text:
The Free Library > Business and Industry > Engineering and manufacturing > Mechanika > July 1, 2020
The Free Library > Date > 2020 > July > 1 > Mechanika
ANFIS-PID Control of Active Suspension for the Full-Scale Straddle Monorail Model.
<a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ANFIS-PID+Control+of+Active+Suspension+for+the+Full-Scale+Straddle...-a0644456582
MLA style: "ANFIS-PID Control of Active Suspension for the Full-Scale Straddle Monorail Model.." The Free Library. 2020 Kauno Technologijos Universitetas 18 Jan. 2022 https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ANFIS-PID+Control+of+Active+Suspension+for+the+Full-Scale+Straddle...-a0644456582
Chicago style: The Free Library. S.v. ANFIS-PID Control of Active Suspension for the Full-Scale Straddle Monorail Model.." Retrieved Jan 18 2022 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ANFIS-PID+Control+of+Active+Suspension+for+the+Full-Scale+Straddle...-a0644456582
APA style: ANFIS-PID Control of Active Suspension for the Full-Scale Straddle Monorail Model.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Jan 18 2022 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ANFIS-PID+Control+of+Active+Suspension+for+the+Full-Scale+Straddle...-a0644456582
With the development of cities, urban traffic problems become more and more serious, which needs to adopt new transportation systems. The straddle-type monorail system, as a unique urban rail transit system, has a lot of advantages such as strong climbing ability, small turning radius, fast running speed, small occupied area, safety and comfort, low noise and low cost, so that it is widely applied [1-2]. At present, Chongqing Rail Transit Line 3 is the straddle-type monorail transportation line with the highest transportation efficiency, the longest single-line operation mileage and the most complex topographic conditions in the world.
Suspension system is an important part of monorail vehicles, which guarantees ride comfort. However, its fixed stiffness and damping make it difficult to adapt to complex road conditions. Compared with passive suspension, active suspension can generate instantaneous different active control forces according to the vehicle motion state and road excitation at each moment, so that the suspension is always in the optimal vibration reduction state. Therefore, active suspension has become a hotspot of current research. A lot of control strategies have been studied for active suspension by many researchers.
Hac [3] applies the optimal control theory to the active control of 2-DOF vehicle suspension system, the results show that driving comfort, vehicle safety and suspension travel were fully considered. [H.sub.[infinity]] control is proposed by Doyle et al. [4] in 1980s, and then Yamashita et al. [5] design [H.sub.[infinity]] controller for the 7-DOF vehicle, which improves the stability of the closed-loop system. Ahmed et al. [6] develop the PID control algorithm for 1/4 car 2-DOF suspension systems, which improves performance of the system with respect to design goals compared to passive suspension system. However, considering the inherent nonlinear of suspension system, such as nonlinear spring and damping, the above linear control strategy is difficult to achieve better results, so many nonlinear control algorithms have been proposed one after another. Chen et al. [7] propose an adaptive sliding controller for controlling a non-autonomous 1/4 car suspension system with time-varying loadings, the results of simulation indicate the proposed controller gives significant performance improvement compared with the pure passive design from the viewpoint of ride comfort. Based on robust sliding mode control, Qin et al. [8] use ICA evolutionary algorithm to optimize the vertical acceleration of passengers. Yoshimura [9-10] has done a lot of research on the fuzzy control of active suspension and semi-active suspension and achieves satisfactory results. Moran and Nagai [11-13] use neural network to identify and control the actual nonlinear suspension, and compare it with the linear controller, that results show the superiority of neural network control. Kumar et al. [14] design an adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) controller, the simulation is carried out for sinusoidal road profile where the body displacement and pitch angle of ANFIS controlled active suspension system is significantly less compare to PID controlled suspension system. Gandhi et al. [15] use a 1/2 active suspension mode to compare the controller such as PID, LQR, FUZZY and ANFIS, the simulation indicates ANFIS controller performed better.
Above of reference, the performance of vehicle suspension system is improved, but all of them are based on simplified mathematical models, i.e. 1/4 model, 1/2 model, 7-DOF model which are quite different from the full-scale model. At the same time, there are few reports on straddle-type monorail active suspension.
Therefore, based on the 38-DOF full-scale dynamic model of straddle-type monorail vehicle, an ANFIS-PID controller is proposed for the whole vehicle in this paper, which uses the modular control thought and adaptive neural fuzzy inference system(ANFIS), then vibration reduction effect of ANFIS-PID controller is studied.
This paper is organized as follows: the 38-DOF full-scale dynamic model with active suspension is established in Section 2, including longitudinal motions, lateral motions, vertical motions, rolling motions, pitching motions and yawing motions. Section 3 designs an ANFIS-PID controller for the whole vehicle, which uses the modular control thought and ANFIS. Section 4 describes the simulation and its result of the proposed controller. Section 5 concludes this paper.
2. Full-scale dynamic model with active suspension
2.1. Monorail vehicle model
The dynamic model of straddle-type monorail vehicle includes 3 parts, i.e. 1 vehicle body and 2 bogies. Each bogie has 4 driving wheels, 4 steering wheels and 2 stabilizing wheels, as shown in Fig.1. The central suspension system consisting of air spring, shock absorber, rubber traction equipment, lateral stopper and actuator is connected in the longitudinal, lateral and vertical direction between the vehicle body and the front and rear bogies, respectively. In the dynamic model for monorail vehicles, the 6 freedom of vehicle body and 2 bogies, including longitudinal motions, lateral motions, vertical motions, rolling motions, pitching motions and yawing motions, and the 1 rotation freedom of wheel, are taken into consideration. The degree of freedom of the monorail vehicle is shown in Table 1.
The degree of freedom of the monorail vehicle is 38. The dynamic model of is illustrated in Fig. 2, which parameters are shown in reference [1].
Based on Lagrange Equation, the equations of motion of the vehicle can be described as follow:
[mathematical expression not reproducible](1)
where: T is kinetic energy; [U.sup.e] is elastic potential energy;
[U.sup.q] is damping potential energy; [Q.sup.j] is the generalized forces and moments; [q.sup.j] is generalized coordinates; (x) denotes the derivative with respect to time.
Equations of kinetic energy, elastic potential energy, damping potential energy and generalized forces and moments are expressed by Eqs. (2)-(5).
In Eqs. (2)-(5), [R.sup.l.sub.kij], [R.sup.h.sub.kij], [R.sup.v.sub.kij] denote the displace-ment at spring in longitudinal, lateral and vertical direction, [R.sub.zij], [R.sub.dij], [R.sub.wij] indicate the displacement of the track beam at the position of driving wheel, steering wheel and stabilizing wheel, [f.sub.j] is the actuator force,subscript i is the bogie position of the vehicle (i=1, 2 are the front and rear bogies), j is the wheel position in a bogie (j=1, 2, 3, 4 are the front-left, front-right, rear-right, front-right wheels, j=1, 2 are the front and rear wheels), all the other parameters are shown in Table 2. The actuator force developed by hydraulic actuator is expressed by the nonlinear Eq. (6):
2.2. Curving track beam model
Considering the transition curve, longitudinal gradient, curve super elevation, indirect track joints and track turnout structure, a track beam model is established, which consists of three sections: the 1st section is a 100m straight line section, the 2nd section is a curve section with a curvature radius of 100 m, an included angle of 60 and a super elevation of 40.8 mm, and the last section is a 100m straight line section, respectively, as shown in Fig. 3 and Table 3.
According to the ISO8608[16], the pavement power spectral density(PSD) can be expressed as follows:
where: [OMEGA] is spatial Frequency; n is frequency index.
3. Design of control algorithms of full-scale model
According to the modular control thought [17], the vehicle is decomposed into vertical motion, pitching motion and rolling motion, which are important evaluation indexes of ride comfort. Then three independent ANFIS-PID controllers are established for this three motion, in which the vertical vibration velocity and acceleration, pitching angular velocity and angular acceleration, rollingangular velocity and angular acceleration are taken as inputs and the actuator forceof active suspensionas outputs.
3.1. Pseudo-inverse matrix method
In order to realize the coordinated control of the actuator force of active suspension, the pseudo-inverse matrix method is used, and the 38-DOF ANFIS-PID control structure of the vehicle is obtained, as shown in Fig. 4, where z and z are the vertical vibration velocity and acceleration, [theta] and [theta] are the pitching angular velocity and angular acceleration, [phi] and [psi] are the rolling angular velocity and angular acceleration. Four active suspension control forces of vehicle system can be obtained by dynamic model:
Therein: [f.sub.i](i=1, 2, 3, 4) indicates control forces of four active suspension; [F.sub.s] is damping force for suppressing vertical vibration; [M.sub.s[theta]] is damping moment for suppressing the rolling motion; [M.sub.s[phi]] is damping moment for suppressing the pitching motion.
3.2. ANFIS-PID controller
3.2.1. ANFIS theory
The adaptive fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is a kind of fuzzy inference system based on Takagi-Sugeno model which combines the neural network and the fuzzy logic. According to the information of input-output pairs, the hybrid algorithm can automatically generate IF-THEN rules and realize the online adjustment of membership function.
The ANFIS is comprised of 5 layer architecture, its typical structure is depicted in Fig. 5. The 1st layer gives the degree of membership values. For this paper, the membership function is distinguished into 5 variables, i.e. Negative Big(NB), Negative Small(NS), Zero(ZO), Positive Small(PS), Positive Big(PB), i.e. [E.sub.i], [R.sub.i], i = 1, 2, . . ., 5. The input of the 1st layer is are error [x.sub.1]=e and change in error values [x.sub.2]=de/dt. The 2nd layer consists of 25 nodes; each node represents a fuzzy rule. The 3rd layer determines the ratio of the triggering strength of each rule to the sum of the triggering strength of all rules. The output is the triggering strength of each rule after normalization.
where: [w.sub.k] isthe triggering strength of each rule.
The output of each rule is given in the 4th layer.
[mathematical expression not reproducible](10)
where: [f.sub.k] is membership function of output variable; [p.sub.k], [q.sub.k] and [r.sub.k] are coefficient.
The 5th layer is defuzzified layer which calculates the overall output of this layer.
3.2.2 Design of ANFIS-PID controller
In order to solve the problem that the control effect becomes worse because of the large and fast changing range of the controlled object, ANFIS is used to dynamically adjust the three parameters of PID in the control process, so that the control effect is always in the best state, and its structure is shown in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6, [r.sub.in] is input value, [y.sub.out] is output value, de/dt represents the derivative with respect to time, [k.sub.p] is proportional coefficient, [k.sub.i] is integral coefficient, [k.sub.d] is derivative coefficient.
In order to achieve the desired function of the controller, three ANFIS-PID systems are designed, each of which is a five-layer feedforward neural network. Two variables are selected in the input layer, i.e. error e and change in error values de/dt; five variables are used in each variable language, [NB, NS, ZO, PS, PB], i.e., Negative Big, Negative Small, Zero, Positive Small and Positive Big; the membership function is Gauss function; the number of design fuzzy rules is 5x5 = 25; and three variables in the output layer, i.e., the parameters [k.sub.p], [k.sub.i], [k.sub.d] that need to be tuned.
4. Simulation and result
The simulation uses A-class road, vehiclevelocities is 36km/h and the Runge-Kutta method is used for time advance. The simulation time step is 0.005 s and the total simulation time is 35 s. The fuzzy-PID controller is developed for active suspension in order to compare the result of ANFIS-PID and passive suspension.
The response of vertical acceleration, pitching angular acceleration and rolling angular acceleration is illustrated in Fig. 7. It can be observed from Fig. 7 thatcompared with passive suspension, the vertical acceleration, pitching angular acceleration and rolling angular acceleration of fuzzy-PIDand ANFIS-PID controlled active suspension system was significantly reduced, and the ANFIS-PID is better. The results show that the two active suspension systems can suppress the vibration of the whole vehicle and improve the ride comfort.
The power spectral density(PSD) of vertical acceleration, pitching angular acceleration and rolling angular acceleration is represented in Fig. 8. As shown in Fig. 8, the vibration amplitude below 10Hz frequency range is suppressed of fuzzy-PID and ANFIS-PID controlled active suspension system, which is the human sensitivity frequency.
In order to compare the control effect of active suspension more clearly, Table 4 shows the root mean square (RMS) value comparison of simulation results of vibration of active suspension and passive suspension. The results show that compared with passive suspension, the RMS of vertical acceleration, pitch angle acceleration and roll angle acceleration of active suspension controlled by fuzzy-PID are reduced by 16.5, 23.9 and 22.6%, while the controlled by ANFIS-PID are reduced by 40.8, 37.8 and 38.8%. The ride comfort is also improved by means of the reduction of the acceleration with the help of controller, especially ANFIS-PID controller.
Based on the 38-DOF full-scale straddle monorail model, combined with modular control thought and ANFIS control theory, the ANFIS-PID controller is designed to control the vertical motion, pitching motion and rolling motion of vehicle. The simulation results show that the ANFIS-PID controller proposed in this paper is superior to the fuzzy-PID control and passive control, and can effectively improve the ride comfort of vehicle.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51475062).
1. Wen, X. X.; Du, Z. X.; Zuo C. Y.; et al. 2014.Influence of cornering stiffness of straddle-type monorail running wheel on tire wear under curve negotiating, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering 14(2): 41-48 (in Chinese). http://dx.doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1671-1637.2014.02.008.
2. Matsunaka, R.; Oba,T.; Nakagawa, D.; et al. 2013. International comparison of the relationship between urban structure and the service level of urban public transportation--A comprehensive analysis in local cities in Japan, France and Germany, Transport Policy30: 26-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2013.06.008.
3. Hac, A. 1985.Suspension optimization of a 2-DOF vehicle model using a stochastic optimal control technique, Journal of Sound and Vibration 100(3): 343-357. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-460X(85)90291-3.
4. Doyle, J. C.; Glover, K.; Khargonekar, P. P.; et al. 1989. State space solution to standard [H.sub.2] and [H.sub.[infinity]] control problem, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 34(8): 831-847. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/9.29425.
5. Yamashita, M.; Fujimori, K.; Hayakawa, K.; et al. 1994. Application of [H.sub.[infinity]] control to active Suspension systems, Automatica 30(11): 1717-1729. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1474-6670(17)48688-5.
6. Ahmed, A. E. N. S.; Ali, A. S.; Ghazaly, N. M.; et al. 2015. PID controller of active suspension system for a quarter car model, International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology 8(6): 899-909.
7. Chen, P. C.; Huang, A. C. 2005. Adaptive sliding control of non-autonomous active suspension systems with time-varying loadings, Journal of Sound and Vibration 282(3-5): 1119-1135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2004.03.055.
8. Qin, S.; Samuel, A. 2013. Analysis of robustness sliding mode control method for active suspension system, International Journal of Automation and Control Engineering 2(3): 137-142.
9. Yoshimura, T. 1996. Active suspension of vehicle using fuzzy logic, International Journal of System Sciencem 27(2): 215-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207729608929206.
10. Yoshimura, T. 1998. A semi-active suspension of passenger cars using fuzzy reasoning and the field testing, International Journal of Vehicle Design 19(2): 150-166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJVD.1998.062100.
11. Moran, A.; Nagai, M. 1993. Optimal preview control of rear suspension using nonlinear neural networks, Vehicle System Dynamics 22(5-6): 321-334. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00423119308969034.
12. Moran, A.; Nagai, M. 1994. Optimal active control of nonlinear vehicle suspensions using neural networks, JSME International Journal, Series C: Dynamics, Control, Robotics, Design and Manufacturing 37(4): 707-718. http://dx.doi.org/10.1299/jsmec1993.37.707.
13. Nagai, M.; Moran, A.; Tamura,Y.; et al. 1997. Identification and control of nonlinear active pneumatic suspension for railway vehicles using neural networks, Control Engineering Practice 5(8): 1137-1144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0967-0661(97)00107-x.
14. Kumar, P. S.; Sivakumar, K.; Kanagarajan, R.; et al. 2018. Adaptiveneuro fuzzy inference system control of active suspension system with actuator dynamics, Journal of Vibroengineering 20(1):541-549. http://dx.doi.org/10.21595/jve.2017.18379.
15. Gandhi, P.; Adarsh, S.; Ramachandran, K. I. 2017. Performance analysis of half car suspension model with 4 DOF using PID, LQR, FUZZY and ANFIS controllers, Procedia Computer Science 115:2-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.09.070.
16. Bao, Y.; Li, Y.; Ding, J. 2016. A case study of dynamic response analysis and safety assessment for a suspended monorail system, International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 13(11): 1121. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13111121.
17. Chen, J. P. 2011. Whole vehicle magnet rorheological fluid damper semi-active suspension variable universe fuzzy control simulation and test, Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery 42(5):7-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.211-212.106.
L. Xin, Z. Du, J. Zhou
ANFIS-PID CONTROL OF ACTIVE SUSPENSION FOR THE FULL-SCALE STRADDLE MONORAIL MODEL
Liang XIN (*), Zixue DU (**), Junchao ZHOU (***)
(*) Institute of Urban Rail, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, P. R. China, E-mail: xinlaero@163.com
(**) Institute of Urban Rail, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, P. R. China,
E-mail: aaadzx@163.com (Corresponding Author)
(***) Institute of Urban Rail, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, P. R. China
Received September 24, 2019
Accepted August 24, 2020
http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.26.4.24286
The degree of freedom of the monorail vehicle
Vehicle parts(number)    Longitudinal  Lateral  Vertical
Vehicle body (1)         xc            yc       zc
Front bogie (1)          xt1           yt1      zt1
Rear bogie (1)           xt2           yt2      zt2
Driving wheel (4)        -             -        -
Steering wheel (4)       -             -        -
Stabilizing wheel (2)    -             -        -
Vehicle parts(number)    Rolling           Pitching
Vehicle body (1)         [[theta].sub.c]   [[phi].sub.c]
Front bogie (1)          [[theta].sub.t1]  [[phi].sub.t1]
Rear bogie (1)           [[theta].sub.t2]  [[phi].sub.t2]
Driving wheel (4)        -                 [[phi].sub.zij]
Steering wheel (4)       -                 -
Stabilizing wheel (2)    -                 -
Vehicle parts(number)    Yawing
Vehicle body (1)         [[phi].sub.c]
Front bogie (1)          [[phi].sub.t1]
Rear bogie (1)           [[phi].sub.t2]
Driving wheel (4)        -
Steering wheel (4)       [[phi].sub.dij]
Stabilizing wheel (2)    [[theta].sub.dij]
The other parameters of straddle monorail dynamics model
Descriptions               Notations
Mass (vehicle and bogie)   [m.sub.c], [m.sub.ti], i = 1,2
Spring constant of air
suspension(longitudinal)   [K.sup.l.sub.kij], i =1,2, j =1,2,3,4
suspension(lateral)        [K.sup.h.sub.kij], i =1,2, j=1,2,3,4
suspension(vertical)       [K.sup.v.sub.kij], i =1,2, j=1,2,3,4
Spring constant of
driving wheel              [K.sub.zij], i = 1, 2, j = 1,2,3,4
steering wheel             [K.sub.dij], i = 1, 2, j = 1,2,3,4
stabilizing wheel          [K.sub.wij], i = 1, 2, j = 1,2
damping constant of
(longitudinal)             [C.sup.l.sub.kij], i =1,2, j =1,2,3,4
air suspension(lateral)    [C.sup.h.sub.kij],i=1,2,j=1,2,3,4
air suspension(vertical)   [C.sup.v.sub.kij],i =1,2, j =1,2,3,4
driving wheel              [C.sub.zij], i = 1, 2, j = 1,2,3,4
damping constant
of steering wheel          [C.sub.dij], i = 1, 2, j = 1,2,3,4
of stabilizing wheel       [C.sub.wij], i = 1, 2, j = 1,2
Massmomentsofinertia       [I.sub.c[theta]], [I.sub.c[phi]],
[I.sub.c[phi]], [I.sub.t[theta]i],
[I.sub.t[phi]i], [I.sub.tqij], I,
[I.sub.dqij], [I.sub.wqij]
The parameters of curving track beam model
Parameters  Length of straight line  Curvature radius of
section [L.sub.1] /m     curve section [R.sub.1] /m
Value       100                      100
Parameters  Included angle of          Track width/m  Side track width/m
curve section [gamma] /o
Value       60                         0.8            1.5
The RMS of active suspension and passive suspension
Parameter                      Passive suspension  Fuzzy-PID
Vertical acceleration          0.1013              0.08463
Pitching angular acceleration  0.05646             0.04296
Rolling angular acceleration   0.03248             0.02513
Parameter                      Reduction, %  ANFIS-PID  Reduction, %
Vertical acceleration          16.5          0.05995    40.8
Pitching angular acceleration  23.9          0.03513    37.8
Rolling angular acceleration   22.6          0.01987    38.8
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kauno Technologijos Universitetas
Xin, Liang; Du, Zixue; Zhou, Junchao
Research on Vehicle-Bridge Vertical Coupling Dynamics of Monorail based on Multiple Road Excitations.
Shape Optimization of the Active Element for Vibration Energy Harvesting.


World leaders are gathering at the United Nations headquarters in New York to give speeches about priorities, threats to global security, the scourge of terrorism, poverty, and generally the pressing needs of today's world.
Now it is an opportune time that world leaders warn about Donald Trump's unilateral approaches such as his order to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.
The United States is the main culprit to the global warming. It is enough to know that for several decades or maybe even for more than a century the U.S. has been the biggest emitter to the world, lonely accounting for more than 30 of emissions to the atmosphere.
This sense of irresponsibility shows Trump's selfishness and his disdain for people of other countries who have been affected by the global warming and the ensuing consequences such as droughts, poverty, dislocations, etc.
Missteps by Trump who is the wrong side of history is not just limited to the climate agreement. In recent days he has also been leveling the harshest remarks against the nuclear pact clinched between Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany, and the European Union.
Now that he is making preparations to tear up the UN-endorsed nuclear deal which is also backed by the entire world, how can countries expect other international treaties to survive?
In addition, his incendiary remarks may push the Korean Peninsula toward a nuclear holocaust.
Through such actions the U.S. president and his loyalists are gradually pushing the international order to the verge of collapse. People's memory is still fresh with inconsiderate actions by certain extremist statesmen who pushed the world toward disasters. World War I and World War II are just reminders.
Before it is too late world leaders must warn Trump about his inconsiderate and risky games. Failure to do may prove extremely costly for the world.


text:
Iran vows 'harsh retaliation' after US airstrike kills Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani
Qassem Soleimani, Iranian military officials killed in US airstrike
Fox News contributor Dan Hoffman reacts.
On New Year's Day, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei taunted Donald Trump on his favorite platform, Twitter, after the President vowed Iran would be held "fully responsible" for any lives lost at U.S. facilities abroad.
"You can't do anything," Khamenei boldly declared.
Less than 48 hours later, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, was killed in an airstrike in Iraq ordered by "that guy" President Trump, with the ayatollah now claiming "harsh retaliation is waiting for the criminals whose filthy hands spilled his blood."
His words were echoed by Iran's president Hassan Rouhani, who promised to "take revenge for this heinous crime."
Rouhani also said Iran would "raise the flag" of Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, "in defense of the country's territorial integrity and the fight against terrorism and extremism in the region."
TRUMP ORDERS ATTACK THAT KILLS IRANIAN GEN. QASSIM SOLEIMANI, OTHER MILITARY OFFICIALS IN BAGHDAD, PENTAGON SAYS
The Pentagon confirmed Thursday evening that Trump had ordered the attack that killed Soleimani and other military officials at Baghdad International Airport. Iran's top "shadow commander" was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more, the State Department said.
The U.S. State Department issued a security alert Friday morning urging all U.S. citizens to "depart Iraq immediately" due to heightened tensions in the region.
"Due to Iranian-backed militia attacks at the U.S. Embassy compound, all consular operations are suspended. U.S. citizens should not approach the Embassy," the alert said. The agency also shared phone numbers people concerned about U.S. citizens and other loved ones in Iraq could call toll free for information.
The State Department said the airstrike "was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans."
Protesters demonstrate over the U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran, Friday Jan. 3, 2020. Iran has vowed "harsh retaliation" for the U.S. airstrike near Baghdad's airport that killed Tehran's top general and the architect of its interventions across the Middle East, as tensions soared in the wake of the targeted killing. (AP)
"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region… The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world."
Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, who served as Soleimani's deputy commander since 1997, will now take over the helm as head of the Quds Force, a move confirmed by Khamenei on Twitter later Friday.
Officials in New York City and Los Angeles have announced they're taking precautionary measures in anticipation of a possible retaliatory attack. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday he'd spoken with top NYPD officials about immediate steps the department could take "to be vigilant against this threat for a long time to come." LAPD said it was monitoring the situation in Iran but affirmed there has been no credible threat to the city.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tehran Friday to protest Soleimani's killing, chanting "Death to America" and holding up posters bearing his image, AFP reported. Similar demonstrations were held in a number of other Iranian cities, it added, citing state media.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also tweeted a video that he claimed showed Iraqis taking to the streets to celebrate the death of Soleimani. It was not immediately clear where or when the footage in the tweet was recorded.
The Iranian foreign minister warned that the U.S. would bear all the consequences of the "foolish" military attack, claiming Soleimani's assassination would only escalate tensions in the region given that he was "THE most effective force" fighting terrorism carried out by the Islamic State.
Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Islamic Republic of Iran, said on Twitter that "The US' act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation."
Many Democrats admitted that no Americans would mourn Soleimani's death but also raised concern that the escalation will put the U.S. on a crash course for a new conflict in the Mideast. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying that Trump ordered the airstrike "without the consultation of Congress."
WASHINGTON POST BLASTED FOR REFERRING TO QASSIM SOLEIMANI AS IRAN'S 'MOST REVERED MILITARY LEADER'
"American leaders' highest priority is to protect American lives and interests," her statement said. "But we cannot put the lives of American service members, diplomats and others further at risk by engaging in provocative and disproportionate actions. Tonight's airstrike risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence."
Protesters burn a U.S. flag during a demonstration over the U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2020. Iran has vowed "harsh retaliation" for the U.S. airstrike near Baghdad's airport that killed Tehran's top general and the architect of its interventions across the Middle East, as tensions soared in the wake of the targeted killing. (AP)
An adviser to Rouhani also quickly warned Trump of retaliation from Tehran.
"Trump through his gamble has dragged the U.S. into the most dangerous situation in the region," Hessameddin Ashena wrote on the social media app Telegram. "Whoever put his foot beyond the red line should be ready to face its consequences."
Soleimani is the military mastermind whom Pompeo had deemed equally as dangerous as Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In October, Baghdadi killed himself during a U.S. raid on a compound in northwest Syria, seven months after the so-called ISIS "caliphate" crumbled as the terrorist group lost its final swath of Syrian territory in March.
The overnight attack occurred amid tensions with the U.S. after an Iran-backed militia attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which was targeted Tuesday by angry mobs who were protesting recent U.S. airstrikes. The two-day siege outside of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad came to an end Wednesday afternoon after dozens of pro-Iran militiamen and their supporters withdrew from the compound.
Soleimani was the long-running leader of the elite intelligence wing called Quds Force – which itself has been a designated terror group since 2007, and is estimated to be 20,000 strong. Considered one of the most powerful men in Iran, he routinely was referred to as its "shadow commander" or "spymaster."
In April 2019, the State Department announced Iran was responsible for killing 608 U.S. troops during the Iraq War. Soleimani was the head of the Iranian and Iranian-backed forces carrying out those operations killing American troops. According to the State Department, 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 were orchestrated by Soleimani.
As recently as 2015, a travel ban and United Nations Security Council resolutions had barred Soleimani from leaving Iran.
Friday's Baghdad strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, a source told Fox News. In all, at least seven people were killed and at least three rockets were fired, officials told The Associated Press. An official with the Popular Mobilization Forces said its airport protocol officer, Mohammed Reda, also died.
Fox News' Frank Miles, Lucas Tomlinson, John Roberts, Mike Arroyo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Flag, United States, 48 Star, Lafayette Escadrille
United States 48-star national flag used by the Lafayette Escadrille of the French Air Service; consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton with forty-eight white, five-pointed stars arranged 6 horizontal rows of 8 stars; yellow trim with aiguillette and French war cross.
This 48-star American flag was presented by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to members of the Lafayette Escadrille, a French Air Service squadron manned primarily by American volunteer pilots during World War I. The unit was named to honor the Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American and French revolutions.
This flag was donated by Frederick H. Prince, who flew with the Lafayette Escadrille during the conflict. His brother, Norman Prince, was a leading founder of the squadron and flew with it until his death in a crash in October 1916.
Donated by Mr. Frederick H. Prince, Jr.
MEMORABILIA-World War I
Overall: Silk
2-D - In Frame (H x W x D): 132.1 x 167.6cm (52 x 66 in.)
nasm_A19600188000
Not determined
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv9e00b5bfd-55f2-47ea-a3d2-f1dbe1be6fac
Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue
World War I Collection Sampler


text:
Robert Burns' children: how many children did the Bard have, and does he have any famous descendants?
Who won I'm A Celebrity over the years: Full list of jungle winners from 2002 to 2022 and what they won
Theatre review: Three Tales of Life and Death by Craig Lucas
Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Craig Lucas is a Pulitzer and Tony-nominated playwright but perhaps best-known as the screenwriter of 1989 Aids drama Longtime Companion.
Updated 12th Sep 2017, 11:35am
Assembly Rooms (Venue 20)
Like many writers, you suspect he must have a drawer full of unused ideas and scenes that don't lead anywhere. Unlike other writers, however, you suspect Lucas has decided to group a load of these pieces together and call it a play.
That's not to say this isn't worthwhile: the professionalism of veteran actors Richard Kline and Pamela Shaw ensure that every comedic beat is hit.
The opening sexagenarian tryst gone wrong is worthy of mid-range Woody Allen but how it relates to a Twilight Zone-ish tale of a lonely barmaid visited by an enigmatically mute customer or the closer – where the ghosts of HIV victims ponder the Aids quilt in Washington DC – is not readily apparent.
In the background, a TV screen frequently comments on the action with scene-setting news clips (although quite how the Edward Snowden story figures in this collage of love and mortality may prove impenetrable).
As a piece, this may fail to coalesce into a satisfying whole but the polished performers lend it an enjoyable sheen.
Until 26 August. Tomorrow 3:50pm.


Welcome to My FREE Business & Branding Challenge Video Series.
You have been searching for the answers on how to go from Zero to Six-Figures Online. Well, you are in the right place. In my FREE Business & Branding Challenge Video Series, I give you the action steps to grow your business & your bank account.
Video 1 - What is Important in Branding to have the greatest impact on your Audience.
Video 2 - Create Your Signature Offer.
Video 3 - Lead Magnets & Traffic Generation.
In the Video Challenge, You will view 3 Video Trainings to teach you how to Earn Six-Figures Online.
If you are New to me, I am Tracy Wright, the Founder of Women Businesses™, your Business & Branding Coach, as well as a Social Media Expert. I have created 7 Successful Businesses Online from Scratch that allow me to live the lifestyle that I desired.
I will be bringing you through the Challenge.
I am Tracy Wright, a Social Media Expert, Influencer and a Business & Branding Coach who has created 7 Successful Businesses Online.
My Brand Executees™ had the Opportunity of a Lifetime by having OPRAH WINFREY AS A CLIENT and creating her Custom Oprah Farewell Season Custom T-Shirts. I have been an Entrepreneur for over 12 Years now after being able to FREE MYSELF from the shackles of being an EMPLOYEE.


Barker and Stonehouse, who have 8 stores in the UK, have been selling quality furniture for over 60 years. There's something for every room of your home and they offer various web exclusive deals at discounted prices.
Best Shop Deals currently does not have any voucher codes or discount coupons listed for Barker and Stonehouse. However, you can check out our Forum where you can request and exchange discount codes and promotional store vouchers with other online shoppers. Alternatively you can visit Barker and Stonehouse directly an go to the sales or promotions sections for the latest store offers.
We recommend that you check the actual discount for any voucher or code is applied before you complete the check out process at Barker and Stonehouse. Expiration of codes and/or vouchers can occur at any time without prior notice, and while we try to keep site up-to-date, we cannot be held responsible nor liable as to the accuracy of the content, offers and discounts. If you notice any expired Barker and Stonehouse voucher codes then please 'Contact Us' so we can update the information.


It was a shocker when George Carling died last month. I expected that old codger to be around for years, hobbling around on a gnarled up walking stick and waving his arms around while he grumped and fussed. He has been a comedy fixture my whole life. I listened to some of his comedy routines when I was a kid and watched most of his HBO specials.
He came to town a few years ago and did a standup routine for about an hour. I got great seats because of connections at the radio station. But to be honest, he came off as a bitter, twisted old man who wasn't funny anymore. I was terribly disappointed in the entire show and wondered if it was me not being in the right frame of mind that night? Or has he lost his funny touch?
I read the other day that he had just done another show with new material and that his children are releasing it on DVD to try to milk a few more dollars out of their old man's estate. I sure hope the show was funny this time. I really did like the guy and am sorry that he's gone.


Successfully completed projects for UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
Successfully completed Special Summer Camp Program for TCS Employees' Children through TCS Maitree.
Successfully completed Special Summer Camp Program for under privilege students from Nainar Kuppam, ECR, Chennai through TCS Maitree, a CSR division of TCS.
Successfully implemented holiday E-Camp program for many under privilege students through institutional tie-ups.
Awarded as BEST EDUCATION / LITERACY PROJECT IN INDIA (2012) by SUJANA GROUP OF COMPANIES & FOUNDATION, Hyderabad, through All India competition.
Awarded as BEST GLOBAL INNOVATIVE ASSESSMENT SERVICE PROIVDER (2012) through International competition.
Awarded as INTERNATIONAL GOLD STAR MILLENNIUM AWARD (2013) at the international conference on "CELEBRATING THE GLOBAL INDIAN" at Bangkok, Thailand.
Awarded as BEST INNOVATIVE SCHOOL SUPPORT AND SUPPLIER (2014) by OSWALL BOOKS & SCHOOL OF EDUCATORS, New Delhi.
Awarded as GLOBAL QUALITY AWARD (2015) FOR "QUALITY & INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN" , New Delhi.
Recognized and Awarded as "INTERNATIONAL ARISTOTLE AWARD IN THE EDUCATION SPHERE (2015) " (The international prize for organizations that are inspiration for others with their results, their management and their vision) By decision of the Aristotle Committee the names of "E-KIDS SOLUTION PRIVATE LIMITED" and its leader Dr. B. Fredy Fernando have been added to The Aristotle Golden Book by World Business Assembly, Bulgaria.


text:
Die Town of Greece ist eine US-amerikanische Kleinstadt (Town) im Monroe County des Bundesstaats New York. Das U.S. Census Bureau hat bei der Volkszählung 2020 eine Einwohnerzahl von 96.926 ermittelt.

Geografie
Greece liegt im nördlichen Teil des Countys und grenzt im Osten an die Stadt Rochester, im Süden an die Stadt Gates, im Westen an die Städte Parma und Ogden und im Norden an den Ontariosee. Die Stadt ist ein angrenzender Vorort von Rochester. Das Gebiet, das als Charlotte bekannt ist und an der östlichen Grenze liegt, war früher Teil der Stadt, bis es 1916 von der Stadt Rochester annektiert wurde.

Geschichte
Die Stadt Greece wurde 1822 aus einem Teil der Stadt Gates gegründet und hieß vorher Northampton. Der Name Griechenland (Greece) wurde wegen des zeitgenössischen Kampfes Griechenlands um die Unabhängigkeit vom Osmanischen Reich gewählt.

Demografie
Nach einer Schätzung von 2019 leben in Greece 95.499 Menschen. Die Bevölkerung teilt sich 2019 auf in 84,6 % Weiße, 8,0 % Afroamerikaner, 0,2 % amerikanische Ureinwohner, 2,8 % Asiaten und 3,2 % mit zwei oder mehr Ethnizitäten. Hispanics oder Latinos aller Ethnien machten 6,1 % der Bevölkerung von Greece aus. Das mittlere Haushaltseinkommen lag bei 63.113 US-Dollar und die Armutsquote bei 9,0 %.

Weblinks

 Website von Greece (englisch)

Einzelnachweise

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Voters cast their midterm ballots at the District 5 Ward 83 firehouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Nov. 6, 2018. (Darren Hauck/Getty Images)
Wisconsin Court Temporarily Blocks Purge of Up to 209,000 Names From Voter Rolls
By Isabel van Brugen
January 15, 2020 Updated: January 15, 2020
A Wisconsin appeals court ordered the state on Jan. 14 to temporarily halt the removal of more than 200,000 people from its voter registration rolls for failing to answer questions about their addresses.
The removal of as many as 209,000 names was put on hold a day after an Ozaukee County judge found three members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt of court for ignoring an order he gave in December 2019.
An appeals court judge also blocked the contempt finding in a separate order, putting on hold a decision that fined the three Democratic members $250 a day each until they voted to purge the names.
The appeals court on Jan. 14 ordered that the lower court's order against the commissioners and a Dec. 13 order to purge the names from voter rolls be "stayed until further order of this court," the court clerk wrote.
The rulings will ensure, temporarily, that thousands of names won't be removed from the rolls until the appeals court reviews the dispute. Democrats have raised the alarm over the potential removal of so many registrations in a state set to be a battleground when President Donald Trump seeks reelection in November.
The order to remove hundreds of thousands of names was initially made last month, and came after the state Elections Commission sent notices in October last year to more than 230,000 people that were thought to have moved, requesting that they update their voter registrations or indicate that they hadn't moved.
The letters were sent to the voters based on data from the Electronic Registration Information Center that suggested they had potentially changed addresses. If they didn't respond, they were in danger of being removed from the rolls by 2021.
"We want voters to be prepared for 2020," Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin's chief elections official, said at the time. "This mailing is designed to help people who may have moved within Wisconsin make sure they're ready to vote next year. It will not keep anyone eligible from voting."
"If you move, even to an apartment in the same building, you must update your voter record by re-registering," Wolfe said.
Some 209,000 hadn't responded.
The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) brought a case by three voters, who said the state should remove the voters from the rolls faster. Judge Malloy agreed and ordered the purge, but the commission hasn't taken action. The Republican commissioners said they had been trying to follow the order but were blocked by Democrats.
Rick Esenberg, president of WILL, said in a statement he would now focus on the appeals court.
"What is true yesterday is true today," Esenberg said. "The Wisconsin Elections Commission isn't following state law and we look forward to making that case in the Court of Appeals."
The Wisconsin Election Commission had said it wanted to avoid a repeat of a previous purge, when thousands of names had been erroneously flagged.
Voters removed from the rolls can re-register to vote at the polls on Election Day at their clerk's offices or online at myvote.wi.gov.
The decision to scrub voters' names from the state's registration rolls is also being challenged by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin in federal court, CBS News reported. The organization has argued that while individuals wrongly removed from the rolls can re-register on an election day under state law, the removal was a burden on their right to vote.
It isn't known how long the appeals court will take to review the dispute.
Reuters and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
9hr By Simone Gao, NTD
Time to Get Tough on China, Former Ambassador Tells Ottawa
NEW By Jason Unrau
NEW By Ella Kietlinska, Epoch Times
Senate Rejects Democrats' Effort to Subpoena Documents in Impeachment Trial
3hr By Jack Phillips
Lawsuit Seeks Freedom to Busk in Houston
3hr By Matthew Vadum


The proposed follow-on to Gemini, the Big Gemini Logistics spacecraft was to deliver supplies and personnel to the upcoming military and civilian space stations of the early 1970's.
I wondered what a "Big Apollo" Logistics spacecraft might have looked like if North American had extended the profile of the Apollo CSM as a competitor to Big Gemini. Here's my completely conjectural card model of Big Apollo that would ride to orbit on top of an S-IVB. Designed in Metasequoia and the details worked in MSWord.
Please excuse the poor workmanship...this was the fit-test prototype build and I wanted to see how gold foil (candy wrappers) would look. At 1/96 scale, the photos show a lot of problems that the eye doesn't see from a distance (I hope).
There were several such designs. The Lockheed BALLOS springs to mind, as does a North American "space bomber" design.
Thank you for the kind words Gentlemen.
And for the lead on Ballos and the NAA Space Bomber. I'll check those out.
Still completely conjectural. Big Apollo launched on top of an S-IVB rendevousing with it's big brother launched on an S-II. Flying formation then docked nose to nose. Both 1/96 scale card models.
...Got links for BALLOS, Scott?


A rewarding anthology spanning some four decades and more, from the Tenth and Eleventh Quartets of 1983 and 1990 (both written for the Kronos) all the way back to Sculthorpe's own reconstructions of individual movements from his first four quartets (teenage efforts, none of which have survived intact). The stunning Earth Cry (1986) sounds even more effective in its original orchestral guise (11/95), but there's no gainsaying the vibrant commitment and superior polish displayed by the Goldner Quartet. Truthful sound and balance.
Peter Sculthorpe's string quartets present a fascinating overview of the work of one of Australia's most influential and innovative composers.
Believing European models inappropriate for Australian composers, Sculthorpe has approached composition from a unique perspective, creating a sound world that is powerfully evocative and distinctly Australian, even when divorced from extra-musical associations.
Not that Sculthorpe would wish for this separation as is shown by his comments on the quartet Earth Cry. Here, the message is too important and integral to his underlying philosophy to be discarded: "A bogus national identity and its commercialisation have obscured the true breadth of our culture. Perhaps now we need to attune ourselves to this continent, to listen to the cry of the earth, as the Aborigines have done for thousands of years." Earth Cry expresses both profound grief and rage at the destruction of the land and indigenous culture.
Sculthorpe's attraction to the Australian landscape in all its manifestations, from remote desert scenes to lush vistas alive with the sounds of birds and insects, led to a series of "Kakadu-inspired" works, of which Jabiru Dreaming is an example. Exploring the contrast of colonising and indigenous cultures, Quartet No. 10 portrays the duality in alternating blocks of sound. Both quartets demonstrate the composer's mastery of textural variation and skill in sustaining non-developmental patterns particularly via the use of repetitive ritualistic rhythms.
The selections of movements from Sculthorpe's earliest quartets, dating from the 1940s, are interesting for the glimpse they provide into the early development of the composer. Showing a propensity for flexible scoring, Morning Son, Autumn Song and Saibai are arrangements from earlier works. Like Hills Songs 1 and 2, they induce a more sentimental mood, less weighed down by the convictions underpinning the more serious works.
The outstanding Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe is at last beginning to receive the attention he deserves in Europe. Recordings are now available. And one of the best is the Golder Quartet's superb account of String Quartets Nos 10 and 11, together with an astonishing transcription of his formidable compsition Earth Cry.


Last Minute Gift Suggestions + Celtic Music!
Speaking of Meyer Hardware, they will be hosting their annual Celtic Music concert, featuring Jerry Barlow, tomorrow from 12-2PM.
Creekside Jewelers in downtown Golden carries a wide array of jewelry–from exquisite wedding jewelry to ultra-contemporary Colorado artists, plus a wide array of colored gemstone jewelry!
Owner Roger Tapia can also bring your ideas to life as custom jewelry, and of course he shows the finest craftsmanship in jewelry repairs. Whether you're ready for a new piece or want to get your current jewelry back in wearable condition, take it to Creekside Jewelry.
Just like looking at jewelry? They can clean and inspect your wedding rings at no charge while you browse!


This week's lesson is Copper, Commies, and the Cold War: Montana's Labor Resurgence, 1934–1950. Join Senior MHS Manuscript Archivist Rich Aarstad for a raucous romp through Montana's labor history, beginning with the rebirth of Montana's labor movement in 1934, at the height of the Great Depression, through 1950, when the Red Scare caused new fissures in the labor movement nationally and in Montana. About the speaker: Rich Aarstad joined the staff of the Montana Historical Society in 2001. He's the author of "Western Montana's Christmas Tree Boom, 1926–1969," published in Montana The Magazine of Western History, coauthor of the book Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman and a prolific public speaker, who has presented on topics ranging from Lewis and Clark and World War I to jerks in Montana history.
Montana History in 9 MORE Easy Lessons: Do Treaties Matter?


A wide variety of crusher machine options are available to you, such as jaw crusher, impact crusher, and cone crusher. You can also choose from free samples, paid samples. There are 446,298 crusher machine suppliers, mainly located in Asia.
Pcb Crusher, Wholesale Various High Quality Pcb Crusher Products from Global Pcb Crusher Suppliers and Pcb Crusher Factory PCB hammer crusher machine, stone crushers price in China .. ISO mini heavy hammer mill crusher.
Plastic Crusher Machine with High Quality MadeinChina. Crusher, Plastic Crusher, Crusher Machine manufacturer / supplier in China, offering Plastic Crusher Machine with High Quality, Plastic Pipe Crusher, Hot Sale China Manufacture Pipe Plasitic Crusher and so on.
China PP PE PVC Woven Bags Shredder Crusher Machine with High-Quality, Leading PP PE PVC Woven Bags Shredder Crusher Machine Manufacturers & Suppliers, find PP PE PVC Woven Bags Shredder Crusher Machine Factory & Exporters.
Save stone crusher machine to get e-mail alerts and updates on your eBay Feed. + Items in search results. 220V Crusher Machine,200x70 for Stone, Coal Gangue, Glass etc. Hammer Crushing ... From China. Trending at $13.77 Trending price is based on prices over last 90 days. Buy It Now +$4.00 shipping. 13 Watching. 2% off.


text:
Powerball Payouts
Current Jackpot
Jackpot Analysis
Smartpicks
Frequency Chart
Mega Millions Payouts
Lotto America Payouts
Claiming Prizes
How Jackpots are Calculated
Lottery Comparison
Biggest Powerball Jackpots
Powerball is famous for its big jackpots and has regularly set records since the game's launch in 1992. There are hundreds of thousands of Powerball winners in every draw, with a jackpot that starts at $20 million and keeps growing until it is won.
Read on to discover the top 10 biggest jackpots in Powerball history. Find out everything about the game's biggest winners, including where they purchased their tickets and what they planned to do with their new-found wealth.
1. $2.04 billion - November 7, 2022
Lottery history was made in this draw as it was the first time that the jackpot for Powerball, Mega Millions, or any other game, had ever gone above $2 billion.
The final figure was $2.04 billion after a late surge of ticket sales. The high level of interest even caused one lottery, Minnesota, to experience a technical delay in processing its data that led to the draw being held up until the next morning.
A single player was revealed to be the winner. The ticket was bought in California, at a gas station in Altadena. The winner was left with a choice of $2.04 billion as an annuity, or a one-time payment of $997 million.
2. $1.58 billion - January 13, 2016
This prize marked the first-ever occasion that a jackpot rolled above $1 billion. It was split by three winning tickets sold in California, Florida, and Tennessee.
First to claim were Munford, Tennessee couple John and Lisa Robinson, who appeared on the Today show to tell a live TV audience that they held one of the lucky tickets. They chose to receive the cash option payout of $327.8 million. Had they opted for the annuitized prize, their share would have been nearly $530 million.
The second set of winners to surface were husband and wife David Kaltschmidt and Maureen Smith of Melbourne Beach, Florida. They claimed via the Nickel 95 Trust, which they created to manage their winnings. The couple also decided to receive their prize as a $327.8 million lump sum.
Six months after the draw, Marvin and Mae Acosta from Chino Hills, California stepped forward as the holders of the third winning ticket. The couple stated that they would donate most of the money to a Trust and to charity. The Acostas also chose to take their win as the $327.8 million cash option.
3. $768.4 million - March 27, 2019
24-year-old Manuel Franco of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the lucky recipient of the highest lottery prize ever won by a single ticket at the time. Franco said he had a "really lucky, weird feeling" when he purchased the winning ticket. He opted for the lump sum payout of $477 million, choosing to retire and pursue his goal to "help out the world."
4. $758.7 million - August 23, 2017
At the time, this jackpot was the largest ever hit on a single ticket. Mavis Wanczyk from Massachusetts wasted no time in claiming her life-changing win, stepping forward the day after the drawing to collect the cash option of $480.5 million. She told lottery officials that she'd quit her job in a hospital, and her next step would be to "hide in bed"!
5. $731 million - January 20, 2021
The biggest prize in Maryland history went to a group of players who chose to stay anonymous, going by the name "The Power Pack." One of the group members bought their single winning Quick Pick ticket from Coney Market in Lonaconing, a small former mining town in Allegheny County. However, it took a while for their good fortune to sink in. After checking the winning numbers, the member who purchased the ticket told the rest of the group, "This can't be right. I'm going to work."
The Power Pack eventually did claim their prize in May, sharing the $546.8 million lump sum payout, less $366.6 million in federal and state tax withholdings. While they didn't plan to change the way they lived, the winners said they would invest in order to support their families and communities "for generations to come."
This incredible jackpot should definitely answer the question, "Do Powerball Quick Picks ever win?"
6. $699.8 million - October 4, 2021
This amazing prize was won by a single ticket purchased in California, following 40 jackpot rollovers. The cash option is valued at $496 million. The winner has not come forward yet to claim their payout.
This win was extra-special in a number of ways. It was the first time the jackpot was hit on a Monday since Powerball added the third weekly draw in August 2021. Not only that, but the prize was also the fifth-largest Powerball win ever, the seventh-largest US jackpot of all time, AND the biggest lottery win in California history!
The ticket was sold by Albertsons in Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County.
7. $687 million - October 27, 2018
Two winners shared this awesome jackpot: Lerynne West of Redford, Iowa and Robert Bailey of New York City.
After temporarily losing her ticket in her sister's truck, West was able to claim her prize, using some of the funds to create a charity named in honor of her grandson, The Callum Foundation.
Bailey, a retired government worker, faithfully stuck with the same numbers for over 25 years after receiving them from a friend - and said he's not going to stop playing his lucky picks anytime soon. Both winners chose to receive the lump sum payment of $198 million each.
8. $632 million – January 5, 2022
This huge jackpot was split between two winning tickets – one from Wisconsin and one from California. The Wisconsin winners were revealed to be Tammy and Cliff Webster from Oneida near Green Bay. They purchased their entry at Jackson Pointe Citgo, 2710 Packerland Drive in Green Bay and described it as a 'wonderful blessing'.
9. $590.5 million - May 18, 2013
Gloria MacKenzie of Zephyrhills, Florida, made history with the largest prize ever won by a single ticket. She chose to receive her payout as the cash value of $370.9 million.
10. $587.5 million - November 28, 2012
Arizona resident Matthew Good and Missouri grandparents Mark and Cindy Hill shared this jackpot, with all the winners deciding to go with the cash option payout of $192 million each before taxes.
Material © 2023 Powerball-MegaMillions.com.
Powerball-MegaMillions.com is an independent service that offers unofficial results and information about games provided by MUSL and other US states.
It is not endorsed by or affiliated with any state, multi-state or national lottery provider.


7/2/15 will become LOGH Day and our grandchildren will celebrate by engaging in intricate space politics.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes getting licensed and distributed in the United States is a pretty big piece of news in my humble opinion. It finally happened. After all these years, it finally happened.
Today's episode is about Oberstein and Lohengramm's political ambitions, maneuvering on the political terrain in the Kaiser's court in the wake of the Iserlohn Invasion. It's pretty good.
You are currently viewing the archives for July, 2015 at Daily Anime Podcast.


text:
Q: How can i parse strings as the inputs to subprocess.Popen? Here I tried to cut first and second 30sec long video file from "path/connect.flv" to the files output1.flv and output2.flv. It works. I able to concatenate these two files to form a new file "final.flv" of 60sec long. So this works and i am getting the outputs output1.flv [30sec], output2.flv[30sec] and final.flv[1min].
Here is the python code:
import subprocess

ffmpeg_command1 = ["ffmpeg", "-i", "/home/xincoz/test/connect.flv", "-acodec", "copy", "-ss", "00:00:00", "-t", "00:00:30", "/home/xincoz/test/output1.flv"]

ffmpeg_command2 = ["ffmpeg", "-i", "/home/xincoz/test/connect.flv", "-acodec", "copy", "-ss", "00:00:30", "-t", "00:00:30", "/home/xincoz/test/output2.flv"]

ffmpeg_command3 = ["mencoder", "-forceidx", "-ovc", "copy", "-oac", "pcm", "-o", "/home/xincoz/test/final.flv", "/home/xincoz/test/output1.flv", "/home/xincoz/test/output2.flv"]

subprocess.call(ffmpeg_command1)

subprocess.call(ffmpeg_command2)

subprocess.Popen(ffmpeg_command3)

But what i really want is to concatenate two strings out1 and out2 and concatinate these two to a file instead of concatenating  "/home/xincoz/test/output1.flv" and "/home/xincoz/test/output2.flv". So how can i parse string out1 and out2 as the inputs to mencoder ? Please edit my code to achieve the result.
import subprocess,os

ffmpeg_command = ["ffmpeg", "-i", "/home/xincoz/test/connect.flv", "-acodec", "copy", "-ss", "00:00:00", "-t", "00:00:30","-f", "flv", "pipe:1"]

p = subprocess.Popen(ffmpeg_command,stdout=subprocess.PIPE)

out1, err = p.communicate()

ffmpeg_command1 = ["ffmpeg", "-i", "/home/xincoz/test/connect.flv", "-acodec", "copy", "-ss", "00:00:30", "-t", "00:00:30","-f", "flv", "pipe:1"]

p1 = subprocess.Popen(ffmpeg_command1,stdout=subprocess.PIPE)

out2, err1 = p1.communicate()

ffmpeg_command2 = ["mencoder", "-forceidx", "-ovc", "copy", "-oac", "pcm", "-o", "/home/xincoz/test/final.flv", out1, out2 ]

p2=subprocess.Popen(ffmpeg_command2)

Please help me. Thanks a lot in advance.

A: You haven't said how your code fails, but it looks like you are trying to give MEncoder binary strings as command line parameters. http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/menc-feat-selecting-input.html says that you can give the filename in the command line, not the contents of a file.
so to answer your question:
with open('merged.flv', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(out1 + out2)

ffmpeg_command2 = ["mencoder", "your", "other", "args", "merged.flv"]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Bangladesh: Three Months After Tazreen Fire, Little Change
by Tula Connell | Feb 20, 2013
Three months after at least 112 workers died in the Tazreen Fashions factory fire, dangerous and deadly working conditions are commonplace for the nearly 2 million Bangladeshi garment workers, who have little recourse than to take jobs that may kill them.
Despite international outrage and local promises to improve workplace safety, at least 37 fire and fire-related incidents have occurred in Bangladeshi garment factories since the Nov. 24 Tazreen tragedy, according to data compiled by Solidarity Center staff in Bangladesh. Nine more people have lost their lives at work and more than 650 garment workers have been injured. The Solidarity Center in the capital, Dhaka, has received reports that underage workers were injured at one factory fire incident.
February 20, World Day of Social Justice, highlights the necessity of promoting decent work, gender equity and access to social well-being and justice for all. Despite a global outcry about workplace safety following the Tazreen fire, where flames engulfed a multistory building lacking in fire escapes and exits, Bangladesh has averaged three fire incidents a week. Bangladeshi garment workers—extremely poor and vulnerable and primarily women—risk their lives every day on the job, often too fearful to complain about substandard conditions and possible dangers.
Bangladesh is now the world's second-largest clothes exporter with overseas garment sales topping $19 billion last year, or 80 percent of total national exports. Yet the base pay for a garment worker in Bangladesh is the equivalent of $37 a month—the same monthly amount it costs to buy food for one person and the definition of "extreme poverty."
The Solidarity Center, which for years has been supporting workers' rights in Bangladesh— including providing fire safety training—is working with partners to hold accountable the Bangladeshi government, which is bound by law to protect its citizens.
Crucially, workers must be empowered and protected—legally and physically—to demand accountability and review their government's performance in enforcing laws. Bangladesh has laws that, on paper, protect workers, guarantee their right to freely speak and associate and mandate fire escapes. It must enforce these laws. Bangladesh's workers are best-positioned to improve health and safety conditions. They are in the factory every day. They know which exits are locked, how hazardous materials are stored and when illegal building additions are being constructed above their heads.
Yet, when garment workers in Bangladesh have sought to improve their working conditions, they are harassed, attacked and, in the case of union organizer Aminul Islam, murdered.
"If the government and buyers are serious about addressing deadly working conditions, workers must be able to assert their rights, organize unions with their co-workers, raise safety concerns and demand better working conditions according to their best judgment," said Tim Ryan, Solidarity Center Asia director.


text:
Mula kan syfta på:

 Mula – ett hästdjur som är en hybrid mellan häststo och åsnehingst
 Mula (verb) – att trycka någons huvud mot snö
 Mula (fordon) – en rullande testbänk för fordonsindustrin
 Mula (släkte) – ett släkte av insekter

Geografi

Kina

 Mula (socken), Sichuan,

Spanien

 Mula (kommun), Murcia, Murcia,
 Mula (kommunhuvudort), Murcia, Murcia,

Robotskapade Kinaförgreningar


Feb 1, 2015 Also the unit prices ($US/tonne) of these ingredients in Egypt have increased sharply; . Only a few of the private sector feed mills (5 mills in 2012) produce extruded feeds Medium-scale mill (15,000 tonnes/year) .. Conference on Aquaculture 2010, Phuket, Thailand, 22–25 September 2010 (2012), pp.
Sep 6, 2012 commodity coverage coming to different results (Janda et al., 2012; Zilberman et al., 2012). In this paper, we . frequencies (low scales), which implies that the biofuels prices react more rapidly to changes . Futures, EU Mill.
scale. In this context, an activist environmental macroeconomics will be required to . Source: FAO, Food Price Index, Accessed Sept 20, 2012 .. Mill (1994 [ 1848]) that satiation of material needs would lead to a cessation of economic growth.
Aug 1, 2012 N Engl J Med 2012; 367:949-954September 6, 2012DOI: 10.1056/ NEJMsb1205901 Fee-for-service payment encourages wasteful use of high- cost tests and procedures. and exchanges achieve adequate scale, it is critical that federal and state .. Family Medicine Physician Jobs in Mill Creek, WA.
Figure 11- Fossil and biomass based jet fuel costs and carbon prices in a large and sustainable scale and in particular it must be available on a significant the subsequent conversion into the jet fuel including transport from the mill to the.
SteelMint provides prices on Mill Scale from Indian Market with latest news, logistic details and other statistics.
Accepted: 5 September 2012. Published: 11 September 2012 . The variation of capital cost increments is mainly due to the scale of the solid–liquid .. and refining using a total of 8,000 (indicated by 8 K) revolutions in a PFI refining mill.


Yelse: who are the pies missing today?
Jackwatt$: I just put Treloar, Reid, Conca & Chol into my team. Good move?
Tigger5: haven't been watching, wheres conca playing?
pcaman2003: 26 shots to 13 not good Tiges.They're in strife again.
JockMcPie: maynard should not play a game all year. turnover king.
shaker: Maynard has had only 2 muppets and is going at 88% D/E ?
ajconodie: @JockMcPie - If 88% doesn't appease you you're very hard to please.
ajconodie: And he has probably set up 5 out of the backline.
AFL Blues: Love having Treloar and Adams in my team.
AFL Blues: Does anyone know where one can ACTUALLY watch SuperCoach scores update live?
Yelse: H-elliot worth it in SC?
StuL: Pies fans thoughts on Philips? Price is awkward I know..


text:
Fashion Finder
NAKED DESPERATION!
As their ratings continue to fall, Jaci Stephen says to Trinny and Susannah ... Oh, do put 'em away!
By Jaci Stephen for MailOnline
Updated: 03:48 EST, 26 September 2008
There comes a time in every woman's life when she would be well advised to stop taking her clothes off in public.
For some women, this happens when they are about five years old. But in my case, it took me until the age of 49 to recognise how undignified it was to still be doing something that, quite frankly, I should have put a stop to about three decades before.
I finally called it a day not only because of the lack of dignity I felt, as a result of disrobing rather too willingly, and occasionally in inappropriate circumstances, but because of the embarrassment it induced in others.
What a pair! Susannah reveals her overly challenged bra at a fashion demonstration (left) and Trinny considers a boob job last year
Taking your clothes off is a sure means of drawing attention to yourself, but it is also something you should resort to only in private.
This is a lesson which Trinny and Susannah have signally - and very publicly - failed to learn.
The pair, who set themselves up as fashion gurus doling out fantastically condescending advice to the nation in What Not To Wear, appear to be in the throes of reinventing themselves in the style of Never Wear Anything At All.
Naked ambition: The girls promote their Great British Body series
In short, for a number of years we have been subjected to a seemingly never-ending - and ever more revealing - display of their breasts (in Trinny's case small) and bottoms (in Susannah's case large).
The latest example emerged yesterday when Susannah was pictured pulling open her dress to reveal a bra which was very obviously losing a horribly unequal battle to keep her melon-like breasts under control.
Such shock tactics have become their stock in trade - and they are becoming as embarrassing as the get-ups in which this shameless pair shoehorn so many of their unfortunate victims.
When they presented What Not To Wear on the BBC, they pulled in seven million viewers. Now, on ITV, that's down to around 2.5 million. How to stop the slide? Why, take your clothes off, of course!
You can almost draw a direct inverse correlation between Trinny and Susannah's tumbling viewing figures and the amount of flesh they feel compelled to show off.
For the second series of Undress The Nation on ITV1 last year, they participated in a number of stunts which revealed an almost pathological desire to disrobe.
They posed nude for a life-drawing class in an episode devoted to bottoms. In another programme, they, along with a large group of women, turned out in their bras to try to teach the importance of wearing the right size (what's wrong with a discreet visit to Rigby and Peller?).
Supermodel strikes back: Linda Evangelista's the designer... Go Gucci: Thigh skimming dresses and signature maxis are... The height of fashion: Why shoe lovers can't get enough of... Designer babies: How competitive mums defy the credit crunch...
In yet another programme about breasts, Trinny underwent silicone and prosthetic enhancement to change her shape from her own 32A cup to Susannah's 32D.
Then, in their programme called The Great British Body, the pair stripped off - watched by a gaggle of bemused men - to create a kind of living sculpture. Trust me when I say the result was never going to win the Turner Prize.
What Not To Bare: Trinny and Susannah pose in a publicity shoot for their website
What makes all this worse, is that the pair also persuade scores of others to join them in their quest to reveal all.
In addition to all those ladies in bras (yuck, it was like a convention of those unfit camels Noah decided not to save in his Ark), they got together a large group of volunteers with them on a hillside in Lewes, East Sussex, where they all stripped off 'in celebration of the naked form in all its glory'. Double yuck.
Of course it is good and psychologically healthy not to be ashamed of one's body, but does it automatically follow that we wish to be subjected to seeing everyone else's - including Trinny and Susannah's (repeatedly)?
Clearly, the pair think so, or they would not be inflicting themselves on us in this way.
But the reality is that Undress The Nation has quickly turned into Unimpress The Nation, as viewing figures for the show plummeted. It then became clear that the only way the show believed it could gain some ground was to resort to absurd shock tactics.
Cheeky girls: Susannah, left, at one of their events last week and Trinny at Undress The Nation
Throw into the mix the arrival of Gok Wan, the presenter of How To Look Good Naked, who quickly won the hearts of the nation with his vibrant personality over on Channel 4, and you can begin to smell the desperation.
Trinny and Susannah began their TV life as a package: a pair of attractive women who, at a time when every TV company was looking for a makeover show, hit a nerve.
But with their growing celebrity has come an increased sense among viewers of their being out of touch with the ordinary man or woman in the street.
As their showbusiness status has grown, and their attendance at pretty much the opening of an envelope has thrust them more into the spotlight, so the feeling has grown that they are now more concerned with their own looks than anyone elses.
Bravo: The pair reveal themselves again at a bra fitting event in Northants last year
Getting their kit off just adds insult to injury: look at me, they seem to be saying; wouldn't you kill to look as good as this? Er, no.
So, if Trinny and Susannah want to achieve a return to their former glory, I suggest they go out and buy some winter woollies and wrap themselves up warm.
We've all seen enough of their boobs and bums, and endured their increasingly feeble stunts long enough. Less, girls, is not always more.
Naked desperation: Jaci Stephen says to Trinny and Susannah ... Oh, do put 'em away!
BMX rider backflips though air to land world's first 'triple flair'
Greggs worker reveals massive food waste and gets sacked for it
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
Royal family will be 'relieved' if Duke and Duchess of Sussex don't come to Prince Philip's memorial because it will 'turn into the Harry and Meghan show', expert says
Ad Feature Show your kitchen some love for 2022! Stylish designs for the new year you won't be able to resist
'Your poor children': Mum, 24, who wears dead doll head earrings, pixie ears and skeleton patterns on the school run hits back at trolls who say she 'shouldn't be a mother'
Lululemon has an irresistible sale with 20% off ALL full-priced items including bestsellers like the iconic Align leggings - but hurry it ends this Sunday
Woman who had 'never picked up a paintbrush before lockdown' transforms her drab detached home into stylish pad for £8,000 complete with bright colourful walls, bold prints and a disco-themed loo
This Morning viewers are left baffled by 'ecosexual' couple who claim they are 'married' to the planet and 'make love to the earth' - and say even a walk is a 'massage with your feet'
Happy 18th birthday Princess Ingrid Alexandra! Heir to Norway's throne celebrates milestone day as she attends cabinet meeting in the Royal Palace with her grandfather
Home is where the hell is! Photos revealing dodgy DIY, freak weather accidents and unwelcome house guests will make you glad you don't live in any of these properties
'I get compliments every time I wear them!' Kate Middleton's beloved Superga sneakers are available on Amazon for $65 and shoppers are amazed by the quality
Bow-wowing out: Photographer shares heartbreaking portaits of owners saying goodbye to their beloved pets as they near the end of their lives


text:
Cloud services, Multi-factor authentication and the death of the security question
Mainstream news has covered many compromises of internet facing services over the last five years. This has included compromises of email systems, retail outlets, Internet auction sites and last year Apple's iCloud service, which led to a number of private photographs being exposed to the public. The first assumption was that iCloud was hacked or compromised, which Apple denied.
Accounts Compromised
Rather than iCloud in its entirety being compromised, the compromise was to individual accounts. It is assumed that the celebrity accounts were compromised with a brute force attack, allowing multiple tries of various passwords to each account. This meant with the right software toolset which could be acquired cheaply, meant that numerous passwords could be tried against each account.
Simple Passwords
Despite education from service providers and IT departments, the most commonly used passwords in a recent 2014 survey are "123456" and "password"! With relatively simple passwords or common words, the password can easily be compromised quickly using a dictionary attack in a matter of seconds.
Security (?) Questions
There are many ways to recover a password. It may be to request a new password and the service delivers the new password or asked for confirmation via an out of bound method, such as the registered email address or registered mobile number via SMS. There may be a need to telephone a call centre and provide details over the telephone to reset your password. The least secure is the ability to answer security questions that the user has the answer.
It may seem like a secure way of resetting a password, as how many people would know your mother's maiden name, where you were born, what your favourite football team is, etc? The internet and social media has been great in many respects, but it exposes a lot of information about an individual out into the wild. Once it's out there, there is no way to control, edit or delete it. Bear this in mind if you have to use to methodology for any website or application.
It would seem that this current compromise is a new thing, but something very similar happened over ten years ago when Paris Hilton's mobile phone was hacked in 2005. How was this done? The T-Mobile Sidekick device had an internet facing dashboard. If you forgot your password, you could answer some security questions including date of birth and your pet's name. All the security questions could be answered with an internet search engine.
Even before then, hackers were wise to how to gather this sort of personal information. Around 15 years ago, there were email chains on how to generate your pornstar name. You took your first pet's name and combine it with your mother's maiden name. Information such as "Fido Jones" would have been very useful!
Complex Passwords, hard to remember?
As the levels of security have to rise, so this can only make it more difficult to use the services or applications. There is always a balance between usability and complexity. We can encourage people to use a mixture of upper and lower case, special characters and numbers, but will only mean more password resets these complex passwords will be forgotten more easily.
Also common advice is not to use the same password over multiple applications and services. This only increases the users capacity to forget a password!
Even with strong and complex passwords in place, the user can still be a victim of a phishing attack. We are reminded to check the legitimacy of an email before acting on it, and if it seems fishy (excuse the pun) to ignore it or delete it. Many people have fallen for one of the simplest tricks, as the email looks so legitimate.
The bad guy sends out emails that looks like an email from the service provider. It tells the user that there is some sort of issue with the account that requires a password reset/change/confirmation. The user will enter their password which is stored by the bad guy. The user will be presented with either a failed message screen, a confirmation all is OK and if they were clever, even synchronise the password with the service provider, so all seems right for the user.
Multi Factor Authentication
There are various ways or factors, when authenticating users. So one form this can take is "Something you know", where the information is known, such as username, password, PINs and patterns.
Another form this information can take is "Something you're given", where the information is provided to the user through technology, such as a passcode from a token, a passcode from a device such as a smartphone or computer, or a passcode set via SMS to a known mobile telephone number. If the known information and the provided information are different types of information, or factors, it becomes clear where the term two factor authentication comes from.
Other factors can include "Something you are" through the use of biometrics, through iris scans, fingerprint readers, voice recondition and other forms tied to the physicality of the user. There also ways of analysing "Somewhere you are" through the use of geolocation, thereby allowing or denying access by the users location.
A combination of these authentication methods, or factors create Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)
Proof and compliance
With the factors of authentication described above, it would be harder for a hacker to access the service or website, but would also make it hard to deny an action. Many online banking systems uses a combination of passwords, PINs, tokens, SMS and unique codes to ensure transactions are genuine. By using multi factor authentication, the processes within compliance processes can be tied to specific users and the actions cannot be denied.
Free protection
Service providers such as Apple's iCloud, GMail, eBay and Facebook give the option to switch on two-step verification, where if you try to login from a new device, a new browser or a different country, the user will be prompted to enter a code that is sent to the registered mobile phone number. The security is there and it's free.
The use of multi factor authentication is accepted as commonplace and widely used for by users for personal services, such as email and banking.
Consumerisation
Recent technology adoption within a corporate environment has been driven by domestic technology. The rise of wireless, tablet and mobile computing has been driven from the use of these technologies within the domestic environment.
There is often a concern that the user community with an organisation struggles with new technology, but it's often the enforcement of unfamiliar technology that causes the user to become disengaged.
The use of multi factor authentication can only strengthen a network or website, and with this technology used for personal consumption, the use corporately will offer less resistance from the user community, especially if there is a familiarity with the technology.
As more corporate applications move to the Internet, cloud security becomes the concern of every IT Manger, IT Director, CSO, CISO, and in fact every member of an executive team.
As cloud based applications such as Salesforce and Microsoft Office 365 become popular, it is essential to remember these applications are the very lifeblood of an organisation. The need for security and multi factor authentication become more apparent when looking to protect these web based applications. There are protocols such as SAML designed to support cloud applications, and offer multi factor authentication.
Impact to the business
A poorly designed or poorly designed solution will impact the user adoption of any technology, but a familiar system will offer acceptance and executive sponsors. Security is high on the executive boards agenda, so the impact of a compromise or a disgruntled employee is greater than financial considerations such as return on investment.
Multi factor authentication is not new, but is an obvious solution the the many security challenges for organisations, whether the data and applications are located on premise, in data centres, in public cloud, in private cloud or a hybrid approach. Security is no longer the concern of technical sponsors, but of the Executive Board.
Familiar security solutions such as Multi Factor Authentication, can only increase the security posture of an organisation, protecting the data and reputation of an organisation.
Labels: 2FA, Authentication, Cloud, Cyber Security, iCloud, Security, two factor authentication
Cloud services, Multi-factor authentication and th...


text:
Mabel Gladys Manzotti (July 28, 1938 – January 25, 2012) was an Argentine film, stage and television actress. Her film credits included Besos en la Frente, while her telenovela credits included roles in Vidas robadas. She played Bochita in the 1960s Argentine television series, El botón, opposite Jorge Porcel and Alberto Olmedo.

In 1959, Manzotti was cast in the film, El farsante más grande del mundo, which co-starred Osvaldo Bonet and Alfredo Alcón. She later joined the Teatro Maipo in Buenos Aires. Manzotti's last television role was in 2008, when she appeared opposite Facundo Arana in the Telefe telenovela, Vidas robadas, in 2008.

Mabel Manzotti suffered a stroke in early 2011. She died in Buenos Aires on January 25, 2012, at the age of 73.

References

1938 births
2012 deaths
Argentine telenovela actresses
Argentine television actresses
Argentine film actresses
Argentine stage actresses
People from Buenos Aires
Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery


text:
Arthur R. "Art" Thompson (born 1938 in Seattle) is a former CEO of the John Birch Society. He took office in 2005 after launching a "coup" with the support of the organization's former president John McManus.  He was replaced as CEO by Bill Hahn in 2020.

Thompson is also CEO of FreedomProject Education, the educational arm of the American Opinion Foundation which is intended to provide online curriculum for students in grades 9 through 12 featuring an emphasis on "patriotism and the idea of American exceptionalism" which is "based on the foundation of Biblical belief" .

Earlier career
Before becoming head of the JBS, he had a long career as an anti-communist activist: he claims to have infiltrated Marxist organizations around his Seattle home in the 1960s.

In his JBS Biography, Thompson is also credited with past membership in an unnamed small City Council, as the chairman of an unnamed local Chamber of Commerce, as a party official and an elector for the Republican Party, and as a Washington state citizen advocate for the Christian Coalition. The biography documents attendance but not graduation date or field of study from the University of Washington and the Washington Military Academy.

Views
Thompson believes that Russian communism remains a serious threat to the USA, and is responsible for much global terrorism including 9/11. He has claimed a number of Islamists including Ayman al-Zawahiri are or were communists.  He has criticised both mainstream Republicans and Tea Party figures such as Sarah Palin for failing to see the nature of the threat from Moscow. He also believes in a shadowy international conspiracy including such bodies as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Rockefeller family that threatens American interests.

Citations

1938 births
Living people
Activists from Seattle
American conspiracy theorists
John Birch Society members
People from Seattle
American chief executives


text:
Military vs. Climate Security
March 11th, 2008 - by admin
Miriam Pemberton / Foreign Policy In Focus – 2008-03-11 22:50:22
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4933
Editor: Emily Schwartz Greco
(January 31, 2008) — Accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, Al Gore called on the nations of the world to mobilize to avert climate disaster "with a sense of urgency and shared resolve that has previously been seen only when nations have mobilized for war."
This report measures in fiscal terms how far our own nation has to go to reach that goal. For the 2008 fiscal year, the government budgeted $647.51 billion for military security. It budgeted $7.37 billion to slow climate change. That means:
• Finding: For every dollar allocated for stabilizing the climate, the government will spend $88 on achieving security by military force.
• Finding: The government is allocating 99% of combined federal spending on military and climate security to military security.
Releasing its latest report to Congress on federal climate spending, the Bush administration highlighted the fact that during the previous five years it had spent more than $37 billion for this purpose. During the same period, it spent more than $3.5 trillion on its military forces. That means:
• Finding: During the last five years the ratio of military security to climate security spending has averaged 97 to 1.
• Finding: In FY 2008, as well as during the past five years, the government has allocated for climate security only one percent of what it has devoted to military security.
The current ratio of $88 to $1 is, no question, an improvement over $97 to $1. It is also, no question, an inadequate improvement, given the relative magnitude of these problems. Terrorism is a serious problem. It doesn't surround us. The effects of climate change, on the other hand, will. As the Nobel Committee said in awarding its Peace Prize to Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it "may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind." Shifting the balance of resources between these two accounts will be one necessary part of a strategy for averting climate catastrophe.
The federal government allocates the lion's share of spending on climate to technology development: about $3.9 billion for FY 2008. The Defense Department's research and development (R&D) budget is $77 billion. That means:
• Finding: The U.S. government budgeted $20 to develop new weapons systems for every dollar it requested to develop new technologies to stabilize the climate.
Climate change is a global problem that won't be solved except through international cooperation. The government allocates the smallest share of the current climate budget to working on the problem internationally, providing resources to assist other countries in their energy transition: $212 million. Meanwhile the federal budget's military security assistance account allocates $9.5 billion to international military assistance. In other words:
• Finding: We will devote 50 times as much to arming the rest of the world as to helping it prepare for and avoid global climate catastrophe.
• Finding: The government allocates just 2% of the international assistance budget for both military and climate security to stabilizing climate.
The targets of U.S. foreign aid within the climate change budget are nearly as problematic as its size. Nearly half of the budget is allocated to an (unproven) strategy for mitigating the effects of existing coal-fired power generation infrastructure, rather than assisting in the transition to cleaner renewable energy sources.
Most of the rest is devoted to promoting U.S. technologies that may or may not be the most suitable to the recipients' needs. The budget allocates less than 10% of spending to adapting to climate change effects, such as droughts, floods, crop loss and disease. And an amount barely worth mentioning, less than 1% of the budget, is devoted to assisting donor countries in participating in the broad systemic, global changes that we must make to avert climate disaster.
Overall, the largest shares of the climate change budget's resources are spent on studying the problem and developing new technologies for the future. The two programs that are focused on tackling the problem now — international assistance and tax incentives — are its lowest priorities. In the FY 2008 budget, the US government actually cuts funding for the principal budgetary (as opposed to regulatory) tool — the $1.4 billion collection of tax incentives — that's most likely to cut U.S. greenhouse emissions in the near term. Stabilizing climate isn't a problem that can wait.
In addition to laying out the disparities between the two budgets and analyzing where the money is going, this report traces the connections between military and climate security, including the following:
• Climate change will create enormous problems for the US military, as the military itself has confirmed.
• The US military contributes to the problem of climate change more than any other single institution worldwide.
• The Bush administration's foreign policy of leading with one (the military) and largely ignoring the other (stabilizing climate) are the two most prominent causes of the United States' loss of standing in the world.
Shifting the balance in federal spending between military and climate security will help to repair the damage to our international reputation. It will also provide resources necessary to get serious, finally, about addressing the major challenge of our time.
The whole report is available as a pdf from the FPIF Web page that links to this story.
Miriam Pemberton is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and Peace and Security Editor of its Foreign Policy In Focus project.


Grand Marnier cigars combine premium tobaccos with one of the finest French liqueurs for a decadent explosion of flavors and aroma. These unique handmade cigars that are both refreshing and refined, start with a rare and fine Cuban Corojo wrapper in a smooth brown color, over an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, and aged Dominican long fillers. For a magnificent finishing- touch, these top-quality leaves are infused with the essence of luxurious Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge liqueur. Elegantly placed in glass tubes that keep these premium cigars in perfect smoking condition, you will experience a flawlessly crafted, slow burning, medium-bodied smoke with flavors of toasty, nutty, and sweet tobacco, imbued with the mouthwatering finish of tangy orange citrus. This luxury cigar is an experience worthy of the legendary Grand Marnier liqueur it's named for.


text:
USF Research
Scholar Commons > College of Marine Science > C-IMAGE Collection > C-IMAGE Publications > 41
C-IMAGE Publications
How Did the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Impact Deep-Sea Ecosystems?
Charles R. Fisher, Pennsylvania State University
Paul A. Montagna, Texas A&M University
Tracey T. Sutton, Nova Southeastern University
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.82
Approximately 90% of the volume of the Gulf of Mexico is contained in water deeper than 200 m, a region where the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout had more impact on ecosystems than any previous oil spill. The remoteness and relative inaccessibility of the deep sea makes documenting even acute impacts to the animals that live in this realm difficult. This article reviews Natural Resource Damage Assessment studies and follow-up work funded as part of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative that targeted deepwater pelagic and benthic fauna. Oil was incorporated into the pelagic food web, and a reduction in planktonic grazers led to phytoplankton blooms. Fish larvae were killed, and a generation may have been lost. Cetaceans were killed, and many avoided the area of the spill. In the benthic realm, there was a large loss of diversity of soft-bottom infauna, which were still not recovering a year after the DWH oil spill. Colonial octocorals that are anchored to the hard seafloor and are especially vulnerable to anthropogenic impact, died as a result of being covered with flocculent material containing oil and dispersant. Soft- and hard-bottom effects of the oil spill were found as much as 14 km away from the DWH wellhead site. Deep-sea communities in the Gulf of Mexico are diverse, play critical roles in the food web and carbon cycling, affect productivity, are sensitive to perturbations, and are at risk to contaminant exposure; thus, it is important to understand the effects on these natural resources.
Data used in this article are available for download.
Dataset for: Evidence of lasting impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on a deep Gulf of Mexico coral community
Coral images from the northern Gulf of Mexico, November 22-25 2012
Nautilus NA028: ROV Cruise report - Sample records of corals, mussels and sediments collected around Macondo, Gulf of Mexico - June 21 - July 5, 2013
Coral image dataset for Footprint of Deepwater Horizon blowout impact to deep-water coral communities, Gulf of Mexico, October 2011
Nautilus NA043: Sample records of corals and mussels collected around Macondo, Gulf of Mexico - June 22 - July 4, 2014
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Oceanography, v. 29, issue 3, p. 182–195
Scholar Commons Citation
Fisher, Charles R.; Montagna, Paul A.; and Sutton, Tracey T., "How Did the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Impact Deep-Sea Ecosystems?" (2016). C-IMAGE Publications. 41.
https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cimage_pubs/41
Marine Biology Commons
Email Notifications and RSS
USF Faculty Publications
Textbooks Collection
SelectedWorks
Scholar Commons | About | Help | My Account | Accessibility Statement | Diversity and Inclusion Statement