I received my degrees at the University of New South Wales, postdoctoral training at Flinders University of South Australia prior to Australian Research Council (ARC) Queen Elizabeth II and National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) research fellowships, joining NeuRA in 1993 and The University of Sydney in 2016. I have >400 publications from many successfully completed competitive research grants, andlead a research program of ~70 researchers tackling non-Alzheimer's neurodegeneration.
I work on identifying and understanding the pathobiology of non-Alzheimer dementias and degenerative motor syndromes, as these syndromes are currently under-recognized, mainly affect people in their prime, can kill rapidly, and have no mechanistic therapies. I lead a large research team that uses clinical, patient-derived, and experimental models to progress knowledge on these diseases.
My research has highlighted broader pathological involvement in Parkinson's disease and especially in dementia with Lewy bodies, with recent work suggesting lysosome dysfunction and immunity are involved. In the non-Alzheimer frontotemporal dementias, the firstlarge scale studies were initiated in my laboratory and form the basis for both pathological and clinical staging of these syndromes, with recent work targeting their biological basis. My vision is to continue to develop significant research capacity in non-Alzheimer dementias and motor syndromes, and to coalesce Australian research capacity in these areas so that significant medical advances can be made.
This program of research facilitates and enhances collaboration between internationally-recognised leaders working on the clinical, pathological and biological characteristics of frontotemporal dementia and motor neurodegenerative syndromes. Frontotemporal and motor neurodegeneration cause a group of disorders identified by distinct clinical signs and symptoms, and/or specific histopathologies. These disorders are generally rapidly progressing (median survival 1-3 years from diagnosis), cause behavioural, language or motor deficits (often in combination), and together are a leading cause of dementia (particularly in people aged <65 years). They are unified by the focal and selective nature of the neurodegeneration, which largely occurs in association with the abnormal aggregation of one of three distinct proteins (tau, TDP43, FUS) in neurons and/or glia. For most patients their clinical presentations relate to the brain region affected rather than the underlying proteinopathy. This program unites the diverse research of the investigators to focus on crucial, understudied research areas; 1) the pathogenesis and selectivity of degeneration; 2) the characterisation and mechanisms of disease progression, 3) differences in toxicity of the proteins involved, 4) the development of in vivo biomarkers to detect the different proteinopathies, and 5) novel treatment approaches.
Background: Non-Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementias, including those overlapping with AD, occur in more than 50% of dementia patients. In those without overlapping AD, most have pathology consistent with a frontotemporal dementia (FTD) syndrome, motor neuron disease (MND) or Lewy body disease, including Parkinson's disease (LBD). Clinical diagnostic schemas for dementia largely identify individuals with advanced disease, at a point where disease modifying therapies will be less effective. In 2014, diagnostic criteria for preclinical AD were defined to allow better therapeutic targeting. A similar approach is required for the non-AD dementias.
Need: Identification of preclinical forms of FTD and LBD is required, in addition to identifying the different protein species involved in the various non-AD phenotypes for therapeutic targeting.
disease course is the slow infiltration of the diagnostic neuronal inclusion pathologies in a characteristic disease pattern through the brain. In 2008 the concept that the disease spread from cell to cell took hold following the identification of inclusions in foetal neurons grafted therapeutically into patients with PD. Mounting evidence suggests the mechanism for this phenomenon includes the release of α-synuclein aggregates from a host cell to be taken-up by neighbouring cells and recent work in glia has shown uptake of toxic α-synuclein species is via toll-like 2 receptors (TLR2). We hypothesise that toxic α-synuclein is taken up by neurons through activating TLR2, propagating the α-synuclein pathology from one neuron to the next, and will use unique human tissue resources (staged brain tissue from PD patients, iPS derived human neurons), transgenic mice (TLR2 knock-out) and neuronal cell lines to assess this theory.
Are there peripheral changes in GBA protein/activity in idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients?
Differences in the part of peoples DNA that makes the glucocerebrosidase (GBA) protein are the most frequent known genetic risk factor for Parkinson's disease. In the brain of Parkinson's disease patients, glucocerebrosidase protein is reduced. We want to know if glucocerebrosidase is also reduced outside of the brain, in blood cells of Parkinson's disease patients. If so, could this be an early test for Parkinson's disease? Our study aims to determine whether glucocerebrosidase protein is reduced in white blood cells from Parkinson's disease patients. We will collect blood samples from Parkinson's disease patients and matched control subjects and measure the glucocerebrosidase protein using a technique known as flow cytometry.
I am on the editorial boards of 5 international journals, and on the Scientific Advisory Boards for a number of international organizations and research institutes. I was elected president of the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS 2006-2007), appointed to the NHMRC Academy (2009, 2011) and ARC College of Experts (2013).
I was awarded the 2011 Nina Kondelos Prize for outstanding neuroscience from ANS, named a high achiever in Australian Health and Medical Research by NHMRC (http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/high-achievers/biographies) and awarded a Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
A Set-up for Multi-analyte Spatial Profiling Platform in 3D Neuroscience; Double K, Fu Y, Halliday G; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grants.
Meso QuickPlex SQ 120 system for Shared Use in the Open Access, Multi-User, Bosch Molecular Biology Facility; Richardson D, Scolyer R, Halliday G; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grants.
Optimise Sleep in Brain Ageing and Neurodegeneration; Naismith S, Grunstein R, Lewis S, Phillips C, D'Rozario A, Hoyos C, Rajaratnam S, Halliday G, Martins R, Lagopoulos J; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Centres of Research Excellence.
Neuroimmunology and neuroInflammation: from Biomarker and Pathogenesis to patient diagnosis and improvement of clinical outcome; Brilot-Turville F, Dale R, Brown D, Kiernan M, Marais B, Barnett M, Britton P, Guastella A, Halliday G, Harris A, Hickie I, Lewis S, Nassar N, Ramanathan S, Vucic S, Wood N; DVC Research/Sydney Research Excellence Initiative 2020 (SREI).
Sydney Dementia Network (SDN) - DVCR-869; Halliday G; DVC Research/Other.
Using MJF-14 antibody to uncover novel alpha-synuclein pathology in Parkinson�s disease and MSA; Halliday G, Jensen P; Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research/Research Support.
A Complete Mouse Neuroscience Research set-up; Halliday G, Collins M, van Nieuwenhuijzen P; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Equipment Grants.
Frontotemporal dementia and motor neurodegenerative syndromes; Halliday G, Halliday G, Mattick J, Hodges J, Hodges J, Kiernan M, Piguet O, Piguet O, Kril J, Ittner L, Ittner L, Kassiou M; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Program Grants.
Utilising novel biomarkers to develop predictors of neurodegeneration; Lewis S, Halliday G; DVC Research/Sydney Research Excellence Initiative 2020 (SREI).
Peripheral Inflammatory cytokine profiling in Parkinson�s disease; Dzamko N, Halliday G; Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research/Research Support.
Is ATXN2 a potential therapeutic target in MND?; Tan R, Halliday G, Kiernan M; Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia/Grants in aid.
Are their peripheral changes in GBA protein/activity in idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients; Halliday G, Lewis S, Dzamko N; Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research/Research Support.
Neuronal toll-like 2 receptors contribute to the spread of Parkinson's disease; Halliday G, Halliday G, Dzamko N, Daher J, Sue C; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Project Grants.
Tackling the complex pathogenesis of non-Alzheimer dementias and motor neurodegenerative disorders; Halliday G; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Research Fellowships.
Frontotemporal dementia and motor neurodegenerative syndromes; Halliday G, Gotz J, Ittner L, Kril J, Hodges J, Kiernan M; National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)/Program Grants.
Double, K., Halliday, G., Reyes, S. (2012). Substantia Nigra, Ventral Tegmental Area and Retrorubral Fields. In Juergen K. Mai and George Paxinos (Eds.), The Human Nervous System, (pp. 439-455). London: Academic Press.
Kril, J., Karlstrom, H., Brooks, W., Kwok, J., Halliday, G., Schofield, P. (2005). Variable phenotype of Alzheimer's disease with spastic paraparesis. In Cummings J; Hardy J; Poncet M; Christen Y (Eds.), Genotype-Proteotype-Phenotype Relationships in Neurodegenerative Disease, (pp. 166). Berlin: Springer.
Kril, J., Hodges, J., Davies, R., Du, N., Halliday, G. (2004). Survival In Frontotemporal Dementia. In B Vellas, LJ Fitten, B Winblad, H Feldman, M Grundman, E Giacobini (Eds.), Research and practice in Alzheimers disease, (pp. 215-219). Paris, New York: Springer.
Kril, J., Patel, S., Harding, A., Halliday, G. (2003). Hippocampal neuron loss in vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. In B. Vellas, L. J. Fitten, B. Winblad, H. Feldman, M. Grundman & E. Giacobini (Eds.), Research and Practice in Alzheimers Disease, Volume 7, (pp. 199-203). NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Morris, J., Hely, M., Halliday, G. (2003). Parkinsonism and Ageing. In Perminder s. Sachdev (Eds.), The Ageing Brain: The Neurobiology and Neuropsychiatry of Ageing, (pp. 275-282). Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets and Zeitlinger Publishers.
Forrest, S., Kril, J., Halliday, G. (2015). Frontotemporal lobar degeneration with tau inclusions (FTLD-tau): Recent developments in pathology and pathogenesis. Australian Biochemist, 46(1), 8-11.
Harding, A., Das, A., Kril, J., Brooks, W., Duffy, D., Halliday, G. (2004). Identification Of Families With Cortical Lewy Body Disease. American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 128B (1), 118-122.
Munch, G., Shepherd, C., McCann, H., Brooks, W., Kwok, J., Arendt, T., Hallupp, M., Schofield, P., Martins, R., Halliday, G. (2002). Intraneuronal advanced glycation endproducts in presenilin-1 Alzheimer's disease. NeuroReport, 13(5), 601-604.
Kril, J., Halliday, G. (2001). Alzheimer's disease: its diagnosis and pathogenesis. International Review of Neurobiology, 48, 167-217.
Caine, D., Halliday, G., Patterson, K., Hodges, J. (2001). Sever anterograde amnesia with extensive hippocampal degeneration in a case of rapidly progressive frontotemporal dementia. Neurocase, 7, 57-64.
Wong, D., Bishop, A., Lowes, M., Cooke, B., Barnetson, R., Halliday, G. (2000). Cytokine profiles in spontaneously regressing basal cell carcinomas. British Journal of Dermatology, 143(1), 91-98.
Henderson, J., Halliday, G., Macdonald, V. (2005). Thalamic And Cortical Changes in Parkinsonian Disorders. The Basal Ganglia VIII, UK: Springer.


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John Farthing
John Farthing is a former Chartered Engineer who, before retirement, was employed at the Cowes Radar establishment as a Project Manager. He came to the Island in 1953 for an apprenticeship with the, then, Saunders-Roe aircraft company.
Being a countryman at heart he soon discovered the delights of the Island's countryside and has spent the last 65 years enjoying it, especially it's footpaths and bridleways. A four year (part time) spell in training as an RMFVR Commando Troop Signaller was an additional 'walking' experience.
Despite having travelled widely in his work Farthing says he has never had any desire to live anywhere other than the Isle of Wight.
See John Farthing at
Thursday 10th October 16:40 - 17:40 Where PLUTO Crossed the Path | Northwood House
Back to speakers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Samsung Galaxy S4, aka the Galaxy S3S: The hardware race is over – software wins again
By Sebastian Anthony on March 15, 2013 at 2:06 pm
Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy S4 — but looking at its hardware and software specs, I wonder if the Korean chaebol should've instead taken a leaf out of Apple's playbook and called it the Galaxy S3S. Beyond its larger, 1080p screen — which by all accounts is a wonder to behold — there is almost no difference between the Galaxy S3 and S4's hardware. At the presentation in New York, various Samsung execs spent a couple of hours detailing the S4's new features — and, really, with almost no exceptions, they were all software-based.
The thing with software is that, except for features that are dependent on specific hardware being present, it can be installed on other devices. This led to the curious revelation that, according to a Samsung exec at the New York launch event, many of the Galaxy S4's features will come to "all our flagship devices," such as the S3 and Note 2. Much in the same way that you can install Angry Birds on both the Galaxy S3 and S4, it should be possible to install most of the S4's features on the S3.
Why, then, should you buy the S4? Let's break down the hardware differences, and then see where we stand. The Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch 1920×1080 Super AMOLED display, which equates to a rather insane 441 ppi (far beyond "Retina" classification, which is around 300 ppi at 12 inches from the eye). Hands-on impressions of the screen are good, as they always are with AMOLED ("the colors really pop!"), but don't forget that OLED displays tend to eschew realistic color representation for crazy amounts of contrast. The display does use an RGBG PenTile subpixel arrangement, but the ppi is so high that you won't be able to see the difference.
There's a new SoC, too, of course — either an Exynos Octa 5410 or a Snapdragon 600. It isn't clear which markets will get which SoC, but it'll probably break down as before: Asia and Europe will get the Exynos and the US will get the Snapdragon. Now, the Exynos Octa is one heck of a chip — it has four Cortex-A15 cores and four Cortex-A7 cores in a big.LITTLE setup, and it really should blow all of the competition away. In terms of raw performance, the Cortex-A15 is the fastest chip in the mobile space — and if Samsung/Android make good use of the four A7 cores, the SoC's power consumption should be manageable. The Exynos Octa also has the SGX 544MP3 GPU, which is one of the fastest GPUs on the market. The Snapdragon 600, though, is essentially a quad-core version of last year's dual-core Snapdragon S4, with an updated Adreno 320 GPU. The four Krait cores will provide a boost in some multithreaded scenarios, and the GPU is a nice bump, but it's no where near as exciting as the Exynos Octa. In short, if you end up with the Snapdragon variant of the Galaxy S4, you might notice slightly faster games performance, but that's about it.
The last of the somewhat-exciting hardware features is a 13-megapixel backside-illuminated rear camera. If you only count megapixels, this sounds impressive — but didn't Samsung get the memo that we're in a post-megapixel world now? More megapixels, especially when they're crammed into a small space, generally equates to poorer image quality and low-light performance. Both HTC and Nokia seem to have realized this, but Samsung seems content on steaming ahead with mo' megapixels, image quality be damned. There's also an IR LED, barometer, and humidity sensor, which might find interesting use cases. (See: The Galaxy S4's full hardware and software specs.)
Apple syndrome
On the hardware front, then, the Galaxy S4 is simply a faster S3 — a lot like the iPhone 4 and 4S, in fact. The Galaxy S4 does have an upgraded display, but the S3's display was already Retina-class. It still remains to be seen if a 5-inch 1920×1080 display is actually better in real-world use than the S3's 4-inch 1280×720, or if it simply sucks more juice and provides relatively little in return.
Most of the reason for buying a Galaxy S4, then, is the software — again, just like the iPhone 4S and Siri. The S4 comes with features such as Dual Camera (pictured below), which lets you use both the front- and rear-facing cameras at the same time when shooting photos and videos, or when making a video call. There are also tons of camera filters and helpers (360 Photo, Beauty Face, etc.), and other camera-related features, such as Sound & Shot and Story Album.
Smart Scroll, which automatically scrolls pages with a flick of the wrist, and Smart Pause, which pauses video when you look away, are both neat features, too. S Voice Drive automatically switches the S4 into driving mode when you connect a Bluetooth headset, automatically enabling voice commands. And who can forget Air Touch, which lets you interact with the screen by hovering your finger over something, rather than touching it. No longer must you avoid greasy food!
All of these features combine to make the Galaxy S4 a very desirable and feature-rich phone. Android purists won't be happy — TouchWiz has almost superseded Android, it seems — but consumers will be over the moon. Power users will sneer derisively at the S4's smorgasbord of cutesy features, just as they did with the S3 — but let's not forget that the S3 went on to become the biggest-selling Android handset ever. The Galaxy S series of phones is aimed squarely at consumers who want to do lots of stuff with their phones and have fun in the process — and the S4 delivers that in spades. At this point, Samsung has as much momentum behind its smartphones as Apple; I wouldn't be surprised if the S4 outsells the iPhone in Europe and Asia, and possibly in the US as well.
Next page: The only problem: You can turn your S4 into an S3 by copying the software over


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Home Blogs Parklife Festival 2015 Day One – live review
Parklife Festival 2015 Day One – live review
James Lowther
Parklife moshers
This photo and all others on this page © Melanie Smith
Parklife Festival 2015 Day One
Heaton Park, Manchester
James Lowther headed to Heaton Park for Parklife Festival with high expectations. The sun was shining and the day was to be filled with brilliant music including Wu-Tang Clan and Disclosure. Here James reports back on the highlights of Day 1, with a full photo gallery by Melanie Smith.
The sun was shining down on Manchester as 75,000 people marched onto Heaton Park for the Saturday of Parklife festival. It was a welcome change from last year where rain and mud dampened many a person's spirits. I got there early, eager to take in the sights and sounds of what was sure to be a great festival.
I found myself sticking much more closely to the smaller stages this year. The main stage did have a wealth of huge acts, including the amazing Ella Eyre, who claimed that Parklife was her favourite festival (it's easy to see why!) and really got the crowd going with her effervescent personality, as well as the likes of chart-topping Labrinth, fast rising superstar James Bay, who surprised everyone by packing out the Big Top stage to capacity and favourite DJ Annie Mac, but the smaller stages included acts that I'd been meaning to see for a while now – and Parklife was the perfect opportunity to tick them off my list.
I kicked things off with a band I've never heard of, Ekkah. I was wandering around the site, getting my bearings, when I heard some amazing pop sounds coming from the Big Top tent – which hosted a slew of indie and alternative acts later on in the day, so I knew they'd be right up my alley. Even better, they were playing a rendition of 'We Are The Men In Black', so I couldn't turn that down. Later on, the tent hosted the likes of Manchester favourites Everything Everything, debuting some of the impressive new tracks from their soon to be released third album, as always wearing matching outfits and putting on a hell of a show, as well as electronic sensation Ghostpoet, who impressed greatly.
But the day kicked off properly with Outfit at the Now Wave tent. The Liverpool band were on top form, playing a storming set of songs from their last album, 'Performance', as well as some amazing sounding tracks from their next album. 'New Air' particularly wowed, with the glitchy videogame sounding synth getting everyone in the crowd moving.
A special mention also has to go to the great variety of food on offer – showcasing some of the best of Manchester's cuisine. I opted for an Almost Famous 'Bacon Wonderburger', and it went down a treat before heading to my next act. The beer was pretty great too, particularly in the V.I.P section where Seven Bro7hers had a great selection of craft beers, perfect for the sunny weather.
The highlight of the day, however, has to go to Mac DeMarco. I'd been itching to see Mac for over a year now. His music is great, no doubt, but it was his live shows that entranced me. Oddball is an understatement, Mac knows how to work a crowd like no other. Most of his songs are fairly short, so he managed to pack his setlist to the brim (as well as including a 7 minute improvised Steely Dan jam). His final song, 'Still Together' exploded in a live setting, sounding just as good with a full backing band as it does acoustic, but it was all topped off by a 5 minute crowd surfing session. It really was just a treat to the eyes and ears.
A tiny bit of rain didn't manage to stop Wu-Tang Clan bringing da ruckus to the main stage, either. The rain was short-lived, but the Wu put on a show that will long be etched in my memory. Storming through their set, I found that they took as much time to get the crowd pumped up as they did playing their actual songs. Everyone had their W's in the air as they played C.R.E.A.M and chants of 'Dollar bills y'all' could be heard around Heaton Park long after their set had finished.
The plan was to see Jamie XX, but it seemed as though that was the plan of everyone at the festival, so after being bumped and shoved for 15 minute we decided to check out the wealth of other entertainment that Parklife had to offer. After seeing that Mark Ronson's DJ set was similarly packed to the rafters, we decided on Metronomy, and boy was that a good idea. I'd caught them at a packed tent at Glastonbury last year, but seeing them up close was something special, with a particular highlight being the synth-drenched 'Reservoir', which has still been a real ear-worm days after the festival.
Upon first hearing that Disclosure were the headline act for Parklife on Saturday, I have to say that at first I was a little sceptical. They seem like the sort of act who are much more suited to warehouse raves than headline sets in fields. But I was sure proven wrong. This is the direction that music is going to be going now, I'm almost sure of it. Festivals like Glastonbury are crying out for the next generation of headline acts, and I think Disclosure have shown that there's more to festivals than loud guitars and screaming vocals. Disclosure really brought their A-Game, with the light show being one of the best I've ever seen, and one that was debuted at Parklife. Every track from Settle had the crowd going wild, particularly the mighty 'When a Fire Starts to Burn', but it was the new songs that were the real wow moments. They brought with them a barage of special guests, including Gregory Porter for the catchy 'Holding On' and Sound of 2015 artist Kwabs for 'Super-Ego'. It really was an impressive show, kicking things off with the unforgettable opening synths of 'White Noise' and, of course, ending with the chart-dominating 'Latch'. Day 1 was over, but I hadn't had my fix yet, and couldn't wait to get my teeth into what day 2 had to offer.
Also check out this photo gallery:
Parklife mosh pit
Parklife gang
Parklife People
All the fun of the fair
Wu Tan Clan
Parklife beauties
Mac De Marco
Parklife friends
Parklife screamers
Parklife revellers
Parklife – bring on the girls
Ella Eyre backstage
Parklife hype dancer
Parklife – tent life
Parklife – view from VIP
Parklife taking a cig break
Parklife posers
Parklife silliness
Parklife butterlfy girls
Dj's Parklife Big Top
Almost Famous Burgers van
Check out Day Two here:
You can keep up to date with all the going's on at Parklife headquarters via their Facebook and Twitter.
All words by James Lowther. More writing by James on Louder Than War can be found at his author's archive.
All photos by Melanie Smith. More writing / photos by Melanie on Louder Than War can be found at her author's archive. Her portfolio, meanwhile, can be found at her website: mudkissphotography.co.uk. She can also be found on Twitter as @mudkissphotos and Facebook.
parklife2015
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Parklife Festival Day One – Live Review


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How A Guy Found A $1 Million James Bond Car In A $100 Storage Unit
Patrick George
Remember when we told you that James Bond's famous Lotus Esprit Submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me is headed to auction soon? It turns out that's only half the story — the truly crazy story is about the guy who found it in a storage container he bought for $100.
James Bond's Lotus Submarine Can Now Be Mine And You Can't Touch It
When James Bond drove a Lotus Esprit off a pier into the ocean in The Spy Who Loved Me, 12-year old
CNBC reports that way back in 1989, a contractor in Long Island decided to buy a container for $100 without knowing its contents, Storage Wars style. When he and his brother opened it up, they found "a giant lump" covered in blankets, and underneath that was a white car with no wheels and a dented roof.
Having never seen a Bond movie before, the pair assumed it was just junk at first. But when they loaded the car onto a truck, other people told them what it was, and he went out and rented The Spy Who Loved Me on VHS to learn what he had, the story said.
Some years later, the co-founder of the Ian Fleming Foundation heard rumors about the car's existence and sought out the owner. The car was authenticated to be the real Lotus sub from the film. Several other Esprits were built for filming, reportedly the only one that is an actual working submarine, and is not functional as a road car.
The CNBC story notes that the fellow who found it is a "blue collar" working guy who prefers to stay anonymous. Now that it's headed to auction, it could fetch more than $1 million, which means his life could change quite a bit.
As for how the car got lost for so long, the story says that remains a mystery.
It's unclear how the car ended up in storage in Long Island, [Doug Redenius, co-founder of the Ian Fleming Foundation] said. The car was used for promoting the movie in 1977, and was in paid storage for 10 years after that. But somehow, the owner of the storage facility—perhaps the Hollywood studio or production company—stopped paying the storage fee.
"It just fell through the cracks," he said.
Crazy. You never know what you're gonna find. We can't wait to see who ends up with it when it goes to auction in early September, but remember, Travis already called dibs.
slappyBKLN


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Lina's claim that balikbayan boxes are being used for smuggling has no basis
The claim of Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina that balikbayan boxes are being used for smuggling arms and illegal drugs has no basis on record.
This was learned after Bureau of Customs (BoC) Commissioner Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa for Intelligence admitted there was no case on record and proof that firearms and drugs smuggling were done through balikbayan boxes last year.
"Now we found out that your intelligence department has no record of any balikbayan box ever containing drugs or arms. I am happy that you have retracted this policy. When are you going to apologize to our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers)? When are you going to admit to your mistake? When are you going to realize na parang hindi na Pilipino ang galaw na ito. This is being unkind to the people that are keeping our economy alive," he told Lina during the hearing on the issue of random inspection of balikbayan boxes by the BoC conducted by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
At the onset of the hearing, Marcos chided BOC officials for making unfounded statements about OFWs regarding misuse of and smuggling via balikbayan boxes as he urged Lina to issue a public apology to the country's modern-day heroes.
"I am glad that he showed sufficient humility in accepting the significant lapses of the BoC by apologizing to our OFWs during this morning's public hearing. However, it must still be made of public record that in so far as the Intelligence Unit of the BoC is concerned, smuggling of drugs and firearms through balikbayan boxes is virtually non-existent," Marcos said.
Marcos also drew an admission from Lina that no consultations were made with the OFW sector nor with government agencies such as the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor and Employment and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas that traditionally deal with Filipinos overseas.
"Everything was done arbitrarily, abruptly and aggressively without public consultations leading to all kinds of insinuations landing at the innocent OFW's doorstep. Commissioner Lina also admitted that random checks on balikbayan boxes was his brainchild, brought on by loose and unverified reports of smuggling done through balikbayan boxes," Marcos pointed out.
"I am glad that the Senate hearing served its purpose of clarifying all these issues so that we can all move on and work for the immediate passage of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act," he said.
Induction of Cebu Eastern College Student Council Officers


On Wednesday, March 18, 2009, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve voted to keep short-term interest rates steady at near zero percent. In the press release issued that afternoon, the Fed also announced plans to buy up to $300 billion-worth of long-term Treasury securities from the Treasury Department, and purchase a whole lot more mortgage-backed securities from agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The primary goal of these Fed actions was to keep mortgage rates down and, so far, these specific tactics have been working.
The Fed's plan worked. Since 2009, mortgage rates have moved lower at a steady pace, and continue to hover at record-low levels.
At the end of 2012, the Fed decided to go all-in to fix the housing sector, and return the US economy to prosperity. They committed to spending many billions per month to purchase both mortgage-backed securities and Treasury debt -- a staggering experiment macro economics. Both actions will continue to place considerable downward pressure on mortgage rates during all or most of 2015.
But it won't prod banks to increase their mortgage lending. Despite the super-low interest rate environment, getting approved for a conventional mortgage is not easy, even for the most responsible borrowers. Banks are flush with liquidity, but are very gun-shy, having learned some hard lessons during the 2008 financial crisis and resultant Great Recession.
Home value are finally on the upswing in many parts of the country, but the housing sector is not out of the woods.
Prospective homebuyers should try their best to get immediate equity. This is accomplished by negotiating a price for a home that's lower than the lender's appraised value of the home. If successful, the new homeowner gets to move into a home with immediate equity, a substantial plus in the current housing market.
be prepared to put at least 20% down, unless you opt for a FHA home loan, which allows a 3.5% down payment. Keep in mind, the mortgage insurance on FHA loans can be expensive, so carefully analyze the numbers.
try their best to get their FICO credit score above 740.
Both new homebuyers and refinancers can get free access to the credit reports that lenders use by visiting www.AnnualCreditReport.com, a website created via Congressional mandate. A free report from each of the three consumer reporting agencies -- TransUnion, Experian and Equifax -- is available at no cost every 12 months. Check for errors; if mistakes are found, don't hesitate to dispute any and all inaccurate and derogatory items.
A new homebuyer who has a great credit score, strong, confirmable income and plenty of money to put down may be able to find a mortgage rate below 4%, as long as the loan isn't jumbo or superjumbo in size (a jumbo mortgage is a home loan above $417,000, while a superjumbo is more than $650,000.) While it's possible to find a rate below four percent on a jumbo mortgage, the odds are not good.
The same holds true for refinancers looking for a jumbo or superjumbo home loan refinance.
For both new buyers and refinancers, it's important to understand what a no-cost mortgage loan or a no-cost refinance loan really means. "No cost" does not mean that closing costs (also known as settlement costs) have been erased. It means that the closing costs will be factored into the interest rate associated with the loan. Of course, this also means that, all other things being equal, the interest rate associated with a no-cost mortgage will always be higher than one where the borrower pays the closing costs up front.
And there's one more distinction to pay attention to: the difference between a no-cost mortgage and a no-cash mortgage. "No cash" means that the closing costs will be added to the balance of the amortized loan, and the borrower will pay these costs over time. This is a very important distinction, because the borrower will pay interest on any and all fees added to the loan balance.
Don't be intimidated by all these details. Use one of the many free mortgage calculators available on the Internet to figure out how much your loan is going to cost you. Remember that a "point" is simply a percentage point, so with a $200,000 mortgage that has an interest rate of 5% plus 1 point, the "point" will cost this borrower one percent of $200,000, or $2,000. Easy.
Homeowners who want to refinance but can't because they owe more on their home than their home is worth (also known as "upside down") should focus their time and energy on making more money. Adding a part-time job or starting a side business will bring extra income, income that can be used to make extra payments on your mortgage. Sell anything and everything you can on Craiglslist, and use that cash to give your biggest investment the strongest possible equity position. Negative equity is never a good thing, be it with your house, your car....anything.
Both new homebuyers and refinancers should be prepared to do lots of shopping around, not only to get as many free quotes and good faith estimates as possible, but also because many lenders are overwhelmed with applications right now and may turn away even the best borrowers. Borrowers who aren't confident with their deal-hunting or negotiating skills can seek help from mortgage professionals, but they should also consider buying highly recommended books on mortgages from their favorite online bookseller.


text:
Chile: Errazuriz postpones winery opening due to earthquake
The winery said it was important to show support for its 'fellow countrymen' and has postponed the opening of the Don Maximiano Icon Winery. It also said it was too soon to give an accurate assessment of the damage to homes and wineries in the south.
In a statement issued on March 1, Eduardo Chadwick said: "The most severely affected were the southern regions of Bio-Bio and Maule and in the centre of the country, namely Santiago, there was less damage. "At the Aconcagua Valley and further North, the earthquake was milder. In the Errazuriz family, team and relatives, we can gladly say that everyone is safe and well. We most appreciate your numerous calls of support and emails with good wishes."
Chadwick said there has been damage to some homes and at their wineries in the South.
"At this stage we are evaluating infrastructure and material losses, with the objective of reestablishing our shipments and prepare ourselves to receive our 2010 harvest."
Chadwick said the company will issue operative communication in the next few days.
He added: "Considering the efforts that we will have to make to get everything back on track at our wineries - and as a measure of solidarity to help our employees and our fellow countrymen out of this
tragic situation - we have decided to postpone the opening of our Don Maximiano Icon Winery until November 4th – 7th , 2010.
"Please allow us 48 hours to reconfirm these new dates.
We deeply regret this and apologize for the inconvenience that it may cause, but we are certain that it is the correct decision and that you will also consider it appropriate."
Keywords: opening, wineries, winery, earthquake, damage, chadwick, errazuriz, bio, "at, measure, operative communication, added "considering, don maximiano, tragic situation, fellow countrymen, issue operative communication, 2010 "please allow, 7th 2010 "please, maximiano icon winery, don maximiano icon
Chile: Wine industry loses US$250 million, limited damage
Chile: Torres winery hit by earthquake
Exton Park launches 100% Pinot Meunier Rose
Badet Clément celebrates 20th anniversary with new winery
Simpsons Wine prepares second vineyard site


text:
package org.apache.cassandra.cql3.statements;

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Map;

import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

import org.apache.cassandra.auth.Permission;
import org.apache.cassandra.config.CFMetaData;
import org.apache.cassandra.config.ColumnDefinition;
import org.apache.cassandra.config.IndexType;
import org.apache.cassandra.config.Schema;
import org.apache.cassandra.db.index.SecondaryIndex;
import org.apache.cassandra.db.marshal.MapType;
import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.*;
import org.apache.cassandra.cql3.*;
import org.apache.cassandra.service.ClientState;
import org.apache.cassandra.service.MigrationManager;
import org.apache.cassandra.thrift.ThriftValidation;
import org.apache.cassandra.transport.Event;

/** A CREATE INDEX statement parsed from a CQL query. */
public class CreateIndexStatement extends SchemaAlteringStatement
{
    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CreateIndexStatement.class);

    private final String indexName;
    private final IndexTarget.Raw rawTarget;
    private final IndexPropDefs properties;
    private final boolean ifNotExists;

    public CreateIndexStatement(CFName name,
                                IndexName indexName,
                                IndexTarget.Raw target,
                                IndexPropDefs properties,
                                boolean ifNotExists)
    {
        super(name);
        this.indexName = indexName.getIdx();
        this.rawTarget = target;
        this.properties = properties;
        this.ifNotExists = ifNotExists;
    }

    public void checkAccess(ClientState state) throws UnauthorizedException, InvalidRequestException
    {
        state.hasColumnFamilyAccess(keyspace(), columnFamily(), Permission.ALTER);
    }

    public void validate(ClientState state) throws RequestValidationException
    {
        CFMetaData cfm = ThriftValidation.validateColumnFamily(keyspace(), columnFamily());
        if (cfm.isCounter())
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Secondary indexes are not supported on counter tables");

        IndexTarget target = rawTarget.prepare(cfm);
        ColumnDefinition cd = cfm.getColumnDefinition(target.column);

        if (cd == null)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("No column definition found for column " + target.column);

        boolean isMap = cd.type instanceof MapType;
        boolean isFrozenCollection = cd.type.isCollection() && !cd.type.isMultiCell();
        if (target.isCollectionKeys)
        {
            if (!isMap)
                throw new InvalidRequestException("Cannot create index on keys of column " + target + " with non-map type");
            if (!cd.type.isMultiCell())
                throw new InvalidRequestException("Cannot create index on keys of frozen<map> column " + target);
        }
        else if (target.isFullCollection)
        {
            if (!isFrozenCollection)
                throw new InvalidRequestException("full() indexes can only be created on frozen collections");
        }
        else if (isFrozenCollection)
        {
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Frozen collections currently only support full-collection indexes. " +
                                              "For example, 'CREATE INDEX ON
(full(<columnName>))'.");
        }

        if (cd.getIndexType() != null)
        {
            boolean previousIsKeys = cd.hasIndexOption(SecondaryIndex.INDEX_KEYS_OPTION_NAME);
            if (isMap && target.isCollectionKeys != previousIsKeys)
            {
                String msg = "Cannot create index on %s %s, an index on %s %s already exists and indexing "
                           + "a map on both keys and values at the same time is not currently supported";
                throw new InvalidRequestException(String.format(msg,
                                                                target.column, target.isCollectionKeys ? "keys" : "values",
                                                                target.column, previousIsKeys ? "keys" : "values"));
            }

            if (ifNotExists)
                return;
            else
                throw new InvalidRequestException("Index already exists");
        }

        properties.validate();

        // TODO: we could lift that limitation
        if ((cfm.comparator.isDense() || !cfm.comparator.isCompound()) && cd.kind != ColumnDefinition.Kind.REGULAR)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Secondary indexes are not supported on PRIMARY KEY columns in COMPACT STORAGE tables");

        // It would be possible to support 2ndary index on static columns (but not without modifications of at least ExtendedFilter and
        // CompositesIndex) and maybe we should, but that means a query like:
        //     SELECT * FROM foo WHERE static_column = 'bar'
        // would pull the full partition every time the static column of partition is 'bar', which sounds like offering a
        // fair potential for foot-shooting, so I prefer leaving that to a follow up ticket once we have identified cases where
        // such indexing is actually useful.
        if (cd.isStatic())
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Secondary indexes are not allowed on static columns");

        if (cd.kind == ColumnDefinition.Kind.PARTITION_KEY && cd.isOnAllComponents())
            throw new InvalidRequestException(String.format("Cannot create secondary index on partition key column %s", target.column));
    }

    public boolean announceMigration(boolean isLocalOnly) throws RequestValidationException
    {
        CFMetaData cfm = Schema.instance.getCFMetaData(keyspace(), columnFamily()).copy();
        IndexTarget target = rawTarget.prepare(cfm);
        logger.debug("Updating column {} definition for index {}", target.column, indexName);
        ColumnDefinition cd = cfm.getColumnDefinition(target.column);

        if (cd.getIndexType() != null && ifNotExists)
            return false;

        if (properties.isCustom)
        {
            cd.setIndexType(IndexType.CUSTOM, properties.getOptions());
        }
        else if (cfm.comparator.isCompound())
        {
            Map<String, String> options = Collections.emptyMap();
            // For now, we only allow indexing values for collections, but we could later allow
            // to also index map keys, so we record that this is the values we index to make our
            // lives easier then.
            if (cd.type.isCollection() && cd.type.isMultiCell())
                options = ImmutableMap.of(target.isCollectionKeys ? SecondaryIndex.INDEX_KEYS_OPTION_NAME
                                                                  : SecondaryIndex.INDEX_VALUES_OPTION_NAME, "");
            cd.setIndexType(IndexType.COMPOSITES, options);
        }
        else
        {
            cd.setIndexType(IndexType.KEYS, Collections.<String, String>emptyMap());
        }

        cd.setIndexName(indexName);
        cfm.addDefaultIndexNames();
        MigrationManager.announceColumnFamilyUpdate(cfm, false, isLocalOnly);
        return true;
    }

    public Event.SchemaChange changeEvent()
    {
        // Creating an index is akin to updating the CF
        return new Event.SchemaChange(Event.SchemaChange.Change.UPDATED, Event.SchemaChange.Target.TABLE, keyspace(), columnFamily());
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


TeresaWongBlair.com derives from EARLTHORN INVESTMENT CO.LTD, established in 1978 by Bernie Blair and Teresa Wong. We were among the pioneers in introducing technical analysis, newsletters, books and chart service to Asia, and have served a great many analysts, traders and investors since. We started representing Commodity Perspective (later called CRB Price Charts), dealing with authors and publishers headed by Welles Wilder's NEW CONCEPTS IN TECHNICAL TRADING, Larry Williams' How I Made Million Dollars Trading Commodities Last Year, Perry Kaufman's Commodity Trading Systems & Methods, Jake Bernstein's Handbook of Commodity Cycles: A Window on Time plus a long list to follow. In 1987 we witnessed the inauguration of the Hong Kong Technical Analysts Society under the guidance of Tim Slater, Founder of Compu-Trac, the top technical software at that time. We toured with Tim Slater's TA Group and had the opportunity to meet and work with great masters like Martin Pring, John Murphy, Robert Prechter, Robert Miner, Dr. Alexander Elder, David Weis, John Ehlers, Bill Williams, Richard Arms, Mark Douglas, Larry Pesavento, Robert Krausz, Jeanne Long and many many more.
With the turn of last century came the new Electronic Age, as the subscription business dwindled we turned to become an online Specialist Bookstore and majored in organizing T.A. seminars and workshops with quality international and local speakers. We dissolved the Limited Company to form a private proprietorship company EARLTHORN.com with Teresa Wong as the sole proprietor. Five years ago, someone offered to buy our old company and turned it to Earlthorn International Limited and took away our Domain Name. That deal was never completed, but the original website www.earlthorn.com was ruined. Teresa Wong was back to heading the old company as a One Woman Band, as the proud widow of Bernie Blair this past decade.
EARLTHORN.com has always been our official company name, the new website www.teresawongblair.com has become significant to our old customers and intriguing to our new friends. Business runs as usual at the same premises, holding the same and adding new agency rights and affiliates, keeping the blinking cat as our Logo, selling books and software, organizing professional seminars and workshops, linking the East and the West and hopefully bridging all the generation and cultural gaps, and gaps between humans and robots.


text:
Q: How to create UnsafeCell safely? The UnsafeCell documentation says

The UnsafeCell<T> type is the only legal way to obtain aliasable data that is considered mutable.

The only construction method is:
pub const fn new(value: T) -> UnsafeCell<T>

However, it is not possible to create a c_void, we can only create *mut c_void or *const c_void.
Is it possible to create UnsafeCell<c_void> from a *mut c_void? With this, we can let the compiler know that the pointer can point to something mutable.
Or is this not necessary? Can we always use *mut c_void even we know some FFI call will mutate the data it points to and we have multiple references to it?
A use case would be:
struct FFIStruct { v: UnsafeCell<c_void>, other_fields: ... }
impl FFIStruct {
    // We don't want to require &mut self, as we
    // are sure private call_ffi() will always be called
    // sequentially, and we don't want to stop
    // status() being callable during the call
    fn call_ffi(&self){ ffi_function(self.v.get()) }
    pub fn status(&self) -> FFIStatus { ... }
}

Now how do we create FFIStruct? Or just use *mut c_void would be OK?
Example code to create &Cell<c_void>
Requires #![feature(as_cell)]:
unsafe fn get_cell<'a>(p: *mut c_void) -> &'a Cell<c_void> {
    Cell::from_mut(&mut *p)
}

A: TL;DR: Just use *mut Foo. Cells of any kind are not needed here.

Disclaimer: there is no formal Rust memory model, yet.
You cannot create this type, period, because you cannot1 create an instance of c_void.
The thing is, you don't need to create such a type. Aliasing is not spatial but temporal. You can have multiple *mut T pointing to the same place and it doesn't matter until you try to access one. This essentially converts it to a reference and the aliasing requirements need to be upheld while that reference is around.

raw pointers fall outside of Rust's safe memory model.
— The Rustonomicon

Different from references and smart pointers, raw pointers:

*

*Are allowed to ignore the borrowing rules by having both immutable and mutable pointers or multiple mutable pointers to the same location

*Aren't guaranteed to point to valid memory

*Are allowed to be null

*Don't implement any automatic cleanup

  ¸— The Rust Programming Language

See also:

*

*Why does modifying a mutable reference's value through a raw pointer not violate Rust's aliasing rules?

*What's the Rust idiom to define a field pointing to a C opaque pointer?

*Is it undefined behavior to do runtime borrow management with the help of raw pointers in Rust?

*Can an FFI function modify a variable that wasn't declared mutable?
1 You technically can, but that's only because of an implementation and backwards compatibility limitation.

A: After some internal discussion in the Rust forum and a discussion on RFC 1861, I realize c_void is just a common workaround and other options exists like struct Opaque<UnsafeCell<()>>.
So I concluded what I needed here is *const UnsafeCell<c_void>. From its type we know:

*

*This is a raw pointer, so it is suitable to send to FFI immediately;

*The raw pointer assumes const, means any casting to *mut T will UB and programmer should avoid it. This protects the memory it points to being modified within Rust (unless through UnsafeCell, of cause);

*It contains UnsafeCell, so it implies interior mutability. This justifies the FFI function being able to mutate it;

*It is not possible to create a c_void, so as for UnsafeCell<c_void>. They can only be created by FFI.

Demostrate:
use std::cell::UnsafeCell;
use std::os::raw::c_void;

//Let's say all those functions are in an FFI module,
//with the exact same behaviour
fn ffi_create() -> *mut c_void {
    Box::into_raw(Box::new(0u8)) as *mut c_void
}
unsafe fn ffi_write_u8(p: *mut c_void, v:u8) {
    *(p as *mut u8) = v;
}
unsafe fn ffi_read_u8(p: *mut c_void) -> u8 {
    *(p as *mut u8)
}

fn main() {
    unsafe {
        //let's ignore ffi_destroy() for now
        let pointer = ffi_create() as *const UnsafeCell<c_void>;
        let ref_pointer = &pointer;
        ffi_write_u8((&*pointer).get(), 7);
        let integer = ffi_read_u8((&**ref_pointer).get());
        assert_eq!(integer, 7);
    }
}

It is interesting how easy and ergonomic (yet expressive) to convert between *mut c_void and *const UnsafeCell<c_void>.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Comparative evaluation of microleakage of conventional and modifications of glass ionomer cement in primary teeth: An in vitro study
AS Shruthi1, NB Nagaveni1, P Poornima1, M Selvamani2, GS Madhushankari2, VV Subba Reddy1
1 Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, College of Dental Sciences, Davangere, Karnataka, India
2 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, College of Dental Sciences, Davangere, Karnataka, India
Dr. N B Nagaveni
Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, College of Dental Sciences, Davangere - 577 004, Karnataka
Aims: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the microleakage among conventional, resin modified glass ionomer cements (GIC), and compomer cements in primary teeth. Materials and Methods: Forty-five over retained non carious primary molars beyond exfoliation time were collected and randomly divided into three groups (n = 15). Group A: GC Fuji II; Group B: Vitremer; Group C: Compoglass F. A standard Class V cavity was prepared on the buccal surface of each tooth with no mechanical retention and restored accordingly. Then all the samples were subjected to thermocycling for 250 cycles at different temperatures and covered with nail varnish. Later, samples were immersed in 0.5% methylene blue dye for 24 h. Teeth were sectioned buccolingually through the center of the restoration and studied under a stereomicroscope for dye penetration. Data obtained were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U-test. Results: Samples restored with vitremer showed comparatively higher microleakage than the samples in other groups. However, overall there were no significant difference between the microleakage scores of the samples in all three groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that none of the three GICs was free from microleakage. Hence, further research is required to compare microleakage of the newer material.
Shruthi A S
Nagaveni N B
Poornima P
Selvamani M
Madhushankari G S
Subba Reddy V V
microleakage
modified glass ionomer


text:
South Bradenton és una concentració de població designada pel cens dels Estats Units a l'estat de Florida. Segons el cens del 2000 tenia una població de 21.587 habitants.

Demografia
Segons el cens del 2000, South Bradenton tenia 21.587 habitants, 10.681 habitatges, i 5.522 famílies. La densitat de població era de 1.868,8 habitants/km².

Dels 10.681 habitatges en un 18,1% hi vivien nens de menys de 18 anys, en un 36,9% hi vivien parelles casades, en un 10,8% dones solteres, i en un 48,3% no eren unitats familiars. En el 40,4% dels habitatges hi vivien persones soles el 20,2% de les quals corresponia a persones de 65 anys o més que vivien soles. El nombre mitjà de persones vivint en cada habitatge era de 2 i el nombre mitjà de persones que vivien en cada família era de 2,64.

Per edats la població es repartia de la següent manera: un 17,5% tenia menys de 18 anys, un 8,2% entre 18 i 24, un 25,2% entre 25 i 44, un 20,4% de 45 a 60 i un 28,7% 65 anys o més.

L'edat mediana era de 44 anys. Per cada 100 dones de 18 o més anys hi havia 84,9 homes.

La renda mediana per habitatge era de 27.410 $ i la renda mediana per família de 32.444 $. Els homes tenien una renda mediana de 25.011 $ mentre que les dones 21.559 $. La renda per capita de la població era de 17.549 $. Entorn del 9,5% de les famílies i el 13% de la població estaven per davall del llindar de pobresa.

Poblacions més properes
El següent diagrama mostra les poblacions més properes.

Referències

Entitats de població de Florida

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


With a rich history from its unusual volcanic formation to a series of battles and conquests as well as holding a prominent position in the military career of Franco, the Canary Islands offer a wealth of experience to all visitors. La Palma, reputed to be one of the steepest islands in the world, is the latest location for prolific outdoorsman Paddy Dillon to conquer on foot. The history of the islands merges seamlessly with the needs of the modern walker, as rugged, centuries-old mule tracks and pilgrim trails are now cleared and repaired, ready and waiting for new use by walking enthusiasts.With 45 days of walking described in this new guide, from one-day walks to long-distance trails, La Palma''s rocky treks and mountain paths are ideal for walkers of abilities. This title includes: the Caldera de Taburiente national park; sections on geology, wildlife and plants and flowers; and, practical information including accommodation, money and language.