text:
Aave(AAVE)$236.981.11%
South African Cops Investigating 'Brothers Vanish' Case Regarding Crypto Losses
South African police are investigating a number of fraud cases related to the 'Brothers Vanish' Incident for the investors seeking their arrest.
byRupal Sharma
Published on - January 13, 2022 13:23
Updated on - January 13, 2022 13:23
South African cops are investigating a number of criminal cases brought by investors seeking brothers' arrest.
Two brothers namely Ameer and Raees Cajeem disappeared in April after $3.6 billion of Bitcoin fraud.
South African cops are looking into a number of criminal cases brought by out-of-pocket investors demanding two brothers to be arrested. The case has been reopened since two brothers, namely Ameer and Raees Cajeem, disappeared earlier this year after telling investors they had been hacked in April.
Victim investors are now seeking the arrest of brothers who were founders of the infamous Africrypt platform. Investors reported the matter after a number of them were offered some of the lost investment by a Dubai-based mystery investor known as Pennython Project Management LLC.
Till now, they have not been proven guilty of any wrongdoing and the investigation may come to nothing. Investigations are ongoing in four South African provinces and cities including Johannesburg and Durban, According to Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase. He also stated that there are several victims in these cases.
Nkwalase further informed that financial statements of the victims relating to the different cases are being investigated. Moreover, the alleged fraud doesn't yet have an official value.
The brothers vanished In April last year after $3.6 billion of Bitcoin disappeared from the Africrypt platform. Though, the lawyer who represented them at the time later disputed the amount.
Many times, incidents like that occur due to a lack of speculation in the growing crypto industry. Recently, CoinSpot, a major sponsor of the AFL team, was in news for its involvement in fraud of Bitcoin worth up to $21 million.
crypto scam
Rupal Sharma
Rupal Sharma is a creative technical writer, who refers to herself as "a storyteller gravitating towards decentralized culture and cryptocurrencies". When she's not obsessively researching crypto space, she harnesses her superpower of holding an entire novel in her head or series or multiple creative projects at once. Though, she struggles to remember if she ordered a latte or a cappuccino.
Sphere 3D to Acquire Exclusive Rights for Crypto Mining Assets
The agreement is for the purchase of up to 60,000 new bitcoin mining machines, and plans to buy 160,000 more.
Former CFTC Chair Giancarlo Published Book Titled 'CryptoDad'
A Book talks about his fight for the future of cryptocurrency, Money, and its role in Washington DC.
Indian Prime Minister's Twitter Account Hacked to Attempt BTC Giveaway Scam
The Prime Minister's office confirmed in a tweet that the account with the handle Narendra Modi had been restored with the tweets related to bitcoin now deleted.
VC Firm a16z to Discuss Crypto Regulation with Officials in Washington
The firm will lay out its vision for how the U.S. should approach regulation of the next generation of the internet, web3.


text:
Q: How do you generate URL rewrites in Magento 2 Is there a way to force Magento 2 to redo all of the product/category urls? The majority of the site is fine with urls such as category-name/product.html but a few categories refuse to conform to the same rules.
Before I could get rid of the table and reindex but this option no longer exists.

A: I currently use this to update the url keys of certain products:

*

*Update 'url_key' attribute through Magento Import

*Admin --> Products Catalog --> Select the products you imported the new url_key for --> Actions: Update Attributes --> Websites: Add to website
You can just tick the website it is already assigned to. This way the product gets 'updated' and it writes the new imported url_key to the url_writes table

A: You can use Regenerate a Url rewrites extension (it allow to generate/regenerate a Url rewrites of products and categories) .
To re-generate all Url rewrites of the categories/products in all stores (it support a multistores) run:
$> bin/magento ok:urlrewrites:regenerate

To regenerate Url rewrites in the specific store view (e.g.: store view id is "2"):
$> bin/magento ok:urlrewrites:regenerate 2

A: It seems that Magento 2 isn't regenerating rewrites on reindexing. Url rewrites are generated when product/category/page is saved/imported. So probaly your only solution is to write a script which will go through all products and resave them.
You can read more about this "issue" on github.

A: If (like me) you accidentally deleted some of the Magento 2 URL rewrites for a product and so you see horrible URLs like the following:
catalog/product/view/id/1/category/2

You can simply edit the category for the products where you are missing URL rewrites and save it.
Magento 2 then re-creates URL Rewrites for the products in that category.
e.g.
/mycategory/myproduct.html

This works in Magento 2.1.6

A: If you have access to the magento cli you can type this cmd
For a target store :
$ php bin/magento ok:urlrewrites:regenerate --store-id=1
For a all stores :
php bin/magento ok:urlrewrites:regenerate

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Impressionist Extraordinaire: Michael Mann's Ali
Joanna Di Mattia
What Is It?: The 27th FID Festival International de Cinéma Marseille
Cinematic Spectatorship by way of Architecture: Gabriele Pedullà, In Broad Daylight: Movies and Spectators After the Cinema
Rouch, Jean
Inside the outsider's skin: Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951)
George Stevens helmed a U.S. Army film unit for much of the Second World War. He recorded the D-Day landings, the liberation of Paris and, most importantly, the liberation of Dachau concentration camp and Duben labour camp. His footage of the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime was used as evidence at the Nuremberg trials. Stevens' experience as an eyewitness to genocide forever altered what he knew of the world, humanity and justice.
A Place in the Sun (1951), Stevens' second major film after his return to Hollywood, is the story of how a hostile environment can pervert an already warped character. George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) travels west from Chicago, chasing a dream and the promise of a new, improved version of himself. Pursuing happiness and wealth, he makes bad choices, and is eventually sentenced to death for murder. Yet, Stevens sees George as a victim – of a misshapen American Dream and, in the aftermath of a global war, of a world turned irrevocably upside down.
Michael Wilson and Harry Brown's screenplay, based on Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy (1925) and Patrick Kearney's 1926 play of the same name, understands George to be a far more ambivalent figure than the outwardly devious protagonist created by Dreiser. He's never just one thing, and Clift's agility within the grey areas of human behaviour takes us deep inside his isolation and loneliness. Stevens composes shots that magnify George's status as an outsider, in an unsympathetic world he nevertheless desperately wants to get inside. This psychology lets us understand George's attraction to plain Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) – his co-worker in the packing room at the Eastman swimsuit factory – but also his desire for glamorous Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), and why it consumes him to the point of destruction.
When George first crosses the threshold of his uncle Charles Eastman's (Herbert Heyes) palatial home, he's like a tiny insect under a microscope. The lavish rooms dwarf him; he doesn't fit. Wide shots and a still, passive camera keep George distant from his family; seated opposite, they scrutinise him with gazes held longer than is comfortable. Clift inhabits this ambitious yet insecure young man with every inch of his body, registering George's discomfort by twitching and shifting in his chair.
These long shots emphasise George's difference, but Stevens' many close-ups on Clift's beautiful face bridge that space: it's our portal into understanding George's plight. Clift's face, even after the 1956 accident that left him with permanent injuries, was a fascinating canvas. His luminous eyes are central to George's humanity. They are hopeful and optimistic when he first turns towards the camera during the film's opening credits, searing through the screen. They are aflame with wonder and yearning as he falls deeper for Angela; but uncertain and conflicted as he struggles with what to do about Alice. Because of them, we are never alienated; we never really see him as a villain.
Despite this astonishing, corporeal presence, Clift articulates something fundamental in George's character – that he's formless and in the process of becoming. Moreover, George is barely visible, awaiting approval by others to come (as it were) to life. During that visit to his uncle's house, George gets his first real look at Angela. But her presence only magnifies his strangeness. The Eastmans flock to her and enfold her, but Stevens pushes George to the back of the frame. Angela doesn't register George's presence. It's like he isn't even there. This emphasis on his lack of form is repeated. His uncle asks, "who?" in relation to him more than once, suggesting George doesn't leave a distinct impression. Early in the film, Stevens presents him as a shadow dweller – lurking outside the Eastman house, watching the guests arrive at a party he wasn't invited to. The gate opening and closing in front of him is a reminder that he's an outsider looking in. Several months later, when he's finally invited to one of those parties, people look right through him.
Stevens wants us to perform our own forensic study of George's character, juxtaposing how he appears to be and behave differently when he's with Alice or Angela. George's scenes with Alice are marked by a suffocating bleakness, dark from the start. On their first proper date, after George daringly enters Alice's room to turn down the radio, Stevens excises most of the light from the frame. George and Alice are dancing in the corner, but it's so dark we can't see them. Similarly, when Alice reveals that she's in "real trouble" on the night of George's birthday, George has his back to us in the corner of the frame – Alice kneels beside his shrouded black form. Stevens doesn't grant us access to George's experience through Clift's eyes during these sequences with Alice, amplifying the opacity of his connection with her.
By contrast, when George is with Angela, Stevens bathes him in light. These sequences are overwhelmingly sensual and intimate, Clift showing us just how significantly he was remaking not only screen acting, but also definitions of American masculinity. His men were the opposite of the strong, silent icons of the previous generation; his men were not afraid to expose their vulnerability to the point of emotional ruin. On Angela's arm, in her arms, George is soft and tender, takes shape and comes to life. The heightened romance of their love scene on the balcony at the second Eastman party is shot tight and up close. Angela, we are encouraged to believe, sees something in George no-one else can. "Tell mama all," she coos as they kiss, their faces enormous, blocking out everything else and dissolving into one.
As A Place in the Sun proceeds towards its tragic conclusion, Clift burrows ever deeper under George's skin. It's a performance with all the carefully shaded gestures of life. "How to remain thin-skinned, vulnerable, and still alive?" Clift noted in his journal.1 He believed this puzzle to be the actor's key dilemma. It was central to his approach, beginning with the Method but extending it further, always working towards recreating an experience closely resembling life on screen. It seems almost a cliché to say it now, but Clift, like his great contemporary Marlon Brando, did not act on screen so much as behave. The skin between him, and the characters he inhabited so acutely, was thin indeed.
A Place in the Sun (1951 USA 122 min)
Prod Co: Paramount Pictures Prod: George Stevens, Ivan Moffat Dir: George Stevens Scr: Michael Wilson, Harry Brown Phot: William C. Mellor Ed: William Hornbeck Snd: Gene Garvin, Gene Merritt Mus: Franz Waxman
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Keefe Brasselle, Fred Clark, Raymond Burr, Herbert Heyes, Shepperd Strudwick, Frieda Inescort
Patricia Bosworth, Montgomery Clift: A Biography (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), p. 168. ↩
Rehabilitating the Hollywood Left in Thom Andersen and Noël Burch's Red Hollywood (1996/2014)
Joanna Di Mattia is a writer and film critic and the inaugural winner of the Senses of Cinema-Monash University Essay Prize. Her PhD in Women's Studies from Monash University examined anxiety about masculinity in contemporary American cinema. She has contributed to numerous publications and her writing reflects her interest in the aesthetics of desire, screen acting, and the complex pleasures of looking.
Huffing and Puffing about Three Little Pigs
Adrian Danks
The Canary Murder Case (Malcolm St. Clair & Frank Tuttle, 1929)
Brad Weismann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Category Archives: Blogathon
Posted by sgliput in Blogathon, Movies, Poetry, Reviews, Writing
Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Foreign, Romance
Shall I sit here all alone
And wait for death to call me home?
Now that I am stranded here,
Have worth and meaning flown?
Shall I push uphill my stone
And watch it roll back down and groan
And wish that life had chanced to veer
Somewhere less sorrow-prone?
Perhaps I'll work myself to bone
And die unloved and thus unknown,
But if somebody could appear
And comfort give to persevere,
I'd gladly bear my daily stone
With one to call my own.
This review is my contribution to the Colours Blogathon hosted by Catherine of Thoughts All Sorts, focusing on all manner of movies with colorful titles. I chose The Red Turtle not only for the color in its name, but because I was curious about this feature-length silent film that earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature when Your Name didn't. Now that I've seen it, I completely agree that it deserved such an honor because this story of a shipwrecked man stranded on an island is a piece of cinematic art. So many cartoons these days rely on hyperactive humor that something like The Red Turtle is an anomalous reminder that animation can offer compelling stories without jokes or even words through simple mastery of the medium, allowing silence to make it universal.
The beautifully simple animation is the product of a collaboration between Dutch director Michaël Dudok de Wit, winner of the 2001 Animated Short Film Oscar for the lovely Father and Daughter, and the not-yet-defunct Studio Ghibli. I'm still surprised at Ghibli's involvement because The Red Turtle has no resemblance to anime, except maybe in the attention to natural detail, yet I'm reminded that anime is not limited by the usual big-eyed style. The Oscar-winning short film La Maison en Petits Cubes has a European aesthetic similar to The Red Turtle, but, despite the French name, it was a Japanese production. So you could say that The Red Turtle is a best of both worlds, combining the visual imaginations of its animators in a surprisingly accessible, almost watercolor style.
Silent animation is usually the realm of short films, and it must have been a risk to protract what could have been vastly shortened to a feature-length story. Those with short attention spans will likely be bored by the third raft-making attempt, but the patient should find the narrative rewarding in its ambiguity. As with Cast Away, actions speak louder than words, and the painterly animation is so superb in its simplicity that I was rarely bored. It's all in the details, like the humorous characterization of the crabs watching the man's efforts or the lush island greenery swaying in the breeze, and the realistic water is worth particular praise, whether serene on the horizon or violent in its outbursts.
I don't want to say much about the actual plot since it's best experienced with the intended visuals to tell the story, but it very much fits its description as a fable, a seemingly straightforward tale that can be appreciated on its surface or on a deeper, more symbolic level. The Red Turtle itself remains something of an enigma, even as it becomes a profoundly important part of the castaway's life, infusing the film and its ending with a bittersweet emotion that is strongly felt, if not fully understood.
So, yes, The Red Turtle is absolutely Oscar-worthy and, if not for last year's hefty competition, might well have won. Why couldn't a film like this come out in 2006 or 2011, when Disney/Pixar wasn't a shoo-in? I suppose I can now turn my blame on My Life as a Zucchini (the only nominee I haven't yet seen) for Your Name's lack of nomination last year because The Red Turtle is more than deserving. Despite its slow narrative that could have been a short film, it's a piece of modern art that is becoming rarer and rarer in the world of feature-length animation.
Best line: (the man's only line) "Heeeeey!"
It's a Wonderful Tag!
Posted by sgliput in Blogathon, Movies
As a Christmastime gift to movie bloggers everywhere, Richard of The Humpo Show began this end-of-year tag, full of questions to answer and then pass along to other bloggers. Since I was so kindly tagged by Drew of Drew's Movie Reviews, it's my turn to offer up my yuletide two-cents, which will take the place of my daily review today.
All I Want For Christmas is You | Which DVD/Blu-Ray would you like to receive this year?
Probably Captain America: Civil War, but anything on my top movie list is prime gift fodder.
Jingle Bell Rock | Favorite soundtrack or song from a Christmas film?
Since my favorite Christmas song is "Carol of the Bells," I have to go with Home Alone. I love how John Williams incorporated it into the score as Kevin sets all his burglar traps.
Let it Snow | 3 of your favorite Christmas films…
I'll have to go with It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, and A Christmas Story, though The Family Man comes close too.
Donald Trump | A film that divides opinion…
I would have gone with the Star Wars prequels, but I'm picking a film I just saw that left critics, audiences, and even my own sentiments polarized: Cloud Atlas. It's strange, complicated, sometimes jarringly edited, and stuffed to the brim, but it's also huge, moving, gorgeously scored, and thematically beautiful.
Brexit | Favorite British Film…
I'm not sure if the 2012 version of Les Miserables counts since it was "British-American" according to Wikipedia, so for pure British, I'll pick 1968's Oliver! Both musicals, hmm….
Fidel Castro | A film that divides opinion… A film considered culturally significant
Sure, I could go with an artistic classic, like Citizen Kane or Gone with the Wind, but I'm opting for Jurassic Park, since it was not only a great blockbuster but the stepping stone between puppetry and CGI effects. Didn't Swiss Army Man prove Jurassic Park's significance this past year?
Starbucks | Favorite Film Franchise…
Easy, Lord of the Rings, without a doubt.
McDonald's Happy Meal | Favorite Childhood Film…
One of the first films I remember seeing in the theater was Disney's Tarzan, and I also recall watching it on VHS with my cousin, especially replaying the "Trashing the Camp" part over and over and over. Ah, memories….
'Cheeky Nandos' | Favorite Comedy
Groundhog Day. Talk about watching something over and over and over.
One film you want all of your followers to watch…
The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but if 9 hours of epic fantasy is too much for some people, then Mr. Holland's Opus. Makes me choke up every time.
Here's a template list of the questions:
Thanks again to Richard for starting the tag and to Drew for tagging me. Now who should I tag?
MIB – MIB's Instant Headache
Rachel – Reviewing All 56 Disney Animated Films and More
Kim – Tranquil Dreams
Dell – Dell on Movies
Luke – Oracle of Film
Jason – Jason's Movie Blog
I look forward to reading the answers of anyone I've tagged, or anyone who just feels like answering the same questions. A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone in blog-land!
Star Trek: Voyager Musical Highlights
Posted by sgliput in Blogathon, Music, Reviews, TV, Writing
This post is part of the Music of Star Trek Blogathon hosted by Film Music Central so check out the amazing music posts that others have already contributed. When I first heard about the blogathon, I wasn't sure that there was much I could add to the discussion, since most people seemed to be focusing on the original Star Trek series, The Next Generation, and their movies. However, I decided to shine a spotlight on the musical moments in my favorite series in the franchise: Voyager.
For those who don't know, Voyager is Star Trek's incarnation of the Odyssey. Two crews are hurled into the unexplored Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light-years from home: the Federation starship Voyager led by Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and a Maquis ship of rebel freedom fighters, led by Chakotay (Robert Beltran). After their initial encounters with the native aliens leave them stranded, the two crews band together to make the long journey home. Like Next Gen, the somewhat stiff early episodes yield to better and better seasons, and it's truly gratifying to see all the characters grow into a family. Many episodes rival the very best that Star Trek has to offer, but we're not here to discuss every little thing I love about this series; let's talk about the music.
One of the most obvious musical achievements is the opening theme song. While Next Gen recycled Jerry Goldsmith's incredible score from Star Trek: The Motion Picture for its opening theme, Goldsmith provided an original theme for Voyager, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music. The soft trumpet and drums immediately set a mood of spacey grandeur, and the brass and strings mingle together as the essence of audible majesty, complemented by lofty shots of the title ship swooping through stellar phenomena. Between the music and the visuals, I firmly consider it the best opening of all the Trek series.
So, that's the theme. What about the music in the series itself? All of it is excellent, but the most memorable new theme was introduced in the season 3 finale Scorpion, which was a turning point in the series and could be considered Voyager's "Best of Both Worlds." The Voyager crew find themselves in the middle of the Borg's losing war against an unbeatable super-race known as Species 8472. The music by Jay Chattaway is loaded with bombast, reminding the ear of the high stakes, and the seven forceful notes mix with the background music for a terrific small-screen action piece. You can hear it for yourselves here.
In addition to the instrumental scores, music played a special role in several episodes, particularly for the holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo), who developed a passion for opera. In addition, both Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine and Tim Russ as Tuvok showed their singing chops on occasion, and Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim periodically played the clarinet. Here are some of the most notable musical highlights:
In the season 2 episode "The Thaw," Harry Kim and Tom Paris debate where Harry should practice his clarinet without disturbing his neighbor.
In the season 2 episode "Innocence," Tuvok is stranded on a moon with three alien children and soothes them to sleep with a Vulcan "lullaby" of sorts called Falor's Journey.
In the season 3 episode "Remember," Janeway is telepathically taught to play an ethereal-sounding new instrument.
In the season 4 two-parter "The Killing Game," a hunter race called the Hirogen brainwash the Voyager crew and make them take part in historical holographic violence. One holodeck is set in Nazi-occupied France, and Seven of Nine is a crooning serenader in a French bar.
In the season 5 premiere "Night," Voyager travels through a vast area of starless space, and in his boredom, Harry performs his own concerto called "Echoes of the Void" while on the bridge.
In the season 5 episode "Counterpoint," a paranoid, anti-telepath race repeatedly boards and searches Voyager, and its charismatic inspector flirts with Captain Janeway while blaring Mahler's First Symphony during every inspection.
In the season 5 episode "Bride of Chaotica!," the show indulges in the classic cheesiness of the old Flash-Gordon-style science fiction and the exaggerated score reflects the over-the-top histrionics.
In the season 5 episode "Someone to Watch over Me," the Doctor tries to teach Seven of Nine social skills and seems to realize his attraction to her while they sing "You Are My Sunshine" together. During the poignant final scene, the Doctor also sings "Someone to Watch over Me," alone.
In the season 6 premiere "Equinox Part II," a reprogrammed evil Doctor performs surgery on Seven of Nine, sadistically making her sing "My Darling Clementine" with him.
In the season 6 episode "Barge of the Dead" (probably the worst episode of the series), we get to hear a traditional Klingon drinking song.
In the season 6 episode "Riddles," Tuvok becomes mentally damaged, and Neelix plays him a Vulcan funeral dirge, as well as jazz, which Tuvok surprisingly enjoys.
In the season 6 episodes "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk," the crew enjoy a holodeck program of a quaint Irish village, with accompanying Celtic background music.
In the season 6 episode "Virtuoso," the Doctor becomes a celebrity when he introduces music to a race that has never heard it before. Lots of opera in this one.
In the season 7 episode "Homestead," Neelix dances to some classic rock 'n' roll, and eventually Tuvok indulges him with a parting dance step.
The series finale "Endgame" also won Jay Chattaway an Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition For A Series. Here's a taste of the underscore from both the pilot and the final episode.
There you have it. Star Trek: Voyager excelled at utilizing music both in the score and the storylines, continuing the musical legacy of The Original Series and Next Gen. I leave you now with the funniest musical moment from the series in which the Doctor's operatic daydreams take a comical turn in Season 6's "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy."
For Greater Glory (Cristiada) (2012)
Posted by sgliput in Blogathon, Christian, Movies, Music, Poetry, Reviews, Writing
Drama, History, War
If your freedoms were taken, your rights undermined,
To worship, to write, or to speak your own mind?
Would you flee?
Would you fight?
Would you stay out of sight?
Would you trigger a war?
Would you pray less or more?
Would you just play along,
With no thought to the wrong,
And in fear knowing well
That one word could bring hell?
Would you plot and resist?
Would you cease and desist?
Would your final resort
Be but silent support?
Would you bear the blood spilt
And accept your own guilt?
Would you think yourself smarter
As traitor or martyr?
Now ask what must happen, what action or vision,
To weigh on your conscience and change your decision?
MPAA rating: R (for scenes of war and torture, could be PG-13)
This is my contribution to the Remembering James Horner Blogathon over at Film Music Central, where the music of the late great film composer is being celebrated. I'd wanted to see For Greater Glory for years now, and this gave me the perfect opportunity, while illustrating how Horner was equally at home scoring small-budget historical dramas as well as multi-million-dollar blockbusters.
I've been waiting for that moment when Christian filmmaking manages to keep up with Hollywood, because despite the inspirational appeal of movies like Fireproof and Miracles from Heaven, Christian films always tend to lack the polish of their secular counterparts. Thankfully, For Greater Glory has that polish, boasting cinematography, editing, and a name-recognized cast worthy of Hollywood while telling a story at once faithful, gritty, and timely.
Most people have probably never heard of the Cristero War, a Mexican revolt from 1926 to 1929 caused by the viciously anti-Catholic policies of President Plutarco Elías Calles (played by Rubén Blades). Because of the history of devout Catholicism that seems synonymous with Latin America, it came as a surprise to me that anti-religious positions were written into the Mexican constitution, and when Calles began enforcing them by deporting foreign priests and killing priests and parishioners alike, the people rose up against him with the battle cry of "Viva Christo Rey!" It's a struggle largely forgotten but comprehensively recounted through the experiences of various freedom fighters: famed general Enrique Gorostieta (Andy Garcia), lone wolf Victoriano Ramirez (Oscar Isaac), priest-turned-general Father Vega (Santiago Cabrera), peace-seeking lawyer Anacleto Flores (Eduardo Verástegui), and pious youngster José Sánchez del Río (Mauricio Kuri).
The entire cast deliver excellent performances, from Garcia's conflicted attitude toward defending a religion he doesn't share to a brief but impactful role for Peter O'Toole. Garcia as General Gorostieta is the most intriguing, an atheist like Calles who nonetheless staunchly believes in religious freedom; his calls of "Viva Christo Rey" encourage the troops as they become perhaps more heartfelt, reminding me that impartial atheists can do wonders with spiritual material. (For example, Amazing Grace was directed by Michael Apted.) The sporadic action is also tense and visceral (though more worth a PG-13 than an R), with ambushes, battles, and an especially cool one-against-fourteen shoot-out with Oscar Isaac. As for Horner's score, it's not among his most memorable soundtracks but one which masterfully complements every scene, rousing during the war scenes and suitably intense in the most emotional moments.
Despite the epic scope that the film mostly achieves, it's rather slow-paced overall, and one might have trouble telling the various characters apart at first. What makes For Greater Glory worthwhile, though, is its commitment to telling a story that has been swept under the rug of history, an injustice explained by the fact that history is told by the winning side. As the film progresses, it becomes clear that this is more tragedy than triumph, and sacrifices toward the end bring to mind death scenes in The Passion of the Christ and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Even if none of the characters are deeply explored, the historical notes before the end credits give them the depth of reality as we learn that many have since been beatified or canonized as saints.
With ever-growing distress over religious freedom in America and throughout the world, it's important to see where religious intolerance can lead. Again, it's hard to imagine that, in the country of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Christians were hanged from telephone poles less than a century ago, like crosses along the ancient Appian Way. Some have considered the film to be one-sided in its blessing of the rebels who committed some glossed-over atrocities of their own, but the heroics and devotion on display are still worthy of admiration, remembrance, and prayers that such abuses may never happen again.
Best line: (Calles, speaking of Gorostieta) "Filio Diaz used to say, 'A dog with a bone in his mouth doesn't bark and doesn't bite.' In politics, everything has a price. Go find his."
© 2016 S. G. Liput
Rashomon (1950)
Drama, Foreign
While weather is windy and bitterly pouring,
Four stories are told when the truth needs exploring,
Four different accounts with the witnesses warring,
But no outright answer for askers imploring.
While some simply welcome whatever's not boring,
The doubt is too heavy for easy ignoring.
Both lies and the truth can leave consciences roaring,
But everyone's faith is in need of restoring.
MPAA rating: Not Rated (should be PG for mature themes)
This is a last-minute contribution to the Criterion Blogathon, hosted by Criterion Blues, Speakeasy, and Silver Screenings, in order to honor the old and new film classics selected by the Criterion Collection. After thoroughly admiring Akira Kurosawa's epic Seven Samurai, I thought I might check out his earlier work, in this case Rashomon, the film that sparked pioneering interest in Asian cinema throughout the West. The story of Rashomon is simple yet profound, intimate yet eclectic, an art film with plenty of moral insight and a technique that has inspired everything from Western remakes (The Outrage, Hoodwinked!) to TV episodes (such as Star Trek: The Next Generation's "A Matter of Perspective").
Rashomon itself is an abandoned gate between Kyoto and Nara, though its name always sounds to me like a character from Digimon. The rain-drenched frame story allows a woodcutter and a priest to recount a trial they just witnessed to a surly passerby as they all take shelter beneath the decrepit Rashomon gate. The two watched as the infamous bandit Tajōmaru was tried for the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife, and both are clearly shaken, having had their faith in humanity cast in doubt.
What follows are four stories of the fateful encounter from four different perspectives. All have the same outcome, yet none are the same. The bandit (Toshiro Mifune of Seven Samurai and other Kurosawa projects) boasts about his daring, recounting an admittedly impressive swordfight against the samurai (Masayuki Mori) after having his way with the woman (Machiko Kyō). The woman ignores any mention of a fight and casts herself as a victim of both men. The samurai may be dead, but a possessed medium explains his viewpoint with rather disturbing behavior, casting more blame on the woman than on the bandit. And then there's the truth. Or is it? While the final tale seems to be the most plausible in spreading the guilt around, there's still the smack of hypocrisy, and one can't help but wonder what all four may be leaving out to suit their own point of view. Ambiguity and doubt are prevalent, yet Kurosawa doesn't try to discount morality in general through his questioning of what really happened. The world may be full of liars, but human kindness can still have its say.
In addition to its morally debatable themes, Rashomon is also noted for its cinematography and tight editing. As commendable as these are, the film does embrace certain excesses in the way it is told. The opening scene, for example, in which the woodcutter wanders through the dense forest foliage before coming upon the crime scene, is meant to build tension and recall the silent film era, but it unfortunately drags, just one scene that stretches the audience's patience to the edge of boredom. While much of the acting is subtle and faultless, other moments are acutely overacted, such as the crazy outbursts of two of the players and the woman's incessant sobbing. These criticisms can doubtless be attributed to the acting conventions of the time, since this film is far from the only aged offender in that regard.
Yet despite the shortcomings of individual scenes, Rashomon is still the classic so many critics have hailed, well deserving of its honorary Academy Award five years before the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film was established. Influential in its uncertainty and thought-provoking in its divergent narrative, Rashomon helped to solidify Kurosawa as an esteemed director the world over.
Best line: (the surly peasant, defending yet impugning everyone from liars to storytellers) "I don't mind a lie if it's interesting."
Almost Famous (2000)
Rock and roll was on a roll,
Exciting body, heart, and soul.
They played it loud to please the crowd,
Sublimely out of all control.
These kings of cool were glad to rule,
And much too groovy to be cruel.
Their fame would rise amid the highs
And make it wise to play the fool.
Each touring band that spanned the land
Had rabid fans at their command.
The highs and lies were some disguise
From what they did not understand:
The value of what's close at hand.
MPAA rating: R (for much language and brief nudity)
This review is a last-minute addition to Rocktober, hosted by Carly Hearts Movies, celebrating the best (or worst) in rock-and-roll cinema. Being a big fan of Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, I thought it was about time to explore one of his earlier films, and Rocktober helped decide which one it would be.
Rock and roll is a hard thing to quantify. Some love any reason to bang their heads and party; some are excessively picky about how they discern good music from populist trash; and some turn their noses up at its very nature of sex and drugs. Almost Famous captures all three viewpoints and so much else that makes rock both diverting and dangerous, all through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old fan based on Crowe himself.
Young William Miller (Patrick Fugit) loves rock music to the dread of his high-strung mother, whose overprotective opinions already drove away his rebellious older sister. Though teased for being the youngest in his grade, he listens and writes and eventually gets noticed, first by Creem Magazine (thanks to music critic Lester Bangs, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), then by Rolling Stone, and William is whisked into the radical world of the backstage rock scene. His ticket in is the up-and-coming quartet Stillwater, led by Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee), whom he accompanies on a cross-country tour.
Though William knows and admires the music, he is still an outsider and a journalist, "the enemy" as the band nicknames him, and he is able to objectively watch the world of rock music unfold before him, much like an uninitiated viewer. In addition to his trusty notepad, he is always "taking notes with his eyes," as Russell says, observing the inner squabbling among the bandmates, the wild lives they lead while on tour, the frequent drug-induced stupidity, and the inner workings of these "swill merchants," who talk frankly about the chicks and then wax philosophical about the brain vs. instinct.
Yet for all the talk of the music and the fans being everything, he also experiences firsthand the dark, false side of this world, in which not even William can remain clean. Everyone seems to be pretending they're something better than they are. Stillwater grows to enjoy William's tagging along, but they trust that he'll clean up their messy shenanigans when it comes time to actually write the article about them. An entourage of dedicated fangirls called the Band Aids accompany the band everywhere they go, and despite their focus on sex and drugs rather than the music, they insist they're not just ordinary groupies. One in particular known as Penny Lane (Oscar nominee Kate Hudson) puts much effort into her enigmatic persona, sure to be the life of the party. While William sees through most of these facades, even he pretends in order to be taken seriously by Rolling Stone. As much as everyone wants to be loved, too often people are used for the sake of "lifestyle maintenance."
All this may make Almost Famous sound overly heavy, and while its dramatic moments are perceptive, there is just as much appealing comedy, from the eccentricities of William's backstage acquaintances to the seriocomic emergency that prompts some unexpected honesty. I especially got a kick out of William's mother (Frances McDormand), whose increasingly worried phone calls to check up on him are priceless.
Cameron Crowe obviously knows the ins and outs of the rock scene, and despite its dark side, he found the right balance of honesty and feel-good drama, along with a classic rock soundtrack that includes five original songs by Crowe, then-wife Nancy Wilson, and Peter Frampton. With his insightful, Oscar-winning screenplay, Crowe brings to life a world of "drunken buffoons" and making something "poetic" out of it. I still prefer Elizabethtown, but Almost Famous is an entertaining inside look at "the industry of cool."
Best line: (Russell and a hotel clerk, to William) "Your mom kind of freaked me out."
Rank: List-Worthy
The Film Emotion Blogathon
Posted by sgliput in Blogathon, Movies, Reviews, Writing
Connor at Conman at the Movies has created a thought-provoking blogathon, one that calls movie fans to think of films that embody the emotions in Pixar's instant classic Inside Out.
Joy: A film that always puts a smile on your face
Sadness: A film that sends tears streaming down your face
Fear: A film that made you want to cover your face (in fright)
Anger: A film that made you want to punch someone else's face
Disgust: A film you wouldn't want to face again (this one's a bit more open-ended)
After much thought, I've come up with five choices that epitomize these emotions in me, so here goes:
JOY: Elizabethtown (2005)
While it's sometimes more of a dark comedy, Elizabethtown is still a delight for me every time. It starts out with Orlando Bloom having the worst day imaginable (how could any of my bad days compare?), topped off by his being sent to Kentucky to bring home his dead father. If the small-town quirk doesn't win you over, how about Kirsten Dunst's Claire, who makes it her mission to raise this suicidal visitor out of his despair and into a new appreciation for life, complete with a fantastic soundtrack. "Freebird" has never made me smile so much.
SADNESS: Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
I cannot imagine a film more depressing, more heart-rending than Grave of the Fireflies…and it's a cartoon! (Sorry, anime.) The story of two orphaned Japanese children during the last days of World War II is just so tragic, and the feelings of sorrow keep growing throughout until the inevitable, quiet, hopeless, gut-wrenching end. I hardly ever cry anymore, but this film does it every time.
FEAR: Poltergeist (1982)
I haven't seen many horror movies so my choice here may seem wussy compared with others, but seriously, this film traumatized me when I saw it as a kid. I can't stand jump scares, and that clown still rules my greatest moment of cinematic fright. Not to mention that swimming pool full of corpses. *Shiver.*
ANGER: Urban Cowboy (1980)
I've already ranted about how much I despise this movie, but this gives me another opportunity. John Travolta and Debra Winger play such pitiful white trash, and Travolta's character especially is so childish as he insists on proving his alpha-male status even as he flagrantly cheats on his wife to make her jealous. The country music cannot save this maddening "romance," in which the characters think a mechanical bull ride can heal a marriage more than the words "I'm sorry." Can you tell I don't like this film?
DISGUST: The Last Airbender (2010)
While it doesn't have the gore or raunch that would normally turn me off from a film, M. Night Shyamalan's film version of Avatar: The Last Airbender is unfathomably, disgustingly bad, the kind of bad that makes you wonder why no one noticed while making it. Wooden acting, stilted dialogue, weak special effects, laughable action scenes—on its own, it may have been just a bad film, but as an adaptation of the beloved Nickelodeon series, it tramples on everything that made that series great. Is there anything so disgusting as a missed opportunity?
Thanks for a fun idea, Connor!


Denver – Results from a detailed survey of cow-calf veterinarians compiling their recommendations on vaccine protocols, health management, and production practice recommendations were recently published in The Professional Animal Scientist, the publication for the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. The study, "A Survey of Recommended Practices Made by Veterinary Practitioners to Cow-Calf Operations in the United States and Canada," was initiated by the Red Angus Association of America in partnership with the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station, and provides valuable insight into how these practices can be best applied in individual cowherds.
(The BARN – Briggsdale, CO) December 20, 2017 – Denver-based Ardent Mills, the premier flour-milling and ingredient company, today announced its three-star partnership with the National FFA Organization, formerly known as Future Farmers of America. Joining the CO Ag News Network to discuss this announcement in more detail is Troy Anderson Regional Operations Manager & Senior Director @ Ardent Mills….
To learn more about the National FFA Organization visit FFA.org or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and the official National FFA Organization blog. And to learn more about Ardent Mills, visit ardentmills.com.
DENVER, Colorado, Dec. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Denver-based Ardent Mills, the premier flour-milling and ingredient company, today announced its three-star partnership with the National FFA Organization, formerly known as Future Farmers of America.
The $81 billion House disaster aid package includes provisions for cotton growers and limited support for dairy producers. The National Farmers Union says both cotton and dairy farmers need appropriations fixes before the start of the next farm bill. The bill, however, offsets part of the cost by making changes to nutrition infrastructure. NFU President Roger Johnson says the organization supports changes for cotton and dairy farmers, but remains opposed to "farm programs being pitted against nutrition programs." Further, Johnson says the dairy industry needs more help than outlined in the bill, calling the support level "very disappointing," as dairy producers continue to struggle with low milk prices and a "deeply flawed safety net program." The bill also includes $2.6 billion for Florida agriculture for producers who have suffered hurricane-related losses.
The American Farm Bureau Federation announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump will address the AFBF 99th Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, next month. AFBF President Zippy Duvall says AFBF is "honored to host our nation's president," in noting that Trump has said he would "make sure agriculture has a seat at the table" when it comes to top issues facing farmers and ranchers. Duvall says: "Now, it is our privilege to reserve a spot for him at our podium." Duvall considers President Trump's announced speech as a sign of the high regard in which the nation's chief executive holds America's farm and ranch families. The speech comes after three consecutive years of decline in farm sector profits as farmers are facing prolonged economic challenges. AFBF says action on key issues on the president's agenda could help farmers turn the corner as they head into the new year. George H.W. Bush was the last president to address the AFBF Annual Convention in 1992 in Kansas City, and before that, in 1990 in Orlando. The 2018 AFBF Annual Convention takes place January 5-10.
Government data shows that U.S. farmers again exported a record amount of soybeans, shipping 2.6 billion bushels to international buyers in the 2016-17 marketing year. Valued at more than $28 billion, the milestone represented the second year in a row that exports exceeded 60 percent of U.S. soybean production. However, the United Soybean Board warns that record U.S. production is no longer enough to ensure markets for U.S. farmers. A USB board member points out that soy production is growing worldwide, giving buyers more choice. Derek Haigwood of Arkansas says the U.S. needs to "differentiate our product and farmer practices to customers" to position the U.S. as a preferred supplier in the future. He suggests that improvements to meal and oil will help the U.S. "keep a strong foothold" in overseas markets.
An abundance of inexpensive, conventionally produced eggs is depressing demand for higher priced cage-free eggs. A new report by CoBank says egg production, conventual and cage-free, has surged since the 2015 avian flu outbreak. More than 229 major food companies following the outbreak pledged to use cage-free eggs by 2025. Meanwhile, total table egg production is expected to return to historical growth patterns as low egg prices encourage producers to pare back production. The rebalancing of the market will allow the cage-free transition to be driven by fundamental consumer demand rather than pledges made by retailers and food manufacturers, according to the report. To fully meet food company pledges to market all or a significant portion of their eggs as cage-free, nearly three-quarters of the entire layer flock would need to meet the criteria. It would cost the industry about $10 billion to make the transition. The current overabundance of conventional eggs makes this investment difficult in the near term, the report points out.
Missouri has announced fines for herbicide applicators stemming from 2016 dicamba investigations in the Southeast corner of the state. All the announced fines are for applicators in Dunklin County, in Missouri's bootheel region, bordering Arkansas. One applicator was cited for an alleged 149 violations, with a civil penalty settlement amount of $62,250. The fines started at $1,500, and totaled more than $145,000 for eight applicators, in what the state calls the first wave of civil penalties. In 2016, the Missouri Department of Agriculture completed 121 complaint-based dicamba investigations. Federal investigators are also looking into six of the complaints from 2016 in the state. Neighboring Arkansas in 2016 issued seven warnings and 47 civil penalties in 2016, and is investigating nearly 1,000 dicamba misuse complaints reported in 2017. Missouri is investigating more than 300 complaints reported in 2017.


FREE Doggie Ice Cream & Keepsake Photo At Petsmart!
You are here: Home / FREEbies / FREE Doggie Ice Cream & Keepsake Photo At Petsmart!
On June 6, from 9am to 5pm only! Petsmart will be hosting a Doggie Day Camp where your furry friend can score a fr: Doggie Ice Cream and Digital Keepsake Photo! I'm sure they will love it!


Today's globally networked economy demands powerful information systems that are available to customers, business partners and employees around the clock and around the world. When a company's systems are down, the business costs in lost productivity, sales and profits, poor customer service and decreased customer loyalty can be enormous. To mitigate these effects, many companies are turning toward high availability solutions to protects their data, assets, and ensure continuity of operations following a disaster.
HeadStream has a staff of high availability experts who can help you design a continuity solution that protects your company's valuable data.


This is a discussion on welcome within the ATI Gun Stocks forums, part of the Vendors category!
Will you be making any stocks that will fit a browning pump?
Nothing is in the works at the moment, but you never know when something might pop up!


text:
Valea Pechii este un sat în comuna Schitu Golești din județul Argeș, Muntenia, România.

Satul Valea Pechii apartine comunei Schitu Golesti si se invecineaza cu localitatea Loturi .
In valea Pechii se gaseste si biserica Trei Ierarhii, detinand Monumentul eroilor.

Valea Pechii, Schitu Golești

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Education and Learning: Preliminary Findings from the Round 5 Survey in Ethiopia
Alula PankhurstMesele Araya Tassew Woldehanna
Round 5 Fact Sheets
ETHIOPIA-Education&Learning-Factsheet-Oct17.pdf
Round 5 Longitudinal Education and Learning Fact Sheet
This fact sheet presents findings from the fifth round of the Young Lives survey in 2016. Young Lives has followed two cohorts of children, born seven years apart. This fact sheet gives a snapshot of key education indicators for 15-year-olds in 2016 (Younger Cohort) and compares that to the data for 15-year-olds in 2009 (Older Cohort) to show changes in children's education over that 7-year period. Despite a significant increase in school enrolment for both boys and girls, grade progression often remains slow, especially for children from rural sites and poorer households. Moreover, there are large disparities in learning levels between children from different socio-economic groups, as measured by maths and vocabulary tests.
Key Findings:
Over time, enrolment has increased for 15-year-olds (comparing the Younger Cohort in 2016 to the Older Cohort in 2009) by three percentage points (from 90% to 93%).
With age, enrolment of Younger Cohort children fell slightly between the ages of 12 and 15 from 95% to 93%. Girls were slightly more likely to remain enrolled in school than boys at the age of 15 (94% for girls versus 92% for boys).
Children from the poorest households and those from rural sites are making the slowest progress through grades. At age 15, when they are expected to be in Grade 7 or 8, children on average have only completed Grade 5 or 6. Those progressing well come mainly from households whose caregiver had more than eight years of education, belong to the wealthiest households, and live in Addis Ababa. Girls are also more likely to have reached a higher grade level compared to boys.
The majority of those enrolled at age 15 were in public schools (93%) compared to only 6% in private schools. Private school enrolment is highest among children whose caregiver has more than eight years of education and among children from the wealthiest households.
The rapid increase in enrolment has not been matched by improvements in learning levels which fall short of national targets. Children from betteroff households, with caregivers who have completed primary school, and those living in urban sites, perform better in tests of maths and vocabulary.


text:
Nup/people Power withdraws from EALA Elections
Brand New General News
The Leader Of Opposition in Parliament (LOP) has revealed that National Unity Platform (NUP) will not take part in the upcoming East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) elections.
Leader of opposition Hon Mathias Mpuga
He said that National Resistance Movement (NRM) believes that it is entitled to six members at EALA, and that entitlement is eternal. As if the six are ordained and that others should look at them in admiration.
He condermed NRM for meddling in the nomination of representatives of other political parties, and that it was partly the reason for NUP's abstinence from the election.
Hon Ibrahim Ssemujju
According to Mp Ibrahim Ssemujju who is also the spokesperson of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) cited a scenario in 2012, where Speaker Among, then a member of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, was denied the opportunity to participate in the EALA elections because of "bad politics by the ruling party.
He also implored the Speaker Anita Among to fight the vice which he said has persisted, urging her to defend the opposition members interested in the EALA race.
The current member's term ends on 27/12/2022 though the EALA election process commences on September 19, 2022, with nominations.
Related Topics:EALA electionsNup withdraws from EALA elections
KIU student passes on
Gulu University releases the admission lists 2022/2023


text:
Q: How can I serialize an object in Javascript, then deserialize it in asp.net? I have a custom Javascript object that has a few string and float members. I'd like to serialize an array of them in Javascript, assign the result to a hidden field, and then retrieve and deserialize them in the codebehind for my asp.net application.
Is there a standard way to do this?

A: You can Use JSON.
With JSON you serialize data and serialize it in Different language.
http://flexjson.sourceforge.net/
http://forums.c-sharpcorner.com/Blogs/BlogDetail.aspx?BlogId=2028
http://www.nateirwin.net/2008/11/20/json-array-to-c-using-jsonnet/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb299886.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/79435/Deserialize-JSON-with-Csharp.aspx

A: what you need is JSON.
both javascript and C# can handle it.
article: http://www.nateirwin.net/2008/11/20/json-array-to-c-using-jsonnet/
also: http://www.json.org/ (scroll to the end)

A: Check this answer How do I serialize a C# anonymous type to a JSON string?
Edit:
Since JavaScriptSerializer is deprecated .. you can use DataContractJsonSerializer.
MSDN: DataContractJsonSerializer
Blog post on how to use it: http://pietschsoft.com/post/2008/02/NET-35-JSON-Serialization-using-the-DataContractJsonSerializer.aspx


Sedan starten, TPU har alltid varit en yrkes institution med ett brett spektrum av områden av forskning och högre utbildning.
TPU: s uppdrag är att främja kunskap och erfarenhet tillåter någon enskild, samhälle och Ryssland att tillämpa bästa praxis för högkvalificerade specialister och effektivt genomförande av innovationer inom vetenskap och högre utbildning.
Tomsk Polytechnic University framgångsrikt på väg mot att bli forskning University of the global nivå.
Det strategiska syftet med TPU idag är att bli en världsledande forskningsuniversitet som uppfyller bästa internationella standarder.
utveckling av Institute of Engineering Entreprenörskap för högteknologiska företag.
förbättring av bildning, distribution och kontroll av universitetet konsoliderade budget.
läge TPU i den internationella universitetsrankningar.
stödja en sund konkurrens och en gynnsam moraliska och psykologiska klimat vid universitetet.
Vi tror att TPU som utgör en kraftfull lag som stöds av sina alumner står en god chans att bidra till sitt goda rykte och att bekräfta den eviga härlighet framstående forskare, ingenjörer, och företagare.
Uppdraget för Tomsk Polytechnic University is to contribute to Russia's prosperity through the pursuit of education, inlärning, och forskning på högsta internationella nivå med särskild kompetens att bygga således och förbättra konkurrenssituationen för vårt land. Vi lägger särskild vikt vid avancerad ingenjörsutbildning, generering av ny kunskap, innovativa idéer, skapande av resurseffektiv teknik, internationalisering och integration av forskning och akademisk verksamhet. Vår vinnande formel synergism baserad på professionalism, kreativitet och harmoni.
personlig frihet bygger på intolerans mot någon manifestation av ras, etnisk, religiös, kön, politisk eller annan form av diskriminering.
• innovation fostering search for the best engineering practice.
Tomsk Technological Institute (TTI) ensured education and training of highly qualified engineers, which strengthened the industry and economy in Siberia, the Far East and CIS countries (Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, etc.). TTI established outstanding schools in the field of chemistry, mechanical engineering and material science, fysik och matematik, electrical and power engineering, mining and geology, building and architecture.
Chemical school founded by professor N.M. Kizhner was later developed by famous scientists of the 20th århundrade: Professor E.V. Biron, researcher in the field of physics and chemistry N.N. Semenov (the Nobel Proze winner in the field of physical chemistry). Professors B.V. Tronov, L.P. Kulev, I.V. Gebler and A.G. Stromberg laid the basis of independent research areas in the field of complex compounds and medical chemistry, by-product coke industry and physical chemistry. The Siberian school of physics was founded by TTI professor B.P. Veinberg. In 50-70s of the 20th century research fields of the school were further developed by Professor A.A. Vorobiev.
Tomsk school of mechanical engineering and material studies founded by professors I.I. Bobarykov, N.I. Kartashev and T.I. Tikhonov contributed to graduation of several generations of specialists in the field of mechanical engineering.
Development of the science in the field of metallurgy is closely connected with the names of professors N.V. Gutovsky, N.P. Chizhevsky and V.Ya. Mostovich. Strong potential of these scientific schools allowed to prepare thousands specialists for the development and industrialization of Siberian Region.
Researchers and graduates of mining and geological school of academicians V.A. Obruchev and M.A. Usov played a key role in the development of petroleum, coal and metallurgical industry in the eastern part of the country. Över 350 ut ur 14 thousand graduates of Siberian mining and geological school discovered mineral fields, över 50 of them became laureates of Lenin and Governmental Awards, 15 were given the title of academicians and member-correspondents of the USSR Academy of Science (Russian Academy of Sciences), över 50 were awarded a doctoral degree and 800 became candidates of sciences. Researchers and graduates of the institute were actively participating in design, construction and launch of main industrial enterprises in the Ural, Far East and Siberia (Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant, sites in Novosibirsk, mines and pits in Kuzbass).
I 1925 by the decree of Siberian Revolutionary Committee TTI changed its name into Siberian Technological Institute, och i 1934 it was reorganised into Tomsk Industrial Institute.
An important step in the development of the university as research and educational, methodical and engineering centre was connected with the name of Professor A.A. Vorobiev. I 1944 Rector Vorobiev made it possible to award the status of polytechnic institute. New research fields meeting the demands of that time were developed at Tomsk Polytechnic Institute (TPI): radioteknik, electronics and automation, kärnkraftsteknik, cybernetics and computer engineering, high voltage engineering, engineering and technology of directional drilling, molecular physics, plasma physics and chemistry, etc. In 1960s a unique scientific and research infrastructure was developed at the institute to foster these research fields: 4 forskningsinstitut (Institute of Nuclear Physics, High Voltage Institute, Institute of Automation and Electrical Engineering, Institute of Non-Destructive Testing), the largest in the USSR synchrotron "Sirius" (1,5 GeV), and the only educational and research reactor in the Ural part of Siberia. At the same time TPI was contributing a lot to space exploration studies. Led by B.A. Kononov TPI researchers were involved in the creation of electron defectoscope applied for monitoring of special articles of rocket technology. Professor O.B. Evdokimov together with the group of scientists was actively working in the field of radiation excitation of space dielectric materials.
During democratic changes in the country and transition to market economy Tomsk Polytechnic Institute was led by Professor Yuri P. Pokholkov, under the auspices of whom a new concept of university reformation and development in social and economic conditions was created.
Being one of the first ones in Russia by the Decree of the RF Government the university was awarded the status of technical university. Eftersom 1991 Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) has been developing in compliance with five-yearComplex Development Programmes (CDP). CDP of Tomsk Polytechnic University became one of the most critical innovations in Russian education which was approved and supported by the RF Government. CDP represents the forecast of university development identifying its objectives, ways to achieve them and necessary resources, as well as strategic action plan aimed at achievement of set objectives. The fact that CDP is covering all areas of university activity, and its efficiency to a large extent is defined by completeness of program-oriented approach principles is the main feature of university CDP. The first TPU CDP for 1991–1995 ensured conditions for university transformation from polytechnic institute to polytechnic university and for university development, specialists' training, creation of advanced engineering and technology background. The second TPU CDP for 1996–2000 provided dynamic development of the university during the formation of market economy in the country and transition to post-industrial society. The third TPU CDP for 2001–2005 contributed to university integration into international research and educational community.
During the implementation of the fourth TPU CDP (2006-2010) the special emphasis was placed on innovative research, high technologies development, education and training of graduates' capable of ensuring positive changes in the Russian economy and improving its competitiveness in the world.
I 2007 the university became the winner of innovative educational programmes competition in the framework ofPriority National Project "Education". The objective of TPU Innovative Programme included education of elite specialists and professional teams of the world class in priority areas of science, teknik och teknik. I 2007-2008 ungefär 1 bln. rubles was allocated for its implementation. Within two years of Innovative Educational Programme implementation TPU purchased modern specialised facilities for 660 mln.rub., ensured mass transition to licensed software, modernized 155 klass rum, developed 678 items of innovative educational methodical resources, provided professional development to 1043 personal, Inklusive 393 in foreign universities and research centres.
I 2009 Tomsk Polytechnic University was among the winners of the 1st round of the competition for the award of the status of national research university (NRU) organised by the RF Ministry of Education and Science. 1.8 bln. rubles were allocated by the RF Ministry of Education and Science for the implementation of university development programme until 2018.
The fifth Complex Development Programme for 2011–2015 is based on conditions of TPU Development Programme for 2009–2018 as national research university. University CDP consists of 7 large blocks defining the development strategy of educational, forskning, finansiell, economic and administrative activity. Innovative Development Programmes (IDP) of TPU structural divisions are the integral part of CDP. Being university fundamental document CDP includes responds to internal and external challenges that the university faces today.
Join to discuss of Tomsk Polytechnic University.
2016 EducationBro - Studera utomlands Magazine. All Rights Reserved.


SAP will have to make sure hybris has all the support resources it needs to cover post-acquisition growth, according to experts.
SAP will have to meet a range of challenges to make its high-profile acquisition of hybris pay off, given the prominent role the purchase will play in its CRM and e-commerce plans, according to experts. Those challenges include making sure support services and other resources aren't stretched too thin by an expected increase in demand.
"You can't just add capacity like that and hope it works. You have to have it already," said analyst R "Ray" Wang of Constellation Research Inc., based in Monta Vista, Calif.
Last month, SAP announced its plan to purchase hybris AG, a maker of multi-channel e-commerce software based in Zug, Switzerland, to add to its stable of CRM software. Hybris also makes software for master data and order management, offering its applications in hosted, on-demand, and on-premises models. The deal was made official last week, though many believe it should have happened sooner.
In its last evaluation of B2C commerce suites, which took place in September 2012, Forrester Research Inc. found that SAP's e-commerce solution, called Web Channel Experience Management, fell behind leaders from Demandware, hybris, IBM and Oracle.
SAP's product suffered from inferior functionality and from being too tightly coupled with the SAP CRM software, according to Peter Sheldon, an analyst at the Cambridge, Mass.-based company.
"This situation simply came to a boiling point. SAP finally reached the conclusion that catching up via a build strategy was not working," Sheldon recently wrote in his blog.
Others agreed. "I think it's pretty important," said independent analyst Jon Reed of SAP's acquisition of the Swiss e-commerce vendor. "SAP wants a better play around cloud and CRM, and commerce is a big part of that."
At least one SuccessFactors customer claims that support wait times have grown in the wake of SAP's acquisition of that company. In response, one hybris executive said the company will be able to accommodate any bump in demand by piggybacking on SAP's network of support providers.
"Our focus to this point has been mostly on [systems integrators] and [independent software vendors] who support us in terms of implementing projects," said Rick Chavie, vice president of omni-commerce at hybris. "We have [internally] managed service centers in a couple of cities like Boston and Munich. We haven't scaled that to a global operation, however."
Creating a much larger network of support providers will take time and stretch hybris' resources thin, especially when hybris products become part of the SAP price list and demand grows significantly as a result, according to Sheldon.
"The challenge is going to be for the hybris organization to support the deluge of additional partners to onboard, as well as supporting the SAP sales force," Sheldon said. "There's going to be a significant amount of time during which the SAP sales teams don't know anything about hybris."
Others, like independent analyst Cindy Jutras, disagreed.
"The resources they had been devoting to developing and supporting their own solutions will transition to the hybris side," said Jutras, president of Windham, N.H.-based Mint Jutras, referring to SAP's CRM and Web Channel Experience Management software. "It's not like they don't have anything to offer there in terms of generic expertise. That could help in terms of responding to an increase in demand," Jutras said.
Increased demand in hybris' e-commerce platform, could also strain implementation resources, according to Gartner analyst Duncan Jones.
"SAP's ability to sell new products often outpaces its ability to ramp up knowledgeable implementation resources, and the good ones get nabbed by the best customers. What's left can be expensive and inadequate quality," he said.
As a result, Jones recommends that customers ask a lot of questions of potential implementation partners -- down to getting the names and resumes of the people who will do the SAP hybris work and interviewing them.
Despite possible hazards along the way, acquisitions in general work out to be gains for customers of the acquired company, according to Jones.
"The benefit from increased R&D resources, both quality and quantity, outweighs the negatives, such as a more rigid support process," Jones said.
"Sometimes clients complain about poorer service levels and less willingness to do whatever it takes to make them happy, but sometimes I hear clients talk about improvements from a more professional approach, if the small vendor lacked competence in this area."


text:
Home » Education & History » The History Of The Reformation And Why It's Important
The History Of The Reformation And Why It's Important
Posted by: Bill Heid in Education & History October 24, 2018 0
The only alternative to the doctrine of predestination is the assertion of the reign of total chance, of meaninglessness and brute factuality.
—Rousas J. Rushdoony, The Biblical Philosophy of History (1979)
I did nothing; the Word did it all.
—Martin Luther, The Second Sermon (1522)
Just meaningless names and dates. That's how many perceive the study of history. And if there is no sovereign Creator, then the assessment is accurate. And if that's the case, all facts are "brute facts"… equally unimportant and irrelevant, except where pragmatism can turn them into a useful, if short-lived tool for deception or manipulation.
But from the standpoint of Holy Scripture, history is story of God's redeeming work through Christ, the story of His kingdom realized in the affairs of men. History is the story of Jesus' reign as He saves His people, sanctifies His Church, and confounds His enemies. It's a very long story with countless intricate subplots and a cast of billions. And yet, in retrospect, some of the broad outlines of that story come out clear. One of the easiest chapters to read is that of the Reformation. But before we begin, we need to turn back of few pages for context's sake.
Johannes Guttenberg Invents The Printing Press, c. 1450
Printing presses of a sort existed before Guttenberg. But they made use of carved blocks of text. The process of creating them was long and costly. In consequence, the price of books was exorbitant. Printed books were rare, and few men or women could read.
Guttenberg created type that could be rearranged to spell new words, to create new pages, over and over again. The time to set and print each new page was short. The output of the new press was high—3600 pages a workday. Books, tracts, and printed documents became affordable and, within a short time, commonplace.
The new printing press changed the face of European society. The explosion of books led to an explosion of information and ideas. Literacy and education, particularly for the emerging middle-class, became a necessity. Children had to learn to read if, as adults, they were to participate in this new information age. Primary school and even childhood as we now know it were forged from this need, especially as it was fired by the Reformation that soon followed.
The Fall Of Constantinople, 1453
Byzantium was the crown jewel of Christendom and the last, sparkling relic of the ancient Roman Empire. It was a glorious fountain of art and literature, of trade and industry. And it was the bulwark of Christendom against the Islamic East.
In May of 1453 it fell to Muslim armies of Mohammed the Conqueror. The city was sacked; its citizens were massacred by the thousands. A few ships escaped from a nearby port to bear the news to Genoa in Italy: "Byzantium is fallen!" its mariners cried. The city's the church bells rang in sorrow and supplication to God.
How would our world respond if tomorrow London, Paris, and New York fell to Muslim insurgents? The psychological impact alone would be devastating. And what of the religious fall out? By nightfall, the Internet, talk radio, and the religious broadcasting world would be caught up in eschatological hysteria. "It's the end of the world!" That's what it was like when Byzantium fell. You see, eschatology matters.
Columbus Discovers The New World, 1492
Christopher Columbus was a native of Genoa. He was also a student of Bible prophecy. He knew that the prophecies of Isaiah spoke clearly of the conversion of the Gentile nations. But with the end of the world at hand, God had to be running on a tight schedule. The Muslims controlled the overland routes to the East, and the trip around Africa was long and perilous. There had to be a short cut—and a way of ending the Muslim control of Jerusalem. So Columbus wrote:
It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel his hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because he comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures. . . . For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied.
The issue, of course, was not the shape of the Earth, but its size. That the Earth was round was common knowledge, but Columbus believed its circumference was much smaller than most scholars believed. He thought China was about where the eastern seaboard of North America actually is. Columbus hoped to bring the gospel to the Indies; he also hoped to fund a final crusade into the Holy Land, one that would finally free Jerusalem and break the Muslim power. Instead, he opened up a relatively New World to European Christianity. We will return to this branch of the story in a later article.
Martin Luther Pens His 95 Theses In 1517
Meanwhile, as the Middle Ages drew to an end, the churches of Europe had generally come to rely on priests, images, ceremonies, and the works and relics of the saints to get men to God. This approach to salvation was championed by the Church of Rome and her bishop, the Pope. Among the trappings of this sacerdotal theology was the practice of selling indulgences, papal dispensations that supposedly shortened a soul's stay in Purgatory. When a Rome-approved salesman, Johann Tetzel, began hawking these indulgences in Germany, a local professor and pastor responded with a rousing critique summed up in ninety-five theses.
And on October 31st, 1517, the evening that led into All Saints' Day, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. These were propositions for scholarly debate, all written in Latin, but with the aid of the new printing press, they became a spark that ignited a revolt against papal authority. They also marked the beginning of the more visible phase of an already growing movement for spiritual and moral reform within the Church in Europe.
Luther soon came to understand that the Bible teaches justification by faith alone—that man is made right with God, not by his own works, but through faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. This understanding of salvation challenged the medieval concept of the Church and Empire as mediating institutions. Instead, it emphasized the priesthood of the common believer, and it put a heavy emphasis on reading, studying, and preaching the Bible.
The Reformation kept the new printing presses busy. Luther's writings circulated throughout Europe. Meanwhile, Ulrich Zwingli was already at work in Zurich, and soon John Calvin would take the pulpit in Geneva.
John Calvin Comes To Geneva, 1536
Calvin was drafted into Christ's service by Guillaume Farel, a Genevan pastor. Geneva needed theological order and direction: Farel believed Calvin could provide it. Calvin served as pastor to the city for some twenty-five years. He preached and lectured and administered the sacraments. He never held civil office and was often at odds with the civil authorities on matters of church polity. On one occasion, he and Farel were banished from the city, and Calvin returned only after the city council, Farel, and others begged him to do so.
As Luther was the master of the tract, John Calvin was the master of the lengthy book. Calvin wrote the first systematic defense of Reformation doctrine, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), and provided extensive biblical support for that system with commentaries on most books of the Bible and with many volumes of lectures and expository sermons. Calvin's writings emphasized the glory of God as the chief end of man and taught justification by faith in the context of a covenant theology that embraced all of life as the proper arena for the kingdom of God.
Calvin's influence spread throughout Europe and across the Channel to Britain. The Scots Presbyterians and the English Puritans were among his spiritual heirs. So were the believers who settled England's American colonies.
The Reformation wasn't a golden age. The battle for truth was intense, and even among the Reformers, theological unity proved allusive. Ultimately, those who favored the Reformation and those who remained loyal to Rome soon found themselves locked in religious and political conflict. Many times that conflict broke out into persecution and open war. The nations of Europe divided in terms of religious faith. Many of the children of the Reformation looked westward for refuge and an opportunity for a better life.
Rousas J. Rushdoony, The Biblical Philosophy of History (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1979).
Neil Postman, The Disappearance of Childhood (New York: Vintage Books, 1994).
George Grant, The Last Crusader: The Untold Story of Christopher Columbus (Wheaton, IL: Crossways, 1992).
Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1977).
Francis A. Schaeffer, How Shall We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1976.)
Otto Scott, The Great Christian Revolution, How Christianity Transformed the World (Windsor, NY: The Reformer Library, 1994).
columbus fall of constantinople Featured geneva golden age guttenberg John calvin martin luther reformation 2018-10-24
Bill Heid
Tagged with: columbus fall of constantinople Featured geneva golden age guttenberg John calvin martin luther reformation
Previous: Alarming New Statistics Reveal The Effects Of Screen Time On Kids
Next: Leaf Rubbing Activity
About Bill Heid


text:
Austin Community College
Business /16 Jul 2020
A Shamrock Victory: Apple and Avoiding Tax in Ireland
The corporate spin machine was working with typical aggression. "This case was not about how much tax we pay," claimed Apple in a statement. "We're proud to be the largest taxpayer in the world, as we know the important role tax payments play in society."
These remarks were made in light of a decision by the European Union's General Court that was supported by the tax collector in question, namely, the Irish state. In what could only be seen as strikingly unusual, the tax department was being told that they would not be able to get the 13 billion euros supposedly owed to them by the tech behemoth. The Irish government delighted in stating that, "The correct amount of Irish tax was charged…in line with normal Irish taxation rules." Had the Irish government lost the case, with its revenue collectors shown to be in breach, its penalty, in cutely perverse fashion, would have been the award of 13 billion euros.
The General Court's finding annulled the Commission for Competition's August 2016 decision which found that Apple had been granted illegal state aid by the Revenue Commissioners' decisions to reduce its tax rate to 0.005 percent. Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE) had been established as shell companies which generated between 1997 and 2007 104 million euros in profits, paying infinitesimally small amounts of tax.
The General Court found the Commission's ruling that ASI and AOE had been advantaged by the Irish tax authorities in decisions made in 1991 and 2007 incorrect. The Commission "should have shown that the income represented the value of the activities actually carried out by the Irish branches themselves, in view of, inter alia, the activities and functions actually performed by the Irish branches of ASI and AOE, on the one hand, and the strategic decisions taken and implemented outside of those branches, on the other." One problem lay in the fact that the profits gained by the two subsidiaries were attributable, internally, to a "head office" that only ever existed on paper.
To this legal casuistry typical in the domain of tax avoidance and the use of shell companies, the General Court also suggested that the Commission had failed to discharge the burden of showing how methodological errors in the tax rulings "led to a reduction in ASI and AOE's chargeable profits in Ireland." Despite conceding that those rulings were "incomplete and occasionally inconsistent," the defects were insufficient "to prove the existence of an advantage."
All in all, the sentiment was that of a job well done for wily tax dodgers in a country that has, over the years, become a tax haven oasis within the EU internal market. Brian Keegan, Director of Public Policy at Chartered Accountants Ireland, did his bit to suggest that the Irish approach to assessing Apple's tax bill was appropriate, showing that the system worked. "The Commission had not challenged Ireland's tax laws but rather how they were applied. The outcome vindicates Ireland's adherence, not just to Irish but also to European rules when levying taxation." The law-abiding tax evader is a curious species, indeed.
The day was a good one for those seeking to cloak a withered tax system with the suggestion that all was well, despite the prospect of billions eluding the treasury. Things had gone exactly as they should have. The business lobbies of Ireland thought it eminently sensible that companies such as Apple be given appropriate hospitality and incentives to remain, though were also careful to point out that no preferential treatment should be given. Danny McCoy, chief executive of the business membership organisation Ibec, fantasised about making Ireland the "best place" in the world to conduct business. But this came with an aspiration tagged on as an afterthought. "As such it is crucial for all businesses, multinational and indigenous, that Ireland's tax system is, and is seen to be, transparent and equitable."
The American Chamber of Commerce was similarly ebullient. Its chief executive, Mark Redmond, seemed to confuse the decision's merits by assuming that transparency would somehow right the ship of taxation, which, in terms of international capital flows, is monstrously inequitable and opaque. "As the global economy edges toward a recovery of the COVID crisis, it is crucial for future growth that the European Union maintains its hard-won global reputation as an inward investment destination underpinned by key pillars including certainly and transparency." Redmond's point on investment is hard to fault, which is precisely the problem behind tax schemes such as those used by Apple. Tax havens are not normally famed for their tangible infrastructure and good works arising from the investments of customer companies. Such fora merely serve to wash capital in fictional offices before reaching another destination, freed from the clutches of revenue collectors.
Politically, parties such as Sinn Féin have argued against Apple keeping their windfall. In September 2019, Pearse Doherty claimed that the government was "prioritising the interests of Apple and international finance." Up till that point, the government had forked out 7 million euros in legal and consultancy fees to fight the competition ruling.
In response to the General Court decision, Doherty, as Sinn Féin finance spokesperson, suggests that it may only permit Apple temporary comfort in the revenue collection wars. Should the Commission challenge the decision's merits in the European Court of Justice, it can take heart from the overturning of state aid decisions by the General Court in the case of Spanish bank Santander in 2016, and the Spanish tax lease system decision in 2018. "It is therefore likely that this case is to continue for some time, continuing to shine a damaging spotlight on Ireland and its tax arrangements."
The decision also threatens to scupper the EU strategy in closing loopholes in an aged tax system that did not foresee the rise of digital giants and their cunning methods of evading the public purse. To claim that they function well is both disingenuous and meretricious. It is precisely how well they function that is the problem. "Regardless of today's judgment," warned Doherty, "the practice facilitated by Revenue undermined tax fairness. It is that practice that has drawn undue attention to our competitive tax rate." In the meantime, the corporate giants of slippery capital will rejoice.
The Trump Administration is Leaving a Deep State Behind
Steven Leach 01.19.21