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Expanding Contraceptive Choices for Women: The Vaginal pH Modulator
Welcome to CME on ReachMD. This activity, entitled "Expanding Contraceptive Choices for Women: The Vaginal pH Modulator"was presented during Omnia Education's Women's Health 2021: Beyond the Annual Visit.
Dr. Eisenberg:
Welcome to Omnia Education's Women's Health 2021: Beyond the Annual Visit. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Dr. David Eisenberg. I am an associate professor in the Division of Family Planning in the OB-GYN department here at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In this presentation, we'll be taking a closer look at new contraceptive choices for women.
So quickly, our learning objectives. At the completion of this educational activity, learners will be able to, number one, explain the advantages and drawbacks of vaginal pH modulation contraception. Number two, identify the strategies that will overcome the most common misperceptions that both clinicians and patients have regarding gel-based contraceptives. And number three, discuss the scientific data underlying the increasing pregnancy rate demonstrated in contemporary clinical trials of contraception.
So as far as new hormonal contraceptives go, it's really a wonderful time to be an expert in contraception and a women's health provider in the United States, as far as I'm concerned, because we have so many more choices coming to the menu of options that people can have as a person who doesn't want to get pregnant. And one of the most exciting ones for me is the vaginal pH modulator that we're going to talk more at length about, but I want to just touch on the few new introduced methods in the last year or so.
The drospirenone-only contraceptive pill, brand name Slynd, is a really wonderful advancement for us to have a new progestin-only contraceptive pill in the United States. It's a 24/4 formulation and it has a very long half-life, which we'll look at kind of side by side with the progestin-only pill that most of us know, norethindrone.
The levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol patch, brand name Twirla, is the newest contraceptive patch available in the United States, and it's a 30-microgram ethinyl estradiol patch and similar to many of the combination or hormonal contraceptive pills, the patches, and the rings that we're all familiar with, but we'll talk more about that in detail.
Lastly is the new contraceptive ring, which is Annovera as a brand name. This is a new progestin called segesterone acetate, and it's at 150 micrograms with a daily dose of 15 micrograms of ethinyl estradiol. And it, too, behaves like most of those combination hormonal contraceptives that we've come to be experienced with in our practice. But I think it's important to understand the differences between this and the previous contraceptive ring that was available in the United States.
As far as the new progestin-only pill, many of us have been prescribing the 0.35-milligram norethindrone pill for patients who have a contraindication to estrogen, for people who are breastfeeding, and we know that the progestin component inhibits ovulation. But given the short half-life of norethindrone, people have to be really good about taking this medication at the same time every day. Otherwise, they have more side effects, specifically bleeding problems. Whereas the drospirenone-only pill, Slynd as the brand name, has 4 milligrams of drospirenone, which is more than most of the combination hormonal contraceptive pills with drospirenone in the United States. And that long half-life of drospirenone not only reliably inhibits ovulation, but it likely provides better cycle control for those patients who are maybe not perfect at taking the pill at the same time every day.
And like the progestin-only pills that you know, the contraindications and indications are the same.
As far as the new contraceptive patch, Twirla which is the brand name patch, has a different shape and slightly larger surface area than the Xulane or Ortho Evra branded patch that you may be familiar with. And the other key difference is the progestin. While it is a similar estradiol dose of ethinyl estradiol, about 30 micrograms versus 35 micrograms per day, it is a levonorgestrel-based progestin rather than norelgestromin, which, you know, the fact of the matter is some patients might find different side effect profiles with these different active ingredients. The larger surface area may be of concern for some patients. And the other thing that I will point out is that there is a black box warning associated with those patients who are obese and caution with patients who are overweight for reducing contraceptive success rate. We'll talk about those failure rates in detail at the end and how those are calculated for different contraceptive methods.
When you look at a side-by-side comparison of the new vaginal contraceptive ring, branded Annovera, you can see from the picture not only is it a thicker ring, but it is slightly wider in dimension. That thicker ring allows there to be 2 reservoirs of the active ingredients, but it is a different progestin. Whereas the NuvaRing and its generic versions have etonogestrel as the progestin, this is a new novel progestin called segesterone acetate and at 150 micrograms per day. And the ring itself is highly effective as a combination hormonal contraceptive, and it was FDA-approved in a phase 3 trial, where patients were putting the ring in for 3 weeks and taking it out for a week to let themselves menstruate. But there is enough hormone in that single ring to go for a full calendar year.
But there are a lot of folks out there who don't like hormonal contraceptives, and that's why I'm really excited about this new contraceptive method, a vaginal pH modulator. Vaginal pH modulation may be something you're not familiar with. And I'm going to take the opportunity to hopefully help you understand how this works and help you communicate with your patients about this because in my experience, patients when they come to understand this really like the idea behind this contraceptive, as a female-controlled, hormone-free, use it in the moment kind of contraceptive that they don't have to be taking on a regular basis.
And so this was FDA-approved as a hormone-free gel, and the picture you see here on the screen is of the prefilled applicator that many people will think, "Well, gosh, that looks like a tampon applicator." And that's exactly how it's designed. The patient will deliver this gel into her vagina prior to the act of intercourse. And what it does is it maintains that vaginal pH in an acidic environment between 3.5 and 4.5 to create an environment that's inhospitable to sperm, and that is the primary mechanism of action. You know, the combination of 3 active ingredients in Phexxi, the brand name of this new vaginal pH modulator, is lactic acid, citric acid, and potassium bitartrate. But that's not the only components that are really important here. We have to talk about the fact that this new contraceptive gel "sticks" around for a while, and we'll get to that in a minute.
But this prefilled applicator is about 4 inches long, similar to a tampon as I said. They come in prefilled applicators which are wrapped individually in a box of 12 if you prescribe this to a patient. We have to make sure that patients understand that this, like a barrier method such as a diaphragm or a condom, whether it be male or female condom, has to be put in the vagina prior to the act of intercourse, or put on their partner's penis for a male condom, for example. And they need to apply the vaginal gel up to an hour before intercourse. They need to understand that if it's been more than an hour since they put the gel in and there's not vaginal penetration, they need to re-dose. Just like if they were going to have more than one act of intercourse, they would use a second condom, well, they need to re-dose if they have more than one act of intercourse in a short interval. And it was originally approved as a personal lubricant during intercourse. And so there's a long safety track record here. But it has been now FDA-approved based on a phase 3 trial that I was lucky enough to be a part of that demonstrated its contraceptive effectiveness, and we're going to talk about that more in detail.
As far as the mechanism of action goes, this is very unique compared to most contraceptive methods. So we know that the normal vaginal pH should be below 4.5, and that acidic pH is maintained by the normal healthy vaginal microbiome and the hydrogen peroxide and lactic acid that lactobacilli produce. That natural acidic environment is the vagina's defense against infection, but during ejaculation sperm and the seminal fluids raise that pH to a point that sperm are able to capacitate and start swimming upstream towards the cervical canal, into the uterine cavity, and out to the fallopian tubes in the hope of identifying and fertilizing an ovum. In this situation where a patient has applied the vaginal pH modulator prior to intercourse, the vaginal pH stays in that acidic space where those sperm don't get the opportunity to swim. And it works really well to neutralize those seminal fluids because of its buffer capacity and the way in which those 3 active ingredients work together to maintain that acidic environment.
And currently it's under investigation as an antimicrobial, and we hope to see really promising data in the near future regarding that indication for use, but currently, it's only indicated for contraception.
So this is the key graph regarding the pH of the vagina in the setting of this vaginal pH modulator. What you see on the left is the total progressive motility of sperm from a proven fertile sperm donor, according to WHO fertility guidelines regarding sperm motility and sperm counts at different pH levels. And then across the x-axis there, you see time. So we need time of the sperm to be exposed to that acidic environment to incapacitate those sperm for forward motility. And at the red line along the bottom, what you see in total motility on the left and progressive motility in panel B on the right, in that pH 5.2 or lower, by 90 minutes, there was essentially no motility. The vaginal pH modulator Phexxi not only maintains that vaginal pH, but it sticks around long enough to incapacitate those sperm so they can't get to the ovum. That's its primary mechanism of action.
And when you look at this vaginal pH of the woman or person who's used Phexxi compared to the pH of semen, you see that significant difference on the pH scale there. But the reason it works so well is not only by maintaining that pH in the vagina, but like I said, kind of sticking around because it has a thick viscosity and bioadhesive properties that maintain it within the vaginal canal in a way that it adheres to the vaginal epithelium before then sloughing off in a natural fashion and being discharged from the vagina in a way that was not bothersome to participants in the study. The combination of lactic acid, citric acid, and potassium bitartrate with those bioadhesive properties allowed for the FDA to provide for an approval of a new class of contraceptive methods that we're calling vaginal pH modulators.
And so I mentioned this idea of the Phexxi sticking around. There have been many contraceptive gels that have been tried not only as contraceptives, but also as antimicrobials. And again, Phexxi is currently approved as a contraceptive. These gels show different levels of viscosity, different bioadhesive properties, but the bioadhesive properties and viscosity of Phexxi was kind of the sweet spot, meaning that the prolonged exposure of sperm to that acidic environment because of Phexxi allowed for a reduced fertility rate, a reduced pregnancy rate. And as I mentioned earlier, this has been around in the United States, FDA-approved in 2004 as a personal lubricant. So this has a really long safety record.
So the combination of lactic acid, citric acid, potassium bitartrate, and the non-active ingredients you see here, in a prefilled applicator allows for people who have a vagina who don't want to get pregnant, who don't want to use hormonal contraception, who don't want to use something on a daily basis, if they're not needing it, to have a new choice as a contraceptive method.
And again, this does require a prescription. It is important to emphasize, however, that patients using this vaginal contraceptive gel need to use it prior to the act of intercourse, up to one hour before vaginal penetration. Re-dose if it's been more than an hour, and re-dose if it's more than one act of sexual intercourse. It can be used together with condoms, diaphragms, cervical caps, other hormonal contraceptives, and IUDs.
I'll note that the FDA pointed out that the drug trial for Phexxi did not allow people to use the vaginal contraceptive ring. And so there is currently a contraindication to the vaginal contraceptive ring plus Phexxi because we just don't know how those things interact.
So let's talk about that trial data. As I said, I was lucky enough to be one of the principal investigators on a local site here in St. Louis through our Planned Parenthood affiliate.
There were two large phase 3 trials for approval of Phexxi as a contraceptive method. The initial one, AMPOWER-001 was a 6-month, 7-cycle, open-label multicentered, randomized controlled trial of the vaginal pH modulator versus our known nonoxynol-9 spermicide that's available in the US market.
Now remember that nonoxynol-9 is a detergent. And that's how it works to prevent sperm from being able to get to the egg. However, it also provides for potential vaginal epithelial disruption in the way in which it behaves inside the vagina. And that is not a good thing to have in patients who are potentially at risk for a sexually transmitted infection.
And so the population of people who were in the trial were 18 to 35, there were over 1,600 subjects in each arm, and the cumulative pregnancy rate at the end of 7 cycles, or 6 months of use, with those participants solely using the vaginal pH modulator was 10.5%. And you see that confidence interval was pretty tight. And there was about 7 out of 10 people who were correct and consistent users. And when you look solely at those correct and consistent users, those perfect-use patients, we had a 4% pregnancy rate with, again, a very tight confidence interval.
But, I will note that more than half of the people in this trial discontinued at less than 6 months. That's similar to the discontinuation rate amongst those people enrolled in the control arm using the nonoxynol-9 product. But the pregnancy rate was also similar. And so the reason why people discontinued in the trial, however, was a lot of times lost to follow-up or other problems, not as you note in this last bullet point – not the majority of the time for discontinuation for adverse events. And we'll talk about the adverse events and side effects that people had. But that initial trial was really promising. And the FDA said, this is a reasonable product, but we need more data with longer continuation.
And so that's why AMPOWER-002 was done. And this was a similar phase 3 trial, open-label – patients knew what they were using, rather than a randomized control trial – single arm, there wasn't a control. Again, 18- to 35-year-old people, but this time we really selected for those people who were potentially fertile, either having super well-controlled regular menstrual cycles 21 to 35 days in length, and those participants in this open-label trial had to agree to have at least 3 acts of heterosexual intercourse with a male partner for every cycle. And if they didn't, we had to throw out that month's worth of data. And so this contraceptive trial really was a trial of the vaginal pH modulator as the only method.
Again, in that typical-use, all-in population of a little over 1,300 women, the pregnancy rate was about 13.5 – 13.7% to be exact, with a pretty tight confidence interval. When you look at the perfect use, the people who only correctly and consistently used Phexxi in the trial, the failure rate was less than half that. But that Pearl Index, which is what people may think of as the apples-to-apples comparison between contraceptive methods that the FDA has required for decades, was 27.5. And that Pearl Index is really a strange concept we'll talk more about in a little bit. But that Pearl Index of 27.5 is not that bad, actually; it's actually quite effective. And again, less than 2% of subjects enrolled in the second phase 3 trial discontinued for adverse events, which is huge. As a contraceptive trial, having done many of these as a principal investigator, it's pretty impressive to see a less than 2% discontinuation rate at 6 months.
So this flow diagram shows you how those nearly 3,000 women were screened, and almost 1,400 people were enrolled in the trial. And the reasons for discontinuation are on the right, which we'll dig into a little bit in a minute.
As far as the effectiveness, so over those 6 months, 7 cycles, those nearly 1,400 women, there were over 24,000 acts of vaginal intercourse that were included in the dataset. And what you see here is that failure rate of 13.7% and the confidence interval out to the right. And this is based on a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. And that's different than the Pearl Index, which is an artificial construct regarding contraceptive effectiveness that we'll talk about at the end.
As I mentioned, contraceptive effectiveness is not just about the mechanisms of action. It's not just about whether someone can correctly use the method, but can they consistently and continually use the method? And a lot of that has to do with do they have side effects, right? So this is a blow up of that table that was in the flow diagram. And what you see is the side effects that people reported in the trial amongst the two phase 3 trials, so there's over 2,400 women in this, and you know, the fact is that while many people describe things like itching or burning or concerns for vaginal discharge or pain with urination, most people who had those symptoms did not discontinue. Again, only 1.6% of participants discontinued due to adverse events, with the most common listed here at less than 1% of discontinuers reporting vulvovaginal burning, for instance.
I will point out, when the FDA took note of this, that the concern for patients who have a high risk of urinary tract infection, and specifically, maybe some urinary tract abnormalities that put them at risk or personal history is someone you might want to consider not using Phexxi for because of the way in which that might increase the risk of urinary tract infection. The numbers were small, however.
And when you think about the fact that this is a contraceptive method that 2 people, the male participant and the female participant in the trial, were asked about their continuation, their satisfaction, and their side effects, a little less than 10% of the male subjects of the female women enrolled in the trial reported some discomfort. And you can see the majority of that was mild, and really only 2 participants in the trial discontinued because of their male partner's complaint of penile symptoms.
So again, you have a high rate of continuation, which translates to a high rate of satisfaction. And we saw that in this second phase 3 trial, not only increasing satisfaction with the method, but increasing sexual satisfaction and function after the first couple cycles. And what you're looking at is people who are very or somewhat satisfied with this contraceptive method, and the percent on the y-axis and each visit across the x-axis, it increased so that 87% of subjects at the end of the 6-month trial said, hey, you know, this is something I'd like to continue using as a contraceptive method. And more than 9 out of 10 said, I'd recommend this to a friend.
So when you think about the tiers of contraceptive effectiveness, this table or this diagram is something that many of us are familiar with. The WHO, the CDC, Contraceptive Technology has produced many different versions of this, where the top tier are the most effective methods, things like permanent non-reversible birth control, things like long-acting reversible contraceptives. The second tier are hormonal contraceptives, including the pill, the patch, the ring, and the injection. And then the third tier are things that are what you might call coitally dependent. And that's where Phexxi, the vaginal pH modulator, ends up. Things like condoms, diaphragms spermicides, plus or minus using those things together. And that's not a huge surprise. And again, the contraceptive effectiveness for Phexxi is dependent on the person who's using it using it correctly and consistently. And so when you do analyze those correct and consistent users, there is a higher success, lower failure rate, not a huge surprise.
Don't forget, a heterosexual couple, having no contraceptive method for a year, 85 out of 100 people will become pregnant within a year. And with a Phexxi user in the typical use, you could estimate it would be about 13 to 14 out of 100. But in that perfect use, it would be 6 to 7.
So how do we determine contraceptive effectiveness? This, I alluded to before. The Pearl Index is the FDA's attempt at an apples-to-apples comparison between contraceptive methods, where you take the number of pregnancies divided by the number of months or cycles of use of that method times a calendar year's worth of time, 12 months or 13 cycles, and you get this artificial Pearl Index.
It's not one that I use in my everyday practice, because it is an artificial construct – the idea of how many pregnancies happen over how many months or cycles of use, and then calculate it over a year. And that measure of pregnancy per year just doesn't make a lot of sense for a lot of people. And over the last couple decades as different contraceptive trial designs have happened both in the United States and abroad, and ways in which we generalize the population to make it less of an idealized contraceptive trial and more generalizable, we've seen Pearl Indexes go up. And that doesn't really make sense when you account for all the different issues around contraceptive failure rates.
And a big piece of that is how we choose what data we include and what data we don't. And so as you think about the ways in which contraceptive methods have been done over the last few decades, what we know is the more recent trials like the one that I mentioned for Phexxi, the phase 3 trials, or the ones that brought the contraceptive patch, Twirla, or the new ring, Annovera, to market is that the FDA has said we need to stop limiting enrollment by BMI or other factors. We need to make sure these are potentially fertile people. We need to make sure we're only including those method cycles in which heterosexual activity occured and no backup method of contraception was used. Throw out the months in which women were in the trial but they might have used a backup method of contraception, for instance.
We also know that we have more sensitive pregnancy tests and more availability of pregnancy tests. And this has resulted in a higher Pearl Index for methods that were even previously approved at a lower Pearl Index, because the construct of the trial is different. And here's a great example of that.
So what we're looking at is different contraceptive pills that have been used as the control compared to when they were approved. And so on the left-hand side, you're looking at the 3 different contraceptive pills, combination or oral contraceptives here, and the Pearl Index in which they were approved, all less than 1. However, more recent trials, on the right-hand side of this slide, you can see that the Pearl Index was more than 4-fold higher when these FDA-approved contraceptive pills that had a Pearl Index less than 1 were the control in a new experimental contraceptive trial. Why is that? It's the same drug. The FDA approved it that way, right?
Well, because the way in which those more recent trials were done is that pill, that same pill that was approved with a Pearl Index less than 1, had a higher failure rate based on the data set, because we were only including months in which no second contraceptive method was used and throwing out any cycle in which there wasn't active heterosexual activity. No surprise, the Pearl Index creeps up.
And so the prescribing information for recent contraceptive methods, the Pearl Indices for these newer methods that I mentioned, the new progestin-only pill, the new contraceptive patch, the new Annovera ring, and the lowest dose hormonal contraceptive pill on the market you see at the bottom there, all have Pearl Indices that are much above 1. And that's not a surprise, because the way in which these trials were done at a more recent era does account for a higher Pearl Index because the construct of the trial is different.
When you look at the relationship between contraceptives and obesity, while the patch, the Twirla patch, which was the secure patch that you see across the bottom here, did have a higher failure rate for patients with a BMI over 30, it's not significantly different than the previously approved patch, Ortho Evra, or Xulane is the other brand name, and many of the contraceptive pills in this forest plot here. And so I will say that contraceptive effectiveness is not only a measure of how well someone uses it and how it interacts, but also continuation. And so we have to take all those things into account. This contraceptive trial design issue is one that muddies the waters when you're trying to use Pearl Indices to compare one contraceptive method to another.
And it definitely doesn't get any easier when you stratify by different BMI classes. The effectiveness for someone who is normal weight, which is less than a third of the population in the United States, is better for the Twirla patch study when you did that life table Kaplan-Meier survival analysis compared to overweight and obese patients.
Now that being said, something that has a 93% effectiveness for a year's worth of use based on the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis is going to be a tier 2 contraceptive method. And what you see here is a similar Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for Phexxi. And over 7 months, there was a 13% failure rate or pregnancy rate over those 7 cycles. And that is where that contraceptive effectiveness number comes from. And again, the perfect-use failure rate was much lower.
So lastly, the secondary analysis of perfect use did demonstrate that amongst those subjects in this bottom line here that used the method correctly and consistently every time without any protocol violations, the failure rate was less than 7% over those 7 cycles or 6 months. So Phexxi is potentially a tier 2 method for those perfect users and a tier 3 method for those typical users.
I'll leave you with these thoughts. You know, we take care of diverse people who can get pregnant who need contraceptive methods, and we the providers need to be able to give accurate information that makes sense to our patients. We need useful data regarding the risks and the benefits to help patients make an informed choice that they can be successful with their contraceptive method. We need to understand that modern contraceptive trials, the ones done in the last 10 years especially, will change the Pearl Index because of the way in which the data is analyzed.
The most effective method that someone can use as a contraceptive method might not work for them if they choose to discontinue it. The most effective contraceptive is something that someone is happy with, that fits their lifestyle, that doesn't cause them troublesome side effects, that gives them the benefits that they want without too many troublesome problems. So I will say that having more and more choices for our patients, for me, is wonderful. I really appreciate industry working to bring new contraceptive methods to market. And I really appreciate the opportunity from Omnia Education to help talk with you guys about this new contraceptive method and some of the new ones that have come to the US market in the last 12 to 18 months.
Host: David L. Eisenberg, MD, MPH, FACOG
New hormonal contraceptive options continue to emerge for women. These include a vaginal ring, a patch, and a progestin-only pill. But what can you offer a woman who wants an option that is FDA-approved, hormone-free, and self-administered/user-controlled? Join us as Dr. David Eisenberg discusses a novel vaginal pH modulator that is safe, effective, and checks all the boxes.
Many women prefer to use a nonhormonal contraceptive. They also want the freedom to self-administer on demand and want assurances that the contraceptive is safe, effective, and has received FDA approval. One such contraceptive is a self-administered, hormone-free gel that functions as a vaginal pH modulator. Join Dr. David Eisenberg as he describes the evolution of this vaginal pH modulator and the clinical trials leading to FDA approval. Even more significant is patient acceptance, which was remarkably high for this contraceptive. In fact, approximately 9 out of 10 women participating in the clinical trials indicated they would continue using the vaginal pH modulator and also recommend this novel method to their friends.
David L. Eisenberg, MD, MPH, FACOG
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Consulting Fees: Evofem, Femasys, Medicines360, Sebela Pharmaceuticals Inc./ACI Clinical
Commercial Interest Speakers Bureau: Evofem, Merck
Contracted Research: Medinines360, Merck
Ownership Interest: Femasys
Sue Grossman has nothing to disclose.
Amanda Hilferty has nothing to disclose.
Explain the advantages and drawbacks of vaginal pH modulators (VPMs) in contraception
Identify the strategies that will overcome the most common misperceptions that clinicians and patients may hold regarding gel-based contraceptives that may detract from greater consideration of vaginal pH modulators
Discuss the scientific data underlying the increasing pregnancy rate demonstrated in contemporary clinical trials of contraception
This activity is designed to meet the educational needs of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and certified nurse midwives in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology, primary care, family practice, and internal medicine.
Global Learning Collaborative (GLC) designates this enduring activity for a maximum of .5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Global Learning Collaborative (GLC) designates this activity for 30 minutes of Nursing contact hours. Nurses should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from Evofem Biosciences.
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Knowledge the Pirate
Flintlock
Treasure Chest Entertainment
by Phillip Mlynar
Given a leg up by Roc Marciano, the veteran rapper returns with his own take on classic, streetwise East Coast rap: tales of nefarious business delivered in painstaking, and often chilling, detail.
Featured Tracks:
"Swashbuckling" — Knowledge the PirateVia
Bandcamp / Buy
Calling yourself the "first gangster to rap over Neptunes beats" is a bold claim—but it's just one in a series of industry boasts Knowledge the Pirate has amassed in an under-the-radar career that goes back to the 1990s. The rapper, who splits his time between Harlem, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, was originally discovered by Will Smith's de facto bodyguard, Charlie Mack, in a rap battle. He was flown to Hollywood to attend the Jack the Rapper industry convention, where he impressed new jack swing pioneer Teddy Riley and signed a short-lived deal with Interscope. Knowledge moved on to rhyming over early beats by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo before Clipse became the Neptunes' dope boys of choice; he also notched up ghostwriting credits on Will Smith's Born to Reign. Throughout his musical moves, Knowledge maintained his street reputation, which allowed him to later brag, "I'm a real street dude. I'm not really bullshitting. I took Biggie Smalls' girl." But despite having his talent noticed by influential names, Knowledge grew impatient and distanced himself from the music world.
During this hiatus, Knowledge struck up a friendship with Roc Marciano, who persuaded him to pick up the mic again and offered him guest spots on his albums. Roc is now enshrined as the figurehead of a revered strain of East Coast hip-hop that layers shadowy, backstreet vignettes over quietly menacing, soul-sampling production, and it's this canon of contemporary thug-rap mood music that Knowledge's long-coming debut, Flintlock, adds to. Roc handles a third of the production duties himself—along with dropping a guest verse on the celebratory, almost gloating "Cant Get Enough"—and the rest comes courtesy of in-camp allies Elemnt and Mushroom Jesus. Together, they create a grainy, soul-saturated backdrop that complements Knowledge's gravel-voiced dispatches from the crime world.
Knowledge's declarative style is key to Flintlock's appeal. He's like a beat reporter: There is no room in his lyrics for overly tricksy wordplay or abstract ambiguity, just the cold restatement of facts detailing various nefarious and often brutal situations. If Roc Marciano is the slick-talking one in the room, Knowledge is the guy who very clearly warns everyone else what will happen if things do not go precisely to plan. There's an ellipsis of violence in the steady tone of his voice even when he's not documenting specific acts of retribution.
Case in point: "Wrinkled Feathers" is bedded by an Elemnt beat that mixes sinewy organ lines with flashes of guitar twangs as Knowledge introduces himself, "Hand on my nine while I'm taking these orders." He proceeds to deliver the latest report: "So many died swimming in these waters/They found that nigga last night, body parts stuffed in the storage/Now his team is stagnant and dormant/When they seen it on the news that that nigga was a government informant." Going forward, Knowledge mandates his team carry out background checks before striking up new business relationships. It's a logical solution to a dramatic scenario.
The absence of gangsterized flights of fancy stamps Flintlock with an authentic feel. The understated way Knowledge relays tales of firearms and contraband—and alludes to the morals of the hustling game—heightens the tension. On the bluesy "Beers, Bullets & Bloodshed" he shows a keen eye for sketching a crime scene. A pit stop at a bar unravels to reveal a "musketeer over there standing on the stairs"; the young guns sitting at the back of the bar swigging vodka, we learn, are plotting to "knock 'em out they rocking chairs." The nervy setup unfurls like a camera slowly panning to illuminate the scenario in painstaking detail. It's this steady, mature hand that ultimately defines Flintlock—and gives credence to the potential that the Neptunes and Teddy Riley saw all those years ago.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I am a big fan of Melissa's products and have reviewed them a few times in the past (apples, potatoes, a cookbook, etc.). The products are very fresh and tasty. Over the last few years, I have been seeing them pop up all over at different stores as well.
For my review, I was sent some shattos and baby dutch yellow potatoes. With these, I decided to make some homemade hashbrowns for breakfast with some bell peppers and garlic. They were very tasty! I like how cute the little potatoes are.
I was also sent some dried cranberries. With these, I made whole-wheat cookies with chocolate chips. They were tasty. I have not used these French crepes yet but look forward to trying them. I am thinking a banana and peanut butter type filling.
Finally, I was sent the fire roasted sweet bell peppers from Melissa's. Often times, jarred red peppers are soaked in oil so I love that these are not because they are much healthier this way. These are great on sandwiches and chopped up into salads.
Melissa's sells all kinds of seasonal produce include many organic varieties. They also have dried fruit, nuts, spices, beans and more.


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# F_MR_FEEDBACK
# F_MR_RUNTIME
source 2-run-analytics-jobs.sh

################################################################################
## 3. NORMALIZE data

# Exports:
# F_NORMALIZED_DATA: output of normalized data
# F_MR_COMBINED: input of the normalization
source 3-normalize-data.sh

################################################################################
## 4. Aggregate data (Create final reputation values querying the previous ones...
# Running the aggregator MR job

# This script
## Exports:
# F_AGGREGATE_OUTPUT: output of the whole aggregation

source 4-run-aggregation-jobs.sh

################################################################################
## 5. SEPARATE DATA ACCORDING TO COUCHBASE BUCKET
# Run the other pig script...

source 5-separate-by-bucket.sh

################################################################################
## 5. EXPORT DATA BACK

source 6-store-final-data.sh

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Food Club is a project organised by Confcooperative and Confartigianato Emilia-Romagna and sponsored by the Emilia-Romagna municipal government to promote Italian artisanal food products to other countries, the UK being a prime target. Following a day in which Devodier Prosciutti, La Rocca Salame, Attinà preserved vegetables, 4 Madonne Parmigiano Reggiano DOP and Cooperative Agricoltura Progresso extra virgin olive oils, preserves and condiments were showcased to buyers and importers of Italian food, a dinner was held at the delightful Bellaria restaurant in central London.
From outside, the restaurant looks unassuming with no clues as to what lies inside. The street-level interior is simply decorated with open shelving displaying a range of impressive wines, including Marchesi Antinori Tignanello, Masi Bardolino Classico and Vite Colte Barolo Paesi Tuoi.
Manager Andrea explains that the restaurant is named after the original chef's home town in Emilia-Romagna, so a fitting place for Food Club to meet. The current chef is from Puglia, the opposite end of Italy and the menu has influences from around the country. A relaxed atmosphere and authentic food made with good ingredients are core principles and they take pride in "working with farmers and boutique suppliers that provide fresh, organic and sustainably sourced produce". Both Andrea and Davide Pieri, one of the event organisers and cooperative society representatives, stress the need to increase awareness and understanding of such authentic, high quality Italian food products, especially with so many cheap imitations currently being sold across the world.
There are à la carte and set menus for dinner, a one or two-course set lunch and now a new morning initiative, pitting an English breakfast against an Italian equivalent with fry-ups, panini, omelettes and other options.
Head downstairs and you're in another world. With music playing in the background, charm and elegance ooze seamlessly out of the tastefully decorated brickwork enclosing this more intimate, magical grotto-like dining space, fuelling the congenial atmosphere with both vitality and a homely bonhomie.
The food is delicious and authentic with no pretensions, representative of the Food Club's objectives. Classic parmigiana with tomato, aubergine and mozzarella is followed by grilled asparagus with poached egg and parmesan fondue.
Fresh orecchiette with sautéed broccoli and chilli lead to a choice of sea bream fillet or grilled sirloin steak, before a sharing platter of Italian desserts.
Great food does not have to be complicated – it can be simple in concept, but prepared perfectly. Ultimately of course, it all starts with the raw materials, so it's good to hear about initiatives that promote the importance of high quality, authentic, ethically sourced ingredients for both retail and restaurant environments.
Now who's going to win the battle of the breakfasts – England or Italy?
Confcooperative is the main association that represents, assists and defends Italian cooperatives and social enterprises. It has over 3.3 million members, encompassing 19,000 companies with 528,000 employees and a turnover of €66,000.
Confartigianato Emilia-Romagna is one of the 20 regional federations that represent the interests of 1.5 million artisan enterprises and small businesses in Italy. The national organisation covers 46 trade associations, 12 category federations and 118 local associations.


WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have found the oldest known example of an animal drawing: a red silhouette of a bull-like beast on the wall of an Indonesian cave.
Strapping on miners' helmets to illuminate the darkness, they walked and crawled through miles of caves decorated with hundreds of ancient designs, looking for artwork that could be dated. They needed to find specific mineral deposits on the drawings to determine their age with technology that measures decay of the element uranium.


text:
Edith Ramirez (born May 28, 1968) is an American attorney who served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission from 2010 to 2017. Ramirez served as FTC Chair from 2013 to 2017, the first person of color to lead the agency.

Early life and education
The second of four children born to Mexican immigrants from Mexico City, Ramirez was born May 28, 1968 in South Laguna, a neighborhood of Laguna Beach, California. Ramirez was raised in San Clemente, California and attended San Clemente High School, graduating in 1985 as the class valedictorian. Growing up, Ramirez's family spoke Spanish at home, and she has stated her background as a child of immigrants has given her "a broader perspective" in her professional life.

In 1989, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she received a bachelor's degree in history. Ramirez received her legal education from Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She befriended future President Barack Obama, who would later appoint her to the Federal Trade Commission.

Legal career
After graduating from Harvard Law School cum laude in 1992, Ramirez clerked for Alfred T. Goodwin in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1992 to 1993. From 1993 to 1996, Ramirez was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP in Los Angeles.

Ramirez later became a partner at the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, where she represented clients in intellectual property, antitrust, unfair competition, and Lanham Act (trademark) matters. Clients of Ramirez included entertainment corporation The Walt Disney Company and weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman.

In 2008, Ramirez joined Obama's presidential campaign as director of hispanic outreach in California. Ramirez previously served on the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation's largest municipal utility.

Federal Trade Commission
In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Ramirez to replace Deborah Platt Majoras on as a member of the Federal Trade Commission. Ramirez was officially sworn into the body on April 5, 2010, and in 2013 was chosen to replace Jon Leibowitz as FTC Chair. Some commentators were surprised by the selection of Ramirez as FTC Chair, with many observers expecting fellow Commissioner Julie Brill to be selected instead.

Ramirez's term was set to expire on September 25, 2015. However, Ramirez remained in the position for almost two additional years as she awaited the appointment of a successor, leaving the body on February 10, 2017. While on the FTC, Ramirez called to broaden the definition of "Personally Identifiable Information" in response to the growing complexity of data ecosystems and connected devices. According to a Politico report released in 2021, Ramirez joined with two Republican Commissioners in opposition to filing charges against Google following the FTC's antitrust probe of the company.

Career post-FTC
Following her tenure at the FTC, she joined the law firm of Hogan Lovells as a partner in their Washington, D.C. office. In this capacity, she co-heads the firm's Antitrust, Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) practice, and also works within the firm's Privacy and Cybersecurity practice.

Following the 2017 Equifax data breach, Ramirez represented Equifax in the face of privacy charges stemming from the breach. At Hogan Lovells, Ramirez represented Google-owned video platform YouTube in the face of a class action lawsuit over children's privacy. In response to "revolving door" allegations, Hogan Lovells clarified that Ramirez's work on behalf of YouTube only applied to the class action lawsuit it faced, not the FTC's probe of the company for child safety concerns.

See also
 List of former commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission

References

This article uses public domain material from the Federal Trade Commission Website.

External links

Federal Trade Commission personnel
Harvard Law School alumni
Living people
People from Orange County, California
California Democrats
American women lawyers
Lawyers from Los Angeles
People associated with Hogan Lovells
People associated with Gibson Dunn
Obama administration personnel
Trump administration personnel
21st-century American women politicians
People from San Clemente, California
1968 births

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Shari Lewis reads the tale of Yertle the Turtle to a young girl.
In English grammar, the positive degree is the basic, uncompared form of an adjective or adverb, as opposed to either the comparative or superlative. Also called the base form or the absolute degree. The concept of positive degree in the English language is one of the simplest to grasp.
For example, in the phrase "the big prize," the adjective big is in the positive degree (the form that appears in a dictionary). The comparative form of big is bigger; the superlative form is biggest.
From the Latin, "to place"
"Yertle the turtle was king of the pond.
The water was warm. There was plenty to eat."
"There were three nice, fat little pigs. The first was small, the second was smaller, and the third was the smallest of all."
"It was a large heart with lots of hearts growing smaller inside, and piercing from the outside rim to the smallest heart was an arrow."
"The tone of the trombone is allied in quality to that of the French horn. It also possesses a noble and majestic sound, one that is even larger and rounder than the horn's tone."
"Mary's parents traveled far to trade and to search for food."
"The inspirational value of the space program is probably of far greater importance to education than any input of dollars."
"Adjectives change form to show degree of comparison. There are three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative. . . .
"Adjectives change form or add more or most to show comparison. Almost all one-syllable adjectives—as well as many of two syllables—add er to their positive (noncomparative) form to show comparison with one thing; this form is called the comparative form. To show comparison with two or more things, these adjectives add est; this is called the superlative form. Some two-syllable adjectives and almost all adjectives with three or more syllables show comparison with one item by placing the word more before the adjective; they show comparison with two or more items by placing the word most before the adjective."
What's the Difference Between a Gradable and a Non-Gradable Adjective?


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text:
All Inclusive Vacation Under 2000
With offices in Layton Utah, Snelgrove Travel is Utah's favorite travel agency & we guarantee to BEAT internet prices!. Your guaranteed method to find the LOWEST prices on cruises and vacations is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
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But what we know about cruising and all-inclusive resorts is that next to nothing remains. may be only 50 miles off the coast of Florida, but its 2,000 inhabitants have resisted the onslaught of ma.
South America Grand Hotel Guangzhou Experience The Ritz-Carlton luxury hotels and resorts that craft unforgettable travel experiences in the world's top destinations. Santa Grand Lai Chun Yuen is well-located in Chinatown, very close to the gay bars. In fact, the ever-popular gay Dorothy's bar is just across the street. Once a Chinese opera theatre, the hotel has retained a styling
Sep 3, 2013. It's a fact that all-inclusive resorts can be expensive, with the average nightly rate at some of the bigger chains running $450 — per person.
Flowing out of Georgia under a new name, waters from the Chattahoochee wash. While the end is not in sight, there do seem to be early efforts at compromise with an all-inclusive river basin stakeho.
"Inclusion: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions from the NEA" Print this page. Note From Wrightslaw: This article as issued as a "guidance response" from the U. S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) in 1994, in response to questions from the National Education Association.
Le Blanc Spa Resort Cancun – All Adults/All-Inclusive Resort Deals, Cancun Vacation Packages & Hotel Deals, Le Blanc Spa Resort Cancun – All Adults/All-Inclusive Resort Vacation Packages & Hotel Deals
Aug 11, 2016. We spoke with industry experts to track down eight vacation spots offering low- priced flights and affordable lodging options, so you can.
In the Western Hemisphere and Pacific Basin, vacation villages and marketing efforts are under the corporate banner of Club Med Inc., a publicly held Cayman. Word of the club`s innovative all-inclu.
An all-inclusive vacation means less of a headache on your part, but you'll pay for the convenience. However, if you know where to look and when to go, even the most frugal of travelers can find a good deal.
When they're not pushing each other off the water slide on the deck of your floating vacation house, there's Jet Skiing. Two night cruises start at about $400 per person, all inclusive. A dozen yea.
For exclusive hotel and travel packages, visit Apple Vacations. This all- inclusive resort has tons of family options, including Babyland for ages 3 and under,
Back in 2000, the city solved 40 percent of murders that occurred. Women's March Steps Off In Grant Park"To make this the country we want it to be, fair to all, just to all and inclusive to all, we.
Small Kids Backpack Raisins and goldfish in factory-packaged snack bags are another option. culprit of spoiled Halloweens. Kids can have sensi. Start a new tradition and have a few other kids on the block over to enjoy them, too. Then hand over their trick-or-treat bag. Durable, functional and oh-so-playful, our sturdy, roomy Mackenzie backpacks are packed with pockets,
For new families traveling to the islands, all-inclusive Hawaii vacation packages usually include airfare, hotel and car rental. While most all-inclusive vacations to Hawaii do not include meals, you'll find a few that packages offer free breakfast or dining credits.
For all-inclusive vacations, last-minute deals, and vacation packages to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, and more, Service Beyond The Click 800-517- 2000. Last Minute Vacation Deals to Mexico, Caribbean, Central America & Hawaii.
It's in a public park under a sheer cliff just outside Rio. bedroom semi with a backyard in Ajax for $500,000. They can afford a vacation now and again (they went on an all-inclusive trip to Cuba a.
Here's a list of over 100 family vacation ideas to choose from. All of the ideas are not alike. They all have different things to offer. Some are cheap, all inclusive or just an all around fun family vacation.
All-Inclusive honeymoon packages in the Caribbean made easy with guaranteed best prices, friendly expert advice and low deposits. The best honeymoon resorts and destinations await.
For all-inclusive vacations, last-minute deals, and vacation packages to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, and more, visit AppleVacations.com – America's #1 Tour Operator.
Discover All-Inclusive Adults-Only Vacations and Resorts on Orbitz.com. So find romance under a clear, moonlit sky, or spend all night dancing and drinking to.
Dive into the luxury of Cozumel Palace, the best all-inclusive resort in Cozumel for families, couples, and a heaven for divers. If water sports are your passion, you will love everything Cozumel Palace has to offer.
A true all-inclusive experience (no fees for food or beverages, or gratuities, for instance) and an almost two-to-one staff-guest ratio. Crystal ships are also more intimate, with about 500 rooms, com.
The Hotel Caravelle on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands – site of the largest underwater wedding in 2003, with more than 103 guests – also offers a package that allows a couple to tie the knot und.
Wakisha Charter opened in September 2000 and promised in its mission statement an "academically rigorous, all-inclusive, standards-driven. administration owes him more than $3,000 in back and vacat.
With that in mind, Traveller has scoured the globe to bring you 10 of the world's best five-star family holidays; guaranteed to create. water temperature is warmest in February and March. All-inclu.
Norwegian Sun will become the second cruise ship in Norwegian's fleet to go all-inclusive. The first ship was Norwegian Sky which.
Get all-inclusive vacation packages and more with WestJet Vacations. Vacations; Vacation finder. Find your vacation package. Infants: Under 2 years.
Sunwing Vacations Guide. Sunwing Airlines is consistently voted the number one leisure airline by Canadian Travel Agents, so it comes as no surprise that Sunwing Vacations is an equally successful company.
Jul 2, 2016. Our total trip cost just a smidge over $2,000 (we were two people. You can easily book a six-day, all-inclusive trip for under $500 a person.
McFarland and Ja Rule decided to share the love by concocting a remote, high-end music festival — and charging concertgoers between $1,500 and $250,000 for all-inclusive villa packages. have increa.
We offer vacation packages catering to trip ideas including all Inclusive, romantic, spa and luxury. JetBlue Vacations offers deals on them all when you book air +.
Planning your Hawaiian vacation? Find the best prices on Hawaii vacation packages and save on all inclusive packages, hotels, and flights on Hawaii.com!
Sitting around a campfire under a fiery painted sky. The Ranch at Rock Creek is all-seasons, all-inclusive, one price including all activities and meals and wine and spirits and brownies on the bar.
The killers stole under $2,000 from the restaurant. Women's March Steps Off In Grant Park"To make this the country we want it to be, fair to all, just to all and inclusive to all, we're going to ha.
About a dozen 2- and 3-year-olds and a young Samburu man sat under a large tree as they sang Samburu. DKGrandSafaris.com. Prices start at $2,000 per person, all inclusive, for a six-day migration p.
On a typical day there are about eight cruise ships visiting this town of 2500 people, each dumping some 2000 tourists into the streets. get very little money from the visitors, who have all-inclus.
Apr 20, 2017. An all-inclusive resort often seems like the obvious choice when planning a budget-friendly vacation. while the beautiful beach is typically not swimmable, it offers tons of sandy space and loungers under thatched umbrellas.
While I was on vacation last week, news came that the National Basketball Players Association had agreed to fund a health insurance plan for all former players. With an average NBA playing career o.
Southern California's Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, entering their second full winter of operation under Mammoth Resorts. The huge resort caps ticket sales at 2,000 a day and limits season-pass ho.
Planning an adults-only vacation? Liberty Travel's adults-only all-inclusive resorts can give you a little time away from the kids.
Mar 16, 2015. All-inclusive resorts are a dime a docena in Cancun, so it's not exactly easy to. Best of all, children five years and under stay and eat for free, and a bustling. Bay is the affordable and laid-back Caribbean vacation you need.
Find the best of everything when you book an all-inclusive vacation package with United Vacations. Consider the food, drinks, and anything else covered.
WestJet Airlines Ltd. is a Canadian airline founded in 1996. It began as a low-cost alternative to the country's competing major airlines. WestJet provides scheduled and charter air service to 107 destinations in Canada, the United States, Europe, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. WestJet is currently the second-largest.
Tourists to all-inclusive resorts in Mexico suspect they were given tainted alcohol. A report found that 43% of all the alcohol consumed in the nation is illegal, produced under.
Moon Palace Cancun sits on a breathtaking stretch of Cancun beach overlooking the Caribbean Sea and is an all-inclusive BookIt.com preferred resort. Winner of the AAA 4-Diamond Award. Get the best all-inclusive deals on Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort with BookIt.com
He is the regional director of Resorts for Vacation Resorts International. Marisa Novello joined DARCI Creative team as account coordinator for the all-inclusive marketing firm, which serves New En.
How Much Is The Plane Ticket From Philippines To Texas "What Crazy Rich Asians covered is very much some of the lifestyle that I saw growing up. She compromised on some "non-neg. Since this site was first put on the web in 1999, its popularity has grown tremendously. If the total quantity of material on this site is to continue to grow, Find the latest
If the $2000 is for all three of you, I'm not sure you'll find much. Look at USAirways vacations to see if they have anyhting available. There are a.
"There was a rather big screw-up, and we could have been out the price of a ticket (close to $2,000. you put all your time and energy into it, is it worth it?" Travel agents are well traveled. Chan.
Jennie Finch Softball Camp Reviews 3 days ago. This Stepping Up to the Plate podcast is an amazing recap of our 3rd hosting of the Jennie Finch Softball Camp. Jennie Finch joined by Leah. NEW YORK (AP) Olympic pitcher Jennie Finch is aiming for the next generation of softball players. She'll travel to five cities this spring and summer as
Vacations Under $1000. Hotel only; Flight only; Flight + Hotel. Packages Under $1000. Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort All Inclusive. 4.0 out of 5.0.
Fairfax, VA/Punta Cana, D.R. – After twenty five years as the value leader in providing all-inclusive luxury in the Dominican. To help make families feel more at home as they vacation together unde.
Dear Vacation Traveler, Welcome to a great vacation at an affordable price. Your Grand Canyon tour features complete sightseeing, professional Tour Directors and great itineraries, operated by one of the country's oldest.
Feb 6, 2014. Of course, one vacation definitely does not fit all, so we've rounded up. Each trip offers its own unique perks—and all ring in under $2,500 (exclusive of airfare). Even better, the resort is all-inclusive, so there's none of that.
Dec 8, 2016. These all-inclusive honeymoon packages are all under $2000 and super affordable without sacrificing. Five-night cost per couple: $2,000. All.
The Divi Aruba is a low-rise All-Inclusive resort with a tropical, playful atmosphere perfect for fun or relaxation. Stretched along a beautiful white sand beach, this hotel offers 203 air- conditioned rooms, each with its own balcony or patio.


Just back from a wonderful visit to Wayne State University. I gave a lecture on my research and practice, toured Detroit, met many wonderful students and faculty in the Art Department, and attended grad critiques. I was thrilled with the variety of work I saw and the support and respect the students had for one another.
The Guardian Building from my tour of Detroit! Thanks Millee Tibbs!


Delivers more precision and control over stapling with comfortable, soft grip surfaces. Plier design is convenient and preferred by retailers such as florists or dry cleaners and office workers with flexible stapling needs.
Plier staplers are known for their versatility and this one is no exception. The handheld operation makes it useful for a number of applications beyond desktop stapling, including continuous use in a retail space.
The Swingline Premium Hand Stapler features a metal stapling mechanism. The durable build delivers top quality, long-lasting stapling performance that stands up to daily demands in a busy work environment.
Staplers have a habit of walking away. The Premium Hand Stapler has an integrated safety loop on the back end so that you can attach it to a security cable, always keeping the stapler right where you need it.


Tuned Global is your 360º partner to quickly launch, run and grow your own music streaming service in Asia Pacific, Africa & beyond. We create fast, simple and engaging music streaming solutions thanks to our full turnkey solution which includes Music Content, Awarded Technology and Marketing expertise. Our turnkey and branded music streaming apps supercharge the music experience, with unique user engagement features and data to allow brands, telcos and labels grow their business.
Since 2011, Tuned Global has delivered deep consumer engagement through the#PowerOfMusic for household name clients, like Line, Coca Cola, Samsung, Universal Music Group and many mobile carriers. Tuned Global has a vast experience deploying and managing music services in fast-growing emerging economies, including Indonesia, India, Nepal, and Senegal, as well as Japan and Australia..
"By offering turnkey solutions, we are able to help our clients grow rapidly by allowing them to invest time and money into marketing and growing a great local product, rather than building the technology and applications from scratch," says Con Raso, CEO & Co-founder of Tuned Global.
We work with talented people who have extensive technology and digital experience, and one thing that makes us work well together is how we are all Genetically Music. We enjoy music. We feel its power. Every day, we help our clients find creative means to engage their audience with digital music.
Con is an entrepreneur passionate about innovation, new technologies, and start-ups. Over the last few decades he has focused on creating innovative mobile and online distribution models within the B2C entertainment market, enabling brands to utilise music as a marketing tool, via unique customer engagement strategies. Being inherently well-versed in strategy, technology and music, Con believes that music should be directly connected to brands' core business.
Chris is a technology entrepreneur. His strong track record in the music business goes way back when together with Con, they supplied retailers like Sanity Music with physical product as well as robotic on-demand CD printing technology.
Chris nurtures strong relationships with brands, labels and advertisers to offer the most strategic opportunities and help drive business impact using digital music solutions.
Spiro has a deep-rooted love for music, having built his career in leading mobile and music entertainment companies, including Samsung where he launched Music Hub, Milk Music and other music strategies in Australia.
His in-depth understanding of business strategy, licensing and revenue models ensures that customers' needs and expectations are met in Asia Pacific and beyond.
David is a music lover, avid record collector and percussionist. He is also passionate about crafting meaningful user friendly and engaging digital experiences. He previously designed and developed projects for Michelin, Renault, Russell Hobbs and Mack Trucks to name a few.
His passion and UX/UI expertise ensures that our music solutions are simple, intuitive and engaging in this mobile-era.
Yahya has over 15 years of software and database design, development and architecture experience. He has worked across multiple industries including retail, banking, finance, media advertising and music.
Passionate about music, big data and cloud computing, he provides overall solution and application architecture for Tuned Global products and digital services.
Virginie has built her marketing expertise helping prestigious brands like Total, L'Oreal, Kia Motors, and Jim Beam ace their digital strategies while working for a top-notch digital agency in France.
With her extensive experience in the digital landscape, she guides Tuned Global's clients to build deep and successful marketing strategies to promote their branded music solution and achieve their business goals.
Creative thinkers, clever developers, music lovers and marketing superheroes may apply here.
Speak with a Music Steaming Strategist to better understand how to get your music service up and running!


This organic cleanser enriched with the goodness of sandalwood is a rich face wash. This elegant craft is a 100% Handmade Face Wash.
This organic cleanser enriched with the goodness of sandalwood is a rich face wash. This elegant craft is a 100% Handmade Face Wash. Directions: Take required quantity of Bio Organic & Natural Sandalwood face wash on palm and create a vague lather. Apply onto face and continue to lather & massage gently. Finally, cleanse and rinse thoroughly. Ingredients: Saponified Organic corn oil, Rice bran oil, Sunflower oil, Organic Caster oil, Vitamin E, Organic Essential oil of Sandalwood & Vetiver, Extract of organic Lemon oil, Aloe Vera gel, & Demineralised water. Vegetable based Organic contents only. Contains No Harsh Chemicals, No alcohol, No animal products, or sulphates.


text:
module Zip
  # Info-ZIP Extra for UNIX uid/gid
  class ExtraField::IUnix < ExtraField::Generic
    HEADER_ID = 'Ux'
    register_map

    def initialize(binstr = nil)
      @uid = 0
      @gid = 0
      binstr && merge(binstr)
    end

    attr_accessor :uid, :gid

    def merge(binstr)
      return if binstr.empty?

      size, content = initial_parse(binstr)
      # size: 0 for central directory. 4 for local header
      return if !size || size == 0

      uid, gid = content.unpack('vv')
      @uid ||= uid
      @gid ||= gid # rubocop:disable Naming/MemoizedInstanceVariableName
    end

    def ==(other)
      @uid == other.uid && @gid == other.gid
    end

    def pack_for_local
      [@uid, @gid].pack('vv')
    end

    def pack_for_c_dir
      ''
    end
  end
end


Keep badgering your local and central government until they get to grip on industry and look at rhe real issues afloat here. We have a right to clean air and water. They do not have a right to extortionate profit making at the expense of humanity.
Haiku Horizons Prompt: Mend. Go here for other entries.
Haiku Horizon's prompt 'Jump' – go here for other entries.
Go here for other entries.


text:
Q: The action DescribeImageAttribute is not valid for this web service I am trying to fetch the product codes of my AWS AMI, and as per http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeImageAttribute.html, i generated the request and fired it.
and i get this response.
<Response>
<Errors>
<Error>
InvalidAction
<Message>
The action DescribeImageAttribute is not valid for this web service.
</Message>
</Error>
</Errors>
<RequestID>b17b3f04-f7e6-47c7-a379-cb3d9a902865</RequestID>
</Response>

URL generated is : https://ec2.amazonaws.com/?AWSAccessKeyId=MYKEY&Action=DescribeImageAttribute&Attribute=productCodes&ImageId=ami-823919e7&SignatureMethod=HmacSHA256&SignatureVersion=2&Timestamp=2017-08-10T07%3A39%3A47Z&Signature=MY_SIGNATURE

A: Your request seems to lack a Version attribute, so the service apparently assumes that you are some very old code that only knows about a very old version of the EC2 API, so it passes the request down to that old request handler, which has no idea what you're asking for, and responds with an error.
You need &Version=2016-11-15 in the query before signing the request, where 2016-11-15 is the current API release version, shown at the top of each page in the API reference manual.  The date is different for each AWS service.
This is one way AWS manages to not break things at the API level.  Incompatible changes in requests and responses are deployed as a new API version, so old code doesn't fail.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Services that place chatbots as opposed to human client service representatives in front of their clients have a great reason for doing so.
Although absolutely nothing beats the human touch, in a manner of speaking, a chatbot is more than capable of offering every consumer what they want-a straight response to their inquiry.
If you've been running an on-line store for rather time, you would certainly understand for sure that you can never ever show a customer to be individual.


text:
Transcript – Media Conference – 7 May 2009
Transcript – Media Conference –…
Senator Mathias Cormann (Chair) & Senator Mitch Fifield (Member)
Senate Select Committee on Fuel & Energy
Transcript – Media Conference
Public release of 'The CPRS: Economic cost without environmental benefit'/Report of the Fuel & Energy Committee into the CPRS
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………
Topic: The CPRS
SENATOR CORMANN:
Thank you very much for joining Senator Fifield and myself for the release today of the Select Committee on Fuel and Energy Report: 'The CPRS: Economic cost without environmental benefit'.
After an inquiry that lasted nearly a year, investigating the impact of the various iterations of the CPRS as proposed by the government, the Fuel and Energy Committee has come to the conclusion that the Australian economy will suffer with no benefits to the environment, if the government pushes ahead with the CPRS.
As such, we have made the recommendation that the Senate not support the CPRS in its current form. We take the view that the CPRS will put even more pressure on our economy, it will damage our international trade competitiveness, it will cost jobs, it will put our future energy security at risk, and it will hurt regional Australia in particular.
We think that the government has mismanaged the process from the word go, which is evidenced by things like at five-minutes-to-midnight calling of an inquiry in the House of Representatives – a new inquiry into the choice of an ETS – only to cancel it a week later. And then of course we have had further announcements earlier this week.
The Committee is deeply concerned that the government was not able to demonstrate how, and by how much, the proposed CPRS would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions rather than merely how it would reduce domestic emissions. We think that the government has completely ignored the fact that at times it may well be better to increase emissions domestically in Australia, if that means an overall reduction in global emissions. And of course exporting jobs and emissions from Australia overseas is also not the way to achieve a beneficial environmental outcome.
With those few opening remarks, you have got there in front of you a pretty detailed report of more than 200 pages. We have made about eighteen recommendations on what we think should happen moving forward.
I ask Senator Fifield if he might want to add some comments having participated in the Inquiry, and then we'll open it up to some questions.
SENATOR FIFIELD:
Thanks Mathias. Well obviously I fully endorse the Report and Mathias' comments.
I think that the most significant finding of this inquiry is that there were no alternative approaches to reducing carbon emissions examined by the government; that there was no work undertaken to determine the employment impacts of the government's CPRS; or the impacts of any other alternatives.
We just don't know if there are better alternatives which could reduce carbon emissions by more and at a lower economic effect.
It is interesting that the Opposition has had to initiate in effect four inquiries into the government's ETS; three Senate Inquiries, of which this is one, and also the work commissioned by Andrew Robb as the relevant Shadow Minister. As Mathias said, the government did have an abortive attempt to kick off its' own inquiry but abandoned that because it was being too honest in the terms of reference, asking whether the ETS as proposed by the government was in fact the best scheme. So we were backed into instituting four inquiries because the government won't initiate a serious inquiry.
I also think it is interesting that the government previously were telling the Australian community that pestilence and catastrophe of Biblical proportions would in fact face the nation and the world if their ETS was delayed beyond 2010. The government was very keen for all of us to give the planet the benefit of the doubt, but it seems apparently, the planet is very understanding of the Rudd government's political concerns in delaying an ETS. Now, obviously we think it was the right decision because it is important to get the ETS right, but it really belies the true motivation of the government previously in saying that under no circumstances could an ETS be delayed. It has been politics that have driven the government's ETS at the beginning, and it is politics which is driving their delay of the ETS now.
Any questions.
(inaudible) to a scheme that is not going to happen. This week they substantially changed the scheme, so what relevance does this report have now?
Well, we don't actually agree that the government has substantially changed its approach. What they have said is that they would delay the scheme by a year, which is something that previously they have refused to even consider or contemplate, and they have made some changes at the edges.
What we are saying is that we agree that we ought to focus on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The scheme that the government has put on the table is ineffective in helping to achieve that, so the government should go back to the drawing board and come up with a better scheme.
The purpose of this report is to identify the many flaws that are there and give the government some pointers as to how any future scheme could be developed on a better basis.
One of the things you have recommended here, Senator, is that jobs be protected under any CPRS. Now most of the changes the government has flagged to the ETS are designed to do just that. Does that mean then that your party would be willing to vote for the legislation when it is finally taken?
When it comes to the impact on jobs the government is flying completely blind. Something that is not very well understood is that in the Treasury modelling the government did not assess the impact on jobs. The government assumed that full employment would be maintained all throughout. That is reckless and that is irresponsible, to use some of the Prime Minister's own language.
The first thing that the government would have to do is actually conduct some proper modelling, in particular some proper modelling in terms of the impact on jobs, so that they can make some informed decisions when it comes to the design of a future iteration of an ETS.
What I guess I am saying to you is it seems to me the government has extended the olive branch to the Liberal and National Parties with the redesigned scheme to protect the jobs. Do you not agree with that?
Essentially the government still has not addressed the short and medium term impacts on jobs. The government still will put our export industries at a competitive disadvantage. They are putting them at a competitive disadvantage without achieving any environmental benefit in terms of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. If you look at the much cited European scheme for example, they are totally committed to protecting their export industries up until at least 2020. That is they are providing 100% of free permits under the European scheme to their exporting industries. Essentially the announcement on Monday by the Prime Minister was part of a political strategy to get the government out of a spot of bother; a spot of bother that they got themselves into.
What we need is for the government to stop focussing on politics and to start focussing on what is sound public policy. In that context I don't agree that the changes that were announced by the government on Monday were sufficient in terms of protecting jobs. In fact I put it to you that the government has no idea – at least if you go by the published Treasury modelling – the government has no idea of what the impact of its' proposed CPRS will be on jobs, because it is not something they have assessed. In their modelling they have assumed that full employment would be maintained all throughout, they have not assessed what the impact of their CPRS would be on jobs.
Can I just add, the government by delaying the implementation of the ETS has effectively confirmed that they believe that the ETS will cost jobs. If the ETS wasn't going to cost jobs then they would have continued with its implementation according to the 2010 timeframe. The reason that they have delayed it is that they know it will cost jobs. They do not want it to do that before the next election, and having essentially conceded that it is incumbent upon them to actually identify what the cost to employment will be and why even in 2012, would you proceed with a scheme that you knew was going to cost jobs. Surely you would look to see if there are alternative scheme that could reduce carbon emissions, but not have that same economic impact.
Now Peter, am I going to get a question from Western Australia?
You make a recommendation about exploring nuclear power in Australia. Is that something that goes beyond Coalition policy about going nuclear?
I think that if we are serious about reducing emissions, while being mindful of our energy needs into the future, then we have got to be prepared to assess – properly assess – and investigate the possibility of nuclear energy in Australia. Essentially, our recommendation is that the Government should explore it and in making that recommendation, we are in the very good company of the National Secretary of the Australian Workers Union, who has given exactly that evidence to our committee.
We have considered the evidence and we are making recommendations that we hope will be seriously considered both by the government and by the opposition in terms of how we think that we should move forward in Australia – suffice to say that if we are serious about reducing emissions within Australia while being mindful of our energy security needs into the future, then nuclear energy in Australia is something that we have to be prepared to at least explore and seriously assess.
The CPRS has a high rate of auctioning compared to other schemes overseas. Do you think the proportion of permits being auctioned under the scheme in Australia should be much lower?
Essentially we think that the scheme has to be reviewed so that the impact is not going to put Australian industry at a competitive disadvantage. At present it does that and the level of auctioning is one of the issues in relation to that for sure.
Should the Productivity Commission do the extra analysis you have been discussing?
We agree with that proposition, yes.
The Productivity Commission in the past has taken a very dim view of complementary policies – non-market based policies – is that something you agree with?
That will be up to the Productivity Commission to state having reconsidered the issues. Essentially from our point of view, taking a step back, what an Australian emissions trading scheme should look like; it should be environmentally effective – that is it should help reduce global emissions; it should be economically responsible – that is it should not inappropriately put Australian industry at a competitive disadvantage without achieving an environmental benefit; and it should be mindful of our energy security needs into the future.
Everyone that strongly supports what the government is doing in terms of the CPRS points to the experience in Europe as a way of saying 'they have done it, why can't we?'. The reality is that the European Scheme is very, very different. The protections in the European scheme in particular for exporting industries are quite strong. Whereas, in the Australian scheme as it is currently proposed – the most complex, most bureaucratic, and most aggressive scheme proposed anywhere in the world – our EITE industries will be very much exposed and will be very much under pressure.
So what would you guys do about climate change?
Essentially, we have made some very clear recommendations as to what should happen and some of them have been touched on.
Firstly, the government should come up with a scheme that will actually encourage economic growth in Australia where it can help reduce global emissions…
So would you guys have emissions trading or not? And… (inaudible)
Well, emissions trading is one of the key instruments that has been assessed in Australia for some time, but very specifically in answer to your first question; any emissions trading scheme in Australia should not prevent economic growth in Australia even if that means an increase in domestic emissions, where that particular economic activity can reduce emissions globally.
(Inaudible interruption)
Well, an emissions trading scheme has been considered. I think there is a consensus that an ETS is a very efficient way of reducing emissions. However, an ETS does not equal another ETS. What the Rudd government has put forward is the most complex, most bureaucratic, and the
most aggressive ETS proposed anywhere in the world. It is based on a flawed design. It would actually be counter productive in terms of the stated objective, which is to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The design as it is currently proposed is not appropriate from our point-of-view. We think the government should go back to the drawing board.
You are the alternative government. What would you do?
No. I am the Chair of the Fuel and Energy Select Committee. A committee that for the last twelve months assessed what the government has proposed to do. We have identified a series of flaws and we have made about eighteen recommendations, which we hope both the government and the opposition will seriously consider as they finalise their respective positions.
You're a Liberal Senator. What would the Liberals do about climate change?
I am here speaking as the Chair of the Fuel and Energy Select Committee; a Committee that for the last twelve months has thoroughly assessed the ins-and-outs of the government's proposed scheme in its various iterations.
I urge you to have a very close look at the report – more than 200 pages of it – and the recommendations that we have made. And I think the recommendations pretty well speak for themselves in terms of what we as a Committee think should be done to achieve a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions more effectively and more economically responsibly.
Why should people listen to the Liberals on climate change when you won't say what you would do about climate change?
We as a Committee have been very clear as to what we think should happen, both from a process point of view and from a substance point of view moving forward. The policy approach of the Liberal party, or the Coalition for that matter, is something that will be determined in due course, and the appropriate Shadow Ministers and the Leader will make the appropriate announcements after the Liberal and National Party party-rooms have gone through the appropriate processes.
What I am here to do today is to present to you the findings of the Fuel and Energy Select Committee, having gone through a very thorough, year-long process, assessing the impact of the scheme as proposed by the government. I am confident that the report that we are presenting here today will be very seriously considered by the Coalition, the Shadow Minister Andrew Robb and by our Leader Malcolm Turnbull. I am sure that when they are ready to make an announcement as to what our final position is going to be you will be among the first to know.
I might just add that Malcolm Turnbull has made clear the opposition direction – that an appropriately designed ETS is an element of carbon emissions reduction; bio-sequestration, better building design, reafforestation – these are all elements of an approach to reduce carbon emissions, but it would have to be an appropriately designed ETS and something which, as we have been saying, is compared against other alternatives. No one wants to pursue an ETS just for the sake of an ETS, and I think that is what this government is doing. An ETS has become and end in itself. For the Opposition an ETS isn't and end in itself. You would only pursue an ETS if you could design one which made a significant reduction on carbon emissions and didn't have a negative economic effect. It is not an objective in itself to have an ETS.
The Productivity Commission has previously looked into complementary policies – policies that sit outside a market based scheme such as an ETS – and the Productivity Commission sets very strict criteria as to when you should have a complementary policy. Now you seem to be stressing the importance of the role that non-market mechanisms might play, i.e. policies outside the ETS. So are you confident that all those policies will adhere to the very strict criteria that the Productivity Commissions has set as to when a complementary policy is fair enough and when it is not?
You pursue any policy, be it a market based one or another approach, if it will have a meaningful reduction in carbon emissions. Now, what the mix is in terms of the Opposition's policy; that is something to be determined.
It has to be a meaningful reduction, but in an efficient way?
That's right, in an efficient way. I'm just here, in response to the question, to just indicate that Malcolm Turnbull has given an indication of the direction that the Oppositions policy will head.
For example, Malcolm Turnbull's policy on accelerated depreciation on buildings; are you confident that satisfies the Productivity Commissions rule on when you should have complimentary policies?
The policy is one which Malcolm has announced. It is part of our package. As I said I am here to give you an indication of the direction our policy is heading, but you are better placed to direct those questions to the relevant shadow… (inaudible)
Just going back to the report we are discussing here today. I guess the important thing, and going back to your question, we have to remain focussed on what it is that we are trying to achieve. If we are trying to achieve a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions then the question is 'is this an effective way of achieving it, and if not is there a better way'. Clearly
there is a consensus that an ETS will be a part of it, but that does not mean that it will be any ETS. It ought to be a well designed ETS. At this point in time we are so far away from this, that the government should take a step back, reconsider the best way forward consistent with the inquiry that the Treasurer sought to initiate less than two months ago in the House of Representatives, and move forward with a new foundation. Before we commit to any ETS, before Australians are being asked to make a sacrifice they deserve to know what they are making a sacrifice for is actually going to make a difference – and at this stage they don't.
Senator Cormann, you just spoke about how European industry is protected under their ETS. The last time I checked coal is not one of Europe's major exports where it is here. Now isn't it fact that it is basically impossible to have a meaningful ETS without it delivering some pain to the coal industry?
The thing is, in terms of the coal industry, it really comes down to what are the transitional measures that are being put in place. We could go through the whole list of deficiencies in the Treasury modelling, but in the modelling they assume a seamless transition from one day to the next, all of the energy infrastructure and all of the energy supply industry will have adjusted to the new world. Well, it doesn't work like that in the real world.
And as far as the coal industry is concerned, it is a very important industry for Australia and it has been a very important industry for Australia for a long time. Our economy as a whole is structured around energy based on coal to a large degree. For the government to come and try and suggest that we can make an adjustment seamlessly, without putting proper transitional measures in place is just totally ludicrous. This is where we are saying, have another look including at your approach as it relates to the coal industry, because you are not going to achieve your environmental objective and you are going to hurt a lot of people in the meantime.
Getting back to my question, what I was trying to get at is that it is possible to protect European industry because of the nature of those industries, whereas it is actually really not possible to protect the coal industry if we are going to have a meaningful ETS, is it?
Well I think you will find that when they started the scheme in Europe, they had a very long lead-in time, they had significant transitional measures that were appropriate for the European circumstance, and that while they put a system in place that was ultimately designed over the medium and longer terms to help achieve a reduction in emissions, they were very committed to ensure that the implementation was as smooth as possible. Now it is incumbent on the Rudd government to take a similar approach here in Australia and to commit themselves to a smooth transition to ensure that people do not get hurt needlessly and that we are focussed both on achieving the environmental objective but ensuring that it is implemented in a way that is economically responsible and takes into account the realities of life.
So are you talking about 100% free permits for all industry, or just for certain EITEs?
In Europe they provided 95% free permits across the board, and 100% free permits for EITE industries. It is not our role here as a Committee, without the resources of government, to say 'this is what the design should be in detail'. As a general principle, we think that certainly in terms of a short and medium term transition into a scheme, there ought to be more appropriate transitional arrangements to ensure that the economic impact is sustainable. At present, and in particular in the economic circumstances that we are facing at present, we do not think that that is the case.
Wouldn't that mean more free permits? Or 100% free permits?
That is one of the things the government should consider to be sure.
The government on Monday announced a global recession buffer which increased the free permits to 95 and 66%. Does that not go some way to submitting what you are after?
Firstly, the government uses the figure 95% and 66% and the reality is in practice it is much less than that. We had evidence before our Inquiry from Bluescope Steel out of Wollongong who told us 'on paper we get 90% free permits, but because of the way Treasury will calculate this across our production based on an activity-based approach in practice it will mean 63% of free permits – so we will have a cost and we will have to purchase 37% of permits that we wouldn't have had to purchase in the past, and that will cost jobs, it will put pressure on our operation, it will put pressure on our bottom line. So 90% does not equal 90%, that's for starters.
Secondly, we have to go back to the beginning. The government is proposing to implement a scheme ahead of anywhere else in the world. If the rest of the world takes similar action the problem disappears to a large degree. Until we have a comprehensive global agreement in place, why would we put our export industries at risk – even those that may actually be environmentally more efficient than equivalent industries overseas? Why would we make it harder for our export industries to compete with potentially more polluting overseas competitors? It is just not logical. Until such time as there is a global agreement in place it would be irresponsible to make it harder for our export industries to compete with more polluting overseas competitors. That is the basic premise, and if that means 100% free permits then that means 100% free permits. Until such time as there is a comprehensive global agreement in place and essentially our export industries can compete on a fair basis.
Thank you very much for coming and I do hope that at least some of you will have a read of the report.
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