text:
The New Black Panther Party, explained
By Jenée Desmond-Harris Updated Apr 15, 2015, 11:20am EDT
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Members of the New Black Panther Party
Mario Tama/Getty Images
When New Black Panther Party members turned up in Ferguson, Missouri, during the protests that followed the Michael Brown shooting last year, the FBI issued an alert. When the group was accused of voter intimidation at Philadelphia polling places during the 2009 election, Fox News breathlessly covered the allegations no fewer than 95 times.
This month, when two men linked to a plot to blow up St Louis's Gateway Arch and kill a pair of top law enforcement officials were named on a federal indictment, several outlets made sure to include in their headlines that the 20-somethings were "New Black Panther Party members."
It has hijacked the name of a legitimate organization
In some ways, this interest is understandable. After all, there's a consensus that the New Black Panther Party is a hate group that spews anti-white and especially anti-Semitic rhetoric. But from one perspective, which you'll read about much less often, top among its offenses is the way it has hijacked the name of a legitimate organization — the original Black Panther Party — and scrambled its message, taking all of the justified anger and none of the disciplined, constructive work to improve life in America for black people.
Here are the answers to all of your questions about how that happened.
1) What is the New Black Panther Party all about?
Members of the New Black Panther Party rally in New York City after the death of Eric Garner, who was killed in a confrontation with police officers in 2014. (Shutterstock)
The first thing to understand is that there's a huge difference between how the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) describes itself and how nonmembers understand it.
The group portrays itself as a modern-day expression of the black power movement and a force standing up for the rights of African Americans. Indeed, members do tend to show up when black people are wronged, and they're mostly known for their armed demonstrations against alleged racial injustice — especially police brutality.
"If there's a Klan rally or someone doing something [racially] egregious, they're the first to respond," said Jakobi Williams, associate professor of history and African-American studies at Indiana University and author of From the Bullet to the Ballot: The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and Racial Coalition Politics in Chicago.
But the idea that the NBPP is modern version of the Black Panther Party of the 1960s and '70s, which was a militant but primarily service-focused organization, is summarily dismissed by everyone from civil rights groups to scholars like Williams to former Black Panther Party members. Instead, there's a broad consensus that its extreme anti-white views and anti-Semitic rhetoric (more on that later) make it a hate group.
The group has a "ten-point platform." Its main theme is a push to eliminate the effects of institutionalized racism on African Americans and includes demands for the end of police brutality, exemption from taxation, the right to decent housing, and "education that exposes the truly devilish and decadent nature of American society." While probably not administrable, it's not explicitly violent or hateful.
But the platform doesn't capture the sort of rhetoric that has earned the NBPP the "hate group" label. The Anti-Defamation League puts it like this: "The group's demonstrations, conferences, and other events often blend inflammatory bigotry with calls for violence, tarnishing its efforts to promote black pride and consciousness."
Founded in 1989 in Dallas, the NBPP now operates mostly in cities on the East Coast. Its former leader (one of the guys who made headlines when he showed up in Ferguson), Malik Shabazz, stepped down and was replaced by former chief of staff Hashim Nzinga in 2013.
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes NBPP in a list of 43 hate groups
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes NBPP in a list of 43 hate groups on its "Extremist Files" page. The SPLC's profile of the organization provides a good summary of the type of conduct members are best known for: shouting at police officers while protesting. Making loud calls for violence that go unheeded. Showing up in small groups wearing bulletproof vests and carrying knives and guns they don't actually use.
Despite the publicity, the NBPP has neither the following nor the power to be particularly influential. It's unclear exactly how many members the group has, but probably not many. According to a National Geographic documentary, Inside the New Black Panthers, NBPP claimed in 2009 to have a few thousand, but the Anti-Defamation League's estimates are much lower.
2) Why is it considered a hate group?
A member of the New Black Panther Party at a New York City protest, 2014. (Shutterstock)
"They are a hate group," Williams said. "There's no way around it."
But people familiar with the way groups that advocated for the rights of African-Americans have historically been mischaracterized might be skeptical of that label.
After all, the original Black Panther Party — which did not promote bigotry and in fact formed a cross-racial "Rainbow Coalition" advocating for economic equality for people of all colors — was labeled a "black nationalist hate group" around the time J. Edgar Hoover's was using the FBI's COINTELPRO to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and otherwise neutralize" it and other civil rights groups. (Black Panthers were in good company: Hoover also targeted the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and, notably, Martin Luther King, Jr. )
"Most of the negative popular lore we know about the [original Black Panthers] was propaganda put out by COINTELPRO," said Williams.
Its leaders espouse really offensive and downright scary views that really couldn't be categorized as anything but hate
But the characterization of the NBPP is a whole different story. The Anti-Defamation League, the SPLC, and the US Commission on Civil Rights all agree that it's an actual hate group.
Why? Its leaders espouse really offensive and downright scary views that really couldn't be categorized as anything but hate.
There are plentiful examples of leaders over the past couple of decades saying things like: "Kill every goddamn Zionist in Israel! Goddamn little babies, goddamn old ladies! Blow up Zionist supermarkets!" and "I hate white people. All of them. Every last iota of a cracker, I hate it ... You want freedom? You going to have to kill some crackers! You going to have to kill some of their babies!"
Statements like these are frequent enough that it's clear they represent core beliefs of the group rather than offhand remarks by individual members.
3) So it really has nothing to do with the Black Panther Party of the 1960s and 1970s?
A 1972 poster promoting a Black Panther Party conference (BlackHistoryMonth2014.com)
Really. Nothing at all (aside from the stolen name).
The original Black Panther Party — the Huey P. Newton-led group that (legally) armed citizens and ran more than 60 "community survival programs" like Free Breakfast for Children — does not exist any more.
The last of its 49 chapters across the US disbanded in the mid-1970s, caving under the pressure of state-sponsored negative propaganda, violence, and even assassinations, said Williams. (He's not exaggerating: Chicago police shot the city's Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton). The national headquarters in Oakland held on until 1982 but then closed its doors.
When the NBPP started up in 1989, founder Aaron Michaels latched onto the Black Panther Party name without permission, simply tacking a "New" onto the beginning . Understandably, this ruffled some feathers. There's even been legal action about it: In 1997, two original Black Panthers won an injunction against Michaels disallowing him from using the name or logo. It was never enforced.
The lack of permission to use the name wasn't the only problem. From their day-to-day activities to their outlooks on race relations, the two groups really couldn't be more different, Williams said.
"The Panthers spent eight hours a day in classrooms, reading theories and studying speeches, trying to figure out how to solve problems in the ghetto by creating programs, selling papers, creating free clinics, and starting freedom schools. They didn't have time to hate white people," he said. "They realized like MLK did that it wasn't a black problem, it was a poor people problem. But the New Black Panther Party? You couldn't even wave a white sheet of paper in front of them. They hate white people that much."
4) What do original Black Panther Party members have to say?
Robert Hillary King, a former member of the Black Panther Party. (Pierre Andrieu /Getty Images)
Mostly, they're pissed off that the NBPP is using their name and even more frustrated that the NBPP's activities have further tarnished the reputation of the already misunderstood organization they belonged to.
"Most of the senior party members that I've talked to are disappointed and upset by upset with the way this New Black Panther Party has used the Black Panther Party name because it reinforces stereotypes, misconceptions, and falsehoods about the Party that are not true," Williams said.
The Huey P. Newton Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Black Panther Party and counts many former Black Panthers as members, is sometimes looked to for statements on the NBPP. It issued a press release in August denouncing the group, saying in part, "They denigrate the Party's name by promoting concepts absolutely counter to the revolutionary principles on which the Party was founded ... The Party operated on love for black people, not hatred of white people."
Bobby Seale, one of the co-founding members of the original Black Panther Party, called the NBPP's rhetoric "xenophobic" and "absurd"
In a 2010 interview with CNN, Bobby Seale, one of the co-founding members of the original Black Panther Party, called the NBPP's rhetoric "xenophobic" and "absurd."
5) Did they try to kill George Zimmerman?
Members of the NBPP demonstrate outside George Zimerman's trial. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Not exactly. However, one the NBPP's major headlines in recent years surrounded the March 2012 news that Mikhail Muhammad, a group leader in Florida, had offered a $10,000 award for the capture of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed unarmed African-American teen Trayvon Martin.
Of course, calling for the "capture" of someone isn't exactly the same thing as calling for his death. But the call got scarier when an Orlando Sentinel reporter asked Mikhail if he was inciting violence, and he replied, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," which was taken to mean that it would be appropriate to kill Zimmerman. Statements like this have to be taken seriously.
6) What about intimidating voters?
NBPP members were accused of voter intimidation in Philadelphia during the November 2008 election. They reportedly stood in front of a polling place in military-style garb, claiming to be protecting black voters from voter suppression, while antagonizing white voters with racial slurs. (An eyewitness claimed that one member said, "Cracker, you are about to be ruled by a black man.")
In January 2009 the Department of Justice — under President George Bush — filed civil charges of voter intimidation against the NBPP and members Samir Shabazz, Jerry Jackson, and Malik Zulu Shabazz. The Department won its case by default in April 2009 when the NBPP members didn't show up in court. But officials under the Obama Administration decided to drop most of the charges, reasoning that there was no evidence that votes were suppressed or that the Party itself was culpable. The next year, in May 2010, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez defended that decision.
"The New Black Panther party was vindicated in the voter suppression case. They didn't violate any laws. That's one positive you can give them credit for," said Williams.
7) What were New Black Panther Party members doing in Ferguson?
Members of the New Black Panther Party stand outside a church in Ferguson, Missouri. (Shutterstock)
Near the start of the August protests in Ferguson, an FBI alert went out: Chawn Kweli, Chief of Staff of the New Black Panther Party, was in town.
During a tense week of confrontations between protestors and law enforcement officials, NBPP members didn't actually cause trouble.
Kweli had recently posted a somewhat ominous message to Facebook: "This is the hour all the greats promised. If you die, die like a warrior. I'll see you on the ground."
But during a tense week of confrontations between protestors and law enforcement officials, NBPP members didn't actually cause trouble.
"Local media reports earlier this week warned that the New Black Panthers were coming to town and could incite violence against police officers. Last night, Daily RFT observed something very different," the Riverfront Times reported. Kweli told the paper, "We're taking charge of the streets, making sure that the traffic is flowing, and making sure that there's peace here."
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that former president of the NBPP, Malik Shabazz, patrolled the scene of the protest, and on at least one night used a megaphone to encourage young people to go home and to ask for calm and respectful demonstrations.
8) Why do I always hear about the New Black Panther Party on Fox News?
Because they cover the party a lot. In 2010 Media Matters reported that Fox had "hyped the phony Black Panthers scandal" about voter intimidation 95 types, dedicating more than 8 hours of airtime to it.
Even the SPLC, which clearly considers NBPP a hate group, thinks the network's coverage of it is overblown. In a 2010 blog post titled "A long, hot, black nationalist summer at Fox News," the SPLC accused Fox of "again hyperventilating over a racially charged non-story" after Glenn Beck claimed White House Environmental Advisor Van Jones was a member of the group. (Not true.) The SPLC called it "transparent race-baiting."
More recently, much attention was paid by conservative blogs to a report that a man accused of an axe attack on NYPD officers was "sympathetic" to NBPP's cause (but not a member.)
It's impossible to say with authority what any news outlet's motivation is for its approach to reporting on the NBPP. But if stirring up racial anxiety is a thing that you're into, few subjects provide more fodder than this group.
Next Up In The Latest


text:
require 'spec_helper'
require 'whois/record/parser/whois.dns.pt.rb'

describe Whois::Record::Parser::WhoisDnsPt, "property_nameservers.expected" do

  before(:each) do
    file = fixture("responses", "whois.dns.pt/property_nameservers.txt")
    part = Whois::Record::Part.new(:body => File.read(file))
    @parser = klass.new(part)
  end

  describe "#nameservers" do
    it do
      @parser.nameservers.should be_a(Array)
      @parser.nameservers.should have(4).items
      @parser.nameservers[0].should be_a(_nameserver)
      @parser.nameservers[0].name.should == "ns4.google.com"
      @parser.nameservers[1].should be_a(_nameserver)
      @parser.nameservers[1].name.should == "ns2.google.com"
      @parser.nameservers[2].should be_a(_nameserver)
      @parser.nameservers[2].name.should == "ns1.google.com"
      @parser.nameservers[3].should be_a(_nameserver)
      @parser.nameservers[3].name.should == "ns3.google.com"
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, launched in 1992
Slava-class cruiser in Vladivostok
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundred years, and has had different meanings throughout this period. During the Age of Sail, the term cruising referred to certain kinds of missions – independent scouting, raiding or commerce protection – fulfilled by a frigate or sloop, which were the cruising warships of a fleet.
In the middle of the 19th century, cruiser came to be a classification for the ships intended for this kind of role, though cruisers came in a wide variety of sizes, from the small protected cruiser to armored cruisers which were as large (though not as powerful) as a battleship.
By the early 20th century, cruisers could be placed on a consistent scale of warship size, smaller than a battleship but larger than a destroyer. In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty placed a formal limit on cruisers, which were defined as warships of up to 10,000 tons displacement carrying guns no larger than 8 inches in calibre. These limits shaped cruisers up until the end of World War II. The very large battlecruisers of the World War I era were now classified, along with battleships, as capital ships.
In the later 20th century, the obsolescence of the battleship left the cruiser as the largest and most powerful surface combatant. The role of the cruiser varied according to ship and navy, often including air defense, commerce raiding and shore bombardment. The U.S. Navy in the Cold War period built guided-missile cruisers primarily designed to provide air defense, while the navy of the USSR built battlecruisers with heavy anti-ship missiles designed to sink NATO carrier task forces.
Currently only three nations, the United States, Russia, and Peru (BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81) is still in service with the Peruvian Navy), operate cruisers, though the line between cruisers and destroyers is once again blurred. New models of destroyers (for instance the Zumwalt class) are often larger and more powerful than cruiser classes they replace.
Early history 1
Steam cruisers 2
Steel cruisers 3
Pre-dreadnought armored cruisers 3.1
In early 20th century 4
Battlecruisers 4.1
Light cruisers 4.2
Flotilla leaders 4.3
Auxiliary cruisers 4.4
World War I 4.5
During mid-20th century 5
Heavy cruisers 5.1
German pocket battleships 5.2
Anti-aircraft cruisers 5.3
Late 20th century 6
Aircraft cruisers 6.1
US Navy's "cruiser gap" 6.2
Cruisers in service today 7
Museum Cruisers 8
References 10
Sources 11
The term "cruiser" or "cruizer"[1] was first commonly used in the 17th century to refer to an independent warship. "Cruiser" meant the purpose or mission of a ship, rather than a category of vessel. However, the term was nonetheless used to mean a smaller, faster warship suitable for such a role. In the 17th century, the ship of the line was generally too large, inflexible, and expensive to be dispatched on long-range missions (for instance, to the Americas), and too strategically important to be put at risk of fouling and foundering by continual patrol duties.
The Dutch navy was noted for its cruisers in the 17th century, while the Royal Navy—and later French and Spanish navies—subsequently caught up in terms of their numbers and deployment. The British Cruiser and Convoy Acts were an attempt by mercantile interests in Parliament to focus the Navy on commerce defence and raiding with cruisers, rather than the more scarce and expensive ships of the line.[2] During the 18th century the frigate became the preeminent type of cruiser. A frigate was a small, fast, long range, lightly armed (single gun-deck) ship used for scouting, carrying dispatches, and disrupting enemy trade. The other principal type of cruiser was the sloop, but many other miscellaneous types of ship were used as well.
Steam cruisers
During the 19th century, navies began to use steam power for their fleets. The 1840s saw the construction of experimental steam-powered frigates and sloops. By the middle of the 1850s, the British and U.S. Navies were both building steam frigates with very long hulls and a heavy gun armament, for instance USS Merrimack or Mersey.[3]
The 1860s saw the introduction of the ironclad. The first ironclads were frigates, in the sense of having one gun deck; however, they were also clearly the most powerful ships in the navy, and were principally to serve in the line of battle. In spite of their great speed, they would have been wasted in a cruising role.[4]
The French constructed a number of smaller ironclads for overseas cruising duties, starting with the Belliqueuse, commissioned 1865. These "station ironclads" were the beginning of the development of the armored cruisers, a type of ironclad specifically for the traditional cruiser missions of fast, independent, raiding and patrol.
The first true armored cruiser was the Russian General-Admiral, completed in 1874, and followed by the British Shannon a few years later.
Until the 1890s armored cruisers were still built with masts for a full sailing rig, to enable them to operate far from friendly coaling stations.[5]
Unarmored cruising warships, built out of wood, iron, steel or a combination of those materials, remained popular until towards the end of the 19th century. The ironclad's armor often meant that they were limited to short range under steam, and many ironclads were unsuited to long-range missions or for work in distant colonies. The unarmored cruiser - often a screw sloop or screw frigate - could continue in this role. Even though mid- or late-19th century cruisers typically carried up-to-date guns firing explosive shells, they were unable to face ironclads in combat. This was evidenced by the clash between HMS Shah, a modern British cruiser, and the Peruvian monitor Huáscar. Even though the Peruvian vessel was obsolescent by the time of the encounter, it stood up well to roughly 50 hits from British shells.
Steel cruisers
The Russian protected cruiser Aurora
In the 1880s naval architects began to use steel as a material for construction and armament. A steel cruiser could be lighter and faster than one built of iron or wood. The Jeune Ecole school of naval doctrine suggested that a fleet of fast unprotected steel cruisers were ideal for commerce raiding, while the torpedo boat would be able to destroy an enemy battleship fleet.
Steel also offered the cruiser a way of acquiring the protection needed to survive in combat. Steel armor was considerably stronger, for the same weight, than iron. By putting a relatively thin layer of steel armor above the vital parts of the ship, and by placing the coal bunkers where they might stop shellfire, a useful degree of protection could be achieved without slowing the ship too much.
The first protected cruiser was the Chilean ship Esmeralda. Produced by a shipyard at Elswick, in Britain, owned by Armstrong, she inspired a group of protected cruisers produced in the same yard and known as the "Elswick cruisers". Her forecastle, poop deck and the wooden board deck had been removed, replaced with an armored deck.
Esmeralda 's armament consisted of fore and aft 10-inch (25.4 cm) guns and 6-inch (15.2 cm) guns in the midships positions. It could reach a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h), and was propelled by steam alone. It also had a displacement of less than 3,000 tons. During the two following decades, this cruiser type came to be the inspiration for combining heavy artillery, high speed and low displacement.
Pre-dreadnought armored cruisers
Steel also had an impact on the construction and role of armored cruisers. Steel meant that new designs of battleship, later known as pre-dreadnought battleships, would be able to combine firepower and armor with better endurance and speed than ever before. The armored cruisers of the 1890s greatly resembled the battleships of the day; they tended to carry slightly smaller main armament (9.2-inch (230 mm) rather than 12-inch) and have somewhat thinner armor in exchange for a faster speed (perhaps 21 knots (39 km/h) rather than 18). Because of their similarity, the lines between battleships and armored cruisers became blurred.
In early 20th century
Shortly after the turn of the 20th century there were difficult questions about the design of future cruisers. Modern armored cruisers, almost as powerful as battleships, were also fast enough to outrun older protected and unarmored cruisers. In the Royal Navy, Jackie Fisher cut back hugely on older vessels, including many cruisers of different sorts, calling them 'a miser's hoard of useless junk' that any modern cruiser would sweep from the seas.
Battlecruisers
HMS Lion (1910)
The growing size and power of the armored cruiser resulted in the battlecruiser, with an armament and size similar to the revolutionary new dreadnought battleship; the brainchild of British admiral Jackie Fisher. He believed that to ensure British naval dominance in its overseas colonial possessions, a fleet of large, fast, powerfully-armed vessels which would be able to hunt down and mop up enemy cruisers and armored cruisers with overwhelming fire superiority was needed. This type of vessel came to be known as the battlecruiser, and the first were commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1907. Germany and eventually Japan followed suit to build these vessels, replacing armored cruisers in most frontline roles. Battlecruisers were in many cases larger and more expensive than contemporary battleships.
Light cruisers
HMS Caroline, a World War I era light cruiser, served as a headquarters and training vessel in Belfast until 2011.
At around the same time as the battlecruiser was developed, the distinction between the armored and the unarmored cruiser finally disappeared. By the British Town class, it was possible for a small, fast cruiser to carry both belt and deck armor, particularly when turbine engines were adopted. These 'light armored cruisers' began to occupy the traditional cruiser role once it became clear that the battlecruiser squadrons were required to operate with the battle fleet.
Flotilla leaders
Some light cruisers were built specifically to act as the leaders of flotillas of destroyers.
Auxiliary cruisers
The auxiliary cruiser was a merchant ship hastily armed with small guns on the outbreak of war. Auxiliary cruisers were used to fill gaps in their long-range lines or provide escort for other cargo ships, although they generally proved to be useless in this role because of their low speed, feeble firepower and lack of armor. In both world wars the Germans also used small merchant ships armed with cruiser guns to surprise Allied merchant ships.
Some large liners were armed in the same way. In British service these were known as Armed Merchant Cruisers (AMC). The Germans and French used them in World War I as raiders because of their high speed (around 30 knots (56 km/h)), and they were used again as raiders in World War II by the Germans and Japanese. In both the First World War and in the early part of the Second, they were used as convoy escorts by the British.
Cruisers were one of the workhorse types of warship during World War I.
During mid-20th century
Italian cruiser Armando Diaz
Naval construction in the 1920s and 1930s was limited by international treaties designed to prevent the repetition of the Dreadnought arms race of the early 20th century. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 placed limits on the construction of ships with a displacement of 10,000 tons or more and an armament of greater than 8-inch (203 mm). A number of navies commissioned classes of cruisers at the top end of this limit.
The London Naval Treaty in 1930 then formalised the distinction between these 'heavy' cruisers and light cruisers: a 'heavy' cruiser was one with guns of 6.1-inch (155 mm) calibre or more. The Second London Naval Treaty attempted to reduce the tonnage of new cruisers to 8,000 or less, but this had little impact; Japan and Germany were not signatories, and navies had already begun to evade treaty limitations on warships.
Heavy cruisers
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 8-inch (203 mm) in calibre. The first heavy cruisers were built in 1915, although it only became a widespread classification following the London Naval Treaty in 1930. The heavy cruiser's immediate precursors were the light cruiser designs of the 1910s and 1920s; the US 8-inch 'treaty cruisers' of the 1920s were originally classed as light cruisers until the London Treaty forced their redesignation. Heavy cruisers continued in use until after World War II.
German pocket battleships
The German Deutschland class was a series of three Panzerschiffe ("armored ships"), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the German Reichsmarine in nominally accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The class is named after the first ship of this class to be completed (the Deutschland). All three ships were launched between 1931 and 1934, and served with Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. During the war, they were reclassified as heavy cruisers.
The British press began referring to the vessels as pocket battleships, in reference to the heavy firepower contained in the relatively small vessels; they were considerably smaller than contemporary battleships, though at 28 knots, were slower than battlecruisers. And although their displacement and scale of armor protection was that of a heavy cruiser, they were armed with guns larger than the heavy cruisers of other nations. Deutschland-class ships continue to be called pocket battleships in some circles.
Anti-aircraft cruisers
USS Atlanta (CL-51)
The development of the anti-aircraft cruiser began in 1935 when the Royal Navy re-armed HMS Coventry and HMS Curlew. Torpedo tubes and 6-inch (15 cm) low-angle guns were removed from these World War I light cruisers and replaced by ten 4-inch (10 cm) high-angle guns with appropriate fire-control equipment to provide larger warships with protection against high-altitude bombers.[6]
A tactical shortcoming was recognized after completing six additional conversions of C-class cruisers. Having sacrificed anti-ship weapons for anti-aircraft armament, the converted anti-aircraft cruisers might need protection themselves against surface units. New construction was undertaken to create cruisers of similar speed and displacement with dual-purpose guns.
Dual-purpose guns offered good anti-aircraft protection with anti-surface capability for the traditional light cruiser role of defending capital ships from destroyers. The first purpose built anti-aircraft cruiser was the British Dido class, completed shortly before the beginning of World War II. The US Navy Atlanta-class anti-aircraft cruisers (CLAA) were designed to match capabilities of the Royal Navy. Both Dido and Atlanta carried torpedo tubes.
The quick-firing dual-purpose gun anti-aircraft cruiser concept was embraced in several designs completed too late to see combat including USS Worcester (CL-144) and USS Roanoke (CL-145) completed in 1948 and 1949, two De Zeven Provinciën-class cruisers completed in 1953, De Grasse and Colbert completed in 1955 and 1959, and HMS Tiger, HMS Lion and HMS Blake completed between 1959 and 1961.[7]
Most post–World War II cruisers were tasked with air defense roles. In the early 1950s, advances in aviation technology forced the move from anti-aircraft artillery to anti-aircraft missiles. Therefore most cruisers of today are equipped with surface-to-air missiles as their main armament. The modern equivalent of the anti-aircraft cruiser is the guided missile cruiser (CAG/CLG/CG/CGN).
Russian Navy cruiser of the Kirov class, Frunze
The rise of air power during World War II dramatically changed the nature of naval combat. Even the fastest cruisers could not maneuver quickly enough to evade aerial attack, and aircraft now had torpedoes, allowing moderate-range standoff capabilities. This change led to the end of independent operations by single ships or very small task groups, and for the second half of the 20th century naval operations were based on very large fleets able to fend off all but the largest air attacks.
This has led most navies to change to fleets designed around ships dedicated to a single role, anti-submarine or anti-aircraft typically, and the large "generalist" ship has disappeared from most forces. The United States Navy, the Russian Navy, and the Peruvian Navy are the only remaining navies which operate cruisers. Italy used the Vittorio Veneto until 2003; France operated a single helicopter cruiser until May 2010, Jeanne d'Arc, for training purposes only.
In the Soviet Navy, cruisers formed the basis of combat groups. In the immediate post-war era it built a fleet of large-gun ships, but replaced these fairly quickly with very large ships carrying huge numbers of guided missiles and anti-aircraft missiles. The most recent ships of this type, the four Kirov-class battlecruisers, were built in the 1970s and 1980s. Two of the Kirov class are in refit until 2020, and one was scheduled to leave refit until 2012, with the Petr Velikiy in active service. Russia also operates three Slava-class cruisers and one Admiral Kuznetsov-class carrier which is officially designated as a cruiser.
Currently, the Kirov-class heavy missile cruisers are used for command purposes, as the Petr Velikiy is the flagship of the Northern Fleet. However, their air defense capabilities are still powerful, as shown by the array of Point defense missiles they carry, from 44 OSA-MA missiles to 196 9K311 Tor missiles. For longer range targets, the S-300 is used. For closer range targets, AK-630 or Kashtan CIWSs are used. Aside from that, Kirovs have 20 P-700 Granit missiles for anti-ship warfare. For target acquisition beyond the radar horizon, three helicopters can be used. Besides a vast array of armament, Kirov-class cruisers are also outfitted with many sensors and communications equipment, allowing them to lead the fleet.
The United States Navy has centered on the aircraft carrier since World War II. The Ticonderoga-class cruisers, built in the 1980s, were originally designed and designated as a class of destroyer, intended to provide a very powerful air-defense in these carrier-centered fleets. The ships were later redesignated largely as a public relations move, in order to highlight the capability of the Aegis combat system the ships were designed around.
In the years since the launch of Ticonderoga in 1981 the class has received a number of upgrades that have dramatically improved its members' capabilities for anti-submarine and land attack (using the Tomahawk missile). Like their Soviet counterparts, the modern Ticonderogas can also be used as the basis for an entire battle group. Their cruiser designation was almost certainly deserved when first built, as their sensors and combat management systems enable them to act as 'flagships' for a surface warship flotilla if no carrier is present, but newer ships rated as destroyers and also equipped with AEGIS approach them very closely in capability, and once more blur the line between the two classes. The Japanese Atago class and the South Korean Sejong the Great class are an example of this.
Aircraft cruisers
One cruiser alternative studied in the late 1980s by the United States was variously entitled a Mission Essential Unit (MEU) or CG V/STOL.
From time to time, some navies have experimented with aircraft-carrying cruisers. One example is the Swedish Gotland. Another variant is the helicopter cruiser. The last example in service was the Soviet Navy's Kiev class, whose last unit Admiral Gorshkov was converted to a pure aircraft carrier and sold to India as INS Vikramaditya. The Russian Navy's Admiral Kuznetsov is nominally designated as an aviation cruiser but otherwise resembles a standard medium aircraft carrier, albeit with a surface-to-surface missile battery. The Royal Navy's aircraft-carrying Invincible-class and the Italian Navy's aircraft-carrying Giuseppe Garibaldi vessels were originally designated 'through-deck cruisers', but have since been designated as small aircraft carriers. Similarly, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's Haruna-class and Shirane-class "helicopter destroyers" are really more along the lines of helicopter cruisers in function and aircraft complement, but due to the Treaty of San Francisco, must be designated as destroyers.
One cruiser alternative studied in the late 1980s by the United States was variously entitled a Mission Essential Unit (MEU) or CG V/STOL. In a return to the thoughts of the independent operations cruiser-carriers of the 1930s and the Russian Kiev-class, the ship was fitted with a hangar, elevators and a flight deck. The mission systems were Aegis, SQS-53 sonar, 12 SV-22 ASW aircraft and 200 VLS cells. The resulting ship had a waterline length of 700 feet, a waterline beam of 97 feet, and a displacement of about 25,000 tons. Other features included an integrated electric drive and advanced computer systems, both stand-alone and networked. It was part of the U.S. Navy's 'Revolution At Sea' effort. The project was curtailed by the sudden end of the Cold War and its aftermath, otherwise the first of class would have been likely ordered in the early 1990s.
US Navy's "cruiser gap"
Prior to the introduction of the Ticonderogas, the US Navy used odd naming conventions that left its fleet seemingly without many cruisers, although a number of their ships were cruisers in all but name. From the 1950s to the 1970s, US Navy "cruisers" were large vessels equipped with heavy offensive missiles (including the Regulus nuclear cruise missile) for wide-ranging combat against land-based and sea-based targets. All save one—USS Long Beach (CGN-9)—were converted from World War II Oregon City-, Baltimore- and Cleveland-class cruisers.
"Frigates" under this scheme were almost as large as the cruisers and optimized for anti-aircraft warfare, although they were capable anti-surface warfare combatants as well. In the late 1960s, the US government perceived a "cruiser gap"—at the time, the US Navy possessed six ships designated as "cruisers", compared to 19 for the Soviet Union, even though the USN had 21 "frigates" with equal or superior capabilities to the Soviet cruisers at the time. Because of this, in 1975 the Navy performed a massive redesignation of its forces:
CVA/CVAN (Attack Aircraft Carrier/Nuclear-powered Attack Aircraft Carrier) were redesignated CV/CVN (although USS Midway (CV-41) and USS Coral Sea (CV-43) never embarked anti-submarine squadrons).
DLG/DLGN (Frigates/Nuclear-powered Frigates) of the Leahy, Bainbridge, Belknap, Truxtun and California classes were redesignated CG/CGN (Guided Missile Cruiser/Nuclear-powered Guided Missile Cruiser).
Farragut-class guided missile frigates (DLG), being smaller and less capable than the others, were redesignated to DDGs (USS Coontz was the first ship of this class to be re-numbered; because of this the class is sometimes called the Coontz class);
DE/DEG (Ocean Escort/Guided Missile Ocean Escort) were redesignated to FF/FFG (Guided Missile Frigates), bringing the US "Frigate" designation into line with the rest of the world.
Also, a series of Patrol Frigates of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, originally designated PFG, were redesignated into the FFG line. The cruiser-destroyer-frigate realignment and the deletion of the Ocean Escort type brought the US Navy's ship designations into line with the rest of the world's, eliminating confusion with foreign navies. In 1980, the Navy's then-building DDG-47-class destroyers were redesignated as cruisers (CG-47 Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers) to emphasize the additional capability provided by the ships' Aegis combat systems, and their flag facilities suitable for an admiral and his staff.
Cruisers in service today
Jeanne d'Arc of the French Navy, launched in 1961, decommissioned in 2010
Few cruisers remain operational in the world navies. Those that do are:
United States Navy: 22[8] Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers.
Russian Navy: One Kirov-class large missile cruiser (sometimes referred to as battlecruisers due to their size), three Slava-class missile cruisers, and one Kara-class cruiser (considered by Russia to be a "Large Anti-Submarine Warfare" ship).
Peruvian Navy: The BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81), a De Zeven Provinciën-class cruiser, although modernized as a guided-missile cruiser in the late eighties, it is the world's last operational gun cruiser.
Museum Cruisers
As of 2014, seven decommissioned cruisers have been saved from scrapping and exist world wide as -classTiconderoga in the future as ships of the class retire from active service.
List of cruisers
^ The alternative spelling could be found at least as late as 1900: Jackie Fisher wrote "We a require an increase.... in all classes of cruizer" in a letter dated 20th Feb 1900. Mackay, R. Fisher of Kilverstone, p. 242.
^ Rodger, N. A. M.: The Command of the Ocean, A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815. Allen Lane, London, 2004. ISBN 0-7139-9411-8
^ Parkes, p.8
^ Parkes, p.17
^ Hill, Richard: War at Sea in the Ironclad Age. Cassell, London, 2000. ISBN 0-304-35273-X.
^ Friedman, Norman "Anti-Aircraft Cruisers: The Life of a Class" United States Naval Institute Proceedings January 1965 p. 86
^ Friedman, Norman "Anti-Aircraft Cruisers: The Life of a Class" United States Naval Institute Proceedings January 1965 pp.96-97
^ Naval Vessel Register
Parkes, Oscar British Battleships (2nd Edition). Leo Cooper, London, 1990. ISBN 0-85052-604-3.
Philip Sims, Michael Bosworth, Chris Cable, Howard Fireman. "Historical Review of Cruiser Characteristics, Roles and Missions". SFAC Report Number 9030-04-C1. Future Concepts and Surface Ship Design Group, Naval Sea Systems Command, United States Navy. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
Modern naval ships and warships
List of naval ship classes in service
Aircraft cruiser
Amphibious assault ship
Anti-submarine warfare carrier
Balloon carrier
CAM ship
Fighter catapult ship
Fleet carrier
Helicopter carrier
Light aircraft carrier
Merchant aircraft carrier
Seaplane tender
Submarine aircraft carrier
Coastal defence ship
Dreadnought (Standard-type battleship)
Fast battleship
Pre-dreadnought battleship
Super battleship
Treaty battleship
Armored cruiser
Flight deck cruiser
Pocket battleship
Light cruiser
Merchant raider
Protected cruiser
Strike cruiser
Unprotected cruiser
Convoy rescue ship
Destroyer escort
Destroyer leader
Guided missile destroyer
Kaibokan
Amphibious transport dock
Amphibious warfare ship
Attack transport
Dock landing ship
Landing craft
Landing craft carrier
Landing ship heavy
Landing ship, infantry
Landing ship medium
Landing ship support, large
Landing ship, tank
Landing ship vehicle
Troopship
Patrol craft
Armed boarding steamer
Armed yacht
Coastal motor boat
Harbour defence motor launch
Motor launch
Naval drifter
Naval trawler
Ocean boarding vessel
Patrol boat
Q-ship
Steam gun boat
Submarine chaser
Torpedo boat
E-boat
Missile boat
MTSM
PT boat
Shinyo
Mine warfare
Danlayer
Destroyer minesweeper
Mine countermeasures vessel
Mine planter
Minehunter
Minelayer
Command and support
Amenities ship
Ammunition ship
Auxiliary repair dock
Auxiliary ship
Combat stores ship
Depot ship
Destroyer tender
Dispatch boat
Fast combat support ship
General stores issue ship
Net laying ship
Repair ship
Replenishment oiler
Submarine tender
Attack submarine
Ballistic missile submarine
Coastal submarine
Cruise missile submarine
Cruiser submarine
Deep-submergence vehicle
DSRV
Fleet submarine
Midget submarine
Arsenal ship
Barracks ship
Breastwork monitor
Guard ship
Littoral combat ship
River monitor
Ship types
Peruvian Navy
Peru, Italy, United States, France, Germany
Newport News Shipbuilding
World War II, Cruiser, Battleship, Hampton Roads, United States Navy
Cruisers of the Royal New Zealand Navy
Cruiser, World War II, United Kingdom, Royal New Zealand Navy, Royal Navy
List of shipwrecks in March 1941
Ship, SS Cadillac, United Kingdom, World War II, Convoy HX 109
New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy
Royal New Zealand Navy, Royal Navy, United Kingdom, Commodore (Royal Navy), Cruiser

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
using System;

namespace Figlotech.BDados.DataAccessAbstractions.Attributes {
    /// <summary>
    /// Aggregates a field from a directly related dataobject
    /// </summary>
    public class AggregateFieldAttribute : AbstractAggregationAttribute {
        public string RemoteField;
        public string ObjectKey;
        public Type RemoteObjectType;

        public AggregateFieldAttribute(Type remoteObjectType, string keyField, string remoteField) {
            RemoteField = remoteField;
            ObjectKey = keyField;
            RemoteObjectType = remoteObjectType;
        }
    }
}


text:
Q: Select two words of time period from a string in Pandas column and convert to number of days df.column_1:
had 2 months of ownership
had 1 week of ownership
had 2 years of ownership

I want to convert ownership time to date in df.column_1. The expected output is:
df.column_1:
60
7
730

Below is what I have so far:
df['column_1'] = df['column_1'].str.split(r'\D').str.get(1)

But this only gives the second string (e.g. 2, 1, 2). I was planning to get second and third strings (e.g. 2 months) and convert them to date.

A: You can use str.extract() to extract the number and period text (day/week/month/year).  Then, replace the period text with a multiplication sign * followed by the corresponding number of days to make a formula (e.g.  2 *30 for 2 months).  Then, use pd.eval to evaluate the values of the formula:
df['result'] = (df['column_1'].str.extract(r'(\d+\s*\w+)')[0]
                              .replace({r'days?': '*1',
                                        r'weeks?': '*7',
                                        r'fortnights?': '*14',
                                        r'months?': '*30',
                                        r'years?': '*365'}, regex=True)
                              .apply(pd.eval)
               )

Result:
print(df)

                    column_1  result
0  had 2 months of ownership      60
1    had 1 week of ownership       7
2   had 2 years of ownership     730

A: Assuming the strings in column_1 follow the same pattern, you can prepare a dictionary for the time period terms.
Preparing the dataframe
import pandas as pd

t="""had 2 months of ownership
had 1 week of ownership
had 2 years of ownership"""
df = pd.DataFrame(t.split('\n'), columns=['c1'])
df

Output
                          c1
0  had 2 months of ownership
1    had 1 week of ownership
2   had 2 years of ownership

To make it easier removing the s from the strings.
d = { 'day': 1, 'week': 7, 'month': 30, 'year': 365}
df['c1_in_days'] = df.c1.str.split().apply(lambda x: int(x[1])*d[x[2].replace('s','')])
df

Output
                          c1  c1_in_days
0  had 2 months of ownership          60
1    had 1 week of ownership           7
2   had 2 years of ownership         730

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Dr. Richard Cook, formerly an associate professor at the University of Chicago, published a paper in 1998 entitled How Complex Systems Fail. In his paper, Dr. Cook lists 18 observations from his research in medicine about failure of complex systems. His insights are directly applicable to running software at scale, and those observations informed our latest investment in Gremlin.
Some of his Cook's are obvious. Complex systems are intrinsically hazardous systems. Complex systems are heavily and successfully defended against failure. Catastrophe requires multiple failures – single point failures are not enough.
Others are surprising. Catastrophe is always just around the corner. Humans are both the producer and the defenders against failure. All practitioner actions are gambles. Change introduces new forms of failure.
All of this applies to software. Every company is becoming a software company. Every company relies on software to make money. If that software fails, companies lose money. Gremlin solves that problem. Gremlin instills resiliency through orchestrated chaos.
Kolton and Matt, the founders of Gremlin, understand deeply the challenges of operating colossal webscale systems. They lived it at Amazon, Salesforce and Netflix. To achieve ever greater uptime in those organizations, they leveraged chaos engineering.
Chaos engineering is the discipline of introducing failure into a software system on purpose to identify why, how and when it might break in the future; and then fixing it. Chaos teams start small, with experiments challenging the resilience of a single server or virtual machine. As the team gains confidence in their infrastructure, these experiments grow in scope.
Gremlin's software provides the platform for planning and executing these experiments, understanding the impacts and identifying the right next steps to fix issues before they arise. Companies like Twilio, Expedia and Under Armour use their technology today to fight the failure Dr. Cook observed in complex systems.
We're thrilled to partner with Gremlin, and work with Kolton and Matt to scale their business and bring the discipline and benefits of chaos engineering to many more companies.


text:
09 Dec 14 28 Nov 16
Pakistan: "No place to call home"
"Home is a precious place. I would give anything to return to mine," says 65-year-old Gul Bibi, as she gently rocks back and forth on a bed at the hospital set up by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Sadda, the second-largest town in Kurram Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The hospital for internally displaced persons is full of women who have babies and children in their arms or sleeping by their feet. It is hard to tell the children's ages since most of them are malnourished and look much younger than their years. Most of the children are between the ages of six months and five years and are being treated for measles and dehydration.
The parents have to travel long distances to receive the required medical treatment as the on-going violence in the province, especially in militancy-hit areas such as Kurram Agency, has taken a strong toll on the healthcare infrastructure in the region.
MSF pharmacy at the Sadda Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Lower Kurram Agency, FATA, is visited by a large number of people every day.
The other side of war
So far this year, MSF has treated 213 children for complicated measles at its hospital in Sadda, which specialises in children's healthcare. In most of the cases, the children had developed pneumonia and meningitis and needed urgent medical care.
"What is upsetting is that so many of the conditions we see here are preventable," says Dr Rahman Sakhi, one of the senior doctors at MSF who sees dozens of such cases every month. "The community is suffering unnecessarily because of the militarisation in the area."
Shaista Aziz/MSF
Exhausted siblings Amir and Sumaira are suffering from measles.
Since health workers' access to the community is restricted, diseases are magnified and the patient ends up facing a lot more pain that could have be prevented if things like measles are tackled in the initial stages.
More than 175 health facilities and 500 schools have been targeted and destroyed by militants across FATA since 9/11, according to Nizam Khan Dawar, a human rights specialist and CEO of the Tribal Development Network, a network of local organisations working for peace and development in the province.
"Even in war zones, hospitals and schools should be neutral places and shouldn't be attacked," he says. "The ongoing violence is weakening the health system and disproportionately impacting women and children."
Nizam elaborates that female doctors and health workers continue to face the brunt of violence and intimidation from militant groups who question women's right to access healthcare, especially reproductive health.
"There is a shortage of women health workers and women doctors who can provide healthcare for women," he says. "Many are pregnant and especially vulnerable as they are displaced by ongoing military operations and fighting in the area," he says.
A mother attends to her son at the MSF hospital in Sadda, Kurram Agency
Women doctors, nurses and health professionals continue to be targeted by militants and put under pressure to give up their work and stay inside their homes. "The threats and feeling of intimidation is increasing in many areas," he says.
More than just a number
The Kurram Agency in Pakistan's tribal belt sits on a political fault line, bordering the conflict-ridden areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on its east and south respectively and also shares a border with Afghanistan on the north and west.
Since 2007, large swathes of the tribal belt became a battle ground as the conflict in neighbouring Afghanistan spilled over into Pakistan's soil with militant groups unleashing a bloody carnage and chaos to take control of the area.
From hospitals and schools to homes and entire villages have fallen victim to this savage war, killing hundreds and displacing many others. The area was a stronghold of the Taliban until 2008 when the Pakistan Army ordered a military operation in the Agency to flush out the militants.
An uneasy calm has been established in the area for the past three years, following the end of the military operation Koh-e-Safaid, which resulted in the lower and upper subdivisions of the agency falling back under government control.
The peaceful wave, however, was shattered once again earlier this month when a school van hit a roadside bomb in Nasti Kot, Parachinar, and killed a child and the bus driver and left many others injured. Meanwhile, as the United States gear up to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan next month, the people in the area fear an increase in violence.
Even though the residents of Kurram Agency and other militancy-hit areas have survived death, disease and terror, their suffering remains alien to the rest of the country.
They either remain largely invisible on news channels and in newspapers, or their names, faces, daily realities and struggles are reduced to a number that either announces their death or displacement.
No country for old women
Gul Bibi, who belongs to a village in Upper Kurram, which was home to nearly 20,000 people, is one of the faces behind that number. As she sits on a bed in the MSF hospital in Sadda, waiting for treatment for her eight-month-old granddaughter suffering from dehydration, she begins to recount her story.
"We lived in peace. We lived good lives," she says about her life back in the village.
Noor Muhammad/MSF
Gul Bibi, 65, was displaced from her village in Upper Kurram Agency and has been living in Sadda as an IDP for three years
"We had a lot of food and land and we didn't need anything. We had been blessed with a lot – our health, our children and our grandchildren." She pauses for breath, closes her eyes and continues. "Then three years ago everything changed.
'They' came to the area and nothing was the same again," she elaborates, never naming 'them' when referring to the militants in the area. At first, the women were told not to leave their homes. Then people began being kidnapped for ransom.
"There was fear everywhere," she says.
"We went from living in a happy and peaceful place where everyone knew everyone to not knowing who we could trust or who was living amongst us." Gradually, the violence picked up momentum and the militants started burning down houses and schools.
"I still see our village burning when I close my eyes and try and sleep," she says. "I see the village and I smell it burning." Her voice begins to crack but she doesn't want to take a break. She says she wants to be heard and wants people to know what she has been through.
When things showed no signs of improvement, Gul Bibi convinced her husband to leave the village. Her husband was frail and unwell at the time but they knew their options were limited. "We left with nothing but the clothes that we had on," she says. "We walked for five hours. I found a donkey cart on the way and asked the man to help me lift my husband on to it so that he could complete the journey."
For the past three years, Gul Bibi has been living in a tent in a camp near the hospital. "This is not where a woman of my age should be living," she says. "I have a home and a village and a country, yet I am living in this tent with my daughter, her children, her husband and other members of my family."
The living conditions for the displaced population are less than ideal. Large families are cramped into small tents and are dependent on government aid or NGOs for basic necessities such as food, medicine and clothing. Poor living conditions, lack of clean drinking water, poor healthcare facilities and malnutrition has led to the death of dozens of children from curable diseases such as gastroenteritis, typhoid and respiratory infections.
Khalil's eager grandmother shows him to the visitors. He is malnourished.
Amidst this chaos, Gul Bibi yearns for a safer future for her grandchildren, preferably back home. "I find it hard to sleep at night; I spend most of the night thinking about everything I've seen," she says.
"I wish, I yearn to return to my village."
Restoring dignity
Meanwhile, living conditions for the displaced show little signs of improvement.
The population's health issues are secondary to the security concerns of the region, says Dr Javed Ali, MSF's Medical Coordinator responsible for running health projects in FATA.
MSF staff members at Alizai hospital, Lower Kurram Agency, FATA
"The north western [region] of Pakistan has traditionally been victimised by sectarian violence, militarisation and mass displacement of the population because of the war on terror," he says. "All of these factors have had a repulsive impact on the health policy and healthcare at the regional level. Health care has been militarised due to the conflict in the area and has led to a shortage of medical staff and medical supplies and there is no system in place to monitor and evaluate, strengthen and support a coherent health policy in the area."
He emphasises the need to "go back to the basics" where there is one functioning health facility for every 5,000 people and people can access medical facilities without fearing for their lives.
Entrance of the MSF health facility located in Alizai town of Lower Kurram Agency, FATA
Even though organisations like MSF have worked to fill the vacuum in healthcare facilities in the area, a far more integrated and consistent effort is required at the provincial and national level for those whose lives have been uprooted to feel at home again.
First published in the Express Tribune Magazine.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/797501/idps-no-place-to-call-home/
Find out more about MSF's work in Pakistan
Ethiopia: Flexible health care to pastoralist Somali communities
CAR: "We have not seen any doctors in Mingala for more than two years"
Sierra Leone: "They named him after me"


text:
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The nutrition transition in Colombia over a decade: a novel household classification system of anthropometric measures
Authors: Diana C Parra, Lora Iannotti, Luis F Gomez, Helena Pachón, Debra Haire-Joshu, Olga L Sarmiento, Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, and Ross C Brownson
Source: Archives of Public Health, 73(1): 12. doi: 10.1186/s13690-014-0057-5
Topic(s): Nutrition
Country: Latin American/Caribbean
Abstract: Background Overweight and underweight increase the risk of metabolic impairments and chronic disease. Interventions at the household level require the diagnosis of nutritional status among family members. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and patterns of various anthropometric typologies over a decade in Colombia using a novel approach that considers all children in the household as well as the mother. This approach also allows identifying a dual burden of malnutrition within a household, where one child may be overweight and another one undernourished. Methods This study used data from the Demographic and Health Survey and the Colombian National Nutrition Survey [2000 n=2,876, 2005 n=8,598, and 2010 n=11,349]. Four mutually exclusive household (HH) anthropometric typologies - normal, undernourished, overweight/obese, and dual burden - were created. Anthropometric information of height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and body-mass-index-for-age Z-scores (BMIz) in children under the age of 5 y, and on body mass index (BMI) in mothers, 18–49 y was used. Results Prevalence of overweight/obese HHs increased between 2000 (38.2%) and 2010 (43.1%) (p<0.05), while undernourished and dual burden HHs significantly decreased between 2005 (13.7% and 10.6%, respectively) and 2010 (3.5% and 5.1%, respectively) (p<0.05). A greater increase of overweight/obesity was observed for the lowest quintile of wealth index (WI), with an increase of almost 10% between 2000 and 2010, compared to 2% and 4% for the fourth and highest WI, respectively. Although in 2010 there is still a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity HHs in urban areas (43.7%), the prevalence of overweight/obesity HHs in rural areas increased sharply between 2000 (34.3%) and 2010 (41.6%) (p<0.05). Conclusion The observed prevalence of dual burden households was not different from the expected prevalence. Results from this study indicate that although overweight/obesity continues to be more prevalent among high-income Colombian households, it is growing at a faster pace among the most economically disadvantaged. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13690-014-0057-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Keywords: Overweight, Obesity, Nutrition transition, Stunting, Dual burden, Malnutrition, Colombia
Web: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4361151/
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Lauren Ferraiuolo is an Analyst in the Investor Relations team. She joined Apax Partners in 2018 and is currently based in New York.
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The Instagram-minimal life is great for me. My relationship with social media has been fraught ever since I joined Facebook in 2007. Going without checking IG every day helps me notice how much my mood is affected by it when I do log on. As you probably guessed, the effect is not favorable! A few scrolls down and already I'm wishing I'm off because I start feeling depressed.
We've all experienced this negative affect, and I've been aware of how I respond for a long time. Those delicious shots of dopamine, though, have kept me coming back. I haven't been able to form a new habit until now.
Did anyone catch this NY Mag laugh-and-sob-worthy article about friends who can't stand their friends' online presence? If Hemingway were on Instagram, I imagine we'd all tire of his boozy photos and cantankerous captions.
It turns out, Instagram harms young people's mental health the most out of several social media sites.
(CNN) Instagram is the most detrimental social networking app for young people's mental health, followed closely by Snapchat, according to a new report by the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK.
Their study, #StatusofMind, surveyed almost 1,500 young people aged 14 to 24 on how certain social media platforms impact health and well-being issues such as anxiety, depression, self-identity and body image.
YouTube was found to have the most positive impact, while Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter all demonstrated negative affects overall on young people's mental health.
For a while my goal for social media posts has been to share uplifting words and images. So many friends I run into say, Oh, I love your Facebook posts. It feels like a ministry of sorts. Sometimes I'll post just the quote someone needed to hear that day. I had a friend tell me that she wasn't able to read her scriptures much but that she would see the scripture I posted. The addictive component of social media combined with that feeling that the words I share really do make a difference have kept me wired in, in spite of the discomfort I feel.
Instagram has been an essential journaling platform for me to share my recovery journey and raise concussion awareness. When my life was in such a very narrow sphere, it helped to have posts that helped me interpret what was going on. It was also extremely painful to have the experience behind the camera be so much more narrow and restricted and painful than any of my posts could ever convey. What I desperately needed was human connection and friends stopping by, but I was too sick to ask anyone to just come by and cheer me up. I looked good, so my words had less of an impact. That is one of the deadly pitfalls of an online life. Things all around look shiny and good in others' lives, when we're all just drowning and hoping someone will stop by to cheer us out of our depression.
So what am I doing instead? Well, reading books. Going to yoga. Taking as many walks in the spring air as I can. Rebuilding the connections in my brain. Making lists. Brainstorming ideas for YouTube videos (I really love the idea of a platform that has an even more positive effect on people's mental health). YouTube has been one of my favorite educational resources while I've been unable to read for more than an hour in a given day.
Today's 1 Photo is a simple iPhone capture of Mt. Olympus that I took on a walk last night.
We're not meant to live online. We're meant to live among the clouds and under the stars and immersed in connection with living, breathing human beings. We're not wired to have up-to-the minute updates about each other's lives. We aren't designed to be unfatiguing computational thought machines, either.
Figures as different as Charles Dickens, Henri Poincaré, and Ingmar Bergman, working in disparate fields in different times, all shared a passion for their work, a terrific ambition to succeed, and an almost superhuman capacity to focus. Yet when you look closely at their daily lives, they only spent a few hours a day doing what we would recognize as their most important work. The rest of the time, they were hiking mountains, taking naps, going on walks with friends, or just sitting and thinking. . . .
"Deliberate practice," they observed, "is an effortful activity that can be sustained only for a limited time each day." Practice too little and you never become world-class. Practice too much, though, and you increase the odds of being struck down by injury, draining yourself mentally, or burning out.
All this inner dialogue about IG and being meant to live in the real world almost got in the way of me even posting anything this week. I'm still posting because I made a commitment to myself to create. I commit to healing and finding a better way to create that feels most authentic to me. I commit to making my art. The voice of reason in this case sounds a lot like Resistance (thank you Jennie Brown and Morgan Shaw for recommending The War of Art!). Getting in the habit of unselfconsciously serving the Muse is my next hurdle, and I hope you can do it, too.
What I call Professionalism someone else might call the Artist's God or the Warrior's Way. It's an attitude of agelessness and service. The Knights of the Round Table were chaste and self-effacing. Yet they dueled dragons.
We're facing dragons too. Fire-breathing griffins of the soul, whom we must outfight and outwit to reach the treasure of our self-in-potential and to release the maiden who is God's plan and destiny for ourselves and the answer to why were were put on this planet. Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, 108-9.
I'm Elizabeth. I'm an author and blogger. Having a traumatic brain injury taught me that I can change and grow like never before. Join me on this journey to find healing and better brain health. It's never too late to build a better brain!
Frustrated + Grateful = Frustgrated?


At just 21 km from the Relais I Piastroni in Castagneto Carducci, you'll find the Cavallino Matto, the largest Amusement Park in Tuscany, surrounded by nature and full of attractions for children and teenagers.
With its 100,000 square metres, Cavallino Matto is perfect for spending long days with the family. One of the most popular attractions are Yukatan, Buccaneer Bay, Colorado Boat and many other games suitable for all ages.
Spend the day discovering the biodiversity of the world, 31 km away from the Gallorose Park Cecina , 5 hectares of natural oasis where wild and domestic species are housed, from giant kangaroos to zebras. There are also workshops for children and teenagers, such as the educational farm to encourage knowledge of the species and respect for biodiversity and natural resources.
And finally you will be able to stroll through the dunes and Mediterranean scrub of the Rimigliano Park , 120 hectares of trails within the town of San Vincenzo.
On one hand the coastal strip, with its sand dunes and Mediterranean scrub, on the other forests of oaks. The visit to the coastal park for individuals or for the family is free.


text:
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import migrations, models

class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    initial = True

    dependencies = [
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name='Storage',
            fields=[
                ('id', models.AutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
                ('view_name', models.CharField(max_length=255, verbose_name=b'View name')),
                ('method', models.CharField(max_length=8, verbose_name=b'HTTP method')),
                ('anon_calls', models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0, verbose_name=b'Anonymous calls')),
                ('cache_hits', models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0, verbose_name=b'Cache hits')),
                ('sql_total_time', models.FloatField(default=0, verbose_name=b'SQL total time')),
                ('sql_total_count', models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0, verbose_name=b'SQL total queries count')),
                ('total_calls', models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0, verbose_name=b'Total calls')),
                ('total_time', models.FloatField(default=0, verbose_name=b'Total time')),
            ],
            options={
                'db_table': 'speedinfo_storage_database',
            },
        ),
        migrations.AlterUniqueTogether(
            name='storage',
            unique_together=set([('view_name', 'method')]),
        ),
    ]


Customized Color Logo Business Checks – Checks Ullimited : Recommendations on the way to Follow it! Welcome to the web ordering system of , online ordering at Order Business supplies the most Complete business examine experience and selection out there online, together with traditional Guide desktop checks used with the 7 ring test binder, and an extensive selection of computer checks.
These financial-primarily based background checks angered increasing numbers of the long-term unemployed American 2000 – 2013, particularly in the aftermath of the Great Recession with its layoffs, downsizings, government bail outs, Stimulus Funding, and more.
I've gone on strike against banks After working a small business for over 14 years, getting gouged proper and left for service fees, late charges, and charges just to be prices, I've gotten sick and tired of my hard-earned dollars go down some wasteful bin at my native bank.
Hey Patty, when I first heard about employers doing credit score checks on new candidates, I instantly stated it should not be allowed, because it might possibly weigh in opposition to the person and actually present data which had no baring on them as a person.
Use every choice that is obtainable on the order process online, including check colors, format and including your shade emblem. A lot of our personal and business checks can be used with automated normal accounting methods as nicely. This would be useful for two reasons pre-employment checks and id fraud. The identical manner a person makes use of a personal examine to pay for their electrical energy, car payments, and meals, a business uses checks to pay their collectors. Hawaii is one other state that bans (with exceptions) pre-employment credit score checks.
We offer an affiliate's, bachelor's and master's diploma in Business Administration, offering an in-depth understanding of the business, innovative key solutions to the field & fingers-on expertise. I'm in my last time period of learning for my MAsters Degree in Human Services/Health and Wellness and I hope to pursue a career working with the getting old inhabitants. Investment entities, banking corporations and numerous management consulting corporations choose using MBA graduates specializing within the area of finance.
As you enter into the management degree, there would be a substantial enhance within the base salary as well as commission. But, the Bachelor's degree confirms that you're officially a school graduate, though graduate school awaits if you no longer wish to remain a bachelor. The Augustana College Business Advisory Council, consisting of distinguished Sioux Falls business leaders, serves as each a resource and help for our students and faculty. An M.B.A. might help you make a significant break or leap in your career path-with a concomitant leap in revenue.
There are CLEP testing facilities everywhere in the world so that is attainable from virtually any nation but especially in the US. Thomas Edison and Excelsior additionally presents distance training so anybody from anyplace on the earth can apply for their diploma.
A masters diploma will probably be required of people hoping to go into non-public apply or who intend to work for some government or social service agencies and a person excited by educating at a university or school will probably be required to obtain a PhD or PsyD.
A few of them might not offer the loan as stated in above checklist anymore but they normally have other comparable various products replacing above. Usually wanted by established businesses, a time period business mortgage is usually chosen for expanding a business, purchasing tools, buying actual property, and providing working capital. However this additionally means that horrible credit candidates, no credit applicants and even those with a previous bankruptcy may also get authorized without hassles or delays. Consequently, it's just about impossible for a potential borrower with a low credit score to obtain an unsecured business mortgage, because their credit score historical past means that they won't repay their loan on time, if at all. Changing four or 5 loans with one consolidation mortgage tremendously reduces monthly funds.
It sounds quite unusual but it's all true with merchant money advance loans Enjoy this peculiar feature by calling on to the customer support professionals to avail one good mortgage at the earliest to your higher prospects. Even having a poor credit rating it is quite straightforward to obtain a mortgage where you have got somewhat to present as deposit. There may a risk of contacting former collectors to see if an arrangement can be reached earlier than you even ask your lending establishment to have a look at your commercial credit wants.
When there may be debt from a number of sources, with completely different rates and terms, using a mortgage to clear even a few of these loans, is a very positive transfer. If that you must make a small trip these holidays however you lack the funds to do so and your bank cards are maxed out, you needn't despair. Lendio gives a number of totally different SBA Loan merchandise including SBA 7a, SBA 504, and SBA Specific loans. Tools financing could be safer that different loans and lenders may be extra willing to work with you to get what you need. Launching your business would require getting the capital you need for operational bills.
This also ensures you are getting charges that have been competitively negotiated and that the mortgage construction most closely fits your needs. Some of them are recognized to ask for a lot of particulars to evaluate the consumer they usually fail to give the loans. The loans are made by traditional avenues of funding, however, the SBA supplies lending guidelines and guarantees a portion of the mortgage. Comparatively low investment rates are workable for an awful credit score business advance. You will only need to make sure that you are getting the correct quantity of cash to maintain the business wants. Credit Restore Companies – Our credit score repair specialists are outcomes-oriented and work arduous to dispute inaccurate, unverifiable, and unjust items out of your credit score report with perseverance and knowledge.


A recent article by the Associated Press had some good points about selling security equipment to schools. "Many proponents of hardening a school like an airport or police station have backgrounds in law enforcement or the military. Some have little experience or qualification." One person interviewed for the story had sold $500,000 worth of security equipment to a school to later say (after he was no longer selling security equipment) that the same school could have paid a fifth of the price for the same level of security upgrades.
Listen, technology and gadgetry are not going to solve all of your security problems. Here at Invictus Consulting we believe that your school's culture of safety can go a long way toward protecting your faculty, students, and staff. Having an emergency action plan that your faculty and staff have been trained on is such an important part of school security. We believe that security plans for intelligent threats should be as commonplace as fire evacuation plans – everyone should know what to do in case of an emergency, everyone will have practiced what to do, and lives will be saved because of prior planning and training.
Beyond an emergency action plan, a culture of security means that faculty, students, and staff have been trained to keep all exterior doors locked and closed; children do not open doors for strangers (even though this goes against a polite culture in parts of the country); parents and other visitors are aware that they need a reason for their visit; visitors have their identification checked against offender databases; visitors are escorted while they're on campus; and a record is created for each instance of a visitor on campus (i.e., there is a record of exactly who is on campus, when they were there, how long they were there, when they left, who they came to see, etc.).
There are 5 layers of security on any property: outer perimeter, visual perimeter, access control, alarms, and policies and procedures. Your emergency action plan and culture of security would be considered the innermost layer of security – your policies and procedures.
But the other four layers of security are also places where schools can implement cost-effective solutions that improve the security of their people. Lots of schools we assess actually already have some measures in place – fences, gates, cameras, intercom systems, burglar alarms. It's just that a lot of these systems are mismanaged or not used effectively or to their fullest capabilities. Before you upgrade to a half-million dollar security system, look at your current security measures and see if things can be managed better (e.g., fix broken fences, learn how to use video analytics in your camera system) or used more effectively.
We absolutely believe in the efficacy of physical and electronic security measures. Card readers, cameras, door prop alarms, systems integration – these are all effective and important aspects of security. But don't mistake expensive equipment for a cure-all to security issues.
We thought it would be a good idea to look at the fundamentals of risk management to remind people what it is they're trying to so when they talk about security.
Risk management means determining what your unique risks are and coming up with a plan to mitigate those risks. It may involve security guards, active shooter plans, security cameras, access cards / badges, fingerprint scanners, fences, locks, door alarms, mass notification, visitor management policies and procedures, and any number of other gadgets, devices, systems, policies, and procedures you can think of to mitigate risk. It's overwhelming. It can get expensive. It can be time and resource consuming to put a risk management plan into place.
But it's important to remember that risk management is built upon a pretty straightforward principle – protection of your people and your property.
We find that a lot of organizations first determine a budget for their security needs and then try to fit solutions into that budget. We think that's a backwards approach because you wind up with a piecemeal security system where you've chosen products and solutions based on price rather than on the true needs of your organization.
At Invictus Consulting we believe the first step is to do a risk assessment to determine exactly what it is you're protecting and how you can go about protecting it. Then, when it's time to budget, you can prioritize the most important things first rather than purchase the most inexpensive items first or the items with the flashiest appearance that will give your people and your visitors the appearance of a security system.
By knowing exactly who and what you are trying to protect, as well as knowing what your specific threats and risks are, your organization can have a phased approach to security, budgeting for the most important things first. We understand it may takes a few years worth of budgets to get your ideal security system in place, and that's why tackling the most critical things first is important. And that's why identifying the most critical things first is important.
Another note to remember is that much of your organization's security is about your policies and procedures regarding emergencies, personnel, visitors, etc. Often adjusting your organization's policies and procedures is free – it just takes some time with the board and executives and some time to train your people. Tackling these types of things while you're budgeting for a phased implementation of other aspects of your security system is a great way to make improvements without waiting for board approval.
Finally, it's important to understand that, even if your organization had unlimited funds, you can't possibly protect against every single threat and risk. Again, this is why a risk assessment is so important – it allows you to determine your biggest threats and risks and create a phased approach to implementation.
Security costs money. Fences, gates, cameras, card readers, training, security guards – all are important parts of a security management system, but all cost money. Getting your organization's board of directors or executives to add appropriate numbers to the budget is often a challenge. Boards and executives like numbers – give them data and they will be more likely to spend the necessary money.
Data comes from a risk assessment; by having your current security systems assessed, your organization can have real data about what you currently have and your site-specific threats. This kind of data can help your organization create a roadmap to where you ideally want to be in term of security. Data plus a roadmap are important tools when approaching your board or executive level management about the budget.
If it were up to us and money were not an issue, we would have everyone install the latest and greatest equipment. But we live in the real world where money is not unlimited and where line items need to be justified. This is why having a risk assessment performed and creating a roadmap based on the results are the best things you can do before going in front of your board. Data can help you justify security-related budget items.
Today we thought we'd have a little educational session about critical infrastructure and the NIPP. What on earth is the NIPP, you ask? It's the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, of course!
There is a great deal of dependencies between the various critical infrastructures, so the safety of one sector helps with the safety of the others. The image below comes from the Water Sector-Specific Plan: An Annex to the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and shows some of the interconnectedness the water and wastewater sector has with other sectors. For example, the water sector uses electricity from the electric power sector for maintenance, repair, the functioning of their SCADA systems, and the functioning of their treatment, lift, and pump stations. In turn, the electric power sector uses water from the water sector for things like cooling.
In fact, the water sector shares dependencies with most of the other critical infrastructure sectors, principally chemical, energy, food and agriculture, public health, transportation, dams, information technology, and emergency services. What this means is that a breach in the water sector could have negative consequences for any or all of these other critical sectors and vice versa. If a successful attack were carried out on the energy sector, the water sector would be unable to receive energy and thus lose their ability to carry out their operations and water treatment. A breach in the water sector would cause problems in the food and agriculture sector (which uses water for their own operations and functioning), and ultimately the consumer who depends on the food and agriculture sector for their food.
The NIPP is a detailed plan with numerous sector-specific plans; we get it that this may not be the mot interesting information you've come across on the Invictus Consulting blog. That's okay! If you've made it this far in this post, consider yourself a bit more informed about our nation's security.
We talk a lot about risks, threats, and preparedness at schools on the Invictus blog. If you've been around this blog for any length of time, you know that we think having an Emergency Operations Plan is a critical part of keeping faculty and students safe at school.
Today I'd like to talk about what happens if there is an emergency after school hours are over but when children and staff are still on campus. Lots of things go on after classes are dismissed for the day – sports teams practice, visitors come on campus to attend sporting events, school clubs meet, faculty meetings take place, teachers prep and plan, and students use the playground equipment. Your Emergency Operations plan should take these types of activities into account.
Sporting events are a particular concern that probably require a specific Emergency Playbook within your Emergency Operations Plan. Sporting events are unique because you have numerous visitors on campus to watch the event and an away team on campus to participate in the event; money may change hands at the concession stand; vehicular traffic is increased on campus; staff on campus (e.g., coaches, guards) may be different than the school-day staff; and people may inadvertently wander into school buildings in search of a restroom. Simply put, sporting events pose challenges that are different from the challenges of a regular school day and therefore need to be planned for separately in your emergency planning.
Relaxing your security program once the dismissal bell has rung is poor policy. Teachers deserve to be kept safe even if there are no children left on campus. Athletes and club members and the faculty, staff, and coaches that work with these children deserve to be kept safe after the dismissal bell. Don't forget to include after hours activities in your emergency planning, please!
Continue reading our new white paper about common issues we find at private and independent schools.
The recent horrifying school shooting at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, CA is heartbreaking. Innocent children caught between the crosshairs of violence is a parent's nightmare.
Preliminary details indicate that this was a domestic violence issue that spilled over into the workplace – the perpetrator was having a domestic dispute with his wife and went to her place of work with the intent to do violence to her. Because the school staff were familiar with the perpetrator (he was the husband of an employee), he was let into the school. Panicked parents raced to the school after hearing about the incident and many indicated that their children were too young to have cell phones, causing more panic and distress amongst parents.
As always, here at Invictus Consulting we are not going to Monday morning quarterback this situation – in other words, we are not going to criticize or assess how the school handled the affair.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the North Park Elementary School community and the San Bernardino community during this tragic time.
Here at Invictus Consulting we have a great deal of experience with the first professionals to arrive at the scene of a crisis – first responders and SWAT teams. A behind-the-scenes look at how first responders and SWAT teams operate may help you as you think about planning and preparing for a crisis.
911 reaction time – The average response time for an emergency call is 10 minutes. This means that for the first few minutes after a crisis begins, the people onsite (e.g., employees, students, customers) are the first line of defense and response; in other words, people onsite may need to help severely injured individuals or help neutralize the threat. Counting on first responders and SWAT teams to arrive may mean that more casualties occur than necessary. In your emergency action plan, plan for this reality and make sure to train your employees and students on how to respond. Also, look here for a national review of 911 data collection.
Local trauma beds – Do you know how may trauma beds there are at your closest hospital? What if the nearest hospital only has 10 trauma beds and your facility has 30 people that need trauma care? Do you know where the wounded will be sent and how to alert their families as to which hospital they've been taken? The ugly truth is that a crisis at your location may yield many more trauma needs than can be handled nearby. When we perform a risk assessment for our clients, we include a list of all hospitals within a 25-30 mile radius so that administrators and executives are aware of where the possible locations their people may be taken.
First responders may step over you – It may surprise you to know that first responders may step over injured people; depending on the type of first responder, some are trained to proceed to the perpetrator and neutralize the threat before attending to the wounded, some are trained to seek out the most wounded first and may step over less wounded to find more wounded individuals, and some are trained to sweep the entire facility before attending to the wounded. So if you are one of the wounded and are lying near an entrance, you may actually be initially bypassed by first responders as they move towards their target. What this means in terms of emergency planning is similar to the first point above (911 response times), namely that the people onsite should be trained to provide basic first aid to other people while waiting for first responders to get to each of the wounded. Stop the Bleed is a DHS campaign to empower individuals to act quickly and save lives by teaching bystanders how to keep injured persons alive until appropriate medical care is available.
Some of the above information may scare you; take that fear and use it to update, improve, or create an emergency action playbook at your place of work, your school, your place of worship, or even your own home.


College of the Rockies' Avalanche volleyball program signed Kamloops outside hitter, Kamryn Cousins, for the 2019-20 season.
Cousins currently plays for Sa-Hali Secondary School as well as the Kamloops Volleyball Association. She was chosen for the Zone 5 BC Summer Games team in 2016 and has been captain of both her school and club volleyball teams. As captain, Cousins led her high school team to win the AA Okanagan Championships and her Kamloops Volleyball Association club to gold at Nationals.
"We are very pleased to have Kamryn joining our women's volleyball team," said coach John Swanson. "She possess a natural athletic ability in the outside hitter position and her exceptional passing and defensive skills will allow her to quickly adapt to the collegiate game. Kamryn has already impressed me with her desire and work ethic."
While at College of the Rockies, Cousins will be pursuing an Associate of Science degree with a focus on biology. She hopes to one day attend medical school.
College of the Rockies Avalanche volleyball programs will spend most of the remainder of the season on the road but will play host to the Capilano Blues on January 25 and 26.