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New York human rights law places ban on race discrimination on basis of hair
By Kelcie Willis, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
The New York City Commission on Human Rights announced Monday that individuals who have been harassed, fired or otherwise punished in public spaces because of their hair or hairstyle will have legal recourse. The announcement clarifies the New York City Human Rights Law.
The New York Times reported the law applies to anyone in the city, but particularly black people, as such laws disproportionately affect them.
"While a range of hair textures are common among people of African descent, natural hair texture that is tightly-coiled or tightly-curled as well as hairstyles such as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, and Afros are those most closely associated with Black people," the commission said. "The decision to wear one's hair in a particular style is highly personal, and reasons behind that decision may differ for each individual."
According to the guidelines, the law now explicitly states such bans on hairstyles are illegal and discriminatory. Requirements that employees chemically relax their hair or straighten it fall in that category, for example, as well as other public spaces.
"It is no justification to prohibit natural hair or hairstyles because they are perceived to be a distraction or because of speculative health or safety concerns," the guidelines said. "These protections extend to all users of public accommodations, including businesses such as restaurants, fitness clubs, stores, and nightclubs, and other public spaces, like parks, libraries, healthcare providers, and cultural institutions."
Carmelyn P. Malalis, the commission chairwoman, told The Wall Street Journal the commission could seek a range of remedies for such discrimination, including up to $250,000 for willful violation of the law.
Kelcie Willis, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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ALS Prize4Life Challenge Opens Ways to Predicting a Patient's Prognosis
The winners of the DREAM ALS Stratification Prize4Life Challenge were recently announced by Prize4Life, Sage Bionetworks and the DREAM community. The challenge is a global data analysis competition designed to computationally determine the different subgroups of patients who suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). There is currently no method to identify whether a given ALS patient will survive the average three to five years after diagnosis, or be among those who go on to live for decades.
The purpose of this competition is to find answers for clinical practice and new trial designs, as well as personalized approaches for drug development. "We want to accelerate ALS drug discovery and believe that critical breakthroughs will come from new ways of thinking, collaborating, and sourcing ideas," Prize4Life CEO Shay Rishoni said in a press release.
The participants were able to compete individually or in teams, and their projects were included in four different challenge categories. "I'm excited by the results of the ALS Stratification Challenge and congratulate the winners who significantly outperformed the bar," added Rishoni. The winners were granted a total of $28,000 to be invested in their research and are going to present their work at the DREAM Conference on Regulatory and Systems Genomics meeting, set for Nov. 16-18, 2015, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition, they also have the opportunity to co-author a Challenge overview paper, partnered by the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The winners included researchers from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan; researchers from the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; and researchers from the Department for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan, USA.
The participating teams worked on cloud-based computational resources, which were donated by IBM, one of the sponsors of the competition. The participants submitted their source code to predict patient prognosis and, by the end of the competition, all of the methods submitted were inserted onto Sage's Synapse platform, which will work as a library and community resource that can also serve as a basis for ongoing research.
"We are committed to finding answers to ALS and dedicated to supporting new approaches like crowdsourcing and big data analysis that have the potential to provide powerful insights into the disease," said Donald R. Johns, MD, Vice President, ALS Development at Biogen, one of the sponsors of the challenge. "We are grateful to the participants of the DREAM ALS Stratification Prize4Life Challenge who have created new knowledge and an important repository for research that may bring improved trials, new treatments, and hope to ALS patients."
Stephen Friend, President, Co-Founder, and Director of Sage Bionetworks, also thanked the participants of the DREAM ALS Stratification Prize4Life Challenge, and stated, "ALS is a variable disease and the speed of progression is different from person to person. Through our community-based approach, our participants were able to mine the largest ALS clinical trials and registry databases and produce promising computational models to find patterns and identify subgroups of ALS patients."
The ALS Stratification Challenge is considered original in its definition and in its diversity of participants and sponsors, which included Eli Lilly and Company in addition to Biogen and IBM. The $28,000 financial award was raised through a crowdfunding campaign called "Fund the Prize" conducted last winter. The basis for the challenge was the largest open-access ALS clinical trial database in the world, provided by Prize4Life and developed together with NEALS and MGH, along with national ALS registries from Ireland and Italy.
"The Challenge winners and participant community will help deepen our understanding of ALS, a devastating and complicated disease," said Gustavo Stolovitzky, DREAM founder from IBM Research and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Crowdsourcing a powerful dataset and having participants submit their source code to predict patient prognosis has advanced the Sage Bionetworks' and DREAM's mission of fostering open and collaborative science while addressing the problem of stratification in ALS."
Tagged ALS, DREAM, DREAM ALS Stratification Prize4Life Challenge, Prize4Life, Sage Bionetworks.
Previous: ALS/Motor Neuron Disease May Increase Anxiety and Depression
Next:ALS, in Some Forms, May Be Caused by Activated Retrovirus


What Types of Check Payments Exist for Business?
You may have heard of eChecks or even been asked to send an electronic check payment. Most online vendors accept electronic check payments, and many prefer them. So what exactly is an eCheck and how is it any different than other methods of online payment processing?
Simply put, an electronic check is a digital version of a paper check that transfers money directly from one checking account into another. It is considered to be an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) that relies on established guidelines set by the traditional checking system. Using eChecks is safe and secure, and is the only electronic payment method that is backed by the United States Treasury.
How Does Electronic Check Payment Work?
These eChecks take bank account information from the payee and uses it to move money into another checking account. The process itself mimics paper check processing, but is far more efficient: money is taken from one bank account, transferred using the verified and secure ACH Network, and then placed into the receiving bank account.
You can opt to transfer funds digitally using an eCheck process by taking information from a physical check manually or by photo capture and sending it to your account digitally. Forte's ACH and eCheck Guide further describes this at length, and by this method, businesses are paid faster, and your check clears immediately.
Offering electronic check payments is considered to be a "merchant service" provided by banks, allowing customers to quickly process, pay, and receive money from their checking accounts. Other merchant services include online credit or debit card processing, wire transfers, and other types of ACH payments.
Why Use or Accept eChecks?
You might wonder why your business should accept check payments online or pay using eChecks. The benefit of online check payments is that you can collect and store the same type of information you would get from paper check payments. Your business transactions will include information about the payee, the payee's account and routing information, and historical data for your financial records.
With electronic check payment, you receive the same security as traditional banking methods with the added convenience of transferring funds online. You can choose to stop payment processing or settle disputes directly through your bank, which eliminates headaches of working with a separate online vendor to resolve issues.
If we are talking about benefits of specific business-to-business payments, it is important to look at speed as well as security. As with most digital transactions, eChecks process much faster than traditional checks, since account information can be verified online without the need for a paper check to be reviewed manually.
Electronic check payment allows you to securely and quickly process transactions to and from your business. This helps keep your financial records updated, your clients paid in a timely fashion, and your business running smoothly.


I managed to catch Timothy Carroll performing a free show at the Brisbane Powerhouse back during his month-long "Friday Residency" at the spot, and the show was freaking amazing.
Seriously, I'm going to call this one of my favourite gigs of the last few years. And, considering it was free and fairly intimate, I don't think that's an overstatement.
For those who haven't seen Timothy Carroll perform live before, get in quick: he mentioned on that night that he's planning on moving back to Sweden in July of this year, so if you see he's performing in your area, make sure you grab the chance to see him. A month later, I'm still not quite sure how to describe it… but there's something special about the guy. When you see him up on stage performing… I don't want to call it a glow, because that's just cheesy; but there's definitely a light there. And you need to see it to believe it.
I managed to get some clips (of questionable quality) of the night. Here's one of Tim and the band performing on of my favourite tunes of his, "Danshyttan".
Timothy Carroll and Band, performing Danyshyttan live at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
Timothy Carroll and Band, performing "Sad Man" live at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
More videos of the night can be found here, and to stream more of Timothy Carroll's tunes, head over to his myspace page.


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2016 election biden bullying biden fists vine biden take trump behind the gym biden wants to fight trump bullying chris matthews Donald Trump Duck Dynasty hardball hillary hillary clinton hillary crooked as a three-dollar bill joe biden joe biden hardball kellyanne conway pt haha the fuck he could trump trump biden trump camouflage hat trump cocaine trump gay trump grab them by the pussy trump knock out hillary clinton trump microphones trump sexist trump sexual assault trump take biden behind the barn trump take biden to the back of the barn trump wants to fight joe biden trump women video vine youtube
Awwww, Big Man Donald Trump Thinks He Could Beat Joe Biden In A Fight!
(Image stolen by usfrom us)
UH OH THERE ARE GOING TO BE FISTICUFFS! Friday, your vice president, Old Handsome Joe Biden, said while campaigning for Hillary that Donald J. Trump's treatment of women makes him want to beat the ever-loving fuck-spittle out of the Republican presidential nominee. Specifically, he said this:
The press always asks me, don't I wish I were debating him. No, I wish we were in high school, I COULD TAKE HIM BEHIND THE GYM. That's what I wish.
Biden would take Trump behind the gym and introduce him to his fists, "Camaro" and "Big Fuckin' Deal."
Then Monday, Biden "clarified" in Toledo by saying yeah, if he were in high school, that is what he would do!
I'm not going to say any more. No, I'll get myself in trouble and say something like I'd like to take him behind the gym if I was in high school. I mean, all kiddin' aside, wouldn't you? I mean, for real. Can you imagine a guy in a locker room talkin' that way, and your sister's out there watchin' the game? Not a joke. IF I WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL. I want to make it clear, I understand what assault is. I'm not in high school. IF I WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL. I used to have a temper in high school, I don't have a temper anymore, nothing ever bothers me.
Then Biden went like this:
Biden also "clarified" all of this on "Hardball" to Chris Matthews, who confirmed that he totally knows Biden wants to beat the shit out of Donald Trump.
Well, wouldn't you know it? That thin-skinned, tiny-ego, baby-handed puss-biscuit Donald Trump caught wind of all of this and WHOA HEY, BIG MAN SAYS HE COULD BEATED UP BIDEN TOO, BIG LEAGUE YOOGE.
Did you see where Biden wants to take me to the back of the barn? Me!
No, you stupid moron, he wants to take you behind the gym, not to the back of the barn. What even happens at the back of the fucking barn? Is Trump repressing a memory of getting the shit kicked out of him at the back of the barn?
Trump continued:
He wants it. I'd love that. I'd love that! Mr. Tough Guy! You know, he's Mr. Tough Guy! You know when he's Mr. Tough Guy? When he's standing behind a microphone by himself.
Is Biden tough behind microphones because he knows how to use them without sounding like a coke addict?
He wants to bring me to the back of the barn, ohhhhhhhh. Some things you could really love doing.
Trump concluded by saying we should "knock out Hillary Clinton" (violence against women!) because she's "as crooked as a three-dollar bill," which is not even how that expression goes. AND SPEAKING OF THAT EXPRESSION, can we all agree Trump looks like the new gay interior designer cast member of "Duck Dynasty" when he's wearing that ridiculous camouflage hat? Just saying, and we are a gay homosexual, which means we are entitled to Just Saying.
Anyway, it's kind of ridiculous that 13 days out from the election, the vice president and the Republican nominee are having a testosterone fight about who can do fisticuffs behind the barn at the back of the gym the best. But it's really no more ridiculous than anything else that's happened this election cycle, is it?
Trump's dingus campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said it's "disappointing" that Biden is being such a "bully," or that he would "suggest violence the old-fashioned way." We'd say fair enough, except for how Biden's entire goddamn point is that if he were in high school, he'd STAND UP TO THE BULLY bragging about using his position of power to sexually assault women -- a thing Donald Trump did! It's on the tapes! -- by beating the shitfire out of him. We're just a-guessin' standing up to bullies in Joe Biden's high school didn't involve assemblies about people's feelings, followed by a healthy round of trust-falls.
So ... meh. Joe's gonna Joe.
But really, LOL to the idea that Donald Trump could beat Joe Biden in a fight, for reals! Keep telling yourself that, sport!
[CNN / NBC]
Evan Hurst is the managing editor of Wonkette, which means he is the boss of you, unless you are Rebecca, who is boss of him. His dog Lula is judging you right now.
Follow him on Twitter RIGHT HERE.


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A puritan admonishing his fellow settlers outside an inn, circa 1620. Original Artwork: Picture by Howard Pyle (1853 - 1911). (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)
American puritanism lives on
Judge not a sext lest your sexts be judged
Vladislav Davidzon
The North Carolina senate race has turned into a pivotal contest for next month's presidential election. The race has also been subsumed into the exhausting and bizarre reality show that we are living through.
Sitting Republican senator Thom Tillis is deeply vulnerable according to the polls and was on track to being unseated before recent events threw the race into chaos. The Democratic Party candidate, army reserve Lieutenant Colonel Cal Cunningham, is the sort of affable All-American lawyer type whom the Democrats recruit to compete in Southern elections. Cunningham is a square-jawed Iraq War veteran whose campaign is based on a narrative of impeccable personal integrity.
American sex scandals are by their nature fairly boring
The outcome of the race became much less predictable however when Senator Tillis contracted Covid-19 just as Cunningham was revealed to be having an affair with the wife of a fellow veteran. Senator Tillis may or may not have contracted the virus at the White House event which unveiled President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court. He did reveal his infection took place on the same day that President Donald Trump had become infected with the virus. For his part Cunningham, who is married with two children, was forced by reporters to admit to having sent romantic "sext" messages to Arlene Guzman Todd, a California-based public relations strategist. The whole situation was tawdry in only the most banal way possible: American sex scandals are by their nature fairly boring. Predictably, all parties involved in the affair were swiftly publicly shamed and forced to issue the standard ritual apologies. The outcome of a crucial senate race, and control of the United States senate, was quickly thrown into doubt.
This debacle highlights an important issue. The question at hand is not whether contracting Covid-19 a month before election day decreases one's chances of victory more than being caught sending "sexts" to a mistress while running a campaign based on traditional integrity. The real question is much less grand. My fellow Americans: why do members of our elite and political classes write such excruciatingly lame love letters?
Indeed, the real shame in this whole matter is the revelation of the incapability of American politicians to write a proper love letter or erotic missive. This is not to speak of a properly debauched proposition. "You are historically sexy" Cunningham wrote to his lover as they concocted furtive plans to scamper away from the campaign staff so that they might "kiss a lot". This was not ravishing stuff as far as perversion goes. In terms of technique it should be considered embarrassing if one has already completed middle school. Yes, yes, judge not a sext less your sexts be judged. Let those who did not spend their twenties and thirties scribbling epicene purple prose to their emotionally-unavailable lovers cast the first stone!
The people who run America are no longer gentlemen, if they ever truly were
It is true that the early Americans were democratic, striving and godly puritans – they surely never excelled in the dark arts of adultery. In retrospect, they had us read Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" and "Romeo and Juliet" in high school for a reason. Yet the explanation that Americans are simply too puritanical in character to excel in this minor–but crucial–art is simply unsatisfying. Americans have a way of worshipping the legacy and lives of the founding fathers as a cast of benevolent and wise supermen, and Benjamin Franklin certainly knew how to write a dirty letter and essay. Some of the founding fathers and nineteenth-century American elites were decidedly dashing and gallant.
Yet American power mostly continues to remain in the hands of American lawyers. The disciplined and rigorous study of the law and its antecedent disciplines should in theory be able create a ruling elite whose "sexts" might be literate and arch; perhaps even stirring works of tender or thunderous poetry. It is likely the case that the class from which American political elites used to be universally drawn was once better prepared and educated in the classical virtues and skills. Including the proper drafting of love letters, scabrous poems and dirty ditties. For better or for worse, the people who run America are no longer gentlemen, if they ever truly were.
As an American literary critic who wished to remain anonymous told me, "They all wrote better back than after all that intense preparation in theology, Latin and Greek to enter University and Law school before entrance requirements were diluted. But perhaps the only people who get caught are bad writers?" Much like secret Gnostic texts shadowing the prescribed canonical scriptures, there may exist an entirely forgotten or immolated counter literature of the filthiest and debauched American literary correspondence. If so, it would constitute a secret alternative American literature to which we have no access, and for whose dissipation we are infinitely poorer.
President Warren Harding was one American President whose correspondence set a great example in these matters. We have surely declined a great deal from the day a century ago when Harding wrote bushels of these to his mistress. Once during an assignation on an Ocean liner, he wrote that, "[We began the day] with glorious kisses and fond caresses, and you were so superb!" It should be noted that Harding and his family had intended to destroy the correspondence.
So, were the nineteenth-century American presidents and senators simply better writers, or were they merely better at not getting caught? The burning of a lover's salacious letters in the fireplace is a much more permanent solution than the erasure of the texts from the memory banks of the cloud servers which ceaselessly log our every keystroke and stray thought. Another American writer informed me that "As America was always a very anti-adultery culture, people would also likely destroy the evidence, which was also most likely was of very low calibre in any case".
New technological innovations have also obviously deformed the American political sex scandal from "decadent" to down to the tepid waters go "internet performative". With his twitter shenanigans, Congressman Anthony Weiner revolutionized the American "sext" scandal. For the record he was my own representative back when I lived in Brooklyn and was personally always polite with me. The twenty-first century will surely see the proliferation of "sext" anthologies, and we can only hope for the sake of the honour of our descendants that these will be of debased quality.
America is in the midst of entering a new age of puritanism
In any case, America is in the midst of entering a new age of puritanism. Yet the cardinal sins of our new social regime will certainly not be sexual in nature. All the real acts of debased perversion will be related to appetites for cruelty and power and will henceforth take place entirely over social media. So, it might in fact be the healthiest thing of all to return to the comparatively benign depravity of penning private raunchy poems to our mistresses. Still, the sorts of people who grasp for raw power in America almost universally did not study enough literature at university to be able to write good romantic texts. However, they do not deserve to lose their elections for the crime of being tedious. So, a modest proposal: all holders of American political office should be made to read the works of Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin, as well as the letters of James Joyce. At the very least, American politicians deserve a remedial crash course in the poetry of Lord Rochester.
The normalisation of Trump
Due to the Democrats' efforts to foster division, Trump still has a fighting chance
Dominic Green
Think Trump has transformed American politics? Think again
Joe Biden's rise is a reminder that the way to win an election hasn't changed
Dalibor Roháč and Jan Zilinsky
The unlikely miracle of Trump's presidency
Trump's inability to articulate any substantive thought renders a respected journalist's new book unreadable
No one guilty at the BBC
No one in BBC management ever pays a price for the BBC's mistakes.They just happen, like the weather
Murder stories for December days
Jeremy Black makes his way through the British Library's Crime Classics collection
Do not go gently
Opera has treated the subject of cancelling the pleasures of others in some depth
On Opera
Robert Thicknesse
Why we're fighting the Welsh lockdown
The life which we must preserve is not just that of the body, but of the soul also
Rev. Matthew Roberts
The sword of justice cuts both ways
Unexplained Wealth Orders reverse the burden of proof
Gawain Towler
2020: It's no place for the old
The debate over Fairytale of New York is proof that 2020 is the year in which woke doctrine went into overdrive
Patrick West
Why didn't Greece slide towards the far right?
Greece survived the world's worst post-2008 economic crisis and the heaviest refugee burden without yielding to far-right populism. Why?
John Psaropoulos
Flirting with damnation
As Greene explained to his wife when their marriage ended, what made him a bad husband was precisely what made him a good writer
Melanie McDonagh
That's a T32 frigate and I am pleased to see you
Five letters send a chill down the spine of your friends: BORIS
Robert Hutton


The Courts of Sabia and Verona (Middle Sabian: boxun), generally referred to as the Legislative Courts, was Sabia and Verona's bicameral legislature from the Kingdom's foundation in 2012 to 2015. Initially founded as a unicameral parliament, the Constitution of 2014 made the Courts bicameral, comprised of the upper Senate and the lower Chamber of Deputies. The Senate was modelled after the British House of Lords, and it was comprised by Sabioveronese nobles appointed by the Monarch; the Chamber of Deputies was made up of plush toys directly elected through universal suffrage in single-member constituencies. The speakers of the houses were the Governor and the Prime Minister, respectively.
In July 2015, Prime Minister Bertrand Rivière dissolved the Courts in an unconstitutional move and seized power temporarily in order to conduct the Congress of Salisse, in which the Constitution of 2015 was written. The 2015 constitution replaced the bicameral Courts with the unicameral Parliament of Sabia and Verona, which remains to this day the Kingdom's legislature.
The Courts of Sabia and Verona first met on October 18, 2012, when the original 20 members agreed to establish the principles and main bases for the Sabioveronese nation, as an entity and as a society. The Courts were named after the Cortes Generales of Spain. Since October 18, the Courts have met several times, remarking October 20, October 25 and November 1. In the early months of Sabia and Verona, the then Sahoedang socialist movement leaded by Napoléon Bleuberrie had obtained a constant and clean majority in the Courts, which managed the party to have a much greater impact than the conservative Unity Party that had been founded not so long after the Sahoedang took power of the Sabioveronese premiership. The social and cultural impact of the Courts were an important part of the strategy that Bleuberrie had designed to lead Sabia and Verona into a socialist government, but the effects of the socialist politicians in the legislature were not enough to obtain full support from the Sabioveronese people.
With the December 2012 general elections, a new legislature is elected, this time with Unity majority, and with Osez Kóvérsz as Speaker. This new elected legislature would comprise 11 Unity members and 9 Socialist members, and they first met on January 3, 2013. During the last of the Kóvérsz term, the Courts lost activity. With the May 2013 elections, the Socialist Party earned ten seats while the Unity Party won only five seats. It would be the first time third parties joined the Legislative Courts, with the Strawberry Party earning three seats and the Free Suyu Front earning two seats. Bleuberrie comes back as Speaker of the Courts. The XAM and the FSF would later become one party, the Roots Party and thus having the same amount of seats as the Unity Party.
With the creation of the Federal Union of Juclandian Lands, the Courts voted for the coronation of a new monarch different from King Ciprian. The Courts voted in favour of Isadora Annenak, former Governor, to become Sabia and Verona's new monarch. On 23 February 2014 a new Constitution came into effect and the Courts became a bicameral parliament, separated into the Senate of Sabia and Verona and the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate would represent the Federal Citizenry (humans) and the Chamber of Deputies would represent the Provincial Citizenry (plush toys). The Senate would be headed by the incumbent Governor, while the Chamber of Deputies would be headed by the First Secretary. The pre-constitutional reform unicameral Courts of Sabia and Verona became the Chamber of Deputies, with the same 20 members and factions.
Following the election of Bertrand Rivière as First Secretary at the September 2014 election, the conservative leader, counting with support from the newly elected lawmakers passed a series of laws that would be known as the October reforms or the Aishayerovê, the Great General Assembly. These reforms changed the names of many of the Kingdom's institutions, including the Senate, which would be known as the Gentáriven, and the Chamber of Deputies, which would be known as the Ayerovê. The reforms also included the introduction of a nobility and peerage system in Sabia and Verona, and the Gentáriven was further divided into the Council of Elders and the Council of Nobles, the latter of which was composed of non-Sabioveronese individuals counting with Sabioveronese peerage or nobility titles. In addition, these chambers would be active for a one-year period, instead of the six-month period that had been in use until then.
By mid-2015 however the legislative power of Sabia and Verona was completely inactive, and the system that had been adopted at the Aishayerovê had proven to be a failure in praxis. By June 2015 the Ayerovê had met three times, Council of Elders had met once and the Council of Nobles had not met once. Since the judicial power in Sabia and Verona was directly dependent to the Legislative Courts, two of Sabia and Verona's three political powers had been frozen for months. In 12 July 2015 Rivière met with the Lt. Secretaries of the Sabioveronese prefectures and after obtaining approval from the Queen, effectively dissolved the Sabioveronese legislature. Although the move was not precisely constitutional, Rivière defended the decision by saying the 2014 constitution had not foreseen a scenario in which the legislature could render itself deedless.
The Courts were considered the union between the Federal Citizenry and the Provincial Citizenry in Sabia and Verona. As stated in the 2014 Constitution, the Courts were to assume the role of both the legislative power and the judicial power of Sabia and Verona. Being a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the Courts played an important role in Sabioveronese politics, being the main governing body. As legislative power of the Kingdom, the Courts took care of law making, which usually fell into the hands of the Ayerovê. Important laws, constitutional reforms, Crown-related issues and otherwise stated issues must pass through the Gentáriven as well.
The Courts of Sabia and Verona took care of judicial affairs before the Constitutional reform of 2014, but it was shared with the Commission for the Preservation of Democracy, which usually held more power than the Courts on judicial matters. Since the creation of the Federation, the judicial power of Sabia and Verona is vested in the Courts, specifically in all members of the Senate and a five-member commission from the Chamber of Deputies which conform the "Judicial Power of the Courts".
This page was last edited on 4 March 2019, at 10:15.


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Back in the 90s we all played a lot of Vampire its siblings. I ran a Mage campaign based on Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. In retrospect I should have been running Over The Edge.
Before I read any Burroughs I was a massive David Cronenberg fan. The Naked Lunch came to the Penultimate Picture Palace, and it blew me away.
The copy of Naked Lunch that I read bore the strapline "The Book That Blew 'Literature' Apart". That was kind of how I felt when I watched the film, although compared to the book the film is relatively linear. It has mind altering substances, telepathy, typewriter fetishism, implied spy-vs-spy wars between unknown agencies, and Julian Sands as a big gay centipede. It also awakened my interest in Howard Shore's film music, and has coloured my approach to running games forever.
OTE is the Naked Lunch as a game. It's what happens to Fred Madison at the end of the Lost Highway when you're not sure if he's alive, dead or dreaming.
I have the second edition, but the one I wanted was 1e with the two figures standing on the edge of the abyss. They could easily be Edith and Freddie from The Invisibles. The 2e art is much less coherent, although the interior layout is probably better.
Much of the enjoyment in playing OTE comes from not knowing what you are up against. To the extent that the bizarre secrets and plots in the GM's chapters become common knowledge among games, the players' ability to enjoy the game will be diminished. Please, for the sake of gamers everywhere, keep these secrets to yourself as much as feasible.
This goes for the rest of you gamers as well.
p>I can tell you as a single volume, it's great value for money. Tweet's system is minimalist (a trend he continued with Everway) and the whole player's chapter comes in under 30 pages. Chapter Two is for players of experienced characters, and covers the island of Al Amarja in another 7 pages. After that it's all for the GM. You get people, places, the city, power groups, a selection of plots and game hooks. Oh, chapter 9 features some handouts for players (a business directory, a local newspaper – the sort of things you can give them when they arrive on the island).
In fact, there's so much in the core book that I wonder if I would ever have time to run it all. OTE is a fantastic product. To celebrate its 20th anniversary there's a deluxe copy coming out that I'm seriously tempted by. Hmm, deja vu.
I acquired a copy of OTE (2e) recently so shall have to give it a read soon. And maybe, just maybe, a run too.
I rather think I might have the 1st edition of OTE (at least I have the edition with that cover).
I'm sure we can come to some arrangement like, for example, when I find it you can have it.


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The real controversy about family planning and climate
By Alisha Graves, March 17, 2016
No reasonable solution to climate change can be excluded from the world's arsenal of climate mitigation options. Family planning deserves a prominent place in that arsenal because of population's profound implications for future global emissions. Because population will be a much bigger factor in emissions in the century's second half than in its first, decision makers may be inclined to push family planning down the list of climate priorities. But population growth must slow in the current decade if desirable population changes are to occur later on. That is the nature of demographic momentum.
Too often, family planning is treated as taboo in policy debates. It simply slides off the policy table. This isn't because population's importance to carbon emissions is poorly understood. Far from it—the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's foremost authority on climate change, has identified reproductive health services, including modern family planning, as an opportunity "to reduce emissions of warming [climate-altering pollutants] and at the same time improve health." But many climate discussions, even when otherwise excellent, simply overlook family planning. A new World Bank report on climate change and poverty, for example, mentions population growth more than 10 times, either as a contributor to climate change or as an impediment to climate adaptation in poor countries. But the report's authors, in 70 pages of proposed solutions, make no mention of contraception. As I wrote earlier in this roundtable, people who appreciate population's impact on the environment can be afraid of the criticism they'll attract if they openly advocate family planning. But the real controversy is that voluntary family planning is systematically excluded from recommendations about how to achieve climate mitigation and adaptation, despite the evidence that it plays such an important role.
Revolutionary shift. My roundtable colleague Wang Haibin wrote in Round Two that people in poorly governed countries "invest in their futures by producing many offspring when they are young." I am always skeptical about such claims—they are grounded in economists' over-reliance on the rationality of human behavior. Sex is not usually a rational act. It is an animal instinct inherited from our ape ancestors.
For heterosexual couples, a large family is the default outcome of normal sexual activity. Most people can avoid this outcome only by taking consistent preventive measures over the course of decades. Even so, contraceptives sometimes fail, so women need access to safe abortion services or else they will risk their lives trying to end an unintended pregnancy. The idea that children represent rational decisions is, to adapt language used by my colleagues Martha Campbell and Malcolm Potts, a mirage—you only see it if you think that the world is full of people who, like yourself, can make easy, actionable decisions about whether and when to have children.
Another key factor in the climate equation—consumption—may be as irrational as sex is. From an early age, people in wealthy societies are confronted with marketing that aims to manipulate their behavior. This engenders very powerful desires to consume more than necessary. For the environment, the effects are disastrous. And with most nations on Earth now on a path toward development, how long will the carbon footprints of developing countries remain lighter than those of developed countries?
One of the most effective responses to climate change may also be the most difficult: reining in excessive consumption. What's needed is a revolutionary, planet-saving shift in economics—one that might begin with defining success in terms other than material wealth. If the global economic paradigm does not respect the limits that the biosphere imposes, it is time to change the economic paradigm.
Earth is just a tiny island adrift in infinite space. We must acknowledge that reality for the sake of our children.
Topics: Climate Change
Alisha Graves
Alisha Graves is cofounder and executive director of the OASIS Initiative (Organizing to Advance Solutions in the Sahel). She is also vice president... Read More
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Nothing can seem more satisfying than the simple pleasure of popping a bubble! Prepare your bubble-popping finger for a mathematical game that helps you learn the prime numbers as well as the factors that make up composite numbers. It is very simple – if the bubble has a composite number on it, pop it! Challenge yourself to beat the high score and try not too let the underwater critters cause you too much annoyance.
Prime numbers are regarded as the building blocks from which all other composite numbers can be broken down into. Recognising and learning prime numbers becomes useful for the topic of fractions in mathematics. Learning prime numbers and recognising the factors of composite numbers is an important ability and 'Bubbly Primes' has turned this into a fun game.
Colourful bubbles appear from the bottom of the screen slowly floating upwards. Each bubble has a number on it and if the number is a composite number, not a prime number, then if you tap the bubble it splits in two to show two possible factors. The objective of the game is to keep tapping on bubbles that have composite numbers and only let the prime numbered bubbles reach the very top of the screen.
For each correctly tapped bubble the player scores points but if a composite number reaches the top untapped then you will lose points. Once five non-prime numbers have crossed the upper line then your game comes to an end. The purpose of the app is for the player to learn the individual prime numbers. Although you lose points for tapping on prime numbers it is the best tactic for staying in the game, essentially this is promoting students to learn from your mistakes. As the game progresses the rate at which the bubbles appear from the bottom increase. You are forced to work faster to keep up with the pace and quickly identify the composite numbers.
Pausing the game leaves the screen frozen with the numbered bubbles remaining in position. This gives you the chance to plan your strategy when the gameplay gets too hectic when there are too many bubbles to focus on. As much as this might feel like cheating it is very necessary at times.
Throughout the game play little creatures, or 'critters', appear causing a bit of added commotion to the rising bubbles. They will randomly flick the bubbles away which will either help you or frustrate you. Soothing musical tunes by pianos and flutes attempt to bring a sense of concentration to the game.
Starting up the app will present you with the menu screen. This gives you access to high scores, settings for sound and additional information including instructions of how to play the game. The high scores are recorded but other than selecting one of the three critters as your icon there is unfortunately no way of personally identifying your previous achievements.
The comparison of this app to classic puzzle games such as 'Bubble Bobble' and 'Tetris' is quite apparent. Those games relied heavily on the challenging nature within some very simple ideas much like 'Bubbly Primes'. However, their playability was matched by a sense of growing achievement or reward through extra levels or multiplier. In this app players may well grow uninterested because the sense of achievement or reward is lacking.
At the centre of 'Bubbly Primes' there is truly a fun element to learning but for the learning to continue there needs to be a wider scope to the gameplay.
Get The Practice Without The Pain.
- Give kids a game that you love when they play!
- Practice Factoring to make Fractions easier!
- Popping the bubbles is addictive. Players can't stop getting better.
- Recommended as "A really fun game that teaches kids about prime numbers and factoring," by the Parenting Beyond Discipline podcast.
Bubbly Primes is a prime numbers and factoring game. Parents, teachers, and kids put a lot of energy into mastering fractions. Fractions are an important subject, and in many cases, challenging. Help elementary and middle school students master factoring, a skill that's a building block for fractions and other important math subjects.
What makes Bubbly Primes different? Craftsmanship. It's a deceptively simple arcade-style educational game that features hand-drawn animated characters, classical music, a hypnotically soothing underwater world, and a critically important educational mission.
Bubbly Primes is a non-violent game, and has no in-app purchases.
- If your score is one of the five highest, you can chose a critter for its symbol.


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USS Washington Battleship BB-56, 1:70...
USS Washington Battleship BB-56, 1:700 Scale Model Kit
TrumpeterSKU: TSM-05735
Plastic model kit, assembly & paint required
Molded in light gray
254 Pieces (12 sprues, hulls & decks)
Approximate Dimensions: 12.48" L x 1.87" W
Box dimensions: 15.7" L x 5.6" W x 2.4"H
USS Washington (BB-56) was the second and final member of the North Carolina class of fast battleships, the first vessel of the type built for the United States Navy. Built under the Washington Treaty system, North Carolina's design was limited in displacement and armament, though the United States used a clause in the Second London Naval Treaty to increase the main battery from the original armament of nine 14 in (356 mm) guns to nine 16 in (406 mm) guns. The ship was laid down in 1938 and completed in May 1941, while the United States was still neutral during World War II. Her initial career was spent training along the East Coast of the United States until after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, bringing the United States into the war.
December 1941, Washington became the flagship for Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Commander, Battleship Division 6, and Commander, Battleships, Atlantic Fleet. On 4 April 1942, she was joining the British Home Fleet. The force got underway to engage in reconnaissance for the protection of the vital convoys running to Murmansk. 15 September 1942, Washington put to sea bound for a rendezvous with TF 17, the force formed around the aircraft carrier HORNET. In the fourth battle of Savo Island, Washington engaged Kirishima, in the first head-to-head confrontation of battleships in the Pacific war. In seven minutes, tracking by radar, Washington sent 75 rounds of 16-inch and 107 rounds of 5-inch at ranges from 8,400 to 12,650 yards, scoring at least nine hits with her main battery and about 40 with her 5-inchers, silencing the enemy battleship in short order. USS Washington earned 13 battle stars during World War II in operations that had carried her from the Arctic Circle to the western Pacific
This Trumpeter 1/700 Scale model is of USS Washington BB-56. The model kit comes with 12 sprues plus lower hull, upper hull, decks and waterline plate and display stand. Either waterline version or full hull version can be selected


Wohoo! What an honnor! First to write a review about "the Magnificent tree"
This album is terrific. If you listen to this album in your car, it is gonna make you want to drive for hours and not wanting to stop. So dreamy! Check out: "Mad about you", "Out of sight", " The Magnificient tree" and "Pink Fluffy Dinosaurs" Ps: Check out also: " A new stereophonic sound spectacular"...their first album.
One of the best things about Hooverphonic is their skills in arranging their musical scores. You can always expect, during a song, to go on a non-repetitive journey and meet any number of sonic surprises along the way. "Out of Sight" is a prime example as it moves in and out of a percussion backdrop to reveal countermelodies and hidden harmonies. "L'Odeur Animale" is sung in English, alas, but provides the soul of this release, and "The Magnificent Tree" weaves its sonic accents in and out of an ethereal melody to make a most memorable listening experience. This album is not for those looking for background music. This is music for the discriminating, demanding palate.
this album is just ok with maybe two good songs -- nothing like the many jems found on their first two albums.


I am Rizna Munsif, lives in Reading, Berkshire, Great Britain. Since my childhood, both my parents and teachers have been encouraging me in creating Art. In fact, I have spent most of the my days in drawing and painting.
I have participated in many Art competitions and exhibitions and won a Gold Medal in Asia-Pacific Art Competition held in 2008. Further, I have completed a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts. Since then I started to work as a full time professional artist.
My artworks are abstract and modern, which makes me feel happy about working with them. I really love colour and vibrant in painting. I have my own painting style, My artworks are unique and varied from other paintings, which is called abstract cityscape based on the subjects and locations around the London city.
Rizna Munsif has 107 artworks.
Rizna Munsif does not have any gifts on show at the moment.


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micklegate
Glimpses of the Roman civilian settlement in York
August 16. 2022
Queen St
Toft Green
Roman archaeological deposits in York city centre vary in depth from 9m+ below current ground surface to less than 1m in some areas. The best archaeology is usually at depths of 2m+ protected from historic development and the majority of services.
Recent evaluation to inform planning applications on Micklegate, Toft Green and works by Openreach on Queen St have once again shown the quality and quantity of Roman archaeology surviving in the city. These sites are all located on the south side of the River Ouse within and immediately outside the Roman civil settlement on either side of Micklegate Bar.
Growth of the civilian settlement was particularly rapid in the late 2nd century, represented by the construction of new buildings and streets. In the early 3rd century York was given the honorific status of Colonia. A gradual decline in population and the deterioration of standing buildings and streets appears to have occurred from the mid- 4th century. The main Roman road from Calcaria/Tadcaster to the Legionary fortress ran through the Colonia in the Micklegate area.
The modern street of Micklegate was one of the major thoroughfares into York in the Anglo-Scandinavian and medieval periods. Micklegate was of particular significance as it led to the Ouse Bridge, the only bridge over the Ouse in the medieval period.
Investigations at 105 Micklegate between 2018-2021 included a borehole survey, ground-penetrating radar, an evaluation trench and recently a watching brief.
In 2018 York Archaeological Trust (YAT) undertook a borehole and ground-penetrating radar survey ahead of a planning submission for the demolition of the 1930s buildings and redevelopment of the site. This enabled a basic deposit model of the site to be created showing natural sands at 3.4m below ground level overlain by Roman occupational layers.
In 2019 a trench was opened within the former car hire showroom. The Roman archaeology revealed within the trench consisted of a late 1st-2nd century small oven roughly constructed of heat-affected limestone, sandstone blocks and cobbles. The size of this oven suggests a use for serving domestic bread perhaps in a garden to the rear of a building fronting Micklegate.
Later phases of Roman activity were identified consisting of a building with three distinct floor surfaces suggesting the continuity of use over time. The building was tentatively dated to the 2nd century. A single pila was identified within the building comprising four stacked pedalis bricks – two stamped 'LEG IX HISP'; the mark of the Ninth legion, which occupied Roman York between c. AD71 and AD120. The pila and fragments of box flue tiles suggests the presence of a hypocaust system and a building with heated walls. The building appears to have been demolished in the late 2nd or early 3rd century.
22 Toft Green
An archaeological evaluation by On-Site Archaeology (OSA) comprising two 1m deep trenches with sondages was undertaken in 2021 following a borehole survey at 22 Toft Green. The trenching revealed a complex sequence of Roman archaeological deposits including a small cobble post-setting, internal and external floor sequences and domestic dumping. Earlier structures and deposits are likely to be present here at greater depth. One of the trenches also contained a medieval oven-type structure.
Many fragments of animal bone were recovered largely dating between the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The zoo-archaeological material recovered from this evaluation is most likely all related to urban domestic refuse.
Many pieces of Roman tile and brick were also recovered. Impressions of an animal paw print was noted on one tile/brick fragment with a fingerprint impression on another.
Further archaeological work will be undertaken on this site in the near future.
Ahead of a re-design of the York Station frontage utility companies are moving/re-aligning their services. The first stage of these works in January 2022 required Openreach to create a 3m deep access hole on Queen St close to Micklegate Bar outside of the city wall circuit. At c.1m in depth Roman in-situ archaeological deposits were revealed beneath the level of the existing cabling.
The Roman archaeology excavated comprised of domestic dumping deposits including organic layers and a series of intercutting pits. All of the deposits contained large quantities of Roman pottery. The rubbish pits/deposits were partly sealed by a layer of cobbles. A large number of amphorae sherds were recovered from the cobbles alongside a pair of calcified shoes.
The report on this work is currently in production and will be added to the HER in due course. Further works related to the Station Frontage are in progress although most will not reach Roman levels.
[...Read More]
News and updates from the City Archaeologist on the Historic Environment Record and events across the city
Archaeology conference (1)
City wall (1)
Excavation (1)
Heslington East (1)
INTERIM (1)
Micklegate (1)
Queen St (1)
Toft Green (1)


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Celebrating the Feast of St. Patrick! Option 1
Celebrating the Feast of St. Patrick!
March 17, 11:00am-3:30pm
Option 1: Join us for a Mulligan Stew luncheon after Mass: $15
Preregistration/prepayment required.
St. Patrick's mission to bring Christianity to the Emerald Isle sealed his legacy as the patron saint and the most celebrated icon of Irish history. The wearing of the green is part of the charm of this Irish holiday. Today's effort is also to bring forth the spiritual and social aspect of the feast by first giving time to God, attending the Eucharistic Liturgy at Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel at 11am, and then celebrating with family and friends the blessings of an Irish Heritage. The Two Marys and Olivia, from Duluth, Minnesota, will entertain us with songs, poetry recitals, storytelling and music with fiddle, tin whistle, bodhran (Irish drum), guitar and maybe step dancing! Seating for lunch is limited to 100. Register early.
Celebrating the Feast of St. Patrick! Option 1 quantity


Below is an interesting excerpt from Garrett Hardin's book Filters Against Folly. The important things to keep in mind are: 1) this book was published in 1985; and 2) though the cause of the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 was related to the pipeline below, it was is another unforeseen accident (a Black Swan?) which caused the damage, when an oil tanker crashed into a reef in Prince William Sound (the ship was coming from Valdez).
It is unfortunately true that experts are generally better at seeing their particular kinds of trees than the forest of all life. Thoughtful laymen can become very good at seeing the forest, particularly if they lose their timidity about challenging the experts. When I speak of laymen ("laypersons," if you prefer) I am talking about everyone, because the expert in one field is a layman in all others. In the universal role of laymen we all have to learn to filter the essential meaning out of the too verbose, too aggressively technical statements of the experts. Fortunately this is not as difficult a task as some experts would have us believe.
What follows is one man's attempt to show that there is more wisdom among the laity than is generally conceded, and that there are some rather simple methods of checking on the validity of the statements of experts.
I well remember the summer my wife and I went to Alaska to attend the annual meeting of the Pacific division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The year was 1969. Because bids were being submitted at this time for oil leases on Prudhoe Bay, many of the sessions of the AAAS were devoted to the possible economic, environmental, and social consequences of drilling oil at the rim of the Arctic Ocean and transporting it across the width of the state. A pipeline would have to be built, so the feasibility of this was also under discussion.
One of the delightful features of science meetings in this American outpost is the wide variety of people who attend. The usual assortment of professors and industry representatives is enriched with politicians, Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos-groups seldom seen at science meetings in the "Lower 48." Discussion in Alaska frequently jumps out of the well-worn ruts.
One of the sessions was concerned with the expected effects of the proposed trans-Alaska pipeline. A lean, intense engineer made a sales pitch for the conglomerate scheduled to build the pipeline. His slide presentation was slick and convincing. The audience was bombarded with turgid tables and computer-generated graphs. The speaker gave the impression that every conceivable contingency had been dealt with.
Nevertheless, one layman was not convinced. This man, who had the rugged look of a modern sourdough, made his points very deliberately. "Let me see if I've got this straight. You say this 800-mile-long pipe, four feet in diameter and completely above ground for most of the distance, will be filled with oil which will be at 190 degrees when it enters tile pipe at tile northern end, right? And that the oil will cool continuously as it flows south, but it will still be 130 degrees, and fluid, when it reaches Valdez. Right?"
"Yes, that's right. Our computer model shows that the oil at Valdez will still be hot enough to flow during the coldest winter Alaska has ever had."
"What if there is some sort of traffic delay at Valdez and the oil has to stay in the pipe for a while, cooling all that time?"
"No problem. If there is a shortage of ships the oil can be held in the pipe for two weeks without solidifying. And remember, we have a tank farm at the south end to act as a buffer for the oil stocks."
The engineer's reply was cool and prompt: "That's an interesting question."
There is this to be said for the expert's response: it was honest. A politician in the same situation would no doubt have replied with some such words as these: "I'm so glad you asked that question. It gives me an opportunity to bring up another matter of the utmost importance to patriotic Americans, namely . . ." and his well-lubricated tongue would have generated a rhetorical smoke screen that would have eloquently submerged the original question. In blessed contrast, the engineer did not hide the fact that he had no solution to the difficulty.
Indeed, there is no general solution. In trying to picture the real situation, we must set aside the neat computer curves of the engineering analysis and picture a huge pipe that may, some frigid winter's day, be filled with 800 miles of something not too different from the tar of a blacktop road. No pumps in the world can move such a mass through so long a pipe. Even if we had the necessary pumps, the pipe could not withstand the pressure (particularly not the Alaska pipe, in the making of which-as we learned after it had been put in place-there had been cheating on the quality controls).
So what should a pipeline supervisor do when he gets the word, one unhappy winter's day, that the oil flow is going to be shut down at Valdez for an indeterminate period?
If the supervisor did nothing, and the shutdown lasted longer than two weeks, the pipe would become plugged with a viscous and immovable mass. Summer would not cure the ill: the Arctic summer is too short, and the angle of the sun too low to furnish the needed calories. There would be no practical way, ever, to heat the 800-mile pipe enough to make its contents fluid again. To avoid having to build a completely new pipeline, the supervisor would have to open valves somewhere and release the oil before it congealed.
But release it where? The pipe holds more than nine million barrels of oil. Cast you picture the devastation such a large quantity of oil would cause as it flowed out over the tundra? Alternatively, picture what nine million barrels of oil would do poured out over the ocean fishing grounds around Valdez.
Such are the pictures that were missing from the engineer's computer curves. The expert's response, "That's an interesting question," gave no hint of the reality.
Well, the pipeline was built. In more than a decade of operation no serious accident has occurred. But some day we may learn the answer to the citizen's question.


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The 2nd Battalion (; abbreviated as 2BN) is an infantry unit of the Norwegian Army, based at camp Skjold in Troms county in Northern Norway. It serves in the light infantry role specialized in Arctic warfare as part of Brigade Nord; the battalion is one of three manoeuvre battalions within the brigade, along with Telemark Battalion and Panserbataljonen. The 2nd Battalion serves two roles, primarily being organised for domestic defence; however, during Norway's contribution to the NATO forces in Afghanistan, the 2nd Battalion played a vital role. The 2nd Battalion also contributed consistently to the ISAF forces in northern Afghanistan, supporting an elite trained light infantry, organized as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF). The battalion is divided into four companies: Bravo company, Charlie company, the cavalry squadron and the support company. Bravo company and Charlie company serves as specialized light infantry, focusing on Arctic warfare and urban warfare. The cavalry squadron is the battalion's internal intelligence unit as well as consisting of one platoon of marksmen. The support company is the largest of the four, and primarily consists of medics, anti-tank personnel, combat, service and support. The battalion uses a khaki beret, as opposed to the traditional black beret worn by cavalry units throughout the world, which symbolizes the battalion's history.

In November 2007, during Operation Harekate Yolo, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion and the Coastal Ranger Command Kystjegerkommandoen stationed in Mazar-e-Sharif were involved in what has been referred to as some of the heaviest combat operations involving Norwegian Army troops since World War II. After an Afghan National Army (ANA) unit was attacked by Taliban forces in the Ghowrmach district in the province of Baghdis, soldiers from 2nd Battalion and  Kystjegerkommandoen responded. Outnumbered and facing heavy Taliban resistance, machine guns, mortar teams, snipers and CV9030s were used to attack the enemy combatants. Air strikes were eventually called in to drive off the remaining Taliban fighters. While no NATO casualties were reported, the exact Taliban death toll had not yet been disclosed as of 9 November 2007. However, according to Norwegian news reports, "between 45 and 65 insurgents" were killed in action. This was the first known uses of the Swedish-made CV9030 in live combat.

The motto of the battalion is In hoc Signo Vinces (Latin for "In this sign, thou shalt conquer."). Translated in Norwegian to "Under dette tegnet, skal vi seire.", it refers to the griffin seen on the coat of arms.

Organization

References

Norwegian Army page on 2nd Battalion (in Norwegian)
forsvaret.no/om-forsvaret/organisasjon/haren/avdelinger/brigadenord/Sider/2bataljon.aspx

Infantry battalions of Norway
Military units and formations established in 2003

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Steve Sammartino is a business person and thought leader on the subject of technology and business. Steve is a rare kind who has worked in the largest of companies, including the world's biggest advertising agency and the world's biggest Consumer Goods Company (both at Director level) as well as startups he's founded and sold.
Steve has been involved in the marketing and communications arena for over 15 years. He has a wealth of traditional marketing and client planning experience, as well as an enormous amount of knowledge on digital strategy and integration based thinking. He has worked with a variety of agencies via his client roles at leading global consumer goods firms. These include Kraft, Fosters, P&G (Gillette) and Kimberly Clark. Steve has worked on many global brands both in Australia, Asia Pacific and Europe. Steve has strong brand marketing credentials, and is also sessional Marketing Lecturer and Tutor at Melbourne University.
Steve has spent the last three years building a .com business called www.rentoid.com – a peer to peer renting portal, which now the global leader in this category. Through this he has a rare skill set combining traditional & new media. His blog www.startupblog.wordpress.com is the most followed start-up/entrepreneurs blog in the world.
He's also done a lot of crazy projects including putting a lego space shuttle into actual earth orbit, and is a Director at Australia's first new car company in over thirty years (www.tomcar.com.au).
Steve is an expert on the digital revolution and disruptive technologies. His latest book "The Great Fragmentation" was launched at the end of July 2014 but by the end of August 2014 was already translated into three different languages. The book is a "Strategy play book for the technology revolution". Steve was also on the front page of almost every leading newspaper around the world after building a Lego Car from 500,000 pieces. It runs on air – it was crowdfunded via Twitter.
Steve is involved in the venture capital industry and invests in business & new technology. His blog also has over 30,000 readers a month (Startup Blog) and is the biggest in its category. It's been in Australia's top 10 the past 5 years.