text:
Backdoors
Earlier this week, the Guardian in conjunction with its partner publishers, New York Times and ProPublica ran an article, Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security. As we'll see, the title is a bit misleading, but the agencies certainly gave it their best shot. This story builds on the initial Snowden leaks that the NSA has been using computer technology to spy on everyone using the internet in the USA. The story rapidly came to the UK where it became clear that Britain's GCHQ was tapping the UK/USA telecom links, sharing intelligence with the USA and providing the NSA with a slightly more legal way of spying on US citizens. There is little doubt that the US & UK's intelligence agencies have outsourced their own domestic spying which is legally restricted to each other.
The UK and US have fundamentally different legal systems when it comes to the powers of the State. One has a constitution based on the separation of powers with residual powers vested in the people, while the UK is an evolved monarchy; its closest basic laws are the EU accession treaties and the Human Rights Act but Royal Prerogative means that many powers and actions can be exercised by the government. without parliamentary approval and without judicial review. There's an expectation that the US government would be constrained by the 4th amendment which guarantees citizens against search without a warrant, while the UK citizens should be protected against general surveillance and unwarranted (or any) search by Article 8 of the European Charter of Human Rights.
In the UK, the data collection has been as extensive and egregious. We can now see why the securocrats were so desperate to get the Communications Data Bill through; it would have legalised what they had been doing. Monitoring and reading internet traffic of people without a reason, without probable cause is against the law in both jurisdictions. The Government claim that GCHQ's actions have been overseen by warrants issued by the Foreign Secretary and the programme has been in place since 2008, so that would mean Margaret Beckett, David Miliband and William Hague have signed off on this programme.
GCHQ though boasted to the NSA, that
"We have a light oversight regime compared with the US".
The clear ambition of the spy agencies is to read, listen and mine everyone's communication, both by phone and on the internet.. The most important, axiomatic role of a state is to protect its citizens. Domestic spying on this scale is not that! It is immoral, and if not illegal it should be,
Reactions have varied from the "So what? We always knew this!", to more outraged responses.
We have a right to privacy, and thus a right to effective encryption tools.
In the US, the Bill of Rights' 4th Amendment states,
In the UK, the Human Rights Act makes the European Convention on Human Rights part of the UK's body of law. The ECHR establishes privacy as a human right,
Article 8 – Right to respect for private and family life
Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence
There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
It would seem that the US NSA have decided that conversations between citizens and foreigners are legal to monitor and that they can't determine if US citizens abroad are in fact US citizens.
We, the people, have established a right to privacy; the right not to incriminate ourselves is much older, although more strongly established in the USA. IT vendor leader's such as Scott McNealy and Eric Schmidt's self serving polemics that privacy is over are merely the latest advocates of over energetic snooping and a defence of their privilege, and their assumed rights to make money. In this case, it's about money, since they both make/made surveillance equipment. On the internet, and on the phone, we, the people, have a right to privacy and to effect this we need effective encryption.
The spies subversion of encryption is a morally defective
The new story is that the US government have been bribing and coercing product vendors and standards bodies to weaken encryption products and standards to either insert 'back doors' or weaken the products to make them more amenable to brute force attacks, because the US government clearly has a lot of I.T. brute force.
I have argued in this blog, earlier this year, Government databases, even those created for the most benign of reasons will leak and/or be misused. The EFF, in this story, reinforced by other sources including this a one at Forbes show this leakage in the USA, from National Security, via the War on Drugs to Tax Evasion, copyright infringement and littering. (I made the last one up.) We should note that Article 8 allows exclusions for fraud prosecutions and that in the UK the Music and Film industries have used the Fraud Acts to mount legal attacks on alleged copyright infringement. Governments and vested interests will always over- reach themselves.
The secrecy and illegality of the NSA's actions and it's suborning of the I.T. Supply industry means that we need to re-think a number of our personal and collective I.T. Security strategies, together with a rethink of our regulation of the industry. Most companies will need to do so also. The actions of the NSA and GCHQ are crimes. They are crimes in so many ways, against their citizen's rights and against their basic laws. It now seems that they are also against their anti-corruption laws.
Not only have our secret police infringed our rights to privacy, but they have tried to break the privacy tools that we might use to protect ourselves.
As British political actors we should be outraged; there's little doubt that across Europe, where the memories of the surveillance state are more recent that opposition and voices for reform will be louder.
Qui Bono?
Firstly, the NSA is a military organisation, it is led by soldiers and while the debate and while the development of the legal authority to regulate war has advanced massively , the military is always fighting a war. The US view of the legal context of military operations differs from that in Europe and it certainly does not accept foreign jurisdictions authority over US citizens or entities. An example of this is that the US has refused to subscribe to the International War Crimes tribunal because it does not accept that International Law applies to US Citizens. There's little doubt that the spies have done it because they can. Various theories exist to explain non-market organisations growth and institutional goals. So the first winners are the spooks.
The second winners are the IT, telecom & software service providers. The equipment, software and people involved in setting up these networks in the private sector collaborators have not done this for free. Although the inevitable leaking is causing massive reputational damage to these companies.
The business of the American people is business", is still a lietmotif for US politics. Anyone who thinks that the NSA will not share information with US business to further the interests of US business is being naive. Today's conservatives across the world, who despite a Democrat President hold hegemonic control of the US Federal Government and the European Commission believe that the purpose of politics is to enable trade, commerce and profit. The third set of winners is the rest of US big business.
In my professional life, I seem to have been alone in arguing that data has jurisdictional attributes and anyone or any company with privacy duties and/or secrets should not put their data on foreign located storage systems or should chose the location of their storage servers based on the legal privacy framework. Many colleagues have argued that encryption is is good enough; it would seem that not all of it is. The world though is held hostage to the US techno-economy. There are now no major European based systems software companies and the vast majority of the world's network equipment providers are US based and owned and with the exception of the Chinese, the remainder suffer regulatory capture through the necessity of operating in the USA.and/or using US 'owned' software.
The entwining of politics and business is causing historical inertia. Today's rich and powerful have more political capital than tomorrow's, and the corrupt and corrupted regulatory environment inhibits "creative destruction" and the evolution of the production platform. It now seems that effective cryptography is also seen as a prohibited good. In the USA, the once secret corruption of the IT supply chain has frighteningly led to the closure of Lavabits, a provider of secure e-mail, and famously used by Ed Snowden to mail people after he had admitted to being the NSA whistle blower. We also only need to briefly review the response of the US Government to the Wikileaks exposures where the US Government sought to cut of its DNS resolvers and sources of funding to see that neither US capitalism, nor the US Government has a neutral stance when it comes to its relationships with the rest of the world.
Capitalism has no patriotism and no morality, the expansion of 'Free Trade' with its new companion, Investor State Dispute Resolution weakens the rights of all of us, except the ultra rich. Free Trade is to the benefits of companies and money, it ignores both the economic and human-rights interests of the other economic stake holders, the workers, customers, and neighbours.
If there are weaknesses in the encryption products, then these weaknesses are available to everyone and while it may take a massive grid to exploit these weaknesses it is clear that despite the US's 'look over there' faux panics that the Chinese government certainly has the IT capability and the human resources to build the tools to break these, now, sub standard products. Anonymous, bittorrent & earlier SETI@home have shown that large and massive loosely coupled computer grids can be built using home systems. N.B. Encryption costs cycles. If you rent them, this matters; in the home, we have more than we need. Powerful compute grids can be built by anyone.
The US 'ownership' of the internet and the wilful breach of law by the police and engineers who build the internet means that citizens of other polities need to consider their response. The US own it, they build it and they use it to reinforce their wealth and power, or at least the wealth and power of their elites. One small example is the legacy entertainment industry's attack on the bit-torrent protocols, where a small number of exceptionally rich legacy businesses are seeking to inhibit the next stage of the Internet's development since it minimises their attempts to make profit. (In fact they seem to have won this battle probably in co-operation with the spooks since the latter want the limited number of choke points.)
One positive reaction has been the review by non-US corporates and peoples of their use of US social networks and cloud provided infrastructure-as-a-service. It's one of the reasons that companies like Google and Yahoo are going to court to try and get what they see as their true voices into the public domain. It's possible that companies like Amazon and Rackspace who rent time and space as opposed to hosting content will suffer, unless they can re-establish people's trust in encryption. The software as a service companies(SaaS) have suffered massive reputational damage in the rest of the world.
There's two huge political issues raised by this story. One is national supply, or in the case of Europe maybe supra-national supply. The EU's FP7 ICT programme is an ICT R&D incubator and one source of software security innovation, but the sale of Nokia's handset division is not necessarily a good signpost as to Europe maintaining its lead in cellular phone systems and standards. Without the ability to develop encryption and appropriate security tools Europe is excluded from the participating tin the engine of wealth creation for the next generation. It interests me that any conversation about avoiding Google's search engine talks about US hosted alternatives ignoring ixquick, which distinguishes itself with a privacy offering and Exalead owned by Alcatel.
The second is the Human Rights issues. The US internet & legacy businesses have been spending vast sums of money lobbying for the laws they want. There's been a huge expense throughout Europe and across the world to introduce 'three strikes' laws; seeking to remove internet access from even casual and accidental 'pirates' and in the case of the French, even the innocent and also in Brussels trying to get the Data Protection laws weakened to allow them to continue to mine and sell our personal data. As I have said elsewhere, while the Western Europeans and much of the old commonwealth seem happy enough to follow the lead of Hollywood and Nashville, the eastern Europeans with a more recent memory of an all encompassing surveillance state take a different view. For more about this see, Privacy International's write up of the campaign in Brussels surrounding the re-write of Europe's Data Protection laws, and Monica Horten's write up of the contending politics once it reached the Council of Ministers. During the Parliamentary scrutiny over 3000 amendments were put to the Parliamentary scrutiny process, the vast majority written by lobbyists and the vast majority of those written on behalf of the US owned social networks.
This is all before we consider the weakening of trust. Encryption technology is used to build trust not just keep secrets. This is not the place for how safe encryption is not just about free speech, but also the foundation for economic co-operation. We can't do ecommerce without trusted authentication and non-repudiation, I am who I say I am, and my word is my bond in cyberspace!
How to protect ourselves
The Guardian, in an article, "Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security" details the way in which the NSA and GCHQ have been building decryption capabilities. <
Bruce Scneier, one of the USA's leading cryptologists has written in his blog, about the likely strengths and capabilities of the spook's decryption capability. He wrote more in an article in the Guardian, "NSA surveillance: A guide to staying secure", where he repeats his advice that strong encryption works, but that all end points i.e. phones and personal computers and laptops are vulnerable. Apart from the possible Windows Backdoor, securing these devices is hard, takes expertise and the resources at the disposal of the NSA are immense. Basically if they want in, they're in.
But the maths is sound, they've only broken its implementation. Schneier says,
Basically, the NSA asks companies to subtly change their products in undetectable ways: making the random number generator less random, leaking the key somehow, adding a common exponent to a public-key exchange protocol, and so on. If the back door is discovered, it's explained away as a mistake.
but strong encryption works, the maths is still secure and the crypto-engineers are changing up.
In order to protect ourselves we need to make it too expensive to bother with you, by increasing the cost of attacking your endpoints.
So Schneier's advice is,
Hide, use anonymous services
Use encryption
Take your encryption engines offline, use an airwall
Be suspicious of commercial closed source software
My guess is that most encryption products from large US companies have NSA-friendly back doors, and many foreign ones probably do as well. It's prudent to assume that foreign products also have foreign-installed backdoors. Closed-source software is easier for the NSA to backdoor than open-source software. Systems relying on master secrets are vulnerable to the NSA, through either legal or more clandestine means.
Use public standards with multiple implementations.
He adds,
Since I started working with Snowden's documents, I have been using GPG, Silent Circle, Tails, OTR, TrueCrypt, BleachBit, and a few other things I'm not going to write about. There's an undocumented encryption feature in my Password Safe program from the command line); I've been using that as well.
I understand that most of this is impossible for the typical internet user. Even I don't use all these tools for most everything I am working on. And I'm still primarily on Windows, unfortunately. Linux would be safer.
The EFF add the following advice in their article, Tahoe and Tor: Building Privacy on Strong Foundations, advertise the afore mentioned TOR, for anonymity, and Tahoe-FS as an encrypted decentralised file system,
I shall be checking up on these, now shall I get buy myself a new Linux laptop.
The one thing that surprises me is that they'd bother to capture it all. It seems so expensive, if not in IT then in terms of people to read the output and decide whether to act.
<ooOOOoo
The picture at the top is Batman's surveillance machine from the Dark Knight. I don't have the dialogue in front of me, but Alfred and Lucius are appalled and Batman hands over the delete key so the machine can be destroyed, but Batman is not the Director of the NSA.
David Allen Green in an omnibus blog article at his Jack of Kent blog highlights the Tory led Government and the Lord Chancellor's attack on the right of access to judicial review; he says,
The Ministry of Justice has launched a further consultation on judicial review. This was accompanied by a fairly silly article by the Lord Chancellor. Adam Wagner's response to that article is excellent.
At ORGcon2013, Casper Bowden and Duncan Campbell both explored the Paradox of the Republic. The 4th Amendment and the other protections of the US Constitution only apply to citizens. This designed loophole and the US's sense of exceptionalism, mean that the US political mainstream think they have a right to deny the rest of the world's citizens and peoples rights that they demand themselves. Human rights are universal, you get them because you are human. So despite its caveats, the ECHR might be a better protection than the 4th amendment and we might be seeing the further evolution of world citizenship. I wanted to write a bit more about the Paradox of the Republic but the thing has got pretty long as it is.
Those arguing against transfer of internet governance to the UN's ITU because it would jeopardise freedom by allowing non-democracies a say must be feeling a bit stupid. (I know I am.)
Also at ORGcon2013, at least one speaker suggested that Microsoft's purchase of Skype had been suggested by the NSA in order to extend the NSA's PRISM programme to Skype.
Nokia's sale to Microsoft should be seen as the result of it deciding that it could make money building and selling mobile handsets using someone else's operating system. Nokia cancelled two Linux operating system projects in order to pursue this economic cul-de-sac, which leaves Canonical, in the UK as the last European system software house, unless you count Alcatel or Nokia-Siemans.
This took me over a week to write, I have back dated it to the day I started it. (I am beginning to admire those jounralists that have to write to a deadline.)
Tagged on: 4th Amendment Article 8 communications data bill ECHR gchq news nsa politics privacy star surveillance technology US Consitution
Dave 8th September 2013 2nd June 2018 Politics, technology No Comments
← One injustice righted, and for my next act
Nokia exits the mobile market →


text:
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            function (menu_item_service_1_1) {
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        execute: function () {
            SidebarComponent = class SidebarComponent {
                constructor(menuItemService, route, location) {
                    this.menuItemService = menuItemService;
                    this.route = route;
                    this.location = location;
                    this.title = "Main Menu";
                }
                ngOnInit() {
                    this.getMenuItems();
                }
                getMenuItems() {
                    this.menuItemService.getMenuItems().then(menuItems => this.menuItems = menuItems);
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                goBack() {
                    this.location.back();
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            SidebarComponent = __decorate([
                core_1.Component({
                    selector: 'my-sidebar',
                    templateUrl: './app/shared/sidebar/sidebar.html',
                    providers: [menu_item_service_1.MenuItemService]
                    //template: '{{title}}'
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                    router_1.ActivatedRoute,
                    common_1.Location])
            ], SidebarComponent);
            exports_1("SidebarComponent", SidebarComponent);
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
← Is there a political version of Sapir-Whorf?
Memes, Millennials, and Meaning (and Anaphora) →
Three Strands of Nationalism in Ireland: Preliminary Observations
Posted on July 10, 2017 by noahroderick under Language
Eamon de Valera
Modern Irish nationalism, which we might place in the time after Daniel O'Connell's Catholic emancipation movement and before the establishment of the Free State in 1922, was a weaving together of three, sometimes conflicting ideological strands: socialist politics, Gaelic linguistic revival, and Catholic identity. These three strands were exemplified by the passions of three of the most important figures in modern Irish nationalism, each of whom had strong personal connections to nations beyond Ireland and who, therefore, helped to imagine an Irish nation (as was often the case among postcolonial nationalisms). There was James Connolly, a Scotsman by birth, who injected continental socialism into Irish nationalism; Patrick Pearse, both the son of an English father and an Irish language teacher who endeavored to take the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge) into the vanguard of militant, revolutionary politics; and Eamon de Valera–American born and of Spanish-Irish descent–who, as both Taoiseach and President of the Republic, ensured that Ireland's political and educational infrastructure would be unwaveringly Catholic for generations to come. Both Connolly and Pearse were executed by the British after the 1916 Easter Uprising. De Valera was a dominant presence in Irish government until his death in 1975. The socialist strand was effectively crushed in the civil war between pro- and anti-treaty forces, though republican militants in the North would remain nominally faithful to it through the Troubles and the Good Friday Agreement era. And there are signs that the other two strands of nationalism in Ireland are weakening in contemporary Ireland. A 2016 census, for instance, showed that the numbers of people who identify as religious and who speak Irish and a daily basis have dropped since the 2006 census. An old fashioned nationalist might say that Ireland is once again becoming West Britain, and that most people in the Republic wouldn't feel the difference if they were being governed from London instead of Dublin. And indeed, despite their Gaelic names, the two dominant political parties in the Republic–Fine Fail and (especially) Fine Gael–have melded into two species of Tory. It would, however, be more difficult to make that case since the Brexit vote, the election of Donald J. Trump, and the beginning of the end of the Anglo-American order. Despite what sometimes feels like the suffocating influence of British and American media culture, Ireland is clearly hitching its political wagon to Europe, which is what a figure such as Connolly would have envisioned all along (minus, of course, the neoliberal economic agenda of Fine Gael). So, assuming that we are not hurling rapidly into a post-nationalist era (and it sure doesn't look that way at the moment), what will nationalism in Ireland look like in coming decades? What might that tell us about the future of other nationalisms in the wake of the Anglo-American order's decline?
During my time in Ireland this summer, I have been focusing mainly on the linguistic strand, though that is of course inextricably bound up with the political and religious strands. The decline of religiosity is predictable and comports with long-term trends in other Western nations. Ireland, of course, is different from other Western European nations in that religious identity has survived into modern age as being just as important as religious ideology and practice. Even in Northern Ireland, however, where sectarian identity had been virtually synonymous with ethnic and political identity, the language of Protestant majority/Catholic minority is being phased out of political discourse on both the nationalist and loyalist sides of the argument. And at any rate, with Protestant/Catholic demographics evening and the infusion of people from other faith traditions, Northern Ireland may soon be a minority-majority region. In the South, religious identity is giving way to a cosmopolitan identity among the urban middle classes and those aspiring to be middle class. This too appears to be tinged with a little bit of nationalistic schadenfreude, as the Irish finally see their chance to scoff at the provincialism of the British and the Americans. This shift towards a cosmopolitan identity was perhaps expressed by Fine Gael's recent selection of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach. Varadkar is both the son of an Indian immigrant and openly gay. He is also the youngest taoiseach in Ireland's history. And yet his neoliberal, pro-austerity politics are decidedly stuck in the Celtic Tiger generation. I do not have the data to back up any credible arguments here, but it is hard to see the two main parties capturing the political aspirations of Ireland's post-recession youth.
Although its population is still relatively small and agriculture is still a significant part of its economy, Ireland, like the rest of the world, is urbanizing. From the outset, this looks like bad news for the Irish language. There really is very little Irish spoken on a daily basis outside of the rural Gaeltacht areas, and according to the 2016 census mentioned above, all but one of the Gaelachts (Port Láirge/Waterford) have shrunk. Up until recently, Irish has been one of those things that everyone thought was a good idea but which hardly anyone wanted to engage on a day-to-day basis. Talk to just any adult in Ireland, and they'll tell you that Irish has failed because it was taught so poorly in the schools. No doubt, there's some truth to that. Irish language education has improved, but many young Irish people, like their contemporaries in America and Britain, are convinced that humanistic endeavors (language, culture, art, etc.) are wasteful and extravagant, and that only the immediate and practical are worth pursuing. But what I have found, particularly among working class and non-Irish speaking rural adults, is not just a resentment of Irish language education, but a simmering resentment of the Irish language itself (or at least a resentment of those who promote the language). For these individuals, Irish is not just a lost language about which one is occasionally wistful but mostly indifferent; it is a foreign language associated with an elite political class, not unlike the way Russian was seen in former Soviet Block countries in the 1990s. And indeed, the real growth–the only growth–in Irish language speakers in recent years has been among graduates of Gaelscoils (all Irish medium schools) whose students are often urban and affluent. There are, of course, other reasons why some in Ireland would resent the promotion of Irish. But the fact is that there is a small generation of young, fluent Irish speakers who are about to take their place in the top rungs of an economically polarized Irish society. But can it be argued, albeit from a cold, clinical perspective, that this can actually be a good thing for the survival of the Irish language?
If you're in Galway City on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of June, you can walk down to the entrance of the NUI Galway campus. There you will see massive fleet of buses parked on the street. One of Ireland's annual great migrations is about to begin. Hundreds of young teenagers from all over the country are about to depart for towns like Spidéal and Cheathrú Rua in the Connemara Gaeltacht for their summer immersion experience. For families who can afford these summer programs, there is a promise that their children will have a leg up on the Irish Leaving Cert exams they'll be taking when they are seventeen or eighteen. Such programs provide a vital infusion of cash into rural communities whose economies and populations are otherwise diminished. There is a relationship of mutual dependence between the Irish education system and Gaeltacht communities, but is it a healthy relationship? Despite the income from summer immersion programs and tourism, Gaeltacht communities are still hemorrhaging young people. And by depending so heavily on those few communities for the survival of the Irish language, the Irish government has contributed to the idea that Gaelic is a relic of Ireland's distant and rural past–a relic to be preserved but a relic nevertheless.
But if the Irish language is in the hands of a new, elite generation of young speakers, attitudes may change. Instead of being a relic of an outdated nationalism, the image of the Irish language may become forward-looking and aspirational. And indeed, the new Gaelscoil (or Post-Gaeltacht) Irish is a rich, relatively untapped seam for sociolinguists as well as for those who study morpho-syntax and phonology (if you're interested, please check out Brian Ó Broin's excellent lecture on the subject). But in order to survive as a living, national language, Gaelscoil Irish must become transgenerational. Again, it's an extremely understudied area, but so far, there is very little evidence of this happening on a significant scale. In order for this to happen there has to be some motivation for elites to maintain the language on a daily basis. The Irish government could, for instance, step up their language requirements for civil service jobs and political appointments. Perhaps they could even call for Irish speaker quotas in corporations like Apple and Facebook, for whom Ireland serves as a virtual tax shelter. Of course, this is all extremely unlikely to happen under a Fine Gael government. And anyway, as long as Irish society becomes more economically polarized, such policies would, understandably, alienate the majority of Irish people. It seems that at least two strings of Irish nationalism must remain viable for either one to hold.
My guess is that Irish will continue to diminish as a living language. But it won't go away. It seems destined to become a secular liturgical language, known in extended fragments by elites for ceremonial purposes. It's been on that path for some time. It's an unraveling of the three strands that begins by pulling on any one string.
But these are just preliminary observations. Who knows how Ireland's nationalism or any collectivist ideology may reinvent itself in coming years? I'll keep looking into it.
This entry was tagged Gaelic, Ireland, Irish language, Nationalism. Bookmark the permalink.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package com.rlc.akka.cluster.transformation;

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;

import com.typesafe.config.Config;
import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory;

import com.rlc.akka.cluster.transformation.TransformationMessages.TransformationJob;
import scala.concurrent.ExecutionContext;
import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration;
import scala.concurrent.duration.FiniteDuration;
import akka.actor.ActorRef;
import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
import akka.actor.Props;
import akka.dispatch.OnSuccess;
import akka.util.Timeout;
import static akka.pattern.Patterns.ask;

public class TransformationFrontendMain {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Override the configuration of the port when specified as program argument
    final String port = args.length > 0 ? args[0] : "0";
    final Config config = ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.netty.tcp.port=" + port).
      withFallback(ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.cluster.roles = [frontend]")).
      withFallback(ConfigFactory.load("application2"));

    ActorSystem system = ActorSystem.create("ClusterSystem", config);

    final ActorRef frontend = system.actorOf(
        Props.create(TransformationFrontend.class), "frontend");
    final FiniteDuration interval = Duration.create(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    final Timeout timeout = new Timeout(Duration.create(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
    final ExecutionContext ec = system.dispatcher();
    final AtomicInteger counter = new AtomicInteger();
    system.scheduler().schedule(interval, interval, new Runnable() {
      public void run() {
        ask(frontend,
            new TransformationJob("hello-" + counter.incrementAndGet()),
            timeout).onSuccess(new OnSuccess<Object>() {
          public void onSuccess(Object result) {
            System.out.println(result);
          }
        }, ec);
      }

    }, ec);

  }
}


This is a rare lamp. Made by the French company Claude Paz & Silva it has a round coppered base from which rise 3 round coppered columns that support a ribbed glass uplighter shade. The glass is signed "Claude Paz et Silva" and the base has an oblong silver & black label signed "Claude Lumiere". this was made in the late 1930s.
Professionally rewired and with current PAT test.


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text:
IRANIAN RELIGIONS – ZOROASTRIANISM
Daena (Eternal Law)
Saoshyant 'one who brings benefit' (i.e. Messiah)
Creation of the Universe
Final Judgment & World Renovation
The Avestan
CRITICISM & APOLOGETICS
Correlations to Abrahamic Religions
Prophecy of End Time & Messiah
Zoroastrianism, also called Zarathustriaism, Magianism (Magi) or Mazdaism is an ancient Iranian religion. Before the rise of the Persian Empire (circa 600 b.c.) Zoroaster, the founder of this religion, reformed the earlier Iranian pantheon into a simplified version, focused primarily on only two opposing forces of good and evil. Over time, Zoroaster influences over this religion led to it bearing his name.
The symbol for Zoroastrianism is the Faravahar, the winged guardian spirit holding a disc, a symbol of power.
Zoroaster is the founder of Zoroastrianism. The dates of when Zoroaster lived fluctuate greatly among scholars from as early as 1800 b.c. to as late as 600 b.c. He native language was Avestan and lived on the Iranian Plateau, the eastern part. He was married and had children, as most of his life is described in the Zoroastrian writings that still exist today.
He proclaims he was illuminated by Ahura Mazda at the age of 30 , in which he received his revelation of spiritual truths. He had a difficult converting others to his religious belief system, but his wife and children where among the first to receive his new teachings.
Some writings of ancient Greek historians such as Pliny considered him a sorcerer-astrologer, and inventor of magic and astrology for the Iranian people. Pythagorean tradition associates Zoroaster as an avid student in Babylon from where he supposedly learn and taught his understandings of astrology – Porphyry Life of Pythagoras 12, Alexander Polyhistor apud Clement's Stromata I.15, Diodorus of Eritrea, Aristoxenus apud Hippolitus VI32.2.
The only indications we have of Zoroaster's death is in the Zoroastrian Text, the Shahnameh 5.92, which indicates he was murdered at the altar by Turanians who were at war with the Persian Empire, during the storming of Balkh, in present day Afghanistan.
The Indo-Iranian Pantheon & religious system dates back as early as 2000 b.c. It is believed that around 600 b.c. Zoroaster reformed the entire religious system by promoting Ahura Mazda as the supreme deity and all other previously worshipped deities to a lesser position.
Recordings of the Zoroastrian believers and their activities were made by Herodias (Ancient Greek Historian) and through various scripts of the Magi, the Persian followers of Zoroaster.
Following the unification of Persian and the Medes (ancient Iranian people) in circa 500b.c., many of the people of this region became avid followers of the Zoroastrian religion or its influences, with rulers such as King Daruis I being an avid follower of Ahura Mazda.
Various Zoroastrian legends tell of many of its sacred writing being lost or destroyed at the hand of Alexander The Greats invasion into Persepolis and its royal library. A claim that appears to be substantiated by various historic resources.
During the rule of the Sassanid dynasty circa 200 a.d., a certain forms of Zoroastrianism was aggressively promoted until the advent and aggressive promotion of Islam on the people in circa 700 a.d.
Ahura Mazda is the chief and supreme god. He is the non-created creator of everything, cannot be seen. He is eternal, pure good and truth. Zoroaster promoted the belief that there is to be no other being worshiped or devoted to except Ahura Himself.
Is the essence of all that is evil, and is ever trying to destroy the creation of Ahura Mazda. He is believed to be equally powerful to Ahura Mazda, as the eternal conflict between good and evil continue.
Yazata
Yazata literally means "worthy of worship." This is the Zoroastrian concept with a wide range of meanings, but collectively represents all those that are good or the good powers of Ahura Mazda. Yazata's are also portrayed as divinities that can be invoked or called upon, some that even perform mundane 'celestial' tasks such as charioteers for other celestial beings.
Amesha Spentas
Literally meaning the 'bounteous immortals.' In Zoroastrianism, the Amesha Spentas is a classification of divine beings.
Great Divine Sparks – The Amesha Spentas is used in Zoroastrian scripture to refer to the 6 divine sparks of Ahura Mazda, the first emanations of the creator. Each one with a divine attribute, and in some context Ahura Mazda is considered among them:
Ahura Mazda – Supreme Creator- Guardian of Mankind
Vohu Manah- Good Purpose – Guardian of Cattle
Asa Vahista- Truth/ Righteousness- Guardian of Fire
XsaOra Vairya- Dominion- Guardian of Metal
Spanta Armaiti- Holy Devotion- Guardian of Earth
Haurvatat- Wholeness- Guardian of Water
Ameretat- Immortality- Guardian of Plants
Is the revealed law or principles from Ahura to humanity.
The Saoshyants are mentioned in the Zoroastrian texts as teachers and religious leaders, however in Yasht 19.88-96, the text speaks of a specific leader or 'messiah' that will come to make the world perfect and immortal, and the evil Druj will disappear. This coming 'Messiah' that will usher in the end of the world, resulting in the renovation of the entire universe, in which the dead will be revived. He is said to be the son of Vispa. Taurairi and will come from lake Kansaoya/Kansava, carrying the weapon of Verethragna to vanquish the evil creations of Angra Mainyu.
Tradition speaks of 3 of these saviors coming at the end of each 1000 year periods for a total of 3000 years. All born of maidens that bathed in the lake, which supposedly preserves the seed of the prophet Zoroaster himself. The names of each one will be; Hushedar, the second Hushedarmah and the third will be named Saoshyant.
Zoroastrians believe the Ahura Mazda created everything, and all creation is asha- truth and order. This is the opposite of druj, which is chaos, falsehood and disorder.
The religion states that people need to actively participate in good deeds throughout their life to ensure happiness and keep chaos at bay.
Zoroastrians believe that every human soul (the urvan) was created when Ahura created the universe and before birth, every human spirit exists with is guardian spirit (fravashi). After the human is born the fravashi acts as the mortals guardian spirit until death. After the fourth day of death, the human soul is reunited with its guardian spirit, in which its life experience are collected to use in the battle against evil in the spiritual world.
The resulting conflict will involve all creation, the entire universe including humanity, whom will have an active role to play in the final battle. The final battle will result in Ahuras victory over Angra Mainyu, and the entire universe will undergo a cosmic renovation, and time will come to an end. Every dead soul even though banished to darkness will be reunited with Ahura in an undead form.
Zoroastrians believe that any act of worship toward something good is an act o f worship that ultimately get reflected to Ahura Mazda. There for those who desire to be morally good are to worship everything that is good.
The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, of which a significant portion has been lost, and mostly only the liturgies of which have survived. The lost portions are known of only through references and brief quotations in the later works, primarily from the 9th to 11th centuries.
The Avestan was the religious book of the Zoroastrians which contained a collection of their sacred texts, and its history is referred to many other Iranian writings. These writings, the Avestan, where put into archives.
When Persian was conquered in 300 b.c. by Alexander the Great, the Avesta was burned, except for some useable scientific sections the Greeks took to make copies of.
During the Parthian Empire, 200b.c., an attempt was made to restore the Avesta under the high priest Tansar. The various pieces where brought together and translated into Pahlavi, one of the various Iranian languages.
Today only a fraction of these texts survive, which includes;
Gathas – 17 hymns believed to have been composed by Zoroaster
Yasna – a ceremonial text and liturgy
Visperad – texts on religious liturgy
Vendidad – a text of formulas and confrontations against evil spirits.
Obscured Religious Beliefs
One obvious problem with this religion, as mentioned before, is the obvious lack of verification that can be produced for the entire belief system, as most of its texts where destroyed in ancient times. Most of the beliefs, rituals and practices have to be speculated by today's scholars.
Different critics claim that many of the Abrahamic faiths derived from Zoroastrianism. However with the examination of the few similarities between, we find that these belief systems are very different. In fact it may have been Zoroaster himself that was first influenced by Judaism, when the Jews where exiled from Israel.
This claim only comes from critics whom believe that Zoroastrianism is older than 1500 b.c, a time frame which in of itself is highly controversial and unproven.
1.) Monotheism
A.) Judaism
Judaism is a monotheist religion, beginning with Abraham roughly 2000 b.c., which was extraordinary and unusual for its time. History shows that the traditions and cultures of the surrounding nations, as with most of the world where polytheistic. Even as people groups had their own personal gods, they tended to accept the gods of others nations in addition to their own.
The Israelite people where at times brought into idol worship, following the false gods of other religions, of whom the God of Israel in the Bible would always reveal as being simple, manmade fabrications (Ps.106.35-36; Isa 44).
Apart from these heresies and idolatries, Biblical (Torah) teachings and true Judaism was wholly monotheistic from the beginning (Deut 4.35) proclaiming that no other god even exists except for Yahweh.
This provides a unique foundation to the Hebrew faith as no other religion had this type of philosophy or dogmatic view against all other world beliefs.
B.) Zoroastrianism
Keeping in mind the vast archive of ancient texts for the Zoroastrian religion is missing, we have the basic idea of what they believed about their supreme deity.
Ahura Mazda, their supreme deity, can be traced back to an older pantheon of gods developed in the proto-indo-Iranian religion, of which Zoroaster reformed to make his religion. As a side note, the oldest reference we have to the name of Ahura Mazda is from the Achaemenid Period (500-300 b.c.) in the Behistun Inscription, located on Mt.Behistun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran..
The Zoroastrian ideas of the supreme god is better described as a divine mind and immanent self creating universe that is more closely related to a pantheistic belief (belief the universe is identical to divinity, or that all existence composes the immanent god), more closely related to the ideas setup in Hindu Brahmanism. Not at all like the Monotheistic God of the Torah.
Zoroastrian is not always thought of as monotheistic, but is interpreted by some to be more of a type of henotheism. As some interpret the text to indicate the acceptance of other deities, however the religion itself taught only to worship Ahura. Additionally, the continual conflict between Angra Mainyu (destructive principle) and Ahura Mazda (principle of creation) shows a belief in Dualism that is not present in the Torah. The God of the Jews is absolute sovereign over all with no equal.
C.) Zoroastrianism Influenced By Judaism
In the book of Daniel we have a very detailed account of Yahweh using his children, namely Daniel, to be his mouthpiece to the Babylonians and the Mede-Persians. There is a much higher probability simply based on historic accounts, that the Magi and the Zoroastrians where influenced by the Exiled Jews, saw the power of their God, and adjusted they religion to match what Daniel or other exiled Jews had taught them.
We have the historic account of the Magi, who were of the Zoroastrians, that visited baby Jesus when He was born (Matt 2). This verifies they knew of Daniel's prophecy from God and that they obviously believed what the Jewish scriptures taught.
Even if the Zoroastrian religion did pre-date Judaism, which there is no evidence for, who's to say they didn't add prophecies and philosophies form the Judaism faith to their own, when they saw the power of the God of the Jews?
2.) Other Similarities
Similarities include those of the belief in a Messiah, angels and demons, a literal 6 day creation and an end of the world with a type of millennial kingdom.
However, once again we know that the Zoroastrians had encountered the prophet Daniel's prophecies and texts, and Daniel was a student of the other prophets of Israel, including Jeremiah. These prophets spoke specifically about these issues, so if the Zoroastrians knew about Daniels prophecies, they would have also studies the other writings and prophecies of the Jews.
In conclusions, we have a full account, author and known authority for the Jewish scriptures, on the other hand, we can only make vague speculations of the Zoroastrian prophecies and inferences because of the lack of their preservation and uncertainty of their timelines. The Jewish scriptures are unlike anything mankind has ever developed hinting at a supernatural influence. The Zoroastrian texts where just avid students that learned from the Jewish community spiritual truths and continued to apply them to their own persona beliefs.
Zoroastrians believe that at the end of each 1000 year period, a Messiah will appear until a full 3000 year has concluded the end of the world. All three are to be born of maidens who bathed in the lake that miraculously contains the seed of Zoroaster himself, their names will be:
Hushedar
Hushedarmah
Saoshyant
Whom will lead humanity in the battle against falsehood.
Thirty years before the decisive final battle, a maiden named Eredat-fedhri ("Victorious Helper") and whose nickname is "Body-maker" will enter a lake (in Yasht 19.92, this is "Lake Kansava"). Sitting in the water, the girl, who has "not associated with men" will receive "victorious knowledge." Her son, when born, will not know nourishment from his mother, his body will be sun-like, and the "royal glory" of Khwarenah will be with him. Then, for the next 57 years he will subsist on only vegetables (17 years), then only water (30 years) and then for the final 10 years only on "spiritual food." – Denard 7.10.15ff
In the final battle (Bundahishn 30.1ff; 34.18) against evil, the yazatas Airyaman (divinity) and Atar (holy fire) will melt the hills and mountains like metal but the righteous will not be harmed.
A few strong points can be drawn from taking these scriptural texts from the Zoroastrian beliefs:
First, The only person that would fit the description of a Messiah was Jesus Christ, whom if you where a Zoroastrian and you took His word as true, would have been considered the first Messiah. This would in turn cancel out the entire Zoroastrian religion, converting you into a Christian as you accepted Jesus teachings. This seems to be further verified historically as the Magi did come to see Jesus and would have been converted to the one true God by Jesus teachings. The Magi during Jesus era did consider Him to be the Messiah.
Second, this original prophecy is lacking as there was no major event that occurred after the next 1000 year mark (the time of the second Messiah), no messiah appear, nor any person that had a major influence over the entire world, nor has any astounding person risen up to rid the entire world of evil since then.
Plutarch Isis and Osiris 46-7, Diogenes Laertius 1.6–9 and Agathias 2.23-5
The Student's Manual of Oriental History: Medes and Persians, Phœnicians, and Arabians, Page. 38, by François Lenormant, E. Chevallier
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DHARMIC & EASTERN RELIGIONS, Iranian Religions
DHARMIC RELIGIONS – BUDDHISM
DHARMIC RELIGIONS – HINDUISM


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The goal of the Nature Training Programme is to equip people who want to make contributions to environmental education at KFBG.
We provide a series of experiential activities and natural walks, developed by Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) education specialists. In this training programme, participants will gain environmental knowledge, and interpretation and facilitation skills. In addition, they will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of mindfulness and art activities to increase well-being from a holistic perspective.
The enrollment period of Nature Education Volunteer Programme 2018 has ended. Please sign up for Friends of KFBG and obtain the latest news.


The Spanish yacht movistar won the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Melbourne to Wellington on Thursday, beating overall leader ABN AMRO ONE by a boat-length after 1,450 nautical miles.
ABN AMRO ONE led by up to 33 kilometers (21 miles) in the last 24 hours of the leg but movistar closed the gap steadily and overtook its Dutch rival in light wind as the leaders approached the finish line.
When the finishing gun sounded at the end of the leg that lasted 3 days, 22 hours, only 9 seconds separated the first and second yachts.
Movistar, skippered by Holland's Bouwe Bekking, became the first yacht to break ABN AMRO ONE's stranglehold on line honors.
The yachts will make a brief stopover in the New Zealand capital, then begin the longest leg of the race Sunday, 6,700 nautical miles to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The nine-leg, 36,000-mile race includes other stops in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands before the finish in Goteborg, Sweden, in June.


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A helmsman (also called pilot or helm officer) was a title given to the crewmember who directs the travel of an aquatic craft or spaceship from the helm.
The term originates from old navy tradition, perhaps as far back as the 16th century.
In the Earth Starfleet and the Federation's Starfleet, the helm position was the primary pilot of a starship, sometimes working in tandem with a navigator or science officer reading ship's star charts. By the 24th century, the helm and navigation roles had been consolidated into the role of flight controller.
Helmsman article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.


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Online Does Betterhelp Do Family Counseling – Find out now
The physician app Babylon provides treatment to 150,000 active users, while PlusGuidance, an online counselling service, has 10,000 users. Talkspace, another online treatment platform, reports it has actually 500,000 signed up users worldwide, with the majority of in the United States.
Online training encourages therapists on whatever from utilizing emojis to preventing misinterpretations. They also need to secure patients' individual information– an issue that has triggered debate in the US, where big online treatment platforms have come under the spotlight.
Buckley stated patients should examine services' privacy policies before signing up. "Not all online counselling sites utilize professionally trained therapists or stick to an ethics policy, so ask your GP for a suggestion in the very first circumstances. Similar to all sort of services and assistance, what works for a single person may not work for someone else," he stated.
Marc Bush, primary policy adviser at Young Minds, stated that while online counselling services are important, "they should not replace face-to-face treatment with a trained professional. If a young person is struggling, we would encourage them to speak with their GP in the first circumstances, or to contact an established service like The Mix, Childline or the Samaritans.".
For Rackham, who has actually generalised anxiety disorder, online counselling wasn't the best fit. "I felt it was near impossible for the therapist to truly get a sense of the issues I was dealing with, as all they needed to go from was my typed-out words. I believe I understood after that online session how vital interpersonal interaction was.
" I'm a big fan of using innovation in all areas of my life as a service to daily issues. I have apps for whatever, however when it comes to psychological health, you have to choose how technology plays a role in your recovery really thoroughly.". Does Betterhelp Do Family Counseling
The company describes BetterHelp as the "biggest online therapy platform worldwide," geared toward helping individuals dealing with issues "such as tension, stress and anxiety, relationships, parenting, anxiety, dependencies, consuming, sleeping, injury, anger, family disputes, LGBT matters, grief, religion [or] self esteem." The company's FAQ area on its site clearly specifies BetterHelp's app and therapists shouldn't be utilized for people dealing with an extreme mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder) or for people thinking about self-harm. Instead, the app prides itself on having actually accredited therapists and psychological health specialists readily available to assist people through text, call or video chat. That's what lots of YouTubers who have actually accepted sponsorships from the business typically state in their own videos, where they speak on the stresses in their individual lives and feelings verging on anxiety or depression. Bobby Burns, Elle Mills, Philip DeFranco, Heath Hussar, Boogie2988, Shane Dawson and ChandlerNWilson are all creators who have actually Does Betterhelp Do Family Counseling sponsors now.
A number of these developers have discussed psychological health problems in the past, but as burnout becomes a larger topic within the neighborhood– and traditional world– sponsorships involving BetterHelp have actually increased, despite the app not being precisely what the developers are touting.
Therapy Tuesday Talk Space – Find out now
Online How Much Is Betterhelp For Students – Find out now


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Q: uninitialized constant ActiveSupport::Cache::MemCacheStore::MemCache I got this error when I start my project with memcache (gem) and rails 3.0.0beta
Here's the full trace:
/Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta4/lib/active_support/cache/mem_cache_store.rb:39:in `build_mem_cache': uninitialized constant ActiveSupport::Cache::MemCacheStore::MemCache (NameError)
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta4/lib/active_support/cache/mem_cache_store.rb:65:in `initialize'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta4/lib/active_support/cache.rb:64:in `new'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta4/lib/active_support/cache.rb:64:in `lookup_store'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/application/bootstrap.rb:47
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta4/lib/active_support/core_ext/kernel/reporting.rb:11:in `silence_warnings'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta4/lib/active_support/core_ext/kernel/reporting.rb:22:in `with_warnings'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta4/lib/active_support/core_ext/kernel/reporting.rb:11:in `silence_warnings'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/application/bootstrap.rb:47
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/initializable.rb:25:in `instance_exec'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/initializable.rb:25:in `run'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in `run_initializers'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `each'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `run_initializers'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/application.rb:119:in `initialize!'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/application.rb:81:in `send'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/railties-3.0.0.beta4/lib/rails/application.rb:81:in `method_missing'
    from /Users/netbe/Projects/banana/config/environment.rb:5
    from config.ru:3:in `require'
    from config.ru:3
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/rack-1.1.0/lib/rack/builder.rb:46:in `instance_eval'
    from /Users/netbe/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/rack-1.1.0/lib/rack/builder.rb:46:in `initialize'
    from config.ru:1:in `new'
    from config.ru:1

Here's some code from my environment.rb, line #5 :   module Cache
require 'active_support/cache'
module ActiveSupport
  module Cache
    class MemCacheStore < Store
      def logger
        Rails.logger
      end
    end
  end
end

Is there anyone who can guess what's wrong here, is it a rails 3 issue?

A: actually you have not added gem "memcache-client" to your Gemfile, apparently you only have gem "memcache"

A: I think my answer is too late :) But may be it's help somebody. I've got same error and the problem was in name of the file in lib/memcache.rb directory. After renaming it, project started as usual.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Tour de France runner-up Andreas Kloeden has extended his contract with T-Mobile by two years and will remain with the German team until the end of 2006.
Kloeden, 29, agreed to stay in a team also featuring fellow German Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner, and Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, who came third in this year's Tour.
Klöden's manager is Tony Rominger, who had suggested Klöden might go elsewhere to become a team leader.


Goodreads synopsis: In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
My thoughts: Oh how this book feeds my nerdy soul! Between the gaming aspect, 80s pop culture, and the dysopian setting, whats not to love?! To be honest, this book has been on my massive TBR list forever, but since the movie is out and my husband is itching to see it, it sort of lit a fire under me to get it read quickly! And quickly I did! This only took about two and a half days to read. The beginning is a tad slow but once the story kicks in, the plot really moves!
I really loved the world building in this book. It left me wanting more (like how the world got that way to begin with) but I was deeply satisfied with the details of the world the author provided. The technology in this book was mind blowing. The amount of details and just the premise of the Oasis itself was really well done. I love the blending of the old and new too. It pays really nice homage to older technology like old gaming systems and computers and sort of shows the beautiful progression to how and where the premise for the Oasis stemmed from. I loved that we got that thought process.
As for the game itself (everyone should know by now that the whole plot is solving puzzles within a game to find a hidden easter egg) I loved that it had to do with 80s references and I thought the action sequences were ridiculously fun to read. I felt as if I was really playing the game and solving the puzzles right along with Wade.
All in all, I really don't have anything negative to say! This was just such a fun read and I cannot say enough good things about it! I just hope the movie is just as well done and detailed as the novel.


The Fraunhofer IPM inline particle detector enables 100 percent purity control directly in the line. Particulate impurities on the component are detected and evaluated without contact. Complex extraction procedures are no longer necessary, and the results are available in real-time. If the quantity of impurities exceeds a defined threshold value, the component is sorted out or cleaned again. Process issues can thus be immediately addressed.


All our comic books are first printings unless stated. All our comic books are NM/NM+ unless stated. All our comic books come bagged and boarded. All our comic books are posted in rigid mailers designed for comic books. This is a first print #1,2,3,4 and 5 regular covers All with incredible covers from Francesco Mattina.
The Emperor's machinations revealed! Everything changes for Vader! The tale of Vader's transformation from A New Hope to The Empire Strikes Back continues! All our comic books are NM/NM+ unless stated. All our comic books come bagged and boarded. All our comic books are posted in rigid mailers designed for comic books.
Revenge of the Battle Droids??? Vader returns to Geonosis to build his army! The Dark Lord's ascension continues! All our comic books are NM/NM+ unless stated. All our comic books come bagged and boarded. All our comic books are posted in rigid mailers designed for comic books.
The first crossover of Star Wars's new Marvel age continues here! Vader vs. All the Rebels…it's not a fair fight! All our comic books are NM/NM+ unless stated. All our comic books come bagged and boarded. All our comic books are posted in rigid mailers designed for comic books.
Aphra's private investigation on behalf of Vader… Vader's investigation on behalf of the Empire… It all come crashing together…with deadly results. All our comic books are NM/NM+ unless stated. All our comic books come bagged and boarded. All our comic books are posted in rigid mailers designed for comic books.


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How COOPER'S TREASURE Will Use a Map from Space to Seek Underwater Treasure
Posted by Jean Bentley on April 13, 2017
The premise of Discovery's newest docuseries, Cooper's Treasure, sounds like a movie: a professional treasure hunter uses a map charted by an astronaut on a space mission in 1963 to find treasure hidden in shipwrecks in the Caribbean. Honestly, it should probably already be in development for a film adaptation starring Matthew McConaughey.
But here's the thing—it's all real.
Cooper's Treasure follows the 2017 journey of actual professional treasure hunter Darrell Miklos (yes, that is his real job) as he takes charts that his family friend Gordon Cooper, an Original 7 astronaut, made while on his Project Mercury flight in the '60s, and uses them to pinpoint the locations of shipwrecks and hopefully find sunken treasure.
"There's really nothing about this story that's not true," Miklos tells Nerdist of his quest. "The story's true, the way they're portraying me is true."
Miklos first met Cooper when Cooper and Miklos' father appeared together on an episode of The Merv Griffin Show, and soon grew close to the former astronaut. "I did everything with Gordon. I was like his surrogate son. He had two wives and two daughters, one with each wife, so he never really had a son," Miklos explains. "My father kind of abandoned us in our youth… My dad was never around… so [Gordon] kind of filled that void."
When Cooper was on his Mercury mission in 1963, he scoured the globe for nuclear sites—but also found a bunch of shipwrecks, and created a chart with all of his data.
"We proved the fact that the chart had legitimate targets on it by other people's subsequent discoveries," Miklos says—like the 1985 discovery of the Atocha wreck, which was on Cooper's map.
As an adult, Miklos collaborated with Cooper to hunt for shipwrecks in Mexico, but it wasn't until Cooper's Parkinson's got worse that he gifted Miklos his chart. Cooper eventually passed away in 2004, and "getting over the loss of Gordon took me a couple of years," Miklos explains. "It was emotionally a very hard position for me to get the gumption to just go on a treasure hunt. There's so many things in the process of getting to the point where you actually start an expedition."
After finalizing the research and getting the appropriate permits and clearing other red tape, Miklos was finally ready to start—but it was 2008 and the economy tanked. "The last thing anybody was going to invest their money in was a treasure hunt," Miklos said.
Once the economy recovered, Miklos then had to convince his family that the quest was worth it. "I've been doing this so many years," he said. "My wife has seen us have more failures than successes. It's not due to the fact that what we were going after wasn't right, it's that government situations didn't work out, people didn't keep their word. There's a lot of dangers involved in this business. I almost died three times in hurricanes."
Then he and his wife had their first child, heightening the dangers even more. "My wife didn't want to see me go through that again, so convincing my wife that this was for real, that this one was different than all the others," he said. "My wife knew Gordon so she understood the relationship and how important it was to me. But then again, she had her doubts. Not in the story so much, but whether it was possible financially, all of these things that come into play."
It was finally time.
Miklos said, "Some of the material that Gordon identified from space…there is a possibility that, since 1963, somebody has stumbled upon those wreck sites by accident or has done the history and research as this whole business started to become popular in the '70s and '80s." But the risks are worth it. "Yes, it's, 'Do it now or somebody else is going to discover it.' And sooner or later, somebody else will discover these wreck sites. But not all of them—there's way too many."
While Miklos won't reveal exactly where he's hunting, he does confirm that "the treasure map from space is very accurate, and right now, at this stage of the game, we're five for five… I can almost guarantee that unless we find a wreck that's been picked by somebody else, every single target on that chart I believe to be a legitimate target."
Ultimately, he hopes that his quest will prove that Cooper's theories are correct. "I'm paying homage to a very dear friend whom I consider to be my surrogate father, and I want to tell the story so that people don't think I'm sounding crazy or it's made up or it's so far-fetched that I ruin Gordon's reputation by putting the wrong spin on it… My mission is to make it authentic and make it real, so that people realize what a wonderful, incredible person he was—besides an American hero."
Cooper's Treasure premieres Tuesday, April 18 at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel. Do you think Miklos and co. will uncover anything? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Images: Discovery
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Astronauts, Cooper's Treasure, Discovery Channel, Space
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Yas, COOPER'S TREASURE is a Show About a Space Treasure Hunt
SUPERNATURAL's Misha Collins on Taking the GISHWHES on the Road


text:
The Amazing Power of Touch
A mom in Australia says a doctor declared her newborn son "dead," but she helped bring him back to life by holding the premature baby against her body using a method known as "kangaroo care."
"I thought, 'Oh my God, what's going on?' " Kate Ogg said on the Australian television show, Today Tonight.
The child, named Jamie, was born after only 27 weeks with his twin sister, Emily, at a hospital in Sydney. Her birth went well, but his was a different story. The doctor struggled for 20 minutes to save him before declaring him dead.
"His little arms and legs were just falling down away from his body," Ogg said. "I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my arm and just held him."
She and her husband, David, spoke to the child as she continued to embrace him for nearly two hours. During that time, she said, the two-pound infant showed signs of life.
"I told my mum, who was there, that he was still alive. Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger," Ogg said.
Although the doctor - who refused to be interviewed - initially dismissed the baby's movements, when he put the stethoscope to its chest, he was reportedly shocked.
"He said, 'I don't believe it, I don't believe it,' " Ogg said. "It was a miracle."
The happy mother credits the amazing reversal to "kangaroo care."
According to Dr. Pinchi Srinivasan, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Neonatology at New York Hospital Queens, the procedure consists of positioning a premature baby on its stomach - clad only in a diaper - against a woman's chest and between her breasts with "skin-to-skin contact."
"The care helps the baby maintain body warmth," he told the Daily News. It also "regulates their heart and breathing rate," and is believed to contribute to weight gain and improved sleeping habits.
Fathers can also use "kangaroo care," Dr. Srinivasan noted. The key to the method is skin-to-skin contact, not the gender of the person.
The practice began in less developed nations where access to ventilators and other equipment was more difficult, he said. It was eventually studied in the United States and Europe throughout the 1980s, and has since become a recognized practice in helping preemies.
The doctor felt it was "unlikely" that the Ogg baby was "dead," as the practice of "kangaroo care" would not resuscitate a deceased child. But the technique can and does benefit babies, and is used in many neonatal intensive-care units, including the one at New York Hospital Queens.
Seen HERE:
Labels: Power of Touch, Shared Learning
'Drea August 31, 2010 at 10:33 PM
Saw this on the evening news yesterday. Very inspiring...
Massage Techniques for Tennis Elbow
Sleep Like a Baby!
Bodywork for Releasing Grief
Monthly Essentials: August


text:
Re/defining Masculinities Week
Aurora Reinhard Boygirl
looped screening
WE 27.11.2019 12:00 - 22:00
TH 28.11.2019 12:00 - 22:00
FR 29.11.2019 12:00 - 22:00
SA 30.11.2019 12:00 - 22:00
Three young people share their thoughts on their appearance, their gender and their place in society.
Aurora Reinhard is a visual artist from Helsinki, Finland. She works with video, photography and multidimensional hyper-realistic subjects that elevate the everyday to the fetishistic. Her work has been shown at the Shedhalle in Zurich, the Fridericianum in Kassel, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and at Platform Garanti in Istanbul. Her work 'Boygirl' won the International Media Arts Prize at the ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany.
aurorareinhard.com
Part of the Re/defining Masculinities Week
In Finnish, English titles
Finland, 2002, 2'


text:
using RestSharp;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace UptimeSharp.Models
{
  /// <summary>
  /// All parameters which can be passed for monitor modifications
  /// </summary>
  internal class MonitorParameters
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the name.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The name.
    /// </value>
    public string Name { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the URI.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The URI.
    /// </value>
    public string Uri { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the port.
    /// Only for port monitoring.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The port.
    /// </value>
    public int? Port { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the HTTP password.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The HTTP password.
    /// </value>
    public string HTTPPassword { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the HTTP username.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The HTTP username.
    /// </value>
    public string HTTPUsername { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the type of the keyword.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The type of the keyword.
    /// </value>
    public KeywordType KeywordType { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the keyword value.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The keyword value.
    /// </value>
    public string KeywordValue { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the type.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The type.
    /// </value>
    public Type Type { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the subtype.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The subtype.
    /// </value>
    public Subtype Subtype { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the alerts.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The alert contacts.
    /// </value>
    public string[] Alerts { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts this instance to a parameter list.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>Parameter list</returns>
    public List<Parameter> Convert()
    {
      List<Parameter> parameters = new List<Parameter>();

      parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorFriendlyName", Name));
      parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorURL", Uri));

      if ((int)Type != 0)
      {
        parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorType", (int)Type));
      }

      // special params for port listener
      if (Type == Type.Port && Subtype != Subtype.Unknown)
      {
        parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorSubType", (int)Subtype));

        if (Subtype == Subtype.Custom && Port.HasValue)
        {
          parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorPort", Port));
        }
      }

      // keyword listener
      if (Type == Type.Keyword && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(KeywordValue))
      {
        parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorKeywordType", (int)KeywordType));
        parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorKeywordValue", KeywordValue));
      }

      // HTTP basic auth credentials
      parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorHTTPUsername", HTTPUsername));
      parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorHTTPPassword", HTTPPassword));

      // alert notifications
      if (Alerts != null && Alerts.Length > 0)
      {
        parameters.Add(UptimeClient.Parameter("monitorAlertContacts", string.Join("-", Alerts)));
      }

      return parameters;
    }
  }
}


text:
Terps fall to Boston College in Quick Lane Bowl
By: Corey Johns on Tuesday, December 27, 2016 · Leave a Comment
Ty Johnson has 159 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
Ty Johnson averaged 10.6 yards per carry as he rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 15 attempts, but four turnovers cost the Maryland Terrapins against their former ACC rival Boston College. The Terps fell to the Eagles 36-30 in the Quick Lane Bowl on Monday in Detroit. Senior quarterback Perry Hills lost three fumbles and threw an interception in the game.
After being shutout in the first quarter the Terps seemed to hit their stride with two touchdown before halftime. Johnson busts off a 62-yard touchdown run and then a 30-yard touchdown run just three minutes apart from each other. That put Maryland in a great position to come back as they cut their deficit to 10 with 23-13.
On top of that, Maryland forced Boston College into a three-and-out, but then Hills threw an interception and Maryland went three-and-out on their next possession. Just two plays after the punt, Eagles quarterback Patrick Towles completed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Michael Walker that gave Boston College 16-point lead at halftime.
Out of the break, things still looked up for Maryland after forcing another three-and-out, but on their first play on their ensuing possession Hills mishandled the ball. Kevin Kavalec jumped on the ball in the endzone and gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 36-13.
Maryland was able to make up for the lost fumble by leading Maryland to touchdown on their next two possessions. It took only four total plays to score the two touchdowns too. Teldrick Morgan caught a 63-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter. Then Levern Jacobs caught a long pass, rolled off a defender and ran the rest of the way for a 52-yard score to make it a 36-27 game.
Considering Maryland shut Boston College out the rest of the game, forcing three punts, an interception, a fumble and having the Eagles miss a field goal, one would have had to imagined the Terps came back for a remarkable victory. However, their offense stalled just as bad as Boston College's did. Maryland punted the ball twice, turned it over on downs twice and fumbled the ball away. They only scored three points in the third quarter after Mary Azubuike Ukandu recovered a fumble on the five yard line. Disappointingly, Maryland had to settle for the 23-yard field goal after Hills threw three-straight incomplete passes.
Maryland finished the season with a 6-7 record.
Corey Johns
You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.
Latest posts by Corey Johns (see all)
So long and thank you from So Much Sports - August 7, 2017
Os stand pat, pressure is now on this offseason - July 31, 2017
John Urschel retires from NFL - July 27, 2017
Filed under Terps Football · Tagged with


CLEARANCE / AS-IS SALE! Fairy like little wedding dress for the bohemian bride!
Made in ivory high quality stretch satin and fine cotton lace collar. Perfect for a beach or garden wedding. The whole dress is light, soft, comfortable to wear and travels easily.


text:
Флоренс Гі́лберт (; 20 лютого 1904 — 27 лютого 1991) — американська акторка епохи німого кіно.

Кар'єра
Флоренс Елла Ґлейштейн () народилась і виросла в Чикаго, її мати відвезла її та брата Едді до Лос-Анджелеса, коли їй було 14 (приблизно в 1918 році), але виглядала вона на кілька років старше, і почала зніматися в кіно після того, як її побачив Монті Бенкс. У Голлівуді вона працювала в студіях Аль Крісті та 20th Century Fox, зняввшися з 1920 року у понад 50 фільмах, в тому числі у фільмі «Пес-талісма» (1921), у якому вперше з'явилися разом Стен Лорел і Олівер Гарді.

Близько 1926 року, коли завершились зйомки фільму «Повінь у Джонстауні», вона вийшла заміж за актора Ештона Діргольта і народила йому двох дітей, Лі і Каріл Лі. Вона назавжди покинула шоу-бізнес, щоб займатися домом та сім'єю, але залишалася тісно пов'язаною із кіноспільнотою.

Особисте життя та шлюби
Вона розлучилася з Діргольтом після того, як він повернувся з зйомок фільму «Нові пригоди Тарзана» в Гватемалі з співзіркою Улою Хольт і наполягав на тому, щоб Холт могла жити в будинку Діргольта.

Згодом вона вийшла заміж за творця Тарзана Едгара Барроуза, який був на 28 років старшим за неї, полюбляів фільми за її участі і нещодавно також розлучився зі своєю дружиною. Однак згодом вона розірвала цей шлюб. За її спогадами, після періоду щастя, під час якого пара переїхала на Гаваї, Берроуз почав пити, ставився до неї та сина холодно і ворожо, одночасно прихильно ставлячись до дочки. Третім чоловіком Флоренс Гілберт був Альберт С. Чейз, який юридично усиновив обох її дітей.

Дочка Каріл Лі зрештою стала тренером тварин у Голлівуді, використовуючи прізвище Сінді Каллен.

Посилання

Американські акторки німого кіно
Американські кіноакторки
Американські театральні акторки

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Elidyr (…)
Charts Ancestors of Edward Ambrose Cooke
Elidyr (…) was the son of., whose ancestry and wife are unknown (or not traced here), had at least one son.1
Gwriad ap Elidyr+2
This person was last edited on 6 Jul 2021
[S1323] Wikipedia Contributors, "Family tree of Welsh monarchs," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_Welsh_monarchs[:WEB] (accessed July 2021).
[S2382] George T. O. Bridgeman, History of the Princes of South Wales (Wigan, England: s.p., 1876), 9 (ped. chart), further cited as Bridgeman, Princes of S. Wales.
This site is built from a database maintained in The Master Genealogist® (v. 9.05) and was last updated 25 Jan 2023


Astrology, Spiritualism, Meditation, Tarot. Spiritual, Love & Life Coach. reunite, spell reading, relationship, medium, twin flame, divorce, lesbian love,spiritual balancement, dream interpretation, photo reading, the occult, Reiki.
"I have traveled extensively worldwide and have a wide understanding of different cultures and religions. I hope you leave the reading feeling uplifted and positive about your future, knowing that you have the power to succeed in any area of life." Reading professionally for over 25 years, she owned her psychic skill set by working with metaphysical circles at spiritualist churches. She feels that everyone has the power to change their life for the better. She sees it as a reader's duty is to remind you that you have a choice in deciding your future.
" 60$ -- Full Reading "
TOP ADVISOR! Accurate Insights > LOVE/LIFE & MORE.


We're learning how to interpret ECG's in school and today it all started to click for me and I'm loving it!!
"That squiggly line means A-fib and the patient needs coumadin and a cardioversion.
That squiggly line means a first degree heart block with no treatment necessary."
And as graduation nears I'm starting to give thought to my first nursing job and right now I'm leaning towards ER nurse. I love the thought of all the excitement and actually saving people's lives. I want to work in a major medical center, not a dinky local hospital that med flights off all the interesting patients. I'm thinking of applying in January as a tech. so that I can get experience before all the responsibility of the RN license. If I do end up pursuing that it will be an adorable "happily ever after" movie moment that day I walk in as an ER nurse because I spent about ten years of my life adoringly watching ER every Thursday (even making it a point to turn it on after giving birth to Brandon and Wolfie).


text:
Bowling Green Bay
Bowling Green Bay National Park Townsville
Photo credit: © Queensland Government
Alligator Creek camping area, Mount Elliot
Cocoa Creek camping area, Cape Cleveland
Salmon Creek camping area, Cape Cleveland
Barratta Creek camping area, Bowling Green Bay
Cockatoo Creek camping area, Mt Elliot
Alligator Falls camping area
Mount Cleveland remote bush camp
Mount Elliot remote bush camp
A creek crossing along the Alligator Falls track. Photo: Jackie Chappell, Queensland Government.
Alligator Creek day-use area. Photo: Queensland Government.
There are several options for camping in Bowling Green Bay National Park.
There is one camping area with facilities, three camping areas with no facilities and opportunities for remote hiking and camping. All camping activities in the park require a permit and fees apply. Before setting up camp you will need to obtain a camping permit, which should be attached to your tent in a visible place. Rangers conduct regular patrols in all sections of the park. Please camp with minimum impact and take all rubbish with you when you leave.
Find out more about camping in Bowling Green Bay National Park.
Book your camp site online.
If you cannot book online, see camping bookings for other options.
There is a range of holiday accommodation in and around Townsville. For more information, see the tourism information links.
If you intend to embark on extensive hikes in remote areas remember to tell a responsible person where you are going and when you expect to return. Let them know your route and contact them on your return. Have a contingency plan if you fail to contact them by the agreed time. If you change your plans, inform them.
Alligator Creek boardwalk (Mount Elliot)—200 m return (15 mins) Grade: easy
A wheelchair-accessible boardwalk leads from the day-use area through riparian forest to the bank of Alligator Creek. Interpretive signs highlight some of the plants and animals in the area.
Alligator Creek lookout (Mount Elliot)—1 km return (30 mins) Grade: easy
Take your camera for a canopy-level view of the lower sections of Alligator Creek. Reach the lookout by walking 500 m directly from the car park along a sealed path, or use the steps from the swimming area.
Cockatoo Creek track—3 km return (1.5 hrs) Grade: moderate
Enjoy a walk through open woodland, climbing steadily to Cockatoo Creek. Lined with bottlebrush trees and filled with clear rockpools, this creek is ideal for a rest and a swim.
Alligator Falls track (Mount Elliot)—17 km return (5–6 hrs) Grade: difficult
The track to Alligator Falls starts from the southern end of the day-use area. The Alligator Creek lookout is located 500 m along the track (as described above). The track then continues on for another 2 km to Cockatoo Creek.
From Cockatoo Creek the track meanders roughly parallel to the creek, following powerlines through open woodland forest to Hidden Valley. Across the creek the valley narrows, with Mount Elliot and Saddle Mountain framing the landscape. An open clearing features towering, old mango trees, one of the only reminders of the homestead that once stood there. After a further 2 km, the track arrives at a series of steps ascending through a rocky vine-thicket where some boulder-scrambling is required. The track then suddenly emerges at the falls. Access to and above the falls is not provided.
On this track visitors must cross the creek on four occasions. These crossings vary in depth from ankle-deep to approximately waist-deep depending on the season and weather conditions.
As the walk is long, visitors are advised to start walking in the morning to ensure a safe return during daylight hours. Carry water and wear sturdy footwear.
Other extended bushwalking opportunities exist on Mount Elliot and Mount Cleveland for experienced walkers. See camping information for more details.
Picnic and day-use areas
At Alligator Creek, near the camping area, a spacious day-use area has picnic tables, a shelter shed, gas barbecues and toilets. The area caters for large groups. There is a smaller day-use area along the track to the lookout with a covered picnic table and a gas barbecue. Picnic tables are also located along the road leading to the camping area and main day-use area. Please remove your rubbish.
Alligator Creek is a great place to visit but is also hazardous. Water levels can rise rapidly and care must be taken in and near the water because of slippery rocks and submerged objects. Heed all warning signs. Serious injuries and deaths have occurred here.
Marine waters adjacent to Bowling Green Bay National Park are internationally significant and are protected in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Zones in the two marine parks—the Great Barrier Reef Coast and Great Barrier Reef—provide a balanced approach to protecting the marine and intertidal environments while allowing recreational and commercial use. Check zoning information and maps before entering or conducting any activities in the marine parks.
Fisheries regulations apply—information on bag and size limits, restricted species and seasonal closures is available from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Bowling Green Bay National Park offers excellent opportunities for viewing wildlife. The diversity of landscape and vegetation supports a large and varied population of birds, including migrants such as the channel-billed cuckoo. Male scarlet honeyeaters make a colourful subject for keen photographers. Agile wallabies and allied rock-wallabies are common. At night, common brushtail possums can be spotted patrolling the area. If you are lucky you may even see a rufous bettong. Never feed any animals, including fish and turtles, as it can affect their health and alter the natural population balance. Ensure that your food is securely packed away out of animals' reach.
Throughout much of the year the buzzing resonance of cicadas dominates the park. Their empty skins can be found on rough-barked trees.
See the description of the park's natural environment for more details about Bowling Green National Park's diverse wildlife.
Caution required with rising creek levels at Alligator Creek, Bowling Green Bay National Park 8–22 January 2021


text:
Angelokastro Castle
Angelokastro Castle in Corfu
Corfu Angelokastro Castle: Aggelokastro, which is also referred to as Angel Castle, is strategically located in close proximity to Krini. It is believed to date back to the 13th century. The Aggelokastro is conspicuous by its domed gate at the entrance. It boasts of priceless vestiges and there are exclusive storage rooms as well. Another interesting remnant is an ancient church dedicated to the angels Gabriel and Michael which is surprisingly constructed in a cave.
Legend has it that an ancient emperor was on the lookout of a precipitous rock in which to build a fortress so that it could easily thwart most pirate attacks. With this in mind, the emperor stumbled upon the neighborhood of Aggelokastro where he came across the towering fortress that was reportedly built by the then Archbishop of Epirus. The primary reason why the fort was built was to shield the inhabitants from pirate attacks.
The major threat emanated from pirates from Africa and that of the Venetians. According to historical records, the Angelokastro was the capital of the island of Corfu and the Governor himself resided here. Historians are of the opinion that in the infamous pirate attack of 1403, the inhabitants of Angelokastro fought tooth and nail from the fortified castle against the Genoan pirates.
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