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Please find below a small selection of speeches by Stephen Lewis. Mr. Lewis makes dozens of speeches a year, many of which are not directly related to his role as Chair of the Board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. This is a small collection of speeches he has made recently about the AIDS epidemic and related issues.
These speeches may be reprinted, distributed, quoted, or copied as long as it is not for commercial use and they are properly sourced.
To browse older speeches, click on a year from the list on the right.
June 2015 October 2015 May 2012 November 2012 May 2010 February 2010 July 2009 June 2009 November 2009 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008
Lewis says Uganda's anti-gay Bill must go
Remarks by Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World delivered at the Commonwealth People's Forum on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
This is a moment of truth for the Commonwealth. The anti-homosexuality Private Member's Bill introduced into the parliament of Uganda, and now proceeding through the normal legislative process, puts the Commonwealth's legitimacy and integrity to the test.
In a fashion unmistakable in both clarity and intent, the putative legislation declares war on homosexuality. There are deeply offensive sodomy laws and homophobic statutes on the books of many other Commonwealth countries, particularly here in the Caribbean. But nothing is as stark, punitive and redolent of hate as the Bill in Uganda; nothing comes close to such an omnibus violation of the human rights of sexual minorities. For some time now, Uganda has had offensive anti-homosexual legislation on the books, but this variant, this inflammatory redesign makes of the law a veritable charter of malice.
What is truly staggering about all of this is that not a peep of skepticism or incredulity has come from President Museveni. And President Museveni is chairing the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit. In so doing, he makes a mockery of Commonwealth principles.
One must remember that the last meeting of CHOGM was held in Uganda in 2007, and issued what is called the "Munyonyo Statement of Respect and Understanding". It asserted that the Commonwealth "is a body well-placed to affirm the fundamental truth that diversity is one of humanity's greatest strengths". It went on to say that "accepting diversity, respecting the dignity of all human beings, and understanding the richness of our multiple identities have always been fundamental to the Commonwealth's principles and approach …". President Museveni signed the document. How in the world does he reconcile the affirmation then with the defamation now?
It is noteworthy that much of the strongest opposition to the Bill is coming from the courageous Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender activists on the ground. LGBT activism always commands admiration, but in this instance especially so, because their very lives hang in the balance.
The proposed legislation actually mandates the death penalty for any HIV positive gay man who has sex with another man or any HIV-positive lesbian who has sex with another woman. But because it's often hard to believe the sheer malignancy of language, let me quote directly from the Bill itself. Section 2 of the Bill is titled, "The offence of homosexuality". It reads as follows: Clause "(1) A person commits the offence of homosexuality if --- (a) he penetrates the anus or mouth of another person of the same sex with his penis or any other sexual contraption; (b) he or she uses any object or sexual contraption to penetrate or stimulate the sexual organ of a person of the same sex; (c) he or she touches another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality."
Clause "(2) A person who commits an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for life".
Where does the death penalty enter this twisted world of sexual paranoia? Let me quote the applicable section and sub-section. Section 3 of the Bill is titled, "Aggravated homosexuality". It reads in part: "A person commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality where the … offender is a person living with HIV". "A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality shall be liable on conviction to suffer death". And just in case there's any conjecture, we have this finale: "Where a person is charged with the offence under this section, that person shall undergo a medical examination to ascertain his or her HIV status".
From whence do such sentiments arise? What dark corner of the soul is at work? The entire bill confounds rationality.
In fact, the legislation has a powerfully Orwellian flavor. Section 14 has the title "Failure to disclose the offence". It requires everyone in the entire society to report on any evidence of homosexuality and to do so within twenty-four hours. If it weren't so extreme, so menacing, so lunatic, it would be the stuff of theatrical parody. Parents, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs, preachers, landlords, community health workers, members of the media, civil society activists, anyone who can identify a homosexual, gay or lesbian, or has reason to believe that homosexuality is lurking, must report to the authorities or face a fine, or jail term of three to ten years, or both. Can you imagine a father or a mother turning in a son or daughter? Can you imagine a teacher ratting on a student? Can you imagine a physician who's taken a Hippocratic oath to tend to the sick betraying that trust because of a patient's sexual orientation? But that's exactly what this law requires.
I've truly never seen its like before. Please forgive the harsh language, but this intended anti-homosexual statute has the taste of fascism.
And yet, that's only the half of it. What is put at terrible risk here --- beyond the threat of the death penalty for HIV-positive homosexuals --- is the entire apparatus of AIDS treatment, prevention and care.
It's profoundly ironic that the country that's seen as emblematic of success in fighting the pandemic is now contemplating such a decisive step backwards. The effect of this legislation will inevitably be to demonize homosexuality even further, to intensify stigma, to drive gay men and women underground, to terrify them in their everyday lives, to diminish dramatically the prospect of counseling and testing to establish HIV status, to make it virtually impossible to reach homosexuals with the knowledge and education and condoms that prevent the spread of AIDS.
It's equally ironic that this retreat into the dark ages of the virus comes at precisely the moment when the world understands the overwhelming importance of dealing with high risk groups, be they sex workers, or injecting drug users or men who have sex with men. Indeed, in Uganda itself, as recently as last year, the Uganda AIDS Commission, in conjunction with UNAIDS, called for a review of legal obstacles to the inclusion of most-at-risk populations, including MSM, in the response to the pandemic. That review built logically on the introduction, by the Ministry of Health in 2008, of the "Most At Risk Populations' Initiative" (MARPI) formulated to target specific groups, including homosexuals.
The new legislation thus eviscerates existing public policy. Is no one in the political apparatus of Uganda alert to the destructiveness of it all? I am reminded of the remarkably sensible words of Michael Kirby, former justice of the High Court of Australia: "… the fact remains that the current approaches, particularly in Commonwealth countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, place an impediment in the way of tackling this major epidemic. Criminalize people and you cannot reach out to their minds and effectively influence their conduct … that message is now one of great importance for the Commonwealth of Nations where AIDS is definitely a priority issue."
Indeed, there's a very real crisis of conscience in the offing. Both the Presidential HIV/AIDS Initiative in the United States --- PEPFAR as it's known --- and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, have invested huge sums in Uganda to subdue the pandemic. Last year from PEPFAR alone, the amount was $283 million, and the Global Fund has a five-year commitment of another $250 million. But both those organizations premise their support in part on dealing with high-risk groups. What are they to do? This is no trifling matter. Members of Congress have already written to the Secretary of State raising the dilemma of having PEPFAR's work on the ground in Uganda so dramatically compromised. More, under the recent revisions to PEPFAR, the United States must now negotiate "Partnership Framework Agreements" with recipient countries, and part of the agreement hinges on addressing target groups, including men who have sex with men. How in the world is that to be negotiated in the face of the anti-homosexuality bill?
Moreover, under President Obama, American policy is clearly shifting. This is a very good thing. Under the previous administration, the United States, through PEPFAR, forced countries like Uganda into compliance with awful policies involving, for example, sex workers and abstinence…; the United States used money, and withheld money, to serve a right-wing agenda. In a sense, Obama is now involved in an act of redemption.
Just last March, the US administration declared its support for a UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity. The declaration is strong: it calls on all countries to decriminalize consensual homosexual conduct, and it condemns violence, discrimination, exclusion and stigmatization based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemns killings and executions, arbitrary arrest and deprivation of economic, social and cultural rights on those same grounds. The declaration is seen as a great victory for LGBT human rights. It has the support of 67 member states. I note, with consternation, that Mauritius is the only African Commonwealth country to have signed, and I note, with profound dismay, that not a single Commonwealth country in the Caribbean has signaled support.
President Obama, on the other hand, is firmly on record for the protection of gay and lesbian rights, and Hilary Clinton has said "…human rights is and always will be one of the pillars of our foreign policy. In particular, persecution and discrimination against gays and lesbians is something we take very seriously". Dr. Eric Goosby, who heads PEPFAR, is even more firmly on the record: "I look forward to working with field and headquarters staff, Congress and others in the Administration to ensure that PEPFAR effectively targets the most-at-risk and vulnerable populations --- including LGBT populations --- with culturally appropriate prevention, care and treatment interventions".
The Government of Uganda and PEPFAR are on a collision course. President Museveni had best wake up and smell the dollars.
I would never wish to counsel financial penalties, but it's a real conundrum. Worse, the employees of the non-governmental community-based organizations that receive the money would be subject to risk of imprisonment if they continued to work with homosexuals. I was struck by a letter written to the American Ambassador in Uganda, from a group of Foundations that do HIV/AIDS programming in the country, asking him to "take appropriately stern action to oppose the bill …" They were agitated and vehement in their condemnation of the Bill, noting that it put their local and international employees and consultants at risk of criminal charges. They felt, in fact, that the Bill has already applied a chill to human rights and civil liberties in Uganda and is an unrelievedly nasty piece of work. They observed, somewhat sardonically, that the Ambassador has diplomatic immunity, but their collective staff in the projects they funded have no such protection.
And the complications abound.
The new Executive Director of UNAIDS (and ironically, a former UNICEF Representative in Uganda who knows Museveni well) has staked a good part of his growing reputation on deploring homophobic legislation, valiantly fighting for the human rights of the gay community and speaking unequivocally about his revulsion at punitive anti-homosexual behavior. As a matter of fact, Michel Sidibe is on record in a way that speaks directly to the import of the Ugandan Bill. He is reliably reported to have said (and it certainly rings true): "It pains me that 80 countries have laws which criminalize same-sex sex, and it outrages me that seven countries can invoke the death sentence for homosexual practice".
Well, now it verges on eight countries, and the death sentence is directly linked with HIV-positive gay men. So what, I ask, does Michel Sidibe do now? Does he communicate that outrage directly and publically to President Museveni? Does he enlist the intervention of the UN Secretary-General? Does he write to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and ask that Uganda be suspended in the event that the legislation passes in its present form? What counsel does he give to the Global Fund and PEPFAR? These are not idle questions: the Executive Director of UNAIDS is an influential figure who cannot allow his outrage to be but sound and fury ending in capitulation.
Furthermore, what's going on with the legislation is not simply confined to the egregious sections that I've quoted. There are several additional odious sections; the erosion of human rights has few limits. One other clause of the Bill purports to extend the arm of the state into the bedrooms of the world. Using what is called "extraterritoriality", the legislation decrees that any Ugandan engaging in homosexual acts outside of Uganda is equally culpable, and will be arrested and charged accordingly. Thus, homosexuality joins terrorism and treason in the pantheon of extraterritorial jurisdiction to be exercised by Uganda. How this would be enforced is not immediately apparent, and of course the clause is ridiculous, but the ridiculous has a habit of becoming national jurisprudence if it's driven by hatred.
The evidence of just how foolhardy and crazed the legislation is, lies in its most extreme feature: the Bill asserts that where any of its provisions is in conflict with any international human rights instrument that Uganda has ratified, the content of the Bill will prevail over international law. This is palpable nonsense, and simply not possible. But it is a fascinating glimpse into the twisted cerebral calculus that fashioned the legislation.
Naturally, the protagonists of the legislation are mounting arguments in its defense. The arguments are unsustainable.
We are reminded that this is a Private Member's Bill, and the Government is simply following legislative practice in allowing it to be debated. That's just a clever ruse. I sat in a Commonwealth parliament for more than fifteen years, and where a Private Member's Bill threatens to dominate public debate and the parliamentary session, the government always makes clear where it stands. In this instance, the defenders point out that President Museveni has not yet spoken. He has found time, since the Bill was tabled on October 14th last, to make some disparaging remarks about homosexuals at a recent youth event in Kampala, but it's true that he hasn't yet definitively pronounced on the Bill itself. But ominously, one of his senior cabinet ministers has: Mr. James Nsaba Buturo, Minister of Ethics and Integrity heralded the legislation with apparent enthusiasm. InterPress News quotes him as saying "It is with joy we see that everyone is interested in what Uganda is doing, and it is an opportunity for Uganda to provide leadership where it matters most. So we are here to see a piece of legislation that will not only define what the country stands for, but actually provide leadership around the world."
He could better be called the Minister of Fear and Loathing.
I know that the views I am expressing on behalf of the organization I represent, AIDS-Free World, will seem tough and harsh to some. But let me tell you what we feel.
We don't think that this piece of legislation deserves a careful parsing of its clauses, invoking all of the international human rights instruments that Uganda has endorsed, from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, attempting to show where the Bill is in conflict with human rights principles. That just gives far too much credibility to the proposed legislation. On its face, without more than a simple glance at the substance, the Bill is revealed as an unbridled attack on the human rights of sexual minorities. There is no overall clause worthy of retention. There are phrases here or there (like the prohibition of sex with a minor) that any sentient human being can agree with. But the Bill cannot possibly be salvaged. It must be expunged in total from the parliamentary record. And for those who believe in conspiracy theories, let me say that the fundamentalist hand of the religious right in the United States is not difficult to discern.
Nor do we think that we need treat this issue with respect. We don't believe that we have to 'respectfully submit' our arguments to anyone, or seek to 'respectfully influence' the powers-that-be. There are some moments in life where defining issues are indelibly joined. I remember sitting behind my then Canadian Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, at the Commonwealth meeting in Vancouver in 1987. The issue was apartheid. The contest was between Margaret Thatcher and Mulroney, and Mulroney let her have it. There was no respectful pretense. He didn't parse the pass laws, he didn't invoke the clauses of international covenants, he just lacerated Prime Minister Thatcher for defending apartheid, and he decried it for what it was: a totalitarian regime rooted in racism and the savage decimation of human rights. It's worth noting that he was joined by Sir Shridath Ramphal, then the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, who was slightly more restrained but unmistakable of tone and purpose. That was a time when the Commonwealth stood for something.
The analogy with apartheid is not a stretch. In 1998, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled on a case involving the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality. The court held that "the constitutional protection of dignity requires us to acknowledge the value and worth of all individuals as members of our society." The court then concluded with the words, "Just as apartheid legislation rendered the lives of couples of different racial groups perpetually at risk, the sodomy offence builds insecurity and vulnerability into the daily lives of gay men. There can be no doubt that the existence of a law which punishes a form of sexual expression for gay men degrades and devalues gay men in our broader society. As such it is a palpable invasion of their dignity and a breach of the Constitution."
It's no accident that the recent judgment of the High Court of Delhi in India in July of this year similarly struck down a provision of the Indian Penal Code that criminalized consensual same sex conduct, finding that it was a violation of the right to live in privacy and dignity, which privacy and dignity were constitutionally protected.
In other words, on every conceivable front the anti-homosexuality legislation has not a statutory leg to stand on.
Yet President Museveni is permitting it to proceed. And at the meeting of Heads of the Commonwealth, he will, sadly enough, find a throaty gaggle of like-minded colleagues.
It would not surprise us if the Prime Minister of Jamaica were particularly thrilled. Jamaica is, as everyone knows, a hot-bed of homophobia, more pronounced than anywhere else in the Caribbean. And while Jamaica would never introduce a bill akin to that of Uganda, the political leadership in general, and the Prime Minister in particular are willing to sustain a rabidly hostile environment for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. I visited Jamaica not so long ago for the precise purpose of examining the relationship between the criminalization of homosexuality on the one hand and HIV/AIDS on the other. The connection is indisputable. I met with several of the sexual minority groups, and the stories of hatred and beatings and harassment and prejudice make the blood run cold.
And so the situation becomes a breeding ground for AIDS. Let it be understood: it's not homosexuality that spreads AIDS; it's the culture that brutalizes gay men and forces them underground that spreads AIDS. The prevalence rate in the general population of Jamaica is barely 1.5%. The prevalence rate amongst the community of MSM is over 31%. The HIV-positive gay men become what UNAIDS calls the classic bridging population … to show that they're 'real' men and protect themselves from the wrath of society, they marry or take women as lovers so that their acquired heterosexuality is firmly on display. And then the women get infected. The cloistered gay sexual behavior, driven by fear and the sodomy laws, keeps them away from testing and health care and education that would diminish HIV infection. It's a crazy equation. But the Prime Minister of Jamaica pays no heed. One can almost imagine President Museveni and Prime Minister Golding cozying up together around the Commonwealth table as they share dismissive laughter about the woes of the gay community, while simultaneously signing the latest Commonwealth declaration on universal human rights.
The trouble is: it's no laughing matter. Of the 53 countries in the Commonwealth, 40 have sodomy laws. A majority of states in the Commonwealth Caribbean have a sodomy law: it's a sure recipe for the gradual, ineluctable spread of the virus. In a recent report on AIDS, UNAIDS points out that whereas " … HIV prevalence is less than 1% among the general population of most countries in the region, it may be between 5 and 20 times higher among men who have sex with men." In its Epidemic Update for 2009, issued just today, UNAIDS re-emphasizes the alarming rates of transmission amongst the MSM populations in the Caribbean. By way of direct comparison with the Caribbean, every single country in Latin America has removed punitive legislation directed at homosexuals, making the prevention and treatment of AIDS vastly more accessible.
Africa is another throw-back. We've finally reached the point where the epidemiologists are chronicling the spread of AIDS within the homosexual population of the continent. Until now, the subject was taboo … the possibility of gayness was rejected out of hand. But UNAIDS provides this disturbing quote: "A recent literature review of HIV infection among men who have sex with men in Africa identified 19 surveys published through May 2009 from 13 countries, in addition to several unpublished works, highlighting the expansion of available data. For each country, the HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men was higher than among the adult male population." In today's newly-released Epidemic Update for 2009 to which I've referred, UNAIDS, for the first time ever, devotes a lengthy section to the increasing evidence of elevated transmission of the virus amongst the MSM population.
In this context, it's positively criminal to table a parliamentary bill like that of Uganda. It's one thing to talk about the promotion of the 'traditional family' as the author of the Bill does ad nauseam; it's quite another thing to incite the promotion of disease and murder. Gays and lesbians don't challenge traditional families; their private sexual practices don't invade the sanctity of family life. The accusation is a vile canard. People who plead the supremacy of family values over other human values have one of two motives: either they're biblical fundamentalists whose religiosity has gone haywire, or they're so steeped in irrational fear of different sexual orientation that human rights have no meaning.
Ultimately, the Commonwealth has a severe crisis on its hands. It may seem a fortuitous distraction to focus on the financial downturn and climate change. To be sure, they're both important. But roiling just beneath the surface of calm deliberation is this immense civil libertarian struggle. We know we'll win the struggle. It's just a matter of time. It always is. But in the process, intense pain will be felt, lives will be ruined, people will die. That's what is too much to bear. A terrible price is always paid on the incremental road to social justice … in this case, an entire community held to the ransom of predatory fear.
President Museveni is no fool. He'll figure a way out before fatal damage is done to his reputation. But if we want that to come sooner than later, the Commonwealth must put Uganda's anti-homosexuality law on its agenda. Someone has to raise it; perhaps Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It should be collectively agreed that if the law passes, Uganda will be suspended from the Commonwealth. The credibility of the Commonwealth is hanging by a spider's thread. The member states take it less and less seriously. Climate change will be resolved at Copenhagen next month or Bonn or Mexico City in 2010; nothing will be resolved here at Port of Spain. The financial crisis will be dealt with by the G8 and G20 in Canada in 2010; nothing will be resolved here at Port of Spain. If the once-upon-a-time civilized values of the post-colonial Commonwealth are to be restored, then the monstrous war on homosexuality is the place to start the restoration.
Uganda makes a perfect beginning.


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Dr. Ang founded his Aesthetic practice in 1998, introducing the term Aesthetic or Esthetic Medicine into the local lexicology when he became a member of the Belgium Society of Esthetic Medicine and International Union of Esthetic Medicine in the same year. Dr. Ang graduated from the medical school at the National University of Singapore in 1987. He continued to pursue his postgraduate training at the St John's Institute of Dermatology, St Thomas's Hospital from 1993 to 1994. He trained under Professor Malcolm Greaves, a world authority on Itch and Professor Roderick Hay, a world authority on fungal infections.
His practice interests include cosmetic dermatology, anti-ageing medicine and bariatric (slimming) medicine. He first acquired a Licence to Operate Laser in 1992, when laser treatment was still in its infancy in Singapore. When IPL (Intensed Pulsed Light) started making inroads into Singapore, he adopted the technology in 2000. He had been giving filler/collagen injections since 1999 and Botox injections since 2000.
He passed the American Board of Bariatric Medicine (written and clinical) Exams in 2002. The Board is now known as the American Board of Obesity Medicine.
Dr. Ang was a part-time clinical teacher at the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore from 2000 to 2010.
Previously, Dr. Ang was a member of the Beauty Task Force set up by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) to look into beauty practices in Singapore.
Dr. Ang was a trainer in Botulinum injections for Singapore doctors. He also trained beauticians and estheticians at the Top to Toe College of Beauty, helping to develop the course syllabus in early 1995.
Dr. Ang had worked in the top management of various hospitals, including Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital, National Cancer Centre and the now defunct Toa Payoh Hospital. He was the Chairman of the Healthy Lifestyle Committee at Toa Payoh Hospital and Changi General Hospital.
MBBS (Singapore)
MSc Clinical Dermatology (University of London)
Designated Workplace Doctor
Graduate Diploma in Acupuncture
Fellow of American Academy of Dermatology
Member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons
Past member of American Society of Bariatric Medicine
Member of Singapore Chinese Physicians' Association
Registered Family Physician
Registered Acupuncturist
Registered with Singapore Medical Council and General Medical Council, United Kingdom
SSafe and proven treatments
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VValue for Money.
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Copyright © 2019 About Dr Steven Ang. All rights reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In the first chapters of Job, we are provided with a celestial backdrop to human adversity. The rest of the book is characterised by dramatic irony.
In real life today, there is the same dramatic irony, but we can see little of the backdrop by unaided insight. We are much like Job's 'comforters', only more inclined to blame God, rather than our tragic heroes, the poor, for sudden or sustained misfortune.
The truth is that even poor men, like Job, fail to see their latent capacity for self-righteous self-deception. How does Cromwell overthrow Royalists, only to accept £100,000 a year as Lord Protector and accept the customary address of 'Your Highness'?
Poverty in itself is not virtue, nor is it retribution. It is temporal, it can be largely undone by the blessing of human fairness and decency. It can even be viewed as a blessing by those who see the deception of worldly wealth and the potential for tyranny in the humblest human soul.
Of course, this does not exonerate the classes and nations that ignore the poverty that they impose on their neighbours, nor should victims of poverty endure it interminably without any relief that we can provide.
It started 2000 years ago, with the miraculous healing and forgiveness ministry of Jesus Christ. At that time, God began a bold new initiative (that continues to this day) to exercise His love towards Man and His limitless supremacy over natural hardships and supernatural evil, overturning every imaginable kind of harm. Salvation is God's great and final rescue mission: eternal amnesty and healing through His Son, the Messiah Jesus. I don't care how big the problem is: whether health, money, or most of all your own conscience, God can fix it when you rely upon His Son, Jesus to guide your thoughts to the answer.
Jesus described His Father's loving outreach towards you, me and a largely thankless world saying, ''the Kingdom of God is at hand'. God, graciously looking beyond our failure to live by the rule of loving equality: the LAW OF EVERY CONSCIENCE. God: confronting and overcoming the resulting corruption of our health, morality and social fabric, the world as we know it. God: exercising extraordinary power through ordinary messengers, like me, to transform lives, one soul at a time. God: supernaturally empowering us to reach a new and higher personal relationship with Him and each other. The goal: to restore us and bestow eternal greatness on our complete humanity (body, mind and spirit), saved at last from the finality of mortal destruction.
This higher Father-Son relationship with God will transform and captivate your life forever. It gives a new beginning to those who might, like you, be open to change, undoing all the fear and despair that confront our fragile humanity.
I'm sure that the numerous miracles of Jesus challenged the assumptions of his contemporaries (as they do, ours) about the remoteness of an angry, distant God who we might think has abandoned man to the misery of depravity and destruction.
The good news is that the whole of mankind's destiny isn't total annihilation. The good news is that we can be saved from destruction. When an alcoholic turns from bottle to bible, it's good news! When a prostitute turns from perversion to the Prince of Peace, it's good news! When a prideful churchman is humbled enough to abandon empty rituals for a relationship with God, it's good news! When those who are largely thoughtless of God begin to think about Him again, it's good news!
Most of all, the gospel proves that mankind is wrong about the character of the true and living God. We have accepted the twisted notions that God is either too soft to impose exact justice, or only angry and waiting for us to mess up. However, the true and living God is really only waiting for us to despair of our relentless desire to plunder HIs providence for selfish gain and to rule without His guidance. He waits for us to ask in prayer for the chance to come back under His protection. He's never stopped loving us.
That is every true prophet's cry: Come to your senses and realise that God wants a restored relationship in your thoughts and actions. He wants to overturn and surpass our frail human circumstances forever. It's an immense opportunity. Seize the moment to make things right with God: to wipe the slate clean and clear your conscience.
Look at the rich and powerful and ask yourself whether they are truly secure. They are panicked by anything that affects the state of the economy. They fear their own mortality. They fear the envious. They fear dispossession. Worldly ambition is fragile and futile at best. Only further inevitable harm and total deprivation lies in that direction. Surely, you can see how this works at cross-purposes to God's desire for loving equality among us all.
If your desire is to free your conscience, join God's family in the rite of baptism, calling upon Jesus, who opened the door to God for you through the amnesty of His sinless blood. As you pray through Jesus, admit those selfish wrongs that have weighed down your conscience. Restore anything you've taken from others. In so doing, you will find moral cleansing, empowerment to do right and eternal peace with God.


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Tag: United States of America
Illegally adopted
by Wayne Lewis (guest author) on 16 November, 2011
Wayne (Hank) Edward Lewis (illegally adopted – Cottrell) writes, "I changed my name back to my family name – "Lewis" after the death of my adopted parents and after finally the archaic "Adoption Laws" were changed at end of 1993, and I was finally able to find my natural family only to find my Natural Mother had died in a state of depression 20yrs prior – she came back to Australia to try to find me, with no luck, I felt deprived, because of those Adoption Laws!" Continue reading "Illegally adopted" →
Tagged adoption, Queensland, Tufnell Home, United States of America
Forgotten Australians, poetry
Summer's Cloud
by Janice Konstantinidis (guest author) on 15 November, 2011
Janice Konstantinidis was an inmate in Mount Saint Canice, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, where she worked as an unpaid child labourer in the Good Shepherd Sisters' commercial laundry. Janice now lives in California in USA. Here, she shares one of her recent poems. Continue reading "Summer's Cloud" →
Tagged child labour, garden, Mount Saint Canice, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Tasmania, United States of America2 Comments
art, drawing, Forgotten Australians, memories
The Crucified #2
Interdisciplinary artist Rachel Romero is currently creating the Magdalene Laundry Diary drawings for her forthcoming film.
Here is one of these works, Stigmata: The Indelible Stain.
Copyright Rachael Romero 2011
Tagged child labour, identity, laundry, painting, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, South Australia, The Pines, United States of America
articles/lectures, documents, Forgotten Australians, memories
Medical testing on children
by Tom Thompson (guest author) on 12 July, 2011
The University of Melbourne, in 2009, acknowledged its prior use of children in orphanages as human guinea-pigs in medical research. Read Tom Thompson's recollections of men in white coats giving him injections at a Children's Home in Parkville, VIC.
Tom, who never owned a picture of himself when he was a child, received the image below just four years ago.
I've two scars on my left arm from medical testing of the antigen vaccination for the seed Salk Polio vaccine, done in the late 1950's.
I don't know the actual dates in which the different injections were given, as I'd never been to school or known what it meant for days of the week, months or years. I do however remember the events due to the pain and distress we endured.
I vividly remember being lined up before the men in white coats who came and gave the injections which blistered and caused so much pain.
Our life in the homes was strictly regimented and having strange men in white coats was something not to be forgotten.
I spent nearly 6 years in the Victorian Children's Aid Society home at Parkville Victoria. Just across the road from Melbourne University and the Eliza institute in the same street of Parkville. Both institutions were involved in advanced medical research at that time utilising institutionalised children as guinea pigs.
Both institutions have acknowledged their culpability in this research and publically apologised, however like Dr Joseph Mengele who experimented on children in the concentration camps and was on the wanted list for (for over 40 years) and the Nuremberg trials over his barbaric experimentation on children, he escaped capture and prosecution and lived out his life in South America.
I believe these institutions and CSL [Commonwealth Serum Laboratories] should be tried for what they've done. Under law there is no statue of limitations on culpable homicide. The vaccine used in the early tests was contaminated and known to cause cancer and other health problems.
Some of the original 'seed' polio viruses that had been originally obtained from Salk laboratories in the United States of America in 1955 and used to manufacture Australian polio vaccines tested positive to being contaminated with SV40, and yet was still manufactured and utilised by these organisations on children.
Tests in the late 1950's and early 1960's confirmed that SV40 was potentially carcinogenic.
I live each day not knowing when or if I will fall victim to some unknown disease.
Governments, medical institutions and health authorities all shout loudly how we should trust them, as they know best, but like Joseph Mengele, the people time and places change, but things really stay the same.
The photo is me at an age I don't know, it was given to me by Professor John Swan 4 years ago, and was taken at the home in Parkville. The Swan family took me out of the home for weekend visits over a number of years. The photo was taken by Dr Ailsa Swan (who has since died).
'Melbourne Uni says sorry for trial on orphans' 2009 report on The Age website
'Polio vaccine tested at orphanages' 2004 report on the Age website
'Institutions, the convenient laboratories' 1997 report on the Age website. This article won the Melbourne Press Club Quill Award.
'Vaccines tested on Australian orphans' as reported in The Independent, UK, in 1997.
Tagged apology, Eliza Institute, Gary Hughes, health, medical testing, polio vaccine, The Age, United States of America, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Victorian Children's Aid Society3 Comments
art, Forgotten Australians, painting, poetry
'A Severed Life'
by Rachael Romero (guest author) on 8 June, 2011
Rachael Romero, who was in the The Pines, the Convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Plympton, South Australia, shares her drawing A Severed Life.
Rachael writes about her art work:
Those responsible for our incarceration were looking in the mirror.
How many lives cauterized?
How many hands maimed?
Girls not protected but stained by unwarranted and self-righteous religious and civil presumption of guilt.
Their persecuters were looking in the mirror.
'Magdalene Laundry Convent of Good Shepherd Crown' by Rachael Romero copyright 2011
Tagged child labour, laundry, poem, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, South Australia, The Pines, United States of America1 Comment
Forgotten Australians, music
On eagle's wings
by Christine Harms (guest author) on 7 June, 2011
Singer/songwriter Christine Harms was admitted to Nazareth House, Wynnum, Queensland at the age of three and left when she was 13. Her original song On Eagle's Wings, recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a reflection on her experiences in the Home.
[2020 note: audio file no longer available]
See another of Christine's tracks, Street Angel, on YouTube
Tagged Nazareth House, Queensland, song, United States of America
Forgotten Australians, memories, painting
New York artist and former resident of The Pines (Good Shepherd Convent), Adelaide SA, Rachael Romero shares artwork from her pending publication Artist's Portfolio: Nothing Sacred.
Tagged child labour, laundry, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, South Australia, The Pines, United States of America
by Wendy Sutton (guest author) on 13 April, 2011
Wendy Sutton, a former inmate of The Pines (Convent of the Good Shepherd), Plympton, South Australia now lives in New York, USA. Here she shares her poetry.
Stuck in a Void
Are we stuck in a void, toiling with the end and the beginning?
escape then is inevitable
Or, is it a wanderlust for new experiences?
Western Culture suffocates & retards my senses and the very essence of who I am
Is it deaths door of which I am finally arriving at, no satisfaction with this existence, no joy in sharing my "true" life.
Wendy Sutton Fe.2/1995 Australia
All my senses are alerted
By such a ballistic, turbulent chaos, so unsettling, and almost agonizing,
And yet so mysterious and alluring
But, without falter she continues to savage relentlessly to the end,
Only to slow such chaos for the ultimate caress of which still remains undivided. Joyous and so faithful and a never ending reliability that the very same secret devotion in which the sun rises and sets . . . . it is from the very depths of the ocean's savagery that such delicate waves indubitably encounter the shore, with a gentle kiss.
This gives me so much strength, to know that no matter what the oceans wildest storm, the turbulence, the pain, the horror nor tragedy,
She blesses and transforms me with such courage and endurance, that through my own turbulence, I too will surely come to shore each and every time with a refreshed breathe of life, caressing the very existence of my horizons . . . . .
Wendy Sutton, NYC Monday 4th 2002
An English Manor, oh so Grand,
with an attic,
she used to frequent the attic,
from dawn till dusk,
draw she did.
A big woman, grey hair in a bun
not tight.
Pale skin, not a blemish.
Beautiful teeth,
Straight and just off white.
She smells of English rose perfume,
a gentle subtle fragrance.
She's dead now, My Grandmother.
I never knew her,
I never met her, not once.
Wendy Sutton -Darwin 1986-
It is a masterpiece of Nature
The perfect cup in which the rose bud is embedded, so striking and yet so
seemingly fragile,
but held sturdy via the gallantry of her thorny stem
Two polarities set to deter anything that would destroy the unfolding exquisiteness of The Rose,
such protection,,,,,, not even expected,
it just is.
Wendy Sutton 2002 New York City
Watching with Intensity
It is watching the intensity of it all pass by me,
The escalation of the era, the history of which I dance within,
the dance that goes on,
the history changes day by day, to my titillation . . .
I smile with a passion quenched with adoration,
it has now come before me -in a manner of which- holds a glimpse of what is mere fetal,
thus, a touch of agony,
and yet,
an abandon creativity that sets me free to infiltrate, ready to explode
the particles of which fall, with a gentle cascade, softly, slowly,
oh the beauty
feel the sensation, become a part of the Universal force
only to succeed another existence,
Wendy Sutton 1995
Tagged family, poem, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, South Australia, The Pines, United States of America2 Comments
Forgotten Australians, photos, poetry
by Janice Konstantinidis (guest author) on 12 April, 2011
At the age of twelve, Janice was taken by her grandparents and father to Mount Saint Canice, one of the Magdalene Laundries. The laundry was run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Hobart, Tasmania. Now Janice lives in California, USA, where she enjoys writing and tending her beautiful garden. Here she shares one of her recent poems.
Buttercup yellow is the sun in brightest blue,
Dandelions, in paddocks, not green,
but browning and turning back to that dark earthy hue
and thickening of sounds are
cicadas and swarming bees,
and chirruping nests in trees
and winging insects fluttering honey
from marigolds, petunia and alyssum.
These are summer sweetness to me
and I lie face up.
The sun warms
my blood from the winter cold
into that deep warmth which is not the fragile one of spring.
I feel summer absorb me
and I record the growth of shrub and tree
Janice's garden
Tagged garden, poem, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Tasmania, United States of America8 Comments
Child Migrants, documents, Forgotten Australians
Barriers to justice
by Oliver Cosgrove (guest author) on 25 March, 2011
This month, a US federal judge threw out of court a class action filed on behalf of an estimated 10,000 former Child Migrants. U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty dismissed the case because:
the statue of limitations had expired
the Order of the Sisters of Mercy is not a legal entity
there is no evidence that the Christian Brothers in Australia were acting under the authority of Rome
You can read more about the case at the Courthouse News Service website. Click on Ex-Child Migrants Missed the Mark, Judge Rules
Tagged Christian Brothers, sexual abuse, Sisters of Mercy, United States of America
art, film, Forgotten Australians, memories, photos
In the Shadow of Eden
by Rachael Romero (guest author) on 10 February, 2011
In her short film In the Shadow of Eden, filmmaker Rachael Romero comes to grips with the physical, sexual and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her religion-fixated father while growing up in rural South Australia. The film includes Romero's memories of her time in the Good Shepherd Sisters' laundry at The Pines in Plympton, Adelaide.
In the Shadow of Eden premiered at the Yale Center for British Art in September 2003 where it won a Short Film Prize from Film Fest New Haven. Since then it has screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival, the Santa Fe Film Festival, Moondance (where it won the Spirit Award for short documentary) Boulder, Colorado and The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina where, with the help of The New York Times and a board that includes Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Ken Burns, and Barbara Kopple it was among six shorts chosen from over 100 ground-breaking documentaries available now on DVD – Full Frame Documentary Shorts, Volume 4, the best of the festival.
Ironically, given all these accolades in the United States, In the Shadow of Eden has been rejected for inclusion in the the Sydney, Adelaide and Victoria Film Festivals.
View In the Shadow of Eden on YouTube.
Tagged child labour, laundry, sexual abuse, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, South Australia, United States of America1 Comment
Photograph of a slave child
by Cath on 11 June, 2010
I wonder if, one day, the (mis)treatment of children in Australian institutions will be as well-known and as universally condemned as the 19th-century slave trade. It makes sense that a newly-discovered photograph of American slavery attracts such interest and wonder. But does it have to take 150 years to gain that kind of understanding? I hope not.
Tagged United States of America
articles/lectures, documents
by Adele on 28 May, 2010
BishopAccountability.org is a U.S. website which plans to post all publicly available documents concerning the Catholic abuse crisis, specifically in relation to the U.S. bishops who have knowingly transferred abusive priests into other parishes and dioceses.
More information is available here.


For those wondering how the surge in domestic steel prices have impacted many domestic steelmakers, there is perhaps no better indicator of that impact than quarterly earnings reports.
Steelmaker Nucor Corporation reported its third-quarter earnings late last week, reporting net earnings of $676.6 million. That total is up from $254.9 million in Q3 2017, but down slightly from Q2 2018's $683.2 million.
In addition, through the first nine months of the year, Nucor reported net earnings of $1.71 billion, up significantly from the $934.8 million reported for the first three quarters of 2017.
Rising steel prices have uplifted U.S. steel companies this year, with many committing to significant operational investments.
In September, Nucor's board of directors approved a $650 million investment aimed toward expanding its flat-rolled sheet steel mill in Ghent, Kentucky. According to the firm, the investment would increase the mill's capacity from 1.6 million to 3 million tons.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Nucor projects earnings to decline compared with the third quarter, but also expects them to exceed Q4 2017 earnings.


Kids will have a blast splashing around in this colourful, watery play park.
Stretch out in the sun and enjoy blockbuster films al fresco on our big poolside screen.
The fastest internet at sea comes to Majesty of the Seas®, so you can stay connected no matter where in the world you are!
Where is Majesty of the Seas visiting?
You'll feel at home onboard Majesty of the Seas®, no matter where you are in the world, with spacious, comfortable accommodation that you'll love coming back to after a day of adventure.


Like all the other books in the Little Book series, this book presents appropriate and enjoyable activities in a simple format, which would enable the most inexperienced to plan and deliver the curriculum against clear objectives from the curriculum guidance.
Stop and Listen takes a practical approach to the age old problem of how to get children to stop what they are doing and listen! It tackles sustaining attention, shared attention with an adult and group attention. It covers all the developmental stages from birth to the end of the EYFS and provides practitioner with a wealth of different ways of grabbing children's attention and then keeping it.
Su Wall is an Early Years Professional with over twenty years experience of working with children under five years across a variety of different early years provisions. Su initially trained as a NNEB and has continued to gain qualifications including Certificate in Education: FE and a post graduate in Management. She is a Local Authority Advisor raising the quality and outcomes of the childcare provision for children in Derby and has worked as an EYP Associate nationally, moderating and assessing the EYPS programme. Su has worked at a local collages as a part time lecturer delivering a range of early years programmes. Recently Su became a mum and Sounds Fun Book 1 has been written about the activities she has enjoyed her son Sam.


Cue my entrance music. I may be executing the People's Elbow on my fellow Dad Bloggers for this post. I just may go top rope on all of them or execute a virtual figure four to get them to tap out.
Of course, I can't really do any of those things without a healthy start to my day which always includes milk because I can't have active, successful day without using the necessary fuel to get there. Milk powers your potential. Visit MILK's page at The Breakfast Project for more detailed information.
Here's something I bet you didn't know. An 8 oz glass of milk contains 8 grams of protein. That's more than an egg! All those Rocky shakes I forced down all those years I could have just been drinking milk! D'Oh!
Of course, my kids already know this because they wake up ready for the day and get moving with their favorite cereal and sometimes even manage to get all that wonderful milk into their bowls! I don't know who coined the phrase "Don't cry over spilled milk" because in my family it is a precious commodity. We always sit down together in the morning with it to start the day off right.
As a stay at home dad who does most of the grocery shopping, there is just a sense of calm for me knowing that I have milk in the fridge because we drink A LOT of it. On average, I HAVE to buy 3 gallons of milk per week! I almost wish I just had a cow we drink so much milk.
So Life of Dad offered me a great opportunity to be a part of a contest between fellow Dad Bloggers. I am a MILK Ambassador. They have partnered with MILK to provide us with the opportunity to show just how important the nine essential nutrients and protein for building muscle is that we get from milk. The winner gets to meet The Rock!!! I know. Wow. WOW!
For a boy who grew up on the WWE, it would be a dream come true for me. I used to dress up like the Ultimate Warrior in shredded sweatpants. We would wrestle on my parent's bed which was rectangular and had just enough bounce to prevent my little brother from really knocking me out with a leg drop. Remember The Rock's awesome Superbowl Commercial? That is what is fueling this awesome opportunity.
Can you smelllllllllll, what this #SuperMilkMan is cookin'?
Good. Because it is breakfast with milk.
FTC Disclaimer : I will be working with The National Milk Mustache "got milk?" Campaign. Life of Dad, LLC is providing me compensation for this post and to be a part of the #SuperMilkMan contest which I am more than a little pumped to be a participant.
You bear a striking resemblence to the Rock. I'm sure you hear that all the time though, right? Nice work on the video.
Great vid, and love the shirt! They should pay you for designing them a logo!


text:
\section{Introduction}

Since optical quantum systems provide some natural advantages, they are prominent candidates for quantum information processing \cite{NC2000}.
As a fundamental physical resource, the multiphoton entanglement plays a crucial role in optical quantum computing \cite{KLM2001, Kok2007, Pan2012}.
A standard entangled photon pair is created by means of the nonlinear optical process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) \cite{SPDC1970}.
In SPDC process, one may create photons entangled in various degrees of freedom, for example, polarization entanglement \cite{PDC1995,PDC1992BMM, PDC1993KSC}, path entanglement \cite{PDC1986HZ, PDC1990RT}, etc.

For creation of polarization-entangled photons, a simplified Hamiltonian  \cite{H2000KB, H2000SWZ} of the nonlinear interaction is given by $H_{\mathrm{SPDC}} = \text{i}\kappa(\hat{a}^{\dag}_{H}\hat{b}^{\dag}_{V}-\hat{a}^{\dag}_{V}\hat{b}^{\dag}_{H})+\mathrm{H.c.}$,
where $\hat{a}^{\dag}_{x}$ and $\hat{b}^{\dag}_{x}$ (with $x=H, V$) are respectively the creation operators with horizontal ($H$) or vertical ($V$) polarization in the spatial modes $a$ and $b$,
and $\kappa$ is a real-valued coupling constant depended on the nonlinearity of the crystal and the intensity of the pump pulse.
In the number state representation, the resulting photon state reads  \cite{H2000SWZ, LHB2001, SB2003}
\begin{equation}\label{psi}
  \left| \Psi\right\rangle= \frac{1}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\tau}\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\sqrt{n+1}\mathrm{tanh}^n\tau|\psi_n^{-}\rangle,
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}\label{psi n}
|\psi_n^{-}\rangle= \frac{1}{\sqrt{n+1}} \sum_{m=0}^{n}(-1)^m |n-m\rangle_{a_{H}}|m\rangle_{a_{V}}|m\rangle_{b_{H}}|n-m\rangle_{b_{V}},
\end{equation}
where e.g. $|m\rangle_{a_{V}}$ means $m$ vertically polarized photons in spatial mode $a$, and $\tau=\kappa t/\hbar$ is the interaction parameter with $t$ being interaction time.
Each $|\psi_n^{-}\rangle$ represents the state of $n$ indistinguishable photon pairs with $\langle n\rangle=2\mathrm{sinh}^2\tau$.
It should be noted that $|\psi_n^{-}\rangle$ is different from the general multiphoton entangled state in which each photon represents a qubit. State (\ref{psi n}) is usually called the twin-beam multiphoton entangled state.

To avoid multipair emission events, in general,  $\tau$ is restricted to small enough, such that mainly the first-order term has been taken into account. For the higher-order terms, these twin-beam multiphoton entangled states have  interesting features \cite{LHB2001}, i.e. they are not only entangled in photon number for the spatial modes $a$ and $b$, but also entangled maximally in polarization degree of freedom. Unfortunately, up to now there are only a few reports  \cite{ORW1999, DD2001, WZ2001, JMO2004, NOOST2007Science} to  exploring these analog of a singlet state of two spin-${n/2}$ particles.

In this paper, we first focus on the twin-beam four-photon entangled states and design a quantum circuit of symmetry detector to evolve them by using a beam splitter (BS) and weak nonlinearities. By cascading symmetry detectors, we then propose a scheme of purifying the twin-beam two-pair entangled state in a near deterministic way. Finally, we generalize the present symmetry detector to high-order emissions.

\section{Symmetry detector based on beam splitter and weak nonlinearities}

\begin{figure}

  \includegraphics[width=3.2in]{Symmetry-detector.eps}\\
  \caption{The schematic diagram of symmetry detector based on a beam splitter (BS) and weak nonlinearities. $a_{1}, b_{1}$ are input ports of a 50:50 BS, and $a_{2}, b_{2}$ are the corresponding outputs, respectively. $|\alpha\rangle$ is a coherent state in probe mode. $\theta$ and $3\theta/2$ are phase shifts on the coherent probe beam due to the interaction between photons in signal and probe modes. $-5\theta$ is a single phase gate.}
  \label{}
\end{figure}

Throughout the text, for simplicity we write $|m,n;r,s\rangle$ as an abbreviation for state $|m\rangle_{a_{H}}\otimes|n\rangle_{a_{V}}\otimes|r\rangle_{b_{H}}\otimes|s\rangle_{b_{V}}$
which means that there are $m$ horizontally polarized photons and $n$ vertically polarized photons in spatial mode $a$ and also there are $r$ horizontally and $s$ vertically polarized photons in spatial mode $b$.

We first restrict our attention to the four-photon entanglement and describe a method to explore symmetry detector for the twin-beam entangled states.
In general, consider a class of four-photon entangled states
\begin{equation}\label{4-photon-state-c}
  \left| \Phi\right\rangle= N(|2,0;0,2\rangle+|0,2;2,0\rangle - c|1,1;1,1\rangle),
\end{equation}
where $c$ is a constant and normalization factor $N$ satisfies $N^2 =1/(2+|c|^2)$. Without loss of generality, we may suppose coefficient $c$ to be real.

Consider a lossless $50:50$ BS with Hamiltonian
$H_{\mathrm{BS}} = -\text{i}\pi (\hat{a}^{\dag}_{}\hat{b}_{}- \hat{a}_{}\hat{b}^{\dag}_{})/4$, where $\hat{a}^{\dag}_{}$ ($\hat{b}^{\dag}_{}$ ) and $\hat{a}_{}$ ($\hat{b}_{}$ ) are respectively  creation and annihilation operators in the input spatial mode $a$ ($b$).
As shown in Fig.1, since the interference effect of BS, the input twin-beam state evolves
\begin{equation}\label{}
  \left| \Phi_{\mathrm{BS}}\right\rangle=N'[(1-c)(|2,2;0,0\rangle+|0,0;2,2\rangle)+(1+c)(|2,0;0,2\rangle+|0,2;2,0\rangle)-2|1,1;1,1\rangle],
\end{equation}
where $(N')^2=1/(4c^2+8)$.
An interesting consequence of this evolution is that the input state yields two possible cases, i.e., symmetric state (two photons are in one spatial mode and others are in another spatial mode) and alternatively asymmetric state (the output four photons are in the same spatial mode).

In order to distinguish between the symmetric state and the asymmetric state, we here consider quantum nondemolition detection  \cite{Imoto1985, MNS2005, MNBS2005, Barrett2005, LinHeBR2009, DY-PLA2013, HDYG2015} by using weak nonlinearities.
As an important nonlinear component for all-optical quantum computing, Kerr medium   \cite{SI1996, LI2000} is capable of evolving photons in signal and probe modes with the interaction Hamiltonian $H_{\mathrm{Kerr}} = \hbar \chi \hat{n}_{s}\hat{n}_{p}$, where $\chi$ is the coupling strength of the nonlinearity and $\hat{n}_{s}$ ($\hat{n}_{p}$) represents the number operator for the signal (probe) mode.
As a result, if there are $n$ photons in the signal mode, then it yields $n\theta$ in the probe mode, where $\theta  = \chi t$ is a phase shift on the coherent probe beam induced by the interaction via Kerr media and $t$ represents the interaction time.
Since the Kerr nonlinearities are extremely weak  \cite{LI2001, Kok2008}, we here only take small but available phase shifts into account.

As shown in Fig.1, after an overall interaction between the photons with Kerr media, the combined system $\left| \Phi_{\mathrm{BS}}\right\rangle\otimes|\alpha\rangle$ then evolves as
\begin{equation}\label{}
  \left| \Phi_{\mathrm{CK}}\right\rangle
  =\sqrt{1-P_{}}(|2,2;0,0\rangle |\alpha\text{e}^{\text{i}\theta}\rangle +|0,0;2,2\rangle |\alpha\text{e}^{-\text{i}\theta}\rangle)/\sqrt{2}
  + \sqrt{P_{}}N_{1}(|2,0;0,2\rangle+|0,2;2,0\rangle - c_{1}|1,1;1,1\rangle)|\alpha\rangle,
\end{equation}
where $c_{1}=2/(1+c)$ is the derived coefficient connected with the original $c$, $P_{}=1/\{1+(1-c)^2/[2+(1+c)^2]\}$ and $N_{1}^2=1/(2+c_{1}^2)$ are respectively the probability and normalization factor for the symmetric state.

We next turn to the question of how to project the signal photons into the symmetric state or the asymmetric state.
For a real coherent state, generally, one may perform an $X$ homodyne measurement   \cite{NM2004, DYG2014, HDYG2015OE} with the quadrature operator $\hat{x}=\hat{a}+\hat{a}^\dag$.
In terms of the result  \cite{Quantum-Noise2000} $\langle x|\alpha\rangle=({2\pi })^{ - 1/4}\text{exp}[-(\text{Im}(\alpha))^2-(x-2\alpha)^2/4]$,
after the $X$ homodyne measurement on the probe beam, for $x> \alpha(1+\text{cos}\theta)$, one can obtain the symmetric state
\begin{equation}\label{}
  \left| \Phi^{1}_{x}\right\rangle
  =N_{1}(|2,0;0,2\rangle+|0,2;2,0\rangle - c_{1}|1,1;1,1\rangle).
\end{equation}
Alternatively, for $x < \alpha(1+\text{cos}\theta)$, we get the asymmetric state
\begin{equation}\label{}
  \left| \Phi^{0}_{x}\right\rangle
  =(|2,2;0,0\rangle+|0,0;2,2\rangle)/\sqrt{2},
\end{equation}
up to a phase shift $\varphi_x = -\alpha\sin \theta ({x - 2\alpha \cos \theta})/2 \bmod 2\pi$ on the spatial mode $b_2$ according to the value of the measurement.

That is, if one permits the phase shift with feedback from the value of the measurement, then the twin-beam four-photon asymmetric state $\left| \Phi^{0}_{x}\right\rangle$ can be prepared.
Also, for the symmetric state, it is interesting to note that the output state is similar to the input state, up to a correlation coefficient.
Especially, for $c=1$, i.e.
\begin{equation}\label{}
  \left| \Phi\right\rangle=(|2,0;0,2\rangle+|0,2;2,0\rangle-|1,1;1,1\rangle)/\sqrt{3},
\end{equation}
it exactly is the twin-beam entangled state emitted by the SPDC source with the second-order term, and we here refer to this pair of the indistinguishable four-photon entangled states as \emph{two-pair}, for simplicity.
Obviously, for this two-pair, one can immediately obtain the result that the output state is the same as the input.

\section{Two-pair entanglement purification by cascading symmetry detectors}

\begin{figure}
  \includegraphics[width=5.2in]{Two-pair-EP.eps}\\
  \caption{Efficient optical quantum circuit for purifying two-pair by cascading symmetry detectors.}
  \label{}
\end{figure}

As an important application of such symmetry detectors, we now present a scalable scheme for purifying the two-pair from the mentioned four-photon entangled states.
For this purpose, we construct a quantum circuit diagram by cascading these symmetry detectors, as shown in Fig.2, where the input/output modes correspond to the signal photons.
In each symmetry detector, we here simplify the initial model straightforwardly by discarding the result of the asymmetric state.

Then, after the $i$th cascading, one can obtain the symmetric state
\begin{equation}\label{}
  \left| \Phi^{i}_{x}\right\rangle
  =N_{i}(|2,0;0,2\rangle+|0,2;2,0\rangle - c_{i}|1,1;1,1\rangle),
\end{equation}
where $c_{i}=2/(1+c_{i-1})$, $N_{i}^2=1/(2+c_{i}^2)$.
The total success probability reads
\begin{equation}\label{}
 P=\prod_{i}P_{i}, ~~~ P_{i}=1/\{1+(1-c_{i-1})^2/[2+(1+c_{i-1})^2]\}.
\end{equation}
As a result, it is not difficult to find that such a cascading symmetry-detector is capable of purifying two-pair from the four-photon entangled states (\ref{4-photon-state-c}).

Clearly, we here take $c=2$ for example.
We calculate the iterative coefficient $c_i$ and the probability $P_i$ and plot the relationships of the correlation coefficients and the success probabilities versus the number of iterations (10 times), as shown in Fig.3.
The result shows that with a few iterations the correlation coefficient approaches $1$ and the success probability gets close to $1$.
Furthermore, since we take only those events into account that yield the required results via postselection, the present scheme of entanglement purification is near deterministic.

\begin{figure}
\centering
 \subfigure[]{
    \label{c-0-10}
    \includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{c-0-10.eps}}
  \hspace{0.5in}
  \subfigure[]{
    \label{p-10}
   \includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{p-10.eps}}
 \caption{Two relationships of the coefficients $c_{i}$ and probabilities $P_{i}$ versus the number of iterations $i$ ($i=1,2,\cdots,10$). By a few iterations, (a) $c_{i}$ gets close to $1$ and (b) $P_{i}$ may quickly be close to $1$.}
\end{figure}

\section{Symmetry detector for the higher-order emissions}

So far, we have addressed the symmetry detector and its interesting application, involving the second-order emission of the SPDC process.
In order to enable us to explore  multiphoton entanglement with a large number of photons from SPDC source,  we now describe a method to generalize the symmetry detector from the second-order to the higher-order emissions of the SPDC source.

For the higher-order emissions, consider an $n$-pair multiphoton entangled state $|\psi_n^{-}\rangle$.
When the photons passing through the $50:50$ BS, the transformation between the incoming modes ($a_1$ and $b_1$) and the outgoing modes ($a_2$ and $b_2$) is
\begin{eqnarray}\label{}
({a_{1_H}^{\dag}}{b_{1_V}^{\dag}} - {a_{1_V}^{\dag}}{b_{1_H}^{\dag}})^{n}
\rightarrow
({a_{2_H}^{\dag}}{b_{2_V}^{\dag}} - {a_{2_V}^{\dag}}{b_{2_H}^{\dag}})^{n}.
\end{eqnarray}
Then, as the multiphoton interference effect at the symmetric BS, the input $n$-pair entangled state $|\psi_n^{-}\rangle$ will be transformed into
\begin{eqnarray}\label{}
|\Phi_\text{BS}^n\rangle &=& \frac{1}{\sqrt{n+1}}\frac{1}{n!}({a_{2_H}^{\dag}}{b_{2_V}^{\dag}} - {a_{2_V}^{\dag}}{b_{2_H}^{\dag}})^{n}|0\rangle
\nonumber \\
&=&\frac{1}{\sqrt{n+1}} \sum_{k=0}^{n}(-1)^k |n-k\rangle_{a_{2_H}}|k\rangle_{a_{2_V}}|k\rangle_{b_{2_H}}|n-k\rangle_{b_{2_V}}.
\end{eqnarray}
This result implies that when the photons passed through a symmetric BS the $n$-pair entangled state remains unchanged.

In the process of the nonlinear interactions, for clearer statement, we here rewrite the Kerr phase shifts $\theta/3$ and $2\theta/3$ in spatial modes $a_2$ and $b_2$, and the original phase shift $-5\theta$ is accordingly replaced by $-\theta$.
On the basis of the methods of exploring multiphoton entanglement via weak  nonlinearities \cite{DYG2014, HDYG2015OE},
for arbitrary $m$-pair, $1 \leq m \leq n$, the total phase shift in the probe mode is $(m-1)\theta$.
Then after an $X$ homodyne measurement, one may obtain the $n$-pair with the value $x < \alpha \{ {\cos [(n-1)\theta]  + \cos [(n-2)\theta]} \}$,
$(n-1)$-pair with $\alpha \{ {\cos [(n-1)\theta]  + \cos [(n-2)\theta]} \} < x < \alpha \{ {\cos [(n-2)\theta]  + \cos [(n-3)\theta]} \}$, $\cdots$,
$m$-pair with the value $\alpha \{ {\cos (m\theta)  + \cos [(m-1)\theta]} \} < x < \alpha \{ {\cos [(m-1)\theta]  + \cos [(m-2)\theta]} \}$, $\cdots$,
two-pair with $ \alpha [\cos\theta+\cos2\theta] < x < \alpha [1+\cos\theta] $
or one-pair (the singlet state) with $x > \alpha [1+\cos\theta]$.
Obviously, as a particular case of the $n$-pair emissions, a one-pair emission is simple but instructive.
Since these multipair structures are robust against losing of photons they are maybe contribute to explore multiphoton entanglement from microscopic to macroscopic systems.

\section{discussion and summary}

By now, we have concentrated on the means to explore symmetry detectors for twin-beam multiphoton entanglement.
A realistic SPDC source with the higher-order emissions, however, inevitably emits one-pair, two-pair or $n$-pair entangled photons, spontaneously.
Another application of the present symmetry detector is thus to determine the number of the pairs emitted indistinguishably from the SPDC source, and then collect them.
Indeed, after the $X$ homodyne measurement on the probe beam one can immediately infer the number of the pairs by means of the value of measurement.
Also, the signal photons are specifically projected onto a particular multipair entangled state.

In conclusion, we explore an efficient symmetry detector for detecting the twin-beam multiphoton entanglement based on BS and weak nonlinearities.
Especially, as a typical application we suggest a scalable scheme of two-pair entanglement purification from a class of four-photon entangled states by cascading these symmetry detectors. Note that such two-pair entangled states may be very useful for multiphoton quantum information processing in the future.
In the present architectures, there are several remarkable advantages.
First, for the higher-order emissions, it is capable of determining the number of the pairs emitted indistinguishably from the SPDC source.
Second, since we here only use a symmetric BS and two small Kerr nonlinearities, our symmetry detector is simple and novel.
At last, it is possible to extend our means to general circuits constructed from linear elements, SPDC sources, and detectors.
We hope that our scheme will stimulate investigations on the applications of higher-order emissions from the SPDC source.

\section{Acknowledgements}
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos: 11475054, 11371005, 11547169, Hebei Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No: A2014205060, the Research Project of Science and Technology in Higher Education of Hebei Province of China under Grant No: Z2015188, Foundation for High-level Talents of Chengde Medical University under Grant No: 201701, Langfang Key Technology Research and Development Program of China under Grant No: 2014011002.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


# cat=basic/enable; type=boolean; label=Page module modifications: Enable modifications to the page module (XCLASS) to enable the display of thumbnails for reference fields.
+ # cat=basic/enable; type=boolean; label=Workspace module modifications: Enable modifications to the workspace module (XCLASS) to enable the display of thumbnails for reference fields.
+ // yes, there's double code in the core!


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text:
Politics Mon, 18 Sep 2017
NDC to organise march to mark Founder's Day
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has announced that they will "be embarking on a Solidarity March on Thursday, September 21, 2017 to commemorate the Founder's Day celebration of the birthday of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the Founder and first President of the Republic of Ghana".
The march is expected to commence at 6am and will begin from Nima, through Kwame Nkrumah Circle, to UTC and end at the Community Center next to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in the capital, a statement signed and released by Deputy General Secretary of the party on Monday, September 18, noted.
The NDC further urged its party loyalists to endeavour "to show up to join the march in solidarity with all Ghanaians, as well as all socialist and progressive forces".
Source: Class FM


text:
Acting Out in Detention: Using the Arts to Connect Young People
March 18, 2015; Daily Herald (Provo, UT)
What can be more powerful than the expression of true feeling and life experience in a public setting? This is exactly the mission of the @ct Risk No More theater group in Utah, which creates and performs original works written by children in juvenile detention centers.
Recently, @ct Risk No More performed a production titled "Behind These Walls," which focuses on the stories of juveniles from the Slate Canyon Youth Center in Provo, Utah, and Salt Lake Valley Detention Center. The performance covers a range of topics including teen pregnancy, abandonment, and violence issues. Once the theater group becomes more established, it will expand to have performances in rehabilitation centers, group homes, and high schools to continue to spread the messages from youth peers on the trials and tribulations of life.
This theater group serves as a resource, outlet, and community service project connecting juveniles inside and outside of detention centers, uniting a typically segregated community.
"I really believe if you're a rebel, you're an artist," said Heidi Mendez Harrison, the nonprofit's founder and show's director. "All of these kids [in detention centers] have artistic potential. I started the theater company so when they get out of the system, rehab or foster care they have an artistic place to go."
Using art for therapeutic or social service reasons is just one of the many impacts of arts and culture on our communities. Over the years, it has been observed that arts and culture not only make us "feel good," but serve as economic drivers, as educational platforms, and as support systems for social issues. They impact the way regions are developed and shaped through place-making initiatives. A great example of the social impact of art and culture is the way in which the medical profession uses the arts for patients in a myriad of healthcare stages for periods of development, advancement, and transition.
More specifically, the arts have been used in other social programs like detention centers and other community-based institutions. For example, the Americans for the Arts YouthARTS program identified that statistical data was needed at a time when only youth art program "success stories" existed to prove its profound impact. The program's mission is to continually tell the story (through anecdotal and hard-data) of the impact of arts programming on at-risk youth. Through several years of research, YouthArts found that arts programs can have a real impact on youth. Not only can such programs enhance young peoples' attitudes about themselves and their futures, but the programs also can increase academic achievement and decrease delinquent behavior. (A follow-up evaluation is being conducted to determine if the programs have a lasting impact on youth participants.)
@ct Risk No More is just one example of how the arts sector in the United States crosses over into the social-community sector for a greater cause. Overall, arts and culture have a profound impact on our values. Not only can the arts be experienced and enjoyed for leisure, but they continue to be tools and resources to make major societal advances in our communities.—Jennifer Swan
Jennifer Swan is currently the Associate Director for Arts Services Initiative of WNY (ASI). In this role Ms. Swan assists in positioning ASI as the link between the arts and cultural community and other sectors of the region. She provides outreach and administrative support to ASI's partner networks including the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance (GBCA), Cultural Alliance of Niagara (CAN), and serves on the Arts Partners for Learning (APL) Leadership Team. Ms. Swan is the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization (DEC) Grant Program Coordinator for Erie and Niagara Counties. Previously Ms. Swan was the Business Manager for the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus where she was responsible for the day–to-day operations, working alongside the Board of Directors and committees. Major projects included the involvement of the Chorus in the Music Culture 716 collaborative and extending the Chorus' regular season to include special performances at community events such as the National Historic Preservation Conference held in Buffalo in October 2011. Ms. Swan currently serves on the Chorus' Concert, Marketing, and Nominating Committees. From 2009-2011 she managed and maintained the box office and front of house at the Lancaster Opera House, and orchestrated and organized an annual fundraiser for two years. Here she solicited donations and managed all aspects of the event from preparation to day-of activities. Her other arts and cultural work includes judging Congressman Higgins' Congressional Student Art Competition in 2012, 2013, and 2014; past work includes Music is Art's The Big Easy in Buffalo Committee, Volunteer Coordinator for Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center's Artists and Models: Nocturminal fundraiser, Marketing/Concert Crew for Slee Hall at Lippes Concert Hall at the University at Buffalo, and Music Librarian and Marketing for the Amherst Chamber Ensembles. Additional work in the for-profit sector includes Promotions for Citadel Broadcasting and Righteous Babe Records, and management and marketing for several individual music projects. Ms. Swan has presented at a variety of community-wide engagements including to Leadership Buffalo's Arts, Culture, and Tourism Day (June 2014), Daemen College's Art and Community Class (April 2014), University at Buffalo's Management Career Development Class (November 2013), and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Evening with the Professionals at Buffalo State College (October 2012). Ms. Swan has a MA in Arts Management from the University at Buffalo and a BA in Communications/Broadcasting with a minor in music from Buffalo State College. While at the University at Buffalo she traveled abroad with NUROPE (Nomadic University for Art, Philosophy, and Enterprise in Europe) to Sweden and Finland, completing an intensive scholarly program entitled Beyond Bergman and Nobel: Scandinavian Cultural Policy and Performing Arts. As a result of that academic excursion, Ms. Swan co-wrote an article forUB International titled "Summer School in Arts Management Held in Finland and Sweden."
Protests against Migrant Detention Heat Up in San Diego
California Votes to Sunset Its Use of Private Prisons
Informal Spaces Serve to Heal Community Trauma
By Sarah Miller
New and Traditional Philanthropy Unite to Fund Legal Services for Immigrants
By Marian Conway
Southwest Key: The Trouble with Taking the King's Tainted Shilling
Bookshop Vending Machines Distribute Poetry from Behind Bars
Art Barns: When Geography Plays a Role in Arts Identity
By Jennifer Swan
Art-o-Mat Repurposes Cigarette Machines to Make Art...
DSO's "Symphony in D": A Participatory Experiment to...


Published: Jan 26, 2018 at 3:44 p.m.
Updated: Jan 29, 2018 at 6 a.m.
Bell Island is not up for resettlement Jim Bishop, wherever you got that idea ("Living on Bell Island no longer makes sense," Jan. 24).
Yes, we have boat issues, but we learn to live with that as we chose Bell Island as our home and workplace. My husband and I have both worked on Bell Island for 27 years and own our home, so why would we even resettle if it was an option, and move to Portugal Cove and have to look for work and pay a mortgage?
As for people who work in St. John's and go back and forth every day, that's their choice. I know they go through hard times, but that's their choice.
Have you ever been to Bell Island? It is a very nice place. The first settlers came to Bell Island in 1600. I dare you to tell Fogo Island that they no longer make sense.


Knight Bligh Family Wealth Management serves an exclusive group of families that represent the best of what we do. The limited number of relationships provides us with the opportunity to truly understand what is important to each family. Only after discovering what makes you unique can we implement the wealth management solutions that are designed to help provide you with your personal financial freedom. Our team is never satisfied with the status quo. We will continuously seek ways to improve our business, our service and ourselves. All decisions in the business are made with your interests first, followed then by our business and, lastly, our firm. Our success will be measured by how strongly we feel that we have played a significant role and contributed in helping you live and enjoy the best life you possibly can with the wealth you have created.
Whether your needs are straightforward or complex, we're dedicated to delivering tailored, comprehensive, wealth management strategies that are rooted in your goals. We will stay in tune with your needs and help ensure you're on track to achieve the future you envision for yourself. For more information, click here or on the image below.
Darsh specializes in establishing personal relationships with each client. He helps clients to create a long term, personalized financial vision. In addition, he manages and oversees the portfolio design.
Darsh has over 21 years of experience in the financial industry, including the past 16 years serving high net worth clients and their families. He has spent his entire career with The TD Bank Financial Group working in Victoria, Vancouver and Nanaimo. He has The Personal Financial Planner (PFP) designation, a Degree in Business Management and a Diploma in Finance.
Greg takes the necessary time with each client to discover what truly matters to them. Once determined, Greg will design a personalized long-term financial plan to solve issues and in addition oversee the portfolio design and strategic adjustments to asset allocations.
Greg is a Certified Retirement Specialist and Investment Advisor and has spent the last 20 years serving high net worth families in the Central Vancouver Island area. Greg's financial career started at King and Bay Street in Toronto shortly after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in 1986.
In his spare time Greg enjoys traveling, golfing, cycling, playing hockey and coaching minor hockey. He lives in Parksville with his wife Jennifer and his two active sons Gavyn (15) and Jagre (13). Greg's family proudly supports Manna4life Cambodia, a charity founded and operated by Greg's brother Kevin and sister-in-law Leakhena.


text:
Smartcuts
How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success
By Shane Snow
Smartcuts (2014) is about the secrets used by innovative companies and bright minds to achieve big successes in the shortest possible time. It outlines the reasons why unconventional methods are much more powerful than traditional ones in today's business world, and what you can do to take advantage of them.
Anyone interested in productivity or innovation
Shane Snow is an award-winning journalist whose work has been featured in Wired, Fast Company and the New Yorker. He co-founded the company Contently and serves on the Contently Foundation Board for Investigative Journalism.
Don't climb the career ladder from the bottom up – hack into it instead.
A lot of people assume that climbing the career ladder step by step is the best route to success. That's rarely the case, however, because success isn't just about working hard – it's about working smart.
That's where lateral thinking comes in. Lateral thinking is about making unseen connections between ideas and searching for smart solutions outside the box. It allows you to uncover possibilities you might not otherwise notice.
Lateral thinking helps you find smartcuts, the most efficient and sustainable means to success. Don't be turned off by the term's similarity to "shortcut," which has a negative connotation and implies that quality might be skimped. Smartcuts get you to where you want to be in the smartest way possible. Remember: there's nothing wrong with taking the quickest path to success. In fact, that's the best way to use your time and resources.
A lot of successful people have made good use of smartcuts, even several US presidents.
About one-third of US presidents didn't follow the traditional route of serving in Congress for a considerable period before running for the presidency, instead spending only about seven years in an elected office. They gained relevant experience in other fields, then managed to "hack" into the presidential ladder at just the right time.
Consider that Woodrow Wilson was the head of a university and Dwight Eisenhower, who went on to defeat Hitler, had never held an elected office before he became president. These men didn't climb their way straight up the political hierarchy – they moved across it diagonally. This is what you too need to aim for as an entrepreneur.
Expert mentors help you realize your full potential.
Don't take failure or negative feedback personally – use it to improve your company instead.
Make use of existing platforms relevant to your particular field.
Know your field and don't be afraid to change strategies when new patterns emerge.
Use superconnectors to help spread the word about your product or service.
Use the momentum of your early successes as a springboard for further success.
Constantly reassess your approach and strive to make things as simple as possible.
Applying 10x Thinking can be a shortcut to success.
Start your free Blinkist trial to get unlimited access to key ideas from Smartcuts and over 3,000 other nonfiction titles. With bitesize text and audio, it's easier than ever to find the right ideas to transform your life.


text: Q: Integro-Differential Equation Techniques with Definite Integrals Suppose $\int_{x_0}^{x_1} f(x,P(x),P'(x))dx=0$ I have read several sources which state to use Laplace transformations. However, I am struggling to see how to use Laplace transforms as the resultant LHS function is a constant.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Volodymyr Groysman urges heads of cities and regions to include traffic safety issues in the general territory development strategies
Information and Communication Department of the Secretariat of the CMU, posted 26 February 2019 13:10
Law and order Supervision and control News of regions Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has called on city mayors and heads of local authorities of different levels to raise and actively supervise road traffic safety issues in the framework of the implementation of regional development strategies. The PM said that during a meeting of the Coordinating Council for road traffic safety.
"The safety inside the cities is vital. I'm speaking here as an expert", said Volodymyr Groysman.
The Prime Minister reminded that during his tenure as mayor of Vinnytsia, in 2009, he had initiated the establishment of a municipal situation Center for Road Traffic Safety. The city elaborated a project and was prepared to invest in such a center. Though at that time the initiative did not find support at the government level and the center was set up solely at the expense of the city funding, without the financial support of the central government.
Volodymyr Groysman accentuated, the current state of affairs is fundamentally different. The issues of traffic safety are a national priority. In addition, due to decentralization, regions have significant development budgets.
"And I would like these centers to be set up in all cities in order to maintain the security, to include the implementation of local security strategies to the agenda. And aftermath the analysis of how the regions are struggling with the phenomena of traffic safety rules violations", urged Volodymyr Groysman.
Separately, the PM drew attention to the need to address the safety of children as road users and the continuation of the Government's initiative to provide children of preschool and school age with safety vests to use in the dark.
Prime Minister assures the Gov't mission is to prevent violations of road traffic regulations
Volodymyr Kistion: Ukraine's energy policy became predictable for investor
By themes «Law and order», «Supervision and control», «News of regions», «Prime Minister»
16:10, 14 January Prime Minister Supervision and control Prime Minister of Ukraine called for the dismissal of the head of the territorial department of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine


text:
No contract extensions for Hayward, Bledsoe; both to become restricted free agents
By Kurt HelinNov 1, 2013, 1:15 AM EDT
The deadline has come and gone and Gordon Hayward of the Utah Jazz and Eric Bledsoe of the Phoenix Suns, are without contract extensions to their rookie deals.
That means both of them, as well as Avery Bradley in Boston, will be restricted free agents next summer (any team can make an offer but the team they are on now has the right to match). A deep free agent class just got a little deeper.
All three of them are guys that their current teams said they wanted to keep, but the sides couldn't agree on a price — that could be an expensive proposition now as all of those players have fans around the league. Teams trying to lure a restricted free agent tend to offer above the market value for a player to scare off the team who has the rights, that very well may be what happens here.
Announcement: Pro Basketball Talk's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $25,000 Fantasy Basketball league tonight (Friday). It's just $10 to join and first prize is $3,500. Starts at 7pm ET. Here's the link.
Weeks ago the Jazz had seemed optimistic they could work out a deal with Hayward at first, but over the last 10 days reports had started to surface the two sides remained far apart. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports had the details on Hayward and Utah.
The sides never came close on a deal, remaining several million dollars apart, league sources told Yahoo. Hayward had been seeking a deal in the four-year, $50-million plus range, sources said.
The Jazz gave Derrick Favors four years, $47 million extension earlier this summer. There were reports they offered Hayward more or at least the same one, but apparently that was not enough.
The Suns traded Jared Dudley as part of a three-team deal to get Bledsoe to be part of their guard tandem of the future.


I was editing the above image taken with my Canon 5Ds when I noticed the robin on the gravestone. I certainly hadn't spotted it when I was taking the image. And this is what you get with 50MP's of resolution.
Now my photography isn't about a forensic examination of the detail I can get from all those pixels, but it's a nice bonus to have. The point is that this is only going to become more and more commonplace. There are already Medium Format cameras with 100MP, which is getting to the stage where more than one lens isn't required as these huge images can be cropped as required.
So does the future, a few years down the line, mean that everybody will have access to something like this, even with mobile technology? And if we do does this mean the end of photography as an art? Because one of the skills of a photographer is composition, which includes in that positioning and lens selection. So if anybody can just point their picture taking device in the general direction of something and then crop down to create something meaningful, is that the end of what a photographer can 'see' of the world around them as opposed to general snapshooting?
It could be argued that stills from video is doing much the same thing. When we have 8K and the ability to 'grab' high quality stills from that footage surely Cartier-Bressons 'Decisive moment' becomes a distant memory. Which begs the question, do all the technological improvements to cameras and photography improve the results, or diminish them?


text:
Q: C++: How to read MySql data efficiently with libmysqld? I am using mysql_query + mysql_store_result + mysql_fetch_row to iterate over the fetched data.
The problem is that the latter returns an array of strings, even if all the data is numeric. So, I reckon, there is some kind of a numeric-to-string conversion going on when I fetch the records.
Is it possible to fetch the binary data directly? Like a binary record blob and let me to extract the column values from there?
Thanks.
EDIT
I would like to clarify myself. I am not looking for ways to efficiently convert strings to numerics. I am looking for efficient ways to read my numeric data from MySql tables using the MySql C API as defined here - http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/c-api-functions.html. I am trying to imply here that my knowledge of this API leaves much place for improvement and so I am wondering whether the API provides more efficient ways to read the data.

A: I would recommend you using a pre-built library like CppDB.
Its a light library providing features of parameterized inputs, etc.

A: I'm not knowledgeable about MySQL, but you could check out strtol for conversion.


text: Q: How do I add commas to the inputs in Shiny? I have written an app in Shiny (R).  I am using numericInput for my single-valued input and matrixInput (from shinyMatrix) for my tabular input. I would like the input values to include commas whenever the user enters a value of more than 1,000.  I have tried putting various combinations of format, as.numeric and comma, all of which I use in creating my nice-looking output, around my default input value (=0) to no avail.  Is there a way to have the inputs have commas as well?


As a Brightsight Project Manager you are responsible for managing the customers' needs and meet project deadlines within agreed budget and time. You will work closely together with a lead evaluator who is technically responsible for the project. You are the central point of contact between the customer and the team, you identify risks, solve problems and drive the project forward. As such you are a key factor in the success of our projects. You will join our team of 14 project managers. Project budgets range from EUR 10.000 to EUR 500.000 and teams involve 2 to 8 employees. Most of our employees are professionals but you also have to deal with trainees who recently joined our growing company. As Project Manager you take responsibility for several projects at the same time, play an active role in acquiring and defining new projects, redefine running projects and guide our customers to meet the requirements of third parties which supervise our security evaluations.
We are looking for people with a bachelor, master or PhD in a technical direction (Electronics, Physics, IT, Mathematics) with a few years of experience in project coordination or project management in a dynamic environment. You are used to act in a technical environment and have experience in dealing with external customers (Asian customers would be a pre).
* Using this number or email for marketing is not appreciated.


Summary: Pool Frisbee is where you try to catch a frisbee while jumping into the pool.
Have one player in the pool, or near the edge with the frisbee. The second player stands on the diving board. When the player jumps off the diving board, the other player throws the frisbee and they try to catch it before entering the water.
Best two out of three catches, wins.


Principals Larry Strickland and Rusty Williams of Lee & Associates' San Diego North office represented the buyer and seller of the Deal of the Week.
The deal was the sale of Vista Medical Plaza, a 45,717-square-foot medical office building at 2067 W. Vista Way in Vista for $16.6 million.
The buyer was Viper LLC, with Katherine S. Issa as managing member. The price included payment of $10.3 million and assumption of a July 1999 loan originally for $6.8 million. The outstanding balance was $6.27 million.
The seller of the property was V.M.P., LLC, headed by V.M.P. Management Co. Inc. Frederick Feck is president of V.M.P. Management.
Lee & Associates will also act as leasing agents for the property. Currently, the building is 100 percent occupied. The two-story building was constructed in 1986 on a 3.49-acre lot.