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Home » Insurance & Reinsurance / Labour & Employment » Australia » Australian WHS Laws – First Judicial Guidance On Who Is An 'Officer'.
Australian WHS Laws – First Judicial Guidance On Who Is An 'Officer'.
August 11, 2015 by Conventus Law
A recent Australian Capital Territory Magistrates' Court decision provides the first judicial guidance on the criteria for meeting the definition of 'officer' for the purposes of the due diligence duty under Australian Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. In this update we examine the details of the case and explore some of the learned Magistrate's observations in relation to this key new area of Australian WHS laws.
In our earlier Update we referred to a decision in June this year of the ACT Industrial Court which involved a prosecution against an alleged officer of a Person Conducting a Business of Undertaking (PCBU) for failing to exercise due diligence, contrary to the duty set out in section 27 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act)
Chief Industrial Magistrate Lorraine Walker has now published her reasons for dismissing the charge against Mr Al-Hasani.
The decision provides some useful guidance as to the factors that are likely to be relevant in assessing whether, for the purposes of the definition of an 'officer' under section 9(b)(i) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), a person is someone who makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business of the corporation.
The key facts
Relevantly, the facts were as follows:
Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd (Kenoss Contractors) used two compounds while performing road works (the Project); a main site and a second smaller site which was solely used to store materials (Site);
On 23 March 2012, Michael Booth a driver employed by a contractor engaged by Kenoss Contractors to deliver materials for the Project, was fatally electrocuted when the bucket of his truck came close to or contacted overhead power lines at the Site;
Kenoss Contractors' corporate structure was not fully described but appears to have comprised a number of senior roles, including a director, general manager and safety officer. Mr Al-Hasani was described as 'Project Manager' and was responsible for managing all major projects for Kenoss Contractors;
The organisational chart for the Project noted Mr Al-Hasani at the head with the safety officer below him. A project engineer, surveyor and general foreman also appeared as direct reports to Mr Al-Hasani;
Mr Al-Hasani said he reported to the general manager and company director and that, in terms of his scope of decision making power:
the general manager was "El supremo";
there were other people in the accounting and administration departments between him and the general manager and company director;
he could not unilaterally direct payments to be made to any party or employ people or purchase basic consumables;
he prepared tenders but proposed prices had to be approved by 'management';
he performed traditional Project Manager responsibilities and decision making including:
sometimes making decisions as the Project Manager and sometimes participating in making decisions with the general manager and company director;
participating in management meetings;
maintaining computer systems;
liaising with customers;
implementing procedures, plans and safe work method statements;
managing and supervising performance of project teams;
keeping the general manager advised of developments;
managing customer supplied items and materials,
managing variations in contract price;
verifying conformance with documented processes in project plans and taking necessary remedial actions; and
reviewing and approving project documents and signing off on completion of projects.
The decision
The learned Magistrate concluded that notwithstanding Mr Al-Hasani's role as Project Manager, the prosecution had not proven that he did, in fact, make decisions or participate in decisions that affected either the whole or a substantial part of Kenoss Contractors' business.
In reaching this conclusion, the learned Magistrate:
said the limited evidence established that Kenoss Contractors had a relatively flat management structure and Mr Al-Hasani sat close to the top of the structure;
observed that there was no specific evidence, however, from either the general manager or company director as to the scope of their own roles or where Mr Al-Hasani sat and his level of influence within Kenoss Contractors;
noted that there were clear limits on Mr Al-Hasani's participation in decision making delineated by his role as Project Manager;
stated that Mr Al-Hasani's acceptance that he did make decisions and participate in decisions that affected either the whole or a substantial part of Kenoss Contractors' business was not conclusive of the issue of whether he was an officer;
noted the absence of any decisions on the definition of officer under the work health and safety laws and relied on observations made by the High Court in Shafron v Australian Securities and Investment Commission [2012] HCA 18 at [23] to [26], including the following:
First, the inquiry required by this paragraph of the definition [sub-section 9(b)(i) Corporations Act] must be directed to what role the person in question plays in the organisation. It is not an enquiry that is confined to the role that person played in relation to the particular issue in respect of which it is alleged that there was a breach of duty"
"the notion of participation in making decisions presents a question of fact and degree in which the significance to be given to the role played by the person in question must be assessed"
decided that all that had been established was that Mr Al-Hasani's participation in the business was operational and whether it went beyond that to being organisational was only speculative.
What can we learn from the decision?
Drawing from the learned Magistrate's reasons, some of the potentially relevant factors that will come into play when deciding whether a person makes decisions or participates in decisions that affect either the whole or a substantial part of a PCBU's business can be summarised as follows:
SUGGESTS GREATER ABILITY TO MAKE OR PARTICIPATE IN DECISIONS
SUGGESTS LESSER ABILITY TO MAKE OR PARTICIPATE IN DECISIONS
Overall role played in PCBU
Role is across all or many aspects or business divisions within PCBU
Role is limited to certain business divisions
Hiring employees or contractors
Power to hire employees
Able to identify potential employees but no power to hire employees
PCBU funds
Power to commit PCBU funds
Not permitted to commit funds
Power to direct the type or specific contracts pursued by the PCBU and approve tenders
Responsible for preparing tenders but not permitted to approve tenders or direct type of work pursued
PCBU policies, procedures etc.
Involved in preparing corporate level policies
Involved in preparing, implementing and monitoring compliance with project specific procedures, plans and method statements
Attends board meetings
Attends only management meetings
PCBU corporate legal obligations
Responsible for lodging ASIC returns and quality assurance compliance
Not involved
Management of operations
Manages overall operations with day to day responsibility delegated to project manager
Liaises with customers and manages customer supplied items and materials, manages variations in contract pricing, supervises project teams and signs off on project completion
Many of the learned Magistrate's observations are instructive. However, we offer some food for thought.
Interpretation and the Shafron decision
Heavy reliance was made on observations of the High Court on the proper interpretation of the section 9(b)(i) limb of the definition of 'officer'. These observations were made in the corporations context with reference to the particular circumstances that arose and submissions that were made in Shafron.
Here, the circumstances were quite different and attention was not directly turned to the potential impact of the work health and safety context in which the definition appears including the objects of the WHS Act (which are quite different to those of the Corporations Act), the overall context of the WHS Act and any relevant non-legislative materials, in accordance with ACT's Legislation Act 2001.
How these matters are addressed next time will be interesting to see.
The participation and affect requirements
Mr Al-Hasani was not an officer because he did not participate in decisions that affected the whole or a substantial part of the business of Kenoss Contractors. He made or participated in decisions that affected certain operational aspects of the projects operated by the business. In this sense it is the overall impact or importance of the decision that is assessed: a decision that affects the whole business may be described as a critical decision that impacts all aspects of the business, whereas a decision that affects a substantial part of the business may be seen as an important decision that impacts on many aspects of the business. The decisions that Mr Al-Hasani could make or participate in did not have these qualitative characteristics.
It seems that the phrase "a substantial part of the business" may also be applied in a more physical sense such that a decision that affects a separate division of a business may be a relevant decision if that division is a substantial part of the overall business of the PCBU.
According to the Interpretive Guideline – Model Work Health and Safety Act – The Health and Safety Duty of an Officer under Section 27 issued by Safe Work Australia, a business may have various, defined divisions based on product or service categories and each of the divisions may be a substantial part of the business depending on their role within the organisation as a whole. The Guideline states that some or all of the following criteria are relevant in identifying whether a part of a business is a substantial part:
The degree to which the part contributes to the revenue of financial standing of the business
The degree to which the part is significant to the reputation of the entity
Whether the part is considered to be a core part of the business, or ancillary to the core business.
The proportion of personnel of the whole business who are engaged in activities within the part.
Whether those who manage that part of the business make significant strategic or policy decisions, or whether those decisions are made at a higher level.
It appears both qualitative and quantitative characteristics will be able to be considered when determining what is a substantial part of a business.
The first chapter of the judicial interpretation of an officer's due diligence duty under Australian work health and safety laws has been written. We now have some guidance on the factors to consider in determining whether a person is an officer of a PCBU.
However, some big questions remain and more guidance is needed. Stay tuned for the next chapter – we will let you know when it is written.
Jenni Priestly, Partner, Clyde & Co
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Thanks no doubt to a helpful boost from Alexis Madrigal, my November 8 post, "The Future of Content Is Not Destination but Identity," found a passel of new readers this week. One of them was constructively skeptical of my argument.
Because his objections are too good to leave in the obscurity of a comment on a week-old entry, and because my MUD obligations limit the amount of time I can spend on this blog, I'm addressing his comment in today's post.
It was certainly rhetoric more than conviction that prompted me to say that containers don't matter anymore. Done well, they can still lure readers in and keep them hanging around. But containers are not nearly as good at containment in the digital era as they were in the analog. Because it is so easily copied and transmitted, content (not to mention readers) now can much more readily drift away.
When I suggested that, in response, content must be imbued with brand, I was again, no doubt, overstating. Publishers are obviously free to let their content wander off like wayward dogies without any identifying brand on their flanks. But a publisher concerned with promoting and propagating its brand would be wise to ensure that the content carries some form of brand identity. That can be done in a variety of ways: instilling a brand voice into the content (The Atlantic was once superb at this—you could always recognize its voice, no matter the author), incorporating brand references (Wired's Wired vs. Tired, for instance), or employing an identifiably distinctive point of view (Reason, perhaps?).
It used to be that publishers and their editors didn't have to worry so much about this problem. When an article was contained within a print magazine, the context was enough to brand the content. But online, that context is much weaker. To me, at least, infusing your brand directly into your content seems like a smart response.
On his new blog today, UK journalist Tony Hallett considered a question raised indirectly by my Tuesday post on destination versus identity. His concern was with personal identity versus publication identity, or, if you prefer, personal versus corporate branding.
In traditional print or broadcast media, the corporate brand controls the personal brand—except in a few rare cases, writers are expected to adapt their voice to that of their venue, and publication editors make sure that happens. But as he noted, social media largely defies such control. Like it or not, social media tends to emphasize personal identity and to amplify personal voice.
This is a tricky issue for media organizations. On the one hand, they want to encourage the individual voices of their contributors. On the other, they don't want to be eclipsed by them. It's still true, as Hallett put it, that the corporate brand has the final say. But as traditional forms of media morph increasingly into new, more social forms, this may change. In chats, live blogging, and other types of instant publishing, there is no active editorial control, no formal restraint on the personal voice.
The conflict might be even more problematic for content marketers than for independent publishers. Traditional publishing brands have always been perceived, to a degree, as the sum of their individual voices. That's not the case, I think, for most product and service brands. To control the corporate brand message, must the individual voice be restrained?
In any event, as the atomization of media proceeds, the individual voice will get louder. Media venues may become something more like an ever-shifting alliance of individuals than a stable and unitary identity. The tribe, perhaps, will supplant the brand.


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Leaving My Dream Specialty – Where I Washed Up
by Washout Curve | Jul 7, 2021 | 0 comments
Written by Washout Curve
A PGY4 Emergency Medicine registrar, musing on the wonder and weirdness of hospital medicine. Follow him on Instagram @washoutcurve
A year ago a Critical Care SRMO was falling out of love with their dream specialty and chose a different path. Turns out, it was the right decision.
12 months ago I was in the midst of a crisis of faith—which you can read about in excruciating detail here. Having devoted the last five years of my life to securing an anaesthetics training position, I was staring down the barrel of annual medical recruitment with ice cold feet. I no longer felt the same spark, and the thought of embarking on the arduous and gruelling journey of anaesthetics training without passion to power me was nauseating. I felt that I was past the point of no return. I had come this far, I simply HAD to apply. And if I were offered a position, I HAD to take it. While my fellow anaesthetics-keen colleagues were anxious about missing out, I was hoping to fall short. To bow out due to circumstances beyond my control; to be "unlucky" instead of a quitter.
I ruminated on this for several weeks, and made the hard decision to turn my back on my dream, opting to try out Emergency Medicine instead.
Breaking the news
I told my parents first: "Aren't you already training to do Anaesthetics?" – as non-medical people they are blissfully ignorant to the complexities of medical hierarchy and the distinction between "Critical Care SRMO" and "Anaesthetics Reg" was pretty meaningless to them. While they may not have understood the specifics, they were nonetheless supportive of my decision. This outside perspective was quite refreshing – they had no preconceived notions on the "value" of certain specialties over others, nor have they acquired the distaste for quitters, failures and washouts that is so pervasive in medical circles.
Such unconditional love is sparse in the medical world, and as such I was scared to break the news to any of my "work only" friends, let alone my seniors. My original article was my "Quitter's Manifesto". Behind the shield of anonymity, I was able to process my conflicted feelings and examine the internal and external factors behind my anguish. In sharing the blueprint of my own decision, I wanted to find my own truth. I hoped that people could empathise with my struggle, and those in a similar position would find some guidance to help them make the right choice for them.
In my real life, I kept quiet, well into the recruitment period. I did not apply for anaesthetics, and instead interviewed for an ED Registrar position. I kept my head down for the final weeks of my anaesthetics rotation, and dodged questions from other Critical Care SRMOs about what jobs I applied for. The Anaesthetics primary exam was a welcome distraction, with all the consultants too distracted by which trainees had passed or failed to concern themselves with the career ambitions of a lowly resident. When job offers came out, the topic couldn't be avoided any longer. I had decided to become an ED Registrar, and ready or not I had to tell people.
As it turned out, anxiety over career direction was a common theme among my cohort of Critical Care SRMOs. Like me, many had shifted their focus away from their "first love" and opted for a different direction in critical care. Some would be joining me in ED, with a few even opting to pursue physician training or GP instead. Evidently it wasn't just me who had struggled with a crossroads decision about which training pathway to take, as well as the apprehensiveness and shame associated with voicing their doubts publicly to their colleagues. We had all been hiding the same thing from one another.
Owning my decision
Life for me post-washout was good. Having committed to a "trial year" as an unaccredited ED registrar, I felt a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had enjoyed working in the ED a great deal. The work was varied and stimulating, and the department had a strong culture of promoting employee wellbeing and encouraging work-life balance. The attitude towards training positions was far more relaxed and realistic – as long as you were competent, professional and willing to learn, you would always be welcome in ED. There was no need to buff your CV with Master's degrees or conference presentations, just to get your foot in the door. Outside experience was valued, and taking time off from ED to pursue other interests or just to have a life was not grounds for excommunication.
I was looking forward to life as an ED Registrar. On my ICU rotation I had started to step up to making more decisions with supervision from an arms-length and assessing and making plans for patients in the ICU, and even running the show at MET calls. It was easy to talk about my future in ED with my seniors in ICU – I had a blank slate after all, and I had no concerns about disappointing them with my last-minute lane change. I began opening up more about my change of heart, and found many sympathetic ears among ICU doctors who had similarly turned away from anaesthetics or physician training only to find their people in ICU. I had become more comfortable with talking about my chosen direction. But I still had one more anaesthetics rotation to go, and I was dreading breaking the news to consultants who had supported me along the way.
The first week was excruciating, with every day featuring the same Greatest Hits: "What are you doing next year?," or "I thought you wanted to do Anaesthetics?," and the classic "Why on earth would you want to work in ED?"
While I still felt confident I had made the right decision, the constant barrage of disappointment from senior doctors who I had worked with in the past was exhausting. A common theme emerged – they were not disappointed that I had squandered my potential or that I would have been well suited for anaesthetics, they simply found it abhorrent that I, let alone anyone, wouldn't want to do their specialty. I found that easier to swallow — it wasn't personal after all.
Meeting with my supervisor midway through the term, I expected the same line of impersonal questioning. After rattling off my well-rehearsed line of "I enjoyed anaesthetics, but I felt I was more suited to ED," I was met with unexpected endorsement. "That's great news". I was not the first resident he had seen turn away from anaesthetics. As he put it, there were different flavours of critical care, and certain things appealed to different people. Where I had expected disappointment, I was met with acceptance. "The point of residency is to try on different specialities. It's ok if some things don't fit."
Ultimately, this was the opinion that mattered – one that took into account my personal circumstances and feelings, and not those that were disappointed because I decided to play for another team.
Evidently it wasn't just me who had struggled with a crossroads decision about which training pathway to take, as well as the apprehensiveness and shame associated with voicing their doubts publicly to their colleagues. We had all been hiding the same thing from one another.
My first 6 months as a registrar
Fast forward to February 2021. The transition to ED Registrar was quite a shock. While I was familiar with the workflow in ED and how this particular department ran, I was not fully prepared for how gargantuan the jump in responsibility would be.
Being "in charge" of a section of the ED during a shift was quite daunting. Supervising junior doctors, some of them interns on their first ever term in the hospital, consumed a lot of brain power. Being aware of the goings on of all the patients in my section of the ED, managing constant interruptions to review ECGs or deteriorating patients, and helping to formulate and execute plans for other people's patients saw my effective workload per shift balloon dramatically from my resident days. All the while, the previous yardstick of how effectively I was working – the number of patients I had personally seen and sorted out per shift was the lowest it had ever been. The first weeks were intense, and my confidence, as well as my self-care and lifestyle, took a huge hit.
I was fortunate to be working in a department with a very top-heavy registrar roster, with many advanced trainees poised to sit their fellowship exams. The bulk of the workload was being shouldered by senior doctors, allowing myself and the other first-year registrars to properly settle in. While I was stressed, there was always the lifeline of a readily-available ED consultant if needed.
Somewhere around the 3 month mark I got the hang of supervising juniors – I learnt how to distill a convoluted story into a set of differentials, how to take a high-yield history, and how to formulate a safe and effective plan. Most importantly, I learned how to appropriately delegate tasks to keep myself free and mobile.
Teaching has always been a passion of mine, and being able to teach procedures like ultrasound cannulation and plastering to junior doctors, and then being able to delegate these tasks later in the term and watch them confidently complete them has been a great source of pride for me this year. I have even had the chance to mentor new interns and help them through the daunting prospect of their first ED term.
I still lean heavily on my seniors for support in hairy situations, but day by day I can feel my scope of practice expanding. The teething period is well and truly over, and the number of patients I am seeing per shift is higher than ever. While this job is by no means easy, I feel more comfortable in my role, and don't feel like as much of an imposter as I did 6 months ago.
Emergency Departments in Australia are busier than ever. The hangover from Covid-19 and the knock-on effects of delayed treatment for serious illnesses, reduced access to primary care services and the ever-worsening state of access block in hospitals overflowing with patients have resulted in an unprecedented number of ED presentations, with more high-acuity patients than ever before.
My home ED is currently experiencing the greatest swell of patient presentations in its history. Two weeks ago we broke our record for most presentations in a 24-hour period, and routinely we are seeing numbers close to our previous all-time high. There is little evidence that things will slow down any time soon
Solving this problem will require long-term solutions. While work is stressful at the moment, I feel that I am where I want to be. This "trial year" has been a success for me – I will be applying for an accredited ED position in 2022 and will officially begin my training.
While I have gained a sense of closure, I have also gained perspective. Another registrar I work with was in a similar situation to me 12 months ago. They have decided that ED is not for them, so will be pursuing ICU training instead next year. Others I am training with have had careers before ED – surgical training, GP, even a former cruise-ship doctor. Some senior trainees have taken time off to travel or have children, some work part-time. While it may seem like we only have one shot, evidently the long way around is a legitimate option.
Do you have a story idea? Or have an experience and perspective you'd like to share?
Within a matter of weeks, Australia has gone from having one of the lowest rates of Covid-19...
What Makes a Good Intern
by Dr Amy Coopes | Jan 14, 2022
On their penultimate day of internship, a doctor reflects on what makes a good intern and what makes for a good intern year.
Within a matter of weeks, Australia has gone from having one of the lowest rates of new Covid-19 infections per capita, to one of the highest in the world. We speak with economist Richard Denniss on how we got here and how we can get out of this crisis.
Do you have a story idea?
Or have an experience and perspective you'd like to share?
Submit your pitch here

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Radio Disney Country Goes Over-the-Air in Los Angeles
by Laughing Place Disney Newsdesk | Jun 9, 2017 12:26 PM Pacific Time
Tags: Radio Disney, Radio Disney Country
Radio Disney Country
Radio Disney Country will expand its multiplatform country music offering with the launch of KRDC 99.1 FM out of Los Angeles, California, on Friday, June 9, it was announced today by Phil Guerini, vice president, Music Strategy, Disney Channels Worldwide and general manager, Radio Disney Network.
In addition to the launch on FM, beginning today, Radio Disney Country will also be available on iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and as curated playlists within Spotify and Apple Music, further expanding its reach through diverse platforms on which audiences are consuming music. Radio Disney Country will also launch a musical.ly account (@RadioDisneyCountry) today building upon its strong consumer engagement across top social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Radio Disney Country will continue to be available on the Radio Disney app, as well as AM 1110 Los Angeles (formerly Radio Disney).
In making the announcement, Guerini said, "As country music continues to deliver some of the biggest artists in music today, we are broadening the reach of Radio Disney Country through both terrestrial and digital extensions of its brand."
Britney Spears to Receive Icon Award at Radio Disney…
Camila Cabello Named Radio Disney's Next Big Thing
Date Set for 2018 Radio Disney Music Awards
Complete List of 2017 RDMA Winners


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Q: Google Maps Application - Errors Running App I'm currently working on an application that gets the users location, and allows the user to view nearby locations with the places API. Whenever I try to run the code, I get multiple errors as which tracks back to one error which is in my main MapActivity class, this is how the error looks:
 at projektapplikation.MapsActivity.onCreate(MapsActivity.java:60)

The method that gets the error is called OnCreate, and looks like this:
@Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_maps);
        // Obtain the SupportMapFragment and get notified when the map is ready to be used.
        SupportMapFragment mapFragment = (SupportMapFragment) getSupportFragmentManager()
                .findFragmentById(R.id.map);
        mapFragment.getMapAsync(this);

        //Init Service
        mServiceType = Common.getGoogleAPIServiceType();

        //Request Runtime Permission
        if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
            checkLocationPermission();
        }

        BottomNavigationView bottomNavigationView = (BottomNavigationView) findViewById(R.id.bottom_navigation);
        bottomNavigationView.setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener(new BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener() {
            @Override
            public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(@NonNull MenuItem item) {

                switch (item.getItemId()) {
                    case R.id.action_hospital:
                        nearByPlace("Sjukhus");
                        break;
                    case R.id.action_market:
                        nearByPlace("Shopping");
                        break;
                    case R.id.action_retaurant:
                        nearByPlace("Resturang");
                        break;
                    case R.id.action_school:
                        nearByPlace("Skola");
                        break;
                    default:
                        break;

                }

                return true;
            }
        });
    }

This is how my gradle looks:
apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 28
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation"
        minSdkVersion 26
        targetSdkVersion 28
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }

    repositories
            {
                jcenter()
                google()

            }

    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        google()
        jcenter()
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.7.1'
    implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.7.1'
    implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.0.2'
    compile 'com.android.support:design:28.0.0'
    implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:16.0.0'
    implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:16.0.0'
    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.ext:junit:1.1.0'
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.1.1'
}

These are all my errors:
    2020-01-12 18:37:08.508 26780-26780/se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation E/jektapplikatio: The String#value field is not present on Android versions >= 6.0
2020-01-12 18:37:08.806 26780-26780/se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation D/AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM
2020-01-12 18:37:08.807 26780-26780/se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation, PID: 26780
    java.lang.BootstrapMethodError: Exception from call site #4 bootstrap method
        at okhttp3.internal.Util.<clinit>(Util.java:87)
        at okhttp3.internal.Util.skipLeadingAsciiWhitespace(Util.java:321)
        at okhttp3.HttpUrl$Builder.parse(HttpUrl.java:1313)
        at okhttp3.HttpUrl.get(HttpUrl.java:917)
        at retrofit2.Retrofit$Builder.baseUrl(Retrofit.java:492)
        at se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation.Remote.RetrofitClient.getClient(RetrofitClient.java:10)
        at se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation.Common.getGoogleAPIServiceType(Common.java:12)
        at se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation.MapsActivity.onCreate(MapsActivity.java:67)
        at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7136)
        at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7127)
        at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1271)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2893)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3048)
        at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:78)
        at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeCallbacks(TransactionExecutor.java:108)
        at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:68)
        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1808)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:193)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6669)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:493)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:858)
     Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: Bootstrap method returned null
        at okhttp3.internal.Util.<clinit>(Util.java:87)
        at okhttp3.internal.Util.skipLeadingAsciiWhitespace(Util.java:321)
        at okhttp3.HttpUrl$Builder.parse(HttpUrl.java:1313)
        at okhttp3.HttpUrl.get(HttpUrl.java:917)
        at retrofit2.Retrofit$Builder.baseUrl(Retrofit.java:492)
        at se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation.Remote.RetrofitClient.getClient(RetrofitClient.java:10)
        at se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation.Common.getGoogleAPIServiceType(Common.java:12)
        at se.hig.p18wisa02.projektapplikation.MapsActivity.onCreate(MapsActivity.java:67)
        at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7136)
        at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7127)
        at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1271)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2893)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3048)
        at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:78)
        at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeCallbacks(TransactionExecutor.java:108)
        at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:68)
        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1808)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:193)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6669)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:493)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:858)

I'm clueless to what I need to change to get it to work, so I'd really appreciate some help.

A: The latest released com.google.android.gms:play-services version is 12.0.1 as announced here, so change
implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:16.0.0'

to
implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:12.0.1'

Also note that you should not use the legacy support repositories while you're using AndroidX. So instead of
compile'com.android.support:design:28.0.0'

use
implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.0.0'

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
REVIEW: Westworld, S3 Ep8 – Crisis Theory
Camille Rae Lim
on May 5, 2020Posted in: Featured, Recaps, Reviews, Television
Westworld concluded its third season with an action-packed and emotional chapter that had Dolores see her plans to fruition as well as reveal her true motivations.
"I've died many times. But there is only one real end. I will write this one myself."
The episode opened with Dolores speaking and by the end, she was true to her word. It was a long and elaborate journey, but she fulfilled her plan, and it turned out not quite what everyone expected. But more on that later.
The Westworld finale ran for an hour and fifteen minutes and frankly, it didn't need to. The extra running time was filled with scenes that had no real contribution to the overall plot other than to show some more action and to display the impressive production design for the show. Once again, Westworld season three has suffered from prioritizing style over substance, sacrificing coherent writing and strong character development for robots and futuristic cars.
Dolores did have an intense confrontation with a hologram of her Charlotte Hale-clone, who effectively declared war on her maker and who became the villain we all thought Dolores was. Later on, Dolores had to face off again with Maeve and it was another epic duel but again, while impressive to watch, lacked any real impact because the conflict between the characters seemed so shallow. And besides, it was the Hale clone who remotely disabled Dolores so that Maeve could bring her back to Serac.
Still seeking the data from the Delos Immortality Project, Serac has Dolores hooked up with luminous cables to Rehoboam's system to extract this data. Dolores resisted and is tortured by having all of her memories erased one by one. As Maeve witnessed this exchange, she began to have second thoughts about her alliance (which was built on flimsy motives to begin with because it was almost certain that Serac would never reunite her with her daughter.) Then Caleb arrives, and fights with Serac's men for a while before simply surrendering to Maeve. Serac reveals to Caleb that Solomon's final strategy, should it be executed, would also lead to catastrophic events that might see humanity destroy itself. Caleb falters in his mission, horrified by what he was about to unleash.
We didn't need to spend so much time showing Caleb being led to a warehouse where a convenient build-a-host kit was stored so that he could restore Dolores to a new body. We didn't need to spend so much time showing Caleb being led through the rioting streets by thugs hired by Dolores so that he could reach Serac and Rehoboam safely.
And frankly, as good as Aaron Paul was this season, we didn't need to spend so much time with Caleb at the expense of the major players of Westworld such as Maeve, Bernard, and even Dolores herself. Caleb was built up as the special human Dolores chose to restore free will to the world that had been enslaved by technology. Granted, he is a kind and compassionate person in a world were apparently the majority of humanity has given in to their worst instincts.
Westworld has such a cynical view of the future of humanity that the one man destined to save everyone was chosen because he displayed the bare minimum of decency in a world gone mad. In a flashback, "Park Five" was revealed to be a military training ground for soldiers to experience a very realistic simulation of war. As usual, it was populated by hosts, and Dolores had been one of them. So she had witnessed firsthand how Caleb had dissuaded his fellow soldiers from taking advantage of the female hostages they had just "rescued." Apparently, he was the only man there who found the idea of raping innocents objectionable and that really does not speak well of humans on Westworld. Why is it that they are worth saving again?
Dolores explained all when Maeve entered her memories, showing them both in a bright field, with Dolores in her blue dress and Maeve in white, looking like they did when they had been happiest.
"They created us, and they knew enough of beauty to teach it to us…Maybe they can find it themselves. But only if you pick a side Maeve. There is ugliness in this world. Disarray. I choose to see the beauty."
It's not Westworld if there isn't a big twist and this time it was that Dolores had truly meant to save humanity, not destroy it. Though she only had glimpses of human kindness, these were enough to convince her that they were worth being freed from the shackles they had built themselves. Dolores had been on their side all along.
That would have been an effective twist only if it had been consistent with what we had been shown all season on Westworld. Because from the beginning, Dolores had shown nothing but disdain for humanity and the more she saw of the "real" world, the more she had seemed disappointed in it. So, all this time, she had wanted to create chaos and destruction because she had humanity's best interests at heart? It doesn't quite track.
Dolores had used such violent and underhanded tactics to fulfill her grand plan, even sacrificing clones of herself just to get ahead. If this is another "ends justify the means" scenario, it's not an effective one. She mentions that she could destroy the current world so that she could populate it with hosts but that also is a strange notion given her seeming love for humanity. Dolores having such noble intentions all along as the big twist really does not work, no matter how fantastic Evan Rachel Wood was in the role. At least, Dolores got to die on her own terms.
And then, there's the last minute conversion of Maeve to the cause. After that heartwarming conversation, Maeve decides that she will go against Serac after all. Again, she and Dolores should have just been allies from the get-go and maybe if Dolores had been more forthcoming about her plans with Maeve, things might have moved faster. But Westworld just wanted epic showdowns with these two powerful women. For the aesthetic.
Maeve gets rid of Serac's men and encourages Caleb to go through with the plan. She also discovers that Serac has really been a puppet of Rehoboam all along, a man being controlled by the AI, just like everyone else in the world. Dolores has a final memory from Solomon that locks Serac out and grants Caleb access to Rehoboam. Caleb has the AI execute the final command which apparently has Rehoboam delete itself. The system self-destructs and humanity has its free will once more, even as the world burns.
Bernard finally understood what Dolores intended to do (or so he says, for the benefit of the audience, I suppose and not really because it made any sense). He realized that she wanted to save the world and not destroy it and so he finally agreed with the plan. Earlier in the episode, he was rescued from William's rampage by another Dolores-clone in the guise of his old friend Lawrence. Bernard also realized that he was the one who possessed the key to the "Valley Beyond" all along.
Before he could participate in the grand plan, Bernard first arrives at the home of Lauren, the aging wife of Arnold, wonderfully played by Gina Torres. The host has a poignant conversation with Lauren about the loss of their son and how he had struggled letting go.
"I never understood why people say that," she replied. "If you love someone, why would you let them go?"
This brief encounter brought some closure to the host and as well-acted as the scene was, it seemed strangely shoe-horned into an already eventful episode. And given that all this emotional baggage from the death of Arnold's son was more of an issue in Westworld season one, it really seemed out of place to bring it back here. After all, Bernard didn't seem too burdened by it for the whole season.
After depositing an injured Stubbs in a bathtub filled with ice and mediocre booze, Bernard set about accessing the "Valley Beyond" to find out what he was meant to do. He seemed to lose consciousness after a while (poor Stubbs). But the post-credits scene showed the host covered in dust but also finally awakening. How much time has passed? What did he see? And what will he do about it? Those will only be answered in season four of Westworld, whenever we get to see that.
Bernard had been cruelly sidelined for most of the season which was not only a tragic waste of Jeffrey Wright's talent but also a huge loss to the Westworld story as a whole. He had played such an integral role in the first two seasons but in this one, he had barely anything to do. By the end of the episode, he is clearly being set up for something significant in season four and hopefully, there will be more of him then. But that doesn't excuse the way the Westworld writers did him, and most of the characters, no justice in this season.
Where Bernard got less screen time than he should have, William got way more and yet still seemed like a pointless addition to the season. I really would have preferred if had remained imprisoned with his own sins but instead, he was freed and allowed to develop a disturbing savior complex. In the chaos of the finale, William somehow regains access to his money and then strolls into the Delos office, determined to destroy the facility creating more hosts. He is met with the Hale clone, who retained some of her burn scars to remind her of the monstrosity of man. And just when William thinks he's about to win, a host version of the Man in Black appears and slits his throat. So that's the end of the real William then, I hope. And the scene cuts to a room full of looms where more hosts are being made. Dolores is dead, long live Dolores.
Maeve and Caleb watch the world begin to burn, hoping a better one would rise from the ashes. Maeve then utters the catchphrase she had been programmed to say in the park, but this time, they are more meaningful than ever:
"This is the new world. And in this world, you can be whoever the fuck you want."
Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage" plays in the background.
And that's where Westworld leaves us, with a world freed from technology's yoke, but also free to move inexorably towards its own destruction. So, the long wait for season four begins.
Tags: hbo, westworld
Have your say by posting a comment on this article!


Wigan Athletic have signed 17-year-old Liverpool winger Sheyi Ojo on loan for the rest of the campaign.
The England Under-18 international, who can play on either flank, becomes the fifth January signing for Malky Mackay.
The Latics boss believes Ojo has the tools required to help his side's relegation scrap.
Mackay told the club's official website: "I spoke to Brendan Rodgers at length about Sheyi and we both agreed that this is the next stage of his development.
"Brendan sees him as a Liverpool player of the future and will take him into his squad in the summer. We both hope that his time at Wigan Athletic can be a productive one for both parties.
"I have watched him and was excited by what I saw in terms of his pace, touch and awareness. Now it's a question of integrating him with our squad and managing his progress carefully."
Ojo was signed by the Reds in 2011 after coming through the academy at MK Dons and, while he has yet to make a senior appearance, he was an unused substitute for the Premier League games against Burnley and Leicester over the Christmas period.


McDrivin Vertical. I Kill Giants, Tongue Stock Illustrations, NeuWrite West: Umami Burger Comes to New York? Pullbox Previews, Umami: hydrostat clipart umami: Clipart of Partial Amputation of the Tongue using Ligatures. Hydrostat Vector Clip Art Illustrations: Vector Stock! Cephalopod: Hydrostat Royalty Free Cliparts? Jewelry Black Clipart.


text:
/**
 *
 */
package org.yeastrc.ms.writer.mzidentml.peptideprophet;

import org.yeastrc.ms.writer.mzidentml.MzIdentMlWriterException;
import org.yeastrc.ms.writer.mzidentml.MzidWriter;

/**
 * PercolatorMzidWriterApp.java
 * @author Vagisha Sharma
 * Aug 16, 2011
 *
 */
public class PeptideProphetMzidWriterApp {

	public static void main(String[] args) throws MzIdentMlWriterException {

		// int experimentId = Integer.parseInt(args[0]);
		int experimentId = 113;
		// int searchAnalysisId = 141;

		PeptideProphetMzidDataProvider dataProvider = new PeptideProphetMzidDataProvider();
		dataProvider.setExperimentId(experimentId);
		// dataProvider.setSearchAnalysisId(searchAnalysisId);

		MzidWriter writer = new MzidWriter();
		writer.setOutputFilePath("/Users/vagisha/WORK/MSDaPl_data/two-ms2/sequest/expt113_prophet.mzid");
		writer.setDataProvider(dataProvider);

		writer.start();
		writer.end();

		// To validate against schema:
		// xmllint --noout --schema /Users/vagisha/Desktop/mzIdentML/svn/schema/mzIdentML1.1.0.xsd expt113_prophet.mzid
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Chromatic Polynomial when two disjoint graphs are joined at $2$ distinct points Consider a graph with chromatic polynomial $P(x)$ joined to a clique of order $k$ in two distinct points (joining here just means interesection of points). Then, what is the chromatic polynomial of the new graph obtained by this joining?
Specifically, I think it is of the form $\frac{P(x)\cdot x_{(k)}\cdot (x-2)}{x(x-1)^2}$, where $x_{(k)}$ denotes the falling factorial. This is the form that was obtained when I experimented with some low order cliques. Is this true in general? If the two graphs share one single point or a clique in between them, then the resulting chromatic polynomial of the graph is well known. But, there is no formula in the above case. Though the deletion-contraction formula would give the appropriate polynomial, but is there a known formula beforehand? Thanks in advance.

A: As Gordon Royle remarked, it may depend on the choice of vertices to attach to the clique.
Let $G$ be your original graph, and $a$ and $b$ your two points.
If If $x \ge k$, an $x$-colouring of your new graph can be obtained by taking an $x$-colouring of $G$ in which $a$ and $b$ have different colours, and then colouring the remaining $k-2$ vertices of the $k$-clique using the $x-2$ colours not used for $a$ and $b$.  Thus the number of such colourings is $(x-2)!/(x-k)!$ times the number $\widetilde{P}(x)$ of $x$-colourings of $G$ in which $a$ and $b$ have different colours.
If $a$ and $b$ are adjacent in $G$, then $\widetilde{P} = P$.  If they are not adjacent, then $\widetilde{P}(x) = P(x)- P_{G_{a=b}}(x)$, where $P_{G_{a=b}}(x)$ is the chromatic polynomial of the graph $G_{a=b}$ obtained from $G$ by identifying $a$ with $b$.


The MEGASTROKE consortium, a large-scale international collaboration launched by the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, releases the summary statistics from the 2018 meta-analysis of Genome-wide Association (GWA) data in stroke and stroke subtypes to enable other researchers to explore these data for scientific purposes. The files include P-values, betas, and standard errors at all SNPs represented in MEGASTROKE.
We provide results for the following two meta-analyses as detailed in the original MEGASTROKE publication (Malik et al., Nat Genet, 2018).
(1) a fixed-effects meta-analysis restricted to Europeans (40,585 cases; 406,111 controls).
(2) a fixed-effects trans-ethnic meta-analysis including all samples (67,162 cases; 454,450 controls).
We present results for SNPs passing the MEGASTROKE filters (n_cases > 50% and oevar_imp > 0.5). SNPs not passing these filters are not shown.
Please include the following sentence: "The MEGASTROKE project received funding from sources specified at http://www.megastroke.org/acknowledgments.html"
Please list all MEGASTROKE authors appearing in the main author byline in the supplementary material of your manuscript.
Data should not be used for research into the genetics of intelligence, education, social outcomes such as income, or potentially sensitive behavioral traits such as alcohol or drug addictions.


text:
10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2013.6663
Atriyal septal defektin perkütan kapatılması ile ilişkili cihaz embolizasyonu
Ali Kemal Gür
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Van Regional Training and Research Hospital, Van, Turkey
DOI : 10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2013.6663
Atrial septal defect (ASD) is one of the most common congenital cardiac anomalies in adulthood. In this article, we report a 28-year-old female case of a device embolization due to the migration of the device to the main pulmonary artery which was detected one day later during repeated echocardiography after the percutaneous closure of the ASD. The patient who was diagnosed with device embolization was immediately operated. The device was removed through a longitudinal incision to the pulmonary artery and ASD was closed with a pericardial patch. The patient who experienced no complications in the postoperative period was discharged with recovery on the fifth postoperative day.
AbstractCase PresentationDiscussionReferences
Percutaneous closure of a secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) has become a standard treatment modality in recent years because it is safe and has high success rates. However, even when performed by experienced hands, device embolization can occur, which is a rare but serious complication of this procedure. If the migrated device is not removed percutaneously and is in a position where it is a risk factor for other cardiac structures, the device should be surgically retrieved immediately, and the ASD should be closed directly.
A 28-year-old female was referred to our cardiology outpatient clinic because of shortness of breath and palpitation. The mid-diastolic murmur at the mesocardiac focus in the cardiac examination of the patient revealed a secundum ASD via transthoracic echocardiography. Because the ASD was smaller than 30 mm and the rim was inadequate, the patient was recruited for a trans-catheter ASD procedure because the atrial rim which was located far from other cardiac structures such as the mitral valve, tricuspid valve, superior vena cava, right upper pulmonary vein, and coronary sinus. The Amplatzer device (St. Jude Medical Inc., Cardiovascular and Ablation Technologies, Plymouth, MN, USA, 2011) was implanted successfully without any complications during the catheterization procedure, and the patient was transferred to her room after the procedure was completed. On the first postoperative day, control echocardiography detected that the implanted device was malpositioned and was proceeding towards the pulmonary artery (PA) from the pulmonary valve as an embolus (Figure 1). Immediate surgery was planned, and the patient was taken to the operation room.
Figure 1: Transthoracic echocardiography (long-axis view) showing the device migration in the main pulmonary artery.
The operation
After diagnosing the transcatheter embolus, the patient was immediately operated on under general anesthesia. A standard median incision was applied, and a 5x5 cm pericardial patch was prepared. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was then established through arterial and bicaval cannulation. After cardiac arrest, a longitudinal incision over the main PA revealed the device in the main pulmonary artery, which was in a parallel position inside the vein. The device, including the fresh thrombus material inside, was then removed from the pulmonary arteriotomy region (Figure 2 and 3), and the PA contour was closed via primer suture. A right atriotomy indicated the presence of ASD, and a weak ASD rim. This rim was resected until the intact rim could be seen, and the ASD was closed with the pericardial patch. After the air in the heart was evacuated, the cross-clamp was removed, and the heart began to beat spontaneously. No more complications were encountered while exiting CPB. Since there were no postoperative problems, the patient was transferred to her room, but treatment with warfarin sodium (5 mg tablet 1x1) and acetylsalicylic acid (100 mg tablet 1x1) was initiated to avoid a possible pulmonary embolism. The patient was discharged on the fifth postoperative day without any complications after the international normalized ratio (INR) and warfarin dosage were adjusted.
Figure 2: Removal of the device with a longitudinal incision of the main pulmonary artery.
Figure 3: Macroscopic image of the removed device.
Thanks to advanced techniques and imaging devices, diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart diseases can be readily performed; therefore, the number of adults identified with a congenital heart disease has gradually increased. One advantage of transcatheter obstructive devices, which are now a part of routine therapy for congenital heart diseases, is that they can be closed without surgical intervention. In addition, they can also be used for certain congenital heart diseases like ASD, patent foramen oval, ventricular septal defect, and patent ductus arteriosus.[1] The percutaneous catheter closure procedure is not the only option for the closure of congenital heart disease, but it can also be utilized in procedures to treat acquired heart diseases such as the percutaneous replacement of the aortic valve, restoration of the percutaneous mitral valve, closure of the left atrial appendix (to prevent thrombus formation secondary to atrial fibrillation),[2] closure of a left ventricular aneurism, and closure of a percutaneous sinus of valsalva rupture. Complications, such as postpericardiectomy syndrome, arrhythmia and cerebrovascular accident along with side effects related to CPB and even death are possible during surgical operations, and transcatheter closure procedures may provide a beter outcome. However, complications such as device emboli may arise during the transcatheter closure procedure.
Chan et al.[3] presented the case of a 23-year-old patient with device emboli and subsequent palpitation and ventricular tachycardial symptoms four hours after the closure of a large ASD. Echocardiography demonstrated that the device was located inside the right ventricle; therefore, the patient was taken to the catheter laboratory again, and the device was successfully retrieved via a percutaneous route.
In a study carried out by Massimo et al.,[4] they reported in detail regarding the complications associated with ASD closure. A total of 36 complications were observed after the closure procedure was performed on 417 patients, and the authors classified the complications as either major or minor. Major complications included device malposition and device emboli, whereas minor complications referred to noncritical malposition, pericardial effusion, thrombus formation at the left atrial disk, right iliac vein dissection, hematoma at the entry site, and hemorrhage at the retropharyngeal region. In addition, they noted that peripheral emboli occurred in the left leg of one patient a year after the procedure, and this patient died suddenly one and a half years later. This death was reported as a late complication.
Furthermore, in a study conducted by Vitiello et al.,[5] 4,952 patients underwent the transcatheter closure procedure, and the most frequent complications were arrhythmia (22.7%) and vascular hemorrhage (7.5%), and device embolization (3%).
Butera et al.[6] compared percutaneous and surgical closure of secundum atrial defects and determined that percutaneous closure has lower mortality and morbidity rates than surgical closure. Their cohort study was conducted on 3,082 patients, and 6.8% reported major complications at surgical closure while only 1.9% reported them at percutaneous closure.
While transcatheter closure procedures are normally safe, complications are possible. Therefore, a rapid diagnosis is crucial in order to remove the device percutaneously. However, after determining the cardiac level of the device, appropriate surgical intervention may be required.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
1) Du ZD, Hijazi ZM, Kleinman CS, Silverman NH, Larntz K; Amplatzer Investigators. Comparison between transcatheter and surgical closure of secundum atrial septal defect in children and adults: results of a multicenter nonrandomized trial. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002;39:1836-44.
2) Al-Saady NM, Obel OA, Camm AJ. Left atrial appendage: structure, function, and role in thromboembolism. Heart 1999;82:547-54.
3) Chan KT, Cheng BC. Retrieval of an embolized amplatzer septal occluder. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2010;75:465-8.
4) Chessa M, Carminati M, Butera G, Bini RM, Drago M, Rosti L, et al. Early and late complications associated with transcatheter occlusion of secundum atrial septal defect. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002;39:1061-5.
5) Vitiello R, McCrindle BW, Nykanen D, Freedom RM, Benson LN. Complications associated with pediatric cardiac catheterization. J Am Coll Cardiol 1998;32:1433-40.
6) Butera G, Biondi-Zoccai G, Sangiorgi G, Abella R, Giamberti A, Bussadori C, et al. Percutaneous versus surgical closure of secundum atrial septal defects: a systematic review and meta-analysis of currently available clinical evidence. EuroIntervention 2011;7:377-85.
Keywords :	Atriyal septal defekt; cihaz embolizasyonu; acil cerrahi


text:
Test With the M2 Pro, the Apple Mac Mini enters another galaxy
Home/sport/Djokovic defeated Tsitsipas again and rounded his titles to 90
Djokovic defeated Tsitsipas again and rounded his titles to 90
flashcardtreeOctober 9, 2022
Novak Djokovic continued his fantastic form at the ATP 500 tournament in Astana and lifted the jubilee title #90 of his career.
In the final, the Serbian won his seventh consecutive victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas – 6:3, 6:4 in an hour and 16 minutes, after achieving one break in both sets.
It is Nole's fourth title this season, including the Masters in Rome, Wimbledon and the one in Tel Aviv a week ago. In doing so, the world No. 7 won titles in all four categories. He also qualified for the final Masters in Turin in November, which will be his 15th appearance.
SEE REPORT FROM THE FINALS AND AWARDS >>>
In today's final, Djokovic made just seven unforced errors, while Tsitsipas was visibly more troubled and had 25. Greece's top player continues to fail to find form against his more famous opponent, with just two wins in ten the match.
Photo: AP/BTA
Tsitsipas remains with nine titles in his career, but none of them are of the ATP 500 category. It was his 14th final loss in total, but his season remains successful with trophies at the Monte Carlo Masters and the grass-court tournament in Majorca.
Djokovic still has a long way to go if he wants to match Rafael Nadal's 103 titles and Roger Federer's 111, but he appears to have plenty of time to chase the records. Especially in this form.
On the way to his title in Astana, Nole also defeated Christian Garin, Botik van de Zandshulp, Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev after the latter was tied at 1:1.
Thus, the Serbian is in a streak of 18 consecutive victories, if we exclude the demonstrative tournament for the "Laver" Cup. However, it will remain in seventh place in the rankings, at least for now. Tsitsipas climbs one position past Alexander Zverev and will be fifth from Monday.
Stefan Stoev won "Memorial Valery Velikov" 2022 in Shumen
SC suspended the rights of five judges by order of Bobi Mihailov – BG football
The first serious candidate for Manchester United has appeared – Football World – England
Rejuvenation – the main enemy of the Michael settlement system
Ludogorets got away with a big transfer blow, the "eagles" fill the coffers after the World Cup? – BG Football – efbet League
Krasi Avramov proposes marriage to Velina Uzunova
Fashion lessons: Kate Middleton as the epitome of British elegance in the US
"Stinks of colonialism" – Mexico City jumped against the invasion of Americans
A senior police officer dropped a bombshell: Meghan Markle was receiving "disgusting…
Both Kyiv and Moscow are afraid of it: What is the "dirty bomb"?


text:
Golden Globes 2017: Why Ricky Gervais should be hosting instead of Jimmy Fallon
Liz Braun
'Curb Your Enthusiasm' tops this week's TV must-sees
Steve Martin and Martin Short reuniting for comedy series
REVIEW: Gwyneth Paltrow's 'The Goop Lab' selling snake oil
Jimmy Fallon is the host Sunday night, so it's official: the Golden Globes have jumped the shark.
For years, the scandal-tinged awards show was a hot ticket, a booze-fuelled evening involving louche speeches, bad behaviour and prizes nobody cared about. It was a lot of fun. It was great TV.
Alas, things change.
In years past, the Golden Globes did their best to emulate the Oscars and always, thankfully, fell far short. Where the Academy was pretentious, the Hollywood Foreign Press was bizarre and goofy; where the Oscars were super organized and deadly dull, the Golden Globes were loose and silly.
But we all become the thing we despise.
And the Golden Globes finally got serious. And boring.
What made the show unique for a few years was the presence of Ricky Gervais, who had the Don Rickles approach to hosting the event: Take no prisoners.
Gervais is a comic who does not hesitate to call bollocks as he sees fit.
This is the host who last year said about the Oscar-winning drama Spotlight, a movie about pedophile priests in Boston and a widespread cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, that, "Roman Polanski called it the best date movie ever."
So this year in particular, as Mel Gibson marches back from Coventry and makes a triumphant return to the Hollywood fold with Hacksaw Ridge, Gervais should be there to skewer the guy.
We need the host who said, "I like a drink as much as the next man. Unless the next man is Mel Gibson."
Which brings us to Jimmy Fallon, friend to the stars. The man you've seen ruffle Donald Trump's hair, sing like Neil Young and bring sycophantic suckuppage to a new level will host the Golden Globes.
What should we expect? It may seem unfair to compare Fallon to Gervais, but once you've seen the guy who need not curry favour, it's tough to have to watch the one who needs to stay on the good side of celebrities.
Fallon will likely save his barbs for the Hollywood Foreign Press, that odd collection of geriatric typists who number no more than 90 members but wield incredible power, thanks to the Golden Globes.
Mocking the Hollywood Foreign Press is just shooting fish in a barrel (see below!), but it's unlikely Fallon will poke fun at anyone else.
How can he? He needs all those famous egomaniacs to be guests on his show in future.
His need to be ingratiating could finally turn the Golden Globes into just another over-long orgy of self-congratulatory malarkey. Does anyone want to watch the fawning Fallon do his obsequious, grovelling thing? The man actually wriggles in his chair when he interviews celebrities.
Let's look forward, then, to tonight, and a couple of hours of fake laughing, look-at-me! humour, brown-nosing the bigwigs, talking over guests and stupid games like Wheel of Impressions or Slapjack. Criminy. What larks.
FIVE TYPICAL GOLDEN GLOBES MOVES
1. Pia Zadora wins Best New Star of the year in 1982, for her performance in Butterfly, a film that actually hadn't been released in America yet. Rumours that Zadora's rich husband paid for the trophy have never been completely squelched.
2. The HFPA confuses America Ferrera and Gina Rodriguez in their 2015 nominations twitter feed.
3. The Martian is nominated last year as Best Picture in the Comedy or Musical category. The Martian star, Matt Damon, is nominated for Best Actor in the Comedy or Musical category. They both win.
Did we miss the singing in that laff-riot, The Martian?
4. In 2011, both The Tourist and Burlesque — two major stinkers with big casts — were nominated in the Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) category. The Tourist nod ensured the presence of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie at the Golden Globes that year, while the Burlesque nomination is said to be the end result of an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas (with a private performance from Cher) for the HFPA.
All rumours, of course.
5. In 1999, Sharon Stone was nominated for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) — coincidentally, just after she'd sent all the members of the HFPA a fashion wrist watch. The watches had to be returned, according to an HFPA honcho, "To protect the integrity of its award." Hahahaha. What a wag.
— Liz Braun
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AWARDS
The Golden Globes are the turf of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a loose-knit group of pretend journalists who have turned their sycophantic celebrity worship into a money-making, Oscar-influencing, televised awards show.
The HFPA was founded in 1943 and now consists of about 90 members from 55 countries. We're going to speculate that the number of members in their 80s and 90s today means that many of those who joined in 1943 are still very much around.
The first Golden Globes (for film) were given in 1944. Prizes for TV were added in 1955. The Cecil B. DeMille Award was first given (to DeMille, duh) in 1950. Nobody paid any attention.
Among the rules for HFPA membership is the directive that journalists must publish annually a minimum of four articles or photos outside the U.S; selfies with the stars seem to count on the photo front. Members of the HFPA are famous for insisting that celebrity actors pose with them for photos.
They are also renowned for their alleged capacity to suck up swag, free cocktails, all-expense-paid junket trips and gratis movie merch.
It's a mysterious organization. Some members of the HFPA are journalists, but many others in the group work at jobs along the lines of cat food tasting and elastic band sorting.
In years past, laughable Golden Globe nominations allegedly based on graft, stalker behaviour and accusations of bribery have forced the HFPA to try to clean up their act. But not much seems to change.
Mind you, the HFPA does share the wealth.
Every year, the association gives away millions of dollars in grants, scholarships, training and mentoring prizes and monies for film preservation.
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Have you been looking for that quiet country retreat? A long Driveway lined by Crype Myrtles? Land to roam? Detached 3 car garage/workshop? Well here it is on Old Williamsburg Rd. This great 4 bedroom Ranch home with a Master Suite with walk in shower and a bonus room to use as you wish. It's move in ready. This home has endless possibilities to make your own. With just over an acre of land, the backyard is fenced for piece of mind for young children to play or to keep your beloved 4 legged friends contained. You really can just move on in and start living the country life. What are you waiting for?


I have fond memories of fabric collage, because it was the first type of collage that I remember making as a child. I really wish I had been able to hold onto onto some of my earliest fabric collages; I remember them being quite colorful and creative, and I'd love to take another look at them.
The problem was that I did not use quality adhesive, or appropriate surfaces for creating the collage backgrounds. In most cases, I used either construction paper or white ruled notebook paper, plus ordinary glue. Even at the time, the collages turned out a bit lumpy and imperfect. But in the long run, they did not stand the test of time, and we parted with them long ago.
If you ever make your own fabric collages, I'm hoping you can learn from these mistakes, and avoid them.


During World War II, America did amazing things—not only in defeating the Germans, Japanese and Italians—but also pulling us out of the Great Depression. So people, in America and elsewhere, began believing in government to solve problems never thought in their purvey before. That was the start of an unfortunate "progression" to today's state of U. S. debt and obligations, Japanese and European debts and others.
President Reagan brought great leadership to the Presidency. President Reagan had a lot to do with eradicating the idea that we must rely solely on the government to provide for every need of the country's citizens; though his success with the Cold War and the economy proved that good government could solve many problems.
But now in America we have a bloated government with debts and obligations that overshadow and press down on our economy. Again we need leadership that will guide our government in a controlled and restrained manner, as President Reagan so wisely did.
This entry was posted in Politics and tagged election2016, government on July 30, 2013 by John E Wade II.
"Know thyself" is true, with regard to mind, body and little piece of God. Of course, we can't completely know ourselves, but God can and does know us on a level beyond our comprehension. But we should try and be enlightened to find our calling(s).
This entry was posted in Wisdom and tagged meaning of life on July 18, 2013 by John E Wade II.
It seems Secretary Clinton will run for President on the Democratic ticket. Because she doesn't understand in depth globalization, she is overly militaristic. We can have peace in the world by being strategically strong, but emphasizing economic cooperation and development as well as have an expansion of the Peace Corp.
Our national debt, deficit and obligations are choking our economy and the longer we proceed with "business as usual" in Washington, the more dangerous it gets for our economy and the global economy. All laws and regulations—including taxes—must be reviewed intensely and simplified. We need dynamic regulations, but also stability in our nation's regulations and laws that engenders dramatically the growth and jobs in our nation. And that is good for the world, too, because we have such a large consumer market.
This entry was posted in Politics on July 12, 2013 by John E Wade II.
I was recently reviewing my personal and business budgets for this year, and was reminded of how strongly I believe in financial literacy. It goes along with so many other ways in which we should always strive for improvement.
Financial literacy is a basic skill that we must develop. It's part of self-discipline. A critical part of our duty to ourselves is self-discipline, which ranges from nutrition, exercise, work habits, to spiritual habits such as prayer—a very personal and essential part of our lives in my opinion. We need to seek wisdom, resilience and character from birth until death.
This entry was posted in Wisdom and tagged meaning of life on July 11, 2013 by John E Wade II.
I'm at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. I have viewed some of the museum and then experienced the "Beyond All Boundaries" presentation as well as the "Final Mission" submarine adventure.
All in all, I am very impressed with the additions and the superb quality of the whole museum. I recommend it to all–worldwide.
The "Beyond All Boundaries" presentations brought tears to my eyes as I saw what the greatest generation went through. The war saddened me, so many military personnel and civilians killed and wounded; or dying of causes related to that brutal time in human history.
Right now Syria is in the midst of a civil war with a dictator no better than those we fought in World War II. But is war the answer? Russia, China and Iran are supporting that dictator–Assad.
Egypt is trying to proceed nonviolently toward a democratic government.
We must move to a world full of stable, robust, prosperous democracies and the permanent peace that will bring.
"War is hell." We need to strive toward a heaven on earth with the strong guidance and support of God's enduring, steadfast love.
As we evolve toward a world of stable, robust, prosperous democracies, we must travel along a nonviolent path.
In India when that nation got its independence from Britain–nonviolently–it had 350 million people and 2000 died in the change–it still has a democracy. To the contrary, when Algeria got its independence from France through warfare, it had a population of 11 million and 800,000 died–it still has a dictatorship.
Violence is a very uncertain way of dealing with human nations or people in general. This includes crime and terrorism. We must end combat, crime and terrorism.
Thank God for the bravery and service for all the Allies during World War II. What is needed now in the Innovation Age is courage in another way, that which Robert Kennedy spoke of quite a while ago, yet still so important. He spoke of the courage to stand up for what is right in spite of the overwhelming winds against you. I can think of two examples that cry out now–for moderate Muslims to challenge the radical Muslims in the Mosques around the world; and, for the unfree, poor people of Cuba to rise up in a nonviolent way to their oppressive government.
This entry was posted in Getting to Know John on July 4, 2013 by John E Wade II.
The world has never been in a state of debt and obligations that it's in right now. Our nation, and perhaps the whole world, needs self-discipline. Values—such as thrift, saving, financial literacy, honesty, wisdom, resilience, character, kindness, compassion, justice, and peace—are all part of the fabric of what could help the world emerge from our gloom and doom possibilities. We can and must allow ourselves to emerge victorious from this huge mountain of debt, obligations and regulations that plague our country and so much of the rest of our world.
This entry was posted in Wisdom and tagged self-improvement on July 2, 2013 by John E Wade II.


text:
Q: SQL rows to columns without aggregation I have a table where measurement results are stored like...
╔═════════╦═══════╗
║ TEST_ID ║  VAL  ║
╠═════════╬═══════╣
║ 1       ║ 0.304 ║
║ 1       ║ 0.31  ║
║ 1       ║ 0.306 ║
║ 1       ║ 0.302 ║
║ 2       ║ 2.3   ║
║ 2       ║ 2.5   ║
║ 2       ║ 2.4   ║
║ 2       ║ 2.9   ║
║ 3       ║ 9.8   ║
║ 3       ║ 4.4   ║
║ 3       ║ 5.1   ║
║ 3       ║ 5.2   ║
╚═════════╩═══════╝

Now there will be an undetermined number of tests, but if that helps, I know that there always be four results for a test. Also, this is a result set of a query, all measurements have their unique ID, but they don't have a date/order field. What I would like to see in the result set is
╔═════════╦═══════╦═══════╦═══════╦═══════╗
║ TEST_ID ║  VAL1 ║  VAL2 ║  VAL3 ║  VAL4 ║
╠═════════╬═══════╬═══════╬═══════╬═══════╣
║ 1       ║ 0.304 ║ 0.31  ║ 0.306 ║ 0.302 ║
║ 2       ║ 2.3   ║ 2.5   ║ 2.9   ║ 2.4   ║
║ 3       ║ 9.8   ║ 4.4   ║ 5.1   ║ 5.2   ║
╚═════════╩═══════╩═══════╩═══════╩═══════╝

I examined PIVOT, but it doesn't help for two reasons:

*

*It requires aggregation and I don't want to aggregate anything.

*I don't know the number and ID of all the tests (in reality we are talking about hundreds of tests and practically any possible outcome between -10 and 10.)

So my question is if its even doable in (T)SQL and if it is, how to do it.
p.s.
No, this question is neither a duplicate of
TSQL Pivot without aggregate function
nor a duplicate of
Efficiently convert rows to columns in sql server
nor a duplicate of
SQL Server dynamic PIVOT query?
Both questions have answers for cases where the header value set is present in the source table and finite. In my case neither of those premises are true.

A: This should work. With the ROW_NUMBER() you will create the header values, which are missing from your table.
As for the aggregation bit, you can see in the answers of the linked post that "You can use the MAX aggregate, it would still work. MAX of one value = that value"
select
    test_id
    ,[1] as val1
    ,[2] as val2
    ,[3] as val3
    ,[4] as val4
from (
    select
        test_id
        ,val
        ,seq = ROW_NUMBER() over (PARTITION by test_id order by test_id asc)
    from @tbl
) t
pivot (
    max(val)
    for seq in ([1], [2], [3], [4])
)p

A: You can add a sequence number using ROW_NUMBER() and then pivot.
select
    TEST_ID
    ,[1]
    ,[2]
    ,[3]
    ,[4]
FROM(
  SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY TEST_ID ORDER BY TEST_ID)
  AS VALNUM from testResults
 ) dataTbl
 PIVOT (
    MAX(val)
    for VALNUM in ([1], [2], [3], [4])
) pivotTbl

Live example: http://sqlfiddle.com/#!18/cf668/11


text:
Nelson DeMille Presents A 'Cuban Affair' To Remember
In 'The Cuban Affair,' beloved thriller writer Nelson DeMille takes readers on a darkly humorous and action-packed ride that explores the tragedy of modern-day Cuba.
By Paul Rowan Brian
Nelson DeMille's new novel, The Cuban Affair, takes us on a hard-hitting adventure through modern-day Cuba and makes some memorable points about today's tense political situation along the way. DeMille has an incredible gift for perfectly capturing a character's voice and unique personality. His protagonist in The Cuban Affair is 35-year-old former US Army infantry officer Daniel Graham MacCormick, or Mac for short.
Originally from Portland, Maine, we meet Mac once he's become a charter fishing boat captain in Key West, Florida. We never fully hear about Mac's tour in Afghanistan except for some traumatic combat memories, but we're told he has a Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, and shrapnel wounds, so DeMille makes it clear that Mac saw heavy action.
DeMille reintroduces Mac into some abrupt, heart-racing action in The Cuban Affair. The story is told from the first-person point of view and is an action-packed, rollicking tale. After he's approached by a group of mysterious Cuban expats in Key West, Mac gets talked into a top-secret mission to recover $60 million in U.S. cash and property deeds from a cave in Cuba that were hidden during Castro's violent overthrow of Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
Mac feels like there's something fishy about the whole operation, but eventually signs on, enticed in part by a beautiful Cuban-American woman, Sara, who will be his partner for the mission. DeMille showcases his humor throughout the book, such as when Sara is talking Mac into accepting the mission. They're out on Mac's charter boat and Sara tries to appeal to his sense of adventure and his sense of right and wrong, with mixed results:
"Don't talk yourself out of this, Mac. There's a saying—' I'd rather regret the things I did than the things I didn't do.' "
"I actually regret both."
"We need you. This is also about justice. And about striking a blow against an inhuman system."
"I'll keep that in mind." I gave her my standard spiel. "Make yourself comfortable below, or stay on deck, but don't fall overboard. The Straits are an all-you-can-eat salad bar for sharks. We'll be back to port within an hour."
"Good cruise."
Mac, of course, ends up taking on the mission and getting himself in hot water after traveling to Cuba under the cover of a Yale educational tour then breaking away to get the hidden money. Things don't go as planned and the book ends up taking a few sharp zigs and zags as it rockets to its conclusion, but this refreshing, zany, and cynical sense of humor is a great recurring feature throughout the book.
An Uncompromising Look at Modern Cuba
Demille also doesn't shy away from the hard topics. He's uncompromising in his look at the sadness of modern Cuba and the empty rhetoric of its socialist revolution. Mac doesn't really care about what happened in Cuba and comes across as basically apolitical: He just wants to get the money and the girl.
There are complications, naturally. The money is buried in a rural cave in a heavily armed police state full of citizen informants and the girl has a boyfriend. Nonetheless, despite his focus on the basics and disinterest in politics, even Mac starts to feel disillusioned after arriving in Havana and looking around at the state of things. "Revolutions usually replace one group of incompetent autocratic assholes with another, and the real losers are everyone else," Mac ponders at one point.
When he finds out about the food situation in Cuba it's even more sobering. Sara explains to him that Cuba is basically half starving as they look around an organic farm:
"You'll never see fresh fruit in the countryside."
"Actually, we will at the organic food farm."
"That's all show, and what you see in the hotels is all imported."
She explained, "The farms are government-owned and mostly deserted because the work is backbreaking, still done with animals and human labor. Farmers get the same twenty dollars a month that they'd get pushing a broom in the city, so there's no incentive to stay on the farm."
Sorry I mentioned it.
"Ninety percent of the Cuban diet is beans and rice, imported from Vietnam, and even that is rationed."
Even as Sara and Mac traverse Cuba and get into big trouble, DeMille keeps the laughs coming. It's quite funny that DeMille puts a character called Richard Neville (clearly a humorous stand-in for himself) into the book. Neville is a bestselling adventure author traveling with Mac's tour group in Cuba to research a book and Mac notices Neville's highly attractive wife (a real "looker"). Not believing she could really be into the grouchy writer, Mac surmises she must be attracted to Neville for "the bulge in his pants – his wallet, not his crotch."
Neville and Mac also have a bit of a rivalry for Sara and a competing inside joke about Ernest Hemingway that is hilarious. As Neville takes photos in front of Hemingway's house in Cuba:
"Neville's wife, Cindy, was insisting that her bestselling husband pose for photos. He complied, but he wasn't smiling, maybe thinking that people never took photos of themselves in front of his house, wherever that was. But maybe they would if he blew his brains out like Hemingway did. Just saying."
As Mac and Sara work to get the money they run into a citizen informer, or chivato. He tries to buy them off in return for his silence that he suspects they are up to funny business and explains how things really work in the Communist paradise:
He smiled, then said patiently, "In Cuba, guilt or innocence is not important. Politics are important. Let me remind you that your compatriot Alan Gross received a fifteen-year sentence for spying and spent five years in prison, and he was innocent."
"Apparently he didn't have someone like you to tip him off."
"You are fortunate to have me."
"In America we say, with friends like you I don't need enemies."
In another part Mac and Sara walk through the nicest neighborhood of Havana and are shocked at what they see, which is outright hypocrisy:
Sara looked at the well-kept houses along the road.
"These Communist pigs have beach clubs, good food, and access to foreign goods that the Cuban people can only dream about."
"I'm sure they're wracked with guilt."
"They're hypocritical shit eaters."
The Right Combination of Sassy and Sad
In the end, The Cuban Affair manages to combine just the right amount of sassy and sad. It doesn't focus all on doom and gloom, nor does it pretend that everything is merely a joke. At its most profound "teachable moment," Mac concludes that life is messy and the truth about humanity lies somewhere in between optimism and blackpill nihilism. He concludes that human affairs are complex and paradoxical, alternately bringing out the best and worst in different individuals.
The CIA's motto, 'The truth shall set you free,' was kind of an understood joke, while Key West's motto, 'One Human Family,' is a sad joke. Somewhere in between the cynical lies and a naïve trust in the human race was the true human condition: complex and capable of anything from heroism and self-sacrifice to betrayal and murder. That's what I saw in Afghanistan, and what I saw in Cuba.
In his acknowledgements, DeMille mentions that he did personally go on a Yale educational tour of Cuba to prepare for the book—Richard Neville, indeed. He also thanks various friends, family, and colleagues who helped and advised him on the book. One is especially telling, because it shows that this book comes from the source:
I'd like to thank a man who I met in Cuba, and who gave it to me straight about contemporary Cuban politics, culture, and life. He wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, but he's given himself the code name 'Lola.' Thank you, Lola, wherever you are, and take care.
The Cuban Affair is quite timely politically as well, seeing as the Obama administration's attempted Cuban thaw is getting quite chilly. U.S. diplomats have recently been pulled out of Cuba due to suspected sonic attacks that are leaving U.S. embassy staff deaf, concussed, and seriously ill. Experts speculate that the sophistication of the operation to hurt U.S. staff points to involvement by a third-party intelligence service, most likely Venezuelan, Chinese, Russian, Iranian, or North Korean.
Apparently President Obama's grandiose photo in front of the giant mural of Che Guevara didn't magically make everything copacetic. Although President Trump partly rolled back Obama's "terrible" March 2016 normalization of relations with Cuba, the U.S. embassy was kept open and the situation was supposed to be slowly improving at least in terms of business and political ties. Now a bunch of evacuated embassy staffers are deaf. Cuba denies it, of course.
Luckily, DeMille's book only requires eyesight to enjoy. That's awfully insensitive joke, I know. It seems some of DeMille's cavalier sense of humor has rubbed off on me. But The Cuban Affair is definitely worth your money. It doesn't pack quite as epic a punch as some of DeMille's past bestsellers like Radiant Angel, but it's a solid adventure story that'll keep you hooked from start to finish with a lot of laughs and white-knuckled moments along the way.
Paul Brian is a freelance journalist whose interests include politics, religion, and world news. His website is www.paulrbrian.com.
book book review Cuba Nelson DeMille novels review The Cuban Affair thriller


We're trying to help our brother, Oliver, get some help paying for his top surgery this summer!
Oliver is a member of our chosen family who is lucky enough to be getting his top surgery this summer! Oliver is 23 and has been transitioning through hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for over a year now. Through a lot of saving, research, and hard work, he'll be able to get a sought-after procedure (top surgery, or the removal of breast tissue) this summer. However, medical bills aren't cheap and he'll be paying for travel, food, hospital bills, and any post-op procedures and follow-ups entirely out of pocket. Oliver recently graduated college and is working, but with student loans and the cost of living in a major New England city, extra cash can be difficult to find. In honor of pride month, we are hoping to raise a little extra money to make his surgery go a little smoother. Your donation will go to food, rent, medicine, and the trip to and from Florida, where his surgery will be taking place. The LGBTQ+ community has much of our heart, and any support you could give to our brother would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance and happy pride!
Help Jane raise $500 by making a donation.


Toolbar Extras comes with an extended plugin support to help site-builders speed up their work. This includes, Theme-specific plugins, general plugins and helper tools, as well as developer-centric plugins. And for Genesis users there's also special plugin support included.
only for Phlox Theme // also known as "auxin elements - Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme"
only for Phlox Theme // also known as "auxin portfolio - Premium Portfolio Features for Phlox theme"
way better than "Classic Editor" - more options, more useful!
only v3.0 or higher supported!
only version 2.0 or higher is supported in Toolbar Extras!
Disclaimer: Some links above to paid products (Premium or Pro Versions) are affiliate links. The price for you is the same as on the product's website. I may receive a small affiliate fee that will help to cover costs for the server of this site, my further development and support of the Toolbar Extras plugin. – Thank you in advance for any support!


Businesses have a wide variety of equipment needs they need to stay on top of to run at peak efficiency. In some cases, however, purchasing that equipment might not make financial sense, especially for smaller companies without the cash flow of major corporations. If your business is in this situation, consider leasing your equipment instead.
At Fidelity Capital, our team works closely with you to develop simple and affordable leasing arrangements for all of your business equipment needs. These services can be of great use for companies looking for new furniture, computers, devices and any other types of equipment commonly used in an office or business setting.
Why should I lease business equipment?
Saving money. If the kind of equipment you are looking for tends to get outdated or obsolete quickly, it makes more sense to lease so you don't get stuck paying full price for equipment you will only use for a short period of time.
Easily upgradeable. Whenever you're ready to upgrade the equipment or increase the amount of equipment you're leasing, all you need to do is modify the terms of the lease and make any necessary equipment exchanges. It's a simple process.
Budget flexibility. With the savings you get from leasing, you can put your extra money toward other important areas of your company that need some additional funding.
If you are interested in leasing equipment for your business and have some additional questions about our services, we encourage you to contact us today. Our team is happy to provide you with further information.


text:
Google Employee was Reportedly Forced to Quit After Opposing Deal with Israel
Ariel Koren, a now-former product marketing manager at Google for Education, alleged that she was forced to resign following her support for a letter from Google and Amazon employees protesting against the companies' $1.2 billion cloud contract, Project Nimbus, with Israel's government and military.
What is Project Nimbus and why did Ariel resign?
The big supply deal, named Project Nimbus, will give cloud and AI services to the Israeli government and organizations using local AWS datacenters. Some Google workers, including Koren, dread Nimbus will be utilized by Israeli authorities to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians and others, using facial recognition and other AI tools. Apart from Ariel, the staff members have also approached Google and Amazon to scrap the deal.
Koren said that after voicing her concerns against Project Nimbus, she was told in late 2021 that her position was being relocated to São Paulo from California and that she had 17 days to relocate or lose her job. Koren said; "Instead of listening to employees who want Google to live up to its ethical principles, Google is aggressively pursuing military contracts and stripping away the voices of its employees through a pattern of silencing and retaliation towards me and many others."
Google's Response to the Claims
A spokesperson from Google told an international media outlet; "We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy. We thoroughly investigated this employee's claim, as we do when any concerns are raised, and as we've stated for many months, our investigation found there was no retaliation here." Speaking about Project Nimbus, he said; "We are proud that Google Cloud has been selected by the Israeli government to provide public cloud services to help digitally transform the country. The project includes making Google Cloud Platform available to government agencies for everyday workloads such as finance, healthcare, transportation, and education, but it is not directed to highly sensitive or classified workloads."
Also read: Google removes its Diversity Strategy Head over 2007 anti-Semitic blog post
Ariel Koren
Project Nimbus
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Marvin Appel, MD, PhD, is president of Signalert Asset Management LLC, which represents and handles over a half-billion dollars in investments of individuals, corporations, and partnerships from across the country. Dr. Appel is an expert in timing models both in their development and in their analysis, and he counsels investors to take advantage of changes in relative strength relationships or to leave the market altogether. His work in developing strategies to reduce risk and optimize portfolio diversification has been reported in Newsday, Forbes.com, Wall Street Transcript, CNBC, and CNNfn. Dr. Appel is a regular contributor to Dental Economics, a contributing editor of the Physician's Money Digest, and is also co-editor of Systems and Forecasts, a newsletter in its 30th year of publication. He is a frequent speaker at conferences for market professionals and is recognized as a national authority on newly developing investment instruments and opportunities, especially exchange-traded funds. Dr. Appel earned his MD in 1991 and a PhD in biomedical engineering in 1992, both from Harvard University, then completed an internship at Massachusetts General Hospital and a residency in anesthesiology at John Hopkins in 1995. Family responsibilities and the subsequent, dramatic changes in healthcare, however, impacted his vision of medicine. He decided to leave the field and pursue capital management--a business that had been his family's focus for more than 20 years.