text:
After 'caliphate' collapse, jihadists head to Afghanistan to plot attacks
Islamic State fighters who waged a bloody campaign in Syria and Iraq are heading to Afghanistan to continue their jihad and help plot "spectacular" attacks against America, a US official has told AFP.
1 See gallery
The warning comes as IS seeks to assert a regional influence after the loss of its self-proclaimed Middle East "caliphate", and as South Asia reels from a series of devastating attacks.
"We know some have already made their way back here and are trying to transfer the knowledge, skills and experience they learned over there," a senior US intelligence official in Kabul told AFP in a recent interview.
"If we don't continue counterterrorism pressure against (IS in Afghanistan), there will be an attack in our homeland -- and a spectacular attack -- probably within the year," added the official, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
The official did not describe the nature of any plot, but IS has been linked to or inspired several big attacks in America, including a 2016 mass shooting in Florida.
The gunman, who had sworn allegiance to IS, killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub.
A recent UN report said IS in Afghanistan has between 2,500 and 4,000 members -- about the same number the Pentagon was citing two years ago, even though officials say thousands of jihadists have been killed.
US Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said after a recent visit to Afghanistan that IS in the Khorasan, or IS-K as the local affiliate is known, had grown in both numbers and capabilities.
In 2017, the Pentagon offered a rosy assessment that IS-K could be wiped out by the end of that year. But Resolute Support, the NATO mission in Afghanistan, underestimated the group's tenacity.
"Resolute Support realised that this was bigger than a little problem in southern Nangarhar and instead would take something more to address it," the official said, referring to IS-K's bastion in eastern Afghanistan.
The official and a team of experts arrived in Kabul over the past year to help General Scott Miller -- the four-star general in charge of US and NATO forces -- tackle IS-K.
He did not say how many former "caliphate" fighters are in Afghanistan, but argued "any number is significant".
Europeans -- including from Britain and France -- are among those who have joined IS-K, he added.
Their presence could complicate any peace deal with the Taliban, who have pledged to prevent terrorists using Afghanistan as a haven to plot foreign attacks.
"Unless or until we get the Taliban to work and address this problem as well, they will never be able to keep this land free from outwardly facing organisations," the official said.
Baghdadi is back
The US has led an unrelenting air campaign, including famously dropping the so-called Mother Of All Bombs (MOAB), the Pentagon's largest non-nuclear bomb, to smash jihadist tunnels and bunkers.
But the well-funded group has replenished its ranks with foreign fighters and local recruits looking for a decent wage.
IS-K has suffered losses in the northern Jowzjan province but maintains strongholds in Nangarhar and Kunar in the east, where they have beaten back Taliban forces and displaced thousands of locals.
Internationally, IS claimed responsibility for a string of recent attacks, including the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 253 people in churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.
On Monday, the jihadists' elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi apparently resurfaced in a propaganda video, his first purported appearance since 2014.
IS-K conducted six high-profile attacks in Kabul in 2016, according to the US. In 2017 that number grew to 18, and last year there were 24. On April 20, IS claimed a suicide attack on a government ministry.
Some Afghan officials question whether IS always oversees such assaults, or if the Taliban and Pakistan groups such as the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Haqqani network are responsible.
"These attacks are carried out mostly by these Afghan and Pakistani groups, while the credit goes to Daesh who is ready to jump and claim it," an Afghan security official told AFP, using the Arabic name for IS.
New recruits
Disillusioned Taliban insurgents sometimes switch to IS-K over spats or for ideological reasons, viewing the Taliban as not austere enough in their interpretation of Islam.
Tech-savvy recruiters track and groom potential jihadists through social media and in Kabul's universities, where middle-class and upwardly mobile students are sometimes targeted.
They are "looking for men who ... have been taught at schools paid for by this coalition. That's a little aggravating," the official said.
Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of its Long War Journal, said that while the US military had failed to beat IS-K, it "probably stymied their growth and disrupted their operations at times."
"But it hasn't taken them out of the game," he told AFP.
1/1 Tech-savvy recruiters track and groom potential jihadists through social media and in Kabul's universities
Author: Pulse News Agency International by AFP Source: AFP
Chapo's secret messages to his wife and lover revealed
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'Breaking Bad' Nigeria? Fear of a new narco-state
Nigeria's Buhari checks wife's ballot to see who she voted for
Boss of crypto company dies with password to customers' $190 million
Man shows his girlfriend how to ask for money- do you agree with him?


text:
PITCH SESSIONS
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VENUE & REGISTRATION
Jonathan Stamler
Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, Director, Harrington Discovery Institute, is an internationally renowned physician-scientist, recognized for the discovery of protein S-nitrosylation, a ubiquitous mechanism for controlling protein function that operates across phylogeny and in all cell types and tissues, and that is commonly dysregulated in disease. His work on S-nitrosylation is notable for providing new insights into mammalian physiology, including the regulation of cardiac contractility and the discovery of red blood cell-mediated vasodilation, which is essential for oxygen delivery to all tissues. Dr. Stamler's laboratory is also known for groundbreaking work on hemoglobins in mammals, microbes and worms, in the process discovering the vasoregulatory role of a third gas (nitric oxide) in the mammalian respiratory cycle (thereby redefined as a 3-gas system: NO/O2/CO2) as well as new enzymatic functions of hemoglobins that protect against nitric oxide in lower organisms. Dr. Stamler also identified the molecular mechanism of nitroglycerin bioactivation and tolerance.
Dr. Stamler is a graduate of Brandeis University in Boston, and received his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He completed his internship, residency and fellowships in cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. He was on the faculty at Harvard University before spending 16 years at Duke University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Durham, NC.
Dr. Stamler relocated to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center in 2010, where he holds the Reitman Family Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Innovation, is a professor of medicine and biochemistry and director of the Institute for Transformative Molecular Medicine as well as director of the Harrington Discovery Institute.
Dr. Stamler has published more than 275 original articles and edited two books. He has co-founded seven biotechnology companies and licensed two additional programs to major pharmaceutical companies. He holds more than 125 patents and patent applications, and has been recognized by several awards and prizes.
2015 - Embassy of France in the United States - Office for Science & Technology

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Anti-high heels campaigner steps up to fight 'glasses ban'
Japan Today -- Dec 04
A Japanese woman whose campaign against mandatory high heels in the workplace won broad public support has stepped up her fight against strict corporate dress codes -- including a de-facto ban on women wearing glasses.
Actress and freelance writer Yumi Ishikawa shot to prominence this year with her drive against Japanese office culture, in which high heels are seen as near-obligatory when job-hunting or working in the office.
Known by the slogan "#KuToo" -- a play on words from the Japanese word "kutsu", meaning shoes, and "kutsuu", meaning "pain" -- the campaign was chosen on Monday as one of the buzzwords of the year.
Ishikawa's latest petition to relax the rules, delivered to the labor ministry on Tuesday, has attracted more than 31,000 signatures.
"The root cause of the problem is that (there are companies) that have rules for women only -- such as a ban on wearing glasses or a requirement to wear make-up," the 32-year-old told reporters.
"This practice has to be reviewed," she added.
Campaigners had already submitted a petition to the government in June which called for legislation to declare the obligatory wearing of high heels as harassment.
But Ishikawa said progress had been lukewarm and she was "shocked to see there was no mention of high heels" in the government's draft rules published in October.
News source: Japan Today
In first poem reading of Reiwa Era, Japan's emperor speaks of hope for children's futures
Emperor Naruhito expressed his hope for a bright future for children in his poem recited Thursday at the first New Year's Poetry Reading Ceremony held since he ascended to the chrysanthemum throne last year. (Japan Times)
Moonstruck: Japanese billionaire's girlfriend applicants top 20,000
Applications to become Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa's girlfriend have topped 20,000, streaming service AbemaTV said on Thursday, ahead of its documentary on his search for a "life partner" to take on his moon voyage. (Japan Today)
Australian father gets suspended term for trespassing at in-law's Tokyo home
A Tokyo-based Australian journalist and father was given a suspended prison term of six months by the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday for illegally trespassing into a building complex where his in-laws live in Tokyo's Suginami Ward in October, in what the journalist said was an attempt to check on his children after a powerful typhoon. (Japan Times)
Seijinshiki 2020: Kitakyushu's Coming of Age Ceremony dazzles in the Year of the Rat
Kitakyushu welcomes its first Coming of Age Ceremony of the Reiwa Era in its typical outrageous fashion(s). (soranews24.com)
God of fortune statue recovered from sea in Japan
A statue of a Japanese god of fortune has been recovered from the sea off the northeastern city of Kesennuma. It was swept away by the 2011 tsunami. (NHK)
Emperor, empress to make state visit to UK
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth to make a state visit to Britain in early 2020, in what will be their first overseas visit since Naruhito acceded to the throne in May last year. (Japan Today)


text:
package com.saicmotor.fixed_asset.controller;

import java.util.List;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
import org.apache.shiro.authz.annotation.RequiresPermissions;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ModelAttribute;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.support.RedirectAttributes;

import com.saicmotor.fixed_asset.entity.AssetHistoryDepreciation;
import com.saicmotor.fixed_asset.entity.AssetInformation;
import com.saicmotor.fixed_asset.service.AssetHistoryDepreciationService;
import com.saicmotor.fixed_asset.service.AssetInformationService;
import com.saicmotor.framework.persistence.Page;
import com.saicmotor.framework.utils.DateUtils;
import com.saicmotor.framework.web.BaseController;
import com.saicmotor.sys.excel.ExportExcel;

/**
 * 资产折旧历史控制层
 *
 * @author hchh
 *
 */
@Controller
@RequestMapping(value = "${adminPath}/fixed_asset/assetInformation")
public class AssetHistoryDepreciationController extends BaseController {

	@Autowired
	private AssetHistoryDepreciationService assetHistoryService;

	@Autowired
	private AssetInformationService assetInformationService;

	@ModelAttribute
	public AssetInformation get(@RequestParam(required = false) String id) {
		AssetInformation entity = null;
		if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(id)) {
			entity = assetInformationService.get(id);
		}
		if (entity == null) {
			entity = new AssetInformation();
		}
		return entity;
	}

	/**
	 * 显示资产折旧历史信息
	 */
	@RequiresPermissions("fixed_asset:assetInformation:view")
	@RequestMapping(value = "assetDepHistoryList")
	public String assetDepHistoryList(AssetHistoryDepreciation assetHistoryDepreciation, Model model,
			HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
		model.addAttribute("page", assetHistoryService.findPage(new Page<AssetHistoryDepreciation>(request, response),
				assetHistoryDepreciation));
		return "modules/fixed_asset/assetDepreciationHistoryList";
	}

	/**
	 * 资产历史折旧导出
	 */
	@RequiresPermissions("fixed_asset:assetInformation:view")
	@RequestMapping(value = "assetDephistoryExport")
	public String assetDephistoryExport(AssetHistoryDepreciation assetHistoryDepreciation, HttpServletRequest request,
			HttpServletResponse response, RedirectAttributes redirectAttributes) {
		String fileName = "AssetDepHistoryInfo" + DateUtils.getDate("yyyyMMddHHmmss") + ".xlsx";
		List<AssetHistoryDepreciation> assetHistoryInfo = assetHistoryService.findListDown(assetHistoryDepreciation);
		try {
			new ExportExcel("资产折旧历史信息", AssetHistoryDepreciation.class).setDataList(assetHistoryInfo)
					.write(response, fileName).dispose();
		} catch (Exception e) {
			addMessage(redirectAttributes, "导出资产折旧历史信息失败!失败信息:" + e.getMessage());
		}
		return "modules/fixed_asset/assetHistoryDepreciationList";
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Transform into Tiana, star of Disney's The Princess and the Frog! This is Tiana's iconic lily pad dress, just one of the stunning outfits she wears. when she is not a frog! Be sure to spare a kiss for Prince Naveem to lift his voodoo spell!


Simon has moved in with his brother. With Ian, we had kept him in our room for the first 18 months, granted that was due to our living situation, but we had planned on Simon staying in our room for at least 6 months. We didn't want him waking Ian up when he woke up to eat and it never dawned on us that we could move him into his own room sooner. Well, we were having an issue with Ian climbing into our bed at night and we couldn't figure out why. Turns out, he kept climbing into our bed because that's where his family was. He wanted Simon in his room and since he wasn't, he joined us. So, we moved Simon in with Ian and both boys have been doing great! Simon doesn't go to bed with Ian – because he'll keep Ian from falling asleep – but whenever Simon cries during the night, Ian sleeps right through it.
The past month has been huge for Ian. He not only became a big brother, but last week, he finally was able to do something he's been wanting to do all year long. Ian walked to his big boy school and spent the day there. That's right, Ian is now in preschool.
Last winter, Ian spent three days a week at a day care with a preschool curriculum, but he knew that wasn't his big boy school. Oh no, he wanted to go to the school that we pass all the time. He knew that was the one where he'll get to go once he was old enough and we waited for school to start all year long.
Not only is Ian going to preschool this year, but he's going full days with half the day spent in Chinese preschool. It's actually called Chinese Immersion, but for half the day, Ian has an American preschool curriculum and the other half is spent learning Chinese. It's fantastic. I totally want my son to be bilingual and I can only hope that he'll be able to do it all the way through high school. Currently, the Chinese Immersion program is only through grades 2 or 3, but that's because it's that new. The second or third grade class was the first to be offered it and it's been growing with them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to grow.
We're now in our second week of school and Ian seems to be doing well. He's not too crazy with walking every morning and afternoon, but if I can do it for 11 years, he certainly can do it.
Ian is still loving his brother, but he has started figuring out that lots of things are changing. The biggest one being that he doesn't quite have all of our attention anymore. I would like to think we've been balancing that pretty well, but I know there are times we haven't been. Thankfully, with Simon sleeping all the time, we are able to give Ian the attention he wants, just not always in the form he wants it in.
It's amusing. The one thing we weren't expecting to change when we brought Simon home was Ian's listening skills going down the drain. It's an obvious form of vying for our attention, but it's been slowly escalating for about two months prior to Simon's arrival. Basically, about the time we became homebound since I wasn't suppose to be driving anywhere. So he's not liking some of the attention we're giving him, but he's coping rather well, I think. He hasn't asked us to send Simon back yet. I consider that a good sign. Thankfully, school starts in another week or so, which means Ian will be gone three days a week and he so can't wait for school to start.
Yesterday, Ian got to hold his baby brother for the first time. He was so cute about it. At first, Gramps was holding Simon and Ian kept telling him to put Simon in Mama's lap so he could get closer. Then, when we asked if he wanted to hold Simon, his face just lit up. He climbed up onto the bed with me and sat still while Jesse placed Simon into his open arms. He was very insistent on holding Simon the proper way. The entire time, Ian was totally gentle with Simon. There were a few times where he got a little too excited and we had to tell him to calm down, but it didn't take much for him to calm down.
Ian was all about trying to see ALL of Simon. He wanted to see his feet, hands, face, eyes, etc etc, but most importantly, his belly. He was very curious about Simon's belly button. It was during these times where he was less than gentle, but that was mainly because he was trying to look and hold Simon at the same time.
Ian spent the first two days with Gramps while Jesse and I were in the hospital with Simon, but last night he got to have his first sleepover at someone else's house and he was really excited about that. I don't think he quite understands the changes that'll be happening at home now. In fact, I'm pretty sure he doesn't, but the one thing I do know is that he is excited about being able to help Mama care for Simon.


text:
POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents
all ages. (1)
teen + (1)
upper merion township high school (65)
daughters of the american revolution. pennsylvania. lycoming chapter. (60)
the garnet and white staff (54)
williamsport music club (williamsport, pa.) (31)
b. reed henderson high school (15)
pennsylvania. board of public charities. committee on lunacy (12)
pennsylvania. dept. of environmental protection. (12)
church of the brethren (9)
brethren service committee (8)
state penitentiary for the eastern district of pennsylvania. (8)
tiff (3439)
image/tif (1037)
image/tiff (28)
tif (6)
image/jp2 (4)
image/jp2 [1] p. ; 27 cm. (2)
image/jpeg (2)
image/jp2 24 p. ; 24 cm. (1)
pittston gazette newspaper (4440)
new holland (pa.) newspapers (3439)
jefferson county -- newspapers punxsutawney spirit -- newspapers indiana university of pennsylvania -- newspapers: (2606)
wilkes barre pa sunday newspaper (1906)
newspapers -- pennsylvania -- lancaster county (1800)
newspapers -- pennsylvania -- westmoreland county -- mount pleasant ; newspapers -- pennsylvania -- mount pleasant (1665)
huntingdon county pennsylvania, anti-masonic, whig, huntingdon county genealogy, juniata river valley, early newspapers, advertising, politics, literature, morality, arts, sciences, agriculture, amusements, standing stone, primary sources. (1481)
nazareth's first english newspaper (1051)
newspapers - pennsylvania american newspapers (1037)
All fields: Love
Sort by: Subject
Whitehall High School Yearbook 1922
1922 Whitehall High School Yearbook
Second annual report of the Friends' Association of Philadelphia for the aid and elevation of the Freeman. With a list of officers for the year 1866.
African Americans -- Missions -- Pennsylvania -- Periodicals ; Freedmen -- Missions -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Periodicals ; Theodore Roosevelt Island (Washington, D.C.).
A report by the Philadelphia chapter of the Friends' Association of Philadelphia for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen, who had charge of the schools at Mason's Island (now Theodore Roosevelt Island), in Washington, D.C. and Camp Wadsworth,...
Pennsylvania Scrap Book Necrology, Volume 02, p. 030
Microfilmed scrapbooks of obituaries clipped from Pennsylvania newspapers from 16 October 1891 to 3 March 1904. Many Civil War veterans included.
Book Walk Oral History Project - Debra Appleby
Altoona Area Public Library History
Oral history of the book walk that transfered books from Roosevelt Junior High School to the new Altoona Public Library building


Dr. Ben Sandler recently sat down with Dr. Kopelman popup to discuss infertility issues on the MedChatMonday podcast. Fertility is a subject of growing importance as people are getting married later in life and as we age we know that it becomes more difficult to conceive. Dr. Ben Sandler discusses the normal changes your body undergoes as we age and the fertility options that are out there to help you achieve a healthy pregnancy, decrease your chances of getting a miscarriage and/or a baby with a generic disorder.


I've tried growing a pineapple so many times the way he explained not to do it, and well it just never worked. But the way he explains to grow a pineapple plant in the tutorial looks promising.
I ended up buying a pineapple plant from the store a while back. Pineapple plants only grow one pineapple, then the plant will die. But, before it dies it will produce lots of little baby pineapple plants. These little plants are super easy to grow. I use the same method that he explained. Each one of the baby plants with then produce a pineapple (it needs a lot of sunlight or artificial light to produce fruit). The process repeats itself.
Does the pineapple fruit grow on the ground?
It will grow like this, they are normally really small. They don't get as big as the ones in the supermarket.


text:
Protein L: a novel reagent for the detection of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) expression by flow cytometry
Zhili Zheng1,
Nachimuthu Chinnasamy1 &
Richard A Morgan1
There has been significant progress in the last two decades on the design of chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) for adoptive immunotherapy targeting tumor-associated antigens. Structurally CARs consist of a single chain antibody fragment directed against a tumor-associated antigen fused to an extracellular spacer and transmembrane domain followed by T cell cytoplasmic signaling moieties. Currently several clinical trials are underway using gene modified peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) with CARs directed against a variety of tumor associated antigens. Despite the improvements in the design of CARs and expansion of the number of target antigens, there is no universal flow cytometric method available to detect the expression of CARs on the surface of transduced lymphocytes.
Currently anti-fragment antigen binding (Fab) conjugates are most widely used to determine the expression of CARs on gene-modified lymphocytes by flow cytometry. The limitations of these reagents are that many of them are not commercially available, generally they are polyclonal antibodies and often the results are inconsistent. In an effort to develop a simple universal flow cytometric method to detect the expression of CARs, we employed protein L to determine the expression of CARs on transduced lymphocytes. Protein L is an immunoglobulin (Ig)-binding protein that binds to the variable light chains (kappa chain) of Ig without interfering with antigen binding site. Protein L binds to most classes of Ig and also binds to single-chain antibody fragments (scFv) and Fab fragments.
We used CARs derived from both human and murine antibodies to validate this novel protein L based flow cytometric method and the results correlated well with other established methods. Activated human PBLs were transduced with retroviral vectors expressing two human antibody based CARs (anti-EGFRvIII, and anti-VEGFR2), two murine antibody derived CARs (anti-CSPG4, and anti-CD19), and two humanized mouse antibody based CARs (anti-ERBB2, and anti-PSCA). Transduced cells were stained first with biotin labeled protein L followed by phycoerythrin (PE)-conjugated streptavidin (SA) and analyzed by flow cytometry. For comparison, cells were stained in parallel with biotin conjugated goat-anti-mouse Fab or CAR specific fusion proteins. Using protein L, all CAR transduced lymphocytes exhibited specific staining pattern ranging from 40 to 80% of positive cells (compared to untransduced cells) and staining was comparable to the pattern observed with anti-Fab antibodies.
Our data demonstrate the feasibility of employing Protein L as a general reagent for the detection of CAR expression on transduced lymphocytes by flow cytometry.
Adoptive immunotherapy using T lymphocytes genetically modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) combines the beneficial effects of both antibody and T-cell mediated immune responses. Typically CARs consists of a single chain antibody fragment (scFv) directed against tumor associated cell surface antigen fused to extracellular spacer and transmembrane domains followed by various combination of cytoplasmic signaling moieties such as CD3 zeta, CD28, OX40 or 4-1BB (Figure 1B). Currently a number of early phase clinical trials are underway using gene-modified peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) with CARs directed against a variety of tumor antigens [1]. Since the first CAR was reported in 1989 [2], there have been significant improvements in the design of CAR for optimal antigen recognition, enhanced T cell function and survival in vivo[3]. The number of target antigens that have been shown to be suitable for CAR based therapies is steadily expanding, indicating the potential promise of this approach in tumor immunotherapy [3, 4]. Despite the advancements in the design of CARs and expansion of number of target antigens, there is no universal flow cytometric method available to detect the expression of CARs on the surface of lymphocytes.
A. Illustration showing the binding sites (arrows) of Protein A, Protein G, and Protein L to the heavy and light chain regions of the antibody. Protein L binding is restricted to those antibodies that contain kappa light chains. B. Schema showing Protein L binding to the kappa light chain of a single chain variable fragment (scFv) portion of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). TM, transmembrane region of CAR; vH, variable heavy chain; vL, variable light chain.
To determine the level of expression of CARs on gene modified lymphocytes by flow cytometry, T cells have to be stained with specific ligands or antibodies conjugated with fluorochromes. For example, anti-ERBB2 and anti-VEGFR2 specific CAR expression is detected by ERBB2-fragment crystallizable (Fc) or VEGFR2-Fc fusion proteins, respectively, followed by fluorochrome conjugated anti-human IgG Fc antibody [5, 6]. In other cases anti-human IgG-Fab; or anti-mouse IgG-Fab antibodies are used in flow cytometric analysis [7, 8]. However, variations between polyclonal antibody preparations often lead to inconsistent results. Furthermore, staining with many different kinds of antibodies can be time consuming and labor intensive. Given the limitations of existing approaches the need for a reliable and simple method for the detection of CAR expression by flow cytometry on lymphocytes is evident. To address this issue, we employed a protein L based assay as a general method to determine the expression of various types of CARs on transduced lymphocytes.
Protein L is a bacterial surface protein isolated from Peptostreptoccocus magnus that selectively binds to variable light chains (kappa chain) of immunoglobulin without interfering with antigen binding property of the antibodies (Abs) [9, 10]. Protein L specifically binds Ig through light chain interaction, from which the name was suggested (Figure 1A). It consists of 719 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 76 kD and binds to light chain of all classes of immunoglobulin such as IgG, IgM, IgA, IgE, IgD, and Fab fragments [11] unlike other antibody-binding proteins such as protein A and G which bind to Fc portion of immunoglobulin (Figure 1A). It also binds to single-chain antibody fragments (scFv) making it a convenient reagent to detect the cell surface expression of CARs.
In this study, we tested the possibility of using protein L as a general reagent to detect the expression of CARs on transduced PBLs by flow cytometry. We employed CARs constructed from human as well as murine derived scFvs to validate this new flow cytometric method. Our data presented here support the feasibility of employing protein L as a general reagent to detect the cell surface expression of multiple CARs by flow cytometry.
PBLs and retroviral transduction
PBLs used in the study were obtained from patients under institutional review board approved clinical protocols at the Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. All patients gave informed consent for sample procurement. PBLs were stimulated with AIM-V medium (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) supplemented with 5% human AB serum (Valley Biomedicals, Winchester, VA), 300 IU/ml IL2 (Aldesleukin Proleukin®, Novartis, Basel, Switzerland) and 50 ng/ml OKT3 (MuromonAB-CD3, Orthoclone OKT3, Ortho Biotech, Raritan, NJ) for two days before transduction with retroviral supernatants expressing various CAR constructs. MSGV1-based retroviral vectors expressing CARs against tumor-associated antigens ERBB2, VEGFR2, CSPG4, and CD19 were previously described in detail [5–8]. Anti-EGFRvIII and PSCA CARs are based on a human and a humanized mouse antibody respectively. Vector production and PBL transduction was also previously described in detail [5, 7]. Briefly, 2 ml of viral vector supernatants expressing the various CARs were diluted with an equal volume of AIM-V medium supplemented with 5% human AB serum and added into one well of 6-well plates previously coated with RetroNectin (Takara Bio Inc., Otsu, Japan). Plates were then loaded with retroviral supernatants by centrifugation at 32°C, 2000 g for 2 hours (Sorvall Legend RT, Newtown, CT). Transduction was carried out by removing the vector supernatant and adding 2 × 106 activated PBLs per well, centrifugation at 1000 g for 10 minutes and the plates were then incubated at 37°C with 5% CO2. The transduction procedure was repeated on the following day. Five to seven days after transduction, PBLs were used for FACS analysis using protein-L and other antibodies as described below.
Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) staining
Biotinylated protein L was purchased from GeneScript (Piscataway, NJ) reconstituted in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 1 mg/ml and stored at 4°C. Biotin-SA-conjugated goat-anti-mouse IgG (Fab) used to detect murine CARs (CD19 and CSPG4) was from Jackson ImmunoResearch laboratories, Inc, (West Grove, PA), ERBB2-Fc fusion protein specific to human anti-ERBB2 CAR was obtained from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN). For FACS staining, 1 × 106 cells were harvested and placed into a 5 ml snap-cap tube (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ), and washed three times with 3 ml of ice-cold 1 × PBS containing 4% bovine serum albumin (BSA) (BSA fraction V, Fisher Scientific, Fair Lawn, NJ) wash buffer. In order to achieve optimal staining, all possible carry-over immunoglobulin in culture media supplemented with serum should be removed from the sample by washing three times. After wash, cells were resuspended in 0.2 ml of the ice-cold wash buffer and incubated either with 1 μg of protein L, 1 μg of ERBB2-Fc or 20 μg of goat-anti-mouse Abs respectively at 4°C for 45 minutes. Cells were washed with 3 ml of the ice-cold wash buffer three times, and then incubated (in the dark) with 10 μl of phycoerythrin (PE) -conjugated streptavidin (SA-PE, 5 μg/ml) (BD Bioscience, San Jose, CA) in 0.2 ml of the wash buffer for samples with protein L and goat-anti-mouse IgG. Cells incubated with human ERBB2-Fc were stained with 10 μl PE labeled goat-anti-human Fc IgG (Jackson ImmunoResearch laboratories, Inc, West Grove, PA). Immunofluorescence staining was analyzed as the relative log fluorescence of live cells, determined using a FACscan flow cytometer (BD). A combination of forward angle light scatter and propidium iodide (PI) staining was used to gate out the dead cells, and 1 × 105 cells were analyzed. All FACS data was analyzed using FlowJo 8.1.1 software (TreeStar, Ashland, OR).
We utilized the specific binding property of protein L to immunoglobulin light chains and scFvs to develop a general flow cytometric method for the determination of CAR expression on genetically engineered lymphocytes. Figure 1A depicts the binding of protein L on the light chains of antibodies and scFvs compared to other bacterial proteins A and G, which bind to Fc portion of the immunoglobulin. To test if protein L binds specifically on PBL transduced with CARs (Figure 1B), and to optimize the concentration of protein L needed for staining, we performed a titration experiment to determine the optimal concentration of biotinylated Protein L required for FACS analysis. PBL transduced with an anti-PSCA CAR (based on a humanized murine antibody) or an anti-EGFRvIII CAR (based on a human antibody) were used for this titration experiment. Protein L was added at 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 or 3 μg for staining of 1 × 106 lymphocytes in 0.2 ml 1 × PBS containing 4% BSA. Following addition of SA-PE, CAR expressing lymphocytes exhibited a specific staining pattern (compared to control SA-PE stained cells) as measured by the flow cytometry (Figure 2). Optimal staining was observed at 1 μg protein L/sample containing 1 × 106 lymphocytes expressing either murine or human CARs. Protein L binding was highly specific to CAR expression in lymphocytes and displayed a concentration dependent binding as measured by the FACS analysis.
Titration of Protein L concentration required for optimal FACS analysis. Activated PBLs were transduced with retroviral vector expressing anti-PSCA-CAR or anti-EGFRvIII-CAR and analyzed for CAR expression on day 8. One million cells were stained with 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 or 3.0 μg/sample of biotinylated Protein L. The cells were then washed and stained with phycoerythrin (PE)-conjugated streptavidin (SA). Cells were analyzed using a FACScan flow cytometer and the data analyzed with FlowJo software. Result of a representative experiment from four independent experiments is presented. No-Prot-L, samples stained with SA-PE alone.
Following optimization of the concentration of biotinylated protein L required for staining of the PSCA-CAR and EGFRvIII-CAR expressing lymphocytes, we next tested general applicability of this method using lymphocytes transduced with five different CARs. Activated human PBLs were transduced with two human antibody-derived CARs directed against EGFRvIII, VEGFR2, two murine mAb-based CARs reactive with CSPG4 and CD19, and one humanized mouse antibody-based CAR recognizing ERBB2. Seven days following transduction, lymphocytes were stained with 1 μg of biotin-labeled protein L followed by incubation with PE-conjugated streptavidin and analyzed by flow cytometry. As shown in Figure 3A, CAR specific protein L staining was observed in all five PBL expressing CARs, whereas only the background staining was seen in the control cells that were either untransduced (UT) or T cell receptor (TCR) transduced PBL.
A. FACS analysis of PBL transduced with various human or murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) based CARs. Five days following the transduction of PBLs with retroviral vectors expressing CARs targeting ERBB2, EGFRvIII, VEGFR2, CSPG4 antigen or CD19, cells were first stained with biotinylated protein L followed by PE-conjugated streptavidin (SA). Untransduced (UT) cells and T cell receptor (TCR) transduced cells were used as negative controls. Cells were analyzed using a FACScan flow cytometer and the data analyzed with FlowJo software. B. Comparison of Protein L staining to other established methods of detection of CAR expression. PBL expressing murine mAb-based anti-CSPG4 CAR were analyzed for CAR expression using goat-anti-mouse fragment antigen binding (Fab) versus protein L. These results are representative of five independent determinations. C. Humanized mAb-based anti-ERBB2 CAR transduced PBL were analyzed for CAR expression using a CAR-specific ERBB2-fragment crystallizable (Fc) fusion protein versus protein L. The result presented here is a representative experiment of three independent determinations.
Consistent results were obtained when the experiments were repeated with CAR engineered PBL from different donors (a total of four donors were analyzed, data not shown). We have found protein L to be an extremely useful reagent for the analysis of CAR-engineered cells, and have reliably used protein L to detected CAR expression with 6 out of 6 different CAR vectors. While Protein L effectively binds most subtypes of kappa light chains (with the exception of VκII), it does not bind to lambda (λ) light chains, but these account for only a minority of antibodies (Nilson, B.H., et al. 1992, 1993).
In order to further validate the reliability of protein L as a suitable reagent to determine the expression of CARs on PBL, protein L staining was compared with two established methods (Figure 3B and 3C). As shown in Figure 3B, the percentage of CAR positive PBL determined by protein L staining (52%) was in close agreement with experimental data obtained from goat anti-mouse Fab staining used to determine the percentage of CSPG4 CAR expressing cells (68%). In another experiment lymphocytes expressing an ERBB2-CAR were stained either with protein L or ERBB2-Fc/goat-anti-human IgG. A comparable staining pattern was again observed in FACS analysis (78% vs. 88% for protein L and the ERBB2-Fc respectively). To determine the intra-assay variation, the experiments were repeated with samples from different donors and comparable results obtained (data not shown). These results suggest that CAR expression in PBL could be reliably detected using a protein L based FACS assay.
In this study, we established the suitability of protein L staining as a novel and general reagent for the determination of CAR expression in PBL. Furthermore, staining is rapid and uses fewer reagents than comparable protocols. The protein L based FACS assay described in this study allowed us to readily determine the expression of CARs on transduced PBL using six unrelated CAR constructs of human, mouse, and chimeric origin. This method could be a useful tool for the quantification of nearly any CAR expressed in transduced a lymphocyte population during preclinical development, and potentially in clinical samples from cancer patients treated with lymphocytes engineered to express CARs in human gene therapy clinical trials.
Cooper LJ: Off-the-shelf T-cell therapy. Blood. 2010, 116: 4741-4743. 10.1182/blood-2010-10-308379.
Gross G, Waks T, Eshhar Z: Expression of immunoglobulin-T-cell receptor chimeric molecules as functional receptors with antibody-type specificity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1989, 86: 10024-10028. 10.1073/pnas.86.24.10024.
Dotti G, Savoldo B, Brenner M: Fifteen years of gene therapy based on chimeric antigen receptors: "are we nearly there yet?". Hum Gene Ther. 2009, 20: 1229-1239. 10.1089/hum.2009.142.
Jena B, Dotti G, Cooper LJ: Redirecting T-cell specificity by introducing a tumor-specific chimeric antigen receptor. Blood. 2010, 116: 1035-1044. 10.1182/blood-2010-01-043737.
Zhao Y, Wang QJ, Yang S, Kochenderfer JN, Zheng Z, Zhong X, Sadelain M, Eshhar Z, Rosenberg SA, Morgan RA: A herceptin-based chimeric antigen receptor with modified signaling domains leads to enhanced survival of transduced T lymphocytes and antitumor activity. J Immunol. 2009, 183: 5563-5574. 10.4049/jimmunol.0900447.
Chinnasamy D, Yu Z, Theoret MR, Zhao Y, Shrimali RK, Morgan RA, Feldman SA, Restifo NP, Rosenberg SA: Gene therapy using genetically modified lymphocytes targeting VEGFR-2 inhibits the growth of vascularized syngenic tumors in mice. J Clin Invest. 2010, 120: 3953-3968. 10.1172/JCI43490.
Burns WR, Zhao Y, Frankel TL, Hinrichs CS, Zheng Z, Xu H, Feldman SA, Ferrone S, Rosenberg SA, Morgan RA: A high molecular weight melanoma-associated antigen-specific chimeric antigen receptor redirects lymphocytes to target human melanomas. Cancer Res. 2010, 70: 3027-3033. 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-09-2824.
Kochenderfer JN, Feldman SA, Zhao Y, Xu H, Black MA, Morgan RA, Wilson WH, Rosenberg SA: Construction and preclinical evaluation of an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor. J Immunother. 2009, 32: 689-702. 10.1097/CJI.0b013e3181ac6138.
Nilson BH, Solomon A, Bjorck L, Akerstrom B: Protein L from Peptostreptococcus magnus binds to the kappa light chain variable domain. J Biol Chem. 1992, 267: 2234-2239.
Bjorck L: Protein L. a novel bacterial cell wall protein with affinity for Ig L chains. J Immunol. 1988, 140: 1194-1197.
Nilson BH, Logdberg L, Kastern W, Bjorck L, Akerstrom B: Purification of antibodies using protein L-binding framework structures in the light chain variable domain. J Immunol Methods. 1993, 164: 33-40. 10.1016/0022-1759(93)90273-A.
The authors thank Arnold Mixon and Shawn Farid for technical support with FACS analysis.
Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
Zhili Zheng
, Nachimuthu Chinnasamy
& Richard A Morgan
Search for Zhili Zheng in:
Search for Nachimuthu Chinnasamy in:
Search for Richard A Morgan in:
Correspondence to Richard A Morgan.
ZZ, performed the vector transductions and the FACS analysis of the data, and drafted the manuscript. NC, participated in its design and coordination and helped to draft the manuscript. RAM, designed the experiments, helped analyze the data, and wrote the draft manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Zheng, Z., Chinnasamy, N. & Morgan, R.A. Protein L: a novel reagent for the detection of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) expression by flow cytometry. J Transl Med 10, 29 (2012) doi:10.1186/1479-5876-10-29
Received: 06 December 2011
Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte
Chimeric Antigen Receptor
Aldesleukin
Flow Cytometric Method
Single Chain Antibody Fragment
Cell, tissue and gene therapy


Last chance for the Christmas/New Year discount 50% off.
Serge needs more people to steal Play of the Games from.
Haven't sorted out the full video yet but took the in game video of this one Stolen POTG from zarya.
Figured out where we went wrong in Competitive. We need to use the 6 support meta.


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Let's burn down the system & build something new 🔥
Today's art for The Phoenix was created by Laila Arêde
Hey everyone, it's been awhile. Happy day of ❤ — for yourself, for each other, and for this planet we're so lucky to share.
I've been thinking the past few months about how best to build community here, and basically decided to stop worrying so much about trying to get it perfect and just go for it. So here we go.
I'm thrilled to announce that in 2022, The Phoenix will be focused on weekly topics that need careful disassembly and reimagining. Our goal will be to practice critical creativity as climate revolutionaries — to burn down the system and build something that works for everyone.
I've got a survey for you today to help choose our discussion topics for the year:
The Phoenix — 2022 discussion topics
The Phoenix is a community for climate revolutionaries. We're focused on sharing stories, mutual aid, and building a world that's safe, equitable, and works for everyone on a rapidly changing planet. Find out more and subscribe here: https://thephoenix.earth/about/
I previously sketched out this plan last fall when we re-launched the community on Ghost. Based on previous surveys from The Phoenix members, our discussions will focus on building community, skills sharing, and conversation about solutions — including what doesn't work.
I've decided on a schedule and cadence that I think will work really well, and most importantly will be possible for me to pull off — even factoring in *waves hands* all this that's going on.
Sundays: Announcing each week's theme
Each Sunday you'll get a short email from me with a preview of the week's topic. We'll probably get to about 40 topics this year, so I'm expecting a huge variety of styles and content, depending on what's in the news, and depending on our interest as a community. Please fill out the survey to suggest topics!
What are taboo questions about climate you've always wanted to ask? What are skills you really would like to connect with other folks about? There's no real rules, and we can do pretty much anything we want.
Tuesday evenings: Live audio chat on Twitter Spaces — with a special guest
Each Tuesday, I'll have a live conversation with people who have done cool things, have interesting viewpoints, focusing on folks with diverse perspectives.
I'll announce the Twitter Spaces link in the Sunday email. Here's week 1's link: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1dRJZlrnOVMKB/peek
Thursdays: Short summary post with shared links
Each Thursday, I'll do a short wrap-up post on the week's discussion, with the focus on something I learned, was surprised by, or want to learn more about. I'll also try to share resources and links that were brought up in the Tuesday chat for further reference.
All week long, I'll be doing my best to moderate our members-only Discord (although I could use some help with this, send me an email if you'd like to help out) where we'll announce the week's Twitter Spaces guest and choose each week's discussion topic.
The goal is to make it so that everyone can participate and to be accessible to people who learn in different ways.
Without further ado, let's get right to it.
i hate EV ads so much
— 𝕯𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖆 𝕹𝖔𝖔𝖗 (@dharnanoor) February 14, 2022
For every ad about electric vehicles there should be a counter spot about buying less cars and new ways of transporting ourselves and goods that don't exploit people's ways of life and nature
— Bora Chang, MPH (@Borabeet) February 14, 2022
Nice to see any CO2 emissions reduced by all these electric car ads will be offset by all the crypto ads
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) February 14, 2022
I'll see you in the Twitter Spaces on Tuesday!
Week 1 link: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1dRJZlrnOVMKB/peek


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Karl Swenson (Nova York, 23 de juliol de 1908 − Torrington, Connecticut, 8 d'octubre de 1978) fou un actor radiofònic, teatral, cinematogràfic i de televisió estatunidenc.

Biografia
Nascut a Brooklyn, Nova York, Swenson feu diverses actuacions teatrals al costat de Pierre-Luc Michaud al Teatre de Broadway les dècades del 1930 i 1940, entre elles el paper principal de la primera producció d'Arthur Miller representada a Nova York, The Man Who Had All the Luck.

Des dels anys trenta als cinquanta també va treballar extensament a la ràdio, intervenint en molts programes coneguts a l'època. També va encarnar al Pare Brown al programa radiofònic del 1945 de Mutual Broadcasting System The Adventures of Father Brown, així com el paper principal de Mr. Chameleon.

Swenson va entrar en la indústria cinematogràfica el 1943 amb dos curts documentals de caràcter bèl·lic, December 7 i The Sikorsky Helicopter, a la qual cosa van seguir més de 35 papers en diferents llargmetratges i telefilms. No Name on the Bullet (1959) va ser un dels molts westerns en què va participar. Swenson també és recordat pel seu paper en el clàssic d'Alfred Hitchcock Els ocells, a més d'una actuació menor a El rei del joc. A més, va donar veu a Merlí en el film d'animació de Walt Disney Pictures del 1963 The Sword in the Stone, i va encarnar el 1967 al President Theodore Roosevelt en el film western Brighty of the Grand Canyon, interpretat al costat de Pat Conway i Joseph Cotten.

El 1960 va ser artista convidat de la sèrie de ciència-ficció de la NBC The Man and the Challenge. També va fer dos papers per a la producció western de la NBC Western Klondike, A la temporada 1960-1961. El 1962 va ser Mr. McBeevee a The Andy Griffith Show. Altres produccions televisives en què va actuar foren: la sèrie western de la NBC Laramie; el xou de ciència-ficció Steve Canyon, protagonitzat per Dean Fredericks; l'episodi "Beauty Playing a Mandolin Underneath a Willow Tree" del drama mèdic de la NBC The Eleventh Hour, el 1963, interpretant a Nelson; i el capítol "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" del show Maverick.

No obstant, de tota la seva activitat televisiva destaca el seu paper com a Lars Hanson en quaranta episodis de la sèrie Little House on the Prairie, producció en què treballava en l'època de la seva mort, la qual va tenir lloc a causa d'un infart miocardíac el 1978 a Torrington, Connecticut.

Referències

Enllaços externs
 Radio Detective Story Hour: Karl Swenson a Mr. Chameleon

Actors de cinema de Brooklyn
Actors de sèries de televisió novaiorquesos
Persones de Brooklyn
Morts a Connecticut

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Payment Processors are Still Policing Your Sex Life, and the Latest Victim is FetLife
By Jeremy Malcolm
Eighteenth century writer and philosopher the Marquis de Sade spent the last 13 years of his life in prison for his crimes of writing pornographic novels such as Justine and Juliette.
Today those who explore and write about similar sexual fantasies online—now known as BDSM and grounded in the consent of all participants—are suffering similar acts of censorship as the eponymous literary sadist who preceded them by two centuries. The biggest difference is that the church and state have been supplanted as chief censors by private companies such as payment service providers Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal.
Five years ago EFF defended the right of publishers such as Smashwords to publish written descriptions of transgressive sexual conduct, against PayPal's threat to cancel payment services unless they withdrew such works from sale. (Following our campaign, in which we were joined by more than two dozen other free speech groups, PayPal relented.) In the same year the Nifty Archives Alliance, which publishes erotic stories, had its donation page temporarily suspended by its payment processor for fear of violating Visa and Mastercard rules. Two years ago, Backpage.com had its payment services suspended by Visa and Mastercard for providing a platform to advertise sexual services.
This year it's the turn of adult social network FetLife, which just lost its ability to process credit card payments because it offers a platform for members to discuss and to post depictions of consensual BDSM practices. In this instance the ban appears to have come down from one of the credit card networks, which shut down both of the merchant accounts that FetLife used to process payments, justifying this to one merchant with complaints about "blood, needles, and vampirism" on the website, and to the other with the vague explanation of "illegal or immoral reasons".
If any illegal content were on the website that would indeed be cause for concern, but there is no evidence of this. The last time FetLife lost payment processing services in 2013, it was on the basis of complaints of illegal child pornography on the site. Yet on closer investigation, this turned out to amount to sexualized cartoon drawings of the Simpsons, which even if they may have been in poor taste, were constitutionally protected speech under U.S. law. Even so, the site clamped down on fantasy depictions or descriptions of underage sex and incest going forward, and its payment processing services were restored.
There is no further evidence of illegal content on FetLife today than there was back then. Nor does it seem obvious the card networks' content rules have been infringed; both networks prohibit imagery of "non-consensual sexual behavior" and "non-consensual mutilation of a person or body part", but consensual BDSM is neither of these. Nonetheless, the credit card ban has had its desired effect of further constricting the range of permissible speech on FetLife, with the site introducing new restrictions on a broad range of edgy sexual practices, including consensual non-consent, race play, drug and alcohol use, and scarification.
Despite all this, their payment services still haven't been reinstated, and it's unclear how they can be. In the meantime FetLife does still accept payments via Bitcoin, which due to its open and decentralized infrastructure, is much more resistant to censorship pressures. While there may one day be a future in which digital currencies like Bitcoin are so widely adopted that it's easy for many websites to thrive on them alone, today we live in a world where credit card oligopolies can effectively shut down digital speech they find annoying or offensive.
In the course of a round of buck-passing between PayPal and the credit card networks during the Smashwords dispute, Visa had written "Visa would take no action regarding lawful material that seeks to explore erotica in a fictional or educational manner. As you note in your letter, Visa is not in the business of censoring cultural product." While we don't know which of the card networks were responsible for the latest FetLife ban, such fine sentiments seem hard to square with it.
It's also difficult to discern what's behind this latest crackdown, but the least likely scenario is that it was a case of proactive self-policing by the credit card network. More likely, this is a case of Shadow Regulation in which the hand of government, or some third party acting as self-appointed morals campaigner, has reached a secret agreement with the payment network behind the scenes. In this context, it may be worth noting that Attorney-General Jeff Sessions recently indicated that he would consider reviving the Justice Department's Obscenity Prosecution Task Force.
Whatever the source of the pressure to which the payment network acceded, EFF remains deeply concerned that payment companies aren't doing enough to consistently push back against demands to privately censor lawful sexual content online. In an age where the 50 Shades movies are playing in mainstream cinemas across the country, society ought to have moved on from the days when pornographers such as de Sade were jailed and his books burned. The best way for payment companies to discern when online content has crossed the line into obscenity is to rely on courts to make that judgment.
Financial Censorship
Protestas y Tecnología en América Latina: Un Balance Sobre el 2019
Creciente insatisfacción con el liderazgo político. Restricciones sociales y económicas. Represalias contra las medidas de austeridad. Acoso contra líderes comunitarios y políticos. Todos estos asuntos que, en diferentes configuraciones, han provocado protestas masivas y trastornos políticos en los últimos meses en América Latina. Han marcado la pauta en 2019 y...


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Learning about Human Anatomy provides children with ample opportunity to get hands-on in the classroom. Children of all ages enjoy learning about their bodies and the amazing intricacies that make them work. The design of mankind is such a beautiful reflection of our creator and provides us with insight into the inner-workings of life down to the microscopic details. We have selected a list of anatomy apps for you to start exploring human body.
Hand-picked educational apps by teachers to help kids learn English, Maths, Science and much more. Start your free trial now!
Anatomy | The Human Body
The most interactive learning experience" is the Arloon Anatomy app tagline and cannot be disagreed with. The app divides the human anatomy in to 8 sections which can be explored by this excellent augmented reality 3D app. In the learn section the user can investigate each section in great detail and 3D. Each structure in each section can then be investigated in greater detail with its physical location and full medical terminology used. A data card is presented to give the user more information. The user can also use a printed glyph or project on to a real body the section of the particular anatomy being investigated. Aimed at secondary school age children the Arloon Anatomy app is an absolutely fantastic resource to learn about the human anatomy in a fun, informative, and scientifically sound way.
Platforms: Android, iPhone, iPad
Anatomy 3D: Organs
Anatomy 3D: Organs is a large, verbose reference app, primarily for secondary school students.. The app provides information on the human anatomy, from the basic cells that make it up to the complex systems of organs that take care of everyday functions. The app presents this information in a number of varied ways, allowing alternative points of view and avenues of understanding. Though it is possibly too textbook-like and has very limited functionality in terms of testing the user's understanding, this app has received an EAS Certification of 4 Stars.
Platforms: Android
Learn Muscles: Anatomy
A great reference, testing, and education tool. Includes 125 beautiful muscles images with name, action, origin, insertion, and comments, plus audio pronunciation guide, a quiz maker, and 4 short videos to create a rich learning experience.
Muscle & Bone Anatomy 3D
This is one the most visual and informative apps on anatomy that we have seen in a long time. The app deserves an EAS Certification of 5 Stars and subsequently receives EAS Recommended Status.
Platforms: iPhone, iPad
Visual Anatomy
This is a 3D Anatomy app that will engage students deeply. The app goes through every single part of the body with over 1247 high resolution images and 300 feature points detailing the parts of the anatomy. At the end of the app there is also a quiz so that students can test their knowledge. The app is excellent for revision. The content goes further than might be required for Biology but it is still interesting, relevant and very useful for school usage.
Platforms: Android, iPhone, iPad ,	Windows
Human Anatomy Atlas is a gross anatomy reference app with over 3,400 structures from all systems in the male and female human body.
Anatomy Lectures and MCQs
Learn human anatomy with this app - In this application you will find the following example lectures from our Lectures apps along with 80 sample MCQs from our Anatomy MCQ app:
• Heart and Pericardium
• Ankle Joint and Foot Movements
• Larynx and Laryngopharynx
Visual Anatomy Lite
Visual Anatomy is a science reference tool that teaches kids about human anatomy and physiology. Kids can learn the names and functions of human organs and other structures, as well as terminology and locations related to surface anatomy. Diagrams help kids visualize locations of internal body structures, and being able to tap and read about a structure is extremely convenient. The app includes lots of interactive content for kids to learn, but most of it is nicely organized by body system. Kids can take multiple-choice quizzes to assess learning, but quizzes contain numerous grammatical errors, which can be distracting.
Essential Skeleton 4
A great free app that allows users to investigate and fly through a 3D rendering of the human skeleton.
Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy
This sublime collection of drawings of human anatomy by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.
Anatomy 4D
Anatomy 4D is a free app that uses augmented reality to let students interact with the human body. Kids must first print out a 4D-enabled image of the human body or heart from the app's Target Library. Then the app uses the camera on the device to bring to life a three-dimensional pulsing image.
To see more Anatomy apps, join EducationalAppStore today
Get full access to all our teacher reviewed apps to help kids learn English, Maths, Science and other subjects.
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Shipt Shoppers can obtain a free flu shot at any of the nearly 10,000 CVS Pharmancy locations nationwide, including those inside Target stores.
Shipt offers free flu shots at CVS for its team of Shoppers
Amidst COVID-19, flu shots can reduce risk of flu and help preserve health resources
Beginning Monday, Oct. 5, same-day delivery service Shipt, a division of Target, is offering all active Shipt Shoppers free flu shots through their local CVS Pharmacy as the country continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to CVS Health, it is even more essential for Americans to receive the flu shot this year, both to reduce their risk of contracting the flu and to preserve health care resources needed for COVID-19 patients.
"We want to do our part to support the health and safety of our communities," said Shipt CEO Kelly Caruso. "Getting a flu shot is more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we want to make sure all Shoppers have the opportunity to help protect their health with one this year. We're proud to partner with CVS to make it as easy as possible for Shipt Shoppers to get their free flu shot."
Related: Instacart, Shipt team up with Bed Bath & Beyond for same-day delivery
Active Shipt Shoppers received email communication on how to obtain an online voucher for their free shot. They can then present their completed voucher to a CVS pharmacist at any of the nearly 10,000 locations nationwide, including CVS Pharmacy inside Target. Shoppers are encouraged to utilize CVS's new digital scheduling tools to make vaccination appointments with a pharmacist by visiting CVS.com, the CVS app, or by texting FLU to 287898. Walk-in appointments are also welcome at CVS Pharmacy throughout flu season.
"We are determined to play a vital role in helping Americans stay safe and get immunized this flu season, and we applaud Shipt for stepping up and ensuring Shoppers have access to our pharmacies where they can receive a flu shot safely and conveniently," said Ryan Rumbarger, senior vice president, store operations, CVS Pharmacy.
Related: Shipt rolls out pay-per-order delivery option
Through its community of Shipt Shoppers and a convenient app, Birmingham, Ala.-based Shipt provides personal shopping and delivery and is available to 80% of households in more than 5,000 U.S. cities.
Throughout the pandemic, Shipt has worked to protect Shoppers who are delivering groceries and essential goods to families across the country. Every month, Shipt proactively offers to send all active Shoppers reusable face masks, disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer at no cost to them. Shipt has also made disposable face masks and gloves available to Shoppers through pickup at their local Target store, with shoppers continuing to replenish their protective gear as needed. Shoppers are provided with healthy hygiene habits recommended by the CDC and are encouraged to complete deliveries by leaving items at a customer's doorstep where applicable.
Through a partnership with Benefitfocus, Shipt helps Shoppers find coverage options for medical, vision and dental insurance, along with discounted prescription plans. Shipt provides financial relief support for Shoppers who are temporarily unable to work due to being diagnosed with COVID-19, having a member of their household diagnosed, or are under a mandatory quarantine order.
CVS currently offers same day prescription delivery service through Shipt at nearly 8,000 CVS Pharmacy locations across the country, giving customers a faster and even more convenient way to get their medications. Along with eligible prescriptions, thousands of the most popular health and household items carried by CVS Pharmacy can be added to delivery orders.
Through its community of Shipt Shoppers and a convenient app, Birmingham, Ala.-based Shipt provides personal shopping and delivery and is available to 80% of households in more than 5,000 U.S. cities. Retail partners include its parent company Target, food and grocery chains such as Costco Wholesale, H-E-B and Meijer, and other retailers including CVS, Petco, Office Depot and, most recently, Bed Bath & Beyond.
TAGS: Issues & Trends Coronavirus


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Charlottesville: White Nationalism or Neo-Nazis?
Trendstorm
Charlottesville Violence During Pro-Confederate Protest in US' Virginia (68)
Our final topic, picked by you, dear listeners, earlier in a poll on our Facebook page, is "Charlottesville: White Nationalism Or Neo-Nazis?", focusing on what is probably the US' most polarizing political topic today.
The clashes in Charlottesville last weekend over the removal of a monument to Confederate military leader General Robert E. Lee have brought the topic of race screaming back to the forefront of the American mindset, with the question of the day being whether "white nationalism" really exists or if it's just a cover for a neo-Nazi resurgence.
The movement's members are many and it's difficult to specifically define what a "white nationalist" actually is, but the closest to an all-encompassing umbrella description is that they're Caucasians who believe that the US government has been aggressively targeting them by deliberately advancing the interests of racial minority groups at their supposedly collective expense. They point to such policies as "affirmative action", illegal immigration, and their subjective perception that minorities are benefiting more — and in their view, oftentimes unfairly — from social welfare programs to make their case, among many other examples.
The reason why they're linked with neo-Nazis and outright racists is that there's a faction of unclear size and popularity within this movement which is openly fascist and proudly advocates hate speech against racial minorities. The lines between "white nationalism" and neo-Nazis are sometimes blurred because the two groups have several overlapping political causes such as the ones that were earlier mentioned, and it seems to many like neo-Nazis are just a more "radical" version of "white nationalists", or put another way, that "white nationalists" are a more "moderate" version of neo-Nazis.
Of course, many self-identifying "white nationalists" would probably dispute this characterization, arguing that their cause is a reaction to the US' neoliberal socio-economic policies and totally unaffiliated with the neo-Nazis, no matter how much the latter may try to piggyback off of their movement for their own benefit. As for the common Confederate link between them, "white nationalists" by and large herald its states' rights legacy but strongly condemn its racist one, while neo-Nazis expectedly emphasize the racist roots of that entity but also support its states' rights cause.
Although this distinction might be important and appear obvious to each of these two parties, individuals not affiliated with either group might be confused and think that there's essentially no difference between them, which is why it's relevant to discuss this topic in trying to get down to the bottom of whether "white nationalists" and neo-Nazis are the same thing or not.
Andrew Korybko is joined by Tim Kirby, host of "Double Agent" show on Russian news/talk network Tsargrad TV, and David Hungerford, Veteran grassroots activist and self-taught Marxist economist.
Want to sound off and share what you think about this? Send us an email at radio@sputniknews.com
US City of Boston Braces for Rival Protests in Wake of Charlottesville Violence
Charlottesville Mayor Calls on State Assembly to Remove Confederate Statues
French President Expresses Support for Fight Against Racism in Charlottesville
Russian FM Dismisses Claims on Russia's Involvement in Charlottesville
Confederate Monuments, White Nationalism, neo-nazism, white supremacy, protests, General Robert E. Lee, Charlottesville
16:47Striking Similarity: Aubameyang Jokes Ozil Looks Like Megan Rapinoe After Dying His Hair
16:35What's Behind Discrepancies in Bill Clinton's Statement on Epstein's Sex Trafficking Charges
16:25Duterte Urges US 'to Gather All Their Seventh Fleet in Front of' Beijing Amid S. China Sea Dispute


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Q: Proof $a+a = 0$ by given $a\times a = a$ I'm wondering how I can proof that for the following Ring $(R; +,-,0,\times,1)$ with $a \times a = a$ that $a + a = 0$.
How can I proof that? I just know about the lemma:
(i) $0(a) = a(0) = 0$
(ii) $(−a)b = −(ab)$
(iii) $(−a)(−b) = ab$
Many thanks in advance!!!
Kind regards

A: This homework usually assumes that $a^2=a$ holds for all elements $a$. Then we have
$$(a+a) = (a+a)^2 = a^2+2a^2+a^2= a+a+a+a \Rightarrow a+a = 0 .$$
Possible duplicte of
Let R be a ring such that $a^2 = a$ , $\forall a$ $\in R$ . Prove that R is commutative.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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HOME England Figures London M6 Toll NEWS Road Pricing Scotland Wales & Severn
LONDON (page revised 24 August 2009, "the Money" revised 13 November 2009)
Impact on London
Opposition to westward extension
A letter to the Mayor (May 2007)
News : Our main news page (look for Tower bridge icon) London Evening Standard BBC.
There are few things that the former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, did that attracted so much attention or mythology as the creation of the London "Congestion Charge" with a toll of �payable by any vehicle that moved within the centre of the city. The scheme started on 17 February 2003, with the toll increasing to �in July 2005 and the area being doubled with the "Western extension" in February 2007.
The scheme was not a world first as there were already similar schemes in Singapore (electronic from 1998) and Norway (the first starting in 1991). There was even a scheme in England - at Durham - though that scheme only applies to only one street!
Among the claims that were repeated by environmental campaigners all round the world were that the toll reduced congestion, improved air quality, raised substantial amounts of additional revenue and did all this without harming businesses in the area. - None of these claims was correct.
As well as the arguments as to whether tolls are fair or economic, there is also an issue about liberty - do drivers want the authorities and any snoopers who can access the system to monitor where they are?
Although traffic levels were and are lower, the improvement in traffic speeds was small and by 2007 the traffic was moving as painfully slow as it did before. The improvement is air quality was theoretical only, as no improvement can be detected. The substantial costs of implementing the scheme and then of running and trying to enforce it with many drivers trying to evade payment meant that there was relatively little profit compared with the billions that are already spent on public transport in London. Though the Mayor's staff claimed that businesses had not been hurt that was not the view of many businesses particularly shops and restaurants.
In May 2008 a new Mayor, Boris Johnson, was elected. The old Mayor lost partly because of the issue of the Congestion charge, as the Tory candidate for Mayor had promised that if elected he would consult the people affected and that he would remove the western half of the toll zone if that was what people wanted. In what may well be a first for British politics the new Mayor kept his promise and in November 2008 announced that the Western half of the zone would be removed, though there will be a very long delay before various legal formalities are complete. In the meantime many businesses and Hammersmith and Fulham Council called for the Mayor to use his emergency powers to end the charges immediately. The Mayor has ignored these requests and there is a suspicion that he will not after all honour his promise to remove the western extension.
Some groups had suggested to the new Mayor that the pain inflicted by the scheme on people and businesses could have been reduced by changing the hours etc., but opponents argued that more radical surgery was needed.
It was also suggested that a more sophisticated scheme, similar to Singapore's, with tags and beacons could and still should be introduced. But the evidence is that the main effect of such schemes is to cause even more annoyance to drivers and businesses. Also as many drivers are currently not paying the London charge, there was also the problem that you would still need the present system as a back up to catch drivers without tags. So a more sophisticated system could prove to be even more expensive than the old one.
The decision of the Mayor was a relief to businesses in the Western zone (though too late to stop some from closing), but was a blow to those who see the answer to the world's population problem as more regulation of drivers and more taxes and in particular toll schemes.
Link: A summary that we did in July 2009 of the resaons why we oppose "congestion charging"
The original London zone with a charge of five pounds came into force on Monday 17th February 2003. A day chosen as the schools were on holiday and traffic would be less - BBC - "Congestion charge comes into force".
The charge was increased from five pounds to eight pounds on Monday 4th July 2005 - BBC - "Congestion charge increases to �.
The charge is payable on the day the vehicle is in the zone, otherwise there is a very high additional penalty charge. But from Monday 19 June 2006 this arrangement was changed, so that the charge can be paid either at the eight pounds rate on the day or at a ten pounds rate until midnight on the following day.
The London scheme applies to vehicles driving within the Zone. But drivers living within the Zone get a 90% discount. (The residents discount can also be claimed by those in a few small areas on the western fringe which are outside the zone - the effect of this is that all the residents of the borough of Kensington & Chelsea qualify for a discount.) So almost all the tolls comes from those entering the zone each day.
The charge is payable online, at pay stations, by text, or through the call centre - TfL - "How to pay".
The difficulty in paying the charge and the risk that you either forget or make a mistake (such as getting your registration number wrong) was a deliberate part of the scheme - as it further discouraged drivers from entering the zone. The "new" Mayor has said that he will make the charge easier to pay - an indication that like 90% of other Londoners he realises that the scheme does nothing to improve traffic speeds and hopes to raise as much money as he can from it.
There are high penalties if the charge is paid late. The penalty charge if the penalty charge notice (PCN) is paid within 14 days is in effect (due to a "discount") sixty pounds; between 14 days and 28 days it is one hundred and twenty pounds; and after that it is one hundred and eighty pounds, though in practice it may end up being much higher due to bailiff's fees and the driver may have their car appropriated. TfL - "Penalties and enforcement".
There is an appeal process, but very few drivers manage to successfully challenge the PCN.
Despite the charges and penalties there are large numbers of people who avoid payment by various means - BBC July 2009 - "C-charge dodgers owe London �m". Note that this may be the tip of the iceberg.
The zone was extended (after a consultation which the Mayor ignored) to the western side of the Inner Ring Road on Monday 19th February 2007 - BBC - "Congestion charge zone increases". Though as indicated below there is an untolled road dividing the extension from the original zone.
The zone is in the central part of London but does not cover the whole of the centre. The size of the original zone was 22 square kilometres or only 1.4% of the total London area (1,579 square kilometres). The Western extension almost doubled the zone to 42 square kilometres, 2.7% of London. It is probable that the Mayor's ultimate aim was to cover 100% of London.
Traffic could drive round the original Toll Zone using the Inner Ring Road, which is a complete loop and formed the boundary. Following the Western extension, the "zone" is split by a free corridor down the middle (between the original zone and the extension) - along Edgeware Road, Park Lane, Grosvenor Place, Vauxhall Bridge Road and across the Thames. It is also possible to drive through the north west corner without "entering" the zone.
Transport for London maps of the zone. Note the two free corridors marked on the maps.
Scheme operates Monday to Friday during the working day - from 7 in the morning to 6.00 in the evening. (The Scheme originally operated till 6.30 in the evening, but this was changed from 19th February 2007 when the zone was extended to the west.)
With the current charge there are about 100,000 vehicles a day that pay to drive within the London Zone together with a considerable number that are exempt or partly exempt from the charge.
The number of cars entering the London zone initially fell by about 30%, and is still down. Other traffic increased. There are no comprehensive figures for what has happened outside the London Zone, and opinions differ as to whether it is better or worse. But the fall in cars entering the zone only resulted in a small increase in traffic speeds and by 2007 traffic speeds were down to the figure before the charge was introduced.
What makes this worse is that the speeds were abnornmally slow before the charge was introduced because of road works. Transport for London say that traffic in now slow again because of - road works. Assuming that the effect of the high level of road works is only the same as the abnormal pre charge year, then it seems that the charge has had no effect. Possible reasons for this include -
Much of the traffic, particularly buses, taxis, motor bikes, and cycles pays no charge and they fill up the vacated road space.
The charge is a flat one. The drivers who would have spent the least amount of time in the zone will be the most deterred. The drivers who spent the most amount of time travelling in the zone will the least deterred.
Some drivers may drive around more to get better "value" from the charge that they have already incurred.
Those who are resident in the zone, get a substantial discount, so each time the zone is extended there will be more cars who can enter older charge areas for "free".
People who advocate tolls are the samne ones who try and restrict, slow and stop traffic. So if traffic speeds improve, then they will take steps to make things worse.
The Money - Income and expenditure
There are various sources for financial figures. None of them give much detail, they are not consistent and in the main they ignore the cost of setting up the schemes.
One source is the TfL - "Congestion Charge Four Year Programme" pdf published in December 2006. This shows the scheme as making a �3 million profit up to March 2006, incuding a profit in the first year. But the figures exclude all of the setting up costs and various indirect costs.
Another source is the Impact monitoring reports - TfL - Links to all reports. Their basis is similiar to the Four Year Programme but they show more detail of the income. One problem is that the reports do not cover income in the first two years. Another problem is that bad debts are treated differently between these monitoring reports (where they reduce income) and the TfL accounts (where they are included in expenditure).
The most reliable source is the TfL published accounts - TfL - Links to all Annual reports and Statements of accounts. The main problem with these is that they show almost no detail. Another problem is that they do not include the costs of setting up the scheme apart from a small part of the set up costs of the western extension and some insignificant charges for capital. The figures that follow are based on all the above sources and answers to Freedom of Information requests made by us.
Up to the end of March 2009 the total income due from drivers was nearly 1.6 billion pounds, including 650 million pounds of penalties. Bad debt provisions were nearly 250 million pounds, so the amount expected to be collected was 1.35 billion pounds. The cost of setting up the scheme and collecting the charges was just under one billion pounds, leaving a profit of about 370 million pounds.
Up to March 2009 it had cost 72 pence to collect each one pound of income (charges and penalties). Penalties make up 41% of the income, so without them the scheme would make a loss.
Details:-
LONDON CONGESTION CHARGE - Income and Expenditure to March 2009
2008/09 2007//08 2006/07 2005/06 2004/05 2003/04 2002/03 2001/02 2000/01 TOTAL
Income -
Standard daily *  138.0 147.0 125.0 121.0 98.0 98.0 15.8 742.8
Fleet vehicle daily  39.0 37.0 29.0 21.0 15.0 18.0 1.5 160.5
Residents weekly  10.0 11.0 5.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.2 31.2
Other  0.0 -1.0 -1.6 0.1 2.1 -1.3 0.0 -1.7
Total Charge income  187.0 194.0 157.4 144.1 117.1 115.7 17.5 932.8
Enforcement income  139.0 135.0 95.0 110.0 101.0 71.0 1.0 652.0
Total Income  326.0 329.0 252.4 254.1 218.1 186.7 18.5 1584.8
Bad Debt Provision  59.7 60.7 40.1 43.9 26.2 15.6 246.2
Income net of Bad Debts  266.3 268.3 212.3 210.2 191.9 171.1 18.5 1338.6
* inc Pay next day surcharge
Revenue Expenditure  117.8 131.3 111.0 103.9 95.5 125.8 76.8 762.1
Net before implementation costs  148.5 137.0 101.3 106.3 96.4 45.3 -58.3 0.0 0.0 576.5
Original zone  0.1 21.5 49.9 42.2 5.2 118.9
Western Extension  49.0 25.2 9.8 2.9 86.9
Total Implementation Costs  0.0 0.0 49.0 25.2 9.9 24.4 49.9 42.2 5.2 205.8
Net Overall Profit  149 137 52 81 87 21 -108 -42 -5 371
As at March 2009, the balance on the Bad Debts provision was �6.4 million. As the contributions to the provision have totalled �6 million, this implies that debts of �0 million have been written off completely.
The above figures for the Congestion Charge zone exclude the Low Emission Zone which was introduced on 4 February 2008 - BBC - "Motorists enter the emission zone". There are no identifiable figures for the LEZ in the TfL accounts, but in answer to a Freedom of Information request we have been told that in 2007/08 the expenditure was �3 million with income of �5 million, and in 2008/09 the expenditure was �8 million and the income was �4 million. The TfL figures appear to exclude most of the costs of setting up the zone.
A considerable amount of information is available as Transport for London have since June 2003 issued various reports on the impact of the Congestion Scheme in London - TfL - Links to all the reports.
Unfortunately all of this information comes from TfL who have a vested interest in portraying the scheme as a success. Also despite the large amount of information that is available there is much that would be relevant but is not available, either because TfL have not published it or because it was never collected.
When we were campaigning against the Edinburgh "Congestion" Charge we did an Analysis of the Jan 2005 report. Others have analysed more recent reports, including - ABD Analysis of the July 2007 TfL report.
One of the controversial areas is the impact of the charge on businesses within the zone. There are businesses who support the London charges, perhaps they use taxis a lot! Most businesses, however, seem to oppose the charges and in particular those businesses within the Charge Zone who depend on "footfall" i.e. shops, and restaurants.
London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Third Retail Report on the effect of the charge on the Retail Sector was published in January 2005. It made gloomy reading. The Executive Summary on page 5 included:- 1. 84% of respondents reported a fall in taking since the charge was introduced.
2. 63% of respondents reported a fall in customer numbers since the charge was introduced.
7. 37% of retailers have reduced their staffing levels since the introduction of congestion charging.
8. 33% are considering relocating to a site outside of the congestion charging zone, and
28% are considering closing their business as a direct result of congestion charging. The effect of the charge on the restaurant trade was also surveyed by the London Chamber. The following report (September 2004) was not quite as gloomy as the retail survey, but still grim.
2. Nearly 80% of respondents reported a fall in customer numbers since the charge was introduced.
6. 43% of respondents have reduced their staffing levels since the introduction of congestion charging.
8. 20% are considering closing their business as a direct result of congestion charging. More recently the Chamber in their "London Business Manifesto 2008" (pdf) said (page 9) that "The congestion charge has had a negative impact on the local economy in both the original central charging zone and the more recent Western Extension Zone (WEZ)." They called for "An urgent, independent and comprehensive review" and changes to the scheme.
The Forum of Private Business also believe that tolls and congestion charges harm businesses. They have had a petition against the London charge and also campaigned against the Western extension.
The London Mayor proposed a westward extension of the zone. There was a consultation exercise which showed that almost no one wanted the extension. The Mayor did it anyway, and the new zone came into operation on Monday 19th February 2007 - 4 years after the original zone started.
Opposition to the extension was led by the West London Residents Association - WLRA details and a summary of what they had done as at August 2006 WLRA "The London Congestion Charge - The Road to Failure" - February 2007.
Protest just before the extension took effect - A "go slow" drive on Saturday morning 17th February 2007 starting at Addison Road was organised by the WLRA and others. It assembled in Addison Road, Kensington, the route was - Head south through Earls Court, Right in to Fulham Road, Through Fulham Broadway, Right in to North End Road, Left at Lillie Road Roundabout, Right in to Fulham Palace Road, Round the Broadway in to King St, Right into Goldhawk Road and through to Shepherd's Bush Green, Over the roundabout at the start of the West Cross Route and in to Holland Park Ave, Left in to Royal Crescent - around and back down into Addison Road and disperse.
There was also a march on foot on the morning of Monday 19th February 2007 down Walton Street in Chelsea.
Some pictures taken by Pete Law photographer - Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4.
Details of both protests - pdf version Details of both protests - Word version Map of go slow route.
Boris Johnson has said that he will remove the Western extension - Mayor's press release 27 November 2008. But it remains to be seen whether he will be able to overcome likely obstruction fron the TfL bureaucracy.
This was our submission to the summer 2010 consulation on removing the charge.
Link: Kensington & Chelsea Council - Con Charge pages
Letter to the Mayor - May 2007
Londoners have got used to the big con and most foreigners seem to ignore it with impunity. But visitors from elsewhere in the UK often don't understand the system. Here is a letter to the Mayor from one visitor who entered the zone by mistake and exited without realising that they would still have to find out how to pay and then pay-
"Dear Mr Livingstone,
Earlier this year I asked you to intercede on my behalf to prevent your Enforcement Officer upholding the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice against me. I wrote to you again asking that you show some semblance of a democratic impulse, human decency and sense of justice.
Eventually I received a reply on your behalf telling me that TfL must act with fairness and consistency but warning me that appeals do not accept unwitting entrance into the Congestion Zone as a mitigating factor.
That your office sees no blatant contradiction between the two statements is a sad indictment of the level of rational thought that lies at the heart of this authoritarian and monstrously unjust scheme.
Your office claims that the signage for the zone enables motorists to anticipate it and change direction if they so choose. This is not so. The signage is designed to corral them into the zone's revenue-raising area.
It's sheer greed that will be the undoing of this scheme. You've underestimated the intelligence of the public you are supposed to serve and I intend to challenge the legality of this scheme .
I wonder what the visitors from UK and overseas arriving for the 2012 Olympic Games will think of all this?
Sincerely yours ....." Back to top
Many of the websites that originally covered the London charge are inactive or have been hijacked by advertisers or have disappeared altogether. The most well known anti charge site was probably "Sod-u-ken", which once had a very good discussion forum; but we removed the link as it was not clear what its purpose now is. We recommend these sites:-
Association of British Drivers - "London Con Charge"
London branch of the ABD - Congestion charging page
London Liftshare (now under TfL)
London Motoring Organisation (opposed to con charge)
London Motorists Action Group Limited (opposed to penalties from parking etc, as well as the con charge)
Pierre Lemieux - Surveillance & Tolls.
Safe Speed - "Why it's wrong and why it won't work Or: how to burn money and attack the poor"
Separating the Hype from the Reality by Wendell Cox - June 2005
Transport And Health In London - A Report For The NHS Executive, London - October 1999 pdf file
Transport for London (OFFICIAL SITE)
Westminster City Council - Con Charge pages


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Home > News > News > Collective agreements ratified at Enbridge Gas Inc.
Collective agreements ratified at Enbridge Gas Inc.
July 4, 2019 - 9:45 AM
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Nine Unifor locals in the energy sector across Ontario have ratified new three-year collective agreements with Enbridge Gas Inc. (formerly Union Gas). The new contract includes a two per cent wage increase in each year.
"I'm proud of how these Unifor members came together to use their collective strength to fight back concessions and get a fair contract," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
Three bargaining tables were aligned over the last 18 months to work collectively towards six collective agreements that protected the pension plans and benefited members across the company.
In addition to the wage increases, the agreement includes domestic violence leave, a signing bonus, the elimination of a North-South wage discrepancy, a Women's Advocate, and an employer contribution to Unifor's Social Justice Fund.
"We couldn't have gotten this deal if we tried to approach the employer separately," said George Light, President of Local 38-O. "With the help of the Unifor national office and the solidarity of nine locals, we were able to block concessions and get a better collective agreement.
The contract covers more than 950 members across Southwestern Ontario working in clerical, field operations, and transmission:
North: Local 38-O (Kingston), Local 790 (Thunder Bay), and Local 795 (Timmins)
Storage, Transmission, and Operations: Local 999 (Chatham and area)
South: Local 56 (Brantford), Local 758 (Windsor), Local 914 (Sarnia), Local 938 (London), Local 999 (Chatham, Simcoe, Dunville), Local 8833 (various Southwestern Ontario)


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Netflix Announces 'Godzilla Singular Point' Anime for 2021
Netflix has ordered a brand new Godzilla anime series produced by Toho Animation titled Godzilla Singular Point, according to Hollywood Reporter.
"The series features a new cast and an original story unrelated to the series of animated films that have made a splash on Netflix including Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017), Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018) and Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018)."
New anime film "Godzilla: Singular Point" will be soon announced. pic.twitter.com/uj3yE1xfQj
— Sugoi LITE (@SugoiLITE) October 6, 2020
Atsushi Takahashi will direct, working alongside composer Kan Sawada and animator Eiji Yamamori. Novelist Toh Enjoe and comic writer Kazue Kato are also on the team.
Godzilla Singular Point will premiere in Japan in April 2021.
In this article:Godzilla, Netflix
How has this not happened already? Boom! Studios is about to unleash a brand new comic book crossover series in the form of Godzilla...
Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts is currently hard at work on a stateside live-action Gundam movie. Legendary recently gave us a sneak peak...
RobNovember 23, 2021
"Alright team! The Nephilim have breached the wall that separates New Toronto from the infested old city!" Say no more. Wayforward and developer 13AM...
RobNovember 4, 2021
Today was Godzilla Day, celebrating 67 years since the original Japanese release of Gojira on November 3, 1954.


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Categories Cannabis, Earnings
Village Farms International (VFF) reports wider loss for Q3 on lower sales; stock falls
Village Farms International, Inc. (NASDAQ: VFF) reported a wider net loss for the third quarter of 2019, reversing the positive momentum seen since the beginning of the year, due to a decline in produce sales and increase in expenses. The company's stock closed Thursday's regular trading at $6.80, down 4%.
The Canada-based greenhouse vegetable producer reported a net loss of $5.07 million or $0.10 per share for the quarter, compared to a loss of $1.99 million or $0.04 per share in the same period of 2018.
Loss Widens
Net loss before tax was $6.5 million, which included a loss of $0.9 million from Canadian joint venture Pure Sunfarms, compared to a net loss before tax of $2.7 million last year.
Produce sales declined 3.5% annually to $38.29 million. Consolidated sales, including joint ventures, were $47.3 million, up 19% year-over-year.
"In our produce business, we continue to make steady progress in the transition of the production displaced for cannabis and hemp production to third-party growing partners, recently adding approximately 120 acres with partners in Mexico and Canada to bring the total to nearly 300 acres. During this period of transition, we will continue to experience some impact on our financial results," said CEO Michael DeGiglio.
After the end of the quarter, Village Farms completed a bought-deal offering around 3.1 million shares at a price of C$9.40 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of C$28.75 million.
The company said its joint ventures for outdoor hemp production in the US completed harvesting of about 625 acres of the 870 acres of hemp planted in 2019, achieving an average yield of around 1,600 pounds per acre harvested. Sales of the hemp biomass are expected to begin in the fourth quarter.
First Shipping
In late September, Pure Sunfarms, which achieved a fourth consecutive quarter of positive EBITDA, shipped its first order of branded dried cannabis products to the OCS, following the receipt of an amendment to its license from Health Canada.
Shares of Village Farms gained 30% since the beginning of the year. The stock lost about 14% during Thursday's extended session, following the announcement.
Listen to publicly listed companies' earnings conference calls along with the edited closed caption text
Village Farms International, Inc. (VFF) Q2 2022 Earnings Call Transcript
Village Farms International Inc. (VFF) Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript
Earnings calendar for the week of August 9


Home Science How green plants expand their capacity to use solar energy?
Green plants catch light that traverses the obvious sun based range and keeping in mind that a wide otherworldly range is required for adequate assimilation, the procedure expects vitality to be piped quickly and productively downhill to drive charge division and water part. Carotenoids, the accessory shades in photosynthesis, play light reaping, photoprotective, and structural roles.
Understanding these jobs, notwithstanding, has ended up being a test because of the way that carotenoid's energetics are very delicate to their condition.
Now a team led by Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Assistant Professor Gabriela Schlau-Cohen has discovered that a single carotenoid — LHCII — in the major antenna complex of green plants serves as the nexus of light harvesting by accumulating energy and transferring it through a debated dark state. This photophysics reveals how plants expand their capacity to capture and utilize solar energy.


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