Nice photo in The Times by Wally Skalij shows Juan Uribe hitting one of three homers against Arizona.
That sneaky third baseman of ours hit three — count 'em, 3! — home runs yesterday to lead the Dodgers to an 8-1 rout of the Arizona snakes and bring the Magic Number down to just 8.
Just think! Only a few months ago we would let out a collective groan when Juan Uribe came to the plate. He was on the bench as then-starter Luis Cruz took the hot corner. But Cruz cooled and went to Yankeeland, and Uribe discovered some languishing ember of greatness and stoked it into a fire. Now he's one of the best-fielding third basemen in baseball, he's hitting like a champ, and he even walks a lot more often than before, when he would swing wildly at every pitch he saw.
His story of redemption is rivaled only by that of the team itself. Last year's miserable finish and this year's miserable start are ancient history, just as the boos that greeted the ex-Giant Uribe have morphed into standing O's and curtain calls.


Got your eye on a new holiday home? First, you may want to cash in any gains on your existing portfolio. Leverage every angle at your disposal: "A repaint can work wonders, and be sure to put all your clutter into storage," says our luxury property expert Penny Mosgrove of Quintessentially Estates, adding, "Light scented candles, bake bread in the oven, and don't have a dog running around."
But that's not all – you'll want to be armed with the finer details of the local market. Read on for Penny's premium neighbourhood know-how.
"Uncertainty is kryptonite for any property market," says Penny, "so try to avoid general elections, the possibility of tax changes, and political instability." She continues, "The market is most active in autumn and spring. Other months are quiet, so to achieve the best price possible, go for those."
The Big Apple is the winter destination most visited by travellers, Penny points out. "So put your holiday home on the market during the chill, as potential viewers are in town at that time." The property market in New York has dipped recently, so there's a chance of bargains.
In terms of showings, "Most homes look better in the daytime, and that stops at 4pm in the winter," Penny warns, "Though the exception is penthouses, where potential buyers can see the city laid out before them at night."
Penny heaps praise on the LA property market: "Interest is rising, but there are still some fantastic homes for sale at great prices." However she adds, "The area can be quiet during school holidays, so try to take advantage of the market during term times."
Mallorca is one of the most popular holiday home markets in the world right now, so if you've got a bolt-hole that's been in the family since the 1970s, now might be the right time to offload it. "Ibiza is still enormously popular as the commuting to London is so easy," says Penny. Nearby Portugal is becoming very popular, so if you have property there, you could take advantage of how trendy it's become too.
"The market in Hong Kong is insane. Prices are high and still going up all the time," says Penny. In this case, sell to take advantage of the rises.


text:
Q: Memory Leak Reading File to Linked List in C Learning how to use linked lists, I'm having trouble with a memory leak when reading a file into one.
My code looks as follows:
const struct dhcp_ops dhcp_exec;

struct dhcp_list {
  char mac[18];
  char ip[20];
  char name[255];
  struct dhcp_list *next;
}*conductor;

struct dhcp_ops {
  void (*clients)(struct dhcp_list **);
};

void get_clients(struct dhcp_list **buf)
{
  FILE *fp;
  char line[128];

  struct dhcp_list *ptr;
  ptr = (struct dhcp_list*)malloc(sizeof(struct dhcp_list));

  ptr->next = NULL;
  conductor = ptr;

  fp = fopen(DHCP_LEASES, "r");
  if(NULL == fp)
    return;

  char created[10];
  char mask[5];

  while(fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp) != NULL){
    ptr->next = malloc(sizeof(struct dhcp_list));
    if (ptr->next == NULL) break;

    sscanf(line, "%s %s %s %s %s\n",
        created,
        ptr->mac,
        ptr->ip,
        ptr->name,
        mask);

    ptr = ptr->next;
    ptr->next = NULL;
  }
  fclose(fp);

  *buf = conductor;
}

And the block that calls / formats into JSON, for demonstration.
void format_dhcp(json_object *jdhcp_array)
  {

    const struct dhcp_ops *dhcp;

    struct dhcp_list *clients = (struct dhcp_list*)malloc(sizeof(struct dhcp_list));

    dhcp = &dhcp_exec;
    dhcp->clients(&clients);

    while (clients->next != NULL) {
      printf("MAC ADDRESS: %s\n", clients->mac);

      json_object *jdhcp = json_object_new_object();

      json_object *jmac = json_object_new_string(tmp->mac);
      json_object_object_add(jdhcp, "mac", jmac);

      clients = clients->next;
    }

    struct dhcp_list *freeMe = clients;
    struct dhcp_list *holdMe = NULL;
    while(freeMe->next != NULL) {
      holdMe = freeMe->next;
      free(freeMe);
      freeMe = holdMe;
    }
    // free(clients);
 }

 const struct dhcp_ops dhcp_exec = {
   .clients       = get_clients,
 };

When I run this with valgrind, I get the following errors:
==2925== HEAP SUMMARY:
==2925==     in use at exit: 2,128 bytes in 7 blocks
==2925==   total heap usage: 1,756 allocs, 1,749 frees, 357,725 bytes allocated
==2925==
==2925== 304 bytes in 1 blocks are definitely lost in loss record 2 of 3
==2925==    at 0x4C27C0F: malloc (vg_replace_malloc.c:299)
==2925==    by 0x405176: format_dhcp (collector.c:479)
==2925==    by 0x4056DF: collect_data (collector.c:637)
==2925==    by 0x4057DB: collect_and_send_data (collector.c:669)
==2925==    by 0x405E35: monitor (monitor.c:165)
==2925==    by 0x40AA05: run_collector (boot.c:115)
==2925==    by 0x40AB10: boot (boot.c:152)
==2925==    by 0x409DE1: main (socketman.c:242)
==2925==
==2925== LEAK SUMMARY:
==2925==    definitely lost: 304 bytes in 1 blocks
==2925==    indirectly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==2925==      possibly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==2925==    still reachable: 1,824 bytes in 6 blocks
==2925==         suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==2925== Reachable blocks (those to which a pointer was found) are not shown.
==2925== To see them, rerun with: --leak-check=full --show-leak-kinds=all

I tested by moving the 'free block' into the main function that reads the file. This runs perfectly, no leaks. Obviously, I don't get the output.
Could someone suggest where I'm going wrong / what I need to do to clear the memory correctly.
------------ EDIT SOLVED ----------------------
Following the comments and answers through, I implemented the changes. After, I'd got rid of the missing bytes. However, I had 1800+ still reachable.
==10669== LEAK SUMMARY:
==10669==    definitely lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==10669==    indirectly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==10669==      possibly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==10669==    still reachable: 1,824 bytes in 6 blocks
==10669==         suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==10669== Reachable blocks (those to which a pointer was found) are not shown.
==10669== To see them, rerun with: --leak-check=full --show-leak-kinds=all

Turns out, the clients were always after the first loop. So, I moved the freeMe struct above the first loop fixing the problem:
  void format_dhcp(json_object *jdhcp_array)
  {

    const struct dhcp_ops *dhcp;
    struct dhcp_list *clients = NULL;

    dhcp = &dhcp_exec;
    dhcp->clients(&clients);

    struct dhcp_list *freeMe = clients;

    while (clients->next != NULL) {
      printf("MAC ADDRESS: %s\n", clients->mac);

      json_object *jdhcp = json_object_new_object();

      json_object *jmac = json_object_new_string(clients->mac);
      json_object_object_add(jdhcp, "mac", jmac);

      json_object *jip = json_object_new_string(clients->ip);
      json_object_object_add(jdhcp, "ip", jip);

      json_object *jname = json_object_new_string(clients->name);
      json_object_object_add(jdhcp, "name", jname);

      json_object_array_add(jdhcp_array, jdhcp);

      clients = clients->next;
    }

    struct dhcp_list *holdMe = NULL;
    while(freeMe != NULL) {
      debug("Should be freed");
      holdMe = freeMe->next;
      free(freeMe);
      freeMe = holdMe;
    }
}

A: With the condition freeMe->next != NULL, the last element won't be freed.
18 + 20 + 255 = 293, so the "lost" 304 bytes should be one struct dhcp_list. (The left 11 bytes should be one pointer + padding)
Try using freeMe != NULL instead.
Also note that they say you shouldn't cast the result of malloc() in C.

Here is another memory leak:
You allocated some memory in the line
struct dhcp_list *clients = (struct dhcp_list*)malloc(sizeof(struct dhcp_list));

but you throwed the address away without using it at all in dhcp->clients, which is get_clients.
Stop allocating such a wasteful memory and just do variable declaration like
struct dhcp_list *clients;

or to make it safer for in case dhcp->clients didn't work well, initialize it to NULL and check if its value is still NULL after calling the function.

A: The problem is here in format_dhcp:
struct dhcp_list *clients = (struct dhcp_list*)malloc(sizeof(struct dhcp_list));
                  ^^^^^^^ here you allocate memory for clients
dhcp = &dhcp_exec;
dhcp->clients(&clients);
      ^^^^^^ here you call get_clients

In get_clientsyou do:
ptr = (struct dhcp_list*)malloc(sizeof(struct dhcp_list));

ptr->next = NULL;
conductor = ptr;
....
*buf = conductor;
^^^^^
Now the original clients is lost and you have a leak

You never use the memory allocated to clients inside format_dhcp and you overwrite the pointer in get_clients which causes a leak.
So the conclusion is: Don't do the malloc in format_dhcp - you don't need it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Compared to regular laser hair removal systems which fire about two to four high-powered beams into each hair follicle, the Super Hair Removal system fires minimum ten to twenty beams onto each hair follicle during each of the treatments. It is like firing a machine-gun as opposed to using a shotgun. The Super Hair Removal system has been FDA certified for hair removal.
Super hair removal effectively targets the deep rooted hair follicles and permanently damages them unlike shaving, waxing, or hair removal creams which only remove the hair shaft. But the best part of it all is that its a very comfortable procedure. It is not painful and can be used on the most sensitive body parts.
Comparing SHR, IPL and Laser hair removal?
IPL uses a whole band of unfocused lights which when they hit the skin, with a lot of useless energy, causing excessive heat damage and lots of pain. Laser hair removal is painful as it uses a strong focused beam of energy passing through the skin while trying to reach the hair follicles.
Super Hair Removal™ uses low energy levels, therefore it is painless as compared to IPL hair removal or Laser Hair Removal. Because of the low energy, it also severely reduces the chance of burns, even for asian skins. Super Hair Removal™ has a built-in cooler on its probe that cools the skin surface, preventing superficial burns and the sensation of pain. The patient will only feel a mild warmth on the skin, unlike IPL or Laser hair removal, which does not have the in-built cooler.
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Super Hair Removal™ is a great lunch time treatment as it is super quick and effective!


text:
By Jayson MacLean April 9, 2019 Filed under: All posts, Media, Retail Stock: cgx
Cineplex's stock is looking cheap, Bruce Murray says
The market has been beating up on Cineplex (Cineplex Stock Quote, Chart TSX:CGX) for a while now but strange as it may sound there's a lot to like about the company and the stock, says fund manager Bruce Murray, who thinks 2019 could be a feel-good story for CGX.
"We're looking at Cineplex. It's got a nice, fat dividend yield and the stock has come way off," says Murray, of the Murray Wealth Group, in conversation with BNN Bloomberg on Monday. "We all know about Netflix and its movies and things like that [but] Cineplex has been very well managed over the years."
"There's a company out there called Dave and Buster's which has been very success at operating entertainment-based destinations and I think Cineplex with their Rec Room is trying to copy this concept and if they're successful, we think they'll do just fine," he says.
Cineplex had a couple of major drop-offs over the past two years, the first in mid-2017 in reaction to a quarterly dip in profit and reported lower attendance and the second this past November when CGX's third quarter financials missed analysts' estimates on profit, even as revenues saw an increase of four per cent. All told, CGX has gone from a high of $54.81 in May of 2017 to where it now trades in the low-$24.00 region.
Murray says that there's both good and bad to Cineplex but investors may be rewarded for picking it up at these reduced prices.
"The company is paying out all of its cash and every time they come up with a new project their debt is expanding. That's the issue here," Murray says. "The movie business was kind of crummy last year, but this year, my understanding is that there are a lot more exciting movies coming, so you'll probably get an uptick in movie attendance."
"So, I believe that you could buy the stock here, at least for a trade-up in the next 12 months and you'll get a nice dividend yield," he says.
Cineplex last reported quarter came on February 15 where its fiscal Q4 featured revenue of $428.2 million, slightly up from the previous year's fourth quarter top line of $426.3 million. Profit was down year-over-year, however, with a net income of $27.2 million versus the previous year's $28.8 million. On EPS, CGX posted 43 cents per share, whereas analysts were expecting 46 cents per share.
About The Author / Jayson MacLean
Jayson is a writer, researcher and educator with a PhD in political philosophy from the University of Ottawa. His interests range from bioethics and innovations in the health sciences to governance, social justice and the history of ideas.
Analysts Trending cgx
Cineplex faced with "significant uncertainty", Echelon Wealth says
After quarterly results for Canadian movie theatre company Cineplex (Cineplex Stock Quote, Chart, News TSX:CGX), analyst Rob Goff of Echelon...
cgx
Cineplex is for bottom fishers, this investor says
Questions over the future of Canadian movie theatre company Cineplex (Cineplex Stock Quote, Chart, News TSX:CGX) are front and centre...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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We worked on a series of ads for Fiat India comprising photography, cgi and post production. The brief from the fantastic team at Ogilvy required us to construct environments in 3D, shoot people in the studio, renders cars and then composite them together to get the message across. Here's how it went down.
The key message in this visual was the attention to detail and care given by Fiat engineers and though they have this inspection bay, it wasn't feasible to shoot this due to production issues. We worked around this by constructing the inspection bay in 3D, and rendering this along with the car. The engineers were photographed in the studio in a similar lighting scheme and then dropped in to the finished render.
One day you will do what you like. Today could be that day.
For their main ad, the visual features a young man basking in the sun on a beach with a Fiat Linea. For those of you unfamiliar with the beaches around Mumbai, they aren't exactly clean! Working with a tight deadline, we unfortunately couldn't go on location to shoot this, no matter how much we would have loved to get away. Using a combination of stock imagery, HDRI domes, CG cars and photography in the studio, we worked with Happy Finish to create this visual.
We have some more images as well, and we'll put them up as soon as they are released.


Canada's Ultimate Story continues with the third instalment of the series.
Following quickly on the success of its First World War and Second World War publications, Legion Magazine released a publication to shed light on the major third war of the 20th century. KOREA: The Forgotten War, featuring text by well-known Canadian historian David J. Bercuson, more than 150 rarely seen archival images, a timeline and five maps. 100 Pages. The publication continues the series begun with WW I: The War That Shaped A Nation, which won an honourable mention at the National Magazine Awards and claimed a bronze medal at the National Newsstand Awards.Since then, Legion Magazine has been shortlisted for the prestigious Pierre Berton Award.


Traditional 9-to-5 jobs provide a stable, steady income for many people. But life isn't always steady, and some people need to find ways to make extra cash on the side to pay off debt or just to bolster their savings.
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text:
use alloc::prelude::v1::*;
#[cfg(any(test, rustdoc))]
use std::prelude::v1::*;

use crate::drivers::FrameworkDriver;
use crate::event::Event;
use crate::KERNEL_RAND;

pub struct TestFrameworkDriver {
    pub driver_id: usize,
}

impl TestFrameworkDriver {
    pub fn new(driver_id: usize) -> TestFrameworkDriver {
        TestFrameworkDriver { driver_id }
    }
}

impl FrameworkDriver for TestFrameworkDriver {
    fn name(&self) -> &'static str {
        "test_framework"
    }

    fn driver_id(&self) -> usize {
        self.driver_id
    }

    fn handle_event(&mut self, ev: Event) {
        let _ = ev;
    }
}

unsafe impl Send for TestFrameworkDriver {}
unsafe impl Sync for TestFrameworkDriver {}

pub fn test_framework_checker() -> bool {
    true
}

pub fn test_framework_factory() -> Option<Box<dyn FrameworkDriver + Send>> {
    let driver_id = KERNEL_RAND.get().rand().expect("failed to get driver ID");
    let driver: TestFrameworkDriver = TestFrameworkDriver::new(driver_id);

    Some(Box::new(driver))
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Home » Lifestyle » SYFY Honors Late MythBusters Host Grant Imahara
SYFY Honors Late MythBusters Host Grant Imahara
Saturday's special SYFY WIRE After Dark was dedicated to Grant Imahara, who passed away at the age of 49 in July.
A heartfelt tribute.
SYFY dedicated last night's SYFY WIRE After Dark special to Grant Imahara, the MythBusters host who recently passed away at the age of 49.
The special began by acknowledging Imahara's tragic death with an intro that read, "SYFY dedicates this show in loving memory to Grant Imahara, who passed away shortly after filming. We will always be inspired by his creativity, curiosity and kindness."
Imahara, who hosted both the popular Discovery series and Netflix's White Rabbit Project, appears in the special with a segment that offers viewers light-hearted tips on how to get the most out of summer.
At the end of the special, another message appeared on screen: "In loving memory of our friend Grant Imahara."
The late electrical engineer "died suddenly following a brain aneurysm" last month, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In a statement, a rep for Discovery expressed being "heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant."
"He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man," the statement continued. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family."
A number of Imahara's former colleagues and friends have since expressed similar sentiments, including MythBusters co-host Adam Savage who tweeted, "I'm at a loss. No words."
Savage added, "I've been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I'll miss my friend."
(E! and SYFY are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
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08/02/2020 Lifestyle Comments Off on SYFY Honors Late MythBusters Host Grant Imahara
Tom Holland Reveals How He First Met Robert Downey Jr. While Auditioning for 'Spider-Man'
Ledisi And Columbus Short To Play Mahalia Jackson And Martin Luther King Jr. In New Biopic
Christina Ricci Files Restraining Order Against Estranged Husband


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paokfc.gr/News/PAOK Action: Under-19's in support of Special Olympics Hellas
PAOK Action: Under-19's in support of Special Olympics Hellas
Members of PAOK's Under-19 squad took part in a fun game of Ten-pin bowling with Special Olympics Hellas athletes as part of the UEFA Youth League's Solidarity Project and to mark the International Day of Disabled Persons.
Joy and happiness is not about things, it's that special something within us. And when it's shared with others then it becomes priceless, so much so that it's often clear to see on people's faces. And this was the case for the young Special Olympics athletes and members of PAOK's Under-19 team, who came together and played two hours for bowling!
On the afternoon of December 3, 2019 PAOK Action, as part of UEFA's Solidarity Project, there was some serious fun on the agenda. Fun which involved the joy of the game. Only this time the game involved balls, pins and … a few strikes! Under-19 youngsters George Doumtsis, Efstathios Tachatos, Theodoros Pournaras, Petros Kaloutsikidis, Kyriakos Giaxis, Dimitris Theodoridis and Dimitris Panidis got together with several athletes from the Special Olympics Hellas team at Ten Pin Bowling in Kalamaria, and there were some tough battles and plenty of smiles!
December 3 is also International Day of Disabled Persons, a global event which has been embraced and respected worldwide by the United Nations since 1992. It reminds the general public about the need for a greater understanding of disability, and to mobilize ourselves to help support the rights of dignity and well-being of persons with disabilities. PAOK, through PAOK Action, is a proud supporter of such causes and never ceases to back efforts in the fight for equal opportunities in all areas of life, for everyone.
UEFA's Solidarity Project is a training program set up by the federation which encourages youth teams to adopt a solidarity plan. And so PAOK, as well as organizing the bowling excursion provided a donation of 500 euros in financial support for the Special Olympics athletes, as well as the promise to always be on hand to support in any way possible.
«Because together, we can make the world a better place!»
https://www.facebook.com/SpecialOlympicsHellas/
Check out the exclusive video from PAOK TV video and subscribe to the club's official YouTube channel to be first to get all the latest news and audiovisual content.
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Pompeo's Position Underscores Iranian Strength
A senior military official said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent comments against Iran are in fact a long list of Iran's strengths, adding that it proves that no one can undermine the country's missile power or regional influence. "The IRGC has reached a level of power that compels the US secretary of state lays out 12 conditions for a new deal with Iran and calls on the country to end its regional influence," Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Deputy Commander Brigadier General Hossein Salami said on Tuesday, Tasnim News Agency reported. This means that US officials are unable to end the Islamic Republic's presence in the region and that is why they call on the country to do so, he added. "They think Iran should end the development of its missile (program). Because they cannot force us, they are asking us to do it ourselves." Clarifying his point, the general said, "No one can destroy our missile power."
Pompeo said on May 21, that Washington will increase financial pressure on Iran by imposing the "strongest sanctions in history" on the Islamic Republic if Tehran refuses to curb its nuclear program and missiles among other things.
Pompeo's Bluster on Space Launches, Missiles Brushed Off
Pompeo Dives in at NATO on 1st Trip as Top US Diplomat
Pompeo in Pyongyang as Diplomatic Push Speeds Up
Zarif Rebukes US Envoy for Calling Nuclear Deal 'Personal Agreement'
Pompeo Makes Unannounced Visit to Afghanistan
Pompeo Wraps Up Talks in North Korea


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'It's only fake news': Even on a historic day, Trump complains about media coverage
The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights
Photographers run as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump cross south of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea on Sunday. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
By Seung Min Kim
Seung Min Kim
White House reporter
PANMUNJOM, Korea — June 30, 2019, was one of the most historic days of Donald Trump's presidency. But he was still thinking about his press coverage.
It was a personal milestone for Trump, who touched down on the heavily fortified demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas for the first time as his own administration tries to forge a landmark deal to dismantle North Korea's nuclear capabilities.
But Trump also did what no other sitting U.S. president had done: He crossed over onto North Korean soil, a move Trump viewed as a goodwill gesture to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he lavished with warm pleasantries and whose friendship he continued to cultivate.
Yet leading up to that historic moment Sunday at the Inter-Korean House of Freedom in the demilitarized zone, Trump was focused on what the headlines could have been if it all went awry and his personal invitation to Kim went unreturned.
"Of course I thought of that," Trump said at a news conference one day prior in Osaka, Japan, at the conclusion of the annual Group of 20 summit. "Because I know if he didn't, everybody is going to say, 'Oh, he was stood up by Chairman Kim.' No, I understood that."
It was part of a stream of complaints about media coverage in recent days by Trump, even as he showered compliments on repressive leaders such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman. Like Kim, both have taken brutal steps to ensure there is no free press in their countries.
[At the North Korean border, Trump scores his biggest live show yet]
When Trump's encounter with Kim actually occurred Sunday, hands were shaken and the two leaders sat down inside the House of Freedom. A pleased Trump remarked that Kim "made us both look good" by meeting Trump after he extended the invitation in a surprise tweet Saturday in Osaka.
In classic Trumpian fashion, the nation's first reality-show president built up the suspense of his third meeting with Kim like a seasoned television producer — dropping hints throughout the day that made it clear to the journalists with him that a Kim encounter later that day was inevitable.
But at several of the stops, Trump also pushed back at a narrative he clearly felt was unfair: His diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang that began with the Singapore summit one year ago had done nothing to improve the tense state of relations between the United States and North Korea.
"A lot of progress has been made," Trump said before meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at his Blue House residence in Seoul. "I watched some of the news — fake news; it's only fake news — and they said, 'Well, what's been done?' Well, it's like the difference between day and night."
President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet inside the Inter-Korean House of Freedom in the demilitarized zone on Sunday. (Susan Walsh/AP)
And at a Blue House news conference alongside Moon, Trump again seemed to have a rebuttal prepared to a query that was obvious to the journalists following him: What progress, exactly, had been made since failed talks in Hanoi in February?
"You know, when sometimes the media will say, 'Gee, what's happened?' Well, they know what's happened," Trump responded to the question that, at that point, hadn't been asked. "What's happened is, there was nuclear testing, there was ballistic missile testing. They had hostages of ours, as you know. Very tough situation."
Trump continued: "So I hate to hear the media, you know, give false information to the public when they say, 'Oh, what's been done?' What's been done? A lot has been done."
That didn't stop the U.S. journalists from pressing the issue.
"Nothing has substantively changed since Hanoi," noted Bloomberg News's Margaret Talev, the sole American journalist granted a question at the Blue House news conference. "North Korea has tested short-range missiles. Why does Kim Jong Un deserve this moment?"
Trump insisted there have been tremendous strides.
"Only the fake news says that they weren't," the U.S. president shot back.
His sense that he wasn't getting the credit he deserved followed him in the Marine One ride to the DMZ. Trump viewed North Korean lands from Observation Point Ouellette — a point commanded by the United Nations along the DMZ — warmly greeted dozens of U.S. and South Korean troops and received a gift in return: a black golf jacket, to wear at his golf clubs.
[Trump becomes the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea]
At the observation deck, a South Korean soldier, whose remarks were out of the earshot of journalists, relayed something to Trump that clearly pleased him.
"Tell them that," Trump told the soldier, referring to the press. "Tell them that."
He then spoke directly to reporters, in case the point he was attempting to make wasn't clear.
Trump said that the area used to be "very dangerous" but that it had changed since Singapore.
"After our first summit, all of the danger went away," the president insisted. He added, "I say that for the press. They have no appreciation for what is being done. None."
This all unfolded on a chaotic day for the White House staff and the U.S. press corps.
As American journalists attempted to enter the House of Freedom for the previously unannounced sit-down between Trump and Kim, North Korean security officials stationed at the doorway of the center tried to block U.S. reporters and photographers from trying to enter.
Mayhem ensued. The U.S. press corps tried to wedge their way through North Korean officials. White House support staff were shoved. One American photographer was pulled back violently by his backpack. Incoming White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham ended up bruised.
Ultimately, with efforts from White House advance staff and communications officials, U.S. journalists were able to rush into the room to document Trump and Kim exchanging another round of warm greetings and beginning a meeting that ultimately ran near an hour.
Later in the afternoon, as American media tried to reenter the House of Freedom to question Trump and Moon, one official tried briefly to bar this Washington Post reporter — who is of Korean descent — by yelling "U.S. PRESS ONLY!" until other American journalists bellowed back that, indeed, she was.
It's unclear what will happen from here in the dialogue between the United States and North Korea. Trump indicated that he was in no hurry to schedule a third formal summit with Kim.
But at the end of the day, Trump still will be the first sitting U.S. leader to step foot on North Korean territory.
Trump seemed to sense that weight of history. He watched Moon and Kim share an embrace, and Kim began returning to North Korea. At that moment, Trump couldn't help but clap — briefly, but excitedly — as the day wound to a close.


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Home / Elections / Bihar Assembly Election 2020: NDA's seat share rose with every phase
Bihar Assembly Election 2020: NDA's seat share rose with every phase
On every indicator, be it strike rate, vote share, or victory margin, the NDA improved from the first to the final phase.
The seat share of NDA increased over each phase. It is 29.6% in the first phase, 52.1% in the second phase and 66.7% in the third phase.(HT)
Published on Nov 11, 2020 04:26 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | ByVijdan Mohammad Kawoosa
The fact that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has managed to secure a majority in the Bihar elections is largely an outcome of its ability to gain momentum after the first phase of polling in the state. The irony involved here is difficult to miss, as it was the NDA which entered the contest as the favoured coalition against the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan (MGB).
An HT analysis of phase-wise statistics shows this clearly. On every indicator, be it strike rate, vote share, or victory margin, the NDA performance improved discernibly from the first to the final phase of the elections. Phase-wise statistics also suggest a growing counter-polarisation against the RJD, which could have been the result of the NDA evoking the memories of RJD president Lalu Prasad from 1990 to 2005.
The Bihar elections were held in three phases. Seventy-one assembly constituencies (ACs) went to poll on October 28, 94 ACs on November 3, and 78 on November 7.
The seat share of NDA increased over each phase. It is 29.6% in the first phase, 52.1% in the second phase and 66.7% in the third phase. The MGB's performance is the opposite. It bagged 67.6% of the seats in the first phase, 46.8% in the second phase and just 26.9% in the third phase.
What is interesting is the fact that this huge difference in seat share is more a result of vagaries of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system rather than difference in popular support.
Even though the MGB suffered a dip of just about 1.5 percentage points in its vote share from Phase 1 to Phase 2 and phase two to phase three, its seat share dropped by about 20 percentage points compared to the previous phase in both the second and the third phase. The increase in the NDA's vote share was bigger than the loss in the MGB's vote share. It increased by 6.33 percentage points between Phase 1 and Phase 2, and 1.9 percentage points between Phase 2 and Phase 3. As a result of these changes, the NDA recovered from a 6.8% vote share deficit vis-à-vis the MGB in the first phase to a lead of 4.4% in the third phase. This suggests that the NDA was more successful in consolidating the floating voter than eat into the MGB's support base. (See Chart 1)
The phase-wise difference in performance also shows in the victory margins of the two major alliances. Median victory margin of the NDA increased from 5% to 9.8% from the first to third phase, whereas it came down from 11.4% to 6.6% for the MGB.
Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa
Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa was a data journalist at Hindustan Times. ...view detail
NDA RJD Rashtriya Janata Dal Bihar Assembly Election Bihar Assembly Election 2020 + 3 more


The kit LIFMA-neo-TSH is intended for evaluation of thyroid-stimulating hormone in dry blood stains ofneonates for neonatal screening of hypothyroid infantilism.
Detection of neonates with primary hypothyroidism is based on the use of the TSH threshold concentration value. TSH concentration exceeding the threshold value indicates the pathology which requires extra laboratory testing. For making the diagnosis more precise TSH and N4 concentrations should be evaluated in blood serum.
as option II - for assay of 900 unknown samoles in monoplicates, 18 calibration and 12 control samples in duplicates.
The kit LIFMA-PPAB-A is intended for evaluation of concentration of protein-A of plasma (PPAB-A) in blood serum of human beings associated with pregnancy by means of lanthanide immunofluorescent assay.
PPAB-A evaluation in blood sarum of human beings is used for monitoring of pregnancy, prenatalscreening during the first trimester aimed at detection of high risk pregnancy with in-born fetus diseases (syndrome Down, Syndrome Edward).
PPAB-A measurement may be used as a biochemical test along with concentration measurement of free beta-subunit choriogonotropic hormone and results of ultrasonic testing during prenatal detection of high risk pregnancy. Yhe EIA-PPAB-A kit is designed for analysis in duplicates of 40 unknown samples, 6 calibration samples and 2 control samples in duplicates - total 96 evaluations.
The kit LIFMA-free beta CGH is intended for evaluation of concentration of free beta subunit of chorionic gonadotropin in blood serum of human beingsby means of lanthanide immunofluorescent assay.
Evaluation of free beta-CGH in blood serum of human beings is used for monitoring of pregnancy, prenatal screening during the first trimester aimed at detection of high risk pregnancy with in-born fetus diseases (syndrome Down, syndrome Edward), diagnostics and monitoring of some oncological diseases.
Evaluation of free beta-CGH along with concentration of PPAB-A (associated with pregnancy of plasma protein A), the age of a pregnant women and the results of ultrasonic testing may be used for assessment of the risk of inborn fetus anomalies. The kit of EIA-free beta-CGH is designed for analysis in duplicatesf 40 unknown samples, 6 calibration samples and 2 control samples in duplicates - total 96 evaluations.


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earth matters on stage
Earth Matters On Stage 2012 at Carnegie Mellon University
June 19, 2012 Conferences, Earth Matters on StageBilodeau, Carbon Footprint, Carnegie Mellon, Carnegie Mellon University, Competition Winners, Cross Section, CSPA Convergence, Earth Matters, earth matters on stage, eco art, eco theater, ecology and performance, Green Alliance, Holly Hughes, Ian Garrett, Inuit Culture, james mckernon, Keynote Speaker, Nbsp, Nea, Nerds, Pittsburg Pa, Playwright, Polar Bears, Rigney, Session Titles, Slow Deterioration, Sustainable Design, Theatrical Production, Theresa May, wendy arons
There have been a bevvy of eco-theater conferences in recent years, but it's great to bring it all together with Earth Matters on Stage, which took place this past May 31st-June 2 at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburg, PA. It included a collection of performances, presentations and panels covering everything from carbon footprint to eco-dramaturgy. Session titles included: "Sustainable Design," "Ecocriticism & Contemporary American Theater," and "The Carbon Footprint of Theatrical Production," among many others. That last one was by CSPA's Ian Garrett, and involved discussions of all the usual players: Arcola Theatre, Julie's Bicycle, the Broadway Green Alliance . . . Discussions of sustainable design carried throughout the festival and bled into discussion of performance throughout the weekend. Again and again: how do we make theatrical production more sustainable? How do we incorporate or cultural dialogue with the planet into the work? How do we make work that goes beyond "being less bad" into something that actually has a positive impact on the environment?
Below are a selection of photos from the event. Keynote speaker and performer was Holly Hughes, one of the NEA four, whose most recent work ("The Dog and Pony Show: Bring your own Pony,") examines her relationship with her pets. Ecodrama Playwright competition winners this year included Chantal Bilodeau, whose work "Sila," explores a cultural cross-section of inuit culture, scientific researchers, and polar bears, and Mark Rigney, whose play, "Bears," depicts a slow deterioration of civilization through the intimate stories of a group of zoo-bound bears. The work of Earth Matters founder Theresa May was ever-present in the discussion on eco-dramaturgy, and the weekend ended with a discussion of conferences past and future. The dialogue continues, as we discuss and discover more ways that our set of skills can serve the environment.
December 6, 2008 UncategorizedBroadway, cancer, CSPA, earth matters on stage, EcoTheater, green theater, Mike Lawler, sustainability, theater
I've worked in theater in some form or another since high school. I have had a bad habit throughout my life in theater of being the type who says (or at least thinks) "I don't want to go watch theater, I see so much of it from backstage, from the booth, I see it in rehearsals all day long…" So, I don't sit in the audience much.
Now, because of the illness that blindsided me over a year ago, I really feel like a spectator sitting in the audience watching the future of green, eco-responsible theater rushing by in flashes. It's difficult to do. So much has happened in the last few months, and ecoTheater has missed it. People close to me will roll their eyes when they find that as I write this lament I am sitting in a hospital room in Indianapolis waiting for my second and final round of high dose chemotherapy to commence. "Who cares about green theater?" they will ask.
I won't lie — it isn't that difficult to realize that I've missed out on reporting on the big Broadway initiative, supported as it is by the mayor of New York City, or the up and coming Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA) (founded and driven by Ian Garrett, a regularly mentioned activist on ecoTheater), or the fast approaching Earth Matters on Stage (EMOS) at the University of Oregon, or, or, or…
I mean, it's easy enough to see that there are bigger things to consider in my life right now. But, what can I say? For once, I hate being just a spectator. It's like sitting through hours of rehearsal, not saying a word to anyone, and not participating in any way in the production.
For now, I have taken a leave of absence from my job with CTM and have done very little "work" of any kind in the last month or so. The only project I have spent time on is The Cancer Stories Project, hopefully the first stage work for the still-being-founded Wisconsin Story Project (WSP), which I hope to be a new model of theater that will take bits and pieces from many idea-makers, heading towards not just ecologically sound theater production, but also aiming to be a model of theater that solves for pattern (or here).
Who knows? Perhaps one day ecoTheater will simply morph into a blog tracking the progress of WSP, and how we're doing our best to stay green, while tackling other issues that plague today's so-called regional theater.
But no matter what I'll be back here writing soon. So, don't forget about me…
Go to EcoTheater


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Q: Why is kafka not creating a topic? - is not a recognized option I am new to Kafka and trying to create a new topic on my local machine.
I am following this https://medium.com/@maftabali2k13/setting-up-a-kafka-cluster-on-ec2-1b37144cb4e

*

*Start zookeeper

bin/zookeeper-server-start.sh -daemon config/zookeeper.properties

Start kafka-server
bin/kafka-server-start.sh -daemon config/server.properties

Create a topic
bin/kafka-topics.sh --create -–bootstrap-server localhost:9092 -–replication-factor 1 -–partitions 1 --topic jerry

but when creating the topic, I am getting the following error

Exception in thread "main" joptsimple.UnrecognizedOptionException: – is not a recognized option
        at joptsimple.OptionException.unrecognizedOption(OptionException.java:108)
        at joptsimple.OptionParser.validateOptionCharacters(OptionParser.java:633)
        at joptsimple.OptionParser.handleShortOptionCluster(OptionParser.java:528)
        at joptsimple.OptionParser.handleShortOptionToken(OptionParser.java:523)
        at joptsimple.OptionParserState$2.handleArgument(OptionParserState.java:59)
        at joptsimple.OptionParser.parse(OptionParser.java:396)
        at kafka.admin.TopicCommand$TopicCommandOptions.<init>(TopicCommand.scala:552)
        at kafka.admin.TopicCommand$.main(TopicCommand.scala:49)
        at kafka.admin.TopicCommand.main(TopicCommand.scala)

I had seen the following Why is kafka not creating a topic? bootstrap-server is not a recognized option
But I cant find an answer to my problem here as the error given is different. Is there some stuff that I am missing here?

A: I've used your command and had same issue:
bin/kafka-topics.sh --create -–bootstrap-server localhost:9092 -–replication-factor 1 -–partitions 1 --topic jerry
If you look closer to your command you will see, that before options: bootstrap-server, replication-factor and partitions are strange characters.
I think you use copy/paste method and some strange characters were added:
Following command should work:
bin/kafka-topics.sh --create --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --replication-factor 1 --partitions 1 --topic jerry
Best way is to write it by your own :).

A: New version of Kafka no longer required ZooKeeper connection string. Use --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 instead of --zookeeper localhost:2181.
For windows: kafka-topics.bat --create -–bootstrap-server localhost:9092 -–replication-factor 1 -–partitions 1 --topic topic-name
For linux : kafka-topics.sh --create -–bootstrap-server localhost:9092 -–replication-factor 1 -–partitions 1 --topic topic-name

A: In the latest version kafka_2.12-3.1.0 (2022) after unzipping and setting the properties and logs. keep the Kafka folder on the C drive and always run the command prompt with 'run as administrator'.
The .bat file is for windows
Terminal 1

C:\kafka\bin\windows>zookeeper-server-start.bat
..\..\config\zookeeper.properties

Terminal 2

C:\kafka\bin\windows>kafka-server-start.bat
..\..\config\server.properties

Terminal 3

C:\kafka\bin\windows>kafka-topics.bat --create --topic tutorialspedia
--bootstrap-server localhost:9092

Created topic tutorialspedia.

To checklist of topic created

C:\kafka\bin\windows>kafka-topics.bat --list --bootstrap-server
localhost:9092
tutorialspedia


Headquartered in Colorado, Warrior Voices is a 501c3 Non Profit Organization that exclusively trains and employs military veterans and their spouses as voice actors and voice over artists. Warrior Voices also provides free audio recording equipment and sound booths to its graduating students.
Edge Studio is America's leading provider of educational programming for aspiring and working voice actors. We are proud to support Warrior Voices in their efforts to provide veterans with opportunities to explore voice acting as an option for reintegrating into the workforce.
Edge Studio is providing, without charge, all the educational material available on the Warrior Voices website. It is a very small contribution compared to what our veterans have given in service.
Our good friend, Roy Martin of Roy's Toys Customs of Denver Colorado has built us our very own custom 1975 Harley Davidson Sportster.
Jeff Augustine is as easy to work with as they come, with a solid reputation and classic Midwestern accent, ensuring a voice performance that is authentic, relevant, and relatable.
With a direct focus on disabled military veterans, the primary goal of the Warrior Voices Management Team is to train and employ veterans and their spouses in the area of voice acting and voice over services.


The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, today (Wednesday) published the Report on the results of the 2017 Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey. The Survey, the second in a series of three to be carried out across the civil service, is an important action under the Civil Service Renewal Plan. The result of the Survey, which shows an improvement in 22 out of the 24 areas assessed, are both positive and encouraging.
Speaking at an event to mark the launch of the report Minister Donohoe said: 'I am very pleased to publish the report on the second Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey. Overall, the results are very positive and I can see the significant progress that has been made in key areas since the first survey was carried out in 2015. The improvement in results since the last survey is evidence that the civil service is continuing on the path to a more unified, professional, responsive, open and accountable place. I am also very pleased to note the increased level of participation in the Survey, which represents the views of over 21,300 civil servants'.
The Minister further added: 'While the survey results show many strengths, they also highlight areas for improvement in regard to, for example, providing opportunities for greater levels of involvement, creating a more innovative culture and improving performance management. The Civil Service Management Board will continue to consolidate the improvements made to date and will seek to make changes in areas where most work is required'.
The Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Robert Watt, said: 'The civil service has seen enormous change since we initiated the Civil Service Renewal Plan in late 2014 and embarked on other major significant reform strategies. We recognise that our staff are critical to achieving the ambition in our reform plans, which is why we introduced a series of three biennial Civil Service Employee Engagement Surveys beginning in 2015'.
"The 2015 Survey results provided a baseline to measure employees' views and perceptions on the performance and operation of the civil service in Ireland. We welcome this latest set of survey results, which reflect the success of the initiatives that have been implemented across the civil service since the first survey which is evident in the increase across all 24 themes, with the exception of 'Competence' and 'Well-being'. We also recognise that further improvements are required in certain areas and this set of results will allow us to focus our efforts where they are most needed'.
Minister Donohoe concluded by saying: 'I would like to acknowledge the continuing engagement of staff on the renewal agenda and their willingness to embrace the programme of change in the Civil Service Renewal Plan. I also want to acknowledge the work of the Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) that collectively oversees the delivery of the plan and commend their strong leadership on this agenda'.
What is the Civil Service Renewal Plan?
What is the Civil Service Management Board?
The Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) is made up of all Secretaries General and Heads of Offices and is chaired by the Secretary General to the Government. The Board's immediate focus is on overseeing the implementation of the priorities set out in the Civil Service Renewal Plan.
What is the Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey?
Under Action 25 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan, the Civil Service committed to carrying out a series of three biennial surveys, beginning in September 2015. The survey is developed and run by the Central Statistics Office. It asks civil servants for their views on working in the civil service, focusing on areas such as employee engagement, well-being, coping with change and commitment to the organisation. Departments and Offices put in place a variety of initiatives in response to the results. The second survey was carried out in 2017 and the report being launched today details these results and how they have changed since 2015.
What are the Key Messages of the 2017 Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey?
The results of the survey are very positive overall and reflect the impact of the interventions implemented by the Civil Service Renewal Programme, the Civil Service Management Board and Departmental action plans. All scores have increased across the 24 themes, with the exception of Competence and Well-being. These results show the value of regularly surveying staff followed by acting on their feedback.
A key aim of this survey was to measure levels of engagement. Engagement levels across the civil service continue to be high (72%) and show that civil servants have a strong sense of connection with their work. Staff also feel that their work has value, meaning and purpose. The increase in response rate from 39% in 2015 to 56% in 2017 is an indicator of the increase in engagement by civil servants and an appreciation of the value of consultation and subsequent action.
Increases are most evident in organisational areas, for example in 'Organisational Support', 'Manager Career Support', 'Career Development' and 'Mobility, Leadership and Learning and Development'. These improvements reflect the initiatives which have taken place across the civil service since the 2015 Survey.
Themes with lower scores in the 2015 Employee Engagement Survey generally saw the largest increases. The improvements in these challenging areas are evidence of ongoing measures and initiatives made across Departments/Organisations following the 2015 Survey.
The results show that civil servants continue to feel more positive about their own work and areas over which they have individual control, for example 'Competence', 'Employee Engagement' and 'Autonomy'. Civil servants are highly resilient and are able to deal with work-related challenges, they have a belief in their own ability to carry out the work required for their role and they feel they have the right skills for their role.
While the results suggest that civil servants are confident about their own area of work, they are still markedly less positive about their organisational domain. They have concerns about the management of underperformance and climates of involvement and innovation in their organisations. These findings, whilst showing improvements since 2015, contrast with civil servants' positive view of their own work and their immediate working environment.
The result for Involvement Climate is the joint-lowest result in the 2017 CSEES. This measures the extent to which civil servants feel that they are involved openly in decision making in their organisation. The result shows that only a minority of civil servants feel openly involved in decision making in their Department or Office, particularly those at lower grades.
Although staff are increasingly aware of the impact of their work on the general public, despite some improvement, they feel that this contribution is not valued by the wider public. There is evidence of a disparity in relation to the extent to which civil servants feel that their work has an impact on the public and their perception of the value placed by the public on their work. This challenging finding is also in stark contrast to the results of the Civil Service Customer Service Survey 2017 and previous iterations, which consistently showed that citizens are satisfied with the civil service.
There are significant differences of perceptions between grades across some of the themes, e.g. 'Commitment to the Organisation', 'Autonomy' and 'Meaningfulness'. In general, the higher the grade the more positive the result, which may reflect a higher level of autonomy at more senior levels and a hierarchical culture in the civil service.
The result shows that staff do not believe that ideas are readily accepted in their organisation. They believe that their organisations are not quick to spot the need to do things differently and are not sufficiently searching for new ways of solving problems. There is a disparity across the grades with higher results at senior grades, decreasing to lower results at lower grades which may indicate that staff at higher grades feel they have more freedom and space to be innovative.
This result is one of the lowest in the survey and one of the more challenging results to emerge. The majority of staff continue to feel that poor performance is not being effectively addressed throughout their Departments. There is a disparity across age profiles with younger staff having significantly more positive views with regard to the how performance is managed.
Internationally, the Irish civil service compares favourably in some areas but not in all. The results for 'Engagement', 'Citizen Impact' and 'Commitment to Civil Service Renewal' compare favourably with international civil service survey results. For some themes, a direct international comparison is unavailable. However there are a number of areas where the score is less favourable than our international counterparts, for example 'Organisational Support', 'Manager Career Support', 'Career Development and Mobility' and 'Job Skills Match'. These are important areas that require further attention and focus going forward.


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Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Inflammation in acute ischemic stroke and its r...
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12028-007-9035-x
Acute ischemic stroke, Critical care, Inflammation
Inflammation in acute ischemic stroke and its relevance to stroke critical care
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Review article › peer-review
Hedley C. A. Emsley
Craig J. Smith
Pippa J. Tyrrell
Stephen J. Hopkins
Neurocritical Care
Thrombolysis heralded a new era of acute intervention for ischemic stroke, accompanied by an increasing need for comprehensive acute critical care support. There remains the prospect of novel cerebral protection strategies. Cerebral ischemia initiates a complex cascade of events at genomic, molecular, and cellular levels, and inflammation is important in this cascade, both in the CNS and in the periphery. Closely linked events are induction of a classic acute phase protein response, activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and rise in body temperature, all of which appear to importantly influence the outcome. Thrombolysis aside, various therapeutic strategies have been trialed without success recently, primarily directed at influencing neuronal activity and survival directly. Inflammation itself offers an attractive target, mainly because of its potential to exacerbate the spread of damage to the ischemic penumbra. A promising novel therapeutic approach is the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), which limits the action of the cytokine IL-1, a pivotal mediator in the pathophysiology of acute neurodegeneration. Critical care has much to offer some patients after acute ischemic stroke, including the delivery of acute interventions, often with very short therapeutic time windows, physiological support, and the management of complications. We discuss inflammation and its mediators in acute ischemic stroke, the systemic stress, and acute phase protein responses to acute ischemic stroke, how inflammation is relevant in deteriorating ischemic stroke, the impact of physiological variables, and both current and emerging interventions for acute ischemic stroke.


You've got the itch to get away. But you're tight on time so you can only satisfy the itch by taking a weekend jaunt. If this sounds like you, Bologna, Italy might be just what you need.
A little bit off the grid compared to Florence and Rome, Bologna allows for a relaxing weekend with authentic Italian experience without the crowds and tourists.
If this sounds tempting, take a look at the below to get the most from Bologna over the course of a few days.
Fist off, what's the best way to get there? If you're already in Italy, it's quite easy. Most train lines will get you there within a few hours for a really great price. If you're not in Italy yet, Ryanair will get you there for as low as 35€ (one-way) from countries like Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and the UK.
To make the most of the trip, take the Friday off and fly out first thing in the morning. Once out of the Bologna airport, catch the Aerobus (6€) to Stazione Centrale (the main rail station). Once you arrive, this is where your adventure begins!
Since you got up early to catch your flight, you're probably hungry so it's time for lunch! Make your way over to Labottegadeiportici.com where you can dabble in the Michelin star awarded restaurant for a great price (but only if you do takeout!). The Tortellini will blow your mind and is a must-try for everyone visiting the city.
After lunch, head to your hotel to check-in and drop your bags. There are plenty of hotel options to choose from starting at $80€/night in the city center, which are walkable from the rail station. The further you go outside of the city center, the more affordable it will get.
After you're settled in, head over to a spa for an afternoon of relaxation. The area is famous for spas, including refreshing pools, therapeutic steam, relaxing hydro-massages and velvet-like mud. The sulphurous and chloride-, bromide-, and iodide-rich waters are packed with essential elements and have been used for thousands of years offering scientifically verified benefits, which purify your system of toxins, fight inflammation and restore vitality. Find a great list of Spas here.
Relaxed? All that travelling and relaxation will work up an appetite! Head over to Cantina Bentivoglio in the student district for good food and relaxing Jazz music. Don't forget to walk around the area too!
Finally, head back to the hotel to get some rest to ensure you're energized for the rest of the weekend.
Most hotels offer breakfast so that will be one less thing to worry about in the morning. After enjoying breakfast at your own pace, one of the options below is recommended.
What's a visit to Italy without an iconic Vespa ride? Swing by Travelhoo near the main square to experience its Vespa tour, which includes the main tourist attractions and some wineries outside of the city.
Vespa not your thing? Another options is a leisurely European bike ride through the city. The city was built to be very bicycle friendly, and the narrow streets limit the areas where cars can go. Check out Dynamo to get a great deal on a bike tour. It's even a great place to hang out as they offer free Wifi.
After all that riding around, check out Altro? for dinner. Slightly off the beaten path, it's a great place to eat like a local.
After dinner it's time to go and enjoy a bit of the nightlife! Head back to Dynamo and to the back of their building where there's a secret bar popular with the locals. Complete with drinks, DJ, dance floor and an outdoor patio area it's the place to be on a Saturday night!
Unfortunately, it's the final day, but there's plenty of time still to go shopping for souvenirs, or visits some of the many museums. Check out Bologna Welcome's website for a list of things to do. There's something for everyone!
Be sure to get one final authentic Italian lunch in town before heading back to the airport for your evening flight home.
Brexit and Travel – Is Now a Good Time to Visit the UK?
Florence, Italy Must-Do at Night - And It's Free!


text:
Shoestring Press 2013, £6.00
Reviewed by Clare Best, Helena Nelson and Ross Kightly
Clare Best:
Chris Jones' latest collection opens with a short section of poems about lyricists, poetry and poets. These pieces raise doubts and searching questions about the poetic craft and its practitioners, whilst showing Jones himself as an accomplished and amusing craftsman in pursuit of something like the point and purpose of poetry/song.
The lines in these opening poems rattle along, metrical and rhymed, telling their stories of the likes of Thom Gunn, who is immortalised in 'An Invitation':
He's easy, bear-like, big with charm,
blue jeans, black panther on his arm,
an earring glints; he talks and flirts
though when I err he smooths his shirt,
in no uncertain terms explains
he never trekked to Fascist Spain.
The final poem in the untitled opening section, 'Now, Now is the perfect time of my life', sets out, in the first person, to tell a slightly wistful narrative of the poet as his 17-year-old self in dialogue with his friend Kat, concluding somehow that his poems still exist in Plath's deadly pickling fluid – "my babies floating in their jars".
The collection then takes off into the 'Jigs and Reels' section. This consists of eight pieces, each occupying a double-page spread across which two versions or modes or parts of a poem are ranged. These poems are all in quatrains, all rhyming. I found them suggestive and mysterious, innovative and moving, with their same-but-different takes on related images and themes. Together they form a weave of significant power, focussing on accidents, incidents and observations of everyday life and placing things side by side to speak to each other. The lines and images seem to move and slide in relationship. The effect is certainly dance-like, mesmeric, leaving the reader reeling.
'Skin' and 'Movies' complete this collection, stepping outside and beyond the poignancy of the poems in the 'Jigs and Reels' section to a more considered vantage point. 'Skin' is a painful meditation on vulnerability and frailty, whilst 'Movies' addresses the fragmented nature of experience and reflects on how we cobble scraps into stories with which to console or baffle ourselves.
Helena Nelson:
This is one of those pamphlets that's close to being a book. It has a thin spine, and there are three endorsements and some bio on the back jackets, quite a heavy weight of recommendation for a chapbook.
In fact, of its 38 pages, only 26 contain poems, and of these, seven precede the 'Jigs and Reels' section that gives the collection its name. The result is slightly odd. The early poems are mainly tributes to other artists. The first features songwriter Paddy McAloon, I think – a nice piece but with an awkward (to me) final line – and this reflects a recurring problem I had here. The publication has lovely stretches and then suddenly bits that snag or puzzle. Here are the last few lines of 'King of Rock 'n' Roll':
[ . . . ] the guy who shunned all stir and buzz
beneath the tender stitch-work of each song;
fragile as star-shine for seeming like us,
who soon as I caught wind of was gone.
I can't see that "who soon as I caught wind of" can sound mellifluous. It's trying too hard for compression. Does it not fall victim to its own lyric impulse? Tribute poems follow for Thom Gunn and Ken Smith, and the second of these is, I think, both moving and well handled.
On reaching the 'Jigs and Reels' section, a title page gives the impression that the real pamphlet has started and this is corroborated by formal consistency in subsequent pages. In fact, for 16 pages, poems continue in metrical quatrains; there is a feeling of 'jig and reel', though the tone is reflective. Some interesting things are going on between poems twinned on facing pages. I liked 'A Conversation / For the Lad'. Like many of the poems in this section, the emotive charge is strong:
I chip these quatrain blocks in part
to show precisely what he's missed
though understand the end of art
both magnifies, diminishes.
But even here, something in me wants to tussle with the expression, wants it not to take the easy way by dropping words to fit the rhythm, wants it to say what I think he means: "though I understand the end of art / both magnifies and diminishes".
Towards the end of the pamphlet, there's 'Skin', a prose poem. It narrates the poet's experience of a skin disease at the age of 13. I found it wholly compelling.
The final poem, 'Movies', to my mind, takes two stanzas to get going. But the excellent second half captures a family scene, in front of a TV screen. Here is the final stanza, which strikes me as perfect:
The four of us knee-deep among the cushions
move from chat toward a moment's hush,
caught out by plot, by love, some tricky part,
and though I try to learn these scenes by heart
I'm lost for words, distracted – see, I'm crying
and when you ask me I can't tell you why.
It took me a little time really to 'get into' this collection but once in, I found I really liked where I was. Not because it was a particularly comfortable place to be – because it wasn't – but because there was a helluva lot goin' on. We've got the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Thom Gunn and Sylvia Plath all jostling around – and that's only the first four poems.
Things get a bit more intimate in the eponymously-titled section, which comprises 16 tightly-wound, dense and intense poems arranged in pairs. I was brought up short by images such as "I was eighteen and awkward as elbows"; while in 'An Invitation', Thom Gunn is not only "big with charm" but also – in one of the most apt poem endings I can remember – "a streetwise dude from some old poem".
These few quotations should be sufficient to convey a flavour of the easy rhythms of the verse, but there is also the unobtrusive rhyme that links "streets" to "sleeps" and "given" to "hidden" amidst other more conventional music.
There's childbirth and death and all the rest of the stuff that goes on in life, and I have to say that the whole collection clinched a permanent place on my grossly-overcrowded shelves with the last poem, 'Movies', which begins with the line: "There are films I've never lasted through". It goes on to explain why: such films were in the background to family life where the poet had to be "chaperone to check the spats and brawls". When the poem concludes by saying "I'm lost for words, distracted – see, I'm crying / and when you ask me I can't tell you why", I know why I am.


text:
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Richard at EU Referendum has a go at Jaques Chirac, for complaining that the invasion of Iraq made the world "more dangerous", but not doing anything to make the world safer, like joining in.
Now there are reasonable arguments that invading Iraq made the world more dangerous, and also reasonable arguments that it made the world safer. Personally I'm in the John Kerry camp: I think it was right. Then again, perhaps it was wrong. Well, maybe it was right. Hmmm, actually I'm not sure.
(Strangely, Kerry's views, despite being so closely aligned with my own, failed to impress me).
But enough dithering, I'm talking about Chirac. The point is that Chirac did try to make the world safer. He tried to stop the invasion. The interesting point is that he thought he could stop it. He really believes in this Diplomacy stuff. I call it "Diplomacy" with a capital D, because to me, diplomacy is just making deals: what do you want, what have you got to offer, what threats can you make. Chirac, and, descending into generalisation, the French, seem to believe in Diplomacy, a force independent of economies and armies, by which France can influence the rest of the world.
Of course, there is one way in which a nation can gain what it wants by negotiation without offering rewards or punishments: it can trick other countries into doing what it wants. If there is such as thing as Diplomacy, it is another word for trickery. One would think that governments would be fairly immune to being deceived into acting against their interests, but then again, the history of the EU would tend to contradict such an assumption.
The irony in this case, of course, is that Chirac not only believed he could prevent the invasion, he also seems to have convinced his friend Saddam Hussein of the same thing. The result of Diplomacy was to give him the confidence to defy George Bush and the U.N., something that even I am sure made the world a more dangerous place.
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Language, again
Just came across this piece by John Humphrys in the Sunday Times. I've read him on the subject before, and it's very irritating. All the points he makes about language are absolutely correct, and so well put that I'm cheering him on.
Then come his examples. They're poor examples. This time, he takes a document from some investment bank, describing a particular team's role:
The structuring team sits within the Equity Derivatives Group. Its main roles are: i. Product innovation: define and write new payoffs with sales, traders and quants (pro-active and reactive), participate to the study of the risk management of the new payoffs. The objective is to increase sharply the amount of pro-active business . .
It is in fairly obscure jargon; the nature of the business is that different companies, or even different divisions within the same company, develop their own, different terms for the same thing. As a result, while the passage makes sense to me, working in the same field, I am not quite sure I am not misinterpreting it. "Pro-active" is a danger word, often used as a meaningless buzzword, but here it has a quite obvious and well-defined meaning.
It's certainly not well written. Participate to?. This is just the sort of thing he has been talking about, but here the writer gets away with it, in that it doesn't obscure his meaning. Next time he uses the wrong preposition he might not be so lucky. There are criticisms of style that could be made too: the last (incompletely quoted) sentence is ugly. But as the whole passage is likely to be obscure to people who are not familiar with the details of the derivatives business, it is impossible for Humphrys to separate the essential obscurity from the avoidable errors. He just calls it "meaningless drivel".
Private Eye's "Pseuds' Corner" makes similar false steps. In amongst the execrable mounds of advertising, management and political mumbo-jumbo, there are odd extracts from technical journals covering particular specialties. To me, many of them might as well be Swahili, and some of them are as clear as the speaking clock.
Humphrys is conflating several issues. One is the general sloppiness of language, which the bulk of his article describes excellently. It is a major problem, as it leads to ambiguities, and, in some cases deliberately, to statements which appear to mean something, but on closer inspection state no actual identifiable facts, but convey only a vague impression or emotion. Another is that jargon, which is necessary, but in some cases seems to be intentionally less accessible than it could be, in order to exclude outsiders from a clique. A third is that when those within a particular jargon-using culture need to communicate to outsiders, they frequently are unable to do so effectively because they have forgotten the non-jargon terms they need. A fourth is that most of us, unlike Mr Humphrys, are not professional communicators. We have other work to do, and writing down a description of our work, when requested, is often an unwelcome chore to be dispensed with with as little time and attention as possible. A fifth is the desire of some to show off by indulging in some fashionable cliche or phrase which they don't really understand, in preference to the perfectly simple and ordinary way of saying what they want. (That is probably to blame for the "sits within" of the example).
I am not sure even that the claim that jargon is deliberately intended to obscure and exclude is true. It often seems that way because specialists completely exclude the normal words for their subjects from their vocabulary. You will never hear a computer specialist talk about a "computer", or a telephone engineer talk about an "exchange". That, however, has a reasonable explanation. The common-usage words are just not precise enough for technical use: does a "computer" include the monitor? Is an "exchange" all the switches on a site, or is each one an "exchange"? It is clearer for the specialist to avoid these words.
Humphrys claims that his example could not be understood even by those it was intended for. Frankly, I don't believe him. It is more likely that, in an example of another modern bad habit, it has been sent to far too long an email list, including a bunch of people who have no reason to know what the role of the equity derivatives "structure team" is.
When selecting targets to attack for bad English, force must be concentrated on those who ought to be making themselves clear to a wide audience: journalists, politicians, teachers and people selling products.
Here is a classic, from Oracle, highlighted by Bruce Schneier, when the product they advertised widely as "unbreakable" turned out to be full of security holes:
Oracle's security chief, Mary Ann Davidson, claims that the campaign "speaks to" fourteen independent security evaluations that Oracle's database server passed.
What does "speaks to" mean? In English, it means that the security evaluations were the target of the campaign, which is obviously rubbish.
What is actually means in the context is "is a lie inspired by", which is not what Ms Davidson wants to be caught saying in so many words.
Instead, a meaningless phrase has been used in attempt to hide the gap between the facts at the base of the campaign (some researchers had looked for security holes and not found any), and the claims made by the campaign (there were definitely no security holes). To anyone at all familiar with software, that's a yawning great gap, but the spokesperson attempts to bridge it by saying that the claims "spoke to" the facts, which doesn't mean anything at all and leaves the gap unbridged.
There is another modern curse and obstacle to communication: the spell-checker, but that's off the point and I'll rant about that on another occassion.
Superpower Europe?
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Yglesias comments on "The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy", a new book by T R Reid.
I haven't read it, but I blogged recently on how many in Europe are planning to build a new superpower to challenge the USA, even to the extent of being able to oppose it militarily. I didn't get round to explaining why they would fail.
The European members of NATO spend $200bn a year on defense. The USA spends $393bn.
Britain and France, who between them account for something like half of that $200bn, have much of their military tied up in former colonies
Britain is reducing its forces.
But that's only the start. Except in a "total war" situation, defense spending has
to come, in a sense, out of discretionary income. Europe's economies are already struggling under the weight of high taxes and expensive welfare systems. There is just nowhere they can find the money to fund a superpower-grade military. Even enlargement doesn't help here; bringing in Eastern European countries adds significantly to the total size of the economy, but whatever extra tax revenue becomes available for military must be used directly for defending the new nations' borders. Indeed, as the new nations are expecting subsidy "structural funds" from the wealthier nations, their accession leaves less in the pot for military adventures.
The facts are, Americans are used to spending 3.5% of GDP on defence, and Europeans (except for Greece) aren't.
Of course, as the USA has a much higher rate of economic growth than the EU members, the existing gap is just going to widen.
But all this is built on the idea that an EU Common Foreign Policy, theoretically established over a decade ago by the Treaty of Maastricht, is even possible. There's been no sign of one yet, and again, the enlargement of the Union makes it less likely that unanimity can be reached. While it seems that the latest round of centralisation will be difficult to get accepted, the idea of having countries' own servicemen directed by a policy made by other countries is hardly on the cards.
This objection links with the previous ones, as the countries where there is the most enthusiasm for the idea of challenging the USA are the ones with the most stagnant economies and the lowest growth. The countries with the healthiest economies are the ones least hostile to the United States. This is not coincidence; the hostility to the United States is rooted largely in hostility to the economic system which enables growth. (The text of the speech linked to in that article is very much worth reading).
Pedantry
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One of the problems with being a pedant of language is that, while it seems obvious to you that a particular irritating error will in future lead to problems, it is hard to find concrete examples.
The overuse of quotation marks is one of the most annoying featuers of modern English, somewhere behind the confusion of "affect" and "effect".
So now we get the following headline from the BBC:
Powell 'resigns' top US job
The quotations there are very significant. They tell me quite clearly that he didn't resign, he was sacked. The only problem is that I have not heard that suggested elsewhere, and indeed there is no suggestion in the body of the story that he didn't just resign, rather than 'resigning'.
Another headline in the same section is
US to remain 'aggressive' abroad
The quotation marks there are justified: the writer is indicating that Powell used the word 'aggressive', and that it's not just his own interpretation of what was said.
Of course, 'aggressive' on its own, in the context of foreign policy, rather implies attacking or threatening to attack other countries, while the larger quote in the article is:
This policy had traditionally been "aggressive in terms of going after challenges, issues", Mr Powell added, and the president was "going to keep moving in this direction"
Which, arguably, isn't really the same thing. By pulling out the word 'aggressive' the BBC is deliberately misrepresenting what Powell said. But that's just ordinary BBC bias, and we're all used to that.
When I get misled by the BBC, I want it to be deliberate, and not just incompetence. I expect my TV license money to be spent on spouting left-wing propaganda in excellent English.
Is Europe becoming Islamicised?
There is an idea growing in right-wing circles in the US that part of the reason for the divergence between the US and Europe over the war on Iraq and the issue of Islamicist terrorism is that Europe is subject to a gradual takeover by Islam through the mechanism of immigration from Islamic countries. The fact is that commentators who see this are being misled into overestimating the social effect in Europe of Muslim immigrants, and underestimating the long-standing differences between American and European culture. The first illusion is that there are many political battles in various European countries which appear to be between "native" Europeans and Muslim immigrants. In fact, these political issues are argued between left and right within the native political community, with the immigrants themselves as interested but largely powerless bystanders. It could be argued that it makes no difference whether the Islamic side is being advanced by its own effort or by that of native allies, if the effect is the same, but the fact is that the allies (usually on the left) are only able to hold these pro-minority positions and achieve power while the Muslims are not seen as a threat by the majority population. In fact, in Britain at least, the Muslim population as a whole is not seen as any threat at all. Though a significant percentage of the population, they come overwhelmingly from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and their culture does not include any recent history of jihad, such as can be found in North Africa and the Middle East. Those Muslims in Britain who have become prominent in the media advocating jihad, such as the infamous Abu Hamza, are of a totally different cultural background and are completely unrepresentative of the Muslim population in the country. That is not to say that there can not be any problems with Muslim immigration in Britain, but it is not of an unprecedented kind. Tensions can rise in areas with very large immigrant populations, but these are triggered the usual political issues – conflict over allocation of government resources, and so on. The Muslim immigrants to Britain are integrating slowly into British culture. Note that the Indians and British have been linked for a hundred and fifty years, and there is a lot of common ground beyond tea and curry. Europeans feel much less threatened by terrorism than Americans, having in many cases lived with it for generations. While the World Trade Centre attacks caused a larger scale of death than Europe has experienced from terrorists (but not from WWII), the sequels have been much nearer the scope that Europeans have come to accept. Also, extremist Islam is not a new or unfamiliar enemy to Europeans. France has been fighting for half a century; Britain fought a 50,000 strong jihadi army under Muhammad Ahmand at Omdurman. The battle was of course extremely one-sided, but the only thing making the handling of the enemy more difficult today is the necessity to limit civilian casualties. Carpet-bombing Fallujah from the air would be the equivalent in force ratios to Kitchener's Maxim guns in the Sudan. The recent murder of Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands by Islamist extremists illustrates one further point. In the days following, more than 20 Mosques or Muslim schools have been burnt down. For a European country, the prospect of a civil war against radicalised Muslim immigrants is something to be feared, but there is no need to fear losing one. At the end of the day, like any other immigrant group, Muslims in Europe live on the sufferance of the majority population. The Muslims would trigger genocidal violence against themselves long before they could become a serious threat to the host populations. This is little comfort from a humanitarian viewpoint, but it exposes talk of "Eurabia" as so much hyperbole. Another factor which has tended to mislead American observers is, I suspect, that during the period of the cold war they tended to underestimate the differences between Europeans and Americans. Confronted for the first time with these differences in the context of the war on Iraq, they are falsely attributing long-standing attitues to Islamic influence. One longstanding European position is secularism. While the trappings of Christianity survived past the middle of the twentieth century, the Northern European countries have not been Christian for a hundred years, or in the case at least of France, for two hundred. Another of these attitudes is anti-Americanism. I believe that this is pervasive across the European elite, at least at an emotional level. This emotional attitude can be suppressed for political reasons, and largely was during the cold war, but if one considers the substantial minority of Europeans who saw the USA as more of a threat than the USSR through the 60s and 70s, it is hardly surprising if a larger group is more afraid of the vastly more powerful USA of the 21st century than of the likes of Saddam Hussein. Nor is this fear of the USA as irrational as some Americans might think. Western Europe has not been in conflict with the USA since the end of the Second World War, but that was a result of Europe's acceptance of American dominance in the face of the threat of the USSR. With that threat removed, many Europeans wish actively to prevent a single-superpower world. The rhetoric is about providing a balance or counterweight to American power, as in some quotes from an article in The Observer:
"The implications of a unipolar world are bad for everyone concerned. If America stands aloof from global problems, it is accused of isolationism. If it intervenes, it is accused of imperialism. Either way, it becomes a target of resentment and violence. For the rest it means frustration and impotence.
Complaining won't do any good. The rest of us have to raise our game and provide America with partners they can't ignore. For Britain, that means building a more united Europe with a more coherent foreign policy and a strong single currency. It's either that or another American century."
– David Clark, former special adviser to Robin Cook at the Foreign Office.
"If one country must be so dominant militarily, then it is probably better that it is the United States rather than another country. However, history suggests that such dominance leads to abuse and it is encumbent on the rest of the world to find ways of restraining the United States through international law, countervailing power and dialogue.
The European Union, which has achieved parity with the United States in trade and investment, has a major responsibility in this endeavour. Plans for a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) therefore need to be accelerated and EU governments need to commit adequate resource to it".
-Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs
These people are not commentators or pundits, they are policy makers. Implicit in phrases like "find ways of restraining the United States through … countervailing power" is the option of at least credibly threatening the USA with military conflict. This is one of the major driving forces behind enlarging and strengthening the EU. If European politicians are already thinking in terms of fighting against the USA, then they are not going to be in any hurry to oppose the wave of Islamism which is currently the USA's most active enemy. Just as France supported North American rebels against the British Empire in the 1770s, and Britan and France supported the Confederacy against the Union in the 1860s, these Europeans are likely to be sympathetic to any minor power that is likely to weaken the USA. I am attempting to characterise a political view that is widespread across Europe. In Britain, it is known as the "Post-War Consensus" — essentially the mainstream political othordoxy prior to the Thatcher revolution. It is a significant minority view in Britain, but is
still the dominant ideology across much of the Continent, notably France, and, equally importantly, in the institutions of the European Union. The key elements of this ideology are a highly regulated economy, protected industry, the welfare state, and international institutions such as the EU and the UN. Since 1980, some compromises have been made on the economic front, towards liberalisation of trade and deregulation of markets, but they have been strongly resisted and there is still a huge constituency for reversing them. It can be described as a left-wing but it was shared by the mainstream right until the 1980s, and is in a sense conservative — seeking to return to the status quo of the 1960s and 70s. If you ask a member of this group whether there is a "clash of civilisations", he will probably tell you that there is. But the threat to civilisation he sees is not militant Islam, it is Hollywood, and deregulated markets, and globalised world trade. It is not the crescent moon that is overwhelming Old Europe — they're coping with that fairly well — it is the Stars and Stripes that is the banner of the enemy. That is the real problem, as far as many Europeans are concerned, with the War on Terror. There are ways of dealing with a terrorist threat at home, other than attacking its sources abroad. These ways may be more effective or less effective, but that is not the issue. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, whatever their effect on Islamist terror, demonstrate that there is one military superpower in the world, that can act alone even beyond its traditional "sphere of influence". This is more of a shock to them than a few airliners flying into skyscrapers. Even to moderate British, who would not align themselves with this Post-War Consensus view, there is still a tradeoff: damaging terrorism is good, but it has to be set against making the USA more powerful and confident. It must be amusing to the anti-American thinkers in France or Germany when American critics paint them as weak or effete allies, when in fact the reason they are not joining the fight alongside the USA is that their sympathies lie with the other side.
Updates: Thanks for your comments. Please look also at the follow-up post looking at Europe's chances of actually attaining superpower status.
Professor Reynolds also linked to Transatlantic Intelligencer, by John Rosenthal. I'm concentrating on Britain, and he's looking at US-European relations with the emphasis on France and Germany. As I would expect, he finds no evidence of "Islamisation" but a very high degree of ingrained anti-Americanism.
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