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With 170,000 employees, Orange S.A. is the largest telecommunications company in France with headquarters in Paris.
Ability to manage 30 million user identities
The directory service must handle more than a hundred thousand simultaneous requests
Delegated administration and scalable notifications
API compatibility to existing systems
Highly scalable for gradual user data migration
UCS utilizing an integrated OpenLDAP as an identity management for 30 million users
Creating a stable LDAP cluster capable of handling numerous simultaneous requests
Implementing SOAP interfaces and provisioning and notification plugins for external APIs
Integrating Open-Xchange, Dovecot, a provisioning router and broker by Tarent and many Orange specific services
In 2014, Orange decided to overhaul its consumer e-mail platform completely, which provides each Orange customer its own e-mail account. The main components of the new platform are now the mail backend solution Dovecot, the groupware Open-Xchange as webmail and PIM solution as well as the identity management solution Univention Corporate Server (UCS) for the administration of over 30 million user identities.
Motivation and Requirements
The renewal became necessary as the previous system could no longer withstand the continuous growth of the platform and the software stack was no longer up to date.
For instance, the system has to map an extremely large number of accesses to the LDAP directory service, which lead up to half a million changes in the objects stored there every day. At the same time, the IT managers at Orange valued very high reliability. They wanted two mirrored sites and an automated fail-over in the event of technical problems. In addition, it should be possible to replace the servers during live operation.
Since it was not possible to migrate all 30 million user accounts at once, a step-by-step approach has been introduced which needed a high scalability of the system for the successive migration of mail accounts. The IT managers of the project also wanted flexible roles both for delegative administration and for the content of LDAP replicas (dedicated LDAP clusters per connected service). And finally, high data protection requirements had to be met.
The Decision in Favour of Univention Corporate Server
The decision of the responsible Orange IT team favoured UCS, as it enabled the flexible mapping of roles and rights both at the level of delegative administration and for selective replication of the LDAP servers. However, the possibilities offered by UCS for a scalable notification system as well as the existing and expandable interfaces were also important, since UCS also had to harmonize with the existing system. And last but not least, the human factor also played a role, as Univention's partnership with the companies Open-Xchange and Dovecot, who were also involved in the project, as well as the committed and individual consulting and consistent implementation of sub-projects and a high-quality product support, was so reliable.
Specific Challenges and Their Solutions
The biggest challenge of the project was the sheer size of the environment. While in typical UCS projects about 200,000 objects are stored in the LDAP database, Orange maintains more than 30,000,000 objects. UCS had not yet been used in a project of this size, even though Univention knew that the technical possibilities were available.
To cope with the large amounts of data and high system loads, LDAP clusters were chosen, which were set up as a group of UCS Replica Directory Node instances with identical subset of LDAP objects/attributes. The configuration of the database indexes, the implemented LDAP queries and the sizing of the server systems had to be coordinated in detail for these clusters. The operation of the system was distributed over two physical locations.
Another challenge was to create the system API-compatible to the existing system, Univention's project team had to implement several specific SOAP interfaces. It was also necessary to generate provisioning or notification plug-ins for many external APIs. These APIs are part of an extended notification system specifically for the project based on Univention Directory Manager and complementary tools such as RabbitMQ.
Connection of Further Solutions
Connected as further solutions to the central IDM of UCS were OpenXchange as a modern, web-based mail application, the IMAP and MDA of Dovecot for incoming and outgoing e-mails and the provisioning router and broker of the Tarent company to route requests to UCS or the legacy system. In addition, various Orange-specific services had to be integrated into UCS as well as SOAP and REST APIs for communication between the components.
Project Progress and Goals
Following the start of the project in mid-2014, the first project release with full functionality could already be delivered in 2015. Over the course of 2016, the solution was expanded with additional functions and server roles and numerous performance tests were carried out to ensure that the system would withstand the expected extremely high workloads. At the end of the same year, the system went live with the full range of managed identities. Since then, mail accounts have been successively migrated to the new system. In addition, new requirements, such as stricter data protection regulations or new provisioning workflows, are continually being implemented.
Since going live , the system is characterized by a very high stability, reliability and scalability, so that the commissioned 24×7 support almost never had to be used.


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Home / College Wrestling News / NCAA Championships Cancelled
NCAA Championships Cancelled
At 3:07 (CDT), the NCAA announced that the 2020 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, slated to take place next week, March 19-21, in Minneapolis, Minn., are among the winter and spring championships that have been cancelled over concerns with the coronavirus.
The following from Stacey Osborn, the NCAA Director of Communications:
"Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men's and women's 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities."
This also includes the NCAA Division II and Division III Championships, which were slated to take place in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, respectively, this Friday and Saturday, March 13-14.
The NCAA had announced yesterday that event would go on but only family and officials would be allowed to attend.
This marks the first time since 1943-45 — because of World War II — that there will not be an NCAA Wrestling championship.
Tom Brands, the head coach of Iowa, which was favored to win this year's tournament made the following statement:
"Our coaching staff is disappointed for our guys, their families, and our fans. I understand the Big Ten Conference and NCAA made decisions based on information available and are acting in what they believe is in the best interest of the student-athletes. We will process this and move forward, as we always do. Our guys have a lot to be proud of and much more still to accomplish."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Start your engines - the Ravenswood Hotel will once again play host to the Hot Rod Rumble on Sunday, March 24. Hundreds of spectators are expected to don their best rockabilly fashions to celebrate the fourth annual event at the Murray venue. The family-friendly and free event will feature 1960s vehicles and Hot Rods as well as retro markets, food trucks and live music to offer something for everyone. The Ravenswood Hotel restaurant will also have a special menu to feed hungry tummies after checking out all of the vintage action. See more: With the car show set to take place on the banks of the river and markets and stalls selling from the riverside beer garden, creating the perfect atmosphere for another epic event. Organisers from Razorblade Music and Bleeding Ear Music and Special Events said they were expecting their biggest show yet. Show kicks off on Sunday, March 24 from 10am-4pm. Entry is free For more information, visit the Ravenswood Hotel website or Facebook event page.
Start your engines - the Ravenswood Hotel will once again play host to the Hot Rod Rumble on Sunday, March 24.
Hundreds of spectators are expected to don their best rockabilly fashions to celebrate the fourth annual event at the Murray venue.
The family-friendly and free event will feature 1960s vehicles and Hot Rods as well as retro markets, food trucks and live music to offer something for everyone.
The Ravenswood Hotel restaurant will also have a special menu to feed hungry tummies after checking out all of the vintage action.
Good day: Happy mother with her daughter. Photos: Left Eye Photography.
Flaming beauty of a vehicle, sure to be a favourite.
The event was packed with children and families.
With the car show set to take place on the banks of the river and markets and stalls selling from the riverside beer garden, creating the perfect atmosphere for another epic event.
Organisers from Razorblade Music and Bleeding Ear Music and Special Events said they were expecting their biggest show yet.
For more information, visit the Ravenswood Hotel website or Facebook event page.


According to Millar, this gives an indication of an individual's inherent characteristics and behavioural patterns, allowing for coaching and developmental discussions around areas for growth in terms of their role both in a team and as leaders. "Behavioural competencies that typically require the most development among engineers include self-awareness, conflict management, influencing skills and inspirational leadership. Self-awareness lies at the heart of emotional intelligence. Without it, an individual's chance of demonstrating strength in other areas is low. With it, he or she is likely to shine," she explains.
For more information, contact Fiona Millar at fionam@thomas.co.za or by calling +27 (0) 12 111 0821.


I love Harley. I love this photo. Too sweet for words.
Harley look so cool .he is styling that doo rag.
I wish I had been there to lick your little lips.
From his "wild streak" days.
MISS YOU, HARLEY!!!!!!!!!!!! SO HAPPY THEIR ARE MANY PEOPLE KEEPING YOUR DREAMS ALIVE!!!!!!


INEOS was using a production simulation tool called DISPO to inform production planners of possible constraint violations such as tank overflows, feedstock or product shortages, and the necessary turnarounds of production units. Driven by technology changes and changing business requirements, INEOS Köln started looking for a new toolset to meet their needs and support future developments. A pilot study was conducted in AIMMS to model INEOS' production process. The study resulted in a new DISPO App that was ready to use within a few months. An additional App for steam cracking optimization was developed in AIMMS.
INEOS Köln is one of the largest petrochemical sites worldwide. Established as a joint venture in 1957 (as "EC Erdölchemie GmbH"), the company was acquired by BP in 2001. Today, it is part of the INEOS group. It employs 1,900 people and is a key raw materials supplier to the chemical industry.


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Artiklar, BRIX, News
Dawn of Geo-Economics – Extending the Belt and Road to Afghanistan
By brixsweden August 18, 2021 0Comments
By Hussein Askary*
Board member of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden (BRIX)
The hasty withdrawal of U.S., British and other North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of failed "war on terrorism" can potentially become an inflection point towards a new era in world politics. The comparisons with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Saigon, Vietnam in 1975 is somewhat inaccurate. There is now a new mechanism and constellation of regional and global powers willing to bring peace, stability, and economic development to Afghanistan with well-defined plans along the Belt and Road Initiative. The comparison should rather be with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, which means that a terrible era is potentially ending and a new one is ushered into world politics, overturning decades and centuries of destructive zero-sum geopolitics, "great games" and wars.
If calmly and wisely approached, this new situation has the potential of reaching peace through economic development and win-win cooperation. The key to this new policy is the integration of Afghanistan into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). While there are great risks embedded in the chaotic situation left by NATO in Afghanistan, any peace and reconciliation initiative should contain the reconstruction of the economy as the main item on the agenda.
Following 20 years of military operation by the U.S., Britain and their allies, and with at least 71,000 civilians killed in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, these forces were hastily withdrawn in July and august of this year. The Taliban, the purported target of the Afghanistan war and main antagonists of NATO and the Western-backed government, expanded their control over every part of the country. While Western mass media was filled with panicked reporting about the rapid onslaught of the Taliban in many parts of the country, cooler heads in China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran and many Central Asian and even India were busy arranging a flurry of diplomatic moves to both contain the situation and get the Taliban and the Afghani government in Kabul to talk peace and reconciliation.
The Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi visited several Central Asian capitals in July already to discuss the situation. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which includes all the above nations plus other Eurasian nations, held a meeting of its foreign ministers on Afghanistan on July 14 in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan. Wang Yi said at the meeting, that due to the hasty withdrawal of the U.S. and NATO troops, "Afghanistan is once again faced with the grave challenge of moving toward war or peace, chaos or stability". He proposed a five-point initiative, the third point of which was to "working together to boost a reconciliation process to ensure that no-civil war scenario develops. In line with the principle of "Afghan-led and Afghan-owned". All neighboring countries of Afghanistan have a stake in this situation and have influence on certain Afghani factions and groups, making them a suitable broker of peace and reconciliation. Point five urged the SCO to contribute to peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan. The SCO should make active use of existing cooperation mechanisms in economy, trade, culture and other fields to support Afghanistan in enhancing its capacity for independent development and achieving genuine and sustainable development. Integrating Afghanistan into regional economic development plans and structures will insure durable peace.
No peace without development
It is this this latter point, which was neglected in the past 20 year, while the focus was placed only on the use of military and security measures that have had devastating consequences on the nation. According to certain estimates, an incredible US$ 2.2 trillion was spent on this war, while the overall cost of the U.S. wars since 9/11, 2001, has reached US$ 6.4 trillion. Almost none of that was used to build infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools, power or water management systems. This is 6 times the amount China invested in the BRI since 2013. But China has built thousands of kilometers of railways and roads, power plants, ports, airports, water management systems, across Eurasia and Africa. It is for this reason the current case of Afghanistan could become an inflection point in current history concerning the philosophy and achievement of peace through economic development rather than military force.
Afghanistan and the BRI
Contrary to its previous position as a buffer zone between the Russian and British Empires in the geopolitical Great Game, Afghanistan is perfectly positioned to become a bridge between northern Eurasia and South Asia, and between East Asia and West Asia. It is squeezed between two of the main BRI corridors; The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the south of its border, and The China-Central Asia-Iran-Turkey New Silk Road Corridor to its north.
Afghanistan formally joined the BRI in May 2016 during a visit by Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah to China, in May 2016, in which the Afghan and Chinese Foreign Ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation under the BRI. The Afghan Foreign Ministry stated then that "given its location at the crossroads of Central, South, and Southwest Asia, Afghanistan is well placed to partner with China and connect to the wider region via BRI." Afghanistan also became a member in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), in 2017. However, due to the situation in the country, and obvious U.S.-China antagonism, no infrastructure or other projects were launched jointly.
Interestingly, China managed to include the BRI as part of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, and article 34 of the 2017 UN Security Council Resolution 2344 states that it "welcomes and urges further efforts to strengthen the process of regional economic cooperation, including measures to facilitate regional connectivity, trade and transit, including through regional development initiatives such as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (the Belt and Road) Initiative, and regional development projects."
Almost one year ahead of the U.S. and Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan, Wang Yi reached a nine-point consensus at the Inaugural China-Central Asian Countries Foreign Ministers' Meeting on July 16, 2020. Of interest here are point three, which states that the parties will make more efforts to "synergize the Belt and Road Initiative and the development strategies of Central Asian countries, expand trade and provide more common ideas and concrete actions on the development of a Silk Road of Health and the Digital Silk Road". Point eight, which concerns Afghanistan stated: "China and Central Asian countries all support the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan and stand ready to play a constructive role in promoting intra-Afghan negotiation, restoring peace and stability, advancing Afghan economic recovery and strengthening regional cooperation."
In another important development, the joint statement of the Fourth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Dialogue in June 2021, stressed that "the three sides reaffirmed that they will deepen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, Regional Economic Cooperation Conference (RECCA), "Heart of Asia" Istanbul Process (HoA/IP) and other regional economic initiatives." Connectivity between the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Afghanistan was a key element in this dialog.
RECCA, which is mentioned in this joint statement, is an initiative launched by the Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan to agglomerate all the different connectivity and development corridors connecting Afghanistan to its neighbors and larger regions. It has published several studies on these corridors and how they will benefit Afghanistan and enhance stability and security in the country and the larger region.
Putting Afghanistan on the Belt and Road to Peace and Prosperity
So, the plan is to build a number of development corridors for transport, power, and oil and gas through Afghanistan. There are a number of the projects outlined by the RECCA. One of them is the CASA-1000, the Central Asia South Asia regional electricity market. Turkmenistan is a natural gas-rich country. Iran, too, is a natural gas-rich country and both of them provide power to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is dependent on its neighbor countries to provide its electricity, which has not been built in the past 20 years. CASA-1000 includes Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as one electric grid. The TAP-500, another electric power line connecting Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan. There is the TAPI, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline, which was backed allegedly by the United States and NATO, but this was used as a geopolitical tool to make sure that the Central Asian countries and the gas- and oil-rich countries avoid working with Russia and Iran and China to get their natural gas outside because they are landlocked countries.
So, the idea was to connect Turkmenistan directly to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, and get the natural gas from there. But this is, in itself, a very useful project, and it also helps to connect Pakistan and India through mutual interest. But it does not exclude building gas pipelines to Russia or to China or through Iran. But reality has its final say, and the Turkmenistan-Central Asia-China natural gas corridor has become one of the most vital gas supply lines in Asia. Iran, Pakistan and India also had their "Peace Pipeline" plans, which the Iranians built all the way to Zahedan on the border with Pakistan. But pressure from the United States did not allow Pakistan to pursue the project. In addition, the conflict between Pakistan and India stopped that project. So, there is no conflict between these different oil and gas pipelines if geopolitics are pushed aside and economic and social considerations are adopted instead.
Today, there is no contradiction between Pakistan benefiting from cooperating with both. The energy requirements of all countries, including India and China are so enormous, that it takes more than one pipeline to meet.
There is also among these infrastructure projects the Five-Nation Railway (China-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran), and the corridor from Peshawar (Pakistan) to Kabul and to Dushanbe. Another corridor goes from Peshawar to Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif and into Turkmenistan. There are a number of railways which were built from the neighboring countries; like Iran, which just last year completed the railway from Khaf and Mashhad in Iran to Herat in the northwest of Afghanistan. A corridor should also extend from from Tajikistan to Kunduz. Many regional railways reach the border towns of Afghanistan from the neighboring countries but then stop there, because the missing links are all within Afghanistan itself. In 2016, a train, arrived from Xinjiang in China into Hairatan in northern Afghanistan passing through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 2019, a freight line was established along this route to China. Therefore, building the missing links inside Afghanistan should become the focus for the reconstruction plans.
In February of this year a strategic agreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan for building a 573 km railway from Mazar-e-Sharif, via Kabul to Peshawar, Pakistan, was signed. It will connect with the existing Termez, Uzbekistan – Mazar-e-Sharif cross-border line, which opened in January 2012. This line offers a direct link between Pakistan and the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. The three countries had jointly signed a proposal in December 2020 for plans to seek a $US 4.8bn loan for the project from global financial institutions. Reportedly, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the International Finance Corporation have all expressed interest in the project. The line will also connect with the 112km Atamyrat, Turkmenistan, – Aqina – Andkhoy cross-border line, linking Turkmenistan with Peshawar.
Surrounded by BRI projects
All the neighbors of Afghanistan are actively involved in the BRI. The CPEC, the flagship of the BRI and the most advanced of the BRI corridors is an important vehicle for bringing the BRI into Afghanistan.
China's relationship to Central Asia has been evolving into a positive direction, especially after the initiation of the BRI by President Xi Jinping in 2013. The Central Asia nations, three of which share borders with Afghanistan, have adapted their national development plans to the BRI. Not only their trade with China has grown massively, many infrastructural and agro-industrial projects are now integral to the BRI and cooperation with China. The SCO, which initially was a security organization, has evolved into an economic cooperation vehicle. The Joint Commission on Facilitation of International Road Transport is one of the important platforms of the SCO, especially on infrastructure matters. There are several China-Central Asian initiatives such as the Sino-Kyrgyz Regional Cooperation Plan (2015-2020), Kazakhstan's Bright Road Initiative, Tajikistan's national development strategy 2030 and Uzbekistan's new development strategy.
Concerning connectivity, China's Xinjiang (Uyghur Autonomous Region) is connected to three main Belt and Road Corridors. These are the CPEC, New Silk Road, and the Eurasian Corridor. But to have an effective connectivity, there is need to upgrade the transport and power infrastructure of China's neighbors to match the fast development of China's own economy and rapid increase in China-Europe trade.
Iran, which shares long borders with Afghanistan to the west, have also consolidated its relationship to China and the BRI for years, but most emphatically through signing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement in March 2021, which is an unprecedented economic, trade and strategic cooperation framework extending for 25 years. Iran has also strong economic ties to Afghanistan, and as mentioned above, recently extended an important railway from Khaf in eastern Iran to Herat in Afghanistan.
Mineral wealth
Afghanistan is rich with rare-earth and other metals like lithium, beryllium and tantalum and others that are necessary for modern electronics and high-technology products. Afghanistan also has very large iron and copper mines.
One good thing the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) did, is a large-scale survey of almost the entirety of the Afghan territories to figure out the different deposits of special minerals and non-oil minerals. The study was completed in 2016 and has been updated several times since then.
The Mes Aynak copper deposit is one of the largest in Asia. A Chinese consortium (China Metallurgical Group) won the bid for developing this mine and producing copper in 2007. However, there were two major problems for pursuing the work. One was the security problem. The Chinese company sites were attacked by militant groups several times. The other problem concerns processing the copper, which required investing in building a 500-Megawatts coal-fired power plant, and a railway to bring coal from the northern part of the country and shipping the produced copper was also necessary. Lack of water, necessity for mining, was also another issue. That meant that the cost of the project as a result of such investments, would be higher than estimated. This meant that expected revenues both for the Chinese company and Afghan government were not as high as first estimated. This led to a dispute which is not resolved yet. But if the security situation is stabilized, and the development corridors are built, the power and transport will be available to utilize these mines more easily.
Water shortage
Afghanistan was a lush garden many centuries ago; but due to periodical long-term climate changes and also all the conflicts that engulfed Afghanistan and the lack of development much of Afghanistan is quite arid. In Afghanistan, only 67% of the population has access to drinking water, not necessarily tap water. Many have access to drinking water only through wells. The mortality rate in 2004 in Afghanistan for children below the age of five, was 25%, which is a tragically high level. But half of the mortality is related to waterborne disease—so, providing drinking water is a matter of life or death immediately for many, as well as being critical for economic development.
Afghanistan has a number of rivers like the Helmand River, the Amu Darya River, the Kabul River, the Logar and Panjshir, and several other small ones. Because they depend much on snow melting on the mountains, they have large seasonal fluctuations and some of them even dry up in the summer and fall of the year. The water budget of Afghanistan is estimated to be 55-75 billion cubic meters per year. This is approximately what the Egyptians get in the Nile River annually. But the Egyptians get it literally served on a platter. But in Afghanistan, however, to be able to utilize as much as possible of this water budget; that is, instead of it running off and evaporating, there is need to build a massive water management infrastructure system.
One important point in terms of food security is the problem of opium cultivation, which had disappeared under Taliban control prior to 2001, but which increased dramatically under U.S. and NATO control. Afghanistan has become the source of 80% of the opium and heroin in the whole world. It needs support to convert the opium production into food production. The Taliban, upon taking over the capital Kabul on August 17, declared that they will once again eradicate opium cultivation.
The population of Afghanistan is 39 million people, according to 2021 statistics, including three million refugees, mostly in Iran and Pakistan. But the amazing factor is that 46% of the population of Afghanistan are below the age of 15 years. And only 2.5% of the population of Afghanistan are above the age of 65. So, we have around 80% of the Afghani people are below 30 years of age, which is a very, very young population. And of course, it has enormous aspirations and demands. This population of 37 million is projected to double by 2050.
The concentration of the population in Afghanistan is to the south and to the north of the central mountain barrier. So, this has to be bridged through development corridors in order to connect all the different groups of Afghani population and resources—both water and other resources—together, to create one economic unit. This will naturally contribute to connecting it to the surrounding nations, to create an even larger economic unit.
What the initial support through the Belt and Road should be, is for the reconstruction of the infrastructure of Afghanistan to create the economic platform necessary to enable all those millions of young Afghanis to increase improve their skills and their productivity to utilize the natural resources and land to gain profitability and be able to participate in international trade.
On July 28, 2021, Wang Yi met with the visiting delegation led by head of the Afghan Taliban Political Commission Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Tianjin. While much of the discussion dealt with the future perspectives of reconciliation, peace, stability and preventing terrorist groups from using Afghanistan as a base to attack China and other neighbors, economic development and reconstruction were key elements of the two sides discussions. Baradar emphasized that the Afghani side hopes that China will be more involved in Afghanistan's peace and reconciliation process and play a bigger role in future reconstruction and economic development. The Afghan Taliban will also make its own efforts toward fostering an enabling investment environment.
The irony here is that the same Afghanistan, which was a pivot of geopolitics, could suddenly become the springboard to a new era of win-win cooperation rather than zero-sum game politics. Economic cooperation is the gateway to both security and prosperity for all nations, especially Afghanistan the people of which have suffered incredibly in the past 40 years. It is the right time now to put Afghanistan on the Belt and Road to peace. This current crisis carries within it a great opportunity, exactly as the fall of the Berlin Wall presented an opportunity for a new and just world economic order. Unfortunately, that 1989 opportunity was squandered. The world cannot afford to lose another such a unique opportunity.
*In an international conference held on July 31st by the International Schiller Institute, this author and several current and former government officials and nongovernmental think-tank experts presented a wide range of possibilities for reconciliation and reconstruction option for Afghanistan in the context of the BRI.
AfghanistanBelt and Road InitiativeTalibanWang Yi


Learn to SCUBA dive in Cozumel's warm, crystal clear waters. After arriving at the dive shop, you will meet your instructor and begin a small group class which will introduce you to the world of diving.
After the instructor feels you have a good grasp on the basics of scuba, you will put on gear and practice with the gear off the beach. Due to the small size of your group, you will receive plenty of hands-on direction.
When everyone is feeling confident, your instructor will lead you to the boat and you will set off to the reef to try your hand at a one tank dive with your instructor to a maximum of 40 feet.
Please Note: All participants must pay the captain a $2.50 US per person park admission fee on the day of the tour.
Guests should have a general knowledge of swimming, and be at ease in the water. The minimum age to participate is 12 years old. Guests between 12 and 17 years of age must have an adult accompany them to the dive shop to sign the waiver. Guests must be able to climb out of the water via the boat's ladder.


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namespace Visitor
{
    public class Mouse : IComputerPart
    {
        public void Accept(IComputerPartVisitor computerPartVisitor)
        {
            computerPartVisitor.Visit(this);
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Our products and services include antiques, appraisals, books, collectibles, crystal, dolls, furniture, glass, jewelry, linens, paintings, pottery, prints, quilts, vintage clothes and we buy & sell.Brands: crystal and jewelry.We accept lay-a-ways for payment.We deal.In business since 1986.
If you have used the services of Ruthie's Attic we'd love to hear from you! Use the form below to review and comment on your experience.


Payment Mode: Pay the Exam Fee Through Credit Card/ Debit Card/ Net Banking Fee, E-Challan Fee Mode.
Super Specialist Medical Officer (Second-in-Command) : Graduate Degree in Medicine (M.B.B.S) Or Equivalent From a Recognized University/ Institution in the First Schedule to the Medical Council Act.
Specialist Medical Officer (Deputy Commandant) : Medical Qualification of Allopathic System of Medicines Included in the First or Second Schedule.
Medical Officer (Assistant Commandant) : Medical Qualification of Allopathic Systim of Medicines Included in the First or Second Schedule.
For More Eligibility Criteria, Read the Official Notification.
Selection Process: Selection on the Basis of Interview, Medical & Merit List.


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Q: XCode Magical Record, MR_findByAttribute - looking for strings with certain word (regex?) I have an API, from which I load Shop objects.
Shop object has NSString *assortment field, containing products you can buy in shop, in my syntax it's eg. "water,milk,potatoes,bread,ketchup".
NSString *assortment = @"water, milk, potatoes, bread, ketchup";

I load shops from my local database to an NSArray *shops.
NSArray *shops = [Shop MR_findAll];

I want to find all objects in my shops array (using MR_findByAttribute maybe?) that contain word "bread" in their assortment field.
I know I can split my string and check for every single assortment position - but that sounds not intuitive to me. I feel like there's better solution, maybe:
NSArray *shopsWithBread = [Shop MR_findByAttribute:@"assortment" withValue:@"<bread regex?>"];

Do you know any nice way to do it? Do you have maybe another good idea how to find all those shops? Maybe you're sure it can't be done this way and I have to write search engine myself?
Thank you in advance for all answers.
Karol

A: Ok, I've found the solution - I'm using predicate.
NSPredicate *breadSearchPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"assortment contains[cd] %@", @"bread"];
NSArray *shopsWithBread = [Shop MR_findAllWithPredicate:breadSearchPredicate];

assortment is my field name; contains[cd] is a kind of instruction, checking for containing a string give - here @"bread".
NSPredicate - nicely explained here: http://nshipster.com/nspredicate/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: Magento Category ReDirect I have a small issue but I have been battling for two days now to resolve it.
I have recently recreated a new category (www.site.co.za/mens-clothing-3) which is populated and working. I want to redirect (www.site.co.za/mens-clothing) to the new category (www.site.co.za/mens-clothing-3).
I have tried implementing the following in the htacess file, but nothing happens. The old category links (mens-clothing) goes obviosuly now to a 404 and it is still being picked up by Google (main concern). My htaccess rule looks like this:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} bigblue.co.za$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !mens-clothing-3
RewriteRule ^mens-clothing/(.*)$ http://www.bigblue.co.za/mens-clothing-3/$1 [R=301,L]

A: You could use magento url redirect instead
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/modules_reference/english/mage_adminhtml/urlrewrite/index
:)


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Voting Conspiracies
Q: Is it true that there were more votes than voters in Wood County, Ohio, and St. Lucie County, Fla., and that Obama lost every state with photo ID laws?
A: No. A viral email that makes those claims is bogus. It fabricates Ohio and Florida results. Also, Obama won four of the 11 states with photo ID laws.
FULL QUESTION
Viral email: Most everyone suspected fraud, but these numbers prove it and our government and media refuse to do anything about it.
As each state reported their final election details, the evidence of voter fraud is astounding. Massive voter fraud has been reported in areas of OH and FL, with PA, WI and VA, all are deploying personnel to investigate election results.
Here are just a few examples of what has surfaced with much more to come.
* In 59 voting districts in the Philadelphia region, Obama received 100% of the votes with not even a single vote recorded for Romney. (A mathematical and statistical impossibility).
* In 21 districts in Wood County Ohio, Obama received 100% of the votes where GOP inspectors were illegally removed from their polling locations – and not one single vote was recorded for Romney. (Another statistical impossibility).
* In Wood County Ohio, 106,258 voted in a county with only 98,213 eligible voters.
* In St. Lucie County, FL, there were 175,574 registered eligible voters but 247,713 votes were cast.
* The National SEAL Museum, a polling location in St. Lucie County, FL had a 158% voter turnout.
* Palm Beach County, FL had a 141% voter turnout.
* In Ohio County, Obama won by 108% of the total number of eligible voters.
NOTE: Obama won in every state that did not require a Photo ID and lost in every state that did require a Photo ID in order to vote.
This email claims there was "massive voter fraud" in a handful of U.S. states, but nearly all of the examples given are wrong or completely fabricated. (One is mostly true, but lacks context.) The anonymous author of this bogus tirade may want to believe that votes were falsely recorded for President Obama, but the supposed "evidence" cited in the email is simply imaginary.
We'll go through each point in this message, which has been forwarded to us by several readers. The claims made here also have popped up on conservative blogs and message boards.
Made-Up Claims About Wood County, Ohio
Terry Burton, director of the Wood County Board of Elections, doesn't know why fabricated claims about votes in Wood County, Ohio, are swirling around the Internet. "The misrepresentations of the outcome of the 2012 elections … continue to be [a] mystery and a point of frustration to our office," he told us in an email. The actual results, he said, "are plainly available on our website."
The viral claims include a made-up statistic about Wood County's results:
Claim: In 21 districts in Wood County Ohio, Obama received 100% of the votes where GOP inspectors were illegally removed from their polling locations – and not one single vote was recorded for Romney. (Another statistical impossibility).
Actually, Obama didn't get 100 percent of the vote in any district in Wood County, as anyone can clearly see on the election board's website. Obama garnered 51.21 percent of the vote overall in the county.
As for the claim that "GOP inspectors were illegally removed from their polling locations," there's nothing to that, either. It appears to have been pure fantasy on the part of this anonymous email author. "The random accusations which continue to be made regarding Wood County are untrue," says Burton. "No candidate received 100% of the vote in any precinct in Wood County, no precinct officials were removed during Election Day and no issues were identified during a recount and/or the required state audit."
The viral email goes on to suggest there was voter fraud in Wood County with more votes cast than eligible voters. But that's not the case, either.
Claim: In Wood County Ohio, 106,258 voted in a county with only 98,213 eligible voters.
Actually, according to the Ohio Secretary of State data, 63,948 votes were cast for president in Wood County in 2012, with 32,802 votes for Obama, 29,704 for Romney, and 1,442 for other candidates. Once again, the figures in the email are completely off base.
What the anonymous author is attempting to question is the number of registered voters in Wood County, a figure that is artificially high because of college students at Bowling Green State University remaining on the voter rolls. There were 108,014 registered voters in the county, according to the Secretary of State website. But the total population of Wood County is 126,355, with only about 99,000 of those over the age of 18. The apparent discrepancy comes from Bowling Green students not canceling their registrations when they graduate and leave the area. Burton told the Columbus Dispatch that nonactive voters stay on registration rolls for two election cycles before the election board tries to contact them. Then, it's two more cycles before anyone the board can't find is deleted. That means college students can remain on registration lists for more than a decade after they've left Wood County. Back in 2004, for instance, there were 90,688 registered voters in the county, but only 64,103 showed up at the polls to vote.
Wood County follows federal laws for removing inactive voters. Says Burton: "Wood County has worked closely with the Ohio Secretary of State's office to ensure that we are continuing to do everything within our power to make Wood County voter rolls as accurate as possible within the bounds of federal and state laws."
St. Lucie Distortions
Another bogus bit is being spread about St. Lucie County, Fla.
Claim: In St. Lucie County, FL, there were 175,574 registered eligible voters but 247,713 votes were cast.
The National SEAL Museum, a polling location in St. Lucie County, FL had a 158% voter turnout.
It's simply not true that there were tens of thousands more votes cast than voters available in St. Lucie County. Whoever first started this falsehood misread a St. Lucie election board document showing that 249,095 "cards" were cast, and registered voters totaled 175,554.
But the supervisor of elections website explains that a "card" is one page, and the full "ballot" contained two pages. Total cards are not double the number of voters, as not every voter cast both pages (or "cards").
St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections website: Note* — Turnout percentages will show over 100% due to a two page ballot. The tabulation system (GEMS) provides voter turnout as equal to the total cards cast in the election divided by the number of registered voters. Also note that some voters chose not to return by mail the second card containing the amendments.
A more detailed document of the county's votes cast shows total "votes" at 123,301.
The email author makes the same mistake with "cards" versus "ballots" in claiming that one St. Lucie County polling location, the National SEAL Museum, had a "158% voter turnout." Not true. Of the jurisdiction's 2,756 registered voters, 2,243 votes were cast, according to the Supervisor of Elections' official results. A total of 4,469 "cards" were cast of the two-page ballot. Obama, by the way, got 33.62 percent of the vote at that polling location.
Viral Email Confusion
The email includes two bewildering statistics. It gets its voting numbers all wrong for Palm Beach.
Claim: Palm Beach County, FL had a 141% voter turnout.
According to the County Supervisor of Elections website, the turnout for the presidential election was 69.56 percent.
We'd guess that whoever wrote that line in the email might have grabbed the 141 percent figure from St. Lucie County — in comparing registered voters with the "cards" cast.
The email also says:
Claim: In Ohio County, Obama won by 108% of the total number of eligible voters.
Which "Ohio County" might that be? There's one in Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana, for starters. But the 108 percent figure appears to be another misguided statistic from Wood County — in Ohio. The percentage can be derived by using the email's bogus number for Election Day voters and its slightly off number for the county's voting-age population. As we said, the email inflates voter turnout in Wood County by more than 40,000.
This is what happens when those with little-to-no regard for the facts spread falsehoods through email and the Internet.
Hitting a False Note
The email includes another completely made-up stat:
Claim: NOTE: Obama won in every state that did not require a Photo ID and lost in every state that did require a Photo ID in order to vote.
Not true. There are 11 states with some type of photo identification voting law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and Obama won four of them.
It is true that some state laws are more strict than others, and Romney won the four states with the strictest laws: Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Indiana. They require a photo ID in order to vote. People without identification can cast a provisional ballot, which won't be counted until a voter presents photo ID, generally within a few days after the election. (Indiana will count the provisional ballot if the voter signs an affidavit saying he or she doesn't have photo ID because of poverty or a religious objection to being photographed.) It's worth noting that Obama won Indiana in 2008, when the same photo ID law was in place.
The seven other states with some type of voter photo ID law are: Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Hawaii (all won by Obama) and South Dakota, Idaho, Louisiana (all won by Romney). Most of those states allow voters without photo identification to cast votes, if they sign an affidavit or confirm their identities in another way. Idaho, for instance, says that a voter without photo ID (such as a driver's license, passport or student ID) can sign an affidavit that includes the voter's name and address. Lying on the form is a felony: "Any person who knowingly provides false, erroneous or inaccurate information on such affidavit shall be guilty of a felony," the state regulations say.
Florida uses signature matching to determine whether a provisional ballot — cast by those without photo ID — should be counted. "Your provisional ballot will count if the signature on the provisional ballot envelope matches the signature on your voter registration application," says the state Division of Elections. In Hawaii, voters can vote if they give their date of birth and address, and that matches the information in the poll book.
An additional 19 states have laws requiring identification — but not photo IDs. Obama won seven of them.
Some Philadelphia Districts Don't Like Romney
All told, this email purporting to show "astounding" evidence of "voter fraud" contains just a scant sliver of truth. The only correct claim is that some districts in Philadelphia recorded 100 percent of their votes for Obama — a stat that isn't "a mathematical and statistical impossibility," as the email claims, and isn't all that surprising once the full context is known.
Claim: In 59 voting districts in the Philadelphia region, Obama received 100% of the votes with not even a single vote recorded for Romney. (A mathematical and statistical impossibility).
It's not mathematically impossible. The 59 districts are in areas of the city that are mainly African American, as the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. And Obama received 93 percent of the black vote nationwide.
In 2008, Obama received 100 percent of the vote in 57 districts in Philadelphia. So it was not that unusual that something similar happened this time around. In fact, Inquirer reporters had a tough time tracking down any registered Republicans in these areas.
To be clear, these districts make up a small subset of all of Philadelphia. The 59 that went 100 percent for Obama in 2012 constitute 19,605 votes, just 3 percent of the total votes cast in the city.
— Lori Robertson, with Jesse DuBois
Burton, Terry, director of the Wood County, Ohio, Board of Elections. Email interview with FactCheck.org. 9 Jan 2013.
Wood County, Ohio. Official Results, Nov. 6, 2012, General Election. 27 Nov 2012.
Ohio Secretary of State. Elections & Voting. President and Vice President: November 6, 2012. Official Results. website accessed 16 Jan 2012.
Ohio Secretary of State. Elections & Voting. Historical Comparisons. website accessed 16 Jan 2012.
United States Census Bureau. State & County QuickFacts. Wood County, Ohio. Census.gov. accessed 15 Jan 2012.
St. Lucie County. Statement of Votes Cast. 2012 General Election, November 6, 2012. St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections website. 12 Nov 2012.
St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections, Gertrude Walker. slcelections.com website. accessed 15 Jan 2012.
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. General Election, results by precinct, 2012. pbcelections.org, accessed 15 Jan 2012.
National Conference of State Legislatures. Voter Identification Requirements. ncsl.org. accessed 15 Jan 2012.
2012 Presidential Election Results. washingtonpost.com. accessed 15 Jan 2012.
Florida Division of Elections. General Voting Information. 2012.
Hill, Miriam, et. al. "In 59 Philadelphia voting divisions, Mitt Romney got zero votes." Philadelphia Inquirer. 31 Dec 2012.
Philadelphia County. Citywide Election Results. accessed 15 Jan 2013.
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