies Bill, 2015 (Supplement No. 8 published with Extraordinary Gazette No. 99 dated 18th December, 2015), establishes the rules for forming and registering an LLC. The Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands approved the bill in early May. The bill is expected to come into force this summer.
A Cayman LLC has the potential to improve the operation of investment funds, as well as other businesses looking for flexibility and adaptability in their structure. Attorneys looking to help their clients choose the correct entity to accomplish their goals need to be aware of the Cayman LLC and its advantages and disadvantages.
What Is the Cayman LLC Replacing?
They enjoy the tax neutrality so prized in the Cayman Islands.
They can be formed with a single entity—a shareholder in this case—listed on the Registrar of Companies.
They have minimal reporting requirements, as well as no minimum capitalization requirement.
These companies do not require a general meeting of members.
These benefits make exempted companies an excellent choice for foreign investors who conduct most of their business away from the Cayman Islands.
Cayman exempted companies do have certain drawbacks, however. The companies must issue shares to owners based on the owners' contributions to the enterprise. That means they must also maintain funds that arise during the issuing of shares (the "share capital). It is worthwhile to mention that exempted companies are able to issue no par value shares. This reliance on shares limits the flexibility of the arrangement as it mandates a governance structure based on initial contribution to the enterprise.
Next week, we'll review the difference between a Cayman LLC and a Delaware LLC. In the meantime, please contact Virtual Paralegal Services with any questions you may have. We are always ready to assist.


text:
Medicine Matters oncology | oncology.medicinematters.com Skip to main content
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Penelope Bradbury is Staff Medical Oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada; Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, and adjunct Associate Professor within the Department of Oncology at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. After obtaining her medical degree from the University of Cardiff, UK, and a fellowship from the Australasian College of Physicians, she undertook postgraduate fellowships at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, in Ontario, Canada.
She was previously a Senior Investigator in the Canadian Cancer Trials Group for the thoracic and investigational new drugs programme, during which she was Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Experimental Therapeutics. Dr Bradbury's research interests include the evaluation of new therapies for the management of thoracic malignancies and clinical trial methodology. She is the current Chair of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group Thoracic Disease Site Committee.


text:
Experts Encourage Food Delivery Users to #PrepYourself with New Outreach Campaign
WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Responding to the increasing use of food delivery services and as National Food Safety Education Month kicks off, the Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) has launched a new national campaign to help food delivery users ensure the safety of their delivered foods. Prep Yourself: Food Is on the Way, the first national food safety campaign specifically targeting users of food delivery services, seeks to encourage safe food handling at home and educate consumers on what to consider when ordering from food delivery services.
"The coronavirus pandemic kicked food delivery usage
Man found urinating in couple's driveway after food delivery in Liverpool
A delivery man from Uber Eats was seen urinating in the driveway of a couple after delivering their order in Liverpool, UK.
The man who came on a cycle for delivery, after parking it, delivered a McDonald's order to the couple's house in Clubmoor. After delivering the package, he was seen urinating right next to the couple's car which was parked there, Liverpool Echo reported.
Thomas, 25, lives in the house with his girlfriend Stephanie. He told Liverpool Echo, "I went to work and my girlfriend, who works for the NHS, came home and ordered a McDonald's from Uber


text:
Pradoxa is een geslacht van weekdieren uit de klasse van de Gastropoda (slakken).

Soorten
 Pradoxa confirmata (Fernandes & Rolán, 1990)
 Pradoxa gorii Houart & Rolán, 2012
 Pradoxa thomensis (Fernandes & Rolán, 1990)
 Pradoxa urdambideli Houart & Rolán, 2012

Muricidae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
Q: Combine NaN value in rows - Pandas I would like to know if it's possible to combine some rows if we have in specific columns NaN value ? But the order can be change. I thought combine the rows if Name is duplicated.
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

d = {'Name': ['Jacque','Paul', 'Jacque'], 'City': [np.nan, '4', '10'], 'Birthday' : ['1','2',np.nan]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data=d)
df

And I would like to have this output :

A: Check with sorted
out = df.apply(lambda x : sorted(x,key=pd.isnull)).dropna()
     Name  City  Birthday
0  Jacque   4.0       1.0
1    Paul  10.0       2.0


text:
Humans are the weak link in Big Data
Big Data is coming whether we are ready or not. But given the human ability to ignore facts when they conflict with beliefs, will Big Data help on our biggest issues, or just give us a store coupon while the world burns?
By Robin Harris for Storage Bits | August 24, 2016 -- 12:15 GMT (05:15 PDT) | Topic: Big Data Analytics
Inherent in using Big Data are the tools we use to make sense of them: statistics.
In recent posts I've looked at how untested software can skew results, and dishonest scientists who manufacture data. But supply side issues aren't the only problem with Big Data. We have to look at how humans deal with information we've never had before.
The Power of IoT and Big Data
We delve into where IoT will have the biggest impact and what it means for the future of big data analytics.
Take climate change. We know the planet is getting warmer. Almost all competent scientists agree that increased atmospheric CO2, a byproduct of fossil fuel consumption, is the cause. Other theories - such as sunspots, cloud cover, solar variations, and a world-wide conspiracy of grant-hungry scientists - have been examined and found wanting.
The impact promises to be catastrophic: hundreds of millions of people displaced, dwarfing the current refugee tragedy in Syria, trillions of dollars in property losses, tropical diseases spreading into formerly temperate climes, and more.
Yet we have the spectacle of an US Senator throwing a snowball on the Senate floor as if that made any kind of sense. And a candidate for President of the United States, the world's leading economy, called global warming BS because it got cold in New York in the winter.
Statistical ignorance
Inherent in using Big Data are the tools we use to make sense of them: statistics. Before the 2012 election, people claimed that Mitt Romney was ahead by "deskewing" poll results. There was widespread shock when the deskewed results were wrong.
There's a similar effort going on for this election, where Trump's dismal polls are dismissed by true believers because "look at his crowds!" The statistically illiterate often complain that a sample size of ≈1,000 can't possibly be accurate in a nation of 330 million.
While there are ways pollsters can screw up - look at the Brexit polls - there's no evidence that's happening here, especially when you combine the results of many polls.
Similarly, climate change denial has fed on ignorance of statistics and the scientific method. Beyond the fact that wealthy industries are lobbying hard, there's a bigger problem: most lawmakers are lawyers, not scientists.
Lawyers are trained to win arguments, not evaluate data. That's a huge systemic problem when Senator Snowball denies science with a catchy, but stupid, stunt.
The Storage Bits take
Most Big Data is going to be used to sell you something, not solve the world's problems. And that's OK.
The bigger issue is whether or not we are smart enough as a country and a global community, to ask the right questions and use these powerful tools to act on the answers. Despite the obvious idiocy among our elected officials, I'm hopeful that, eventually, we will see a return to facts, evidence and a focus on the long-term good of the nation.
Courteous comments welcome, of course.
Storage Digital Transformation Robotics Internet of Things Innovation Enterprise Software
More from Robin Harris
Rediscovering RISC-V: Apple M1 sparks renewed interest in non-x86 architectures
Facebook's foolish attack on Apple
Who's winning the race to replace NAND flash?
Social media's problem isn't bias, it's advertising. And that we can fix.
Oracle Database 21c spotlights in-memory processing and ML, adds new low-code APEX cloud service
Because COVID drove customers to postpone upgrades last year, the latest annual update of Oracle database packs two years' worth of new features. And it's adding icing to the cake ...
Grafana Cloud adds free tier
The company behind the open source observability platform that entered a strategic deal with AWS is continuing to plow ahead with its own cloud, introducing a free tier. ...
Cockroach Labs closes $160M Series E funding round
The company behind CockroachDB, a globally distributed relational database platform, brings its total funding to $355M and its valuation to $2B.
2021 Technology trend review, part 1: Blockchain, Cloud, Open Source
Blockchain's DeFi-ning moment. Cloud, Kubernetes, and GraphQL. Open source is winning, open source creators are losing. A reality check on key technological drivers for the new ...
CES 2021: Three trends business pros and CIOs should watch very closely
Most of the innovations at CES 2021 aren't on display. It's the hidden, enterprise tech that powers all those smart consumer gadgets that is the real star of the show. ...
How AI redefines advertising in 2021
Watson can kick butt on Jeopardy. But will it unlock the mystical secrets of Madison Avenue?
Micron fiscal Q1 revenue, profit beat, forecast crushes expectations as DRAM rises
The company said cited strengthening DRAM trends, but warned NAND makers face a risk of over-supply.
Informatica's journey to the cloud
Informatica's introduction of more flexible pricing for its cloud services is the latest step in its evolution to becoming a service provider. It marks a good example of how this transition ...
Starburst secures $100M series C financing
The second data lake funding announcement of the day brings Starburst's valuation to $1.2B


text:
News Brief: Attorney General Barr, Opioid Bribery Case, Syrian War
Published May 3, 2019 at 4:01 AM CDT
Attorney General William Barr skipped the House hearing yesterday, the very same day Democrats accused him of breaking the law. That's a serious accusation that requires some context.
Right. So here it is. Back in April, Barr went before a House Appropriations Committee. He was asked by a Democratic member of Congress whether he was aware of reports that members of the special counsel's team had been frustrated with Barr's four-page summary of the Mueller report. Barr replied that he didn't know what these reports were referencing. Well, it has now come to light this week that Mueller had, in fact, sent the attorney general a letter prior to that hearing expressing his frustration with the lack of context in the summary.
So yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this of Barr.
NANCY PELOSI: The attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That's a crime.
MARTIN: For its part, the Justice Department said that Speaker Pelosi's attack is, quote, "reckless, irresponsible and false," end quote.
GREENE: All right. One person following all of this - NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell, who joins us. Hi, Kelsey.
KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE: Hey there. Good morning.
GREENE: OK. So the speaker of the House accusing the attorney general of lying and committing a crime. This whole back-and-forth is coming to a whole new place now.
SNELL: Yeah, the tension is absolutely ramping up. The comments from Pelosi kind of set the tone for how Democrats are approaching Barr now. And it really does signal a new phase of this confrontation with the Department of Justice. Democrats say a moment of accountability is coming. And they are really, really walking a tight line - between wanting to demonstrate that they can be tough and trying to take a slow and deliberate approach to asking for information from the Department of Justice and from the administration because they really want to maintain credibility with the investigations that they are hoping to continue for many years to come.
I mean, they are making this a very public show. They're making demands, including the one from the Judiciary Committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, for that unredacted version of the Mueller report. And they're really just kind of setting terms right now. This is all very procedural. But it's moving from the rhetorical space into one where there's the possibility of charges of contempt. And Pelosi's comments about Barr committing a crime are really, really big steps towards that kind of serious confrontation with the White House.
GREENE: Well, and this all - I mean, these accusations against the attorney general come as Barr refused to appear in the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. I mean, there was that empty chair we all saw on television. What exactly played out there?
SNELL: Yeah. Democrats set some terms, including a request for a possible closed session to question Barr. And the implosion yesterday was kind of all about sending a message from Democrats - that the administration can't dictate the terms of how a House process of investigating this administration is going to go. Now, Democrats say they wanted the option of asking - having committee lawyers ask questions of Barr. Nadler says they made a good effort to negotiate, and the Trump administration can't set the terms. So as much as there was a little bit of a stunt there and Republicans said that it was a spectacle that kind of undermined the appearance of Democrats being apolitical, there is really no avoiding politics in this. Democrats have a base of their own that says they want impeachment. And they're trying to figure out exactly how to strike the right balance of being tough.
GREENE: So as they try to strike that balance, what are we looking for to happen next?
SNELL: Yeah, the subpoenas - we are waiting. The president says he'll fight any congressional investigation. And, you know, that kind of sets up a showdown over who will comply and who will fight. Nadler gave DOJ a couple days to send over the unredacted report we've been talking about. So this is very likely to continue playing out next week.
GREENE: NPR's Kelsey Snell. Thanks, Kelsey.
SNELL: You're welcome.
GREENE: OK. So John Kapoor is the founder of the firm Insys Pharmaceutical. His company developed a prescription fentanyl spray. That's a product that helped turn the company into a billion-dollar enterprise.
MARTIN: Yeah, and now Kapoor is facing up to 20 years in prison. He was found guilty yesterday in a Boston courtroom, along with four of his colleagues, of conspiring to bribe doctors to prescribe fentanyl, which is a highly addictive drug. Significantly, it marked the first time any CEO from a pharmaceutical company has been convicted in a case linked to the country's opioid crisis.
GREENE: And we're joined now by Gabrielle Emanuel of member station WGBH in Boston. She's been following this for us. Hi, Gabrielle.
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: Hi there.
GREENE: So explain a little bit more about what exactly this CEO and these individuals were convicted of doing here.
EMANUEL: Yeah. The prosecutors argued that these executives oversaw a nationwide scheme to boost sales of this very addictive opioid painkiller. (Inaudible) different steps. First, they targeted doctors who were known to overprescribe opioids. The former head of sales, who pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution, said they ran toward pill mills, not away from them. So to Insys Therapeutics, he said pill mills meant dollar signs. The second step was bribing these doctors to write prescriptions. Often, that meant prescribing really strong opioids to patients who did not necessarily need it. They had a speakers program that was a sham, where doctors were paid not to give lectures but to write prescriptions. And then the final piece is they set up a whole call center, where Insys employees deceived insurance companies, saying whatever was necessary to get their expensive medication paid for. They even fabricated cancer diagnoses.
GREENE: Wow. I mean, I don't want to extrapolate too much from one company and one drug, but it feels like this trial might be giving us a real window into the opioid crisis.
EMANUEL: Yeah. So that's exactly right. This company kind of did outrageous things and have been found guilty. But many of their tactics actually were not unique. So, for example, Insys sales reps were given higher bonuses when they convinced doctors to write prescriptions in higher doses. The idea was get patients hooked and keep them coming back for more. We saw the same thing out of Purdue Pharma, another pharmaceutical company that's caught up in allegations that they fueled the opioid epidemic. Some of the sales reps even made a music video about this, where they boasted about (inaudible), which is a process called titration. Here's a clip of the video.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Rapping) We can come into your office. We can go and bring some lunch in. While your staff is getting fed, we can start discussing Subsys. Yes, lord...
GREENE: Huh.
EMANUEL: I was going to say it gets even crazier than that. There was a former exotic dancer who was hired as part of the sales team. She was one of the defendants who was found guilty yesterday in the trial. And she gave a lap dance to try and convince doctors to prescribe their opioid medication.
GREENE: Well, I just want to ask you - I mean, you had the chance to speak with some of the patients who were actually impacted by this scheme after the conviction. I mean, what did they tell you, and what are the implications of this trial moving forward now? What are they hoping for?
EMANUEL: They said this was huge. Basically, it was the first big criminal case to come out of the opioid crisis - pharmaceutical company executives being charged criminally. And it's not a civil case. That means they could go to prison for up to 20 years.
GREENE: All right. That's Gabrielle Emanuel of member station WGBH. Thanks so much.
EMANUEL: Thank you.
GREENE: All right. Government forces have been bombarding one of the last rebel-held areas in Syria.
MARTIN: Yeah, witnesses say that Syrian and Russian airstrikes have hit hospitals, schools, civilians' homes. This is happening in what had been set aside as a buffer zone between Turkish- and Russian-controlled areas in Syria. And it comes as there are supposed to be these peace talks in Geneva that would include representatives from the United States.
GREENE: Let's turn to NPR's Ruth Sherlock, who is in Beirut. And, Ruth, it doesn't sound like this is a buffer zone anymore. This is serious - Idlib province. What's happening?
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Right. Well, this is importantly the last main part of Syria that's controlled by rebel opponents of Bashar al-Assad. So, you know, the regime has won back a lot of the country in the last few years. And now they seem to be focusing on this area. And there's a huge amount at stake here. You know, it's a place that's swollen with civilians and - excuse me. Sorry. So for a long time, it's been essentially a last refuge for people who fled to other parts of the country. And aid workers are saying this could be a catastrophe if a full war takes hold.
GREENE: Well, what are we hearing about these strikes and how bad they've been in terms of civilians and how they're being impacted?
SHERLOCK: Well, we're hearing reports of an intense onslaught. You know, there's bombardment, airstrikes and barrel bombs. That's these crude TNT barrels that are full of explosives - the barrels that are full of TNT. And they're being - although there is fighting happening on the front lines, it seems that a lot of these are being also dropped in civilian neighborhoods.
We spoke to one rescue worker who said that a kindergarten had been destroyed. There are reports of hospitals hit. And we also spoke to a doctor - we're calling him just by his first name, Ahmed (ph), for his safety. And he is from the charity Hand in Hand.
AHMED: (Foreign language spoken).
SHERLOCK: So here he's saying, "The skies are never empty these days with those planes and helicopters firing missiles and barrels." And he says yesterday in one village, a family died, leaving behind this one little girl. You know, he's seen so much death over the last few years. And he's saying the international community only cares about numbers and not names. So he sent me a photograph of the family that died and told me to look at the little girl, who's now an orphan. She looked about no older than 3.
GREENE: Wow. Well, I mean, and this was supposed to be a buffer zone, right? I mean, this was supposed to be a relatively safe place - all sides had agreed upon. What does it tell us that that has just ended?
SHERLOCK: Well, that's right. So Turkey was concerned that the millions of people living in this area would try to flood across this border if a full war took place. So it struck this deal in September with the Syrian regime's ally Russia. And they were meant to try to keep the peace there. They're actually meant to be starting joint patrols in May. But both Turkey and Russia seem to be having difficulty convincing their respective sides - that's the rebels and the regime - to let this happen.
GREENE: Are there more talks coming that could bring some peace to this place?
SHERLOCK: Well, there are talks in Geneva on Friday with seven countries, including the U.S. But, you know, historically, these talks in Geneva have not come to a lot. And it's clear that each side is trying to gain as much ground as they can on - in this area ahead of the talks.
GREENE: NPR's Ruth Sherlock for us in Beirut, covering that situation in that region in Syria. Ruth, thanks so much.
SHERLOCK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


At lunch time I went for a run along my customary Brookline loop, a route which with a particular rhythm that I've grown fond of the last few months. After crossing Comm. Ave, the Allston Street hill quickly gets my heart going and legs tight, but then terrain levels out and eases up on me as I cut across the Break and Circus parking lot. Just as I begin to feel winded, the long downhill along Washington street tugs me toward the center of Brookline. If my legs feel good and I hit a feel-good song on the radio when I cross Beacon Street, I can often reach that heightened emotional state that all runners must crave.
Today I was lucky enough to get Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow just at the moment I began to loosen up, and I sailed for the reminder of the slow descent to School Street. The shear happiness I experience at these moments is always a bit shocking to a reserved Scandinavian type like me, but I let myself smile for no reason as I hit my cruising speed. And I today felt particularly lucky to be fit and whole and free to spend my noon hour running, the kind of feeling that can sometimes break into one's thoughts on a Memorial Day afternoon.
Since I had some energy left when I reached Coolidge Corner, I decided to tackle the interminable hill of Summit Ave, the top of which offers a great view of Cambridge as a reward for the climb. From there, it's a quick descent back down to Comm Ave, short jog back to Quint Ave, and a cool-down stroll up the hill to my house. The rush of happiness is behind me now, but the sense where I've been lingers as I walk up the stairs to my porch.


text:
Russell Center is an unincorporated community in Geauga County, in the U.S. state of Ohio. Russell Center is a synonym for Russell Township. Russell Center is not a Census designated place, nor does it have its own postal code. The postal codes for Russell Township include 44072 and 44022.

History
A variant name was Russell. A post office called Russell was established in 1828, and remained in operation until 1881. Ebenezer Russell served as first postmaster.

References

Unincorporated communities in Geauga County, Ohio
Unincorporated communities in Ohio


This beautiful floral dress is a sublime choice for a candle-lit vacation dinner. Made in the Bulgaria, it's crafted with balloon sleeves that end in elasticated cuffs and decorated with small floral buttons. The fabric is in beautiful pale summer colors and floral patterns, it is amazing cotton, which is the most wanted fabric for hot summer days and night .


text:
//
//  SRLongPollingTransport.h
//  SignalR
//
//  Created by Alex Billingsley on 10/17/11.
//  Copyright (c) 2011 DyKnow LLC. (http://dyknow.com/)
//
//  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated
//  documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
//  the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and
//  to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
//
//  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of
//  the Software.
//
//  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
//  THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
//  AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF
//  CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
//  DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
//

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import "SRHttpBasedTransport.h"

/**
 * `SRLongPollingTransport` object provides support for using Long Polling when communicating with a SignalR Server.
 *
 * SRLongPollingTransport makes an HTTP POST Request with transport="longPolling"  `SRLongPollingTransport` will keep this connection open until it receives a response or
 * a client side timeout, once the timeout is received `SRLongPollingTransport` will poll again after waiting for 2 seconds
 * Alternatively if the connection receives data successfully from the server, `SRLongPollingTransport` will poll the server again immediately
 */
@interface SRLongPollingTransport : SRHttpBasedTransport

///-------------------------------
/// @name Properties
///-------------------------------

/**
 * The time to wait after a connection drops to try reconnecting.
 *
 * By default, this is 5 seconds
 */
@property (strong, nonatomic, readwrite) NSNumber *reconnectDelay;

/**
 * The time to wait after an error happens to continue polling.
 *
 * By default, this is 2 seconds
 */
@property (strong, nonatomic, readwrite) NSNumber *errorDelay;

/**
 * The time to wait after the initial connect http request before it is considered open.
 *
 * By default, this is 2 seconds
 */
@property (strong, nonatomic, readwrite) NSNumber *connectDelay;

- (instancetype)initWithHttpClient:(id<SRHttpClient>)httpClient;

@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The "The Impact of ICT on Rural Development in Solomon Islands: the PFnet (People First Network) Case" research was funded by the ICT Research Grant to examine the impact of Internet on lives of poor grass root rural people in the Solomon Islands.
PFNet has assisted in reducing the 'digital divide'.
PFNet has helped farmers to contact relevant agricultural authorities and NGOs to get information and advice on farming matters.
Rural businesspeople use PFNet services to develop business customer contracts in Honiara and other towns and carry out many other business related activities.
Education was the second major reason (36%) for using PFNet services.
Around 6% of people use PFNet's services for health related issues. The main users are doctors, nurses, and health workers who email regarding, medical results, diagnosis, treatment advice, etc.
PFNet news service has contributed towards security, peace building and reconciliation by reducing the number of false rumours and misinformation.
The report is in final stages and hopes to be published by end of May 2005.
Negotiating Cultural Identity in the Age of ICT: A Case Study.


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The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help to locate a homicide suspect in the West Valley.
MCSO responded to a house near 111th and Grand avenues around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. When deputies arrived on the scene, they found a man who was shot.
First responders began life saving measures, but the victim was pronounced dead a short time later.
MCSO believes the suspect in this case is 37-year-old Anthony Romero. If you see this subject call 911, he is considered armed and dangerous.
If you have any information about this case, call MCSO at 602-876-1011.


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Geerdes and Associates is a full service Atlanta law firm with multiple offices in metro the Atlanta, Georgia area. All attorneys at Geerdes and Associates are required to partake in continued education in order to keep us on the cutting edge of law practice and new developments in the law. Our lawyers combined have over 50 years' experience in litigating and appealing most areas of law. Our law firm was established by our founder with the intent of providing high-quality, comprehensive legal representation to all our clients. We are highly proficient in a wide variety of practice areas and our personalized method of care allows us to give you the time and attention you and your case deserve. We can tailor our services to perfectly fit your individual needs, unlike other large law firms. Backed by more than 50 years of combined legal experience, our Atlanta attorneys have an all-encompassing understanding of the practice areas in which we specialize. As a result, we have recovered numerous multi-million dollar settlements for our clients and we can help you too. Regardless of your type of legal problem or its severity, you can count on our skilled and experienced lawyers to handle it for you today. Geerdes & Associates, LLC is a full-service law firm with several offices located throughout the Atlanta metro area. Every single one of our lawyers is required to continue our legal education in order to ensure we are always up-to-date on the newest developments in the law. Using our in-depth legal knowledge, we give our clients well-informed legal counsel and make sure that they always know the best available options for moving forward. Holly Geerdes has established herself as one of the premier trial and appellate attorneys in Atlanta and the state of Georgia.


I'd forgotten just what a Scottish Gift Shop was like.
Now admittedly it's a long time since I was inside any gift shop, but by my memory, the Scottish varietal always stood apart. Something that cannot be equalled in the sheer appallingness of the twee crap on offer within. All tartan and bagpipes and haggis.


Ladies looking for light colored fashion wear with long sleeves to wear for a special occasion, Plus Size White Skater Dress will be a great choice for them.
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Especially, if you like to dress according to contemporary fashion style these dresses are must buy.