Where to start? Well, first off I was always the kind of kid that loved adventures and new experiences, so of course when I heard about Rotary Youth Exchange from an orientation at my high school I jumped at the opportunity. The more I became informed about the exchange the more excited I became. When I discussed this amazing opportunity that I had at hand with my friends, to my surprise they didn't respond with excitement for me. I was thrown questions like "Why would you want to leave your family and your friends to live with complete and total strangers?" I thought about it and responded with "Who wouldn't want to do that? (being the outgoing and adventurous type.)" Despite my friends' lack of interest I was not discouraged, for I am as independent as it comes.
I went through the whole process of being interviewed and questioned with not only being nervous with the outcome if I was going to be chosen or not. So with the nail biting anticipation I waited it out, and soon enough got an e-mail and a phone call letting me know I was accepted and going to Switzerland! I was and am beyond thrilled. My heart skipped beats and I probably went a few days with a sore throat form screaming with excitement. Enough about how happy I am for my upcoming year, let me explain a bit of what I'm all about.
I attend Buchholz High School where I currently am a junior. I'm very involved in the Buchholz Varsity Debate Team. I have been competing for three years (I love to talk, go figure I found my niche at school). Along with being involved in that I also am a huge activist in the community, a few places I help out with are: donating blood regularly, working at the homeless shelter, and volunteering at the Humane Society. I live with my Father and Mother. I have an older sister but she goes to college in North Carolina. My favorite place in the world would have to be Disney World, and my dad and I visit Disney (my second home) quite frequently. I'm really going to miss that place when I leave, but I'm sure I can handle it.
This program has and is going to open up so many doors for me. I can't wait to get the show on the road and be placed into Switzerland. I have to say to anyone who has the least bit of interest in this program to check it out. This is an experience of a lifetime and I am so glad I have been given the ability to embrace this new life. Thank you so much Rotary for having the faith in me and giving me the opportunity that will forever change who I am for the better.
This feeling no one will ever know unless they experience it. You step onto the plane, looking over your shoulder at your family waving goodbye, your eyes fill with tears of joy and sadness, everything will be alright. The stranger next to you on the plane strikes up conversation and you breath easy for a moment because you feel like you are not alone, you make small talk and then they ask you of course about your blazer and you get to explain your whole idea of this adventure you are about to venture on. Their eyes widen and you know that they are just as nervous for you as you are. The plane ride was long, but telling your story that you have yet to experience makes it enjoyable, and instead of looking at it with fear, when verbalized you realize that this is an opportunity of a life time, you will see and do so many things that you have never dreamed of, this trip, this journey you can't prepare for, you are alive.
My feet brace myself as my knees shake and I walk off the plane, and go through customs and grab my bags, I am not so sure what my host mother and brother look like, the pictures I was sent seem to be lost in my mind mixed in with all the thoughts, "Will they like me?" "I hope they find me." "If not I have my calling card to call someone, but who" "Shush Morgan you will be fine."
I hear my name MORGAN! WELKOMEN! I feel at ease, I am found. I am greeted with three kisses and a smile, this feels right. We go to get my train ticket and everything goes smoothly except for the part where I struggle to get all my things on the train and a nice young Swiss boy helps me along and says something to me, but I was not quite sure what it was, but I nodded to him and thanked him.
My host brother is a trip, he is so kind and always so funny, he is very intelligent, I am glad he loves spending hours of playing chess, I of course always lose, but I am learning.
The food, is amazing. Cheese has never tasted so good, and neither has chocolate. A traditional Swiss meal is where you heat a slice of cheese on a hot tablet in a stove looking thing on the kitchen table, and then you pour it over potatoes, AMAZING!
Cows seem to be sacred here, they are obsessed with the "coo" it's adorable. When I arrived in my town the first thing I saw were hang-gliders, they glide all day everyday, it's amazing how relaxed here and how people enjoy every second of their day and waste no time to be bored, they always find something to do.
I ventured to the town of Bern yesterday with my host mother and brother, we went to Einstein's house in Bern, Munster of Bern (Gothic Cathedral), The Zytglogge Tower (Medieval Tower in Bern-Old prison guard built in the 1300's), walking around in this new place is so invigorating.
Speaking german is coming more easily to me than I thought, that is all my host family speaks to me on exception if I really don't understand, but I usually do, STUDY YOUR HOST LANGUAGE. I can't say that enough, open your eyes to the world and it will open it's arms to you, close your eyes and you will not know the direction you are going towards.
I have to say the change is not easy, it is exciting but it does cause you to be a bit sad, and you do miss home. But then again it is wonderful and an experience you will have for the rest of your life, I have only been here for three days and I feel I have started to change, for the good, I am becoming more aware of who I am and that it is alright to feel lonely and to be alone, it causes you to tap into your emotions and be alright with life by yourself, even though you are surrounded by unfamiliar people you know that you are fine, society has made of fear the feeling of being alone, but it's something special when you can be alone and feel content. I will only get stronger.
They have really neat candy shops that specialize in sweets other than chocolate, the Swiss have it all. Delicious.
The weather is so pleasant, there is no such thing as central air in Switzerland, but you don't need it, you leave your windows open and enjoy the fresh air, it does get a bit chilly at night, and from now on it will keep getting that way. I will start school in 2-3 weeks, I am so excited to try and make friends.
Know that it is okay to cry, perfectly alright to smile, and normal to feel a mix of emotions you can yet explain.
Today is the day, embrace it and feel alive, I certainly do.
I have come to the realization that this has to be one of the best things that has ever happen to me, being on my third week here I have learned more about so many different things than I have ever learned in my whole entire life. I have started to learn a whole new culture, a whole new language, well two languages because Switzerland has at least another dialect of German, Swiss German, that I think I will master by my last day here, hopefully, it is terribly hard, I have also learned so much about myself.
Yes, there is no way to avoid homesickness, you will at least feel it slightly, that is if you go running and talk with your host family and make yourself very tired before you lay down to go to bed, that is what I try to do, so you don't have time to think about what is going on back home, and to be honest, you're most likely not missing anything super important back at home that needs you to think about it all the time.
I have said that I have realized a lot, and thus far I think what I have realized the most, are things about myself, and life in general.
Everyone has their own story, this story is one called life, your life. Everyone will choose to lead their story in which ever direction they would like, I choose to lead mine in the direction of happiness, success, and some failure. What some people don't realize is that one day they will have to share their story, and think about it, I mean really think about it, when you get older, yes we all physically do, you will have to tell your story, and don't you want it to be as interesting, and as amazing as you have dreamt it to be? This all connects back to, don't sit in your room all the time and be antisocial on your exchange, don't spend all your time thinking and missing home and friends and family, live in the now, you are here, BE HERE. Don't be somewhere else, lost in your thoughts, rather get lost on the train, like I did on my first day venturing to school.
Everyday I learn something new, I love it, everyday there is something exciting to look forward to, some days are hard to get through, and others I don't want to end, I love this life that I have begun, I am so very thankful to everyone that has made it possible.
I am indulging in the delicious food, drenching in the amazing culture, and filling my mind with memories to last a life time.
My story will have more happy moments than sad ones, my story will make people asking for more, my story will be all my own, and I am the director and actor in this story, this story called life.
This story has begun, and it will be a success, get out and make your story memorable.
Time is already flying by; I can't grasp many days it seems. I learn so much everyday, my German is coming along wonderfully, I have never been so proud of myself. School has begun, and let me tell you it is interesting. Here you can not wear your "outdoor" shoes inside so you have to change your shoes right when you walk into school into "house shoes" I like this, because your feet are so comfy all day.
One thing I did find out is sleeping in class is unheard of, school here is a lot longer than school in the United States. I go to school from 8am to 5pm. One of my best friends here had a birthday, and a tradition here in Switzerland is to make a huge sign for their 18th birthday that says "We love you" you put this huge sign up on their house the night before their birthday morning, well my friends birthday happened to be on a school night, so I stayed up very late so my host sister and I could venture to his house and place this sign on his balcony without him knowing. It was around eleven or twelve at night when we got to his house to put this sign up, we finished around one in the morning, we had some problems, but then of course I had to wake up for school in about five hours, I got to school beat tired and by the last period I felt like a zombie, we were watching a film in class when all of a sudden I was saying something to a class mate and BOOM I was out like a light. I think I slept for around thirty minutes, and had no idea until I woke up with all my classmates laughing and asking if I had sweet dreams, in German of course. The teacher was not mad, thank goodness, he thought it was funny, but when I told my host mom, she was not so thrilled, I explained that in America I NEVER slept in class but here I just have to get used to the longer days, and I promised I would never sleep in class again, my host dad however thought it was hilarious.
I love school, at first it was a bit awkward just because some teachers did not even acknowledge that I was in class, I think that is because last years exchange students left a sour taste in their mouths. I have made a point to let them know I am here to learn even if I do not understand everything. My German/English dictionary is my lifesaver; I carry that thing around like it is my child. Chemistry has never been more interesting, the names they use here for the elements are so interesting, I however cannot pronounce the names just yet, they are sure to twist your tongue. I have integrated quite well, my classmates are so funny, the Swiss are nothing like the stereotypes we have for them. They are amazing people.
I also found out that dogs here are very friendly where I live, I go running about everyday and so far four times I have been chased by a dog and its owner, and then in German the owner will apologize like crazy, and it is so sweet, there are dogs everywhere here, I love it. I think I will become a pro walker when I get done with this year, you walk everywhere, no matter if you are going to catch the bus, going to the train, going to school, whatever you do you WALK. I love this healthy lifestyle.
My host family is the sweetest; I am so lucky to be living with people so kind. I celebrated my 18th birthday here, you will never believe what happened. I wake up to a huge kiss and hug from my host mother, and later we have the most delicious "black forest" cake I have ever eaten, then around 9pm my host parents say we have to get in the car to go and get my birthday present, I was so confused, I got into the car and we pull up to a building, and it is pitch black, we all get out of the car and walk up to the building, my host mom knocks on the door, and a lady comes and opens the door, we walk in and then she turns on the lights, it is a jewelry store, then my host mom tells me to pick out whatever I want for my birthday, I burst into tears, I have never experienced something so shocking as this, I found a beautiful necklace that I liked so they graciously got it for me and then my host mom says "You need a ring to match that" I am even more shocked, I find a ring to die for, and she says "Yes, this is perfect." I appreciate all that my host family does for me, they are by far some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Switzerland is a great experience, it is everything I could have wished for, but nothing I could have expected. I can never thank Rotary and my parents and everyone else that made this possible for me enough, you truly have changed my life, for the better, and I am loving it more and more everyday.
You know how we say "Piece of cake" in English when something is simple, well this Swiss guy was trying to tell me it was a "Piece of cake" to ski on the "black" slope and instead of saying "Piece of cake" he said "A cup of chicken" then he said "A cup of cake" and finally a "Piece of cake" I have never laughed harder in my whole entire life, he enjoyed it as well, he finds my German funny at times, and his English funny at times as well, I love this culture, I love the language barrier and watching it fall.
Switzerland, a wondrous place, a place where you can look out every window and see something breath taking. The atmosphere here is a lot different from the atmosphere in the United States, it is refreshing, mind blowing, and perfect.
I have settled in quite well, I have so many Swiss friends, the Swiss are not what the stereo-types have said they are. They are very warm and sweet people once you get to know them. You do have to make effort in letting them know you are interested in the way of life that they live.
I have become a coffee and hot tea addict, they do enjoy their coffee here, as I have come to find I enjoy it quite well too.
The language is going great I am learning new things everyday, I have never been so interested in a language until I came here, it is nothing like learning a language in school, it is the real deal. You feel so proud of yourself when you can finally have a conversation with a stranger in their language and not in your first language. I now think in German, I hardly ever use English, or even think in English anymore. This is kind of funny because I have started to forget my English, and in my English class I am asked questions about English, and sometimes it takes me a bit to remember the word or how to properly say it. This is a sign that I am truly immersing myself into the culture.
Switzerland is unique along with all of the people that live here in Switzerland, this place is like no other I have traveled to, I think that is because when you travel, you are in a way "a tourist" and you do not truly get the feel of the culture, but I have had my hands full of this culture and let me tell you it is amazing.
School is very long here, I have class for around 9 hours a day, but it is so much fun. The sport class here I have twice a week and in sport we have danced and made human sculptures and all sorts of fun things, I have learned how to play basketball, volleyball, soccer, and courtball. Also my classes are very interesting because you do not have the same classes everyday like you do in America, you have different ones each day. It mixes things up and keeps you busy.
I have fallen in love with the city Lucern, the whole look and feel of the city is to die for, I love walking around in this city and just enjoying the scenery.
I went to a Carnival type thing here called Määs, it was really fun, shopping, riding rides, eating, talking, laughing, the Swiss know how to have a good time. When they say they want to relax and have fun, they sure do it.
I also have been to the Cinema here, very interesting, you have assigned seats on your ticket when you purchase it, so the earlier you come to get your ticket the better seat you get, also half way through the movie you get a 15 minute pause to go to the bathroom, buy more refreshments and all, it is nice because you don't have to miss any of the movie.
Little differences like that make you stop and think, and realize how we all live our lives so differently but then again how similar we do things, but with a twist.
I am no longer really homesick, your emotions do take you for a ride, you will experience all the emotions you have ever felt in your life all at once and then none of them at all, you will also feel emotions you have never felt before and ones you can not explain, but that is the life of an exchange student, and it is so interesting to push yourself out of your comfort zone and see how you react, you will never be able to prepare yourself enough for what you will feel, but you will also never be able to know how much you will enjoy it and cherish it until you do it. It can be tough and it can be nothing but beautiful and amazing, you just have to remember when you get stuck in a rut and you do not know what to do and where to turn to, remember tomorrow is a new day, you may see the sun or you may not, but you will be stronger and you will be one day more in tune and secure with yourself, because being an exchange student will force you to grow up, and force you to be on your way to finding yourself and you will find that you are a beautiful person inside and out, and that you are doing something a lot of people would not dare to do. Some days you may not want to wake up for, but if you do not force yourself out of bed you will miss the days that are truly worth waking up for and the days you will truly remember for the rest of your life.
Switzerland, where to start, where to begin. I can not stop saying how beautiful this place is. For all of you students out there that are thinking about doing an exchange year, JUST DO IT. It has been the best decision of my life so far and I have learned so much in just under four months. Also Listen to Rotary when you go to all of their camps to prepare you, every word of advice they give you is correct and you can apply it to your exchange year. Rotary I will never thank you enough.
Let's see, the culture here is pretty different from the US. I take a train to school everyday, pretty cool if I do say so myself. Also you can not joke with the teachers like you do in the US. This does however leave me with some funny stories.
The other day I passed my art teacher and I waved to him and said "HEYYY!" and to my knowledge in the US this is perfectly alright, well here, no, DO NOT DO NOT do this. He got this sour look on his face and told me to never do that again, that he was not a fan like Brad Pitt or something, then I thought he was joking so I tapped him on the back with my hand, haha, my host family thought this was very funny because you can not do this here, your teachers are like older people that you have to keep a straight face with most of the time, this does not make it less fun, just very interesting. Anyway the art teacher walked away shaking his head and said "crazy Americans" all of my class mates found this funny and could not believe I did this, I did not find it funny that they do not joke with their teachers as we do. Anyway to clarify my art teacher likes me a lot, he just knows I am "American" a bit funny.
The snow has settled in here and it is not yet December, it is beyond beautiful, as my other exchange friends and I have said "Every time you look out the window it is as if you are looking at a postcard or a picture" and this is so true, this place is one of the most beautiful things I have yet to lay my eyes on.
Shopping, let me tell you, fashion here is huge, and the shopping is grand, but be careful because you can burn a hole in your pocket quick, as for I have sure made an impact on my wallet so far, I need to put on the breaks, but the clothes here are to die for.
The food, you will have never eaten anything better, I am in love with their cooking, my host mom is a killer cook, I have to keep going to the gym or it will sure catch up with me, but you will enjoy yourself to death here.
The people, they are so loving once you get to know them, it takes a while for them to warm up to you, for you are an outsider, but once they get to know you, they are very very loyal and true to you, the Swiss are so fun, and so interesting.
Swiss German, let me tell you this will blow your mind, I am learning "High German" as they call it, the German you all know of, but Swiss German is in a whole other ball field, I am trying to learn this as well, but as one Swiss person told me is "If it sounds like we are choking on something, you know we are speaking Swiss German" this is so true, it is so fun to learn though.
The atmosphere here is stunning, every time I walk outside I am taken aback, because it feels so surreal sometimes.
I am so glad to be here, homesickness does happen, but you have to always remember to find happiness in each and every day, and that tomorrow is a new day, and that this year will flash by you so fast you do not want to be stuck sad.
Thanks again Rotary, I love you all.
December December oh how I love you, I have never seen the real seasons and how they change. Florida does have the "cold" days as we Floridians like to call them in our "winter" time, but here in Switzerland I am really I mean really experiencing what it is like to have cold weather, it can sometimes become negative four degrees, but that is on a rare day, non the less this is what the real cold feels and looks like. There is snow every where you look and it is just amazing.
I have already gone snowboarding and let me tell you, I busted some but and ate plenty of snow. I am taking a snowboarding class starting on Christmas Eve, this should be fun and help me learn the correct way to fall and get back up.
I went night sledding the other night, what fun that was. You go up a ski lift around 10pm at night and sled down the mountain and reach the bottom at around 12am. Then after all this fun you get to go and eat fondu, oh the delicious cheese they have here in Switzerland is die for.
In a week or so I am going to go dog sledding, yes dog sledding. This is with eight Huskies, my favorite type of dog, I am so excited, everything I do here I think, wow this is really a once in a life time opportunity for me.
I am enjoying every waking moment of it all. Christmas is around the corner and I honestly thought I would be more homesick than I actually am. I think the snow is helping me, because I know I will most likely never have a white Christmas and if I do later in life it will most likely not be in Switzerland although I do hope to come back.
I recently went to Germany and I realized how thrilled I am to be in Switzerland, in the beginning of all of this I wanted to go to some country that spoke German and my fist thought was Germany, then I thought oh Switzerland what a neat place, when you first think of Switzerland what do you think of? Chocolate, Cheese, Swiss Alps. Exactly the best things in life, and the only things you need to survive on, =) The whole deal with them speaking mainly Swiss German here, and making it a bit harder to learn "correct" German did scare me a bit, but now having traveled to Germany I now see that Switzerland is really really something special, Germany is as well, but there is just something about Switzerland that is like no other place, nothing can be compared to it. I am so grateful to be here, even with the challenge of Swiss German, in Switzerland you can honestly be ANYWHERE here and see nothing but a picturesque landscape. You can with out a doubt stand and do a 360 and every place you look, looks like a postcard.
This exchange has brought nothing but a wonderful learning experience thus far, everyday I learn something new, or see something spectacular, if any of you "newbies" have any questions or are in the least bit interested in going to Switzerland, or already know you are coming to Switzerland and would like to talk, I am here with open ears and eager fingers to type and chat with you, do not be hesitant or afraid.
So January is already here, I have already had a wonderful start into this new year, 2011 will be something that I can not forget, I know this for sure. I got the opportunity to go Dog Sledding, and if you have this opportunity in the country you are going to, please please do so. You have no idea how much fun it is, it is nothing like you see in the movies, but so much more fun. The dogs are nothing but power animals with so much energy and love packed all in one. I also built my first snowman in my life here in Switzerland, that was a lot of work but so worth it, I keep learning how to snowboard better and better everyday since I live right in front of a ski lift, so nice, I am really soaking up this luxury. Time is now flying faster than ever, I am completely comfortable in my country, I can say everything I want to say with no language restraint now. I can breathe easier. I have made so many friends and have really acclimated into the school. I feel as one of the Swiss, I do get mistaken a lot for a local and that is just so refreshing.
I would just like to say, push your limits, step out of your comfort zone, feel completely vulnerable and live. Life is not supposed to always be easy, life is not supposed to be everything bliss. We all have good and bad days, but the memories good or bad will always be with you and you will only gain strength from these experiences, find a smile everyday, find some happiness, and watch yourself grow into a person you had no idea was inside of you, and I can thank this exchange year for that, I am changing and learning new things about myself everyday and it is so interesting to see.
This year, no matter what you think now, will change you for the better. You will learn so much about yourself and about things in your life that you want to accomplish, you will make life long friends, special bonds you never knew you could make all because of this exchange year. Do not hesitate to feel nervous or to feel uneasy. This year will bring so many emotions you never knew were within you, and it is healthy to tap into yourself like this. You have to realize how lucky you are to have this opportunity because so many people would kill to be in your position, you will meet people so many other people that will tell you the same thing, and really take it into consideration, you, yes you, are one of the luckiest people alive to have this experience, do not take it for granted.
Hope everyone has a wonderful new years and stays safe and healthy.
Thanks again Rotary, you are truly a blessing.
So it's finally February, I have been in Switzerland for officially six months, wow this time is going by so quickly. I have learned so much thus far, I can't even begin to imagine what I will learn in this last half of my year. I am doing some traveling in my last half. I will be going to Berlin, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and other parts of Italy. I am taking a yodeling class with my host mom and let me tell you how much fun it is. This is truly the Swiss experience. All of my friends here think I am crazy for wanting to do something such as yodeling but why not? I only live once and I only have one year for my exchange to make it the most memorable year of my life. So I will yodel my heart out.
I am over homesickness full blown, that is a shock to me, because homesickness would come and go like the wind blows, but now I am one hundred percent comfortable in my country and I know how everything works such as the train system, the eating habits, and just the way of living life in Switzerland, when I think about coming back to the States it is a totally odd feeling, I can not even begin to explain, only other exchange students know how I feel. I am enjoying every moment here, I will not and am not taking this for granted.
I have made so many friends and I am shocked at how close some of them and I have become. I just know I am going to have a ton of Swiss friends come to America, you really do make unbreakable bonds with people on your exchange and it is so heartwarming to see and feel. I would just like to say Rotary has prepared me so well for this year; I can not thank them enough.
The homesickness chart is right on cue, they know exactly what we will and are feeling due to the months. They really have this down to a "T" So a little bit about how I have changed because I am dying to try to put it into words.
I have grown a tolerance for so many people, and so many things. Before, when I was living in the States I talked fast, walked fast, thought fast, everything I did I could not slow down. Here I am forced to stop and rethink everything, I am forced to speak slower and to think slower due to having a new language in my brain to use. It has been like a breath of fresh air. I have come to realize that we are all so different but then again so much alike, we all get sad, we all laugh, we all smile no matter what language we speak.
I have grown to really strongly dislike stereotypes, I may find them funny at times but now they just become something like an itch that you can't scratch when I hear them. I have become way more open minded and open hearted than I used to be, and most of all I have grown a huge respect for myself, I really do finally appreciate who I am and who I have become and who I am on my to becoming.
This year has open so many doors for me not only in the outside world but also in the "inside world" such as mentally. I am just amazed at how much you change and progress for the best in this year. Any parent reading this; smile, please, and do not fear that your child has changed in any way for the worse, but for the best.
Smile because your child really does have a grip on life; smile because your child is not like many other kids their age. We all will come back different from our year and only us exchange students will know exactly what we all feel and that we are different from most every kid in our age group. That will cause us some challenges but do not doubt that we won't be able to handle the challenges, look at us, we are making it through a year in a whole different country, pretty much on our own, we are invincible, nothing can and will stand in our way, we have conquered what most people call us crazy and weird for.
We are exchange students changing the world one journey at a time.
Let's say someone has pressed the fast forward button on my exchange year, officially. I was told how it would go so fast right before you eyes, but I never ever began to actually contemplate the idea until now, I AM IN MARCH. This is almost mind blowing how insanely fast it is going from here on out.
So let's see if I can recap on a few things I have gotten to do. I am in love with Penguins, and I read in the newspaper here that the Zürich Zoo was having a "Penguin Parade" it's where they let the Penguins out at a certain time and you can walk WITH THEM, so of course I HAD to do this, I quickly organized how to get to the Zoo and believe it or not I got to walk with the Penguins, what a cool experience. They were just so adorable.
Over my "Fasnacht" break I was taken to Berlin by my host family, wow that was an experience of a life time, I enjoyed myself more than I have ever in a long while. For those who are wondering what "Fasnacht" is, it is something that is very special to Switzerland, it's a bit like Halloween in the states but with a twist. It lasts a whole week long and you wake up, put on a costume, does not matter what, just something that is ridiculous. Then you can go to different towns and what not and there will be parades in the morning with "Guggenmusik" (that is some form of loud music with trumpets, drums, cymbals, anything instrumental that you can think of. Then at night there are party's with this music as well, and it can last all night and it's just a crazy experience, they hold this true to themselves, everyone, all ages goes and does this for a full week, some dedication, I know. Anyway I was so thankful to get the opportunity to go to Berlin, that was a must see on my travel list...along with the rest of the world.
School is going well, I am fully 100% intergraded, I feel like I am really living the true Swiss life. I love love love my host family, I can not stress this enough. I really got lucky. This year so far has been like a dream, it goes so fast and is everything and more than I ever wanted or thought of. In two weeks I will be going to Rome with Rotary, then in May I will be going to Amsterdam with my school class for a week, then in June I will be going to Paris with Rotary, these last few months I would not pass up for the world. There are always ups and downs, but let me tell you all, stick it through, you will see what I mean, you will know exactly what I am feeling when you get to this point. I know I will remember this year for the rest of my life.
I've gained friends, life long memories, confidence, I've matured, a lot, I think my parents back home will be shocked, I don't think they will have a grasp on the world anymore when they see me, they will be so proud, it gives me goose bumps just thinking about how proud I am of myself. Most of all though, I have gained an appreciation, respect, patience, and acceptance for everyone and everything in this world, we are all blessed with this life no matter how bad it can get sometimes, but I am so very thankful.
As they would say in German "Geniessen Sie das Leben du lebst" "Enjoy this life you are living"


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November 16, 2017 New Tracks, News, Soul/R&B
Billie Eilish surprises us with a chill R&B new track "Bitches Broken Heart"
Los Angeles-based artist Billie Eilish drops personal and woozy single "Bitches Broken Heart".
There's has been a lot of hype surrounding the young artist who, at age 15, is definitely on a winning streak. She belongs to this generation of young artists who are setting the new music trends. Yesterday, Billie Eilish shared a new track, "Bitches Broken Heart", by surprise. The chill and woozy R&B track is her first offering since the release of her debut EP "dont smile at me" this summer. Listen to it below.
Keep things up via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Arnaud Marty
– I love your personality!
– Oh really, which one?
Tags:Billie Eilish

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you're looking for a place to get away, look no further than Budgee Budgee. Whether you're planning to stay for a night or for the week, the area around Budgee Budgee has accommodations to fit every need. Search for hotels in Budgee Budgee with Hotels.com by checking our online map. Our map displays the areas and neighborhoods around all Budgee Budgee hotels so you can see how close you are from landmarks and attractions, and then refine your search within the larger area. The best Budgee Budgee hotel deals are here with our lowest price guarantee.


The two person umbrella will allow you and your date to stay dry while also facilitating you to get in each others comfort zone.
Comes the two person umbrella, equally adorable and much handier in day to day living.
No matter how heavy the rainfall, you and your sweetheart will remain nice and dry while the bottom half of your pants and shoes get soaked.


The TreeList is a multi-purpose data visualization system that can display information as a TREE, a GRID, or a combination of both - in either a data bound or unbound mode.
To learn more about the TreeList and see it in action, refer to its online demos.
The TreeList is realized by the TreeListExtension class. Its instance can be accessed via the ExtensionsFactory.TreeList helper method, which is used to add a TreeList extension to a view. This method's parameter provides access to the TreeList's settings implemented by the TreeListSettings class, allowing you to fully customize the extension.
The TreeList's client counterpart is represented by the MVCxClientTreeList object.
The TreeList can be added to a view in the following manner.


By this Strange but True facts list you can learn new words in English and you can improve your vocabulary.
➢The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows!
➢Most lipstick contains fish scales!
➢Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing!
➢One ragweed plant can release as many as one billion grains of pollen!
➢It's illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while you're sitting on a curb in St. Louis!
➢The first product to have a bar code was Wrigleys Gum!
➢No piece of square dry paper can be folded more that 7 times in half!
➢A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group of geese in the air is a skein!
➢Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people!
➢There are more than 10 million bricks in the Empire State Building!
➢If you counted 24 hours a day, it would take 31,688 years to reach one trillion!
➢Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive!
➢A crocodile always grows new teeth to replace the old teeth!
➢The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth!
➢Clinophobia is the fear of beds!
➢A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second!
➢Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eye"!
➢The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Uses every letter of the alphabet!
➢The average life span of a major league baseball is 5-7 pitches!
➢The Mint once considered producing doughnut-shaped coins!
➢The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable"!
➢The sloth (a mammal) moves so slowly that green algae can grow undisturbed on its fur!
➢Cat urine glows under a black-light!
➢The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1!
➢The electric chair was invented by dentists!
➢Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland!
➢A hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute on average!
➢Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand!
➢There are more than one million animal species on Earth!
➢In Natoma, Kansas, it's illegal to throw knives at men wearing striped suits!
➢It was once against the law to have a pet dog in a city of Iceland!
➢Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!
➢Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark!
➢During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants!
➢Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!
➢Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
➢The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old!
➢In space, astronauts cannot cry properly, because there is no gravity, so tears can't flow down their faces!
➢There are more plastic flamingos in the U.S. than real ones!
➢About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30!
➢More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones!
➢A sneeze travels out of your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.!
➢Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe!
➢In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons!
➢Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch T.V for 3 hours!
➢Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet!
➢Owls are one of the only birds who can see the color blue!
➢The average American/Canadian drinks about 600 sodas a year!
➢It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland!
➢There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses!
➢Honeybees have a type of hair on their eyes!
➢Eskimo ice cream is neither icy, or creamy!
➢A jellyfish is 95% water!
➢In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals!
➢A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat so you can eat your plate!
➢People print more monopoly money in a year, than real money printed throughout the world!
➢The starfish is one of the only animals who can turn their stomach inside out!
➢The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!
➢The penguin is the only bird who can swim but can't fly!
➢Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States!
➢One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet!
➢America once issued a five cent bill!
➢You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in your lifetime!
➢Everybody's tongue print is different!
➢There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple, and month!
➢Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his hat to keep himself cool!
➢A man name Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!
➢Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
➢166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered every year in the US!
➢123 billion cars are being driven down the US highways!
➢56 billion people go to major league baseball games each year!
➢In Tokyo they sell toupees for dogs!
➢There are over 58 million dogs in the US!
➢Dogs and cats consume over 11 billion dollars worth of pet food every year!
➢Finger nails grow nearly four times faster than toenails!
➢You blink over 10 billion times a year!
➢Baby robins eat 14 feet of earth worms everyday!
➢The average person laughs 13 times a day!
➢Men are six times more likely to be struck by lightning than women!
➢It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and forget where they hid them!
➢Earnest Vincent Wright wrote the novel Gadsby which contains over 50,000 words, none of them with the letter 'E'!
➢The word 'set' has the most definitions of all the words in the English language!
➢The object most often choked on by Americans is the toothpick!
➢Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the mornings!
➢Smelling bananas and/or green apples can help you lose weight!
➢A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons of sweat per day! Most of the sweat does evaporate before you notice it's there.
➢A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court!
➢The most used letter in the English alphabet is the letter 'E'!
➢The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'!
➢Nose prints are used to identify dogs rather than finger prints!
This is the end of Strange but True facts. No you don't have to memorize them. You may only read them for fun and learn new words.


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Financial Stability and Central Bank Transparency
Chairman Jerome H. Powell
At "350 years of Central Banking: The Past, the Present and the Future," A Sveriges Riksbank anniversary conference sponsored by the Riksbank and the Riksdag, Stockholm, Sweden
Thank you for inviting me here to celebrate this important milestone. Today is a special day for all of us, since the founding of the Riksbank 350 years ago marked the beginning of central banking.1 As we meet to discuss the challenges and opportunities the future may hold, it is worth pausing to note that the three and a half centuries since the Riksbank's founding have seen economic growth and dynamism the breadth and duration of which have been unprecedented in world history. The Swedish innovation we celebrate today, I believe, is a vital part of the financial foundations that support the continuation of rising prosperity.
In my comments today, I will explore the road ahead for public transparency and accountability of central banks in a time of intense scrutiny and declining trust in public institutions in many places around the world. As you know, the importance of transparency and accountability to monetary policymaking was recognized and became firmly entrenched in practice over the past few decades. The Riksbank has been a leader in this transparency revolution. Today I will focus on the less-often emphasized but critically important role transparency and accountability play in regulatory and financial stability policies.
To preview my conclusions, public transparency and accountability around both financial stability and monetary policy have become all the more important in light of the extraordinary actions taken by central banks in response to the Global Financial Crisis. Financial stability policymaking has evolved from managing individual crises as they arise to establishing a policy framework that emphasizes prevention. This framework now includes measures to increase the resiliency of the financial system; enhanced monitoring of financial institutions and of building risks to the system; and measures, such as resolution planning, that require firms to take steps today to better prepare for future episodes of stress. These innovations have placed special demands on transparency and accountability, and we have worked hard to explain them to the public. The framework is still evolving, and we will need to be open to making changes and to new ways to enhance transparency and accountability.
Government, Central Banking, and Independence
This is a challenging moment for central banking. Opinion polls show that trust in government and public institutions is at historic lows.2 In this environment, central banks cannot take our measure of independence for granted.
For monetary policy, the case for central bank independence rests on the demonstrated benefits of insulating monetary policy decisions from shorter-term political considerations. But for a quarter century, inflation has been low and inflation expectations anchored. We must not forget the lessons of the past, when a lack of central bank independence led to episodes of runaway inflation and subsequent economic contractions.
As for financial stability, the crisis and the severe recession that followed revealed serious flaws at many private and public institutions, including shortcomings in supervision and regulation. The crisis and its aftermath led central banks to take extraordinary actions, actions that challenged the ingenuity of experts in the field and were understandably difficult to explain and justify to a skeptical public. While these actions were authorized by law and on the whole necessary to avert the complete collapse of the financial system's ability to service households and businesses, they may have also contributed to the erosion of public trust.
Central banks are assigned narrow but important mandates. For monetary policy, the Fed's mandate is to keep inflation low and stable and to achieve maximum employment. For financial sector supervision and regulation, part of our mandate is to foster the safety and soundness of individual institutions. In addition, we have a responsibility, shared with other government agencies, to promote financial stability. I view this responsibility as being highly complementary to other aspects of our mission: Financial stability promotes sustainable economic growth, and a stable, well-functioning financial system is an effective transmission channel for monetary policy. Indeed, there can be no macroeconomic stability without financial stability.
Within our narrow mandates, to safeguard against political interference, central banks are afforded instrument independence‑‑that is, we are given considerable freedom to choose the means to achieve legislatively-assigned goals. While the focus is often on monetary policy independence, research suggests that a degree of independence in regulatory and financial stability matters improves the stability of the banking system and leads to better outcomes.3 For this reason, governments in many countries, including the United States, have granted some institutional and budgetary independence to their financial regulators.
Financial Stability, Transparency and Accountability
In a democratic system, any degree of independence brings with it the obligation to provide appropriate transparency. In turn, transparency provides an essential basis for accountability and democratic legitimacy by enabling effective legislative oversight and keeping the public informed.4 Of course, central banks also need to stick closely to our mandates; the case for independence weakens to the extent that central banks stray into issues that the legislature has not assigned to us.5
There is also an important policy effectiveness argument in favor of transparency. In the financial stability arena, there is no better example of this than the role that the first round of stress tests played during the crisis in restoring confidence in the U.S. banking system.6 So in the financial stability realm, the case for enhanced transparency is not just about being accountable; it is also about providing credible information that can help restore and sustain public confidence in the financial system.
The post-crisis regulatory system recognizes the importance of enhanced transparency, both about financial institutions themselves and about the processes and expectations of regulators and supervisors. Before the crisis, supervision focused on the safety and soundness of individual institutions and was insufficiently attentive to risk in the financial system as a whole. Supervisory judgments about firms were shared with the public only in rare and exceptional circumstances. Financial stability tools were deployed after the fact, to address specific events that emerged to threaten stability. It is an understatement to say that this approach proved inadequate in the crisis.
The post-crisis regime has shifted to implementing preventive policies well in advance of any crisis.7 Newly established ex ante policies include building the resilience of institutions by requiring more and higher-quality capital and liquidity buffers; a regime of stress tests undertaken by supervisors; and resolution planning, which requires firms to analyze their own potential for distress or failure and create a plan to be used in the event of bankruptcy. These post-crisis policies have benefitted from public solicitation of feedback and in many cases from consideration in open meetings of the Board of Governors.
Transparency and incorporation of public feedback in these areas have produced more effective supervision and regulation. For example, transparent and clearly communicated policies make it easier for regulated entities to know what is expected of them and how best to comply. Of course, as with any large-scale, complex undertaking, the standards adopted over the past decade can undoubtedly be improved. At the Fed, we are committed to transparency as we assess the efficacy and efficiency of post-crisis reforms.
In a sense, stress testing is itself a step forward in transparency. Pre-crisis, supervisors' views of the risks facing our most systemically important firms--and the firms' ability to understand and survive these risks--were shrouded in secrecy. Post-crisis, as part of our stress-testing regime, these supervisory views and expectations are transparent. We expect that these firms will have capital, liquidity, and risk-management capabilities that are adequate for the firms not only to survive, but to continue to perform their key functions even in the event of truly severe stress, akin to the global financial crisis. We make a great deal of information regarding the stress tests public, including the scenarios we use, portfolio-level projected losses for participating firms, and, of course, the results. We have also proposed for public comment a range of ways to further enhance the transparency of the supervisory stress tests. This detailed disclosure provides the public with a wealth of information on how these institutions would perform under severe stress. And this transparency both enhances public confidence and holds banking regulators accountable for their judgments.
At the Federal Reserve we use a variety of additional means to enhance public understanding of our supervisory and financial stability efforts and judgments. The Board's Vice Chairman for Supervision testifies before the Congress twice a year. The Board staff's assessment of financial stability is discussed four times a year at Federal Open Market Committee meetings, and these discussions are summarized in the meeting's published minutes. And, since 2013, the semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress has contained a review of financial stability conditions.
The post-crisis framework remains novel and unfamiliar. Some of these new policies, such as stress testing and resolution planning, are inherently complex and challenging for all involved. As a result, transparency and accountability around financial stability tools present particular challenges. We will continue to strive to find better ways to enhance transparency around our approach to preserving financial stability. Efforts to engage with the public‑‑including consumer groups, academics, and the financial sector‑‑are likely to lead to improved policies. Moreover, ongoing dialogue will work to enhance public trust, as well as our ability to adapt to new threats as they emerge.
There is every reason to expect that technology and communications will continue to rapidly evolve, and to affect the financial system and financial stability in ways that we cannot fully anticipate. While future innovations may well improve the delivery of financial services and make the system stronger, they may also contain the seeds of potential future systemic vulnerabilities. We will need to keep up with the pace of innovation, which will doubtless require changes to our approach to financial stability. As we consider such changes, it will remain critically important to provide transparency and accountability. By doing so, we strengthen the foundation of democratic legitimacy that enables central banks to serve the needs of our citizens, in the long and proud tradition of the Riksbank.
Bernanke, Ben S. (2013). "Stress Testing Banks: What Have We Learned?" speech delivered at "Maintaining Financial Stability: Holding a Tiger by the Tail," a financial markets conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, held in Stone Mountain, Ga., April 8.
-------- (2017). "Monetary Policy in a New Era," paper presented at "Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy," a conference held at the Peterson Institute, Washington, October 2.
Bordo, Michael D. (2007). "A Brief History of Central Banks," Economic Commentary. Cleveland: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, December.
Goodhart, Charles, and Rosa Lastra (2018). "Populism and Central Bank Independence," Open Economies Review, vol. 29 (February), pp. 49-68.
Hogue, Henry, Marc Labonte, and Baird Webel (2017). Independence of Federal Financial Regulators: Structure, Funding, and Other Issues, Congressional Research Service Report 7-5700. Washington: CRS.
Kaufmann, Christine, and Rolf Weber (forthcoming). "Transparency of Central Banks' Policies," in Peter Conti-Brown and Rosa Maria Lastra, eds., Research Handbook on Central Banking. Northampton, Mass.: Edwin Elgar Publishing, pp. 518-34.
Pew Research Center (2017). "Public Trust in Government: 1958-2017," webpage, Pew Research Center.
Tucker, Paul (2017). "What Is Macroprudential Policy for? Making It Safe for Central Bankers (PDF)," speech delivered at "Financial Systems and the Real Economy," a conference sponsored by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank for International Settlements, held in Kuala Lumpur, March 31.
1. See Bordo (2007). Return to text
2. For example, see Pew Research Center (2017). Return to text
3. Technical implementation and oversight are two areas where instrument independence may be especially helpful. See Hogue, Labonte, and Webel (2017) and the references therein. Also, the need for some regulatory independence is not exclusive to the central bank; see Bernanke (2017) for a discussion. Return to text
4. See Kaufmann and Weber (forthcoming). Return to text
5. See Goodhart and Lastra (2017). Return to text
6. See Bernanke (2013). Return to text
7. See Tucker (2017). Return to text


25 Missoni Hand Towels Uploaded by Tyler Berry on Monday, January 14th, 2019. We have 25 great pictures of 25 Missoni Hand Towels. Find My Bathroom Inspiration on category My Ideas.
See also 25 Billabong towels from My Ideas Topic.
Here we have 25 great photos about 25 Missoni Hand Towels. We hope you enjoyed it and if you want to download the pictures in high quality, simply just click the image and you will be redirected to the download page of 25 Missoni Hand Towels.


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Q: How to print the checkbox in a row instead of column?

      <IndeterminateCheckbox {...getToggleHideAllColumnsProps()} /> Toggle
      All

    {allColumns.map((column) => (

          <input type="checkbox" {...column.getToggleHiddenProps()} />{' '}
          {column.id}

    ))}

My code is print out like
the checkbox for hide and show column is print in column

How to make it to print the checkbox in a row?

A: You need to achieve this with applying styling.
You can add display inline-block to inner div.

      <IndeterminateCheckbox {...getToggleHideAllColumnsProps()} /> Toggle
      All

    {allColumns.map((column) => (

          <input type="checkbox" {...column.getToggleHiddenProps()} />{' '}
          {column.id}

    ))}

Or you can add display flex for the container div

      <IndeterminateCheckbox {...getToggleHideAllColumnsProps()} /> Toggle
      All

    {allColumns.map((column) => (

          <input type="checkbox" {...column.getToggleHiddenProps()} />{' '}
          {column.id}

    ))}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Chrono Cross may not have had the largest budget, but it has the largest heart.
GameSpot Asia's Jonathan Toyad speaks with Southeast Asia's most popular professional video game cosplayer and UNO Magazine's Most Influential Woman in the Philippines about how she got into the business and her favorite video games!
We get our hands on one of the biggest import PlayStation titles of the year - Square's Chrono Trigger sequel.
Take a look at some freshly captured screenshots of the amazing Chrono Cross, a new RPG from Square.
Without its original designers, Chrono Cross may not live up to expectations. Find out why.
© 2011-2012 PortalVideoGames.com - Your daily updated source for Games, Reviews, Previews, News, Galleries & Videos. All rights reserved.


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Binding Alitalia offer can be made by October 15 deadline: Italy minister By Reuters
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli said on Tuesday he believed a binding offer for struggling airline Alitalia could be presented by an Oct. 15 deadline, saying the date would not be shifted again.
Italian state-owned railway group Ferrovie dello Stato, U.S. airline Delta (N:) and infrastructure group Atlantia (MI:) have been discussing how to revive Alitalia for months, pushing back various previous deadlines for making a firm proposal.
Patuanelli said in a statement he had met Alitalia's commissioners on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
"The overall situation of the company was examined, and there was an agreement that there are the conditions for a binding proposal to be presented by the buyer consortium by October 15," he said, expressing annoyance over the fact that an offer was not yet forthcoming.
"In this context, we call for responsibility on all sides and speedy decisions, given that the Oct. 15 deadline cannot be prolonged," he said.
Tagged: Alitalia, Binding, Deadline, italy, minister, October, offer, Reuters
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Dynamic with a detailed design and urban silhouette: this is a new trainer from the Aigle collection. Their fabric upper, available in black, provides a modern and sporty look. With a fabric lining and rubber outer sole, they have it all! A great design for trainer fans.


Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, announced today that it will repurchase the local currency equivalent of £102 million of its outstanding debt securities, following its invitation to holders to submit offers to sell their holdings. Lloyd's had offered to purchase up to £100m of the securities.
Climate change will increase water scarcity, alter food production and dramatically change energy supply and migration patterns, according to a new report released today by Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market.
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, announced today that it is offering to buy back some of its subordinated debt securities.
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, today announced it is partnering with the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development (FBDS) to raise awareness of climate change in the country.
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, today opens its Brazilian office, a year after receiving approval from the Superintendence of Private Insurance (SUSEP) to become the first admitted reinsurer in the country.
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market announced today that Tom Bolt has been appointed as the new Underwriting Performance Director.
He will take up his new post in the early Autumn, replacing Rolf Tolle who will retire at the end of the year.
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, today announced a profit of £1,899 million (€1,956m) for 2008.
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, today announced a profit of £1,899 million (US$2,735m) for 2008.
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, today announced a profit of £1,899 million for 2008.
Overall customer satisfaction with Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance market, has improved year on year, with its 2008 Customer Satisfaction Survey revealing the highest results for its front end processes, such as speed and accuracy of quotations and contracts.


Well, I think this will be my last post on this topic for a while. I feel like I could never stop on this subject because the more I work on designing a vintage style map, I find more ways to add another styling element. So if this is the first time you are reading my blog I have done three posts of this subject so please take a look at them (ArcGIS Vintage, First QGIS Vintage, and Second QGIS Vintage). I have decided to stick with QGIS since it has more ability for you to manipulate your map inside of the map composer, and truthfully ArcGIS just doesn't have a lot of these functions to produce a final product without having to finish it in Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. So without further rambling here is a quick "how to" apply final edits on a vintage themed map in QGIS.
After completing my last blog post, I decided to change my geographic scope. Before I was looking at the northern region of Libya, and I started getting really tired of looking at this dummy data that I threw together. It was very limiting on what I could do with it and I really didn't have it in me to create some pseudo-interesting to put on the map, so I thought I would create a map at a more local level. I actually was inspired by Alexandre Neto's blog post, Mapa antigo no QGIS, and I really liked how he was able to generate such an authentic look and feel with very high-resolution data. Thus, I crossed the river via the internet and grabbed from data for Washington D.C. (link here) and started playing around with it. I really love how rich and detail local GIS data is, and I often forget this since I work at a more macro level. However, before I begin the finishing process of my DC Map, I needed to create a new antique paper background image. The last one that I was using was lacking in resolution that I needed to create a large map. However, unlike last time, I made a conscience effort to find a map that had match the following characteristics, must have large dimensions, color must be a neutral tan or beige, edges must me worn and some tares, and there must be some hand writing artifacts on it. So after some searching I finally found my map, and I began the LONG process of removing the content of the map and still retain the paper texture (I will not bore you with this long process).
I lowered the size and resolution for display purposes.
With a lot of trial and error I was FINALLY happy with the above antique background image. With this process completed I can actually start making my map. I decided to create a map highlighting all the Embassies along DC's famous Embassy Row¹.
Styling the ancillary data (roads, parks, water, etc.) was real simple, but I really need to make the Embassies pop off the map. So I decided to take the Embassy location point features and use the Spatial Query tool to select all the Buildings that intersect with the points and create a new shapefile from the result.
With a new Embassy Building shapefile, I would just use the Embassy point shapefile as a label anchor. However, I soon discovered formal names of embassies can be really long, for example "Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", and they really make it hard on positioning the labels (seriously that title is 67 characters long!). To work around this issue I gave each Embassy a new unique number in their attribute table, starting at 1, and then labeled the point with the new ID number. I also removed all styling from the point since I now have a building footprint to represent the Embassy location, and I set the label placement on-top of the point location.
I decided to use a different font set for the labeling on the Embassies, so I used Purisa it still holds a nice print/script feel to it but it's not overboard with the "hand written" style. With my main feature data labeled, I applied labeling to parks, roads, and the one cemetery to finish up my map.
Content with the styling of my map I could start working on the final output in composer. I decided to make my final map at ANSI D size (22×34 inches is smaller than my background image so I adjusted the image size in GIMP), and loaded my background image first (Normal Blending & 0% Transparent) them my Map (Multiply Blending and 0% Transparent).
Smooth Out the png Edges, in this example I Smoothed out the Right and Bottom Edge.
Then you just inset your new image "title box" in the same place that you measures before and you have a nice clean area to place more map elements.
I was very please with how this turned out. I had been struggling with a way to add a "box" to my vintage themed map, and I think I finally found a fairly simple method.
Oh and to put the finishing touches on my hard work, I created a new composition and added the listing of the Embassies with IDs to create my key. I used Traveling Typewriter for the font set.
In closing, I started out in this series on how to create vintage themed maps in a modern GIS with not know how much work it really takes to produce a final product. And I really didn't think it would be possible to do a lot of the things that I have done. However, with the most recent releases of QGIS 2.x it has made it easier to accomplish. If I had to perform this mapping task with only ArcGIS as my GIS program, I would have to spend a LOT of time in Adobe Illustrator to get a reasonable final product. I'm excited to see what QGIS will do in the near future. I hope you find this and my other post helpful, I enjoy doing them but I plan to switch gears at start working on a different geospatial topic. Cheers!
¹ If you are not familiar with Embassy Row there is an nice Wikipedia page for you to enjoy.
Having worked in geospatial technology for more that a decade I've decided to try and give back some of the knowledge that I have gained over the years.


text:
Zeeland Adriënne penetrates a man's world and builds a gold mine in Australia
"Last week I was still sick in bed, but now I'm better enough to carry on," she says with a laugh on Zeeland's broadcast when she gets home. Boyfriend isn't doing well yet. "He still has male flu," she jokes.
Adriënne must be feeling better too, as co-owner of so many companies, she's so busy. Moreover, we bought a company a couple of weeks ago, so now we are busy building a new gold mine.
The mine is being built at Norsman in the Goldfields-Esperance region in southeastern Western Australia. "Norsemann is a gold-mining town," says Adriënne. "There is always a hunt for gold, but on a small scale. The mine has been started and closed a few times. Now they have found a new area where the gold is good enough to extract gold. So we are working on it."
Listen to the conversation with Adrienne below:
Adrian tells us from Australia
It's not that Zeelander herself will enter the Australian mine, but that the company she and her new owner friend are supplying concrete to build the mine. "They are demolishing the shed to put the piles, foundations and pavers in the ground. The mill must also be rebuilt to sort the gold out of the ground. We poured this foundation this week."
Adriënne owning a gold mine is a great adventure. "For us Dutch, such mine is a bit too small alien, but? I think so!"
Adriënne will be managing things on her own for the next week, because her friend Ben is still sick in bed. "Things are going well, but I noticed it's also the world of men here. It's every man's worst nightmare: a young woman, also a foreigner, in Australia is still a real thing."
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Every weekday at Radio Zeeuw Abroad we talk with a former co-county colleague who lives in another country about how he has experienced the coronavirus crisis there.
Adrienne Verburg from Kortgene went to Australia at the beginning of 2016. A trip was planned, but once in Australia she met her current partner and decided to stay. She currently lives in Fraser Range Station in Western Australia, where they run a contracting company, a large cattle ranch, and a campground with a restaurant.
Adrian doesn't suffer from an uneven male to female ratio among her employees. "It's mainly about clients. They call me 'love' and immediately ask me about my husband. Then I say: you have to do it with me. It's a challenge, because in Holland of course we're not like that at all. I'm more used to it, but I already deal with it Much better, this is the beginning."
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Q: Spring Security + Remember me support + auto redirect I got a spring + hibernate project that uses spring security for authentication and everything works like a charm. i have the spring-security.xml below :
<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security"
xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/security
http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security-3.2.xsd">

<!-- enable use-expressions -->
<http auto-config="true" use-expressions="true">
 <intercept-url pattern="/home" access="isAuthenticated()" />
 <intercept-url pattern="/home/**" access="isAuthenticated()" />

  <form-login
    login-page="/"
    authentication-failure-url="/?error"
    username-parameter="username"
    password-parameter="password"
    default-target-url="/home" />

   <!-- access denied page -->
   <access-denied-handler error-page="/403" />
   <!-- logout handling -->
   <logout invalidate-session="true" logout-success-url="/?logout" delete-cookies="JSESSIONID,SPRING_SECURITY_REMEMBER_ME_COOKIE" />
   <!-- enable csrf protection  <csrf />  -->
   <remember-me services-ref="rememberMeServices" key="clarkerpi" />

  </http>

  <beans:bean id="rememberMeServices"  class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.rememberme.PersistentTokenBasedRememberMeServices">
    <beans:property name="tokenRepository" ref="customTokenRepository" />
    <beans:property name="userDetailsService" ref="userDetailsService" />
    <beans:property name="key" value="clarkerpi" />
 </beans:bean>

 <authentication-manager alias="authenticationManager">
    <authentication-provider ref="authenticationProvider" />
 </authentication-manager>

 <beans:bean id="authenticationProvider" class="org.springframework.security.authentication.dao.DaoAuthenticationProvider">
    <beans:property name="userDetailsService" ref="userDetailsService" />
 </beans:bean>

</beans:beans>

Almost everything works. I can login and check "remember me" and it creates cookies, persists tokens and all that. If i erase JSESSIONID cookie i can still access protected resources.
But i have a question...
if i access localhost/projectname/ , and "/" being my login page, is there any native way ( spring security ) of redirecting to target-url, which is /home for those with the remember_me cookie? I can access any protected resource with no problem, but i'd like to type localhost/projectname/ and access /home. Of course, let the login page to be available for non-remember-me logins.
Question 2 ) I'm very new to spring security + cookie handling, is ok to delete JSESSIONID and Remember_me cookies like i'm doing in logout ? Or?
thanks in advance,
//fferrandini

A: I found a solution.
The spring security does it job perfectly. When you have "remember_me" active and access protected resources it does work like a charm and that is all his job. Spring security doenst take care of redirects or "what i want to do with this after auth"...
the solution was quite simple.
I found this method at mkyong  :
private boolean isRememberMeAuthenticated() {

    Authentication authentication =          SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication();
    if (authentication == null) {
       return false;
    }

    return RememberMeAuthenticationToken.class.isAssignableFrom(authentication.getClass());
 }

Which you can set it in a controller or even better a filter. I set it in my login mapping... "/". If true redirect to /home otherwise let login happen.
hope this help somebody!
spring you 're beautiful !! lol

A: Change your login page like this "/login" and
<intercept-url pattern="/login" access="permitAll()"/> and map "/" to "/home"


From a massive Rick Ross party to Lil Yachty and his fireworks.
The Fourth of July fell on a Monday this year giving a good deal of Americans a three-day weekend. Fireworks, BBQs, and pool parties are all popping off. Check out a number of your favorite musicians getting down for the holiday, starting with the aerial shot of a huge Rick Ross pool bash above.
Rick Ross had an entire MMG Weekend. Check out a video recap.
Lil Yachty and his crew bought an alarming amount of fireworks to celebrate.
Sailing Team 4th Of July... Will be lit..
The Game is hosting a pool party and there is a serious amount of meat on the massive grill.
RiFF RaFF donned some American flag shorts while hitting the driving range late night.
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen got their float on in The Hamptons.
Gunplay enjoyed a poolside cigar during the MMG Weekend.
Skrillex got his celebration on by twirling a very large American flag over his head.
Vic Mensa was looking to cop some fireworks in Chicago.
Rihanna dressed up in some Tabi sock thigh-high boots and a flag-themed purse.


A new button has been added to the @RISK graph window that, in a single click, specifies the distribution function with best fits your simulated results.
Smart Sensitivity Analysis in @RISK 5.0 pre-screens inputs based on their precedence in formulas to outputs. Inputs, located in formulas, that have no link via your model's formulas to an output are removed from sensitivity analysis, thus avoiding erroneous results.
In @RISK 5.0.1 you can disable Smart Sensitivity Analysis in Application Settings, making Sensitivity Analysis like it was in @RISK 4.5.
The Smart Sensitivity Analysis setup time for scanning precedents at the start of the simulation adds to runtime of very large models and you are not concerned that you may see sensitivity analysis results (or tornado graph bars) for inputs unrelated to outputs.
You use a macro or DLL that performs calculations using @RISK input values in cells that have no relationship via workbook formulas with the output. This macro or DLL then returns a result to a cell that is used in calculating the outputs value. In this case there is no relationship in workbook formulas between the output and the @RISK distributions and Smart Sensitivity Analysis should be disabled. To avoid situations like this, we recommend that you create macro functions (UDFs) that explicitly reference all used input cells in their argument lists.
@RISK 5.0.1 provides backward compatibility with commonly-used @RISK 4.5 VBA macro commands via new macro wrappers. @RISK 4.5 macros using Simulation Settings and Run Simulation commands will run in @RISK 5.0.1.
The Industrial edition of @RISK 5.0.1 includes RISKOptimizer 5.0.1, which runs up to four times faster than RISKOptimizer 5.0.0.


text:
Q: Regular Expression/Javascript: Convert Degrees Minutes Seconds to Decimal Degrees I'm having trouble converting DMS to DD in javascript using regular expressions. I took this code from geoserver but it does not seem to work. I want it to be able to convert all my test cases with the correct or VERY close answer.
I really don't care if the function is completely javascript or heavy regular expressions, i just need it to work.
You can test it on JSFIDDLE
http://jsfiddle.net/NJDp4/13/
Here are my test cases:
dmsToDeg(' N 03 01' 37"');
dmsToDeg('03 01 37');
dmsToDeg('03 01' 37" N');
dmsToDeg('076 40' 35" W');
dmsToDeg('W 076 40' 35"');
dmsToDeg('N 05 11' 17"');
Here is my code:
function dmsToDeg (dms) {
    if (!dms) {
        return Number.NaN;
    }
    var neg = dms.match(/(^\s?-)|(\s?[SW]\s?$)/) != null ? -1.0 : 1.0;
    dms = dms.replace(/(^\s?-)|(\s?[NSEW]\s?)$/, '');
    dms = dms.replace(/\s/g, '');
    var parts = dms.match(/(\d{1,3})[.,°d ]?\s*(\d{0,2})[']?(\d{0,2})[.,]?(\d{0,})(?:["]|[']{2})?/);
    if (parts == null) {
        return Number.NaN;
    }
    // parts:
    // 0 : degree
    // 1 : degree
    // 2 : minutes
    // 3 : secondes
    // 4 : fractions of seconde
    var d = (parts[1] ? parts[1] : '0.0') * 1.0;
    var m = (parts[2] ? parts[2] : '0.0') * 1.0;
    var s = (parts[3] ? parts[3] : '0.0') * 1.0;
    var r = (parts[4] ? ('0.' + parts[4]) : '0.0') * 1.0;
    var dec = (d + (m / 60.0) + (s / 3600.0) + (r / 3600.0)) * neg;
    return dec;
}

A: It's not that tough, the following assumes that the correct format is passed in, you might want to do some validation of that. It also doesn't format the output, use a generic formatting function if you need that (again, not hard to write, about 5 lines of code max).
Likely you are feeding this into another calculation (degrees to radians conversion?) so formatting is probably unnecessary. Note that javascript numbers can't accurately represent all decimal numbers, so be careful with rounding. The precision is sufficient for most purposes though.
function dms2deg(s) {

  // Determine if south latitude or west longitude
  var sw = /[sw]/i.test(s);

  // Determine sign based on sw (south or west is -ve)
  var f = sw? -1 : 1;

  // Get into numeric parts
  var bits = s.match(/[\d.]+/g);

  var result = 0;

  // Convert to decimal degrees
  for (var i=0, iLen=bits.length; i<iLen; i++) {

    // String conversion to number is done by division
    // To be explicit (not necessary), use
    //   result += Number(bits[i])/f
    result += bits[i]/f;

    // Divide degrees by +/- 1, min by +/- 60, sec by +/-3600
    f *= 60;
  }

  return result;
}

alert(
  dms2deg('S 023 30\'') + '\n' +      // -23.5
  dms2deg('N 023 00\' 00\"') + '\n' + //  23
  dms2deg('W 117 23\' 23.32\"')       // -117.3898111111111
);

A: The problem is that you're removing all the spaces, so that '03 01 37' becomes '030137'.  Then, the regex \d{1,3} matches three digits, '030'.  You should add optional separators to the regex rather than stripping them from the input.
There may be other things, but that's the first one I see.
Parsing lat/lon values is, as you have found, harder than it might seem.  If you can just re-use someone else's code, you should.


Posted on November 11, 2016 at 5:22 pm.
Description: Silas and Emma with son Bert standing and twins Edgar and Edith. © Private Collection.
Silas Frederick Junior (born 20 November 1870) was the second son born to Silas Osmond and Charlotte Lang. The family lived at a number of addresses in Rotherhithe while the boys were young. Silas Junior married Emma Dight on 28 February 1897 and their first child Frederick was born on 24 April 1898 and baptised in Christ Church, Croydon, where the family was then living. Silas and his family emigrated to Canada about 1907 and settled in Winnipeg where they had three further children.
Silas had trained as an engineer (engine fitter) and enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in Winnipeg on 3 June 1915 (enlistment papers available at www.ancestry.co.uk). Silas sailed to the UK on the Cunard liner Aquitania. As he was in his mid-40s, he was not sent to the front line but served throughout the war as an instructor at signals school, being promoted to Sergeant. Silas' regimental number – 505036 – is allocated to the Canadian Engineers Training Depot No. 2 (Cable Service) according to a list at http://regimentalrogue.com/misc/CEF_Service_Numbers.pdf. Visual signalling and telephony were the responsibility of the Signal Service throughout the war while telegraphy was a function of the Canadian Engineers. These were vital means of communication in France and Belgium and signal companies were increasingly occupied in the laying, maintenance and repair of air lines and cables. With his background as an engineer, Silas would have had the skills needed to train the front line troops in the operation, repair and maintenance of this vital equipment. Silas is back row, far left in the group picture below.
Description: Silas and the other instructors. © Private Collection.
It is likely that Silas was part of the Canadian Engineer Training Division, which was initially based at Shorncliffe, Kent, from September 1915, but we know he spent some time at Seaford Camp, East Sussex. The camp was divided into two sections – North Camp and South or Chyngton Camp. Initially built in 1914/5 to house newly-recruited soldiers, by late autumn 1916, Chyngton Camp was used solely by the Canadians. We believe Silas was there from when it opened until he returned home. The camp was on the south coast, just outside the town of Seaford and near the port of Newhaven, a key departure point for France. Most of the site is now under a housing estate, but part of the Chyngton site can be seen on the local golf course.
Life at camp was better than on the front line, but still not easy, with few latrines and little access to home comforts, although there was a cinema and a YMCA hut providing food, drink and free writing paper and envelopes. According to some, the Canadian troops were regarded as somewhat rough-and-ready, perhaps rather undisciplined, and their performance at Vimy Ridge (see the related story of Silas's son Frederick) marked them as "Shock Troops" of the allies. When the war ended, everyone looked forward to going home.
The Canadian army had a very complex system of determining the order of who went home first and so on. The Seaford troops' departures were postponed several times; each time, their hopes were raised, then dashed (again). This was very frustrating and there was a lot of tension in the camp, so that a minor incident was all it took provoke a riot. The Times reported that, in May 1919, two thousand frustrated Canadian men stuck at Seaford rioted after one of their fellows was beaten and arrested by a camp guard or military policeman for walking with his hands in his pockets (May 12, p. 9). Shortly after this incident, the Canadians were shipped back to Canada and the camp was closed.
Click on their names to read about Silas Osmond's nephews Benjamin John James Osmond and Albert Victor Osmond.


text:
Tech bosses who willingly flout UK online child safety rules to face criminal liability
Natasha Lomas
The U.K. government has confirmed it will expand criminal liability powers contained in draft online safety legislation which is currently making its way through parliament with the aim of preventing platforms from intentionally flouting child-safety rules.
The current version of the (already much amended) Online Safety Bill, which is set to return to parliament today for the report stage ahead of its third reading, does include criminal liability for execs who fail to comply with duties to provide the regulator, Ofcom, with information it requests from them.
However the government has now bowed to pressure from some its own backbenches -- as well as calls from online child safety campaigners -- to include expanded criminal liability provisions by making senior management at in-scope platforms criminally liable for repeat breaches of child safety duties.
This means that Ofcom will get additional powers that could -- at least on paper -- result in jail time for social media bosses who deliberately flout child safety rules.
Coroner's report into UK schoolgirl's suicide urges social media regulation
The Telegraph broke the news of the looming government reversal late yesterday, reporting that Michelle Donelan, the secretary of state in charge of digital issues, had accepted changes to the bill which will make senior managers at tech firms criminally liable for persistent breaches of their duty of care to children.
A spokesman for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) confirmed the development, telling TechCrunch that DCMS minister Paul Scully will set out details in a speech to parliament this afternoon. The development follows meetings between Donelan and backbench Conservative Party MPs who, in recent weeks, had been pushing a more wide-ranging amendment to expand criminal liability for senior execs.
The DCMS spokesman said backbench MPs have agreed to withdraw their amendment in exchange for the government introducing its amendment to expand criminal liability provisions.
The opposition Labour Party had signalled support for the backbenchers' amendment, meaning the government could have faced an embarrassing defeat on the bill -- hence it's backing down to avoid a rebellion.
Backbench Conservative MPs have argued the legislation needs more teeth if it's to rein in powerful tech giants and ensure children are protected from exposure to harmful content, with MPs pointing to other sectors -- such financial services or construction -- that already have criminal liability for senior execs and questioning why the execs in the tech sector should get a free pass.
In other recent changes late last year, the government revised the bill to remove a clause related to legal but harmful content -- in response to concerns the legislation could have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
However that move was decried by child safety campaigners and appears to have fuelled the backbench dissent on criminal liability.
The wording of the government amendment has not yet been published but DCMS' spokesman emphasized that the expanded criminal liability will only apply for repeated breaches of child safety duties in the legislation -- describing the target as execs who "go rogue" and "willingly ignore" Ofcom's investigations and enforcement of child safety rules.
So a sort of 'Elon Musk liability clause', if you will.
The backbenchers' proposed amendment would have gone further than that -- extending criminal liability for any breaches of child safety duties. So the government appears to have won a concession by squeezing liability to deliberate breaches only. And DCMS' spokesman suggested the amendment is "more targeted and proportionate to the risks" than the one proposed by rebel MPs.
The liability will kick in for senior management "if they repeatedly and knowingly and willingly ignore Ofcom's enforcement notices in relation to their safety tech duties", the DCMS spokesman also told us, adding: "It will be commensurate to other senior manager liability provisions that are currently in law elsewhere... Senior manager liability was currently already in the bill if they failed to give Ofcom information when it was asking for it."
"We're confident that it won't affect the UK's attractiveness as a place to invest. Because it won't penalize responsible and reactive tech bosses who are focused on making sure their platforms are safe. This is about people who are deliberately and willingly going against what Ofcom are telling them to do to make their sites safer for kids," the spokesman also claimed.
"So it gives tech bosses a lot more certainty about when this could be used. And... as ever, with the fines that are in the bill -- with Ofcom's powers to fine them, with Ofcom's powers to block access to sites [that break the law], these are a suite of powers that Ofcom has that it's been very clear it will only use these in the worst case scenarios. In the extreme cases where it has to use these powers it will but it's got a load of other options to use before that point."
Since the deadline for introducing amendments in the House of Commons has passed, the government's amendment to the bill will be introduced when scrutiny moves to the House of Lords next month -- so full details remain to be seen.
We asked DCMS whether the expanded criminal liability provision for senior management will apply only to larger platforms (so called "category 1" services) -- or whether all in-scope services (so, potentially, tens of thousands of companies and/or entities that provide user-to-user services) will face this risk -- but the spokesman was unable to confirm how broadly the change will apply at this time.
While child safety campaigners are likely to welcome the government's change of heart on beefing up criminal liability on tech bosses, digital rights groups are likely to be more cautious over risks to freedom of expression, with groups like the ORG also warning about the impact of laws that push compulsory age-gating on websites on users' ability to access online content and on people's privacy.
Update: In a statement to parliament today about the extension of criminal liability, Donelan said:
We are committed to ensuring that children are safe online, so will work with the Honourable Members for Penistone and Stockbridge, Stone and others to table an effective amendment in the Lords. This amendment will deliver our shared aims of holding people accountable for their actions in a way which is effective and targeted towards child safety, whilst ensuring the UK remains an attractive place for technology companies to invest and grow.
We need to take the time to get this right. We intend to base our amendment on the Irish Online Safety and Media Regulation Act (2022) which introduces individual criminal liability for failure to comply with a notice to end contravention.
In line with that approach, the final government amendment at the end of ping pong [aka the process of a bill being passed back and forth] between the Lords and the Commons will be carefully designed to capture instances where senior managers, or those purporting to act in that capacity, have consented or connived in ignoring enforceable requirements, risking serious harm to children. The criminal penalties, including imprisonment and fines, will be commensurate with similar offences. While this amendment will not affect those who have acted in good faith to comply in a proportionate way, it gives the Act additional teeth to deliver change and ensure that people are held to account if they fail to properly protect children.
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Australia's foreign minister has urged the United Kingdom to confront its colonial past in the Indo-Pacific as Britain pushes ahead with a tilt towards the region.In a speech to King's College in London, Penny Wong highlighted the deep links between the two countries, saying many Australians continued to also think of themselves as British after federation more than a century ago.
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North Korea warns that drills by the United States and its allies have pushed the situation to an "extreme red line" and threaten to turn the peninsula into a "huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone".The statement, carried by state news agency KCNA, said Pyongyang was not interested in dialogue as long as Washington pursued hostile policies.
The Philippines has granted the United States expanded access to its military bases amid mounting concern over China's increasing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea and tensions over self-ruled Taiwan.Washington would be given access to four more locations under an Enhanced Defense Co-operation Agreement (EDCA) dating to 2014, statements from the defence ministries of both countries said.
TEL AVIV (Reuters) -Israeli armed drones use gravity bombs that produce no noise or smoke as they fall, making them hard for enemies to anticipate or evade, and the largest model of the aircraft can carry up to a tonne of munitions, the military says. After more than two decades of secrecy, Israel in July went public with the existence of armed drones in its arsenal. Briefing Reuters, a senior Israeli military officer said the armed drone fleet includes the passenger plane-sized Heron TP, made by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, and Elbit Systems Ltd's smaller Hermes.
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Ukraine says it prevented Russia cutting off eastern supply line
Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces had repelled Russian attacks on a road near the eastern town of Bakhmut, preventing Moscow gaining control of an important Ukrainian supply line. Russian troops have been unable to cut off the road leading from the town Chasiv Yar to Bakhmut, military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevaty said in televised comments.
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President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia's military must stop the shelling of Russian regions from Ukrainian territory, which he said had left many people homeless or without power. Putin was addressing a government meeting about restoring destroyed housing and infrastructure in regions of southwest Russia that border Ukraine. Ukraine does not claim responsibility for strikes inside Russian territory but has described them as "karma" for Moscow's invasion, which has razed Ukrainian cities and systematically targeted the country's energy infrastructure, leaving people frequently without power and water in the depths of winter.
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Republicans want to remove the Minnesota Democrat from the House Foreign Affairs committee and have accused her of antisemitism