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Tools of election interference: From fake news to deepfakes
By Nikolina Cvetićanin	February 11, 2020
Election interference predates the internet. However, rapid technological advancements introduced multiple new frontiers through which elections can be manipulated.
The 448-page Mueller report, which was released in April 2019, offers some insight into how state actors work to mold the opinions of voters in the digital age. The report sums up the results of a 674-day investigation and describes efforts by the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election.
According to Mueller's findings, Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election consisted of a social media propaganda campaign as well as so-called "hacking and dumping operations". The latter involved the hacking of accounts linked to the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party. The information seized was later disseminated online by the Russians themselves and WikiLeaks.
Fast forward to 2020, and most experts agree that the integrity of the American ballot box is still at risk of being hijacked. The 2020 election is just around the corner, and the country is bracing for yet another potential round of foreign electoral intervention.
Experts agree that potential cyber-interfering in the 2020 election will be more sophisticated than in 2016.
The increase in ransomware targeting public institutions suggests that this might be vector-of-choice for politically-motivated hackers in the upcoming election.
Deep Fake videos are expected to replace massive fake news campaigns used as part of the Russian influence on the U.S. election in 2016.
In the meantime, the cyber security market size is projected to reach $258.99 billion by 2025, with a 11.9% CAGR according to a 2019 report by Allied Market Research.
The most visible feature of Moscow's 2016 election interference was the hacking and release of the Democratic National Committee's emails as well as those of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. Special Counsel Robert Muelller indicted a dozen Russian intelligence officials over the hack, which was attributed to a group known as Fancy Bear.
The leaked emails painted an unflattering picture of both the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, suggesting that Clinton had rigged the DNC nomination process against her main rival Bernie Sanders. The stolen emails also exposed other potentially embarrassing practices by the Clinton clan, which may have swayed a certain percentage of voters.
However, the extent of the damage remains a subject of heated debate. Experts agree that interfering directly was never part of Moscow's plan since it could be easily traced. In addition, Russia's efforts weren't designed to produce a clear winner and loser.
Instead, the end-goal of the foreign involvement was to instill a lack of faith in the electoral system on a nation-wide level by affecting the very unit upon which democracy is built - the voter.
The main tools used to gain election influence were fake news, potentially embarrassing leaks and accounts promoting fringe ideological discourse.
As for 2020, there is a buffet of hacking vectors on the table. Our focus is on the ones most likely to be used as part of any future foreign election interference.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
DDoS is one of the most attractive options when it comes to using hacking in the pursuit of a political agenda. Easy to deploy, cheap and highly effective, this vector basically makes a network or an individual device inoperable for a certain period of time. This type of cyberattack is popular because of its use of botnets as well as often obscure, and always encrypted, methods of communication that make the perpetrators extremely hard to trace. Needless to say, this feature is imperative when a state actor plans to engage in election interference or any other illegal cyber activity.
Botnet operates as a network of malware-infected consumer PCs that are managed remotely. The devices can be used to gain access to the user's personal and financial data as well as act together to help conduct a cyber attack. In this case, the IP address becomes irrelevant because it leads back to the manipulated device instead of the source location.
In August 2018, the Swedish Social Democratic Party experienced a DDoS attack when their website was put out of service by attackers linked to North Korea and Russia. That same year, three Democratic campaigns in California fell victim to coordinated DDoS cyberattacks, which were attributed to election interference by a foreign entity.
Apart from disrupting the information channels available on political parties' websites in crucial moments, hacking interference can discourage potential donors from making donations.
Ransomware directed against local governments has been on the rise throughout 2019. During the course of the year, various ransomware attacks impacted around 966 government agencies, causing an estimated $7.5 billion in damages. At least 113 of the ransomware attacks reported in 2019 targeted state and municipal governments and agencies.
Other institutions, including schools, police stations and hospitals, are working to secure their computer networks. According to The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, ransomware will likely be used in this election year.
A potential well-timed ransomware attack could lock up computers processing voter registration databases, causing delays and possible data corruption. Meanwhile, local election officials could be prevented from verifying the votes. Such scenarios could result in numerous complications that would certainly affect the final outcome.
Power Grid Cyberattacks
Successful cyberattacks against power grids are rare. But that didn't stop the US government from issuing an alert in 2018, which alleges that Russian hackers were behind a two-year-long campaign of probing and testing cyberattacks against the US grid.
The campaign allegedly included phishing attacks aimed at tricking utility operators to change their password and thus provide access to third-party computers. Meanwhile, reported malware infiltration was designed to gain control of so-called Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems that are used by power generation and distribution companies.
One interference theory centers on the power grid and potential blackouts during the elections that could cause damage to voter databases. Moreover, blackouts tend to create general public disturbances that could simply discourage people from taking part in the voting process.
Social Engineering and Hacking
Various phishing techniques were used prior to Donald Trump's election, and many more are expected during this election year. Analysts agree that phishing campaigns featured prominently during the elections, although the array of motives still remains a subject of debate.
In April 2016, hackers running fake email accounts and targeting more than thirty members of Hillary Clinton's staff managed to get their hands on credentials that allowed them access to the DNC computer network. Using malware, the hackers managed to steal data from 33 DNC computers.
Another infamous spear-phishing attack related to the 2016 election was released in June 2017 by The Intercept. The website received a leaked memo from the National Security Agency via a whistleblower. The memo reported that the Russian government sponsored and coordinated a large-scale spear-phishing attack on an American voting machine company.
Furthermore, the NSA reported that at least one email account was compromised as a result of the action. Just hours after the article was published, the NSA identified the source of the leak. The 25-year old government contractor Reality Leigh Winner was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018.
Although phishing is the most common form of social hacking, its less known subcategory spear phishing was the most used vector during the Russian interference in the 2016 election.
According to a 2019 Symantec survey, spear-phishing emails remain the most popular avenue for attacks by more than half of all known groups. Symantec found that the most likely reason for an organization to come under a spear phishing attack was intelligence gathering.
The benefits to gaining access to the personal data of thousands of government employees are obvious. Spear phishing campaigns targeting military personnel and government officials have been going on for several years. Although it's usually hard to prove these practices, several cases ended before the Supreme Court in 2018, linking spear phishers with foreign intelligence operatives in China and Russia.
Furthermore, the DNC announced in 2018 that they had been targeted by phishing emails a week after the midterm election date.
The campaign was allegedly linked to another hacker group under the command of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency. The DNC claims that the attacks were part of a wider campaign reported by CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that dealt extensively with investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Whaling is another form of phishing. Although rarely used in the context of foreign election interference , it targets high-profile figures instead of low and mid level employees. In other words, whaling is going after the big fish. CEOs in the corporate world as well as senators and presidential candidates in the public sphere are all potential targets of state-sponsored cybercriminals.
While leaking confidential data regarding electoral campaigns can arguably damage the reputation of an entire party, it can certainly divert or passivize a number of voters. If foreign hackers were able to interfere once in 2016, chances are they will try to do it again.
Social Networks and Fake Media Outlets
News of Trump's impeachment on CNN and other mainstream media outlets coincided with heightened concerns over the prospects of further election meddling in November 2020.
Democrats and Republicans both said that their positions on impeachment were meant to protect the integrity of the upcoming presidential elections. But the outcome of the process, which saw Republican lawmakers clear president Trump of any wrongdoing, only fueled debates about foreign meddling and political corruption.
Many downplay the significance of cyberattacks and feel that social media campaigns played an instrumental role in shaping public opinion in 2016. Fake news distributed through various blogs and channels questioned mainstream media outlets. Meanwhile, Russia's infamous troll farm is believed to have orchestrated a campaign involving countless fake Facebook and Twitter accounts that were peddling conspiracy theories and other propaganda. However, it's a matter of debate as to what extent the campaign contributed to the current level of polarization in the US.
According to Mueller's investigation, the social media campaign spilled over into the streets as early as November 2015 in the form of dozens of rallies promoting rival causes and opinions.
One conservative commentator, Rush Limbaugh, summed up the nation's political divide as the "Cold Civil War". Such sentiments emphasize the dangers that divisive and misleading social media campaigns pose to the country.
Fake Accounts on Social Media
Another prominent example of Russian interference involves the establishment of the so-called DC Leaks website in June 2016. The site that was responsible for publishing leaked emails from numerous American government and military officials is believed to be a front for Russian intelligence.
Cybersecurity researchers claim the site is the product of the GRU-linked Fancy Bear hacker group. A phony Facebook account under the name Melvin Redick was the first to share a link to the DC Leaks website. The New York Times would later describe the post as the "first public signs" of foreign intervention in the US election process.
Meanwhile, Russia's state-owned media outlets, Russia Today and Sputnik, made sure the news circles the globe.
Facebook disclosed in 2017 that it pinpointed around 3,000 ads, which were bankrolled by more than $100,000 and linked to the Internet Research Agency - a company with strong ties to the Kremlin and Russian intelligence. The ads didn't necessarily favor any of the candidates but promoted divisive views on sensitive social issues, including gun control, LGBTQ rights, race, women's rights and immigration. The campaign lasted from 2015 to 2017 and was linked to around 470 fake accounts and social media pages, all of which have since been shut down by Facebook. Twitter followed suit by removing more than 50,000 accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting political dissent.
But the measures taken by social media giants faced significant backlash. The campaign of removing all content that goes against the company's rules and regulations angered some users. Many feel that Facebook is restricting free speech in its efforts to contain Russia's election interference in the future.
So will social media play a key role in any potential 2020 election interference by foreign actors? This theory is entirely plausible. Although companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter have taken measures to reduce the presence of troll accounts, social media users are known for their adaptability.
Fake news has become synonymous with Russian election interference. In the months leading up to the 2016 elections, articles posing as news became the main source of information for millions. On the one hand, Donald Trump adopted the term as a way of discrediting the mainstream media. But in other instances, he fueled conspiracy theories and helped delete the thin line between fact and fiction for millions of Americans.
This gave rise to a new political culture known as post-truth politics. The term was coined to describe how the internet influenced the pace of information distribution by appealing to the reader's emotions rather than providing facts. According to data from the Pew Research Center, 83% of Americans get at least some portion of their news through social media. It was statistics like this that encouraged foreign actors to interfere by fueling the fake media campaign and an increasingly toxic political discourse.
Analysts are warning that Russian influence on U.S. elections will likely come in more sophisticated forms in the future because internet users are more likely to check for credible sources. But while articles and photoshopped images are losing their allure, Artificial intelligence is expected to feature prominently in the upcoming elections.
Fake news is old news. The new kid on the block is an AI-generated video forgery, better known as Deepfake. The technology can enable anyone to generate a video of a politician and literally put words in their mouth. Needless to say, this could affect how the general public perceives their candidates and ultimately disrupt the voting process.
What started out as an AI-based face-swapping tool commonly seen on social media, gained a political dimension in April 2018. Comedian Jordan Peele created a deep fake video that shows former President Barack Obama openly criticizing Donald Trump in a public speech. The video caused immediate confusion even though it was debunked soon after its release.
Another example of a politically-charged and dangerously misleading deepfake video surfaced in May 2019. It depicted US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as being impaired, creating a convincing deception about a person in power stuttering through her speech.
Cybersecurity experts are concerned about the fact that the technology is very easy to master and can be manufactured by anyone with a computer, and interested in influencing an election.
The second major issue regarding deepfake videos is that they tend to go viral in seconds. These videos are extremely easy to share, and since the content is often packaged to appear as breaking news, an average deepfake can circle the globe in a matter of minutes. Experts fear that deepfakes will eventually dethrone fake news on social media.
Misinformation has proven to be a powerful tool in the game of interference, influencing the masses that are unable to tell the difference between real and doctored content.
The list of tools for election interference is certain to expand in the coming months as hackers work to stay one step ahead of cybersecurity experts.
But previous instances of election interference and existing threats have led to the introduction of a series of laws designed to ensure better cooperation between law enforcement agencies like the FBI and local administrations that handle the elections.
Despite efforts by the Trump administration to downplay the extent of foreign interference in U.S. elections, the posture of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security hints at a looming threat of cyberattacks.
The Mueller investigation laid the groundwork for understanding the model of Russian interference in the election, but other players have since entered the fray. China has both the capabilities and the motives – fueled largely by the ongoing trade war with Washington – to disrupt the electoral process. Then there are countries like North Korea and Iran that have drastically enhanced their cyberwarfare capabilities in the last few years.
How long is the presidential election?
Presidential elections in the U.S. take place every four years. The date is always set on the first Tuesday in November. The 2020 election is scheduled for November 3, 2020.
How long can you be president in Russia?
For a maximum of twelve years. The Russian constitution limits an individual to two consecutive six-year terms. However, the constitution doesn't stipulate how many times an individual can run for the presidency. The six-year term was introduced in 2008. Before that, the presidential term in Russia was four years.
Does Russia have elections for president?
Yes. Russia elects a president on the federal level who acts as the head of state and legislature of one of the two chambers of the Duma or the Federal Assembly.
What is foreign election interference?
Any effort by a foreign government to influence elections in another country, whether covertly or overtly, constitutes election interference. While there are a number of techniques to influence a country's election process, US foreign election interference laws are primarily focused on cyber threats.
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By Nikolina Cvetićanin	December 17, 2021
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By Damjan Jugović Spajić	November 16, 2021
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By Nikolina Cvetićanin	August 18, 2021


That truly was a wonderful experience-having a nametag strung around my neck that says founder and development director, and for the first time having people come up to me, rather than me approaching them. The event definitely had things that went wrong. First off, I forgot one of the gift cards, one of the silent auction items (the autographed Tricia Tunstall book to be exact) hadn't arrived yet, traffic was really bad pushing our event later and later, and we had MAJOR technical problems, which I'm still not sure what happened. But the food was delicious, we had wonderful volunteers, probably 40ish in attendance, the speakers eventually worked, the students played beautifully, and we met our goal of 20 silent auction items! We learned for next time to set bids higher (25 dollar GC were going for 5), but we still raised $2000! And more importantly created a lot of new advocates, volunteers, and hopefully fundraising committee members. The speakers were excellent. We had Eric Booth begin, who was at a silent monastery, but spoke about how perfect Mpls is for a project like El Sistema and how he was incredibly skeptical until he saw it firsthand in Venezuela. I am SO excited that a year from today I will have also experienced it!! Then we had Levi Comstock who spoke about individual students' transformations through the program, the academic improvement, and the community impact the program has had on the Conservatory Lab CHarter School. Finally, we closed it off with Jonathan Govias, who spoke about where all the different programs are, the synergy of the movement, and how wonderful El Sistema was. We had lots of questions, gave our pitch, and the last to leave were the high school students asking how they could volunteer more and the asst principals. It is so wonderful to have such a huge support from the school!!! After thank you notes I will be done working for a little while anyway and off to explore Europe!
If you would like to contribute to the wonderful cause go to www.acme-music.com!


The 1720 European Championships are to be held in Howth Yacht Club from Friday 25th through Sunday 27th May, 2018. The Notice of Race is now available to view or download from the event website www.sportsboatcup.com.
The organisers are expecting to have up to 100 boats racing as part of the Sportsboat Cup event. Online entry is open here with an early bird discounted rate of €155.


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We only use the highest quality products directly from Cerakote. We utilize several measures of quality control all along the process to ensure that we deliver the very best. If it's unacceptable to our eye, we will stop and start over. If we wouldn't pay for the final product, then neither should you. We are very aware that people entrust us with their firearm and we take every precaution to retain that trust.
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Colorado Custom Classics Ltd. Copyright 2017 - All rights reserved.


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A glossmeter (also gloss meter) is an instrument which is used to measure specular reflection gloss of a surface. Gloss is determined by projecting a beam of light at a fixed intensity and angle onto a surface and measuring the amount of reflected light at an equal but opposite angle.

There are a number of different geometries available for gloss measurement, each being dependent on the type of surface to be measured.  For non-metals such as coatings and plastics the amount of reflected light increases with a greater angle of illumination, as some of the light penetrates the surface material and is absorbed into it or diffusely scattered from it depending on its colour.  Metals have a much higher reflection and are therefore less angularly dependent.

Many international technical standards are available that define the method of use and specifications for different types of glossmeter used on various types of materials including paint, ceramics, paper, metals and plastics.  Many industries use glossmeters in their quality control to measure the gloss of products to ensure consistency in their manufacturing processes.  The automotive industry is a major user of the glossmeter, with applications extending from the factory floor to the repair shop.

History

Of the many internationally recorded publications relating to gloss measurement, the earliest recorded studies (perceived and instrumental) are attributed to Ingersoll,
who in 1914 developed a means to measure the glare of paper. The Ingersoll "Glarimeter", the earliest known instrument developed for gloss measurement, was based on the principle that light is polarised in specular reflection.  The instrument employed incident and viewing angles of 57.5° and used a contrast method to subtract the specular component from the total reflection using a polarising element.  Ingersoll successfully applied for and patented this instrument a few years later in 1917.

In 1922 Jones, during his study of gloss of photographic papers using goniophotometry, developed a glossmeter based on his research, which provided closer correlation to gloss ratings assigned by visual evaluation.  Jones's glossmeter used a geometric configuration of 45°/0°/45° whereby the surface was illuminated at 45° and two incident reflective angles measured and compared at 0° (diffuse reflectance) and 45° (diffuse plus specular reflectance).  Jones was the first to emphasize the importance of using goniophotometric measurements in studies of gloss.

Early work in 1925 by Pfund led to the development of a variable angle "glossimeter" to measure specular gloss which was later patented in 1932. Pfund's instrument, allowed the angle of measurement to be varied, but maintained the angle of view to the angle of illumination. Reflected light was measured using a pyrometer lamp as a photometer.  The 'glossimeter' was the first to use black glass standards as a basis for reflectance setting.  As the angle was variable this instrument could also be used for the measurement of sheen or specular gloss at near grazing angles.

During this time, growing interest in this field resulted in a number of similar studies by other individuals each having their own method for gloss measurement, most of which published as technical articles in scientific journals of that time.  A few of these also resulted in patents.

In 1937 Hunter, as part of a research project for the U.S. National Bureau of Standards, produced a paper on the methods of determining gloss. In this paper he discussed instruments that were available at the time (including the ones mentioned previously) in relation to the classification of six different types of gloss.  In this paper Hunter also detailed the general requirements for a standardised glossmeter.
Standardisation in gloss measurement was led by Hunter and ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) who produced ASTM D523 Standard test method for specular gloss in 1939.  This incorporated a method for measuring gloss at a specular angle of 60°. Later editions of the Standard (1951) included methods for measuring at 20° (high gloss) and 85° (matt, or low, gloss).  ASTM has a number of other gloss-related standards designed for application in specific industries.

In the paint industry, measurements of specular gloss are made according to International Standard ISO 2813.  This standard is equivalent to national standards ASTM D523 (United States), BS 3900, Part 5 (United Kingdom); DIN 67530 (Germany), NFT 30-064 (France), AS 1580 (Australia), JIS Z8741 (Japan).

Construction

A typical glossmeter consists of a fixed mechanical assembly comprising a standardised light source that projects a parallel beam of light onto the test surface to be measured and a filtered detector located to receive the rays reflected from the surface. The ASTM Method states that the illumination should be defined such that the source-detector combination is spectrally corrected to give the CIE luminous efficiency, V(?), with CIE illuminant SC.

A number of instruments are commercially available that conform to the above standards in terms of their measurement geometry.  The instruments are calibrated using reference standards that are usually made from highly polished, plane, black glass with a refractive index of 1.567 for the Sodium D line, and these are assigned a gloss value of 100 for each geometry.

Measurement and angle selection

The glossmeter provides a quantifiable way of measuring gloss intensity ensuring consistency of measurement by defining the precise illumination and viewing conditions. The configuration of both illumination source and observation reception angles allows measurement over a small range of the overall reflection angle.
The measurement results of a glossmeter are related to the amount of reflected light from a black glass standard with a defined refractive index. The ratio of reflected to incident light for the specimen, compared to the ratio for the gloss standard, is recorded as gloss units (GU).

Measurement angle refers to the angle between the incident light and the perpendicular.  Three measurement angles (20°, 60°, and 85°) are specified to cover the majority of industrial coatings applications.  The angle is selected based on the anticipated gloss range, as shown in the following table.

For example, if the measurement made at 60° is greater than 70 GU, the measurement angle should be changed to 20° to optimise measurement accuracy.
Three types of instruments are available on the market: 60° single angle instruments, a combination of 20° and 60° and one type that combines 20°, 60° and 85°.

Two additional angles are used for other materials. An angle of 45° is specified for the measurement of ceramics, films, textiles and anodised aluminium, whilst 75° is specified for paper and printed materials.

Gloss units

The measurement scale, gloss units (GU), of a glossmeter is a scaling based on a highly polished reference black glass standard with a defined refractive index having a specular reflectance of 100GU at the specified angle.

This standard is used to establish an upper point calibration of 100 with the lower end point established at 0 on a perfectly matte surface. This scaling is suitable for most non-metallic coatings and materials (paints and plastics) as they generally fall within this range. For other materials, highly reflective in appearance (mirrors, plated / raw metal components), higher values can be achieved reaching 2000 Gloss Units. For transparent materials, these values can also be increased due to multiple reflections within the material. For these applications it is common to use percent reflection of incident light rather than gloss units

Standards

Calibration

Each glossmeter is set up by the manufacturer to be linear throughout its measuring range by calibrating to a set of master calibration tiles traceable to BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research or similar organisations.

In order to maintain the performance and linearity of the glossmeter it is recommended to use a checking standard tile.  This standard tile has assigned gloss unit values for each angle of measurement which are also traceable to National Standards such as BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research.  The instrument is calibrated to this checking standard which is commonly referred to as a 'calibration tile' or 'calibration standard'.  The interval of checking this calibration is dependent on the frequency of use and the operating conditions of the glossmeter.

It has been seen that standard calibration tiles kept in optimum conditions can become contaminated and change by a few gloss units over a period of years.  Standard tiles which are used in working conditions will require regular calibration or checking by the instrument manufacturer or glossmeter calibration specialist.

A period of one year between standard tile recalibration should be regarded as a minimum period.  If a calibration standard becomes permanently scratched or damaged at any time it will require immediate recalibration or replacement as the glossmeter may give incorrect readings.

International standards state that it is the tile that is the calibrated and a traceable artefact not the glossmeter.  However it is often recommended by manufacturers that the instrument also be checked to verify its operation on a frequency dependent on the operating conditions.

Development

The glossmeter is a useful instrument for measuring the gloss of a surface.  However, it is not sensitive to other common effects which reduce appearance quality such as haze and orange peel.

Haze is caused by microscopic surface structure which slightly changes the direction of a reflected light causing a bloom adjacent to the specular (gloss) angle. The surface has less reflective contrast and a shallow milky effect.

Orange peel is caused by an uneven surface formation of large surface structures distorting the reflected light.

Two high gloss surfaces can measure identically with a standard glossmeter but can be visually very different.  Instruments are available to quantify orange peel by measuring distinctness of image (DOI) or reflected image quality (RIQ) and haze.

Applications

The glossmeter is adopted by many industries, from paper mills to automotive and is used at each stage of the manufacturing process from goods receipt through to final inspection. Examples include: paints; powder and wood coatings; additives; inks; plastics; automative, glass, and yacht manufacturing; aerospace, polished stone and metal; consumer electronics; and anodised metals.

See also

References

External links
The level of confidence in gloss measuring
PCI Magazin article: What is the Level of Confidence in Measuring Gloss?
NPL: Good practice guide for the measurement of Gloss
Glossmeter Theory
How is gloss measured?
Gloss Meter

Optical instruments

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Home News Getting healthy the ecumenical way
Getting healthy the ecumenical way
OGA's ecumenical leaders get behind heart health awareness program
Rick Jones | Office of the General Assembly - November 6, 2018
Rev. Everdith Landrau (second from left) speaks during a summer World Council of Churches Conference. Photo by Randy Hobson.
A summer World Council of Churches (WCC) gathering brought the Reverend Everdith Landrau together with ecumenical leaders from other Christian denominations to discuss a heart health awareness campaign that is gaining support in the ecumenical community. Everdith is manager of Ecumenical Relations & Networking with the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The group was briefed on Village Heart B.E.A.T.—Building Education and Accountability Together (VHB). The program is designed to promote better heart health and enhance community resources in a coordinated health-care service model, addressing obesity and heart disease awareness among African American and Hispanic populations.
"VHB gave me the tools to create a wellness ministry at New Friendship Presbyterian Church in Huntersville, North Carolina, where I served on my first call," said Landrau. "It changed lives and gave the congregation an incentive to become healthier."
Cheryl Emanuel, senior health manager with the Office of Community Engagement for the Mecklenburg County Health Department, and member of Grier Heights Presbyterian Church, is the visionary behind the program.
"Most importantly, VHB is about one big family taking care of one another. Our program is a faith-based collaborative working to address chronic disease in our county's public health priority areas," she said. "One of the things that we know is that many of our people are dying because they do not have access to care or information."
In line with its Ecumenical Global Health Strategy, the WCC is mobilizing and supporting churches to take wholistic action on health, especially health promotion and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The recent workshop drew on participants' experiences to create a toolkit for churches to use in developing their health-promotion programming. Elements will include program activities, monitoring and evaluation tools, coordination mechanisms, and technological support.
"We took part in a workshop that offered practical sessions for participants to present and discuss their experiences and activities," said Landrau. "Churches engage, for example, in nutrition education; promoting physical exercise; screening for diabetes, hypertension, and obesity; as well as information on growing fruits and vegetables."
Other ecumenical faith leaders weighed in on the important role churches play in making congregations and their communities healthier.
"Even national efforts rely on the churches' grassroots networks," said Eva Mafi, program manager for the Health Promotion Unit in the Ministry of Health in Tonga. "We feel fortunate to have an effective entry point into the community through the partnership with churches."
The WCC's Health and Healing program recently won plaudits from the World Health Organization's (WHO's) director-general.
"As places of community and solidarity, churches and other faith-based institutions can play a vital role in promoting health," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Faith leaders carry a voice of authority that sometimes speaks louder than that of governments and other leaders. Our shared vision should be for 'Health Promoting Churches' all over the world that help to promote the physical and mental well-being of their people, as well as their spiritual well-being."
Participants included church leaders, health workers, and other private sector professionals from Jamaica, Tonga, the United States, Canada, and Switzerland. The group applauded the WCC for organizing the recent workshop saying it allowed them to learn from each other and inspired them to be part of a vision that will touch lives.
"I was glad to learn how much churches are doing and collaborating on health beyond denominational lines," said Dr. Suzanne Jackson of the University of Toronto and director of WHO's Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion.
Dr. Mwai Makoka, WCC program executive for Health and Healing, said "It is inspiring how churches are taking concrete actions to combat disease, starting where they are and with what they have."
Click here for more information about the gathering and VHB's impact on those attending.
[ 한국어]
Tags: ecumenical relations, everdith landrau, office of the general assembly, oga, vhb, village heart b.e.a.t., wcc, world council of churches

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Hans Christian Andersen is one of the world's most popular storytellers, and his fairy tales are among the best-loved works of literature. Readers the world over know his poignant tale of "The Little Mermaid," who sacrifices everything for love, and "Thumbelina," the miniscule maiden who captures the heart of many members of the animal kingdom. Several of Andersen's stories are so well known—among them "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Ugly Duckling"—that their titles alone have become meaningful figures of speech.
The Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales collects seventeen of Andersen's incomparable stories, among them "The Princess and the Pea," "The Red Shoes," "The Wild Swans," and his fantasy masterpiece, "The Snow-Queen." The book is illustrated in full color by W. Heath Robinson.
The Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales is one of Barnes & Noble's Collectible Editions classics. Each volume features authoritative texts by the world's greatest authors in an exquisitely designed foil-stamped binding, with distinctive gilt edging and an attract silk-ribbon bookmark. Decorative, durable, and collectible, these books offer hours of pleasure to readers young and old and are an indispensable cornerstone for any home library.
The Little Mermaid And Other Fairytales, H.C Andersen
H: 21.4cm W: 16.6cm D: 2.7cm


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Main Street Announces First Quarter 2015 Regular Monthly Dividends
Download as PDF November 06, 2014 7:00am EST
Regular Monthly Dividends of $0.17 per Share for each of January, February and March 2015 Represent a 3% Increase Compared to First Quarter 2014
HOUSTON, Nov. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN) ("Main Street") announced today that its Board of Directors declared regular monthly dividends of $0.17 per share for each of January, February and March 2015. These monthly dividends, which will be payable pursuant to the table below, total $0.51 per share for the first quarter of 2015 and represent a 3% increase from the monthly dividends declared for the first quarter of 2014. Since its October 2007 initial public offering, Main Street has periodically increased the amount of its regular monthly dividends paid per share, and has never reduced its regular monthly dividend amount per share. Including the regular monthly dividends declared for the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 and the semi-annual supplemental dividend payable in December 2014, Main Street will have paid $13.74 per share in cumulative dividends since its October 2007 initial public offering.
Summary of First Quarter 2015 Regular Monthly Dividends
Total for First Quarter 2015:
When declaring dividends, the Main Street Board of Directors reviews estimates of taxable income available for distribution, which differs from consolidated net income under generally accepted accounting principles due to (i) changes in unrealized appreciation and depreciation, (ii) temporary and permanent differences in income and expense recognition, (iii) activity at taxable subsidiaries, and (iv) the amount of undistributed taxable income ("spillover income," or taxable income in excess of dividends paid) carried over from a given year for distribution in the following year. The final determination of taxable income for each year, as well as the tax attributes for dividends in such year, will be made after the close of the tax year. The final tax attributes for 2014 and 2015 dividends are currently expected to include ordinary taxable income, capital gains and qualified dividends.
Main Street maintains a dividend reinvestment plan ("DRIP") that provides for the reinvestment of dividends on behalf of its registered stockholders who hold their shares with Main Street's transfer agent and registrar, American Stock Transfer and Trust Company, or certain brokerage firms that have elected to participate in Main Street's DRIP. Under the DRIP, if Main Street declares a dividend, registered stockholders (or stockholders holding shares through participating brokerage firms) who have not "opted out" of the DRIP by the dividend record date will have their dividend automatically reinvested into additional shares of Main Street common stock.
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the potential tax attributes for 2014 and 2015 dividends. Any such statements other than statements of historical fact are likely to be affected by other unknowable future events and conditions, including elements of the future that are or are not under Main Street's control, and that Main Street may or may not have considered; accordingly, such statements cannot be guarantees or assurances of any aspect of future performance. Actual performance and results could vary materially from these estimates and projections of the future. Such statements speak only as of the time when made, and Main Street undertakes no obligation to update any such statements now or in the future.
Dennard - Lascar Associates
Jenny Zhou | jzhou@dennardlascar.com


Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has signed a pact with a consortium of Indian oil companies to jointly develop and build a mega integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex, Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL), in Maharashtra.
Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has signed a pact with a consortium of Indian oil companies to jointly develop and build a mega integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex, Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL), in Maharashtra. When completed, it will reportedly be the largest single-location refinery complex in the world. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF) conference in the capital yesterday.
The strategic partnership brings together crude supply, resources, technologies, experience and expertise of these multiple oil companies with an established commercial presence around the world. Three state-owned oil marketing companies - IOCL, HPCL and BPCL - will own a 50 per cent stake in the joint venture while Saudi Aramco will hold the remaining half. It will reportedly supply at least 50 per cent of the crude to be processed at the planned refinery along with advanced technologies for the same. According to a statement by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Saudi Aramco may also seek to include a strategic partner to co-invest in the project.
Furthermore, the project will also include the development of associated facilities such as a logistics, crude oil and product storage terminals, raw water supply project as well as centralised and shared utilities. If things go to plan, RRPCL will go a long way in meeting India's fast-growing fuels and petrochemicals demand.
Currently the country has a refining capacity of a little over 232 million tonne, against the domestic demand of 194.2 million tonne in fiscal 2017. According to the International Energy Agency, this demand is expected to reach 458 million tonne by 2040.
At the IEF conference, Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih had said that "Large as this project may be, it does not by itself satisfy our desire to invest in India. We see India as a priority for investments and for our crude supplies". Along with pointing out that Saudi Aramco's entry would bring lower cost of financing due to the company's higher credit ratings, Falih had told reporters that the reforms introduced by the Modi government are "a game changer". He had added that "the transparency, ease of doing business, removing some of the hurdles have facilitated investment flow".
Meanwhile, the protests from the region against the project have gotten louder with the signing of the MoU. The locals, mostly fishermen and farmers, have been opposing the project on the grounds that it would take away their livelihoods, disturb the ecology of the entire region, and expose the Konkan region to further industrial exploitation.
According to media reports, the Konkan region is feeling betrayed since state industries minister Subhash Desai not long ago had promised that the project "will not be imposed on the locals in any circumstances". In February, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, too, had said that the project would be launched, but only after talks with all the stakeholders. He had previously pointed out that the upcoming project "is a greener refinery than the one in Chembur, Mumbai".
"The government has double standards and now stands exposed in front of the people of Konkan," Satyajit Chavan, Convener, Committee for Opposing Destructive Projects in Konkan told The Hindu. "It appears as though successive governments are hell-bent on destroying the natural wealth and beauty of Konkan. The earlier government brought in the Jaitapur nuclear power project and now this government is set to force this oil refinery on us."
With all political parties, including the ruling Shiv Sena, backing the locals, Chavan's warning that the protest will only pick up steam here on seems no idle threat. However, B Ashok, the CEO of RRPL, reportedly claimed that the project is well on its course and is expected to be ready by 2025.


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Last edited by Tarisar
Friday, February 14, 2020 | History
4 edition of The road to Providence found in the catalog.
The road to Providence
Published 1910 by Bobbs-Merrill in Indianapolis .
Statement by Maria Thompson Daviess ... with illustrations by W.B. King
LC Classifications PZ3.D29 R
Pagination 5 p. L., 274 p., 1 L.
OCLC/WorldCa 178053
It was not by chance that swallows flew into the home of Tobit and blinded the righteous man. It was exactly what I thought it would be. Hood purchased this land from Mr. I'd recommend it only to folks I think would be willing to cross all the different genres and go for a peculiar and crafty ride. Scheduling Road Tests After Failures A minimum waiting period after a road test failure has been established to allow adequate time for applicants to acquire the necessary skills through additional instruction and practice, in order to pass the road test and be issued a full license to operate.
Unfortunately, before Moore could complete more than six or seven pieces more than half of the only copies were lost in a cab in London, and the novel was abandoned. For instance, instead of relying on free markets to develop new supply and value chains, through Belt and Road the Chinese government leans on its state capitalist model to force businesses to build and finance relatively low-tech operations oversea, like mass steel production. While states may retain legal and political independence, they lose their practical sovereignty and power. Edward F.
Hills argues that the principle of providentially preserved transmission guarantees that the printed Textus Receptus must be the closest text to the Greek autographs. Meredith Vieira An American journalist and television personality. I was in a very, very bad mood. I am not familiar with HP Lovecraft's books, which are a central theme in this one.
Stiff News (C.D. Sloan Mysteries)
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The 2000 World Market Forecasts for Imported Copper
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Reading Scripture with the Rabbis
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The case against impeaching Trump
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Vulnerable groups and deprivation in European cities
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The road to Providence book
European countries and possibly Russia may become geopolitical balancers or battlegrounds between American- or Sino-led orders, as the ongoing fight over Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei demonstrates. The trade war has reshaped global trade, perhaps permanentlyand competition between rival economic domains with separate supply chains has emerged in a potential new cold war.
Lovecraft himself. In trade for his services, Mr. Sexual Ideology in the Works of Alan Moore. It was not by chance that Christ met with the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar and spoke with her.
I am schedule to see him in the summer for a wellness visit, and I am thinking about cancelling that at this point. As stated above, Reformed theology relates these terms to predestination, which does have more prominence in LDS theologyif only as a polemical term. Olivia Culpo An American model, actress, and former beauty pageant winner.
A coming-of-age story where the main character is a bit older than normal because of everything he's gone through. There are many parts I enjoyed, a few I thought were just okay, and in the end would give it about 3. Orr is great!
In fact, LDS theology favours a more active, interventionist God. And you end up questioning what is right and wrong. He parceled it up into 4 and 8 acre lots which were then sold off over the next 8 years [3]. Scheduling Road Tests After Failures A minimum waiting period after a road test failure has been established to allow adequate time for applicants to acquire the necessary skills through additional instruction and practice, in order to pass the road test and be issued a full license to operate.
Settings are very clear. This reasonable observation should convince Americans to prepare for long-lasting geopolitical competition with the communist regime.
And there's a subtle page-turning push you feel trying to understand where it's all going. We were looking for pictures when I came across this one and thought, "Hey!
Would they accept high-speed rail and 6 percent annual economic growth if it costs them their souls or means their children are sent to orphanages and prison-schools because they belong to a minority religion? From the mid-nineteenth century untilmost of the property east of Woodstock Road was just that -- wood stock; acres of timberland [1].
I'd recommend it only to folks I think would be willing to cross all the different genres and go for a peculiar and crafty ride. He specifically made it known that I should see my primary care doctor and not him. Millidge, Gary Spencer She gets right to the core of what makes some people tick or focus on the little details that sit within a person's mind all day long.Great savings on hotels in Providence, United States of America online.
Good availability and great rates. Read hotel reviews and choose the best hotel deal for your stay. Books on the Square, Providence, RI. K likes. A family and dog-friendly independent bookstore since Follow us on Twitter at @Books_on_the_SQ/5(67). Providence St.
Vincent Medical Center is part of Providence Health & Services in Oregon, a not-for-profit network of hospitals, health plans, physicians, clinics and affiliated health services. The facility is a Top hospital having been awarded by Solucient 10 times.
May 03, · Providence by Road and by River. Come with us on this outstanding land and river tour of Providence! First, you will relax aboard a climate-controlled tour bus and visit Providence's most spectacular neighborhoods, see its most impressive sights, and learn about its unique story.
Jan 13, · God, War, and Providence: The Epic Struggle of Roger Williams and the Narragansett Indians against the Puritans of New England [James A. Warren] on atlasbowling.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.
The tragic and fascinating history of the first epic struggle between white settlers and Native Americans in the early seventeenth century: "a riveting historical validation of emancipatory /5(31). Category:Novels set in Rhode Island.
Jump to navigation Jump to search Novels set in Providence, Rhode Island (8 P) Pages in category "Novels set in Rhode Island" The following 14 pages are in this category, out of 14 total.
This list may not reflect recent changes. A.
atlasbowling.com - The road to Providence book © 2020


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Каля Вікторієй (, Проспект Перемоги) — один з найважливіших проспектів в центральному Бухаресті. Простягається від Splaiul Independenței (що є паралельним річці Димбовіца) на північ, а згодом на північний захід до площі Перемоги (), де продовжується шосе Кіселеф () у північному напрямку.

Історія

Спершу ця вулиця була відома під назвою Ulița Mare (Уліца Маре, Вулиця Велика), а також як Drumul Brașovului (Друмул Брашовулуй, Брашовська дорога), як частина торгового шляху між Бухарестом і трансільванським містом Брашовом. У 1692 році господар Константін Бринковяну вимостив дорогу деревом та частково упорядкував її, визначивши її маршрут через володіння Белечені, монастиря св. Івана, монастиря Злетарі та Кантакузинів до монастиря Серіндарі. Після 1692 року дорога була відома вже під назвою Podul Mogoșoaiei (Подул Могошаєй, Могошайська дерев'яна дорога) через те, що вона також з'єднувала з центром Бухареста палац Могошая, що на той час належав Бринковяну та розташувався за кілька кілометрів від міста.

Більшість тогочасних доріг на Балканах навесні та восени ставали брудними, але тут дерев'яне покриття запобігало цьому. Отже, дорога була серед найважливіших інженерних об'єктів у цьому регіоні та предметом гордості жителів Бухареста. Райони, що оточували дорогу, стали найбільш фешенебельними районами Бухареста: так, у 1775 році на самій дорозі було розташовано 35 боярських маєтків.

З липня 1814 року Подул Могошаєй стала першою вулицею в Бухаресті, на якій було влаштовано нічне освітлення свічками.

Дерево не було надто міцним матеріалом, тож часто покриття було в поганому стані, хоча його кілька разів і ремонтували (в тому числі у 1793 та 1814 роках). Під час російської окупації Дунайських князівств, що настала як наслідок російсько-турецької війни 1828—1829 років, командиром окупаційних військ Павлом Кісельовим було збудовано продовження дороги на північ, що зараз назване на його честь. У 1842 році дорогу замощено бруківкою, яку пізніше замінено на асфальт.

Дорога була найменована Calea Victoriei (Каля Вікторієй, Проспект Перемоги) 12 жовтня 1878 року після перемоги Румунії у війні за незалежність 1877—1878 років.

Зараз проспект є елітним торговим районом - тут розташований ряд нових модних магазинів, художніх бутиків, кафе та ресторанів.

Будівлі та монументи

Найголовніші пам'ятки, розташовані вздовж проспекту (з півночі на південь):

 Палац Кантакузіно, разом з музеєм, присвяченим Джордже Енеску
 Музей мистецьких колекцій
 Палац Штірбей
 Румунський Атенеум
 Національний музей мистецтв Румунії
 Бібліотека Бухарестського університету
 Церква Крецулеску
 Пьяца Революцієй (площа Революції), включно з Меморіалом Відродження
 Телефонний палац
 Театр Одеона
 Каса Капша
 Палац Національного військового кола
 Пасаж Макка-Вілакроссе
 Bucharest Financial Plaza
 Національний музей історії Румунії зі статуєю Траяна та вовчиці на його сходах
 CEC Bank

Проспект довгий час був місцем розташування Національного театру, який стояв з північного боку від Телефонного палацу; копія його колишнього фасаду відтворена на сучасній будівлі готелю Novotel (відкрився влітку 2006 року). Римський Атенеум розміщується дещо в стороні від проспекту та відокремлений від нього невеликим парком.

У міжвоєнні роки Каля Вікторієй був показовою вулицею в Бухаресті. Після приблизно півстоліття занепаду, він поступово повертається до цієї ролі.

Національний музей мистецтв Румунії (колишній королівський палац) та університетська бібліотека навпроти нього постраждали під час революції 1989 року та були відновлені у 1990-і роки; Телефонний палац був відновлений у 1997—2005 роках; крім того, триває ремонт та реставрація багатьох готелів на проспекті.

Примітки

Посилання

Каля Вікторієй
Вулиці Бухареста


Your little one will be whizzing around in an instant on the Kiddimoto Pastel Dotty Kurve Balance Bike! In a pretty dotty pattern, the Kurve is a great way for your child to learn balance and prepare them for riding a real bike. With an upright riding position, an adjustable seat and plenty of safety features, this balance bike promotes exercise, learning, and above all: fun!


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Wilder Woods Gets 'Today' Show Moving With 'Supply & Demand'
Needtobreathe frontman Bear Rinehart has launched a solo career under the new moniker of Wilder Woods, a tribute to his sons Wilder and Woods. The songwriter paid a visit to the Today show's Artist Lounge on Thursday where he got the crowd grooving to his new single "Supply & Demand" off his debut eponymous album.
The crooner delivered an enthusiastic performance, accompanied by guitarist Scott Mills riffing away on a G6636T Players Edition Falcon.
Give this upbeat number a watch and listen below, and catch Wilder Woods on tour in support of his album here.


In the Beginning: Shifting Dynastic Alliances in the Gulf GCC……….
There were two major recent Middle East alliances: (1) the alliance of Qatar and Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood-MB- (that was after the MB regime in Egypt was overthrown by the Al Sisi military coup) and; (2) the alliance of military-ruled Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Now the old alliances have been shaken and jumbled so that there are, for now: (1) the alliance of Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Turkey (hard to believe that five years ago the Saudis used to accuse Qatar of being allied with Iran and Iraq and Syria and Lebanon) and; (2) the alliance of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE potentates shared an intense mistrust and hatred of the Muslim Brotherhood, while the Qatari potentates financed and supported the Brotherhood. Apparently the Qatari potentates have so much money that they are always looking for some foreign ally willing to accept some of it, including the FIFA sports officials. The Qataris still support the MB, but the Saudis have modified their view somewhat of their ancient ally and later enemy the Muslim Brotherhood. After all they are allied with the Brotherhood in both Yemen and Syria. The UAE still violently opposes the MB and has moved closer to Al Sisi of Egypt even as the Al Saud have moved closer to Qatar and Caliph Erdogan of Turkey.
Now apparently the Saudi opposition, the Wahhabi branch of it that is overseas, is confused or conflicted about the Saudi-Qatari ties. One school of thought claims that the new Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Nayef Al Saud strongly influences, nay dominates, the Qatari Emir Tamim Al Thani. Another school of Wahhabi opposition thought sees the influence reversed: it claims that it was Emir Tamim of Qatar who influenced the Saudis and talked them into easing up on the Muslim Brotherhood.
They both agree that the real power in the UAE, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed, lost out because he had betted on and was closely allied with Saudi Prince Meteb Bin Abdullah who has lost out after his father died.
P.S:So far only Oman and Kuwait have remained outside these flexible shifting sub-alliances among the potentates of the GCC. Probably wisely, for now.
The list is very long, and it includes some surprising groups like the American CAIR and Associazione Musulmani Italiani (Association of Italian Muslims). That last one immediately had me yell: WTF! Is that some kind of leftover (feloul) Fascist group? I am guessing it is either affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, or maybe for some reason the Al Nahayan Brothers don't like it. Still, an Italian group? But that is okay: there are also on the list French and other groups that even the CIA has probably not heard of, like The Finnish Islamic Association (Suomen Islam-seurakunta) and the Muslim Association of Sweden (Sveriges muslimska forbund, SMF).
I did not see Hezbollah of Lebanon on the list, although there are several alleged regional Hezbollah offshoots, real or imagined. Missing also on the terrorist list are the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Saudi Commission for the Propagation of Vice, the Communist Party of Belize, and dissident members of the Nabati Poets Society. No mention of the Mossad either. Or maybe they just listed every Muslim group they are not financing. But some of these groups are bona fide terrorist groups, literally cutthroats. Some, not all.
The Internal Wars of the GCC: from Al Bassous to Qatar and Egypt……..
The foreign ministers of the Gulf GCC members met in Jeddah Saturday, reportedly to follow up on an 'ultimatum' given to Qatar. The ultimatum was from the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (also Bahrain, but now only as an appendix of the Saudis).
The ultimatum itself is an interesting, and should be shocking, piece of undiplomatic diplomacy and meddling in the sovereign affairs of an allegedly independent sovereign country. The GCC right-wing group (Saudi, UAE, Bahrain) had reportedly warned, nay threatened, Qatar to basically adopt their Saudi-imposed foreign policy in regional and inter-Arab affairs, or else. At stake is continued Qatari support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its continued criticism of Generalisimo Field Marshal Al Sisi regime in Egypt, mainly through the Aljazeera network. As well as Qatari refusal to push Hamas in Gaza under the bus.
The Qatari-Saudi rift goes back to long before the Arab uprisings and the Egyptian military coup of 2013 and the Syrian civil war and Hamas control of Gaza. During the 1990s, Saudi intelligence orchestrated an attempted coup in Qatar, with the goal of overthrowing the last Emir Hamad. The coup attempt, in which certain tribal elements from the border region were also implicated, failed. As a result, a large group of senior Saudi intelligence and security officers were arrested in Doha and imprisoned for years. They were released during the last decade and send back home to Riyadh.
Anyway, some GCC ministers claimed after the Jeddah meeting that 'the issues' are on their way to being resolved. In fact all 'issues' are usually on their way to being resolved, and not only because GCC functionaries and top bureaucrats habitually claim that they are. Famously, the pre-Islamic tribal Al Bassous War was also resolved after some forty years, and that one was over a camel and a cantankerous woman who owned it. Even the Israeli-Palestinian 'issue' may be resolved some day: it has only been, what, about 75 years or so?
If'n you ask me, if'n you do, and I am aware that you haven't yet, I would say it is highly unlikely that the Qataris will succumb to the demands of the Saudi princes and their Abu Dhabi and Bahraini sidekicks. There have been several bilateral meetings between Saudi and Qatari leaders in recent months. A bilateral summit meeting between King and Emir was held in Saudi Arabia last July, and apparently it failed to resolve the issues. It is unlikely then that a bunch of GCC bureaucrats can solve what King and Emir could not solve.
"A court in southern Egypt on Monday decreed a mass death sentence for nearly 700 people, including the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of Egypt's ousted Islamist president. On the same day, another Egyptian court banned the April 6 movement, which was among the primary engines behind the landmark 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.
The best scenario, an optimistic scenario, in this impending Egyptian butchery is that it is just a political show. They are setting the stage for a great show of mercy by the new dictator. The Kangaroo courts continue their job, preparing the way for a new dictator for life in Cairo. He, Generalisimo Field Marshal Al Sisi will probably show "restraint" and "mercy" after pleas from allies and suppliers in the West. He will likely show calculated moderation by commuting most of these hundreds, thousands by then, of death sentences to life in prison. All these people, including tens of thousands awaiting trial, will end up in prison for life simply because they exercised their right of protest.
The Western world will be relieved for it, and it will applaud this military justice that it would not accept in the West. But that will be okay: these are only Arabs and in some places life can be cheap and freedom might be overrated.


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Soniqs Announce New Valorant Roster
North American esports organization Soniqs announced its new Valorant roster, which will represent the brand in 2023.
Cole Paganelli
North American esports organization Soniqs announced its new Valorant roster, which will represent the brand in 2023. Featuring top talent, Soniqs' new lineup has caught the attention of the Valorant competitive scene, forming a strong core that will compete for Ascension spots.
Soniqs Form A New Squad
On Wednesday, Soniqs unveiled its new Valorant roster for the 2023 season. As announced, the new-look lineup will consist of Dylan "runi" Cade, Iyengaran "IyeN" Raju, William "shonk" Kittrell, and the newly-signed Bryce "PureR" Lovell, Kevin "mina" Nguyen and Michael "nerve" Yerrow.
Of the five members, lyen is the longest-serving player on the roster, as he joined Soniqs in April 2021 and is the only remaining player of the old core. Runi and shonk, on the other side, have been with Soniqs since April 2022, when they got re-added to the active roster, and will seemingly remain with Soniqs ahead of the 2023 season.
The most recent additions in PureR, mina, and nerve all joined the North American esports organization on November 11, finalizing Soniqs' new Valorant roster. The trio joined as replacements for Kyran "dizzyLife" Crombie and Ethan "Crunchy" Laker, who left the team in October.
New Talent Joins
PureR is the highlight of the newly acquired members as one of the most talented players in the region. PureR started his Valorant esports journey in October 2020 with XSET, who he was a part of for most of his playing career.
With XSET, PureR has achieved a lot of success, helping the organization establish itself as one of the top names in the NA esports scene. Even though XSET failed to qualify for the VALORANT Champions 2021, PureR led his team to runner-up finishes at VCT 2021: North America Stage 2 Challengers 1 and Stage 3 Challengers 1, as well as a top-four finish in the Stage 3 Playoffs.
Unfortunately, XSET couldn't show up at VCT 2021: North America Last Chance Qualifier, which they finished in fourth place, and thus missed out on the season-culminating event.
After leaving XSET at the end of the 2021 season, PureR has enjoyed a short stint with Gen.G, but after failing to find much success, he left the organization in May.
Notably, even though PureR was officially announced as Soniqs' new player on Wednesday, he has already played with the team in August during NSG: Summer Championship, MCT – MEL Valorant Premiership – Season 3 Playoffs, and Proving Grounds 2022: Unleashed.
On the other side, nerve and mina have yet to debut for Soniqs. Nerve joined Soniqs as a free agent who has been out of action since September when he played for The Pig Pen.
Nerve and mina were both previously a part of the Cosmic Divide. Even though the team has achieved some success in lesser events, Cosmic Divide never broke into the upper echelons of the Valorant competitive scene.
Ready For New Season
With a new-look lineup, Soniqs are ready for the 2023 Valorant season, where they'll look to improve upon the team's showings in 2022. Although a prominent esports organization, Soniqs haven't achieved much in 2022 nor competed in the NA VCT.
The team's most notable accomplishment came in August when Soniqs placed third at Proving Grounds 2022: Unleashed. The team also attempted to qualify for the VCT but failed miserably.
In January, Soniqs crashed out of VCT NA Stage 1 Challengers open qualifiers in ninth-16th and fifth-sixth place. Likewise, they couldn't show up in Stage 2 open qualifiers, which they finished in 13th-16th.
Next season, Soniqs will compete in NA Challengers scene alongside TSM and The Guard as two other big-name organizations who didn't earn a spot in the partnered league.


text:
Q: How to get a codebehind variable into the Text property of a CheckboxField What I'm trying to do is like
<asp:CheckBoxField DataField="MyValue" HeaderText="My Value" text="<%= MyProperty %>"/>

where
public string MyProperty;

is in the codebehind file.
However this just renders "<%= MyProperty %>" is a string.
Any idea how to do this (without JavaScript)?

A: If you are working with a gridview control do it like this:
html:
<asp:CheckBoxField DataField="MyValue" ID="chkfield" HeaderText="My Value"/>

Code Behind:
CheckBoxField cf = new CheckBoxField();
cf = (DGGeneric.HeaderRow.FindControl("chkfield") as CheckBoxField);
cf.Text = "This is your property text";

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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First let me state for the record that though I have often heard of and read about the MXR Phase 90, the brand name was not on my list of coveted vintage pedals to own. As for phase shifters I am a died in the wool Electro Harmonix Small Stone fan with its watery swishing swoosh sounds. I have owned a couple other makes and models of phase shifters over the years that simply did not impress me. The MXR brand was further tainted in my mind by the purchase of an MXR Dynacomp compressor pedal a few years back. After my Electro Harmonix Soul Preacher I owned as a much younger being and the Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer I had cloned a few times, I simply was not impressed with this compressor. It's optical based though so maybe thats why. But the Phase 90 kept beckoning me and with a user list that starts off with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen it wasn't long before I actually found one at a decent price that I was willing to pay. So, a couple years back I purchased an MXR Phase 90 in a pawnshop for the very reasonable price of $60.00. I brought it home and hooked it up and toyed with it for a while before deciding that it sounded okay but had a rather distorted overdriven sound that I didn't much care for and could not get rid of by tweaking its only knob labeled "Rate". This was far from what I heard when I listened to Van Halen and Led Zeppelin! I used it on and off for a while before just relegating it to my box of pedals I might use someday. I could hear its potential by the way of the sweep of the LFO and I knew it could sound like I had envisioned while listening to these bands. So one day as I was perusing the interwebs looking for some schematics of this pedal, I found there were several versions. I knew about the differences between the original Script Logo "Holy Grail" version and the later Block Logo version but was pretty unaware of its history otherwise and of all of the various versions and flavors of this pedal. So I took the time to educate myself and opened up my pedal and disassembled it enough to try to identify a circuit version. In tracking down the age and version of my pedal I found it to be a REV E design with a date of 4-27-2001 both of which were printed on the PCB. After some research I found that this is a re-issue pedal. I also found that my pedal had some oddities which were not listed in some schematics and yet other schematics had some of the oddities but not all of them and I found other schematics that had the other oddities but not the first ones. Therefore I think my pedal is a transitional model block logo re-issue version made in or around 2003. For instance mine used a 2N4126 PNP as the mixer transistor and its Miller capacitor was a 680 PF while most schematics called for a 2N4125 transistor and no Miller cap or a much larger value. so I started looking around with this info in mind.
I quickly found that there were lots of versions of this pedal as it changed over time and especially after the Dunlop company took over the MXR brand. I guess it has been in pretty much constant production for almost 40 years! In addition to all of these bewildering versions there are several clone kit schematics available as well as a few modified and suggested modification schematics. Talk about convolution, invigilation, and obfuscation! I don't give up easily however and with dogged determination I searched and settled on a version that appeared to be stock and had the same sort of component set as mine did with a few small value differences but ironically was dated 1993.
I then began gathering up information about various modifications and then reading up on the perceived results of each of these particular mods. Of course I found a variety of opinions about each modification along with of course, the purists who state "A few modifications will not make your Block Logo pedal into a Script Logo pedal" and that the whole circuit would need to be built from scratch in order to obtain original Script Logo Phase 90 realism. While true as this statement may be, a few mods can certainly clean up some of the harsh overdriven sound of the pedal which was my entire goal as well as to add a couple simple mods to extract added features from this pedal.
I found a small collection of modifications printed on what appeared to be a mostly REV E schematic along with a REV E board with all the parts numbered and overlayed on the board which made it extremely simple. There were a few mods I wanted to do however that were not entirely clear that were not included in this mod list and so it took a bit of experimentation to puzzle out. The two images I used as schematic and board overlay which included almost all of the mods to give the pedal clarity and depth were found with the name "Nero F. Rox" posted in red on both so thanks out to Nero F. Rox whomever you might be. The other schematic I used came from RG Keens site GeoFex and was titled "Phase 90, 180 Plus" and can be found here: http://www.geofex.com/FX_images/p180plus.gif so thanks out to RG Keen for his schematic idea which was the mix knob to allow access to the vibrato. This schematic is the one I had to do some experimentation with to find the correct resistors. The part the caused all the confusion is that there are 6 or 7 150K resistors that all come together to form junctions with a few other parts and only 2 of these need to be modified. Now, after figuring it out, I can assuredly tell you that on "Nero F. Rox" schematic and board they are labeled as resistors number R8 and R29. The description of that mod is posted below.
Hmm, I Must Ponder These A While.
An additional couple of mods I want to do eventually is to make the LED flash in synch with the LFO and add in a small circuit that is switchable to give the LFO more of a sine wave sweep as opposed to its current triangular sweep. This would benefit the Vibrato to sound much more pronounced in my opinion and should be simple enough using an oppositely polarized pair of diode clippers and some voltage divider resistors to round off the peaks of the triangle waveform. It would have a swoopier sound which would excite the vibrato a bit more than the smooth up and down-ness of the current triangle waveform of the LFO. I also want to examine the "LERA" LFO modification at some later time. This mod is supposed to emulate the speeding up and slowing down action of a Leslie rotating speaker when switched from fast to slow and vice versa, specifically not the Doppler effect that Leslie systems are noted for, but simply the speeding up and slowing down effect of the speakers rotations. I also want to ponder a modification that will let me switch between a Phase 45 and a Phase 90 also developed by RG Keen by shunting a couple of the phase shifting stages.
The opamps used on my board are TL062 and TL064 which are okay for the purpose but certainly are not high fidelity chips. The TL082 and TL084 would probably be better chips to use or perhaps the NTE equivalents. Considering the compactness of this board I will not attempt to replace these chips but if ever I build one from scratch I will certainly be using hi fidelity parts. In considering the original version of these pedals, they were built using 741 chips which are also very much not high fidelity chips but indeed they do have that vintage and desirable sound. They aso used cheap ceramic disk capacitors and non-descript resistors. Vintage tone using cheap parts. This is starting to sound like a recipe for a vintage Fender tweed amplifier. Cheap parts equal great tone! Audiophiles and tone-hounds hate me now, I am quite certain. Either way its luck of the draw or a happy accident.
I am considering purchasing an additional Phase 90 kit board to have a stereo version of the pedal. I also have an Electro Harmonix Russian built Small Stone phase shifter pedal that I have been experimenting with. Thoughts of a stereo or multiple Phase Shifter synthesizer with a twin unsynched multiple selectable waveform LFOs including perhaps a sample and hold feature with a slew or lag option and possibly an envelope generator or envelope follower seems to be quite doable and a pretty interesting concept. If I pursue this I will document and release the circuit as well as samples and perhaps a video. I have always liked the swirling odd and random sounds of 2 unsynchronized phase shifter pedals running at the same time. This collection of ideas will need time to simmer and stew in my brain before they come to fruition.
I have decided that the common "Univibe mods" presented for both the Phase 90 and the Small Stone are not worth the effort in my opinion. I get better satisfaction and more variety from the added depth and mix controls personally. My Phase 90 after the modification process has a clearer, throatier, vowel-ish sound to it that I am really enjoying a lot. Wobbling the wobble per the Univibe cap selection is not going to make me sound like Jimi Hendrix anymore than flipping my guitar over and restringing it will.
Before we begin I recommend that you have a very strong background in electronics, reading schematics and layouts, pedal disassembly and reassembly, and know how to wield a soldering iron well enough to know that you will need a fine pointed tip to do these mods. If you don't know how to take something apart and put it back together again without having leftover parts then just stop right now and take the pedal, the schematics, and this text to a knowledgeable technician and pay them to do this for you.
Anyway lets start with the ubiquitous R28 removal. I just straight up removed it and labeled the part number and value and put it in a bag. Folks have mentioned putting this resistor on a switch or a knob and having tried adding and removing it while playing I have decided that I didn't need nor want it in my pedal at all. The only logical reason I can see for keeping it would be in having more variety and a larger palette of sounds. If I did keep it I would put it on a knob to vary its strength as well as to completely remove it from the circuit.
Then I also removed R32, C11 and C12 and tagged and bagged all of these as well. R32 and C11 formed a filter to ground and perhaps also to set a bias point for the buffer it was attached to. C12 is a Miller cap between the base and the collector of the 2N4126 PNP transistor. Its purpose is to act as a low pass filter and to eliminate any oscillations that may occur. After removing it I hear no oscillations at all and a larger bandwidth passing through to the output.
As to R31 I simply just jumpered it with stripped wire and left it on the board thus bypassing it. This resistor sets the gain of the buffer and simply jumpering it we have effectively set the gain of the stage to unity or 1. This will help to eliminate some of the distortion overdrive sound the pedal had originally.
I then replaced C2 and C4 with 0.047uf or code 473 caps rated at 50 volts. The original 0.1uf caps were tagged and bagged. This prevents a small amount of lower frequencies from entering the pedals stages allowing a clearer voicing of the pedal. You can think of this mod as raising the lower part of a "tone window" a bit. I searched through my parts stash and all I could come up with were a pair of matching cheap ceramic disk caps. They work and sound great so no need for a more expensive option here.
R20 was originally a 750K resistor which I removed, tagged and bagged and replaced it with a 12mm 1M linear pot (its all I had but it fits surprisingly) with wiper 1 connecting to pin 2 of R27 and pins 2 and 3 connected together and then soldered to the gates of all the JFETS via R20s other hole. This is now my depth knob. I originally tried a 9mm 1M Audio taper pot but found that all of the sweepable range was bunched up on one end of the wiper (doggone logarithms anyhow!). I then switched to the 12mm 1M Linear taper which solved this problem.
R30 and R34 were both jumpered with bare wire and left on the board. Since we are removing R27 and replacing it with a larger trimmer we will not need these.
R27 was removed and a 470K trimmer was put in its place since I didn't have a 250K trimmer. It doesn't seem to effect it in a bad way so I adjusted it and left it and it works fine. This allows a broader range of biasing for sweep range and the waveform offset and duty cycle of the LFO stage.
I jumpered R16 on the LFO leaving it in place. This helped to increase the range of the Rate knob. This leaves a tiny deadspot at the very top of the fast rotational range. The original value is 4.7K so perhaps a 470 ohm or 100 ohm resistor or a 1K trimmer might fix this problem. For now I am ignoring it until I get a trimpot to replace the resistor with.
After much experimentation and circuit tracing I then removed R8 and R29, tagged and bagged them and since I didn't have any 47K resistors laying around (as suggested by RG Keens Phase 90, 180 Plus schematic) I replaced them with 68K resistors of 1/8 watt and left the ends that would have connected to the base of the 2N4126 sticking up in the air. I soldered wires on each of these and then trimmed and heatshrunk them all the way down to the board to prevent shorts. I connected each of these wires to the outer pins of a 9mm 250K linear pot (I could not find a linear 200K 9mm pot as RGs schematic suggested) and the center pin was connected to the base of the 2N4126. I had originally tried using 27K resistors (Ohms law failure!) but there was a lot of nasty sounding distortion at either end of the pot rotation. I will eventually replace the 68K resistors with 47Ks since I feel this would open up the range of variance between the pots stops. 56K resistors would probably work just as well if not better. I am sort of leery after hearing that nasty distortion of the 27K's if 47K will be a high enough value.
I then measured and drilled holes on the pedal case on either side of the speed pot. I made sure the wires were long enough to facilitate putting the new pots in and tightening them down to ensure no twisting of the pots or wires to cause short circuits while the board was outside the case. I really dislike drilling aluminum without a drill press and a way to prevent the bit from taking a different route than I planned. One of the holes came out a little uneven even though I used a punch to set the point of the hole centered correctly. It still works though. It just looks a little lopsided. As long as the pot mounted in that hole is not shorting something out then all is well. Purely aesthetic accident.
Then I replaced the board and put all the washers back and tightened up all the nuts.
I then covered the back of the board with a piece of cellophane packing tape to prevent any of the jumper wires from shorting against the back of the case. It is highly unlikely that any shorts would occur due to spacing and mostly concave shape of the backplate, I just did not want to take any chances. I will probably cut a piece of gasket paper to fit the entire back of the board to be certain.
I screwed the case shut. 4 screws… Easy Peasey!
I labeled the new "Depth" knob and the new "Mix" knob with my handy Dymo labeler. I had to trim the labels down a bit as there was a lot of blank white paper around the wording which would have been unappealing to the eye on this orange pedal case.
I hooked it up and now I also have a Depth knob and a Mix knob as well as the original Rate knob. The overall tone is much clearer and does not have that nasty midrange overdrive sound that it previously had. I have tried it both in front of my amp as well as in the effects loop and it sounds great in both places. The Depth knob goes from clean to full warble and the mix knob goes from full phase to full vibrato. The Rate knob now goes much slower and much faster but I noticed at the extreme end in a very small part of the fastest setting the LFO simply stops. Whether it is just so fast that it can't be heard is unlikely. It is more likely that it has crossed some bias or trigger voltage point which halts the sweep of the LFO. A trimpot or resistor of a low value in place of the currently bypassed R16 would probably correct this. R16s original value was 4.7K so perhaps a 470 ohm or 100 ohm resistor or a 1k trimpot would be enough to fix this artifact. On the other hand it now goes so slow that instead of cycles per minute it does minutes per cycle! This is definitely a very subtle and usable tone. I can play an entire song before it goes through a complete cycle of phase! I had to actually record it and time it to discern if it was actually phasing and indeed it is.
I tuned the 470K trimpot by ear since I don't own a scope. Lacking any instructions on tuning it and ignoring dire warnings of "NEVER MESS WITH THIS TRIMPOT OR YOUR PEDAL WILL DIE!" I did some experiments. Since I completely replaced it, it needed to be adjusted anyway. What I found to be the most accurate way to tune it was turn the LFO speed "Rate" knob up as far as I could (almost into ring modulator territory) before it faded out and then adjusted the trimmer until it gave the strongest warbling effect and did my best turning it back and forth several times to center it on this warbling strength much like one would tune a guitar. Then I reassembled the pedal and it all seems to work great. The LFO sounds even on both the upswing and the downswing with no lopsidedness of the duty cycle noted at either fast or slow speeds. It sounds good with no hum or nasty fuzzy distortions present and I would definitely use it on stage or in a studio now.
In summary, even though the purists are correct, that to obtain the true Phase 90 Script Logo sound you need to just build it from scratch or climb the Himalayas searching for an original one and spend a lot of money to just purchase it, the Phase 90 Block Logo versions can be made to sound very pleasant and have hidden features as do all phase shifter effects, that are just waiting for some imagination to break them free. After a few days with my "new" pedal I am totally digging the sound. It is very throaty sounding and I can dial in lots of variations of the phasing sound. My fellow musician friends are also loving the new found sound of this pedal. It definitely has earned its place on my pedal board! In my opinion these re-issue Block Logo Phase 90 versions are cheaply acquired and are pretty easy to modify into something that can sound beautiful and has more features than the "Holy Grail" expensive one trick pony versions.
If you own one of these later Block Logo pedals prior to the Surface Mounted parts versions (and NOT INCLUDING THE EVH VERSION!!!) and know your way around a schematic and the innards of a pedal, I strongly urge you to consider performing these operations. Don't listen to the naysayers or harbingers of bad opinion. Just do it. You will be very pleased with the improvement in sound and the added features you can obtain. I turned my $60.00 pedal from ho-hum into hell-yeah in just a couple of hours and with $6.00 worth of added parts. This is definitely a win! These pedals as new are around $99.00 USD so a good score at a cheap price makes it even sweeter when you realize its true potential!
Do not attempt these mods on an original Script Version of this pedal. They are quite unnecessary and would simply devalue the pedal as well as ruin its tone. Additionally I would also avoid modifying the '74 Hand Wired Custom Shop Vintage version as well as some of the untouched earlier versions of the Block Logo in order to keep its value and to prevent ruining its tone. I would avoid modifying the Surface Mounted PCBs as well as the Eddie Van Halen Signature versions simply because of the difficulty level in dealing with these ultra tiny SMT parts which are GLUED and then SOLDERED to the boards during assembly. You would need a PCB holder, a magnifying glass, tweezers and forceps, an X-acto knife, and super ninja leet de-soldering skillz in addition to all of the other regular tools required to perform these mods. You can't forget the semiconductor rule of 3 seconds at 300 degrees Fahrenheit while soldering can ruin a part. Even if you manage to unsolder an SMT part without ruining it, it is still glued to the board. Bad voodoo and no mojo dudes and dudettes!
My pedal is not true bypassed. Most likely your Block Logo Phase 90 pedal is not either unless it was previously owned by a solder iron wielding ninja with super leet skillz. The footswitch is soldered to the PCB and would require a lot of work as well as cutting an accurate square hole in your PCB and attaching large gangly wires to very tiny circuit traces about a tenth of a millimeter in width and then painted with that clear red or green goop to seal the board. I would not attempt this even with my years of experience unless I was going to put it into a completely new box with the added room to do it. This pedal is very tightly packed and I was not even sure if I could add a set of 12mm and 9mm potentiometers. As others before me have stated, "Do not ask me how to add true bypass to this pedal" If you are not bright enough and experienced enough to do this and figure it out on your own then find someone who is and pay them to do it for you. Truly you might be better off financially if you simply purchase a kit board from General Guitar Gadgets or Tonepad and build your own as you see fit. You will certainly enjoy the experience and perhaps learn a few things. The pride and reward of building your own pedal and with the features you want will put a lump in your throat and a smile on your face when you finally get it working and plug it in and play with it. You will be bragging to your friends for years about it.
If you want to delve deeply into the theory of why and how the Phase 90 works along with all the math calculating power supply and signal filtering frequencies and a good math based overall primer on how phase shifting actually works in general then I highly recommend two pages.
In my vast research into this project I wish to thank Nero F. Rox formerly of Jeanhatesjohnmusic.com where, who, and whenever you are, RG Keens http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/phasers/phase.html site at geofex.com, General Guitar Gadgets at http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/ , Tonepad at http://www.tonepad.com/ , http://www.electrosmash.com/ , http://stinkfoot.se/ , http://www.performing-musician.com/…/oct07/ar…/retrospec.htm , and all the guys and gals over at http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php… for the theories, debates, and potential modification ideas.
Yes I agree, sadly I didn't think of taking pictures while I modified the unit. I will add the Nero F. Rox imagery however as I still have it. I willl edit the post to include them as soon as I get them uploaded. Thanks for the idea Gabriel!


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Oliveira equals second best result of the season – Syahrin fights hard in Motegi
Red Bull KTM Tech3's Miguel Oliveira delivered a stunning performance in today's Japan Grand Prix to finish 12th. The Portuguese MotoGP rookie found himself in P18 after the first lap, but developed a strong pace throughout the 24 laps race, being already well placed inside the points scoring positions at halftime and made up even more ground to eventually see the chequered flag in P12.
Oliveira and Syahrin to launch Japan Grand Prix from row 6 and 7
Saturday at the Twin Ring Motegi was marked by changing weather conditions. While FP3 for MotoGP this morning has been full wet, the track was drying during FP4 and the Red Bull KTM Tech3 duo as well as the rest of the field went out on slicks for Qualifying this afternoon.
Exciting Friday for Red Bull KTM Tech3 duo in Japan
Miguel Oliveira got his first taste of the Twin Ring Motegi today aboard his KTM RC16. Following a decent start in FP1, he suffered a crash in the second session of the day, but luckily managed to go back on track again, plus lowered on his lap time from this morning to conclude Friday 1.079 seconds behind the top 10.
Red Bull KTM Tech3 duo on their way to the Land of the Rising Sun


RuthS,P born Abt 1610, England bur. 1619-1620, With Husband, "Jonathan"??, To Jamestown?
DorothyC born Abt 1630, <Ecclesfield, West Riding, Yorkshire, England> died 30 Mar 1728, Plympton, Plymouth, Mass.
JamesC born 30 Mar 1684, Plymouth, Plymouth, Mass.