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The Legend of Lu: Armageddon
October 7, 2021 / Robert Robbins
Rise of the Tulusians
The scene of the barren desert floor flew past Dan's side of the cockpit window at a dizzying rate, but, not to seem weak or wimpy he tried to find immediate relief in stealing glances into Marie's beautiful, pale blue eyes, which were now fixed on the way ahead toward the path of the cave.
After several moments which seemed like little eternities without Marie saying a word, Dan decided to speak first.
"You're a sight for sore eyes, Marie," Dan said, somewhat stiltedly. Marie didn't respond. "I said, you're a sight…"
"What I just can't figure out is how they knew!" Marie said, interrupting Dan. "I mean, it is not like there was a trail. It never rains. The desert floor is practically rock," Marie continued, musing to herself.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't…" Dan began.
"And its not like they had a tracking device on you, could they, Dan?" Marie asked, now looking toward Dan, who sat and stared in perfect perplexity.
"Like I was saying, Marie, I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about," Dan said.
"They obviously found you and took you back to the city. But how did they find you on the mountain? How did they know the path?" Marie questioned rhetorically.
"Who said they brought me back, Marie?" Dan retorted. "Who said I was found?"
"That's true, I suppose, but how did you end up back in the city, then?" Marie responded. The glider was fast approaching the mountain range area where Dan recalled he had been the morning before. Though the place was changed by the waning light of day, it did feel familiar, such that Dan was confident he might know the way back up the path to the cave if let out of the glider.
"I don't know. All I know is that, when I was getting close up the mountain yesterday, I saw a formation of gliders approaching where I thought you were. I must have got too excited, and in my already wearied state, I think I tripped or something and fell and hit my head and lost consciousness," Dan said, then continued. "Which reminds me, that was you, wasn't it, those gliders were surrounding. What happened anyway?" Dan asked.
"What I would have rather not have happened, but what did all the same. I had to use this," Marie said, and produced from behind the pilot seat a bar of metal that gleamed even in the dim light of the glider's cockpit, which now stood still, idling at the base of the mountain.
"What in the world is that!" Dan asked in bewilderment.
"This is a light mace. Very powerful. Very deadly," Marie said gravely.
"You mean for me to believe that you, yourself a, um, girl––I mean young lady––single handedly took out a small fleet of gliders with a, um, piece of shiny metal?" Dan asked, between grunts and chuckles, which made Marie not a little miffed, not to mention a little testy.
"Get out," Marie said in business-like fashion.
"What? No, I mean, it is not like I think girls, I mean ladies are weak or…" Dan said, but was again interrupted.
"Get out. I am coming, too," Marie said, and both exited the glider. Marie walked several paces away from the glider, and motioned for Dan to do the same. "Stand clear the glider, Dan," which he did in obedience. Just then Marie pulled out the light mace and began whirling it in a circular motion about her body with such dexterity and velocity Dan was hard pressed to even see if she held it or had hurled it over her head. Dan was going to ask if now was a very proper time to be dancing like a ballerina with a baton, when, all of a sudden a blinding blast of light shot forth from the end of the light mace which was now poised and pointed toward the glider. As fast as the light appeared, the glider disappeared in enveloping cloud of pure luminescence: no heat, no wind, no sound, just light.
After the cloud, as it were dispersed, or grew less intense, to Dan's utter astonishment the glider was gone. No ashes. No wreckage. No evidence that the thing ever existed.
"What was that!" Dan shouted, which echoed off the foothills of the mountain.
"That," Marie began, chuckling to herself now, "is how a girl single handedly took out a small fleet of gliders," and brushed out the slight wrinkles in her white blouse, and turned toward where the mouth of the path was, with Dan following, mouth half opened.
A time had elapsed before Dan or Marie exchanged any words. Marie was first.
"How far did you get up the path before you had your accident?"
"Oh, I don't know, probably about three-quarters of the way up. There were the stones you talked about. They had writing or drawing on them," Dan said.
"You found the Guides. Good," Marie said. "Did you understand them?"
"I tried and tried to understand, but only got faint impressions that I understood. I felt like they were directing me up the path, but I only had indistinct sense of it," Dan said, struggling to recall the exact memory of the boulder's writings and the impression they left.
The two carried on up the path together, as the day was ending over the mountain. Twilight was descending on the valley below, with soft purple hues mellowing and cooling the hot desert floor beaten by the heat of the day.
"We must hasten, Dan, if we are to make it in time," Marie said, somewhat anxiously.
"Commander Rutherford and his gliders, you mean. I know," said Dan.
"No, silly. Gliders don't operate at sundown," Marie corrected.
"Oh, yea. Forgot about that one. Science, or astro-engineering, was never my strong suit," Dan said, trying to save face. "What do you mean, then?"
"I mean before the launch," said Marie almost casually.
"The launch! What launch?" asked Dan exasperated.
"The launch of the vessel you were supposed to be on yesterday, but decided to get knocked out instead, apparently," Marie said.
"A vessel launch to where?" Dan asked, almost shaking with curiosity.
"Where else, but to the stars?" Marie said, again, casually.
"You're pulling my pant leg, aren't you? To the stars? What does that even mean?" Dan asked in ridicule.
"Sometimes I wonder about my orders and your dossier, and whether I or my superiors made some kind of mix up. You are about as incredulous and backward as a jellyfish, not to mention as weak stomached," Marie retorted.
"Well, what do you mean by to the stars, then?" Dan asked, trying to be more mature and serious.
"If you have any hope to play a lead role in this war, you will have to go up to the stars to do so," Marie said, and quickened her pace ahead of Dan, up the path. Dan tried to keep pace and follow after her, but only managed to keep her in sight, but could not manage to keep the conversation going.
As Dan tried to keep pace after Marie who was tirelessly proceeding straight up the path, his head swam with the words she left with him. What war, he wondered. And to the stars? What could that mean, a figure of speech? He may not have been well-studied or read in science, but he was quite certain that star navigation was a thing of myth and religious legend, not fact or reality. And even the religious legends surrounding the topic were disputed among the scholars. "To the stars…" he murmured to himself, and chuckled and thought no more on it.
"Are you coming or what?' Marie hollered down to Dan, who was trying his best to gain on her.
"Coming," Dan gasped, and continued his labors up the mountain side path. The evening was settling heavy on the land, and things were becoming less visible. Thanks to the distance from the lights of Metro City, along with the clear sky, the stars were able to be seen tonight. Whether because of Marie's words or the beauty of the low-light polluted air, Dan marked the beauty of the night sky as never before. He noticed how no two pinpoints of light were quite alike, with one a sparkle as of an azure gem, another like a white diamond, or burning amber, and a billion others with a billion other colors and complexions, a countless multitude of like treasures unseen, unknown, under the blindingly bright lights of Metro City.
Finally Marie lessened her speed of ascent for Dan to catch up. "We're getting close now, just up and round this last bend, and that's the summit. Did you notice the Guides in the dark?" Marie asked Dan who was now pantingly approaching her position.
"No, only their outline from what I remembered before," Dan said, still somewhat out of breath.
"Oh, never mind. Had you my eyes, you would have seen them. You will," was all her enigmatic reply was, which added now to Dan's perplexity.
They walked now more relaxed, and Marie, allowing Dan to rest a bit here and there against the boulders, gazed up at the stars in admiration.
"Lovely, aren't they," Dan said, rather congratulating himself on his own aesthetic sensitivities and appreciation of the fine and beautiful.
"That wasn't quite how I'd describe them," Marie said with an almost rebuking tone.
"No? Pity. They're beautiful to me, at least. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though," Dan said, now tangibly smug.
"You nitwit. I didn't mean they weren't beautiful. But such words hardly do them justice. No, I'd rather describe them as terrifying," Marie said, and as like one who meant every syllable. Dan presently stopped leaning against a boulder and walked up to where Marie was standing and just stood there staring at her. He noticed her eyes now as they reflected starlight and the distant and faint lights of Metro City, her white uniform and his near the summit of the mountaintop a mere two white specks of reflected starlight amidst a sea of black mass. Her eyes were watery and sincere.
"What do you mean, Marie? Terrifying?" Dan asked in earnest, seeing now she meant every word.
"You will soon see, Dan," and with that proceeded to the very summit of their climb. Dan followed, utterly and unaccountably moved by her words to fear.
Once at the top of the mountain, Marie motioned for Dan to go forward to where a recess of rock was, out of which only blackness shown.
"In there? You want me to go in there? You are coming too, right?" Dan asked, obviously scared.
"No, Dan. This is your launch, not mine. I, as you, had to do the same, alone, and afraid," Marie said sympathetically, but sternly. Dan hesitated moving forward toward the opening of the cave, stopped, and looked back toward Marie, then past her down the mountain. She guessed his thoughts.
"You know where that way leads. It is to the unknown that you must now go," Marie said.
"Can't you at least tell me what this is all about? I mean what war, and where do you really come from, and how is it that you were able to annihilate a glider with a rod of metal, and how am I to go to the stars?" Dan pleaded.
"No, Dan. You must go and see for yourself. I can only bring you to the brink of truth. You must look and leap over yourself, and trust," and with that she slowly turned away and sat nearby on the ground. Dan turned back around toward the mouth of the mystery which lay before him. Slowly he approached the cave's entrance. It was not large, about ten feet or so in diameter, rough-edged from what the reflecting surface indicated, but formidable to Dan's spirit and senses. His legs quaked beneath him, yet he still approached. He looked back for the last time, and saw Marie sitting on the ground, her head resting on her knees and encouragingly watched him. He waved back to her, then turned and entered into the darkness of the cave.
The recess inside the cave must have been vast, for Dan could not perceive the returning echoes of his foot falls. He walked cautiously in, deeper and deeper, till neither city or star light shone in, but only enveloping black. He could not even see himself.
Soon, a tiny pinpoint of light glowed faint in what appeared to be to Dan an unfathomable distance ahead. He proceeded toward it, but it did not enlarge. The light simply remained the same, neither higher, nor lower than Dan's eye on the horizon. Anxiety welled up in Dan, but still be carried on through the darkness toward the pinpoint of light.
"What is this," Dan said aloud, walking now for five minutes toward the light without change. "Surely I should have found something by now!" The floor of the cave was smooth, not like the rocky surfacing outside. It made no sound to walk upon, nor, as Dan now observed, did there carry any sound of the walls of the cave or ceiling. The only things perceptible were his own body, the feel of the floor, and that light. Soon however, to Dan's utter terror, the floor even gave way beneath his feet. He tried to step backward, as like someone who just stepped over a cliff hurriedly returns to the edge, but to no avail. There was no edge. But, to add to Dan's terror was his astonishment that he did not feel like he was falling either. He didn't feel motion. He only felt himself and that light. His focus returned to the light, as he calmed himself down from the fright of thinking he was falling.
The light remained as it ever had, just as small, faint and distant as always. Suddenly, he had a thought, which was that perhaps the thing itself was alive, moving away from him as he approached? The idea swept over his body like a wave of heat and fear, and his hair instantly stood on end.
"Fear not, Son of Woman. You are welcome," came the voice, or rather a voice like a chorus of voices: voices like a thousand thunderclaps in power and majesty, yet as quiet as softly spoken prayers. Dan quaked uncontrollably, quite helpless to stop. "Be still. Be not afraid. You are known," came the voices, like a gentle rainfall in spring. The sound of the voices calmed Dan to his bones, and the shivers ceased, and fear gave way to curiosity and almost something like affection, if one could feel for something completely other and unknown.
"What are you?" Dan asked, his own voice in his ears sounding like a mouse squeaks. "Where are you?" All Dan could see was the steady, still light in the distance. "Are you in the light?"
"We are the Light!" came the voices, swelling in might like the roar of the sea, yet Dan was no more frightened than if he were listening to the ocean surf.
"How can something so small sound so mighty and terrible?" asked Dan, now becoming more relaxed.
"Better to ask, how can something so mighty and terrible seem so small! Distance does make the mighty and magnificent seem insignificant and small. We are not as you perceive. It is a grace and curtesy we thus appear, Son of Woman," sounded the voices. Dan couldn't quite understand what that meant, but he took it to mean they weren't small.
"Marie said I needed to come in to this cave to figure out who I was, and to go to the stars. Something about a vessel and a launch? Does any of that mean anything to you?" Dan asked.
"Lady Marie is known to us. She renders honorable service and wise. Listen to her," said the voices. Dan almost added, "She can be somewhat snarky, though," but thought better of it.
"So what about this launch to the stars, and about who I am and all?" Dan asked again.
"Are you ready, then, Son of Woman? Are you ready to take that flight?" the voices inquired.
"I think so. Coming in here was dreadfully scary enough. I think after doing that I am up for about anything," Dan answered with not undue confidence.
"Then continue to approach the light. You will feel a slight tug on your body, but not to worry, you are in no physical danger," said the voices. This last bit worked to somewhat lessen Dan's confidence. He approached the light all the same. As he did so, a tugging on his body was felt, first at his toes and his finger tips, then up his legs and arms, and then on his core and chest and head. The feeling was uncanny, unlike any sensation he had ever felt before. He felt as though, were he a rubber band, he might know the sensation intimately. He could not see himself, but if he were he would not recognize himself. He was flatter than a flapjack. Little did Dan know he was entering another dimension through what his science textbooks would have called wormholes, but what was more like a hallway than a wormhole. He kept his eye fixed on the light.
"Say, when's this tugging and pulling on me going to end?" Dan asked, but the voices didn't respond. Then all of a sudden the blackness vanished or transformed into light, pure white light, or rather lights, as the room or space where Dan was was surrounded, above, below, and all around by a field of innumerable and unimaginably bright lights. Dan closed his eyes and opened them several times before he could keep them open without searing pain. The tugging sensation in his body subsided, but was still present. So he thought no more about it.
The lights all around him fluttered in intensity, then started to separate from each, or distance themselves, and take up space apart from each other, such that an intervening darkness or void could be seen between them. Up until now, all was silent, but now a faint sounding hum could be heard, but the hum of bees, but more tuneful, like a thousand violins all on the same note. Then, two things happened at once, the lights began to move about in orbiting circle around some invisible center, and the monotonous hum turned into a chorus of a hundred harmonies each mingling into each and yet distinct and independent. Then, though, two more things happened simultaneously, many of the lights which were twirling round and round in perfect pattern and poise dimmed noticeably, then blinked out all together, though, by the way the patterned orbits ran, Dan noticed that they must still be there since a shadow was being cast over the lights behind them, dimming their appearance every once and a while. That, and there sounded in Dan's ear or rather he felt it in his chest, a rumbling, arrhythmical cacophony of low notes like the sound of whole symphony of out of tune cellos. Dan did not like this new music.
Then one light, brighter than the rest and remaining in its twirling orbit conjoined with other lights. These lights whirled round the regions where Dan saw the other lights go out. Then the scene changed from a great field of light and music to blackness as before in the cave. Not even the distant light shown. Dan could not hear the music either, neither the sweet sounds of the lights or the bitter of the shadows. A time had elapsed before Dan was about to ask aloud what happened, he could see opening up in the darkness what appeared to be a door which let light flood into the darkness of the space Dan was in. He could see himself again, his white uniform, dusty and worn, the floor of the cave, smooth but rock-solid, and the walls of the cave around, bare and ordinary.
He felt a strong desire to approach and enter through the door, to see what lay on the other side. He pushed open the door, wooden, rather ordinary to the touch, with a metal knob. The light again blinded him, but not unnaturally so, like the feeling one gets flipping on a light in the dark at bedtime.
"Son, my son, come in," came rich masculine voice, which stirred Dan's heart and made his throat throb with not unwelcome pain. As Dan entered he saw a man, old but not elderly, with a trimmed salt and pepper beard, sitting on a pleasantly cushioned sofa. "Son, come and sit," said the man, who seemed so familiar yet a stranger to Dan.
"Who are you?" asked Dan with a respectful tone. "Are you one of the lights?" The man looked up at Dan and gave out a hearty holiday bellowing laughter which only after sometime did he recaver from. Then the man spoke, rubbing the mirth from his eyes.
"Oh, my boy, my boy. No I am not one of the lights," and chuckled again to himself. "I'm afraid I have too much flesh and bones for all that. I am your father," and looked lovingly and intently at Dan with his big brown eyes as warm as a fireside. "You are my son, Daniel Goodman. I gave you that name." Dan's head swam again with puzzlement. Give him dark caves, thunderous voices, unknown lights, and he is comfortably shaken a bit. Set him before his own flesh and blood father, and he melts like a wax candle too close to the fireplace.
"My, my father?" he uttered, with tears welling up full in his emerald green eyes. "You're my father? I don't understand. My father?"
"Yes son. It is time you know of your birth into the world. You are not of your time but mine, which is long before yours. Here we are where there is no time nor place but only between. Here your mother and I brought you…"
"My mother! Is she here, too?" Dan interrupted.
"No son. Your mother is not here. She has moved on from here to where we all shall dwell happily together at the appointed time. I have remained here for you for this moment," Dan's father said, sweetly but with a very keen note of sadness. He continued, "We brought you here to the between from the place of earth for there was a terrible place, overrun by hate and sadness. We wanted to show our gratitude to those who saved us, and offered you into their service, which they graciously accepted. We were told you must go back to the place of earth, but at the appointed time. We could not go, we were told. So only after a little while in the place between, when you were strong enough for crossing back, did we leave you in the care you have since received," Dan was intently following this narrative of his biography closely and with great interest, when all his father reached out to hold his hand, and continued, "Son, that was the most painful thing I have ever done, to give you away," and tenderly squeezed Dan's hand, which filled his heart full to the eyes again.
"I think I am beginning to understand," Dan said, still holding his father's hand. "So this is the appointed time, then, when we can all be together?"
"Not yet, son. You have not yet completed your task. The world has grown wicked again. The time is ripe for the harvest, but few there are for the gathering. You must help reap in the yield, son, or else such will be left for the grazing and fire," his father said, releasing Dan's hand and standing up. Dan hardly noticed the room they had been standing in. An ordinary, if not quaint looking room, homely decorated with pictures of people and places he'd never seen before. A bay window let yellow sunlight in just behind the sofa. A scene of an old dirt drive stretched out into the horizon with golden fields on either side. A warm but waning sun was setting low over the fields. Dan noticed an old oak tree with long, low branches, on which was tied a tire swing which was gently swaying the evening breeze.
"What must I do, father?" Dan said, now standing up alongside his father. Both looked out onto the scene of the setting sun.
"You must believe and do what your fathers have ever believed and done, son. And you must help others to do the same," Dan's father said.
"That sounds easy enough," Dan said.
"That is easy, yes, son, but you will be opposed at every turn. And those to whom you are sent will oppose you. Do not take this task lightly, for then you shall fail," his father said, now very grave, which made Dan look up at him instead of out the window. "The window is closing and you must return to the place of earth now."
"No! Wait! I don't understand," Dan said desperately.
"You understand enough, Dan, my son, enough," was all his father said, and turned toward him, and kissed him on the head, then motioned for him to exit the door back into the cave. With tears again in his eyes, Dan did as he was bade and walked slowly toward the door to leave, then turned back toward his father who was looking lovingly at him and smilingly, though a tear could be seen rolling down his right cheek into his grey beard.
"We'll leave the lights on, Dan. Come home soon," Dan heard his father say as he passed into the cave from the open door. He looked behind him, but the door slowly slipped shut, the shaft of light ever shortening to nothing. Dan turned toward the opening of the cave and went out into the night air.
← The Thirteen Strategies of Spiritual War
The Thirteen Strategies of Spiritual War →


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Your comments: 20 January 2016
Here are your comments on topics covered in the last two weeks. We look forward to hearing from you.
mailto:talkback@csp.org.uk
Mindfulness approaches are gaining popularity and the physiotherapists in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board have been particularly interested. The first eight-week course specifically for physiotherapy staff was delivered two years ago and another starts later this month.
We see ourselves as being champions for this approach as it fits well with our view of rehabilitation, supported self-management and the benefits of a strong mind-body connection. We are keen to develop a robust personal practice and bring the benefits of a mindful approach into our work culture and interactions with patients and colleagues.
In the musculoskeletal service (MSK) we wanted to progress the application of mindfulness by focusing initially on staff wellbeing. We were supported by the MSK service manager Janice Miller and senior managers. With two other senior members of staff, John Muir and Aileen O'Gorman, I trained as a mindfulness teacher on a Mindfulness Scotland (a local charity) one-year teacher training course.
We were supported financially through the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) fellowship scheme. After qualifying, we delivered half-day taster sessions to 90 interested members of staff and 22 of them have now enrolled on an eight-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course starting shortly.
This course will be delivered by two physiotherapists, myself and Stephanie Wilson from the NHS Centre for Integrative Care. We are members of Mindfulness Scotland, along with two other NHS physiotherapists.
The interest in the benefits of mindfulness is building within the board and Stephanie and I are linking with board-wide developments. You can find out more about mindfulness and its benefits in a forthcoming edition of Frontline.
Karen Glass is a practice development physiotherapist, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde; email: Karen.Glass@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Fond farewell
Everyone at Alcester Integrated Health Team and within South Warwickshire NHS Trust wishes Marsha Fernihough a very happy retirement after 27 years at the trust.
Marsha started at Alcester Hospital as a domestic assistant at 19, moving on to become a healthcare assistant in the community hospital.
Next, Marsha supported the physiotherapy team as an assistant, progressing on to becoming a technical instructor on the elderly rehabilitation wards and day hospital.
Following the closure of Alcester Hospital, Marsha moved into Alcester's community team, working with the physiotherapy team as a technical instructor in people's homes.
We wish Marsha all the best in her retirement and thank her for all her hard work and dedication to services in Alcester over the years.
Kelly Rossborough, band 6 physiotherapist, Alcester Integrated Health Team
Frontline and various
Advice Line: the European Professional Card
Going greener: does the natural environment really help health and wellbeing?
Getting personal: personal budgets in the NHS
Testing times: HCPC audit

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Auto of the Month: 2014 Corvette Stingray
by Sam DeHority
Remember how much fun your first go-kart ride was? How giddy you were as you zipped around corners and in between your buddies? How widely you smiled after a day at the track?
Okay, now imagine yourself a few decades older. Replace the dinky go-kart engine with a sleek 6.2 liter, 455-horsepower V-6, tighten up the handling, swap in an expertly designed cabin and exterior, and switch the track for the challenging back roads of Northern California. Then take that giddy feeling and multiply it by about 1,000.
That's what it's like driving the 2014 Corvette Stingray, a ride that promises to have a slew of Vette fans salivating for what might be the best iteration ever.
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On the outside, the first thing that strikes you are the deep grooves and large vent on the hood, designed to increase aerodynamics and keep the engine cool, respectively. The actual chassis is about 50% stiffer than the previous generation's, as it's built entirely out of aluminum (which also slashes the weight by 100 pounds). The hard top is easily removed and stows away neatly in the trunk, if you're so inclined. The classic Corvette flags are proudly emblazoned on the hood, and the iconic Stingray is splashed across the sides. It's a design that combines contemporary beauty with brutal aggression in a sleek, streamlined package.
Step into the cabin, and you're greeted by bucket seats stitched with premium leather. An intuitive center stack allows you to control your entertainment and climate, as well as plug in your destination. Just below the stack, to the left of the shifter, lies a small but enormously important knob, which allows you to select your "driver mode"—Eco, Wet, Touring, Sport, or Track. Switch from one to another and the car adjusts up to a dozen aspects of the ride, including the way your speedometer looks (three different pre-set digital configurations) and the stiffness of the steering.
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While the interior is impressive, it's the engine that, rightfully, steals the show. Slam the pedal and it unleashes a throaty growl that's accompanied by an equally aggressive acceleration (0–60 in 3.8 seconds). On the automatic, you can temper the speed or unleash the horses as early as you'd like, thanks to intuitively located paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Opt for the manual, and the paddles are still there, but they're not for shifting. They're for the Vette's rev-match technology, designed to help you avoid an awkward lurch when shifting up or down (and it does a fantastic job, to boot). The vehicle is designed to race, and it'll handle cornering that exceeds 1G. Steering is stiff enough to keep the vehicle firmly under your control, without feeling as if you're battling the machine.
The bottom line: This is a car that's meant for spirited driving, no matter how old you are. With a base price that's just north of $50,000, it's one that'll make you smile even wider than your first trip around that go-kart track. The difference is that this time, the only things that'll outpace the engine are the heads that whip around as you drive by.
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Earlier this week one of Mexico's greatest writers, and one of the world's most admired champions of ideas and letters, died in Mexico City. An ardent supporter of libraries, Carlos was honored in 2001 with a Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award for his lifelong commitment to literature. The magnitude of his influence was felt when he returned to the Central Library last year for ALOUD, speaking to a truly diverse Angeleno audience that spanned generations, from children to grandparents who grew up with his work. "If the library disappears, we too will disappear. We will become ghosts," he said when asked about the future of libraries. He saw a void in the world without libraries, and this week the world feels a void with his passing.
Carlos Fuentes with Sergio Muñoz-Bata. All photos by Gary Leonard.
Carlos will be greatly missed by our entire community for his fierce intellectual spirit and imagination, and for providing an immensely beautiful voice for humanity everywhere. Watch the video of Carlos' conversation with journalist Sergio Muñoz-Bata:
Consider becoming a member of the Library Foundation to help strengthen the mission of the Los Angeles Public Library. As a thank you, we have a limited number of signed copies of Fuentes' novel Destiny and Desire that you can select as part of the ALOUD bookshelf benefit when joining the Foundation at an ALOUD program at the Supporter level or higher.
You can find a range of Carlos' work at the Los Angeles Public Library. Browse the library's collection here.


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Gordon Tullock (ur. 13 lutego 1922, zm. 3 listopada 2014) – ekonomista amerykański, współtwórca i jeden z czołowych przedstawicieli szkoły wyboru publicznego.

Ukończył studia prawnicze na uniwersytecie w Chicago (1947). Przez wiele lat był profesorem prawa i ekonomii na Uniwersytecie George'a Masona w Fairfax (Wirginia). Wraz z Jamesem Buchananem jest współtwórcą teorii wyboru publicznego (Public Choice Theory). Autor szeregu znanych publikacji na tym obszarze, w tym m.in. The Calculus of Consent (1962, wraz z Buchananem), The Logic of the Law, The Politics of Bureaucracy, The Social Dilemma, Autocracy, The Economics of Non-Human Societies, Rent Seeking oraz On Voting.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne

Absolwenci Uniwersytetu Chicagowskiego
Amerykańscy ekonomiści
Urodzeni w 1922
Zmarli w 2014
Członkowie Stowarzyszenia Mont Pelerin

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We offer online preparation of Form 1040NR, Form 1040NR-EZ, dual status and resident federal tax returns and make it fast, convenient and affordable to our clients abroad. Also we prepare all required state income tax returns.
You submit your tax information to us by sending it to our mail – taxonline@taxtargetgroup.com or by downloading it in your cabinet at H&R Block site.
We will prepare your return and submit it to you for your approval by e-mail.
After you review, approve and sign a PDF copy of your return, we will electronically file income tax return, if it is eligible, or arrange to paper file Forms.


AmEx just TRUMPED Chase…and it's GREAT news for you!
There is a war going on in your wallet and you don't even know it!
AmEx just released an update of benefits to their Gold/PRG (Premium Rewards Gold) card.
Most of you know our fondness for the Chase Reserve card. We've written many posts about it. However, AmEx just released a beast on Chase and it's great news for you!
We love our Chase Rsv and use it for the 3X bonus earnings. When we spend $1 in certain categories (food/travel) you get 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That's about one of the best earnings you can get for those categories these days, until NOW!
Look what AmEx Just did with their rebrand/update now calling it the AmEx Gold Card.
AmEx is now offering 4X per $1 US dollar at US restaurants and 4X per $1 US dollar at US supermarkets (up to $25k a year).
Well played AmEx…but, what are my thoughts.
First, my AmEx Gold PRG now called AmEx Gold card has always been in my wallet. Those of you that have come to our travel sessions know our goal. What is it? To earn a minimum of 2 of something back on every dollar we spend. 2 points, 2¢, two of something back. Under the old terms of the PRG card you got 2X per $1 US dollar at grocery stores. We'd use the Gold PRG card for grocery visits and the Chase Rsv for everything else. Getting us a min of 2X at most places we spend money. Helping with that 2 of something goal.
But…it seems AmEx is doing something different from Chase. The Chase Reserve will cost you an annual fee of $450, however you get $300 of that back giving you a net amount of $150. Basically costing you $150 for a Priority Pass membership.
AmEx is giving you an annual credit of $120 a year to these restaurants.
This is a $10 monthly credit that can be used at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Shake Shack. $120 dining credit is annually.
This cancels out all but $30 of the annual fee, IF, you use the benefits. If you find yourself at one of these restaurants a month, and use the annual airfare credit, you are crazy not to get and use the card.
For the first CARD MEMBER year, you will get the $100 travel credit twice, ($200, 1 per calendar year) and the $120 dining credits, basically cancelling out the $250 fee.
In October 2019, the 2X on U.S. Gas Stations will be removed from the Gold Card for all current Gold Card Members who were approved before October 4, 2018.
You can see a full list of the card benefits by clicking here. You'll notice great benefits like no foreign transaction fee, the hotel collection, membership rewards, roadside assistance and many insurance offerings.
You will notice there is NO benefit of Priority Pass.
Not everything is perfect with the AmEx Gold card. There's one little thing, that 4x is only in the U.S. As we travel frequently, we will still use our Chase Rsv as it will continue to earn 3x anywhere in the world.
Chase is also more liberal with what codes as 3X for travel. We've seen Uber, parking meters and more.
Plus not all businesses take American Express, so it will be nice to have a back up with our Chase Reserve.
I thought Chase Ultimate Rewards points were GOLD?? What can I do with AmEx Membership Rewards Points??
Just like chase, AmEx Membership Rewards points transfer to many travel partners. Marriott, Delta, ANA, Singapore, Hawaiian, Jetblue and Hilton are just a few.
There are MANY ways to use AmEx Membership Reward points….
Many are seeing a current sign up offer of 50k MR points with $2,000 spent in 3 months. Some are seeing 25K MR points. Obviously, if you can get the 50k, get it.
$100 statement credit. We'll Pick Up the Tip. Receive 20% back as a statement credit at U.S. Restaurants with The American Express® Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership, up to $100 back.
Another great benefit, they will offer a metal Rose Gold option until January 2019!
While the war in my wallet continues between Chase and AmEx, I'll happily sit back and be the beneficiary of this battle. 3x, 4x anything but 1x is a plus gain to me. This will help us with our goal of 2 of something back for every $1 we spend. Which also gets us closer to our travel goals. PLUS a (depending on how you use it) reimbursed annual fee makes this a big win for us.
Thoughts? Will you be adding or moving the AmEx Gold PRG to the front of your wallet?


Grandmaster Repertoire is a new series of high quality books based on the main lines, written by strong grandmasters. The aim is to provide the reader with a complete repertoire at a level good enough for elite tournaments, and certainly also for the club championship. Grandmaster Repertoire provides a repertoire to last a lifetime.
This book offers an active Black repertoire against The English Opening 1.c4, the Reti 1.Nf3, and their siblings that arise after 1.g3. The authors advocate for seizing space in the centre with ...c6 and d5, followed up by ...e4 or ...d4. They pay special attention on the ideas behind the moves, leaving the detailed coverage for the "Step by Step" sections.
'The Full English Opening' is the first one-volume book that covers all variations of the English Opening (1. c4). Carsten Hansen dedicates special attention to the transition into the early middlegame. You will learn how to define specific plans, lay out a strategic goal, and find positional and tactical targets. Supported by examples and exercises, you will be able to enjoy the greatest asset of the English Opening: its versatility.
In this book, International Master David Cummings presents the reader with a complete English repertoire. The English is, by its nature, highly transpositional. Black can opt for a King's Indian-type set-up, a Queen's Gambit Declined-type set-up or aim for a reversed Sicilian position. David identifies promising methods to meet all Black's main options and efficient methods to deal with awkward sidelines.
This book offers to meet the new challenges to Black by building an English Hedgehog formation. The authors not only recommend a contemporary move order after the ditch has been set, but they also explain how to reach this goal with various move orders for White. The book is all the more convincing as it is based on the successful practical experience of one of the authors.
Ideal for those wanting to understand the basics of the English Opening. The English is a sophisticated and popular opening system that is suitable for all types of players and can lead to both positional and tactical middlegames. Many of the world's top players, including Kasparov and Kramnik, include the English in their openings weaponry.
This book aims to arm White players adequately against Black's most dangerous answer to 1.c4 - 1...e5. It is written from White's standpoint, but it should also serve Black players since the authors often discuss several alternatives to the main lines. The focus is on the modern variations 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 and 4.d3.
These collections have proven to be valuable to players who wish to see typical mistakes and how they are punished. But many readers simply find these games very entertaining. Quick victories have always been popular for light reading - the thrust of a quick mating attack or win has a certain attraction. Bill Wall adds light notes to illustrate better lines, or the continuation when an early resignation leaves it not too obvious how material will be lost or mate will follow.
An active opening repertoire for White! The English is a sophisticated opening which is very popular at all levels of chess: from up-and-coming players to World Champions such as Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. It has many attractions, including flexibility and diversity: White can play either aggressively or quietly, and positions are rich in both strategy and tactics.
The ever popular English Attack has long been considered harmless against the Taimanov Sicilian, until in recent years some remarkable improvements were found for White. Armenian grandmaster Zaven Andriasyan has thoroughly and systematically investigated this unexplored chess opening territory. He explains the plans and counterplans, and unveils the structures behind the various lines. While doing so, Andriasyan presents a wealth of highly interesting new ideas and novelties.
Howard Staunton (1810 - 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as having been the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851. He promoted a chess set of clearly distinguishable pieces of standardised shape that is still the style which must be used for competitions. He was the principal organizer of the first international chess tournament in 1851. From 1840 onwards he became a leading chess commentator, and won matches against top players of the 1840s. However, the achievement of Staunton have been neglected or even ignored by his own countrymen and this book seeks to rectify that.
This book covers all the tactical themes and typical traps in the main lines of the English, the Dutch and the Reti, as well as a couple of interesting gambits. They are explained in more than 200 carefully selected and annotated short games.
An understanding of Hedgehog structures is an essential component in any chessplayer's knowledge. These structures arise when the black c-pawn is exchanged early on for the white d-pawn (as in the Sicilian Defence). White then adopts a formation with pawns on c4 and e4 and Black curls up in a Hedgehog formation with pawns on a6, b6, d6 and e6.
In this book, the second of the series, the author continues shares the experiences, setbacks and successes of his career as a professional player. Drawing on his own games, which encompass all stages of his career including that of strong grandmaster, he reveals his thought process at the critical moments and shows the reader how to avoid the most common mistakes.
More than 125 years ago, one of the first great chess books appeared. The Modern Chess Instructor, Part I, written by then world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, was released in 1889. It was his magnum opus, setting forth for the first time the principles of modern chess. It is no exaggeration to say that Steinitz's writings have influenced every great player. This 21st century edition has converted the archaic English descriptive notation to algebraic and reformatted the text so that it conforms to the expectations of the 21st century chessplayer. The Modern Chess Instructor's rare second part, published in 1895, has also been added. The result is a genuine treasure trove of original ideas coupled with exposition of the foundation of modern chess theory. Every chessplayer will find The Modern Chess Instructor enjoyable and instructive, a journey back to the theoretical roots of modern chess.
Ilya Maizelis's masterpiece is the definitive introduction to the game of chess. It has inspired generations of Russians to take up the game, including arguably the two greatest players of all time, the 12th and 13th World Champions. The Soviet Chess Primer is a modern English translation of Maizelis's witty introduction to the royal game. This new edition of a timeless classic includes an original foreword from the 2nd World Champion, Emanuel Lasker, as well as an introduction from the most celebrated chess trainer of modern times, Mark Dvoretsky.


Of the 20 students completing the program between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, number who completed the program within the normal time reported above.
This rate is based on program completers who were employed within 180 days of completion and were employed for at least 13 weeks.
How were the graduates tracked?
What agencies (state or accrediting), if any, is this rate reported to?


text:
Q: Nagios check for service not if host is up I'm looking for a little direction on this one. We have 8 mobile servers, and at anytime one can go offline and be moved to a different location. I don't want Nagios to send me an alert if a system goes offline. I would like it to just send an alert on a service, CPU gets to hot, etc. I have everything working fine as of right now, apart from the fact that I get alerts when the system goes down.
As I said these servers are online and offline constantly over the course of a two week period. So getting a message at 3:00AM on a Saturday telling me a system is offline, I can care less about. I'm more concerned about something overheating. So any advice would be appreciated on how to tackle this?

A: You probably want to switch off host notifications, rather than host checks. Nagios only alerts on service failures if it thinks the host is up; if you switch off host checks then you will get a flood of service notifications when the host goes away.
To switch off host notifications, set notification_options to n like this:
define host {
    use                    generic-host
    host_name              example
    address                192.168.1.254
    notification_options   n
}

(assuming you have a definition of generic-host somewhere else)

A: Not sure I understand correctly, but you want only the service notification, not host checks?
If this is the case, you can probably do it in the config, but in the past I have just gone into the web interface, click 'Host Detail', then the host, and then "Disable notifications for this host".
Maybe for the config, you just don't specify a check_command in the host definition or any templates that the host definition inherits from?
Update:
Okay, so maybe you want to make it so in the notification_options for the service, you don't include u which is for 'send notifications on an UNREACHABLE state'. It might be something like service_notification_options as well, look at these in this object definitions section of the Nagios documentation.
Another route that I think you might be able to take is to make the services a dependency of the host checks, and not get notified of the host checks.  Not as sure about this option though.
None of this is an exact answer, but hopefully points you in the right direction...

A: If I'm understanding correctly, you want to monitor services attached to the host but not the host itself.
The key is to use a host definition which does not define check_command. You may, for example, be extending host definition linux-server - this does define check_command and so is unsuitable. Instead you should use, for example, generic-host e.g.
define host{
    name                            nocheck-host
    use                             generic-host
    }

One caveat to be aware of is that if Nagios already has your host in a 'down' state it may stay in a down state after Nagios restart. Because Nagios thinks its down, it won't send notifications for the services. To get around that you can send a passive check to the host to force Nagios to reset the state of that host (do this from the web frontend).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Free Weekday Wellness Sessions with Charitable Travel and The Mintridge Foundation this summer.
Win a mentoring session with double Olympian Marilyn Okoro.
New social enterprise travel agency Charitable Travel has today (Monday 13 July) launched a partnership with The Mintridge Foundation and Atlantic City USA to provide free, Olympic inspired, Weekday Wellness sessions for families to help keep children active and learn about fitness and nutrition during the school holidays, with the opportunity to ask advice from world-class athletes.
Charitable Travel Weekday Wellness is a series of live, online sessions, hosted by personal trainer and Charitable Travel Wellness Ambassador Jenny Tomei, held at 8am via Zoom every weekday from 13 July throughout the summer holidays. Incorporating fun and flexible full bodyweight work outs and covering ideas and tips on diet and nutrition, the sessions will provide young people of all ages, abilities and physical capabilities with the chance to increase their fitness participation and create greater knowledge of health and wellbeing. The interactive sessions hosted by Jenny will also offer young people the opportunity to ask Olympic and Paralympic athletes' advice.
The Mintridge Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport, working with sporting role models from a wide range of disciplines to develop confidence, resilience and create awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing. Over 40 team and individual athlete Mintridge Ambassadors will drop in to some sessions to answer questions from participants and parents can nominate children (aged between 9 – 18) for the chance to win a virtual Mintridge mentoring session with double Olympian Marilyn
Okoro.
Charitable Travel is the first of its kind, social enterprise travel agency providing travellers with the unique opportunity to donate 5% of the cost of their holiday to a charity of their choice through a partnership with JustGiving. The sport empowerment charity The Mintridge Foundation has been selected as one of the travel company's recommended charities for 2020 thanks to its fantastic work in engaging and mentoring young people across the UK,
harnessing the power of positive sporting role models to improve lives. Atlantic City, USA, a destination offering a wide range of sporting activities on the beach, water and boardwalk is also partnering with the initiative to celebrate the importance of active lifestyles both at home and when on holiday.
Melissa Tilling, Charitable Travel commented:
"We have clear objectives to support local communities and are keen to embrace the need to keep talking about wellbeing, whether in fitness, mindfulness or nutrition. Charitable Travel's Weekday Wellness will provide families with easy, free access to a daily session, Monday to Friday, covering a work-out, warm down, stretches and advice about the relationship we all have with food. Whilst the sessions are free, we would love those taking part to make a small donation of £10 per week to The Mintridge Foundation through a special JustGiving link shared during sign-up".
Heather Colache, Director Tourism of Meet AC from Atlantic City commented:
"We are delighted to be supporting this great wellness activity with Charitable Travel. We want to celebrate the iconic tourism attractions available in Atlantic City but also remind visitors that we have great fitness, wellbeing and mindfulness opportunities on the water, the beach, the Boardwalk, in our resort hotels and our nearby county and state parks".
Alex Wallace, Managing Director & Founder of The Mintridge Foundation, and Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year 2018 Grassroots Winner; Women of the Future 2017 Sport Winner said:
"Weekday Wellness is the perfect way to kickstart our partnership with Charitable Travel. Our mission is to promote greater physical and mental health through sport and this perfectly aligns. Having purpose and motivation over the past few months has been extremely difficult for so many and we are delighted to be joining the initiative to help so many build regular physical and mental wellbeing into their routines."
To sign up to the free, Olympic inspired Charitable Travel Weekday Wellness sessions register here. Participation is free, however, those joining will be invited to donate £10
to The Mintridge Foundation to help support their work in communities across the country.


TiVo has been getting lots of media attention lately, and with the mass media reporting, a lot of facts seem to get twisted around to put a spin on the story.
Read more about Does TiVo Spy on You?
You may have looked at the front of a home theater receiver or at the back of a DVD or Blu-Ray box and wondered what "DTS" stood for. DTS is the acronynm for Digital Theater Systems. This company develops standards for compressing multi-channel audio information for movies and music into a single digital signal.
Read more about What is DTS?


Image Copyright | © 2010 – 2016 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
Square Enix recently shared some details about the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV expansion, titled Stormblood, but I've got a hunch about what they haven't shared. At this point, we know that the expansion is going to be released on June 20, 2017, and we know that the Red Mage has been confirmed as one of the new jobs being added to the game. We also know that there are new dungeons, new raids, the level cap is increasing to 70, and that much of the expansion will take place in Ala Mhigo. All of this information and more is available on the Stormblood website.
What we don't know, and what many people are wondering, is what other job is going to be added to the game in this expansion. I want to make it clear now that this article is purely speculation, food for thought if you will, so you won't find any official breaking news here. Theories and speculation have exploded all over the internet, with most people assuming that the next job is either going to be Samurai, or Blue Mage. Some of the arguments are compelling, some of them are silly, and some of them are simply hopeful. People have pointed out the Spiderman shirt that director/producer Naoki Yoshida wore at the Final Fantasy Fan Festival in Tokyo, saying that it could be a hint. Others have speculated that it could be the Beastmaster, the Dancer, or even the Chemist. I think all of these theories are wrong, and instead subscribe to an idea that seems much less popular. I think it will be the Geomancer.
The Geomancer has made appearances in FF3, FF5, FF6 (sort of), was going to be part of Aeris' character in FF7 before eventually being scrapped, FF11, FF Tactics, FF Tactics A2, FF Type-0, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Artniks, FF Airborne Brigade, FF All The Bravest, FF Record Keeper, FF Explorers, the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game, and the Final Fantasy Portal App – Triple Triad. The Geomancer is ingrained in Final Fantasy lore and culture.
Next, let's take a look at the current job breakdown for FFXIV, and the role each one plays.
Given that this expansion is also called Stormblood, I feel like this is a nod toward the power found in nature. Additionally, in FF Tactics, the prerequisite job needed to unlock the Geomancer is the Monk. While this wouldn't be consistent with being a Ranged Magical DPS job, it might explain some of the apparent Monk fighting footage in the Stormblood trailer.
While we don't know what the next job in FFXIV will be, I think we can all agree on the fact that FFXIV has come a long way since the beginning and has a bright future ahead. Whatever the next job is, I'm sure it will capture the spirit of Final Fantasy.


text:
Q: Website Azure connection on mulitple subdomains We are hosting a website on our webserver. That website needs to connect to Azure/Adfs. Users need to login through Azure/Adfs to access some parts of the site.
But it only works half. I can connect on "customer.nl", but on "subdomain.customer.nl" I get a "NONCE error".
There is a "Startup" class, which inherits from "UmbracoDefaultOwinStartup" (an Umbraco override for the regular OwinStartup). The class has a "ConfigureAuth" method, which sets the configurationparameters. One of them is the RedirectUri, and it's set (via web.config) to "customer.nl".
The "startup" code:
[assembly: OwinStartup(typeof(Ip.Startup))]
namespace Customername {
    public class Startup : UmbracoDefaultOwinStartup {
        string redirectUri = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["RedirectUri"];

        public new void Configuration(IAppBuilder app) {
            ConfigureAuth(app);
            app.MapSignalR();
            base.Configuration(app);
        }

        public void ConfigureAuth(IAppBuilder app) {
            app.SetDefaultSignInAsAuthenticationType(
                CookieAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationType);
            app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions(){
                CookieManager = new SystemWebCookieManager()
            });
            app.UseOpenIdConnectAuthentication(
            new OpenIdConnectAuthenticationOptions {
                ClientId = clientId,
                Authority = authority,
                RedirectUri = redirectUri,
                PostLogoutRedirectUri = redirectUri,
                Scope = OpenIdConnectScope.OpenIdProfile,
                ResponseType = OpenIdConnectResponseType.IdToken,
                TokenValidationParameters = new TokenValidationParameters() {
                    ValidateIssuer = false
                },
                Notifications = new OpenIdConnectAuthenticationNotifications {
                    AuthenticationFailed = OnAuthenticationFailed
                }
            });
        }
    }
}

If I try to login on "subdomain.customer.nl", I redirected to login.microsoftonline.com but I see a "redirect_url=customer.nl" in the URL.
The function to redirect a unauthenticated user is:
public void SignIn(string ReturnUrl = "/") {
    if (!Request.IsAuthenticated) {
        HttpContext.GetOwinContext().Authentication.Challenge(
            new AuthenticationProperties { RedirectUri = ReturnUrl },
            OpenIdConnectAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationType);
        }
    }
}

But changing the RedirectUri in this function doesn't change the 'Redirect_Uri' in the login.microsoftonline.com url.
If I login on subdomain.customer.nl, I get returned to customer.nl with the following querystring (I've decoded the URL):
https://www.customer.nl/?errormessage=IDX21323:
RequireNonce is '[PII is hidden]'.
OpenIdConnectProtocolValidationContext.Nonce was null,
OpenIdConnectProtocol.ValidatedIdToken.Payload.Nonce was not null.
The nonce cannot be validated.
If you don't need to check the nonce, set OpenIdConnectProtocolValidator.RequireNonce to 'false'. Note if a 'nonce' is found it will be evaluated.

My guess is that the NONCE error pops up when the redirect_uri doesn't match the origin-url (subdomain.customer.nl != customer.nl).
Is this correct? And if so, how can I change the Redirect_Uri to the subdomain a user is visiting? Setting it on startup isn't the way to go, it seems.

A: •   Firstly, I would suggest you to please ensure that public DNS records exist for the subdomains that you want to connect to through the base domain URL, i.e., 'customer.nl'. The public DNS records for the subdomains can be 'A' host records, 'TXT' records but need to be configured correctly within your public DNS server and pointing to a public IP address if independent web applications are hosted on them.
•   Secondly, since you seem to use Azure AD authentication in your website for redirecting to the subdomain, I would suggest you configure the redirect URI for the concerned subdomains in the Azure AD registered application for the base domain such that after successful Azure AD authentication, the web application gets correctly redirected to subdomain page as desired.
For more information on the above, kindly refer to the documentation link below: -
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/configure-authentication-provider-aad

But changing the RedirectUri in this function doesn't change the 'Redirect_Uri' in the login.microsoftonline.com url

You can do the above by delegating the required API permissions and scope to the Azure function application in your registered Azure AD application. Kindly refer to the documentation link below for your reference: -
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/v2-permissions-and-consent
Also, the domains for the authentication request and the response need to be matched as it stores the 'nonce' and the 'state' for CSRF login attacks mitigation. Thus, I would like to suggest you consider the scenario below for different clients (as per your redirection mechanism) and take advantage of SSO: -
a)  The user logs in into the first application (customer.nl). The callback URL belongs to this app.
b)  After processing the callback (on the 'parseHash' callback function), redirect the user to the subdomain URL.
c)  When the user lands on the subdomain URL app, the app will see that there's no session for the user and ask Azure AD for authentication (either authorize () or checkSession()). If the user already has a session in Azure AD, there will be no prompt to the user and a new authentication response will be provided to the app.
If you are using universal login (as opposed to embedded login as above), when the user clicks on "Login" on the base domain URL (customer.nl) app, you send the user directly to the SPA, pointing to a login initiation endpoint (e.g.: - https://app.mydomain.com/login 1), and have the subdomain URL app start the actual login flow.
For more information regarding the above, I request you to please refer the below link: -
https://community.auth0.com/t/log-in-from-different-subdomain-produces-state-error/19116


text:
Home > Sport > The 'haves' And 'have Nots' Of Football.
The 'haves' And 'have Nots' Of Football.
Ken4155 | 17:05 Fri 24th May 2019 | Sport
Many look at footballers and think they're all millionaires when the truth for many is quite the opposite. I've just listened to an interview in which Bury's Nicky Adams told the interviewer the players hadn't been paid since the end of March, and then only because the PFA stepped in. Despite winning promotion this season, this little club are in danger of becoming extinct. As are their near neighbours Bolton who even opened a food bank for unpaid members of staff and had to forfeit one of their end of season matches because they couldn't guarantee the funds to have it policed correctly.
Meanwhile, close neighbours Man City and Man Utd are no doubt deliberating on which player(s) to shell out mega-millions on and, on Monday, Derby take on Villa in the £170m showdown. T'was it ever thus? I do remember my lot having to sell our best player every other season just to survive -and we were one of the better teams at the time, just smaller than most. What could be done to ensure our smaller clubs do not end up having to close shop?
Football League Tables
Come On You Villains
No best answer has yet been selected by Ken4155. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
eaglesha
Just waiting for the upcoming day.that's it.
17:20 Fri 24th May 2019
Buenchico
From Bolton's chairman:
" I hear all this rubbish about not being paid for months, that's what it is RUBBISH wages have been paid every month in increments as we could (given our Bank is frozen) its all lies/propaganda being spread to cause unrest by certain people and I'm told who peddle it now on the radio, if the work I have been doing finalises by Fri/Tue all staff will be paid in full with NOTHING outstanding or owed"
Full statement:
https://www.buryfc.co.uk/news/2019/may/a-statement-from-the-chairman/
While the 'big boys' can largely rely upon TV rights and sponsorship to bring in much of their income, clubs like Bury have to depend upon getting bums on seats. There is far less interest these days in watching football from the lower leagues than there used to be. (ITV Digital went bust because it paid for the rights to broadcast matches such as Bury v Forest Green Rovers and then found out that nobody wanted to watch them). That might be, in part, due to successful 'image marketing' by clubs like Manchester United. For example if the kids on a playground are all asking each other about which teams they support, there will be ready acceptance (even from the fans of rival clubs) to answers such as "Man United", "Man City", "Arsenal", "Chelsea", "Real Madrid" or "Barcelona" but any kid who admits to supporting Bury or Cambridge United will probably be subjected to merciless taunting for months to come.
The attendance figures for Bury's games this season are here:
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/bury/attendances
While they occasionally passed the 5000 threshold which some observers have suggested is the minimum average attendance to keep a professional club afloat, there have been some League Two games where fewer than 3000 fans turned up (and it seemed hardly worth them opening the gates for their EFL Trophy matches).
Ken4155
Thankfully, many of the kids on the playgrounds around here are proud and content to wear the Claret and Blue and not sport Utd or City shirts, as they did a few years back. we have a lower league team on our doorstep - Accy Stanley - and it's a pity they aren't getting more bums on seats. My brother and i used to go and watch them on a regular basis when they were playing non-league football because they played quite a lot of their games during the week or on a Friday night. For those who live in the Greater Manchester area, surely seats at Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, etc, are more attainable that at United or City.
As for the Chairman's statement, i prefer to believe Nicky Adams' version of events. It was mentioned that if the players pay is delayed much longer, the club will be in breach of contract and the players will become free agents. Such a mess.
fiction-factory
When Buenchico said " From Bolton's chairman: .." I think he meant Bury's chairman
F-F:
If it's north of Watford, I get lost!
(Thanks for the correction, anyway)
Hopkirk
Don't you live north of Watford, Chris?
01:55 Sat 25th May 2019
Arksided
Sell more pies.
vetuste_ennemi
I think "the haves and have nots" is a pertinent question in these days of sexual self-definition: who has what and how well is it hidden?
There's not enough money, of course, in "women's" football to persuade Bury's best striker to become a woman and join Man City's Ladies.
But it's only a matter of time before the world's 200th seeded male tennis player decides he's a woman and beats Venus Williams or whomever in straight sets (only three of them, of course under the strange interpretation of "equal" treatment) at Wimbledon. That's worth about two million quid, isn't it?
Old_Geezer
So ... if I understand correctly; its all lies, fake news being peddled by those who are wondering why their bank account hasn't seen an expected deposit for a while ?
zeboWas Trump Racist When He Suggested That...
ChatterBank3 mins ago


On November 28th-29th 2018, UVMP in Košice welcomed at its campus a representative of Tel-Hai College, Izrael, Dr. Roee Gutman.
Dr. Gutman is a head of Department of Animal Sciences at Tel-Hai College and a researcher in the area of energy homeostasis - obesity, animal and human physiology, circadian physiology and animal behaviour.
After an official welcome by the UVMP management at the Rectorate, Dr. Gutman and Vice-rector for foreign studies M. Tomko, DVM, PhD. visited individual UVMP departments. A tour around the university campus started in so-called "Museum" at the Institute of Anatomy and continued in the Institute of Microbiology and Gnotobiology and in the Center of Clinical Skills.
Dr. Gutman got acquainted also with the premises of the UVMP dormitory and Aqua Terra Club. A part of the program was devoted to the visit of the University facility for breeding and diseases of game, fish and bees in Rozhanovce and university Equestrian Centre.
The second day of Dr. Gutman´s visit was focused on a clinical part of the campus, during which he was shown Clinic of Horses, Clinic of Ruminants, Clinic of Swine as well as Clinic of Birds, Exotic and Free Living Animals, Small Animal Clinic and University Veterinary Hospital.
A closing meeting with Dr. Gutman was held at the UVMP Rectorate where possible collaboration opportunities between UVMP in Košice and Tel-Hai College were discussed.


As of April 15, over 252 thousand Ukrainians used the right to temporary change their voting location in the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for April 21, 2019.
It is noted that the number of voters who temporary changed their voting location reached 252,814 people.
In particular, the largest number of voters who changed their voting place was recorded in Kyiv city – 46,249 people, Kyiv region – 24,886, Kharkiv region – 18,934, and Odesa region – 16,732.
Other 3,457 voters were registered to vote in Ukraine's foreign constituencies.
The first round of the presidential elections in Ukraine took place on March 31.


text:
Keil Hubert: Raison d'Eatery
What can you learn from an idle discussion about where to go for lunch? Business Technology's resident U.S. blogger Keil Hubert argues that small interactions like this are critical tools for building credibility and strengthening employee morale.
I tell a lot of stories about terrible bosses in my columns; heck, my third book is exclusively about terrible bosses. Terrible boss stories are some of the best vehicles I know of for exploring poor decision making processes and counterproductive leadership techniques. If I'm honest, I also enjoy telling the tales… they were all painful to live through, but a little distance helps to make them funny. I've learned, though, that I need to remember to break up the horror stories with some examples of leadership successes so that my columns don't get overwhelmingly dark. That said, let's talk today about lunch – specifically, about a group of people trying to decide where to go for lunch.
That topic came up for discussion at the office last week on a perfectly normal Wednesday. We'd all reached a good stopping point between meetings and conference calls. Our department head [1][2] made a public announcement to the cubicle farm that we should all go out as an group and have a working lunch somewhere comfortably away from the campus. All of our team members prairie-dogged up over the cubicle walls to pledge their fealty to the boss (in the form of a lunch agreement). As we assembled, someone asked where were going, and the boss suggested that we choose his favourite burrito place. Heads nodded. People started sorting out optimal carloads.
As we all made our way to the car park, I asked the boss to explain why he always preferred to drive out of his way to the burrito place just over five miles north of our office when there's another identical store from the same chain only four miles west of the office. It's only a couple of minutes' difference in travel time at motorway speeds, but it wasn't obvious why he consistently chose the further location over the nearer one. Everyone in the crew went silent for a second, as if I'd called the boss out.
'There are two reasons,' the boss said, without any hesitation. 'First, there's nowhere near enough parking at the western store so I always have to waste time hunting for a spot. Second, that place is always packed, and there's never a line at the northern store.'
There isn't much room to queue in this particular chain, so if the line gets held up, you can wind up waiting your turn outside — no matter the weather.
I nodded my agreement and opened the fire door to the car park. The boss asked if I'd prefer that we go to the western store instead. I laughed and shook my head. We all went to the northern store as originally pitched.
This may seem like a trivial exchange, but it really isn't when you drill into it. I submit that it's one of the marks of a superior leader. Let's break it down and analyse the individual behaviours in play:
First, the boss was positively receptive to being questioned in public about his rationale behind a decision that he'd made. Being willing to be questioned in front of witnesses takes a significant measure of self-confidence. One of the common, underlying attributes of most of the Evil Bobs that appear in my stories is that they couldn't stand being questioned. Bad leaders treat any such questioning of their orders as a challenge to their rightful authority, and they often overreact. I've been yelled at, sneered at, condescended to, and publicly abused by terrible bosses for having the temerity to challenge the boss. In most cases, their violent overreaction came about from a core of fear – fear that their position wasn't truly secure, that they'd be found out as inadequate, or fear of having to face aggression from a minion if their reasoning was rejected. Not so, our boss; our department head knows that he's respected and valued by his team, so he rightfully treats questions as questions – nothing more.
Second, our boss actually had logical, plausible reasons for his decision, and wasn't self-conscious about sharing them with us. That shows both an ordered mind, and a willingness to embrace transparency. Most people have difficulty understanding why they do what they do; they've never been challenged to rationalize their decisions. Further, a great many leaders eschew introspection as if it were a debilitating disease. They can't explain why they choose one tack over another (because they haven't the foggiest idea what their logic might have been), and therefore couldn't articulate a plausible argument if their life depended on it. I've seen 50 year-old executives turn scarlet and venomous when asked to break down the logic behind a given decision. Many Evil Bobs that I've worked with would have rather yanked out one of their teeth than have to justify their unexamined, logic-bereft, and juvenile thought processes. As before, our current team lead doesn't suffer from that sort of impediment; his personal preferences are based on sound reasoning, and he's able to explain his position on pretty much any given issue without apprehension.
I've never understood people who were terrified at revealing their reasoning behind a decision. It makes me wonder just how bizarre their inner universe must me.
Third, our boss was open and receptive to a potential counterargument. He recognized that other people might not agree with him, and he invited us all to either challenge his assertions or to lobby in favour of some other store attribute. He appreciated that he might be wrong. That's a staggeringly rare trait in a leader, and it's precious beyond measure. It means that the boss can be reasoned with, and is willing to consider another person's input without letting his personal biases interfere overmuch with making a sound decision. The overwhelming majority of managers, directors, executives, commanders, and other assorted personages that I've dealt with usually let their title and their power over others go to their heads – they began to mistake their career success as some sort of evidence of possession of superior judgment. Most of the Evil Bobs that I've written about were renown throughout their respective agencies for being criminally resistant to other people's opinions. They treated the perspectives of 'lesser creatures' as loathsome; things to be avoided like soiled bandages. A rational and mature leader, on the other hand, both respects and actively seeks out his or her people's perspectives because they might learn something. That characteristic requires healthy measures of humility and respect.
Finally, by demonstrating that he possessed a rational thought process, our boss taught everyone within earshot that they could predict how he'd likely respond to a new situation. That, in turn, encouraged his people to use our initiative and good judgment when we found themselves having to engage customers without him – by asking 'what would the boss do in this situation?' and then reasonably interpreting the answer based on the context of the encounter. This is old-school empowerment: by encouraging his employees to act according to their understanding of his desires, he increased his team's effectiveness and pre-emptively decreased the odds of a team member misstating the department's position on something or other. I've suffered under far too many Bobs who were rabidly paranoid about letting any clues escape as to what they wanted of us; they often craved a state of persistent paralysis among their direct reports. When workers became utterly flummoxed about what they could and couldn't do to further the boss's aims, it meant that they constantly had to return to the boss and ask for direction – thereby inculcating a sense of learned helplessness.
I appreciate that the example I'm offering is a ridiculously little thing; as the adverts tell us 'it's just lunch.' That, I submit, is exactly why this example is so important: a good boss takes advantage of every practical opportunity to train and mentor her people. She teaches her people how she wants them to succeed in the workplace. The selection of a lunch spot has effectively zero business impact. It does, however, have great potential for teaching her people just who the boss is (or who she wants to be), how she thinks, what she values, and how she prefers to interact with her people when the stakes (or steaks) are low. A hundred small interactions like this paint a much more comprehensive picture of a boss's character than any bombastic, formal presentation ever could.
People are flawed creatures. We all – every one of us – make mistakes. We misinterpret what's happening what's right in front of us. We fail to notice critical clues. We let cognitive biases and flawed logic poison our decisions. We fail. That's an essential element of the human condition. Every boss occasionally succeeds through sheer dumb luck, and fails despite the best of intentions – even the Evil Bobs. That's why it's critical to the smooth functioning of the workplace to treat people as they actually are, and not as some sort of idealized comic book hero or villain. Real people are complicated, messy, and difficult to work with. No one is either completely virtuous or totally vile (try as they might).
I've known people who equated generating some PowerPoint slides with thwarting a costumed supervillain. Thanks for 'saving Gotham' again, Chad.
Every leader is, therefore, an imperfect amalgamation of experiences, perceptions, and deeply ingrained emotional reflexes. The key to 'managing' your boss is to understand how they think so that we can predict (with reasonable accuracy) how they'll react to a potential future event. The smart employee works this equation out and changes his or her behaviour to optimize for the best possible boss response. The best leaders understand this process, and therefore make a concert effort to provide her subordinates, partners, and bosses with the critical data points that they all need in order to understand her. It's a virtuous circle. The employees gain more confidence and less anxiety, and the boss engenders greater compliance and productivity. The entire team performs better because it experiences less disruptive drama.
Our team's burrito lunch turned out fine, by the way. Nothing special. We went, we ate, and we discussed how to solve a thorny process flow problem. Then we all went back to the office to translate our arguments into solutions. There was no drama – exactly as lunch should be. Also, exactly as any part of any day at the office should be.
[1] Normally, everyone that I profile in a Business Reporter column gets rechristened 'Bob'; I'm not giving the boss a name at all in this story since he's my actual, current boss, and because we're too close to a bunch of Evil Bob stories that I shared in March and April. I don't want to inadvertently tar the fellow with my usual Bob brush, even by accident.
[2] In another departure from standard practice, I'm actually sharing a story about a place where I currently work. Normally, my policy is to avoid mentioning anything about a current employer or current client, as a matter of professional courtesy. I'm making an exception in this case because the story nailed exactly what I wanted to talk about this week, and because I asked the boss-man for his permission to share the story. He was gracious enough to agree, so here we are.
POC is Keil Hubert, keil.hubert@gmail.com
Follow him on twitter at @keilhubert.
You can buy his books on IT leadership and IT interviewing at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Keil Hubert is a retired U.S. Air Force 'Cyberspace Operations' officer, with over ten years of military command experience. He currently consults on business, security and technology issues in Texas. He's built dot-com start-ups for KPMG Consulting, created an in-house consulting practice for Yahoo!, and helped to launch four small businesses (including his own).
Keil's experience creating and leading IT teams in the defense, healthcare, media, government and non-profit sectors has afforded him an eclectic perspective on the integration of business needs, technical services and creative employee development… This serves him well as Business Technology's resident U.S. blogger.
Keil Hubert
POC is Keil Hubert, keil.hubert@gmail.com Follow him on Twitter at @keilhubert. You can buy his books on IT leadership, IT interviewing, horrible bosses and understanding workplace culture at the Amazon Kindle Store. Keil Hubert is the head of Security Training and Awareness for OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to joining OCC, Keil has been a U.S. Army medical IT officer, a U.S.A.F. Cyberspace Operations officer, a small businessman, an author, and several different variations of commercial sector IT consultant. Keil deconstructed a cybersecurity breach in his presentation at TEISS 2014, and has served as Business Reporter's resident U.S. 'blogger since 2012. His books on applied leadership, business culture, and talent management are available on Amazon.com. Keil is based out of Dallas, Texas.
The American View: One Last Thought Before You Take Your Christmas Holiday
American View: Why Do Our Brains Trick Us into Subverting Critical Security Controls?
Understanding data risks of the future


text:
class GendImageProcessJob
  attr_reader :gend_image_id

  def initialize(gend_image_id)
    @gend_image_id = gend_image_id
  end

  def perform
    gend_image = GendImage.find(gend_image_id)

    meme = make_meme(gend_image)

    gend_image.image = meme.to_blob

    meme.resize_to_fit_anim!(MemeCaptainWeb::Config::THUMB_SIDE)

    gend_image.create_gend_thumb(image: meme.to_blob)

    meme.destroy!

    gend_image.update!(work_in_progress: false)

    enqueue_jobs(gend_image)
  end

  def reschedule_at(current_time, _attempts)
    current_time + 1.second
  end

  def max_attempts
    1
  end

  def failure(job)
    return if job.last_error.blank?
    gend_image = GendImage.without_image.find(gend_image_id)
    error = job.last_error.split("\n").first
    gend_image.update_attribute(:error, error)
  end

  def enqueue_jobs(gend_image)
    GendImageCalcHashJob.new(gend_image.id).delay(queue: :calc_hash).perform
    return unless MemeCaptainWeb::Config::IMAGE_BUCKET
    ImageMoveExternalJob.new(
      GendImage, gend_image.id, MemeCaptainWeb::Config::IMAGE_BUCKET
    ).delay(queue: :move_image_external).perform
    ImageMoveExternalJob.new(
      GendThumb, gend_image.gend_thumb.id, MemeCaptainWeb::Config::IMAGE_BUCKET
    ).delay(queue: :move_image_external).perform
  end

  private

  def make_meme(gend_image)
    MemeCaptain.meme(
      gend_image.src_image.image_external_body || gend_image.src_image.image,
      gend_image.captions.map(&:text_pos)
    )
  end
end


text:
Weight Loss Motivation: A woman lost over 70 lbs to become a fitness competitor
By Pallavi Bose
35 Best Bodybuilders in the World
Samar Pahwa - October 14, 2019
Bodybuilding is fast becoming a mainstream sport. And bodybuilders are gaining fame and recognition like anything. Bodybuilding has always been a super expensive sport....
Sahil Khan Journey – How Flop Actor Become a Successful Bodybuilder in India?
Pallavi Bose - September 24, 2019
Flashback….. Remember Sahil Khan. Yes, the easily forgettable and huge actor who made his debut in Bollywood with 2001 N Chandra's movie "Style". Of course,...
Celebs who found love in arranged marriages
Love will find you doesn't matter in what situation or condition you are in. But there are some people especially our celebs who are...
Lindsay Butler still remembers the day when she weighed 199kg because that was the day she decided that she will change her life. She promised to herself
"I was NOT going to let myself reach 200 pounds"
But Butler who was just 27 years old decided that she will change her lifestyle. Butler was an extremely active child during her school days. She was quite athletic and used to take part in different sports. But post that she started gaining weight because of a lack of physical activity.
BREAKING : A women lost over 70 lbs to become a fitness competitor
"I was easily gaining 10lbs a year," she said. "Eventually, I started getting sad and tired and just not the same bubbly person I used to be. You don't really notice these changes when they happen over a long period of time."
But in order to gain her happiness back, she hired a personal trainer, joined a gym and even started following fitness inspirational accounts on Instagram. Since then she believes she has not looked back.
For the initial two years of her journey, she didn't change her diet much but even then she was losing some weight.
"I still ate fast food and drank sodas and generally didn't watch what I ate"
But when she came to know about physique competitions then she took her weight loss game very seriously.
"Eventually, I discovered the world of NPC fitness competitions and was immediately impressed by the hard-body physiques and the sparkly bikinis," she told us. "I told my new trainer and he helped put me on a very strict and lean diet."
Her new diet consisted of lean meat, lots of veggies and some carbs for each meal.
"Oh, and so many eggs. It took a long time to get used to eating plain egg white for breakfast. Yuck," she said.
In spite of all this, Butler said that she never enjoyed dieting and loved her fast food and sodas.
"A good and healthy diet generally isn't fun. You get used to prepping and eating the same things because it's important to mentally connect food to fuel rather than pleasure," she always wanted to drink smoothies, sodas, alcohol, and milkshakes but she thanks her coach and trainer Dwayne Hampton who helped her a lot in staying on the track.
Recommended Read:
Weight loss transformation of 250 pounds
Jhanvi Kapoor diet and fitness secrets revealed
FAT TO FAB : Anjali Hooda's Fitness Journey
Workout wise, she is engaged in her workout routine every six days a week. And she makes it a point to exercise for every 1 hour a day. She is mostly into strength training and also lifts weights. She is also engaged in high cardiac exercises.
This is her advice to people "Step outside of your mental comfort zone and put energy into something you think you could be passionate about.
"Surround yourself with things and people that help facilitate your goals. If you do decide to get wrapped up in the passion of a weight loss journey, make sure you still make time for friends and family," she advised. "Overall, my takeaway has been that I am so much stronger of a person than I ever thought i could be.
"I've found my purpose in life and in the process of building myself up, I want to help build others up as well.
"If I could inspire even one person, I'd be so happy."
Previous articleBrazilian Bodybuilder Risked life by Injecting Oil
Next articleTops Tips for Dealing with Your Anxiety
Pallavi Bose
Pallavi Bose was born in California and brought up in New York. She was a bright kid and very enthusiastic to know about the human body behavioral patterns. She pursued Bachelors in Human Biology and then continued to go in depth in this field. She wanted to know everything about the human body and all the processes taking place in it. She started her research in order to know more about it. She completed her Ph.D. in Human Biology, and her research was based on genetics and evolution, and she started working as a researcher in the same company.
Free your Nipples
Pallavi Bose - June 7, 2019
Dietary Supplements are grave risk to our life
What Are Ketones?


text:
Q: Why does this function not benefit from multithreading? does someone know why function 1 takes longer to finish than function 2 even though function 1 is multithreaded and should use the system resources better than function 2?
I really have no idea if and where I made a mistake while implementing multiprocessing.
Function 1:
def encrypt(message, keyname="publicKey.rsa"):
"""
Encrypts or decrypts a hex message.
:param message: Must be a hexadecimal number. Example: 3e40f3ad, not: 0x3e40f3ad
:param keyname: Must be the name of the keyfile in the RSA-420 path.
:return: Returns encrypted or decrypted hexadecimal string (Example: "4723d8ea") with spaces as block splitters.
"""
crypted = ""
key = readkey(keyname)
exp, mod = format(int(key[0], 16), "x"), format(int(key[1], 16), "x")
blocklength = len(mod) - 1
blockcount = int(math.ceil(len(message)/blocklength))
results = []
pool = tp(processes=6)
for i in range(blockcount-1):
    results.append(None)
for i in range(blockcount-1):
    part = message[i*blocklength:((i+1)*blocklength)]
    res = pool.apply_async(crypt, args=(int(part, 16), int(exp, 16), int(mod, 16)))
    results[i] = res.get()
for i in range(len(results)):
    crypted += format(results[i], "x") + " "
i = blockcount-1
part = message[i*blocklength:((i+1)*blocklength)]
lastlen = len(part)
crypted += format(pow(int(part, 16), int(exp, 16), int(mod, 16)), "x") + " "
return crypted + str(blocklength) + " " + str(lastlen)

Function 2:
def encryptold(message, keyname="publicKey.rsa"):
"""
Encrypts or decrypts a hex message.
:param message: Must be a hexadecimal number. Example: 3e40f3ad, not: 0x3e40f3ad
:param keyname: Must be the name of the keyfile in the RSA-420 path.
:return: Returns encrypted or decrypted hexadecimal string (Example: "4723d8ea") with spaces as block splitters.
"""
crypted = ""
key = readkey(keyname)
exp, mod = format(int(key[0], 16), "x"), format(int(key[1], 16), "x")
blocklength = len(mod) - 1
blockcount = math.ceil(len(message)/blocklength)
for i in range(blockcount-1):
    part = message[i*blocklength:((i+1)*blocklength)]
    crypted += format(pow(int(part, 16), int(exp, 16), int(mod, 16)), "x") + " "
i = blockcount-1
part = message[i*blocklength:((i+1)*blocklength)]
lastlen = len(part)
crypted += format(pow(int(part, 16), int(exp, 16), int(mod, 16)), "x") + " "
return crypted + str(blocklength) + " " + str(lastlen)

I tested encrypting a 206kB file with both codes and the multithreaded one is always a good 3% slower even though it should be closer to 600% faster due to my system having 6 physical cores.
Thanks for helping in advance!