peckvonhartel's latest workplace interior project is now complete. The new KPMG Canberra office design offers a highly flexible space that is appropriate for meetings, conferences, dining and client functions, as well as being equipped to respond to global developments in technology.
The result is an environment that promotes simplicity and flexibility.


text:
Selfies at Seventy
Subjectivity: A clue of Thread
Written Interview: Universal Themes for the Joie De Vivre
Through Our Own Eyes
I was born in East London, and apart from when I lived in Rome for two years, I have spent all of my working life in London.
My work is influenced and directed by personal experiences and my desire to use the imagination. I am interested in the exploration of the creative process, in synthesis and transformation in the development of any image. On recent reflection, I realised when younger I was inspired by sublime experiences, and this sense of revelation is an important part of my working process. I further realised that those experiences were not so apparently available as one matured; life's more prosaic happenings crowd in.
In my earlier paintings, I investigated what I recognised as indomitable myths, entitled Golgotha, Calvary and Redemption. In others moral propositions are addressed. In one entitled Duplicity, the brutalising of misuse of power and the subsequent downward spiral of events, damaging perpetrator and victims, is the subject.
I wish to build into my work what could be called an objective sense of compulsion, not picture making as a cathartic act, but as a compulsive one.
"The thread running through Brunell's work is autobiography, or rather autobiography plus the voice of the Other. The philosopher Dilthey proposed that the only valid history is biography and argued that it should be written by its own protagonist, as autobiography. Freud showed that even self-disclosure need not include unconscious aspects of the psyche. In this last sense autobiographical, psychobiographical, painting thus becomes an encounter between unconscious 'Other' and the artist's 'Self'. Not an a priori self but the amalgam of discourses held together on a day-to-day basis by the responsibilities and contingencies of life"
(Byrne, Peter, "Subjectivity : A Clue of Thread." Review. Nov. 1995)
In September 1997 my wife was diagnosed with cancer. She fought the illness bravely for seven years, the last two in a hospice. The cancer brought a halt to my creative practise. I was unable to work as an artist.
In 2005, I became a sole parent nurturing my daughters, then aged sixteen and twelve.
In 2013, After sixteen years of no personal creative productivity, I started to pick the threads of my imaginative life and started painting.
Recent paintings have been the reworking of previous themes with additional topics such as drinking, loss, identity, and becoming invisible; all part of the maturing experience.
Eventually this website will be expanded to include a record of all my creative output and an expanded academic section with publications.
2014 Geoffrey Brunell

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: ABNewPersonViewController broken in iOS 7 My app allows the user to link other people within the app to entries in the contact book, and if one doesn't exist add a new one. I accomplish this by presenting an ABPeoplePickerNavigationController with an added button on the top for "Add Contact" which pushes an ABNewPersonViewController.
The problem I have is this functionality works perfectly in iOS 6, but completely fails to work properly in iOS 7.  Clicking the "Done" button does absolutely nothing, and clicking "Cancel" simply stops the fields from being editable.
Has anyone encountered something like this and know how to fix it?  Is this a known issue (Google search returned nothing useful"

A: Same problem for me.
My code was as follows,
ABNewPersonViewController *npvc = [[ABNewPersonViewController alloc] init];
npvc.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:0.188 green:0.545 blue:0.016 alpha:1.0];
After I removed "npvc.view.backgroundColor =…", it works fine.
Probably the structure of ABNewPersonViewController underneath has changed, so we are not allowed to set its background color.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
EStars Featuring Fortnite
Three Ireland's EStars
Delivering esports Tournaments at Grassroots Level
We provide opportunities for players at any level to engage in competitive esports
About Us Our Events
EStars has delivered major grassroots esports tournaments across the UK and Ireland. We are currently expanding and have plans to offer similar opportunities to players of all ages and abilities across the globe.
About EStars
EStars featuring Fortnite visited major sports stadiums in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales in 2019 giving fans of the biggest game the chance to compete against thousands of others to claim the Victory Royale and win a grand prize of £25,000.
Three Irelands EStars - our inaugural event in 2018 - captivated thousands of League of Legends players across Ireland. Over 2000 spectators joined us in the Three Arena, Dublin for the final event which saw Sligo Rovers claim victory, winning €20,000 and a trip to Las Vegas!
The home of grassroots esports
EStars brings the biggest and best gaming events to the global esports scene.
Following our inaugural tournament in Ireland in early 2018 we are now delighted to be bringing the biggest game in the world on a major tour of the UK and Ireland.
Ultimate Fortnite battle concludes at Stamford Bridge with 16-Year-Old Mohammad Shami winning £25,000
Gaz playing for Help for Heros
Oh man! What a weekend
Belfast Highlights
EStars is the home of the the biggest and best esports events.
Fill in your email address to receive the latest tournament and event news direct to your inbox.
Follow EStars
© First For E Players Ltd 2019. All rights reserved.


Thirty two times, the genealogical community has honored one of our best, one that we've lost.
Thirty two times, the focus has been on someone who has made contributions to the field of genealogy that were of lasting significance in ways that were unique, pioneering, or exemplary.
Thirty two times, individual genealogists and groups have nominated those persons whose achievements or contributions have made an impact on the field — and one has been selected: a genealogist whose unique, pioneering, or exemplary work lives on today.
Starting in 1986 with Donald Lines Jacobus and continuing to 2017 with Peter Stebbins Craig, 24 men and eight women have been elected to the National Genealogy Hall of Fame.
Peter Stebbins Craig was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 30 September 1928 and died in Washington, D.C., on 26 November 2009. A devoted historian and relentless genealogist, he specialized in publishing genealogies of the first European settlers of southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. This settlement, better known as New Sweden, began in 1638 along both sides of the Delaware River. His pioneering research and significant publications on the early Swedish settlers in the Delaware Valley earned him fellowships from both the American Society of Genealogists and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania in 1991. In recognition of his contributions to Swedish history, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden bestowed on him the title of Knight First Class of the Royal Order of the Polar Star in 2002. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 by the Swedish Colonial Society in Philadelphia.
He was the founder of the journal Swedish Colonial News, published by the Swedish Colonial Society. There he published dozens of his articles on Swedish and Finnish in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He served as both historian and genealogist for the Society. He also chaired the publication committee that initiated the Gloria Dei Church records series titled Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania. Now in six volumes, this indispensable reference work details the church records for the years 1646-1768. He left his extensive research collection including books and monographs to the Society. They are adding his research, "The Craig Collection," to the Society's website.
As contributing editor for the Swedish American Genealogist, he published numerous articles. Especially notable are his "New Sweden Settlers," an eight-part series that ran from 1996 to 1999, and "The 1693 Census of Swedes on the Delaware," a series published 1989 to 1991.
Thirty two of our best… And it's up to us to help select the 33rd person.
The National Genealogical Society and the National Genealogy Hall of Fame Committee are seeking nominations from the entire genealogical community for persons whose achievements or contributions have made an impact on the field. The next honoree and the society that honored the nominee will be announced at the NGS 2018 Family History Conference in Grand Rapids in May.
Nominations for election to the National Genealogy Hall of Fame are made by genealogical societies and historical societies throughout the United States, and have to be submitted by 31 January 2018.
My Peterson ancestor is one of those New Sweden settlers and I've relied almost entirely on Peter Stebbins Craig's research. He was a remarkable man.


text:
In educational interest, article(s) quoted from extensively.
The issue will be joined March 7 at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, who denied the administration's request last month to dismiss the suit. While the case is pending, the plaintiffs want Conti to order the government to provide immediate mental health treatment for veterans who say they are thinking of killing themselves and to spend another $60 million on health care.
The suit accuses the VA of arbitrarily denying care and benefits to wounded veterans, of forcing them to wait months for treatment and years for benefits, and of failing to provide fair procedures for appealing decisions against them.
The plaintiffs say that the department has a backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims and that 120 veterans a week commit suicide.
In his Jan. 10 ruling that allowed the suit to proceed, Conti said federal law entitles veterans to health care for a specific period after leaving the service, rejecting the government's argument that it was required to provide only as much care as the VA's budget allowed in a given year. A law that President Bush signed last week extended the period from two to five years.
In its latest filing, however, the Justice Department reiterated that Congress had intended "to authorize, but not require, medical care for veterans."
"This court should not interfere with the political branches' design, oversight and modification of VA programs," the government lawyers argued. They also said the VA "is making great progress in addressing the mental health care needs of combat veterans." Among other things, they cited a law passed in November that required the department to establish a suicide-prevention program that includes making mental health care available around the clock.
The VA has hired nearly 3,800 mental health professionals in the last two years and has at least one specialist in post-traumatic stress disorder at each of its medical centers, the government said.
Since June, government lawyers said, the VA has had a policy that all veterans who seek or are referred for mental health care should be screened within 24 hours, that those found to be at risk of suicide should be treated immediately, and that others should be scheduled for full diagnosis and treatment planning within two weeks. A new suicide-prevention hot line has been responsible for "more than 380 rescues," the lawyers said.
Erspamer, the plaintiffs' lawyer, was unimpressed.
"Nowhere do I see any explanation of what kind of systems they have in place that deal with suicidal veterans," he said. "There's no excuse for not spending the money Congress told them to spend on mental health care and leaving $60 million on the table when people are going out and killing themselves."
As Second Legal Attempt Fails to Force VA Hand on Disability Claims Processing, Army Sued Over Discharged Veteran PTSD Disability Ratings
Controversial VA Email Accepted into Evidence in Veterans' Rights Class Action Lawsuit Case
Full Trial Moves Ahead in Lawsuit Against VA, OEF/OIF Veterans with PTSD Sought
Testimony Begins in Class Action Lawsuit Against Veterans Administration
Vets' Legal Challenge to VA Health Care System Shortfalls Allowed to Proceed Forward
Arguments Heard Today in Government's Motion to Dismiss VA Class Action Lawsuit Case
Government Moves to Dismiss Class Action Lawsuit Against Veterans Administration
Veterans Issues in Sharp Focus Today in Hearings, Reports and Lawsuits
Class Action Lawsuit Brought Against VA


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Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity: The Next Step for MSSPs
Is it possible for MSSPs to prevent threats that have yet to even be created? The answer involves effective artificial intelligence (AI), Cylance explains.
by Cylance • May 14, 2018
Cylance, the innovator in AI-based threat prevention, professed "prevention is possible" with the introduction of its next-gen anti-malware solution CylancePROTECT®, which leverages machine learning models to prevent malicious code from executing on endpoints.
With no signatures or constant updates required, Cylance provides superior prevention with minimal impact on the endpoint. Now almost four years and thousands of satisfied customers later, we are proud to say that Cylance delivers reliable, consistent threat prevention which has catalyzed a pivot in how all security vendors talk about security: prevention is possible.
One of the key capabilities of CylancePROTECT is its uncanny ability to prevent threats that have yet to even be created. In fact, in a recent commissioned lab test we found that on average our model prevented threats up to 2.5 years before they were detected in the wild.
That is astounding proactive protection when compared to reactive, signature-based security solutions that falter significantly when even a single update is not applied. We say this to illustrate one point: at Cylance, we are good at predicting the future of threats. It's built into our products and our culture. So, it should come as no surprise that are continually working on new ways to use AI to solve security problems.
To that end, at RSA we previewed an industry-first AI security implementation: AI-driven incident prevention in our CylanceOPTICS™ Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution.
The Case for AI-Driven Incident Prevention
There is no doubt that organizations can benefit from EDR products, which enable faster response and remediation to security incidents. However, as with most security technologies, attackers have worked hard to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to defeat legacy rule-based technologies, making them less effective over time.
The evolution of TTPs and their impact on security solutions very much parallels the demise of legacy antivirus (AV) products that have been largely marginalized by attackers. In the very near future, rule-based EDR products will soon go the way of the dodo, making way for AI-Driven incident prevention. Cylance is on the forefront of this movement with the introduction of this new capability.
CylanceOPTICS AI-Driven Incident Prevention
Powered by the only purpose-built, AI threat detection model developed to run on the endpoint, CylanceOPTICS uses machine learning to analyze changes occurring on each endpoint to uncover threats that would be difficult, if not impossible, for a human analyst to uncover in a reasonable amount of time.
Unlike rule-based EDRs that require a person to write, maintain, and continually add rules (which are essentially behavior signatures) to trap single attacks, AI-incident prevention has the ability to render an entire class of attacks useless. A single model, specifically trained to identify a specific attack class (or TTP) can be deployed on an endpoint, essentially eliminating the need for the hundreds or thousands, of behavior rules a security analyst would have to create and maintain to deliver comparable protection.
With AI-driven incident prevention, when a potential threat is identified, CylanceOPTICS can autonomously take decisive actions in real-time to stop the attack and avoid the cost, risk, and long-term impacts that come with a widespread security incident. This first release of AI models for threat detection and incident prevention will target the following specific attack types:
Fileless Attacks:
So-called "fileless" attacks may be fileless in the sense that they do not rely on a malicious or suspicious binary; however, they will typically rely on other system-based artifacts that can be easily sensed and correlated with CylanceOPTICS.
The Fileless Attack Model evaluates the context and parameters of system utility invocations to understand their intended outcomes.
Malicious or Suspicious "One-Liner" Commands:
Scripting engines like CMD, Powershell, and Wscript are the workhorses of IT operations, but they expose a significant amount of functionality that can be leveraged by malicious actors.
This malicious or suspicious usage becomes increasingly more difficult to detect when multiple actions are strung together and hidden behind varying layers of obfuscation, whether it be encoding or abuse of environment variables, whitespace, and other characters.
The Malicious One-Liner Model evaluates the content of command line scripts with an emphasis on the language of the script and the command line context of the script
Malicious Application Behavior:
An overwhelming number of attack target a small, predictable number of trusted applications commonly found in enterprise environments.
The Malicious Application Behavior Model learns legitimate interactions between common software and the Operating System and blocks anything that veers too far off course.
The Future of AI-based Incident Prevention
The term "Artificial Intelligence" (AI) has been coopted by many vendors to give the impression that they are offering cutting-edge security capabilities. As the innovator of AI-based security tools, we here at Cylance we will continue to deliver new AI models targeted as specific TTPs into the future. Beyond that we continually look at other implementations of AI that will solve the security problems of the future.
One thing is for sure: whether you are a solo attacker or a nation-state actor, your job just got a lot harder with the introduction of AI-based incident prevention in CylanceOPTICS.
Blog courtesy of Cylance, and originally featured on the award-winning ThreatMatrix website (see RSS Feed here). Read more Cylance perspectives here.


Extreame Savings Item! Save 43% on the Westcott Ceramic Safety Knife (16475) by Westcott at Butternut Squash Restaurant. MPN: 16475. Hurry! Limited time offer. Offer valid only while supplies last. Westcott's Full Size Retractable Ceramic Utility Cutter is not only capable of cutting the largest of boxes the blade retracts for easy storage!
Westcott's Full Size Retractable Ceramic Utility Cutter is not only capable of cutting the largest of boxes the blade retracts for easy storage! Allowing you to open boxes with ease. Perfect for home or office. Also, featuring safe and easy blade change.


Finally, you can now stay in the heart of Niagara Falls Ontario Canada, and have clean and comfortable accommodations that wait for you. You choose what exquisite Fallsview Dining options and Niagara Falls attractions you wish to experience and discover. First of all, will you find yourself head to head, sailing #IntoTheMist aboard Hornblower Niagara Cruises. Or is this the year you finally taking in that experience of a lifetime on board Niagara Helicopters. Enjoy all the heart stopping action of International Grand Champion of Magic, Greg Frewin. Or maybe you wish to engage in a leisurely stroll along beautiful horticultural path finally taking in the visually pleasing and aromatic Floral Clock along the Niagara Parkway. Our Niagara Falls Getaway Hotel Package puts you in control of all that you see and do.
You may either receive a $40.00 voucher to be used a the Keg Steakhouse, or choose the $35.00 voucher from T.G.I Fridays. Most of all, which ever of the the two you choose, be sure you leave room for the dessert.
In addition, come down and join us for a great Hot cooked Breakfast for up to two adults.
This Niagara Falls Getaway Hotel Package package includes the cost of Parking, within the secured gated lot.
Staying on your Niagara Falls Getaway Hotel Package will be you within walking distance to the majestic Niagara Falls. So many great attractions to delight all those you are travelling with.
This Niagara Falls Getway Hotel Package is available all year.


Celebrate the arrival of a little one with this beautiful, personalised print. This is a bespoke print and made to order, customised with baby's name, birth weight, birth date and time of birth.
If you would like to include a complimentary gift note with your own personal message please do so here.
SKU: N/A. Availability: In stock Size: N/A Categories: Art, Prints, Children & Baby Art, Baby, Christening, New Baby, Baby, Christening, New Baby. Tags: Free Shipping, Personalised.
'Wild Flower' custom birth print makes a beautiful, personal gift for new babies arrival.
– Let us know the following information by filling out the Personalisation Details section.
*Note: please check your custom request for any spelling mistakes. We are not responsible for incorrect information provided. If you do notice you have made a mistake, please contact us as soon as possible and we will amend if we can.
Looking to send as a gift? We are more than happy to ship directly to the recipient and will also include a gift note FREE of charge. Please note the gift message where indicated and we will include this along with the print.


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Topic: Zero-carbon Shipping
Korean shipbuilders embrace ammonia-fueled solutions
By Julian Atchison on September 28, 2021
Two announcements this week: i) Samsung Heavy Industries and Wärtsilä have agreed to jointly to develop new-build vessels with 4-stroke, ammonia-fueled auxiliary engines; and ii) Bureau Veritas has awarded Approval in Principle to Hyundai Heavy Industries and KSOE for their new, ammonia-fueled vessel design.
Huge potential for green maritime fuels in Mexico
A new study from EDF and Ricardo outlines the potential for Mexico to produce, consume and export hydrogen-based fuels like ammonia. Mexico is already positioned on some of the world's busiest shipping routes and has a potentially huge surplus of green power by 2030, presenting a unique opportunity.
Navigator Gas awarded AiP for new ammonia-fueled gas carrier
Navigator Gas has been awarded AiP for the design of its new, ammonia-fueled gas carrier. An industry-wide consortium including MAN ES, Babcock International, and the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) collaborated on the design.
Green bunker fuel project in northern Norway
A trio of Norwegian firms - renewable energy developer Magnora, investor Prime Capital and power company Troms Kraft - will partner up to get a green bunker fuel production facility up-and-running by 2025 in Tromsø, northern Norway. The project involves large-scale production of green hydrogen and further processing into green ammonia and/or liquid organic hydrogen carriers.
Public funding for the world's first ammonia bunker terminal
Azane Fuel Solutions and project partners have been awarded €8,600,000 from the Norwegian government to build its world-first green ammonia bunker terminal. The project partners span the entire value chain for ammonia as a maritime fuel, and include ECONNECT Energy, Amon Maritime, Yara and Viridis Bulk Carriers.
Ammonia as a Fuel of the Future: A Ship Operator's perspective
By Capt Sameer Bhatnagar on August 27, 2021
Ammonia as a Marine fuel is a new introduction to the Bunker industry. In order to be better prepared for setting up the required infrastructure etc for an efficient supply chain, it is important to understand what are the downstream challenges that suppliers can expect. A key aspect of this is to hear it from potential end-consumers and gain their perspective. Maersk is committed to reducing its Co2 emissions by almost 60% (over Y2008 baseline) by 2030 and is exploring Ammonia as a possible pathway to get there. This session will address challenges foreseen in adopting Ammonia by a Dry…
Advancing Ammonia as a Marine Fuel
By Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet on August 27, 2021
Buoyed by promising new research, Ammonia is emerging as a marine fuel contender among various future fuel candidates that could decarbonize shipping. Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet (Vice President, Marine Fuels, TotalEnergies) will explore ammonia's potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the maritime industry, and to help turn the tide on climate change. Through his presentation, you will: – Learn why ammonia holds significant potential as a marine fuel candidate, from emission reduction to scalability factors. – Gain insight into the safety, technology maturity and availability challenges facing ammonia's promise as a marine fuel, and – TotalEnergies' ongoing efforts and joint…
Getting Ready for Clean-Produced, Carbon-Free Ammonia and Well-to-Wake Emissions
By Rene Laursen on August 27, 2021
A strategic pathway to a sustainable shipping industry powered by Australian renewable energy
By Nick Bentley on August 26, 2021
Australia is lucky. We have bountiful natural resources, buried in the ground, streaming from the sun and coursing through the air. Along with our geographic position on the apex of the vast Asian Pacific trade route we are in the perfect situation to initiate a new industry. Oceania are connecting together these key aspects of Australia's DNA. Our ambition is to leverage the abundant energy sources in the north-west of Australia to supply green ammonia, then utilise the best-in-class bunker vessel to deliver sustainable shipping fuel to an industry that's responsible for 3% of global GHG emissions. To achieve…
The Promotion of Green/Blue Ammonia as a Carbon Neutral Energy in Korea
By John Kwon on August 25, 2021


The well-arranged menue can be easily reached via the typical icon.
Via the option button the individual settings can be configured.
Thanks to the modular structure of the Lovion APP, similar to the Lovion BIS, the individual products can be individually selected and flexibly expanded to meet new requirements.
The Lovion APP can be used on smartphones and tablets for both android and iOS. The APP can be easily installed over the Apple Appstore. The easy-to-use user interface of the APP adapts to the available size of the respective end device, but we recommend a minimum resolution of 360px x 640px for optimal use.
The need for fast and uncomplicated provision of maps and data on smartphones and tablets is becoming increasingly important in many areas. In addition to easy access to the company's own network data managed in the geoinformation or business information system, more and more work processes have to be supported, most of which are carried out in the field. The Lovion APP SERVICES - part of the Lovion WEB product line - is a server platform specifically designed to support mobile processes.
Access to master and graphic data is available via the Lovion APP server and can be made both in the LAN and via an Internet connection (e.g. UMTS). In order to be able to access data without a network connection, a separate offline mechanism was developed for master and transaction data.
Time recording takes place in the Lovion TIME SHEET APP in the context of task processing. The employee is able to document the processing times directly after completion of the task. The times at the beginning and end of the task can be saved automatically. In addition, the times recorded in the APP are transferred to an electronic time sheet when compared with the server.
With this function, the employee is shown the tasks last processed by him and can view the processing and any interruption times with and without direct relevance to the accounting.
You are interested? To contact us quickly and easily, please use our contact form. We will contact you as soon as possible.


Western Home Decor, Cowboy decor, Ranch Home decor, Cabin decorations, Real horns, antler coat racks, cowhide coasters, at Art by God, we have you all covered. The wide selection features a variety of elegant and unique rustic, wildlife decorations. We sell high quality one-of-a-kind rustic sculpture pieces and other ranch home decor accessories at low prices. Discover genuine western decor piece you like at Art By God today and liven up your home or cabin with outdoor-themed decor item, sculpture and coat racks from us.


Dance, as any living art, is a game, an intelligent game, I think, that nobody defines it as work and really it is, but pleasant.
The class has a personal origin with a joint – muscle heating and later, a bar in the center.
Physically, this work parts from the back and the diaphragm.
In my opinion, the most important thing is to modulate the qualities in the materials, vary within the same sentence, speed, volume, weight, density, etc.
The rest of the exercises are aimed at placing the body, locating the center, twisting and falling to the ground work.
The second part will work the way to put the choreographic material at the service of what the students want to tell, that is, dancing is not only to translate a movement on stage, but expressing something, sensations or telling a story.
Everybody will have to work with the class materials and develop their own ones to create a sequence, change the order, the speeds, repeat movements, etc, so that they can adapt the choreographic vocabulary to their needs.
The composition is one of the most important factors and almost everything is geared to it. So this course will focus on each student look for a way to create small choreographic pieces or a single creation.
Studios of Classical and Contemporary Dance in Madrid, Barcelona and London.
Since she created her own company in 1987, Provisional Danza has staged more than 60 choreographies: room works (small and large format, including an opera-dance), street works, video-dances, a short film, collaborations for other companies, special assignments for different festivals and theaters, as well as teaching choreographic classes and workshops.
Her artistic trajectory has been recognized with different prizes, among which the National Dance Award 2007, the Onassis International Dance Prize 2001 and the Culture Award in Dance section of the Community of Madrid 2000.


The Blue Vipers Have Been Featured In A One Fab Day Real Wedding!
The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn have been featured as part of the wedding of Natalie and Jeff in Yellow House of Willowdale photographed by Lauren from Lauren Fair Photography.
Thanks a million to Natalie and Jeff for inviting us to be a part of their celebration and to Lauren for the great pics!


This webcam is currently assigned to trafikverket.se. It was originally added on November 05, 2012 and has been viewed 21,118 times since then. The current picture above was taken 8 minutes ago, thereby the webcam seems to be currently active. So far, it was added to their personal favorites on webcams.travel by 0 people.


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Thomas Tuchel should persist with Lukaku and Werner partnership despite Man City no-show
OPINION: Chelsea fans witnessed the first start together between Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner in the disappointing defeat to Manchester City on Saturday. Though even with this setback, there is good reason for Tuchel to persist with this duo moving forward.
Daniel Childs
It was very easy for Chelsea supporters to feel downbeat after the result against Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime in the Premier League.
There was little to get supporters off their seats inside Stamford Bridge, punctuated by the fact the European Champions recorded their lowest xG (Expected Goals) under Thomas Tuchel since his arrival at the beginning of the year.
The Citizens pressed intelligently and intensely from the off, forcing Chelsea back into their own half and cutting off the avenues to counter that had been so fruitful for the Blues in the three meetings at the back end of last season.
Though one thing that should give supporters encouragement is the burgeoning relationship between Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, two players that many fans have wanted to see fielded in a front two by Tuchel and can hopefully spark a productive partnership in the coming months.
Chelsea fans make bold Andreas Christensen prediction following Manchester City loss
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel makes brutal admission after disappointing loss to Manchester City
Though for any of this to come to fruition, Tuchel will need to give his duo a bit more assistance in the final third, especially against a team as good as Manchester City. Far too often Werner and Lukaku were expected to work miracles against a flood of light blue shirts who outnumbered both on several occasions.
Until the arrival of Kai Havertz in the second half, the front two were distant from the rest of the team, causing Chelsea's biggest attacking weapons to be nullified and City the platform to maintain possession and keep the pressure on, leading to Gabriel Jesus's deflected winner in the 53rd minute.
Most of the hope over Werner and Lukaku working together is mainly propped up by similar dynamics at their previous clubs.
Lukaku struck up a brilliant partnership with Argentine Lautaro Martinez in his two years at the San Siro with Inter Milan. The striking pair spearheaded Antonio Conte's bespoke 3-5-2 formation and worked in tandem to cause chaos for the majority of Serie A defences. The pair's technical quality allowed Inter to build from deep and bring both wingbacks in Conte's system further up the pitch to create overloads.
Martinez as the smaller, nimbler forward was happy to operate in more unorthodox areas to the natural forward in Lukaku – holding up the ball, occupying central defenders and being aerially dominant whenever a cross went into the box.
Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku struggled to impact the game against Manchester City on Saturday. (Image: Getty Images)
For Werner at Leipzig, he was the smaller of a front pair with the Danish forward Yussuf Poulsen under Julian Nagelsmann for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
A piece from Bundesliga.com noted how physical and aggressive Poulsen's game was alongside Werner. Noting that "no Leipzig player contested more challenges per game (33.8), winning almost 48 per cent of them – an excellent return for a striker. In the air, the 6'3'' Dane came out on top in over 52 per cent of duels and is no slouch in a footrace, reaching a top speed of 21.2 mph in the Bundesliga."
In the same article, Werner praised his attacking peer for putting him in the best position to succeed. "It's great for me with him upfront. We complement each other really well. He likes going for aerial challenges, which I don't. He's got an amazing set of lungs."
It is easy to look at that quote and picture Werner referring to Lukaku's work. Though with the Belgian you have got one of Europe's best finishers, so the need for the 28-year-old to become a facilitator for another player is not required given the goalscoring talent Tuchel has in Lukaku.
There is hope that a partnership with Romelu Lukaku can help Timo Werner rediscover the form he produced at RB Leipzig. (Image: Getty Images)
For Lukaku, Werner is a very different strike partner to Martinez. Quicker, more direct but less technically gifted. The German's best work is done in stretching defences and running in behind rather than dropping deeper to build-up play where he is less comfortable.
There are some adjustments to be made but given Werner's tenacious pressing and speed it is understandable why Tuchel would see that as an intriguing partner for Lukaku's obvious presence, especially in games Chelsea are looking to defend deeper and hit opponents on the break.
Though the evidence of Saturday shows they need a lot more. It is not just having a midfield runner to add a third man when the Blues look to break, but also getting the wingbacks into the game to provide width in Tuchel's 3-5-2 who are so key to the way Chelsea progress the ball from deep. Guardiola understood this and City were exemplary in pinning both Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso back for most of the game.
Mason Mount's absence was probably most felt for Lukaku and Werner. The young English star has proven regularly how critical he is for his club tactically and his ability to find pockets of space would have provided Chelsea with an extra option when trying to find Werner and Lukaku bursting forward.
Whoever is used to assist the three, Thomas Tuchel should aim to persist with this new partnership, if the two find the magic chemistry they created with Poulsen and Martinez in the past then Chelsea could have a very exciting duo on their hands.
What do you think about Lukaku and Werner as Chelsea's front two? Follow our CareFreeChelsea Writer Daniel Childs on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
Chelsea vs Manchester City


text:
Home Tales of the Sausage Factory Fighting the IP Mafia Now Associated Press Has A Plan So Cunning Even They Don't Know How It Works. (Updated)
Now Associated Press Has A Plan So Cunning Even They Don't Know How It Works. (Updated)
Harold July 27, 2009 - 1:34 pm February 25, 2013 Fighting the IP Mafia, Tales of the Sausage Factory
It seems every now and then I see some company or organization that finds itself challenged by the fact that the internet gives people lots of interesting alternatives and thus upsets traditional business models. This prompts said company to flail around for a bit, denouncing how piracy or whatever is unfairly destroying it, then announcing some stunning new proposal or plan that lashes out at this supposed piracy. Usually, since the problem is not "piracy" but "competition," this plan makes no sense whatsoever.
As I noted previously, the newspaper industry generally is flailing around and proposing all kinds of foolish things rather than figuring out how to adapt and thrive in new market realities where people and advertisers have a very different set of choices and the days of 20% profit margins are gone. The Associated Press is the latest organization to jump off the deep end. AP believes that by setting up a "beacon" system for its content it can require everyone "stealing" its content to pay royalty fees.
There are several problems with this scheme. First, the article does not make clear whether it tries to cover linking as "using content" for free. I'm not sure that it could, nor does it make sense given their theory of "piracy." If I link to an AP story, I haven't copied anything and clicking the link actually brings people to the content — the desired result from AP's perspective. Nor can the AP prevent me from describing an AP story even without a link. Heck, many of my local radio stations do this with my local newspapers, simply summarizing articles with an attribution. So if the object is to prevent people from linking to AP articles, or discussing AP articles (the "free ride" that so incenses the traditional news media and its defenders), this proposal really doesn't seem likely to help.
The AP can prevent wholesale copying of its articles where the amount copies exceeds fair use. But, as the article linked to above points out, the AP already uses software to do this. The new system may make it easier to license AP works (a result I would heartily support — AP should use technology to make it easier to monetize its content with license fees for reprints), but the description seems to go well beyond that. Either I am dramatically underestimating the number of websites that reproduce significant amounts of AP content over and above linking and simple descriptions of stories (which is certainly possible), or the technology dramatically lowers the transaction cost of licensing content and thus makes collection of license fees easier, or this fails to strike at the real root of the problem — people have lots more options for news.
Ultimately, it is this last point that has me scratching my head about how the AP expects this to work. If the AP locks up its content, I can find lots of other news content. True, AP might be "better" — although modern reporting leaves me dubious. But the ability to access, debate and discuss news far outweighs any marginal superiority in quality AP can claim over other outlets (which include many traditional news outlets with high quality reporting) that provide accessibility.
There is a delightful historic irony here, in that AP was to some extent the product of the last revolution in telecommunications. Ubiquitous telegraph service made it possible for small news organizations to have the same reporter resources as larger operations by sharing costs among their members and leveraging local reporters. Finally, papers in small towns and on the frontier could run the same stories as the NY Times or the London Telegraph, reporting news from around the world thanks to a global communications network. Larger papers, which had traditionally held a huge advantage from their superior ability to send reporters to distant sources of news and receive faster reports, found they had to join the AP themselves or risk missing important stories covered by the AP's superior network of on the ground reporters already present as news developed.
AP should learn from its own past and adapt to the future, rather than trying to fight the future and cling to the past. AP and other news media need to work on how to leverage the advantages of a global communications network that allows for distribution of news reporting resources rather than chasing phantom "pirate" gold.
Update: This article in Columbia Journalism Review clarifies that the intent is to go after those who are doing wholesale copying, rather than those linking or quoting. As I said above, good for them. I hope that the program in question actually provides some data on how widespread this practice really is. Given the tools that already exist to find direct copying, I'm not sure how this new beaconing adds value.
S. Korea "Sender Pays" Is a Warning, Not a Model, or Why (Almost) Everyone Keeps Telling the EU This Is a VERY Bad Idea. by Harold October 14, 2022 Economist/NYT opinion writer Paul Krugman coined the term "Zombie idea" to describe an idea that, despite being repeatedly refuted with evidence, keeps coming back. Not…
heck, news media, proposal. Bookmark.
Could NTIA Please Put ICANN Out of Its Misery Before It Embarasses Itself Further.
Libby Beaty Memorial Fund
Alan Thiesen
These days I get all my news from the internet, so that I no longer pay for any news I read. However I value investigative reporting, which probably costs money. Now that news costs next to nothing, is investigative reporting adequately funded? Where are the Woodwards and Bernsteins of this generation? Are they working for the AP and for major newspapers and TV stations, or are they ordinary people who post newsworthy stuff they happen to know to their blogs or Wikipedia? Should we be concerned about the future of investigative journalism?
This is a question worthy of exploration.
One issue is to challenge the underlying assumption. As I noted in my Newspaper blame game post, the bankrupt Tribune still had an 8% net profit for the most recent quarter — which is pretty good in a recession. Tribune went belly up because it was incredibly overleveraged, not because reporting doesn't pay.
I also note that many online news outlets pay reporters. They make money in a variety of ways — such as advertising and subscriptions. At present, these are generally highly specialized or highly localized publications. But we are still early in the business model development process.
Harold's Tweets
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(((haroldfeld))) @haroldfeld ·
Bharat Ramamurti @BharatRamamurti
One consistent theme in the econ headlines from the last two years:
...when there's bad news: "this is horrible"
...when there's good news: "this may seem good but bad things are coming soon"
...when there's no news: "let's review some bad things that might happen"
Retweet on Twitter (((haroldfeld))) Retweeted
Kathleen Burke @katmburke ·
I wrote a white paper! 🥳🥳🥳 If you're even slightly interested in learning about spectrum policy this is the paper for you. It's basically a 101 on the key issues in spectrum policy and how even technical spectrum policies can have profound impacts on the public. https://twitter.com/publicknowledge/status/1618621169749610502
Public Knowledge @publicknowledge
In the words of Doc Brown, "the future is what you make it." @katmburke's new paper explores what we can learn from the SPTF's report and how policymakers can move towards a brighter wireless future. Read here! http://publicknowledge.org/back2spectrum
Apparently, this is not a new problem.
Farnoush Amiri @FarnoushAmiri
While researching for our exclusive on President Jimmy Carter returning classified documents, we came upon a 1984 AP article about how a 13-year-old girl ended up with Carter's classified documents and brought them to her Pittsburgh school's show and tell https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-classified-documents-ronald-reagan-50e221ea424392b3582cd0d305cab0ee
Washpo is not alone in this. Not only is it media virtue signaling ("see, we are not left leaning"), is also important to throw cold water on success of more progressive economic policies.
Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org @froomkin
The Washington Post always puts a negative spin on good news for the Biden economy. See: https://presswatchers.org/2022/01/which-newsrooms-are-trying-to-make-the-economy-look-bad/ And maybe this is why: https://presswatchers.org/2022/10/the-washington-post-has-a-bezos-problem/
My @publicknowledge colleague @katmburke released a major new #spectrum white paper today: Back to the Spectrum Future, 20th Anniversary of the Spectrum Policy Task Force.
https://publicknowledge.org/policy/back-to-the-spectrum-future-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-spectrum-policy-task-force/
Blog post: https://publicknowledge.org/back-to-the-spectrum-future-how-a-public-interest-framework-can-create-a-wireless-future-that-benefits-us-all/
Why is this a big deal? I'll explain. /1


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OPINION: Let Pat Tillman rest in peace on Memorial Day
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, addresses a memorial service for Pat Tillman on May 3, 2004, at the Rose Garden in San Jose, California.
By Tristan Jackson
Published May 26, 2020 5:20 pm Last updated Jun 17, 2020 11:41 pm
The use of Pat Tillman's story every Memorial Day on social media by politicians and sports media organizations is disgusting. The Army Ranger and former NFL player's death was sensationalized and used to fuel war propoganda. Today, the intentions behind using his story are ignorant to Tillman's views of the Iraq war and the fact the U.S. Army lied about the nature of his death.
Tillman may be the most famous U.S. veteran post-9/11. The former NFL player was an emerging star in the league, but he turned down a three-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army in June 2002.
Two years later, Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. Originally, the Army said he was killed while being ambushed by enemy forces, which turned out to be a lie. Once that story was disproven, they spun it as an accidental friendly fire killing. Army medical examiners found there were three gunshot wounds in Tillman's forehead and that it appeared Tillman was shot from around ten yards away.
The Army didn't admit any wrongdoing until five weeks after his death. It's common practice to send any forensic evidence back to the U.S. with the body of a fallen soldier. In Tillman's case his uniform was burned, and his helmet was gone. They got rid of evidence to politicize his death as a killing by Al-Qaeda—whether or not it was accidental is the question. I'm not convinced either way, but I don't trust anything the Army has to say about it considering it took them over a month to admit he was killed by his own men.
Tillman's brother Richard had a lot to say after the death of his brother in the following weeks. At Pat's service, Richard criticized speakers who said his brother was in heaven.
"Just make no mistake, he's not with God," Richard said. "He's fucking dead. He's not religious. Thanks for your thoughts, but he's fucking dead."
If the goal was for Pat to become the poster boy of service and patriotism, the U.S. got what it wanted. Sixteen years after his death, SportsCenter still posts every year on Memorial Day about the hero that turned down $3.6 million to go serve his country.
It's a joke that Tillman's story is spun this way. Based on his journal entries and firsthand accounts of soldiers he serves with, including his brother Kevin, Tillman didn't believe in what the U.S. was doing in the war, calling it "illegal as hell."
Some view Tillman as a war hero who went down in the line of duty. In reality, he was a brave man who was conflicted about serving in a war he didn't agree with and he was used by his country rather than taken care of by it. It's propaganda, and it's shameful.
It's well past time to stop using his story as some sort of false patriotism. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your country, and there's nothing wrong with being critical, like Tillman was, of a pointless war. The gross mishandling and the Army's responsibility in Tillman's death are the problems I have, and it's well past time to stop using him as pro-Army propaganda.
"Pat's a fucking champion, and he always will be," Richard said.
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IU men's basketball to face biggest defensive test yet against No. 4 Iowa
COLUMN: A midseason update on No. 16 IU women's basketball in four quarters
IU men's soccer releases 10-game spring schedule


text:
Norddeutscher Rundfunk, més coneguda per les seves sigles NDR, és una empresa pública de ràdio i televisió amb seu a Hamburg (Alemanya) que presta servei als estats federats alemanys d'Hamburg, Baixa Saxònia, Mecklenburg-Pomerània Occidental i Schleswig-Holstein.

El grup forma part de l'ARD, l'organització conjunta de radiodifusores públiques d'Alemanya. A més d'aportar continguts als mitjans de l'ARD a nivell nacional, gestiona també quatre emissores generalistes (una per cada estat), set ràdios temàtiques i un canal de televisió regional en col·laboració amb Radio Bremen. La seva labor més important dins de l'ARD és el manteniment dels programes informatius nacionals (Tagesschau).

Encara que NDR va ser fundada l'1 de gener de 1956, deu el seu origen a una radiodifusora anterior, Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR), creada en 1945 en acabar la Segona Guerra Mundial. Deu anys després es va acordar la seva divisió en dues empreses: WDR per a Renània del Nord-Westfàlia i NDR per als estats federats actuals.

Història
L'origen de l'actual NDR es troba en una radiodifusora anterior, la Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR), fundada a Hamburg en 1945 en acabar la Segona Guerra Mundial, i amb cobertura a la zona d'ocupació britànica a Alemanya. En 1950, després d'unificar-se les tres zones aliades en la República Federal Alemanya, la NWDR es va convertir en una de les radiodifusores fundadores del consorci «ARD».

En 1954, la NWDR va ser dividida en dues empreses: una exclusiva per a Rin del Nord-Westfàlia (Westdeutscher Rundfunk, WDR) i una altra per als estats federats d'Hamburg, Baixa Saxònia i Schleswig-Holstein, la Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Aquesta última va poder mantenir la seva seu d'Hamburg i es va ocupar d'importants aspectes de la programació nacional, entre ells l'informatiu federal Tagesschau. Les emissions de les ràdios NDR1 i NDR2 van començar l'1 de gener de 1956, i aquest mateix dia es va posar en marxa una tercera emissora en col·laboració amb Sender Freies Berlin (SFB), la radiodifusora de Berlín.

El 20 de setembre de 1965, la NDR va posar en marxa juntament amb Radio Bremen i SFB un tercer canal de televisió, Norddeutsches Fernsehen (actual NDR Fernsehen), amb un fort pes dels espais regionals. La SFB es va mantenir lligada a aquest senyal fins que va poder establir un canal propi en 1992.

La NDR va viure una crisi interna a la fi de la dècada de 1970 quan Schleswig-Holstein, governat per Gerhard Stoltenberg, va demanar revisar la Llei de Radiodifusió per la falta de programes de proximitat per al seu estat. En 1980, els tres estats van signar un nou acord que dividia a la NDR1 en ràdios independents a partir del 2 de gener de 1981. D'igual manera, es van establir seus auxiliars a Hannover (Baixa Saxònia) i Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein) i diverses redaccions en els tres estats.

A partir de l'1 de gener de 1992, la NDR va assumir la cobertura informativa de Mecklenburg-Pomerània Occidental, coberta per la radiodifusió d'Alemanya Oriental fins a la reunificació alemanya. La seu per a aquest nou estat va quedar establerta a Schwerin.

En l'actualitat, NDR és el tercer grup que més continguts aporta a l'ARD, per darrere de la WDR i de la SWR.

Organització

NDR és una corporació de dret públic que funciona sota una Llei de Radiodifusió (NDR-Staatsvertrag) acordada entre els estats federats d'Hamburg (ciutat estat), Baixa Saxònia, Mecklenburg-Pomerània Occidental i Schleswig-Holstein. Les seves funcions estan determinades per una fundació legal, que estableix l'estructura de l'organització i els principis baix els que ha de regir-se. La labor de l'ens públic és vigilada per un Consell de Radiodifusió, format per 58 membres representatius dels quatre estats.

La Llei de Radiodifusió es recolza en el Contracte Estatal de Radiodifusió (Rundfunkstaatsvertrag), un acord multilateral entre els setze estats federats que regula les relacions entre les radiodifusores públiques i privades. Pel que fa al seu paper a l'ARD, formada per nou grups regionals i la internacional Deutsche Welle, la NDR coopera en la producció de continguts, manté la seu dels serveis informatius a Hamburg i s'ocupa de les corresponsalies de Washington D.C. (juntament amb WDR), Londres, Estocolm, Pequín, Tòquio i Singapur (aquesta última cobreix tota Oceania). A més col·labora amb Radio Bremen en el canal de televisió regional NDR Fernsehen.

La seu central de NDR està a Hamburg, la ciutat més poblada dels quatre estats membres. Disposa també de quatre seus auxiliars a Hamburg, Hannover (Baixa Saxònia), Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein) i Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Pomerània Occidental), i d'una àmplia xarxa de centres regionals.

A Alemanya es cobra un impost directe per al manteniment de la radiodifusió pública (ARD, ZDF i Deutschlandradio), a través de l'empresa conjunta GEZ. El pagament és obligatori per a tot aquell que tingui una ràdio, televisor o qualsevol altre aparell que rebi senyal. Cada llar pagava 17,98 euros al mes en 2013. La NDR depèn dels diners que li atorgui l'ARD i destina els seus ingressos als departaments de televisió, ràdio, manteniment tècnic i despeses de gestió.

Serveis

Ràdio
NDR compta amb un senyal principal de ràdio, NDR 1, dividida des de 1981 per a cadascun dels estats als quals presta cobertura. La seva programació és generalista i són independents entre si:
 NDR 1 Niedersachsen: Baixa Saxònia, operada des de Hannover. Va començar a emetre l'1 de gener de 1981.
 NDR 1 Welle Nord: Schleswig-Holstein, operada des de Kiel. Va començar a emetre l'1 de gener de 1981.
 NDR 1 Radio MV: Mecklenburg-Pomerània Occidental, amb seu a Schwerin. Va començar a emetre l'1 de gener de 1992.
 NDR 90.3: emissora d'Hamburg. Va començar a emetre el 2 de gener de 1982.
A més, les següents emissores temàtiques són comunes a tots els estats coberts per NDR:
 NDR 2: radiofórmula musical contemporània.
 NDR Kultur: programació cultural i música clàssica, anteriorment coneguda com a NDR 3.
 NDR Info: emissora d'informació contínua i servei públic.
 NDR Info Spezial: senyal alternatiu de NDR Info per a esdeveniments especials i informació de servei públic.
 N-Joy: radiofórmula musical juvenil per a oïdors de 14 a 29 anys.
 NDR Blue: emissora juvenil dedicada a música alternativa i gèneres contemporanis.
 NDR Plus: música schlager.

Televisió

NDR produeix programes per a l' ARD, tant en el canal nacional (Das Erste) com en la resta de canals on la corporació participa (3sat, KiKA, Art, Phoenix, ARD Digital). El contingut més important són els informatius nacionals, amb seu en Hamburg, el format de la qual de referència és el telenotícies Tagesschau. També s'ocupa de la representació d'Alemanya al Festival de la Cançó d'Eurovisió.

A més, posseeix un canal comú per als quatre estats als quals presta servei:
 NDR Fernsehen: programació regional i de proximitat, amb informatius i esdeveniments especials. Les seves emissions van començar el 4 de gener de 1965 com la primera television regional de l'ARD i llavors estava produït per NDR, Radio Bremen i Sender Freies Berlin. En l'actualitat és el canal comú de NDR i Ràdio Bremen.

Organitzacions musicals

La NDR compta amb quatre organitzacions musicals:
 NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester: creada en 1945 com l'orquestra simfònica de la Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, va quedar sota control de la NDR en 1956. Al llarg de la seva història ha comptat amb prestigiosos directors com Günter Wand, Klaus Tennstedt i John Eliot Gardiner. L'actual director d'orquestra és Thomas Hengelbrock.
 NDR Radiophilarmonie: orquestra filharmònica amb seu a Hannover. La seva actual directora és Simone Young.
 NDR Chor: coral fundada en 1945 per la NWDR.
 NDR Bigband; big band fundada en 1945 per la NWDR i sota la seva denominació actual des de 1971.

Referències

Enllaços externs

 Web oficial de NDR

Emissores de ràdio
Televisió a Alemanya
Ràdio a Alemanya

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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"I'm in a bit of a rush and really only had time to look at about two paragraphs of your blog. But from what I've read it goes to show that an informative guy like yourself has had the blinds put on him. On NPR they are constantly, at least two days ago, talking about the fact that the DL has threatened to step down if people in India don't stop doing things like burning Chinese flags in protest.
From what I've gathered the DL has also told, when in face to face talks with major leaders of the world, that he believes that Tibet and China need to be as one, yet that the Chinese must allow the people of Tibet certain born with rights.


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PATRICK LAWRENCE: Embracing the Equality of Nations
The decline of the West should come as no surprise, yet the U.S. still wages a ferocious fight against the prospect of equality among nations.
By Patrick Lawrence
Special to Consortium News
The signs of America's decline are ubiquitous now such that the phenomenon is no longer worthy of debate.
China, Japan, South Korea; Italy, Spain, Germany, the Danes and Norwegians — Asia and Europe all gain control of the Covid–19 pandemic even as the U.S., by the newest numbers, is back where it was during the worst of it last spring.
This is systemic failure next to systemic success, plain and simple.
We face a leadership failure, too — again, as others do not. President Donald Trump was not wrong, during his Mount Rushmore speech last Friday, to note the frightening illiberality of American liberals. But there was something disturbingly Mussolini-esque in his language, his gestures, his defiance of reality — altogether the portentous dynamic one saw between an ignorant figurehead and a crowd embracing his ignorance as its own.
"The worst are full of passionate intensity," Yeats wrote in "The Second Coming," and the worst are either running our republic or propose to run it. Things fall apart: We are collectively responsible for this.
Bitter as our national circumstances are at this moment, let us not miss the larger reality of which they are expressions. Read properly, America's decline is a subset of the decline of the West. The phrase is Oswald Spengler's, of course — the title of a two-volume work he published a century ago. If the German historian got as much wrong as right, he was spot on in identifying our Western-centric understanding of history as a Faustian fallacy that would eventually bite us on the backside.
We are now living through the epochal turn Spengler's thesis implied. All that befalls us and all our leaders do — our failed response to the Covid–19 crisis, the collapse of our political institutions, the exposure of our papered-over past, our ever-more-aggressive conduct abroad — is best understood as a function of this historic moment.
The West's superiority over the non–West has been a given in the Atlantic world for half a millennium. I take my date from Vasco da Gama's landing at Calicut, on India's Malabar Coast, in 1498. From the Portuguese explorer's first steps in the East and ever since, this presumption has rested primarily on the West's material preeminence.
Systems of governance, social norms, individual liberties — the East was considered inferior in all such matters. But it was science, technology and industry that mattered most: From these the West derived its power and claimed its right to imperial dominion. Dieu et mon droit, remember?
This claim to historically ordained superiority evaporates as we speak. So is this, our Spenglerian moment. It has been a long moment, let's say, unfolding for some time. But the Covid–19 crisis hastens it and brings it into painfully sharp relief.
21st Century Imperative
Parity between West and non–West is a 21st century imperative, a human destiny no nation can hope to prevent.
Your columnist has argued this (and applauded it) since the Cold War's end. A wise and imaginative world power would not merely accept this turn of history's wheel: It would embrace it, recognizing the immense advantage in having more voices from more perspectives address themselves to humanity's common problems and tasks.
No such good fortune comes to us. The Europeans appear to be at least minimally open to the thought that the era of the West's "global leadership" — skipping the euphemism, its colonial and postcolonial domination — draws to a close.
This may be an overly optimistic reading, I confess. But it is inarguably the case that the U.S. stands alone in waging so ferocious a fight against the prospect of equality among nations.
Do you think it is coincidence that Washington's aggressions toward its declared enemies has intensified as America's failed response to the Covid–19 pandemic becomes too evident to deny? I don't. Our neoliberal political economy has failed.
Our elevation of individuality into an "ism," a creed, has failed. Counting from the Reagan presidency, our savaging of our public sector over four decades leaves us looking like a nation of deluded nitwits. The military hardware we worship like cargo cultists proves of no use.
Consider these declared enemies, our latest axis of evil. China, Russia, and Iran are all non–Western nations in unmistakably emergent phases of development. In the advance toward parity with the West, these three are among the leaders.
They all have sturdy state sectors, centralized governments to one or another degree, and extensive social welfare systems. None is immune from domestic turmoil, but none is beset with institutional collapse. And not to be missed: As of Monday, China has 405 active Covid–19 cases on its books; Russia and Iran while their numbers are not nearly as good, appear to be in recovery mode, bringing their crises under control.
When the U.S. aggresses toward these nations by way of sanctions, threats of military attack, or a trade war, never mind how it explains itself. In the final analysis it acts in defense of the pretense of Western superiority. It is essential to the preservation of America's understanding of the world that these nations fail.
Mike Pompeo, our thickheaded secretary of state, hoes this envy-of-the-world row more or less daily. At issue here is what I call the tyranny of American happiness: The worse we have done, the happier we must declare ourselves. This is our last line of defense against all admissions of failure. How forlorn a nation are we.
Pompeo takes his place in a centuries-long line of thinkers, commentators, travelers, and who have you — some a lot more elevated — who insist on the incontrovertible superiority of the West. It is to those in this tradition our virus-beset moment is bitterest.
When India and China Were Richer
Some years ago Angus Maddison, the late and noted British economist, published a study showing that until the brink of the 20th century the Chinese and Indian economies were the world's largest by considerable margins. The U.S. overtook China in gross domestic product little more than a century ago. To speak of parity, then, is to speak of a return to it. What we witness now would be of little surprise were we not so conditioned to our habit of Orientalism.
Maybe Western Europeans are more cognizant of history's waves. I read their far superior responses to the Covid–19 crisis as an indication they can still think for themselves after decades of marching to Washington's orders.
They are emphatically not behind the U.S. in its efforts to cultivate a new Cold War with China, in its determination to apply its "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran ever more stringently, in its efforts to isolate the Russian Federation. We will have to see where this emergent drift in European thinking leads. As things stand, it looks as if the U.S. is effectively pulling the West apart from within. No bad thing.
Spengler considered civilizational decline inevitable, a fate imposed by history's laws—a very Germanic notion. Arnold Toynbee, whose 12–volume "A Study of History" came some years later, thought otherwise. Decline is the consequence of a failure of imagination and creativity among leaders. They can no longer respond anew to new circumstances. Decline comes to a choice, then, not a fate.
Your columnist stands with Toynbee on this point. The West's decline, now so evident, arises from the choices its leaders make daily, Europe's ambivalences notwithstanding. But we must not miss the optimism buried beneath the apparent pessimism. What is in decline should decline. Then there is at least the prospect of beginning again, and differently.
Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, is a columnist, essayist, author and lecturer. His most recent book is "Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century" (Yale). Follow him on Twitter @thefloutist.His web site is Patrick Lawrence. Support his work via his Patreon site.
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