text:
BOWE BERGDAHL CONVERTED TO ISLAM WHILE IN CAPTIVITY
Fox News has an exclusive about the US army soldier ostensibly kidnapped by a gang called Haqqani in Warizistan, but who did some disturbing things while with them:
U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at one point during his captivity converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and declared himself a "mujahid," or warrior for Islam, according to secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account and obtained by Fox News.
The reports indicate that Bergdahl's relations with his Haqqani captors morphed over time, from periods of hostility, where he was treated very much like a hostage, to periods where, as one source told Fox News, "he became much more of an accepted fellow" than is popularly understood. He even reportedly was allowed to carry a gun at times.
The documents show that Bergdahl at one point escaped his captors for five days and was kept, upon his re-capture, in a metal cage, like an animal. In addition, the reports detail discussions of prisoner swaps and other attempts at a negotiated resolution to the case that appear to have commenced as early as the fall of 2009.
The reports are rich in on-the-ground detail -- including the names and locations of the Haqqani commanders who ran the 200-man rotation used to guard the Idaho native -- and present the most detailed view yet of what Bergdahl's life over the past five years has been like. These real-time dispatches were generated by the Eclipse Group, a shadowy private firm of former intelligence officers and operatives that has subcontracted with the Defense Department and prominent corporations to deliver granular intelligence on terrorist activities and other security-related topics, often from challenging environments in far-flung corners of the globe. [...]
"As of August 2012," the report continues, "the person with responsibility for Bergdahl's captivity is Sangeen's brother, who has delegated the actual guarding of Bergdahl to Abubakr Asadkhel, a Burra Khel Wazir loyal to Sangeen, and whose sub-tribe lives in Shawal. Abubakr leads approximately 200 armed men from his tribe and operates from five bases (markaz) in Shawal. ... Abubakr's tribe is one of the prosperous branches of the Wazir and owns lots of trucks. Abubakr circulates his prisoner between schools in the area he controls, and his different insurgent bases."
Conditions for Bergdahl have greatly relaxed since the time of the escape. Bergdahl has converted to Islam and now describes himself as a mujahid. Bergdahl enjoys a modicum of freedom, and engages in target practice with the local mujahedeen, firing AK47s. Bergdahl is even allowed to carry a loaded gun on occasion. Bergdahl plays soccer with his guards and bounds around the pitch like a mad man. He appears to be well and happy, and has a noticeable habit of laughing frequently and saying 'Salaam' repeatedly.
Maybe they brainwashed him, but it's still disturbing, and one has to wonder if this is a man we can just ignore with his current mentality.
Posted by Avi Green at 12:03 PM 0 comments Links to this post
THE UTTER, COMPLETE AND RIDICULOUS IMBALANCE OF THE BERGDAHL/DETAINEE SWAP MAKES ME WONDER....
THE UTTER, COMPLETE AND RIDICULOUS IMBALANCE OF THE BERGDAHL/DETAINEE SWAP MAKES ME WONDER IF SOMETHING ELSE WAS TRADED THAT WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.
IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE TO HAVE TRADED 5 "4-STAR GENERALS" OF THE TALIBAN FOR A BUCK SERGEANT WHO DESERTED - AND DO IT WITHOUT CONSULTING CONGRESS, AND OVER THE OBJECTIONS OF PAST SEC DEFS AND MANY GENERALS.
NO SANE, GOODHEARTED PERSON WOULD MAKE THAT SWAP.
THEREFORE, EITHER OBAMA IS NOT SANE AND NOT GOODHEARTED, OR... SOMETHING ELSE WAS TRADED BESIDES BERGDAHL AND BERGDAHL WAS JUST THE COVER STORY.
MAYBE WE TRADED THEM FOR THE INFO THAT REALLY LEAD TO OSAMA. MAYBE WE TRADED THEM FOR TO WHEREABOUTS OF ZAWAHIRI. MAYBE WE TRADED THEM FOR A NUKE. MAYBE WE TRADED THEM FOR IMPORTANT INTEL ABOUT IRAN'S NUKE PROGRAM.
I DUNNO.
BUT IT WOULD HAVE TO BE SOMETHING MUCH MUCH MUCH BIGGER THAN A BUCK SERGEANT TO GET ME TO RELEASE 5 BIGTIME TALIBAN TERRORISTS.
I MEAN, THERE ARE A FEW HUNDRED DETAINEES IN GITMO. SO WHY COULDN'T OBAMA HAVE TRADED SOME OF THESE FOR THE BUCK SARGENT?
CERTAINLY THE 5 OBAMA GAVE WERE MUCH MORE IMPORTANT TO THE TALIBAN THAN THE SERGEANT WHO DESERTED IS TO US.
I THINK WE NEED A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR OR A SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THIS AND FIND OUT WHY THIS ILLEGAL DEAL WAS REALLY MADE.
IDF HERDS MUSLIMS INTO MOSQUE AND THEN OPENS FIRE KILLING DOZENS
IT WAS BOKO HARAM HERDING CHRISTIANS INTO A CHURCH.
AUSTRIA HAS A LAW PROTECTING ISLAM
One that wasn't clear to me until the Gatestone Institute explained it while reporting how Austria is becoming the Muslim Brotherhood's new European HQ:
The enticement, however, that might really make Austria attractive to the Muslim Brotherhood, is its legislation. In 1912, Emperor Franz Joseph, as a result of the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as an attempt to integrate Bosnian soldiers in Imperial army, issued the so-called Islamgesetz [Law of Islam].
The law provides, among other matters, that:
"The external legal conditions of the adherents of Islam shall be regulated on the basis of an autonomous administration, due consideration being given to state supervision...."
"The doctrines of Islam, its institutions and customs shall enjoy the same protection... unless they are in contradiction to state law."
"A religious community having been established, the creation of charity foundations for religious purposes of Islam shall be permitted."
The law, still in force today, was later extended to the entire Muslim community, both Shi'a and Sunni Muslims; it is considered by many representatives of Islam a model to be imitated. [...]
What is clear is that Austria's Law of Islam of 1912 represents protection for Islamic organizations that no other European country has to offer. The opening of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue [KAICIID] in Vienna in November of 2012, under the auspices of Saudi Arabia, Austria and Spain, was not a random act.
More revealing is what happened to Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, convicted of "hav[ing] denigrated the teachings of a legally recognized religion," Islam, in Austria in 2011. She was declared guilty of having delivered a lecture during which she allegedly insulted Islam by citing Islamic authors and sources.
Currently, her appeal has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights in the hope of reversing Austria's judgment.
I hope she can succeed this time. But now we can understand more clearly why she was persecuted. And while the law's primary function is sanctioning Muslim organizations, you can be sure it provides all the protection needed for individual Muslims too, backed by said organizations. This is surely no surprise for a country where nazism had its zygote.
JIHADISTS FROM EUROPE WHO GO TO SYRIA SHOULD BE EXILED
Stephen Brown at Front Page Magazine spoke about the jihad crisis France is now facing as local jihadists who went to Syria and back are posing a threat to the European public:
One of the problems the French legal system faces in prosecuting returned jihadists is that they have not committed a crime on French soil. It is also sometimes difficult to establish whether they actually joined a banned terrorist group when abroad. Some of the accused have said they had left France simply to go on holidays. Le Figaro reports that there are currently 40 cases before the courts regarding French jihadists. Some concern crimes, such as armed robbery, committed by jihadi hopefuls before leaving France to finance their trip to the Syrian battlefields.
Some of the reasons offered for jihad's attraction for young French Muslims range from poor integration into French society (between 50 and 60 percent of men in French prisons are Muslim, although Muslims make up only ten percent of France's population), testing the limits of authority of a society that has set few for young people, and the doctrine of Islamic supremacy. The latter is inculcated by radical preachers who do not like non-Islamic societies and do not accept that other religions are equal to Islam. Rather, France and other western countries must become Islamic, by force if necessary.
Because of the large numbers of French Muslims taking part in the Syrian jihad and the resulting danger they represent, many in France are now questioning the meaning of French citizenship. This issue may now become a burning one after Nemmouche's arrest. [...]
As a result, it has been proposed that French jihadists not be allowed to return to France because of the increasingly visible security risk. Some believe they should not even be prevented from leaving the country, only prevented from returning. This argument was given a boost when four French journalists, kidnapped and held eleven months by ISIL, said after their release last April that some of their captors spoke French. This topic will probably receive greater attention after the Brussel's tragedy.
I think that's a very good idea. Like I said, those jihadists should be exiled. Unfortunately, as it stands now, the French legal system is unlikely to do anything to modify the laws to enable such a step to be done.
AUSTRALIA ACKNOWLEDGES THAT EAST JERUSALEM IS NOT "OCCUPIED"
Australia's government has set a good example by eschewing political correctness:
The Australian government has stopped using the term "occupied" when referring to east Jerusalem, Australian media outlets reported on Thursday.
In a statement released on Thursday, Australian Attorney-General George Brandis, speaking for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, said, "Australia supports a peaceful solution to the dispute between Israel and the Palestinian people, which recognizes the right of Israel to exist peacefully within secure borders and also recognizes the aspiration to statehood of the Palestinian people. The description of areas which are subject to negotiations in the course of the peace process by reference to historical events is unhelpful.
"The description of East Jerusalem as 'Occupied East Jerusalem' is a term freighted with pejorative implications which is neither appropriate nor useful. It should not and will not be the practice of the Australian government to describe areas of negotiation in such judgmental language."
This is a very good step they've made, moving away from harmful propaganda tactics and recognizing that it's Jewish land, as it's been for centuries.
THE ELECTION IS A FEW MONTHS AWAY, SO I EXPECT THE MASS MEDIA TO START PUSHING STORIES CLAIMING THE ECONOMY IS IMPROVING
LIKE OBAMA, THE MASS MEDIA WILL TELL ANY LIE TO ADVANCE THEIR LEFTIST GOALS.
JUST PREDICTING...
OBAMA ON BERGDAHL'S DESERTION: "DUDE, THAT WAS LIKE 5 YEARS AGO!"
OBAMA ON BERGDAHL'S DESERTION:
"DUDE, THAT WAS LIKE 5 YEARS AGO!"
LEFT VERSUS RIGHT IN A NUTSHELL: WATER-BOARDING THE ENEMY VERSUS SWAPPING THE ENEMY FOR A DESERTER
THE LEFT WANTED BUSHCHENEYHALLIBURTONMcCHIMPY IMPEACHED FOR WATER-BOARDING THE ENEMY AND SHIPPING THEM TO GITMO FOR THE DURATION.
THE RIGHT WANTS OBAMA IMPEACHED FOR SWAPPING 5 OF THE WORST OF OUR ENEMY - (A FEW WANTED BY THE UN FOR WAR CRIMES THEY COMMITTED AGAINST SHIA MUSLIMS; THEY SLAUGHTERED 1000'S OF THEM) - FOR A DESERTER WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN AIDING AND ABETTING THE ENEMY.
THE CONTRAST SPEAKS VOLUMES:
THE LEFT SUPPORTS OUR ENEMIES.
This Headline would make the Left C*m in their Pants
"Bowe Bergdahl to Have Sex Change,
Convert to Islam, and Run For Congress"
6 BRITISH SCHOOLS FACE CLOSURE IN MUSLIM TROJAN HORSE INQUIRY
The UK Mail tells of the results of the investigation into the disturbing plot by Islamofascists to take control of several schools:
Six schools at the centre of an alleged Islamist takeover plot are facing radical reform and even closure after being officially judged as failing, it emerged last night.
A three-month inquiry has found the Birmingham schools did too little to protect children from extremism and female staff were intimidated.
[...] It found the school's 'policies have been given scant consideration' and its 'equalities policy is not fit for purpose'. It adds that 'understanding of other religions is scant' and Religious Education classes focus primarily on Islam.
[...] The shocking claims – which emerged in March – were that a 'five-step' strategy had been drawn up by hardliners intent on 'Islamising' schools by ousting unsympathetic teachers and governors.
The allegations included claims that pupils were illegally segregated, with girls forced to sit at the back and side of classes, along with suggestions that radical preachers were invited to speak to children.
Lurid in the extreme. These schools did not rate high in educational accomplishments either. I suppose they will have to be closed, and undergo considerable reorganization and replacements. But knowing what that country's like, they could open replacement schools and fail yet again.
HOW THE MSM DISTORTS ISLAMOFASCISM'S RECORD
Phyllis Chesler gives some examples of how the mainstream press does everything it can to obscure Islamofascism's guilt in its own crimes.
PLO FORMS UNITY GOVERNMENT WITH HAMAS
Against Israel's wishes and in a full show of his true colors, Mahmoud Abbas has set up a unity government with Hamas. But there's two different reactions being reported:
Israel says it will shun the new government because it is backed by Hamas, which is seen by the West as a terror group because it killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks over the years. Abbas says his new Cabinet has accepted three conditions set out in the past by the U.S. and Europe for dealing with any Palestinian government — recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and adhering to previous agreements.
The Obama administration said Monday it intends to work with the new Palestinian government and will continue sending aid. Secretary of State John Kerry called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to relay the U.S. position.
The European Union has said it welcomes unity and will maintain support for a government that meets the three conditions.
No surprise the latter two would maintain such limp positions, and take taqqiya at complete face value.
I COULD MAYBE SEE A TRADE LIKE THIS IF PETRAEUS HAD BEEN THE CAPTIVE, BUT FOR A DESERTER!?!?!?
I COULD MAYBE SEE A TRADE LIKE THIS IF PETRAEUS HAD BEEN THE CAPTIVE, BUT FOR A DESERTER!?!?!
AND I'D A STILL WANTED CONGRESS TO HAVE BEEN INFORMED ABOUT IT 30 DAYS BEFORE THE TRADE - AND AT LEAST BEFORE THE SHEIKH OF QATAR!
IF ILLEGALLY RELEASING FIVE OF GITMO'S WORST FOR A DESERTER IS NOT IMPEACHABLE, THEN WHAT IS, GOSHDARNIT?
OBAMA, BERGDAHL, HAMAS/"UNITY" GOVERNMENT, BENGHAZI, OBAMACARE, THE IRS SCANDAL, FAST & FURIOUS, LIBYA AND MUBARAK
THERE'S A PATTERN HERE FOLKS:
OBAMA ILLEGALLY TRADED 5 OF THE WORST TALIBAN SCUM HELD IN GITMO FOR A DESERTER.
OBAMA IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZED THE "UNITY" GOVERNMENT OF FATAH AND HAMAS DESPITE THE LEGAL FACT THAT HAMAS IS - ACCORDING TO THE US GOVERNMENT - A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION WHICH CANNOT BE LEGALLY SUPPORTED BY THE USG.
OBAMA REFUSED TO ADEQUATELY SECURE THE BENGHAZI BUILDING USED BY AMBASSADOR CHRIS STEVENS AND THEN DID NOT SEND HIM AND HIS THREE AIDES ANY MILITARY ASSISTANCE WHEN THEY WERE UNDER ATTACK.
OBAMA REPEATEDLY LIED TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE OF OBAMACARE WHEN HE TOLD US, "IF YOU LIKE YOUR HEALTHCARE, THEN YOU VAN KEEP YOUR HEALTHCARE. PERIOD."
OBAMA AT FIRST CALLED THE IRS TARGETING OF TEA PARTY ORGANIZATIONS "AN OUTRAGE", BUT HAS SINCE SAID THERE WAS NOT EVEN A SMIDGEN OF CORRUPTION AS A CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTOR AT HIS DEPART OF JUSTICE DRAGS HER FEET.
OBAMA LIED ABOUT FAST & FURIOUS.
OBAMA WAGED AN ILLEGAL WAR AGAINST KADDAFY AND LIBYA AT A TIME WHEN KADDAFY WAS COOPERATING IN OUR WAR AGAINST GLOBAL JIHADISTS.
OBAMA - RIGHT AFTER HIS INAUGURATION IN 2009 - IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO UNDERMINE OUR BEST ALLY IN THE ARAB AND MUSLIM WORLD, MUBARAK, AND SUPPORTING THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD.
OBAMA IS A LAWLESS MAN WHO HAS CONSISTENTLY AIDED THE ENEMIES OF LIBERTY AND THE USA.
WE MUST IMPEACH THIS BASTARD!
MERIAM IBRAHIM STILL IN DANGER OF DEATH SENTENCE IN SUDAN
The Sudanese mother threatened with death by Sudan's mock legal system is still facing the sword:
Sudan said the release of a Sudanese mother, whose death sentence for refusing to recant her Christian faith sparked global criticism, depends on the outcome of her legal appeal.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, will only be freed if the court overturns its apostasy verdict, Sudan's Foreign Ministry said yesterday in a statement published by Suna, the state-run news agency. It said an undersecretary at the ministry cited by media as saying Ibrahim would be freed within days was quoted out of context.
Or maybe it was taqqiya at work? Clearly, the danger isn't over, and her supporters still have to work hard to get her freed for real.
Did Obama Use His Memorial Day Visit To Afghanistan To Personally Negotiate With The Taliban?
President Obama, who paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, was snubbed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai when he turned down an invitation to meet with the President at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul
Obama's "surprise" Memorial Day '14 visit with our American troops in Afghanistan turned out to be one hell of a ruse! That traitor was likely negotiating the trade personally with the very terrorists our troops face every day! Undermining our troops right under their very noses!
SOMETHING ABOUT ERIC SHINSEKI
General Shinseki
I do not wish to malign Eric Shinseki.
He served with honor on the battlefield, sustained severe wounds, and eventually attained the rank of four star general.
However, I think that something needs to be brought to light.
From this source (All other sources were scrubbed between 7:00 A.M., May 30, 2014, and 7:00 A.M., May 31, 2014!):
View PostSharkhaywood, on 29 May 2014 - 02:32 PM, said:
The guy has been on the job for 5 years now so it's not like he is brand new to the position. I browsed the guy's Wiki page and he is a very decorated soldier. However, he doesn't have any medical background. It would seem to me that a person with some kind of medical background would be best suited to run the VA. It did also show the following:
Forgotten by many is the fact that much of the problems with infrastructure deterioration and neglect at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, as well as the lack of funding for repairs, occurred initially during Shinseki's tenure as the 34th Army Chief of Staff.
Whistleblowers to the problems were summarily squashed and funding for improvements were routinely and regularly denied. For instance, the problems associated with Building 18 were not new to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center community. As early as 1999 the extensive problems with Building 18 were identified to senior level leadership, and funding for renovations and improvements were denied. Prior to its role housing wounded warriors, Building 18 had long served as the barracks of WRAMC Student Company. Between 1999 and 2001, under the Command of then Captain Michael D. Dake, the Student Company leadership identified the deplorable conditions in and around Building 18 to two Medical Center Brigade Commanders (COL Terry D. Carroll, and COL Larry S. Bolton respectively). By 2002, the requests for funding to improve conditions in and around Building 18 had made it to the attention of Major General Kevin C. Kiley. Kiley, who toured the facility as part of his Commander's in-brief after arriving in June, personally inspected the facility and spoke to the Soldiers and the Leadership. He then also denied funding for improvements. By 2004, renovation of Building 18 had been anticipated in connection with the enhanced use lease of Building 40, but since the post was slated for closure under BRAC in 2005, the anticipated in-kind services by the Building 40 developer did not materialize.
Funding for repairs at Walter Reed never did materialize during Shinseki's tenure as Army Chief of Staff; despite the fact Shinseki's directive to develop and wear the new Black Beret for all service members resulted in such enormous waste that, in one case with a cancelled manufacturing contract with a Chinese national firm, as much as $37.9 million U.S. dollars was lost to contracting errors, unlawful foreign sourcing and import law violations.
I am not suggesting that Eric Shinseki is a corrupt man or a corrupt leader.
What I am suggesting is this: Shinseki was the wrong man to appoint as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He already had a history as a poor manager of allocated funds.
Labels: Always On Watch, our military, the Obama administration, US Military, veterans
SYRIAN JIHADIST COMMITTED MURDERS AT BELGIAN JEWISH MUSEUM
It turns out the gunman who murdered 4 people in Belgium was a jihadist living in France who'd been active in Syria:
A French former jihadist volunteer in Syria has been arrested over last week's deadly shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.
Police found a Kalashnikov rifle and a handgun similar to the ones used in the attack in the bag of Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French citizen, when he stepped off a bus in Marseille on Friday after an overnight trip from Brussels.
Investigators also found a memory stick containing a video in which a person claims to have carried out the attack, displays weapons similar to those used and unfurls a sheet of cloth with the words Islamic State of Iraq and Syria written on it, the Paris prosecutor said.
Why do they say he's a "former" jihadist? He still is, only this time, he's taken his obscene trade back to Europe.
Paris prosecutor Frederic Molins said Mr Nemmouche had served five jail sentences since 2004, including one for armed robbery.
"During his last stay in jail he was noticed for extremist [Islamic] proselytism," he said.
He was released in December 2012 and three weeks later went to Syria for a year, returning to Europe via Malaysia, Singapore and Bangkok, he said.
So here's another jihadist whom the authorities colossally failed to deal with properly. Otherwise, it's possible that the tragedy could've been averted. The question now is whether they're going to start keeping filth like him in custody, and even exile them if it helps. If they can't or won't, then they've failed their duties.
TALIBAN PRISONER SWAP - KEY TO BENGHAZI?
In violation of an explicit law that required the notification of Congress, the Soetoro administration has exchanged 5 top-level Taliban commanders for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl:
There are good reasons why the Taliban has long wanted the five freed from Gitmo. All five are among the Taliban's top commanders in U.S. custody and are still revered in jihadist circles.
Two of the five have been wanted by the UN for war crimes. And because of their prowess, Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) deemed all five of them "high" risks to the U.S. and its allies.
This action is reminiscent of the theory that the administration had planned for Ambassador Chris Stevens to be kidnapped by Al Qaeda, not killed, so that Barry would be enabled to free the Blind Sheikh in exchange for him. Terrorists at the scene were quoted as saying that they were working for Morsi, so it is likely that the deal had been worked out with the Muslim Brotherhood beforehand. The unexpected involvement of CIA operatives derailed that plan. This time, there was no one to interfere, and Barry was able to succeed in replenishing the Taliban's combat leadership.
Seriously, whose side is he on?
Posted by Punditarian at 7:22 AM 0 comments Links to this post
UNCLEAR IF SUDANESE APOSTATE MOTHER WILL BE FREED
The Vancouver Sun reported that the mother who converted to Christianity may be freed, but it hasn't happened yet:
Sudan appeared to be bowing to international pressure to free a woman sentenced to death for apostasy. A foreign ministry spokesman said that Meriam Ibrahim would be released and not face further charges.
But lawyers for 27-year-old Ibrahim expressed skepticism that she would be freed so quickly.
"It's a statement to silence the international media," said Al-Shareef Ali al-Shareef Mohammed. "This is what the government does. We will not believe that she is being freed until she walks out of the prison. … But at least it shows our campaign to free Meriam is rattling them. We must keep up the pressure."
The government in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, has come under increasing pressure to free Ibrahim since she was sentenced on May 15 to hang for refusing to recant her Christianity. In Sudan, abandoning Islam is a crime punishable by death.
The lawyer is right. An announcement alone will not convince, only an actual release from prison will. And opponents of the death sentence in Sudan also have to demand they abandon all such practices too.
Borrowing from your 401(k) plan can be a fast, advantageous way to meet serious financial needs - here's everything you need to know about 401(k) loans
CALIFORNIA Muslim lawyer calls for a 'new Hitler' and the 'genocide of Jews' and the California Bar Association says nothing
Biden Signs 3 Executive Orders: Mask Mandate and Social Distancing on Federal Property, Racial Equity, Rejoins Paris Climate Accord (VIDEO)


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Perryus is a genus of phacopid trilobites that lived in what are now Canada, Greenland, and Siberia from the early Silurian to the middle Silurian from 438 to 430 mya, existing for approximately .

Taxonomy
Perryus was named by Gass & Mikulic in 1982. Jell and Adrain list it as a currently valid genus name within the Phacopida, specifically within the Encrinuridae.

Species included
Perryus bartletti Edgecombe & Chatterton, 1992; Perryus globosus (Maksimova, 1962); Perryus mikulici Hughes & Thomas, 2014; Perryus severnensis Gass & Mikulic, 1982 (type species); Perryus palasso (Lane, 1988)

References

Encrinuridae genera
Silurian trilobites of North America
 Paleozoic life of Ontario
Silurian trilobites of Asia
Fossil taxa described in 1982

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
New Year, New You, New Pseudonym?
30 November, 2015 simonwhaley Features
Business of Writing – New Year, New You, New Pseudonym? – Writing Magazine – January 2016
Is there a business case for using a pen name? Simon Whaley chats to three writers about the pros and cons of a split writing personality.
My name is Simon Whaley, and that's the name I write under. Although there was that time when I entered the National Association of Writers' Groups' mini-tale competition and I had to use a pseudonym (entries had to be judged anonymously). So, for a couple of hours, I became Milo Swahney. I used an anagram of my real name on that occasion because when I entered the competition the previous year I'd used my porn-star name. Suffice to say that was memorable for the wrong reasons, and I had to come up with something different.
One of the most frequently asked questions new writing students put to me is whether they should use a pseudonym. It's as though getting the right author name is more important than writing something in the first place. Many get hung up on the myths and mysteries of why certain writers chose to write under specific names. Did JK Rowling use initials, to hide her gender? Did JK Rowling write her Cormorant Strike novels under the name of Robert Galbraith to separate them from her Harry Potter novels? There are many reasons why writers use pseudonyms, but the best reasons are when there's a clear business case for doing so.
Proliferation Pen Names
Some writers don't set out to write under a pseudonym, but find themselves in a situation where one is required. One such writer was romantic novelist and short story writer Patsy Collins (http://patsy-collins.blogspot.co.uk), who was approached by an editor to come up with another name. 'A magazine scheduled three of my stories for the same issue,' she says, 'and they decided they'd rather publish at least one under a different name. I used Leah Tilbury, the name of the lead character in my novel, Escape to the Country. That made it feel less of a big deal. I'd made up the story and character names, so why not use a name I'd made up?'
Patsy isn't the only one. There are several short story writers who write under many pseudonyms as well as their own name, but the reason for doing so is a business one: they're prolific short story writers, trying to maximise their income. As Patsy says, 'I'd heard of this happening, so I wasn't particularly surprised. I would rather they'd used my real name, but not if that meant using fewer of my stories!'
Patsy's taking a pragmatic view, but appreciates that it's her success, experience and productivity that enables her to take this stance. 'Seeing my story in print was still a good experience, even with a made up name on it. I've sold hundreds of stories though. If this had happened in my first year, I might have been disappointed.'
Market Moniker
Some writers feel a pseudonym is essential for certain markets and genres, either because they believe readers expect novels in that genre to be written by one gender, or because they don't want friends and family to know they write in that particular genre.
One male writer chose the name Yvonne Sarah Lewis (http://yvonnesarahlewis.com) for his erotic novels. 'At first I was shy and didn't want erotic novels published under my own name,' says Yvonne. 'I was writing from a female perspective, and when I looked at the author lists of the publishers I was interested in I found a majority had female names.'
So Yvonne made a business decision to write under a pseudonym and now has eight books to her name, her latest being Harmony in the Harem, published by Whiskey Creek Press. But if Yvonne was making this business decision now, would she still make the same decision? She shakes her head. 'If I were starting now I'd be bold and use my own name.'
This is because there are drawbacks to writing under a pseudonym. 'It makes it difficult to do signings,' she says. 'I don't make enough to hire a "ghost". And when people find out they always ask why, and telling the story again becomes irksome.'
Yvonne also encountered another problem. Like Patsy, she choose one of her characters' names as her pseudonym, perhaps because of the familiarity. 'Yvonne was a character in my first couple of books and I knew and liked both her and her name. On later consideration I decided it wasn't a great idea to write as one of my characters, since it appeared to limit her access to my other characters' stories. But by then it was too late. Yvonne was established as an author, so in later editions I changed the name of the character.'
However, despite this, Yvonne feels that having a pseudonym has its benefits. 'A pseudonym frees you up to be someone else. I'm an amateur actor and early on I was struggling with self-consciousness, so the director suggested I wear a moustache so that the person on stage wasn't me but the character I was portraying. A pseudonym can be like a moustache: it frees you up to be the uninhibited person you want to be.'
Type Transition
Another business reason for taking up a pseudonym is when a writer who is already established in one market wants to broaden into new markets. Established writers become a brand for that style of writing, and readers expect more of the same from that brand. Forging off into new markets can mean creating a whole new brand. This is what Writing Magazine columnist Lorraine Mace had to do. 'I was already known and had a following for my humour writing,' she explains. 'As my crime novels are dark and edgy, I didn't want to disappoint readers who might have been expecting a more light-hearted approach to crime writing. I am also an author of children's novels. The first two in a trilogy (Vlad the Inhaler and Vlad's Quest) are published and I was worried that a young reader would see one of my crime novels in a bookshop or library and take it home to read under the covers at night. Imagine the scene when the poor parents would later have to comfort a traumatised child.'
Like Patsy and Yvonne, finding the right name takes time, and Lorraine considered many options until she settled on Frances di Plino (http://www.francesdiplino.com). 'I did try out quite a few variations on my maiden name, my mother's maiden name, the woman next door's maiden name, but elected in the end to stick with my Italian roots.' Lorraine's pseudonym is inspired by her Italian great-grandfather's name, Francesco di Plino.
The downside to creating a pseudonym is that you're starting from scratch again. Previously published writers have worked for years creating their brand, and when you create a new brand you have a lot of work ahead establishing it, as well as continuing to manage your existing brand, if you're still writing under that name too.
'From the point of view of getting my books known it has been a nightmare,' says Lorraine. 'I already had a following, but Frances di Plino was a completely new person. It has taken three years and four books in the DI Paolo Storey Crime Series to get to the stage where Frances has a following. For a long time I operated two Facebook accounts, trying to keep the two separate, but have now realised that was a mistake. I should have used my own account and simply told all of my friends I was using a pen name. I have since closed the Frances di Plino account and am about to launch a fan page for her. I also have two Twitter accounts, also to keep the two genres separate. It is time consuming and I am not sure is really of any benefit. From the point of view of spreading the word about my crime novels, it would have been much easier if I had stuck to my own name, but I don't regret using a pen name because of the reason outlined above.'
When it comes to pseudonyms, it's worth thinking about how your readers will find you. Although many books are sold electronically these days, the print market is still huge and many people browse bookshops for their favourite authors. Some authors believe having a surname near the start of the alphabet is better than having one near the end of the alphabet because, when filed A-Z, those at the beginning of the alphabet are the first ones found by readers walking in through the bookshop doors. Whether readers are too lazy to make their way towards the back of the bookshop is another matter, but it's worth thinking how a bookstore might file your book. As Lorraine says, 'I am never sure if I'll find my books under D for di Plino, or P for Plino, di.'
Names are important. I shall always remember my nephew, aged four, saying he didn't like his name because it didn't sound like a Premiership footballer's name. (He felt his name was too English!) It's understandable why some writers feel the need to have a different name, but don't let the name-creating exercise become a form of procrastination, preventing you from writing something in the first place. Ask yourself not what name should you write under, but why shouldn't you write under your existing name? Opting for a pseudonym should be treated like any other business decision. Don't rush it. Say it out loud several times. Practise signing it. Google it. Think it through carefully, because there are consequences. But choose well and your brand new name could become a well-known brand.
Business Directory – Pseudonym Solicitude
Mother's maiden names can be useful to both men and women when conjuring up a pseudonym. Using your middle name with your mother's (or grandmother's) maiden name can produce good results. (Change your bank security details, though, if you do.)
Make your pseudonym memorable, not silly. Creating a new brand means you want people to take you seriously.
If your name is similar to an established writer, try differentiating your name in some way. Use a middle initial, or an alternative spelling (Jeffrey/Geoffrey).
If you're really stuck, try out a random name generator, such as http://www.behindthename.com/random/
© Simon Whaley and Milo Swahney 😉
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of a family portrait series.
really catch the viewer's eye.
much like a sepia print.
girl's basketball seniors. Adding a little color makes the drawing that much better..
Darker skin looks good with the graytones, and the addition of team colors gives the piece strong visual impact!
drawing for their efforts. Logos added at no charge!
All artwork ©1995-2012 Steve Campbell / Funfaces.com Using images without permission is prohibited.


hot objects to hotter objects.
cooler objects to warmer objects.
warmer objects to hotter objects.
warmer objects to cooler objects.
Heat energy moves from .
Which word in the following sentence is the indirect object?
Chris read me the book.
If you apply a force to an object with a known mass, what can you determine using Newton's second law?
What kind of objects will magnets attract?
They make everybody baked goods.
If the forces acting on an object are unbalanced, what happens?
The object remains at rest.
The object will not move.
The object moves in constant motion.
Indicate if the word in CAPITAL letters is a direct object or indirect object.
His grandmother sent KEN a postcard.
Now I know you all have heard that I'm a mean guy who always wants to blow down pigs' houses, but I'm here to tell you that just ain't true. When they call me the Big Bad Wolf it really hurts my feelings. I'm just a wolf trying to get a bite to eat so I don't starve.
Which of the following determines an object's ability to float in water?
Anthony gave me his JACKET.
answers the question whom or what after an action verb.
She and her husband bought Maggie a SET of colored pencils.
The babysitter read ALICE a funny story about penguins.
Once upon a time there were three little pigs who each had homes of their own. The first little pig had a home built out of sticks. The second little pig had a home built out of straw. The third little pig was a very smart and thoughtful pig. He thought his brothers were silly for building their homes out of such weak materials. Knowing safety was of the utmost importance, the third little pig built his house out of bricks.
Which word in the following sentence is the object complement?
Joshua found the book helpful.


We are constantly reaching out to the community, and we could use some help.
You can help us out in so many ways. Please fill out the volunteer form below and let us know if you are interested in helping. Leave a message and let us know where you think you will be able to best serve. We have needs that can be met in many fields. Gardening, cleaning, volunteering at our events, fundraising… We have many committees that are looking for more members. If you would like to serve on a committee as well, please let us know where you have expertise. Please let us know how you would like to help contribute to our great cause and we will be happy to contact you about helping.


Advice for the seekers of knowledge–Look at what one of our Salaf said!
Qataadah (rahimahullaah) narrated from Muttarrif Bin Abdillaah Ash-Shikh-kheer (rahimahullaah) who said: A share of knowledge is more beloved to me than a share of (optional) worship. To be in (a state of) well-being and am thankful is more beloved to me than to be afflicted and I exercise patience. I looked to a good affair in which there is no evil, so I did not find anything similar to wellbeing and being thankful (to Allaah).


We now trade from a new improved workplace in the up and coming SANDWICH MARINA , with our own customer boat compound for up to 10 watercrafts depending on size .
We can not only offer our services on sterndrives and inboards but with new software for most outboards and jet skies/bikes, we can now offer servicing, maintenance, rebuilds, diagnostics on most outboards and jet skis/bikes. Being next to the water with cranage to hand and a recently new slipway we can also offer insurance approved sea trials on our doorstep along with being on the waterways to the sea you can also sail your crafts by water to our workshop. With the happy, friendly marina staff and the kind, helpful welcoming marina owner Barry i assure you a very pleasant visit with the no end to help from the fantastic people the marina is run by.


text:
Biohybrid robots, the next step in the robotic revolution
Software, Ethics and Sustainability
Where Are the Earth's Real Lungs?
William Klepper
Columbia Business School, NY, USA
Start The Energy Challenge: the Transition to a New Energy Model
The Energy Challenge: the Transition to a New Energy Model
Climate Change | Energy Transition | Nuclear Energy | Sustainability
Ignacio Mártil de la Plaza
PhD in Physics and Professor of Electronics
Throughout this past year the Covid-19 crisis has concealed many of the planet´s major problems. One of the most pressing is undoubtedly global warming, caused, to a large extent, by our current way of producing and consuming energy.
A multitude of politicians and scientists claim the launch of the Green New Deal as one more tool to use to get out of this situation. It emulates the famous New Deal that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted in the 1930s to get his country out of the Great Depression. The implementation of the Recovery Plan for Europe also includes among its objectives the economic decarbonization of the continent. In adjdition, the U.S. Biden Administration also seems to be setting ambitious goals in energy and environmental issues.
If these and other similar initiatives materialize, renewable energies will undoubtedly play a key role in not only achieving the promotion of policies that allow mitigating the virus´ terrible impact on the economy, but help lead us towards a true energy transition to achieve a long-awaited decarbonization process. But, to try to understand the magnitude of what is intended to be done and to try to place this enormous challenge in a broader historical framework, it is helpful to understand (and remember) that there have already been other energy transitions in the past, motivated by various factors. The content of this article is focused on reviewing that history.
Energy and energy transitions throughout history
Energy underlies all the major economic changes that have occurred throughout history, especially those of the two last centuries. The three great industrial revolutions that transformed the world over the last 250 years were powered by a variety of energy sources. Each revolution was accompanied by changes and diversification of the energy mix on the one hand and the appearance of new sources of energy on the other, both contributing to distinguish one revolution from the next.
Old factory, abandoned after the nuclear catastrophe of Chernobyl (1986) / Image: CC0 Public Domain
The First Industrial Revolution took place between the end of the XVIII century through the XIX century, powered by coal, which made the use of the steam engine possible. The Second Industrial Revolution occurred during the first half of the XX century and was driven by the use of oil to power internal combustion engines, while the Third Industrial Revolution, which began in the second half of the XX century and continues until this day, has seen the surge of electronics and Information and Communication Technologies, driven not only by oil, but also by gas and the nascent use of renewable energies. At one time, it appeared that this Third Industrial Revolution would be powered by nuclear energy, but the high cost of installation and maintenance of uranium-fueled plants, coupled with the grave accidents of Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 have consigned this energy source to a secondary role in many countries that once desired to rely on its use. This is one of the reasons why the energy mix has not changed substantially since the years 1970-1980.
The distribution of the various energy sources used by humans since the start of the XIX century to the present is shown in the illustration:
Biofuels: mainly wood; Coal; Crude oil. Energy consumption in relative terms: 1800=1; 1900=2; 1950=4; 2000=20./ Source: World Economic Forum Report.
Since the 80s, "new" renewable energies (wind and solar, mainly) have been gradually added to the global energy mix alongside hydraulic power, which emerged at the beginning of the XX century. These new sources of energy should play a key role in the trend toward diversification of the energy mix and help to solve the dilemma between an unsustainable energy model and ever-increasing global demand.
2. The energy dilemma: depletion of fossil fuels and population growth
At present we are facing a "perfect storm" in the realm of energy, brought on by a lethal combination of depletion of fossil fuels and the increase in energy demand due to population increase and improvements in the quality of life of a significant part of the same. (I have analyzed this problem in more detail in a recently published book: Solar Energy. From Utopia to Hope)
Maximum consumption of fossil fuels, defined for oil as Hubbert's peak has been or it will be reached at some point between 2000 and 2025. On account of this it has become imperative to find new energy sources to replace fossil fuels in no more than 40-60 years; that is, in our children's lifetime:
Population growth and growth in energy consumption in the period 1830-2010. Source: Adapted from this document (equivalence for energy units is 1 exajoule = 2.77 × 1011 kWh)
Historically, population and income increases have been the driving forces behind energy demand. As seen in the illustration above, the population has been multiplied by 4 and the energy consumption by 10. The connection appears obvious: more people with higher incomes means an increase in production and higher energy consumption.
We are therefore faced with a scenario where fossil fuels are in a phase of decline, while the population and energy consumption do not cease to increase. What should be done? The only possibility is to implement an energy transition that both satisfies increasing energy demand and prevents continuous irreversible damage to the environment.
Technologies for energy transition: the time for renewable energies
At present, the only energy sources in our reach that can replace fossil fuel-based energy are renewable sources. The most significant of these, due to their increased use, development and technological breakthroughs, are "new" renewable energy sources: wind, solar photovoltaic and thermosolar, to which we should add traditional energy sources, such as hydraulic and biomass energy.
All of these, especially those considered new sources, should be considered as replacement technologies that were the object of scientific curiosity in the 1970s and 1980s but have now become a necessary and indispensable part of the solution to the problem of energy stated in the previous section of this article.
Energy-producing wind turbines / Image: CC0 Public Domain
As I described in the other article published on this platform, wind power was the first renewable energy source to be used on a large scale in the energy industry. Total wind power installed globally is shown in the following illustration: 651 GW had been installed at the end of 2019. As is the case in the use of solar photovoltaic energy (progressive installation shown in the same chart), the main disadvantage is its sporadic nature, which makes it somewhat unpredictable. Developing appropriate and large-scale storage systems is essential to increase the value of wind and sun-generated electricity. Nonetheless, wind power generation at present has already demonstrated its usefulness in the energy mix of numerous countries, including Spain and its future competitiveness with fossil fuels can only improve in the coming years.
The total output of solar photovoltaic energy installed worldwide exceeded 400 GW. In regard to photovoltaic solar energy, the total output of this technology in the world exceeded 633 GW at the end of 2019.
Growth of accumulated power, expressed in GW, for wind and solar photovoltaic power, forecast until 2023. Source: adapted from Forecast International Energy Portala
Obstacles for energy transition
There are three main obstacles to be overcome for swift energy transition.
The first one is the amount of energy currently provided by non-renewable sources and the size of the energy-generating infrastructures that have been built over the years. Due to their immense scale (over and above the TW of installed power,1 TW = 1 trillion W), any transition is and will continue to be slow.
The second obstacle is economic, since power plants require a multi-million dollar investment and a life span of several decades. Thus, the energy mix for 2030-2040 will be heavily affected by the decisions made now. Beyond 2050, innovation, research and development, as well as government policies, will have an ever-increasing impact on changes to the current energy mix.
The third obstacle is scientific. While energy density of non-renewable energy sources is high, wind and solar power energy densities are very low. Therefore, replacing non-renewable energy with renewable energy involves substituting high-energy density and low-cost (at least until now) sources with low-energy density and high-cost sources. In addition, the general opinion regarding the cost of renewable energies is predominant; the price of renewables has dropped significantly and solar photovoltaics has already become the cheapest way to produce energy in history, but its high costs are still cited as a drawback to its large-scale installation.
As mentioned previously, oil, coal and natural gas currently account for 80% of the energy mix worldwide. Even with a high and continuous growth rate of renewables, in 20 years from now the share of these technologies in primary energy production will likely be below 15-20 percent, unless political decisions in the post-Covid era accelerate that transition.
Changing the energy model is a global challenge, witnessed by the enormous investment being made by the world's major industrial countries to enhance energy transition toward a sustainable and fossil fuel-independent energy mix. The change is inevitable, already in progress in numerous countries and those are the first to learn to adapt will lead the change and be able to export their ideas and products to the rest. The energy industry will change gradually toward renewable energy and the transition period will be determined to a large degree by both public and private investments made in these energy sources.
The energy industry will change gradually toward renewable energy and the transition period will be determined to a large degree by both public and private investments made in these energy sources. /Image: CC0 Public Domain: CC0 Public Domain
In this sense, the investments envisaged in the European Recovery Plan could be a great boost for our continent towards this transition. But let's not forget that in order for this energy transition to have tangible effects, it must be global. The transition in the energy model is not moving backwards, but just how quickly or slowly this change occurs depends on decisions taken now.
Ignacio Mártil
Professor of Electronics at Universidad Complutense, Madrid and member of the Spanish Royal Physics Society
"We Spend Millions on Defense, but Against Climate Change we do Nothing"
"Nuclear Power has its Place in the Transition Towards 100% Renewables"
"Using fossil fuels buys us time to develop alternative energies that will shape our future"
By All Means Necessary: the Chinese Struggle for Natural Resources
More publications about Ignacio Mártil de la Plaza
Towards a New Photovoltaic Paradigm: The Silicon-Perovskite Tandem
Perovskite Solar Cells, a Dazzling Success Story
Mini-Transistors: Architects of the Greatest Technological Revolution of the 20th Century


Enjoy the best restaurant in the area while dining in our new-style southern and eclectically designed restaurant. Décor features wood floors, luxurious fabrics, comfortable seating, unique art and lighting. Offering seating in our fabulous bar (definitely the place to be and be seen) or in our Atrium dining room or on the patio outside – you choose! And, if you're looking for a little privacy for a small group – ask about our private dining room – The Vault!
Our restaurant offers a southern twist on some favorites . . . like pimento cheese, fried green tomatoes, shrimp & grits . . . and finely prepare filet, crabcakes, trout and salmon . . . delish! You'll also enjoy one of our specialty cocktails or bourbons, micro-brews, southern teas or savory wines. And finish with house-made desserts!
Offering a casual but elegant dining environment, there are only excellent meal and beverage choices to be made while you graze at Graze on Main!


Video: David Lindberg / Text: Yentl T.
Cleptomanicx is a brand we're somehow very familiar with.
But the main reason behind our following of Clepto, is being fans of some of their team riders. And getting to check out their latest footworks in the above video was a great surprise, as they celebrate their time away from the German cold in the glorious sun of Gran Canaria. Team vibes are strong in this one, and damn the place has got some amazing spots! Dive in for the latest of Jan Hoffmann, Tjark Thielker, Lars Zimermann, Niklas and Benny Vogeln behind the lens of David Lindberg.


Designer, entrepreneur and imaginative advocate for a better world, John Bielenberg is recognized for innovative investigations into the practice and understanding of design and leadership in the "design for good" movement.
The thing that John Bielenberg designs best is designers.
He doesn't think much of design as an end in itself, but rather sees its value in its impact on people, and the world.
And he has found a way to multiply that impact.
He was born in Germany, because that's where his parents were. Dad in the U.S. Army, stationed in Regensburg as a theatrical designer—an early design influence.
Soon Bielenberg was thrown out of the strictly formal Swiss/Bauhaus design department at Rochester Institute of Technology, despite getting a standing ovation from the other students in his class.
He got his design degree at Binghamton University in 1980.
In late-1980s San Francisco, he built a successful design firm for himself, added partners, and renamed it C2. While serving real clients in real companies with collaborators Greg Galle and myself, and doing all the things you'd expect of a successful designer with real clients, he managed to invent an imaginary one.
He'd decided that a lot of what corporate clients were doing was absurd.
So in 1991 he invented an even more absurd imaginary client.
He even gave it an absurd name: Virtual Telemetrix, Inc.
He designed a logo for his imaginary client, then wrote speeches and catalogs and made uniforms and videos and even created an annual report for it.
Then he printed up stock certificates and said he was going to take this imaginary company public.
Whereupon, all hell broke loose: people signed up for the stock offering, and it all ended up as a very real, very tongue-in-cheek exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2000.
He abandoned his successful design firm in San Francisco in 2001 to follow his family to the coast of Maine.
And since 1991, he's found the time and patience to instruct and inspire students through teaching and advising at California College of the Arts. He also found the time to serve on AIGA's national board, and was recognized as an AIGA Fellow by the Maine chapter.
Somewhere along the way, he ran into a big, burly, bearded guy named Samuel Mockbee, who demonstrated that young architects with passion and no money could accomplish amazing things in the bleakest of places.
"Proceed and be bold," said Mockbee.
Mockbee died before his time, but not before providing Bielenberg with the inspiration that changed his life.
See, Bielenberg always felt passionately that the design profession was capable of solving bigger, more important problems than it had. Too many designers were being trained to make beautiful things like corporate logos, ads, websites, brochures, posters, packages and all that stuff—but nobody trained them to take social responsibility and to use design skills to make an impact on people and communities and causes.
Bielenberg decided he could light a fire under young designers by putting them in real situations in the real world, where real people had real problems. And by shifting responsibility for defining those problems from the teacher to the student.
In 2003, he invented a movement and a program called Project M.
He invited young designers to join him in making design matter in the areas that mattered: conservation, social responsibility and social change.
And they did, in places as far flung as Alabama, Iceland, Germany, Costa Rica, Maryland, Michigan and Maine.
In each place, Bielenberg "parachuted" his team in, and asked them to be fearless and figure out what real problems they could solve ingeniously and what they could actually accomplish in a few weeks.
In Alabama, they found ways to raise funds to bring clean water to homes in a rural county and they started PieLab, a thriving, socially revolutionary restaurant in a dilapidated storefront.
In Costa Rica, they found ways to support the forest conservation movement.
In Detroit, they founded a community gathering place in an abandoned inner-city lot.
In Iceland, they worked to foster a financial revolution.
Project M is a social success, but not so much a financial one.
Bielenberg forgot to charge tuition.
So he's recently co-founded a new, very similar, for-profit organization called Future with Greg Galle to help corporations, foundations and other institutions develop ingenious solutions to their most daunting challenges and problems.
He's shifting responsibility for defining their problems from the boss to the worker.
He's turning corporate managers into active problem solvers.
He's challenging them to stretch their imaginations to take on bigger, more important problems than they've ever undertaken before.
He's turning people into designers.
He's turning designers into problem solvers.
John Bielenberg is a designer of designers.


text:
Dymestifying Modern Biotechnology
By William Evans-Nkum
A number of agricultural scientists anticipate great benefits from biotechnology in the coming decades to help meet our future needs for food.
Serious arguments have been raised antagonizing the propagation and introduction of Genetically Modified Organics (Biotechnology) in our farming practices.
Nonetheless, organizations like the African Agriculture Technology Foundation, as well as OFAB and some agricultural scientists in the country believe more work can be done on the safety of GMOs and their benefits to the agric sector as the country strives to achieve food security for the current and coming generations.
Biotechnology, according to the Wikipedia is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products or better still any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.
By virtue of the aforementioned definition, biotechnology sees to the transfer of genes from one species to the other in order to perform a specific function.
In the case of seeds, proponents of modern biotechnology believe the transfer of genes can guarantee a healthy germination of the crop due to the potency in the trait of the gene transferred.
In some cases, the seed can even have a resistance trait that can stand drought and also minimize the application of fertilizer which will also deflate cost to the farmer.
In brief, the farmer who cultivates modern transgenic and hybrid seed is always assured of high yields as compared to those inclined to conventional farming practices-according to proponents of GMOs.
For instance in the case of the United States transgenic varieties and hybrids of cotton, maize, and potatoes, containing genes from Bacillus thuringiensis that effectively control a number of serious insect pests, are now being successfully introduced commercially and it is believed the use of such varieties will greatly reduce the need for insecticides.
The stories surrounding GMOs seem to provide some major answers facing the country's agric sector, specifically, farming; however, demystifying modern biotechnology to the farming populace creates another hurdle that proponents of GMOs will have to overcome.
Anti GMOs campaigners create the impression that GMOs can rob the soil's fertility, thereby, making it unproductive for cultivation.
Some religious lenses branding GMOs as an agent of "Anti Christ" also leaves much to be desired, since, such pronouncement have left an indelible mark in the minds of many strict puritan rural farmers.
But for Ghana to even accept the importation of GMOs needs legal backing, at a media training workshop on effective reporting of agriculture biotechnology held in Aburi-Ghana, Eric Okoree a focal person for the National Biosafety Authority told participants, that, the Ghana National Biosafety Committee (NBC) has approved three applications for confined field trial of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) in Ghana.
"It is hoped that these trials will offer Ghanaian scientists the opportunity to enhance their knowledge on the use of Living Modified Organisms in the country" Eric Okoree stated.
The workshop also placed the participated journalists as one of the core agents to demystify and disseminate the importance of agricultural biotechnology to stakeholders, especially, small holder farmers.
Notwithstanding, organizations like the Biotechnology and National Agriculture Research Institute, OFAB, CSIR and other independent agricultural scientists are delving into deep research to unravel all the so called "Mysteries" surrounding GMOs through trials as authorized by the National Biosafety Authority in Ghana.
Perhaps, it will be worthwhile, that stakeholders are involved and briefed on various scientific researches into the application of biotechnology in order to unlock the minds of all concerned stakeholders.
Hottest Photo Reports


text:
Q: R: substr() results differently in for loop and vector I'm using substr to cut off the last three letters from the string list: postal_code0
postal_code0
>[1] "n14BE"   "n14BE"   "n14BE"   "n14BE"   "n14BE"   "N16DD"   "N16DD"   "N16DD"   "N16DD"   "N16DD"
>[11] "N11TW"   "N11TW"   "N11TW"   "N11TW"   "N11TW"   "n5"      "N160LU"  "N2"      "N200AU"  "N200AU"
>[21] "london"  "n15"     "N5"      ""

> outcode <- substr(postal_code0, 1, nchar(postal_code0)-3)
> outcode
[1] "n1"   "n1"   "n1"   "n1"   "n1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"   "N1"
[16] ""     "N16"  ""     "N20"  "N20"  "lon"  ""     ""     ""

It removes some elements completely, which I'd like to keep, but if I use for loop for the same function, it returns the outcome I'd like.
> outcode0 <- c()
> for (i in 1: length(postal_code0)){
+ outcode0[i] <- substr(postal_code0[i], 1, nchar(postal_code0)-3)
+ }

> outcode0
[1] "n1" "n1" "n1" "n1" "n1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "N1" "n5" "N1" "N2" "N2" "N2" "lo"
[22] "n1" "N5" ""

What's the difference between the two functions? And how to get the
outcode0

without using for loop?

A: According to the last comment you left, the following should do:
len <- nchar(postal_code0)
substring(postal_code0, 1, ifelse(len <= 3, len, len - 3))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Author(s): Joan Didion
A thrilling and exhilarating exploration of U.S. politics in Central America from Joan Didion, the hugely acclaimed author of The Year of Magical Thinking. It is 1984. Journalist Elena McMahon, watching her evasive, gruff father's life ebbing away before her, clutches at understanding him to grasp little more than air. But harder, keener forces impel her to do his bidding, to go naked into a 'situation' in Central America, because 'things were hotting up again'.
'I read it twice for pure delight.' Guardian 'Fast-paced, witty, inventive! "The Last Thing He Wanted" is a creation of high seriousness, a thriller composed with all the resources of a unique gift for imaginative literature.' New York Review of Books 'An impressive, fast-talking, hard-boiled, wise-cracking, tough-guy of a novel.' Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday PRAISE FOR THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING 'Her poetic writing has a spell-like charm that is profoundly affecting.' Observer 'This brave book maps a year - when the world flipped over to expose the underside of cool where things go bad.' The Times 'The subject may be bleak, but her tender treatment makes it a book that we should all read.' Daily Mail
Joan Didion is one of America's most respected writers, her work constituting some of the greatest portraits of modern-day American culture. Over the four decades of her career, she has produced widely-acclaimed journalistic essays, personal essays, novels, non-fiction, memoir and screenplays. Her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award in 2005.
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Imprint : Fourth Estate Ltd
Availability date : February 2012
Author : Joan Didion
Edition : 2-Dec


text:
Publication - Strategy/plan
Creating Hope Together: suicide prevention action plan 2022 to 2025
Mental Health Directorate
Building, planning and design, Children and families, Communities and third sector, +9 more … Economy, Education, Equality and rights, Health and social care, Housing, Money and tax, Programme for Government, Public sector, Transport
Scotland's Suicide Prevention Action Plan covering the period from 2022 to 2025.
Introduction and vision
Outcome 1
Annex A – Whole of Government and society approach
Outcome 3: Everyone affected by suicide is able to access high quality, compassionate, appropriate and timely support – which promotes wellbeing and recovery. This applies to all children, young people and adults who experience suicidal thoughts and behaviour, anyone who cares for them, and anyone affected by suicide in other ways.
Promote and provide effective, timely, compassionate support – that promotes wellbeing and recovery.
Context / Messages
To prevent suicide, we need to create the conditions for good mental health and wellbeing and tackle the social determinants of suicide. We must also ensure there is timely and effective support for anyone who feels suicidal – from the earliest moment. As such, our support must span from early intervention, preventing crisis, support during crisis, and post crisis support and recovery. When providing support to anyone feeling suicidal, we must value their resilience and strength, and seek to create a sense of hope.
To achieve this, we must continually seek to understand what interventions work for different individuals (and groups), and how we can help people to reach out for help when they need it; and indeed, for support services to reach in. Our support must always be culturally safe, trauma informed, and embody the principles of Time, Space and Compassion.
We know that a priority must be ensuring support services are available and relevant to all communities of place and communities of interest; and we will focus on areas and groups where suicide rates are highest, including deprived areas. This focus will include building protective factors, such as social connectedness, as well as a focus on risk. Given this, we will build the understanding and capacity of our communities, including through peer-support and our programme of awareness raising and learning.
We know many people affected by suicide are in contact with statutory services, including primary care, mental health services, and unscheduled care settings. They may also be in contact with services beyond health and social care, such as homelessness services and education. As such, we will focus our efforts on improving patient safety and experience in health and social care settings, whilst supporting greater partnership working across key statutory services.
What we will keep doing
Through other Government mental health priorities and programmes we will continue to support population mental health and wellbeing. Over the last two years this has included: increasing mental health staff in primary care, investing in school counsellors, our communities funds for adults and children and young people, our public information and digital resources about where to access support, including the Mind to Mind website, investing in assessment and support services (such as NHS 24 mental health hub and Breathing Space), and work to support particular aspects of mental health (such as perinatal, self-harm and eating disorders)
Ensure suicide prevention is considered in our workforce planning and in system improvements for mental health unscheduled care. Introducing quality standards for Mental Health will directly support the pathways, assessment and care for people who are suicidal and reach out for help
Take a human rights-based approach to our work and engage with protected characteristics groups and the trusted organisations who connect to them
Continue to invest in promoting support for people who are suicidal, including through digital, such as the 'surviving suicidal thoughts' videos
Continue to improve suicidal crisis responses by embedding the principles of Time, Space and Compassion in commissioning and service design, as well as growing workforce and community capacity and capability to offer Time, Space and Compassion based support
Continue to learn from our suicide bereavement support services – both for family and in workplaces
Continue to roll out of the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) across local areas, informed by evaluation. We know from the evaluation of the initial DBI pilots that one in ten people reported that they may have attempted suicide or continued with suicidal thoughts if DBI had not been offered to them
For children and young people, we will continue to invest in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and wider community supports. We will also support children and young people who have neurodevelopmental support needs through implementation of our National Neurodevelopmental Specification. We will continue to pilot DBI for under 16s (and consider wider rollout following evaluation).
New actions
Action area 5: Supporting a compassionate response
Action 5.1: Consider ways to adapt Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme to ensure it supports people at the earliest opportunity, and to ensure it is considered for everyone who has thoughts of suicide or has made an attempt, where appropriate. We will consider the potential for new referral pathways, and ways to re-engage with support after discharge.
Action 5.2: Respond to the diverse needs of communities.
To support this we propose at least two tests of change to reach groups / communities where there is a heightened risk of suicide. We plan to work with trusted organisations to (1) review the design and delivery of learning approaches to ensure they reflect the communities' experience of suicide, and (2) test new approaches to reaching and supporting people in those communities who are at risk of suicide. As part of this we will seek to understand help seeking behaviours and tailor support for cultural and diverse groups. We will use the learning to inform our overall approach to supporting communities and groups where suicide risk is high. (This is the same action as set out under action area 4, along with considerations in developing this approach).
We will also consider the findings from the joint International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and Scottish Government funded research 'Interlinked systematic umbrella reviews of the effectiveness of interventions to prevent suicide', due to publish in 2023.
** We consider children and young people will benefit from this action.
Trusted organisations / groups could include those with a focus on: men, women, LGBTI, minority ethnic communities, migrants, asylum seekers, socially isolated communities, occupational groups, additional support needs, criminal justice, self-harm, mental illness / support, gypsy travellers, unpaid carers, students, gender based violence, victims, and disability.
Action 5.3: Build new peer support capability to enable further use of peer support and recovery models for suicide prevention, working with key partners, such as Scottish Recovery Network.
Action 5.4: Develop resources to support families, friends, carers / unpaid carers (including children and young people), and anyone else affected by suicidal behaviour – building on existing resources. Such resources should provide information and advice for people who are supporting someone who is suicidal (including after a suicide attempt), which would include their rights under the Carers Act as well as self-care advice.
Action 5.5: Ensure relevant staff such as pastoral / guidance staff, school nurses and counsellors in education settings are skilled and responsive to signs of suicidal concerns, whilst ensuring proactive approaches to supporting children and young people at key transitional stages, as part of a continuum of care.
Action 5.6: Develop approaches to prevent suicidal behaviour in children and young people, with a focus on delivering action in key settings, including education, health and social care, youth work. This will include:
Engaging with Youth Advisory Group to understand the concerns and priorities for action for children and young people
Reviewing and synthesising evidence around the needs, risk and protective factors, and effective responses (including the findings from the Children and Young People's Joint Delivery Board Task and Finish Group on crisis and support)
Learning from reviews of suicide deaths in children and young people undertaken through the National Hub for Child Death Reviews.
Action 5.7: Develop new approaches to prevent suicidal behaviour in older adults, with a focus on delivering action in key settings. This will include:
Engaging with people with lived experience
Reviewing and synthesising the evidence around the needs, risk and protective factors and effective responses
Implementing learning from the reviews of suicide deaths in older adults.
Action 5.8: Consider how those working in primary care settings – including GPs, nurses, mental health teams and the broader primary care workforce – can identify and support people who are at risk of suicide, who may present in distress or with low mood, anxiety or self-harm. This could include: safety planning, referrals to DBI, community support (social prescribing), and proactive case management, especially for people with a high risk of suicide.
We will consider effective ways to share good practice and learning with clinicians and managers in primary care settings across Scotland, which will include support for the workforce.
Action 5.9: Work with clinicians in unscheduled care settings to ensure (a) they are alert to suicide risk - particularly for people who have self-harmed or attempted suicide – and respond effectively through the provision of psychosocial assessment; and (b) they work with partners to ensure care pathways and support are put in place, including in the community (which may include via primary care). Care pathways for people who have self-harmed or attempted suicide should focus on their mental wellbeing and recovery needs.
Distress Brief Intervention should be offered, where appropriate as part of an increased range of potential interventions. The pathways to these interventions will be monitored through implementation of unscheduled care pathways.
Considerations in developing this approach:
Review current models of ongoing support at the point of at the point of onward referral or discharge from unscheduled care settings (including international examples), to inform our future approach to ensure a high quality of continued support and recovery for those who are, or have been, suicidal.
Consider how to share good practice across clinicians and managers in clinical settings, including support for the workforce.
Involve families as appropriate in developing care / aftercare strategies.
Ensure principles of Time, Space and Compassion are embedded at each stage – right through arrival, assessment, care and discharge.
Action 5.10: Work to support statutory services to continuously improve the quality of clinical care and support for people who are suicidal, and share good practice and learning, both individually and by working together across services.
To achieve this a first step is for mental health services to adopt the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) recommendations into their patient safety planning and operating practices, and the relevant Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards.
Undertake work to help embed assertive case management approaches which engage all relevant agencies to support someone with suicidal risk or following an attempt. This could include services such as: mental health, primary care, secondary care, social work, alcohol and drug services, housing services (and frontline homeless organisations, where appropriate), education, police, prisons, and youth workers. Community based organisations should also be engaged where that will support the individual. This approach would ensure a person who is suicidal has all relevant local services working together to provide an effective and seamless support – the No Wrong Door approach
Where suicide risk is identified, a multi-agency, assertive approach should be used to span early intervention, prevention, crisis and recovery – with a particular focus on transition between parts of the system / service
When services are supporting someone who has been suicidal, they should carefully plan handover between services, and discharge from services. They should also ensure people can quickly and easily re-engage with their service should their needs change
Transition points should be fully planned for, particularly as children and young people move from children to adult services.
Support should take a human rights based approach, recognise risk and protective factors and include safety planning as reflected in the evidence on suicide risk management (included in NICE guidance on self-harm),[1]
Services must also consider how they reach and meet the needs of particular groups, such as minority ethnic communities, people affected by trauma, and gypsy travellers
Develop opportunities to share good practice across clinicians and managers in service settings, including support for the workforce.
Action 5.11: Provide suicide bereavement support across Scotland to ensure fair and equitable service, based on the evaluation of the pilot services and engagement with local service partners.
Action 5.12: Consider the value and impact of a single Scottish specific telephone number which will provide access to existing telephone support and resources.
What will we do next
Ensure the mental health unscheduled care programme is leading to improvements for people at risk of suicide.
Understand and address gaps in early intervention for suicide risk, for the whole population, as well as for individuals or groups who may have heightened risk of suicide.
Continue to consider new models of support for people who are suicidal, based on evidence and insight.
Email: contact@suicidepreventionengagement.scot