text:
China's Answer to Google's Self-driving Car? A BMW
The company behind China's leading search engine tests a driverless 3 Series.
By Michael Frank December 14, 2015
If you're BMW—or for that matter, almost any automaker—you might fear the sheer financial mustard of Google in the self-driving car space. Consider Google's market cap of around $500 billion. BMW's? It's a mere $60 billion.
That leaves less flexibility to develop your own autonomous car, and so it only makes sense that BMW has partnered with China's largest search engine, Baidu, which today announced it ran a 3 Series over an 18.6-mile circuit at up to 62 mph, all without any driver input.
The route involved "mixed road conditions," according to a company release, which said its car snaked from Baidu's headquarters in Beijing to the capital's Fifth Ring Road and Olympic Park and back toward the corporate headquarters. Baidu said the car changed lanes, made U-turns, passed other cars, slowed when cars braked ahead of it and merged into traffic.
The demo was meant to herald the strength of Baidu's Institute of Deep Learning and what it calls its AutoBrain, which threads together 3D road data from sensors, maps and GPS with environmental "perception technology" that Baidu says allows the car to follow other vehicles with accuracy and determine their velocity. Pack all of that into a single box and you have the kind of artificial intelligence that Google is chasing as well.
A linchpin of Baidu's plan is to be a major force in mapping, a key to autonomy that BMW has already invested in elsewhere with its stake in Here, the mapping company. BMW isn't the only company teaming up with Baidu; the Chinese search giant also has a deal with Audi to develop driverless technology systems.
True, this doesn't put any carmaker even close to Google, which already has logged well over a million miles in its self-driving prototypes. But that's hardly the point. You cannot play in China without a Chinese partner; carmakers learned this even before there was a Google. And that hasn't changed, whether you're selling autonomous cars or search engines. With that in mind, BMW and Audi are making the smart play with Baidu in a hugely important growth market.
As for when you can buy a Baidu-equipped BMW or Audi that can chauffeur you around Beijing, that could be a while. Reuters reports that Baidu will introduce self-driving buses first, within three years.
Audi, BMW, Daimler Create Maps For Self-Driving Cars
To get to an autonomous future, cars need up-to-the-second road information.
Where's My Self-Driving Car?
The tech is here. The cars? Not so much. Here's why.
Improved Crash Testing Brings Us Closer to Self-Driving Cars
The feds will consider semi-autonomous features in 2019 crash-test standards.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home / World Economy / World Economy News / Wells Fargo sees global growth slowing to 1.7% next year
Wells Fargo sees global growth slowing to 1.7% next year
in World Economy News 09/12/2022
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) is expecting the global economy to grow at a slower pace in 2023, joining other big American banks that have tempered their estimates this year and rekindled fears of a potential recession in the United States.
The bank expects the global economy to grow at 1.7% in 2023, weaker than a 2.4% rise estimated for the current year, it said in a client note on Thursday.
Wells Fargo sees the U.S. economy slipping into a "modest" recession beginning in mid-2023 and expects it to end the year with annual growth of 0.2%, much slower than a 2% rise estimated for 2022.
Wells Fargo also expects annual U.S. headline inflation moderating to 3.8% in 2023 from 7.7% currently.
Previous: 'Dispatchable' renewables in spotlight after upbeat IEA report
Next: ECB preview: Breaking the wave


text:
"In the spirit of unity with the goal of victory"
at August 27, 2008	in politics/government.	1 Comment
Wow. What a night at the Democratic National Convention.
Despite whatever disagreements, criticisms, and disillusionment with the Obama/Biden campaign, the Democratic Party and its power-brokering, wheeling and dealing, cynical underbelly, and the larger political system in this country, I was genuinely energized and genuinely moved by tonight's roll call. I thought it was going to be a divisive, upsetting mess, but now I actually think it was a good move. Hillary Clinton got the accolades and recognition that she deserves with each announcement of delegate votes going to her, but they were also followed up by unequivocal, usually very and genuinely enthusiastic affirmation of Barack Obama as the confirmed nominee of a united Democratic party.
I didn't actually get to see the whole process and started watching when Maine was up. Watching the process was electrifying. When New Jersey, my home state, unanimously cast their 127 votes for Obama, I cheered and very nearly cried.
But when New York, my current home, came up – wow. I don't think any words or actions on Hillary Clinton's part could have been better than that. When the seas of delegates parting as the Secret Service made a way through to the NY delegation – what a moment. When the mic was passed to her, she said what so many of us have been waiting to hear, and she said it damn well:
With eyes firmly fixed on the future, and in the spirit of unity with the goal of victory, with faith in our party and our country, let's declare together with one voice right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president.
Hell yeah. That really made me tear up. And the jubilation after that vote by acclamation – wow. Just… amazing.
I can't write more right now, else I'd probably have a whole lot more to say. (Also haven't seen all the speeches including Bill Clinton's – watching it recorded on DVR.) But I will part by bringing it back to levity a bit: while watching the talking heads on CNN right after the vote, one of the commentators, John King, actually said this:
"Looking around the room it was stunning. You have over here the South Carolina delegation, the Minnesota delegation, African-Americans old and new – tears as the votes came in."
Damn! Some of those white delegates from South Carolina and Minnesota were so excited that they'd just nominated a Black man for the presidency, they up and turned Black themselves! It's a miracle!
The execution of Jose Ernesto Medellin: another American middle finger raised at international law
at August 6, 2008	in (in)justice system, death penalty, global/international and politics/government.	2 Comments
Recently I decided to read the work of Noam Chomsky for the first time, beginning with Hegemony or Survival. I'm a few chapters in now, and one of the points that Chomsky makes is that the United States continues to show blatant disregard and even contempt for international law and institutions such as the United Nations. Chomsky focuses on the start of the war in Iraq in defiance of the Security Council and the UN in general as one of the United States' most stark dismissals of international law, but also details similar dismissals with regards to other military engagements. He asserts that this is part and parcel of larger project of the United States, which reserves "the right to resort to force to eliminate any perceived challenge to US global hegemony, which is to be permanent."
For people paying attention, the US' disregard for international law – as shown through its preemptive strikes, its dismissals of the Geneva Conventions with regards to torture, its secret renditions, and its snubbing of a litany of treaties and agreements – has been worrisome for a long time. As Chomsky asserts, "when the UN fails to serve as 'an instrument of American unilateralism' … it is dismissed." Essentially, the government of the United States believes that it can do whatever the hell it wants, with a big middle finger raised towards any other nation or international organization that calls it on its murderous, imperialistic bullshit. Or, as John Bolton, our illustrious former UN ambassador, put it: "There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is only the international community, which can only be led by the only remaining superpower, which is the United States."
So when I read this morning about the Texas execution of a Mexican citizen convicted of murder, the story fit right into the larger pattern of the United States' perception of itself as supreme. Jose Ernesto Medellin, convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of two teenage girls, was executed Tuesday night despite an order from the International Court of Justice at the Hague to halt the executions of Mexican citizens on Texas' death row. From the LA Times article:
The International Court of Justice in The Hague sided in 2004 with the Mexican government's argument that the United States had violated the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to inform the arrested Mexican nationals of their right to seek help from the Mexican Consulate.
Mexico has asked that all 51 convictions be reviewed, creating the possibility for new trials or outright dismissals. The Hague court had ordered the United States not to execute any of five men on death row in Texas while the court reviewed their cases.
But the court, a branch of the United Nations, has no power to enforce its rulings. A spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, has said that "the world court has no standing in Texas."
Emphasis added, because the statement so clearly crystallizes not only the attitude of the state of Texas, but of the United States as a whole. Surprisingly enough, the Bush administration attempted to intervene and halt the executions: "Mr Bush wrote a two-paragraph memorandum to the Department of Justice saying Texas courts must obey the ICJ ruling and review Mr Medellín's conviction and sentence to determine whether his rights were violated because he was not allowed to contact his consulate." However, as the LA Times reports, "the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the administration's arguments, ruling 6-3 that under the Constitution, the president did not have the 'unilateral authority' to compel state officials to comply with an international treaty."
Interesting. So the President seems to have unilateral authority to do all sorts of awful things, but not when it comes to enforcing international law? I suppose this makes sense, though; after all, why should individual states not follow the example of the larger nation in its utter disregard for the rule of international law? In these executions, Texas is only applying the precedent that the US government has demonstrated time and time again: the United States can do what it wants, and fuck the rest of the world if they complain.
The LA Times reports that "Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International contend that executing foreign citizens in opposition to the court order could put U.S. citizens abroad at risk of being convicted and even executed for crimes without having access to U.S. consulates or embassies." Jeffrey Davidow, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, expands upon that:
So we now find ourselves on the brink of an irrevocable violation of the most important treaty governing consular assistance for our citizens detained in other countries. A failure to comply with this most basic of treaty commitments would significantly impair the ability of our diplomats and leaders to protect the interests — individual and collective — of Americans abroad. Were the tables turned — American citizens arrested abroad and denied consular access, with an ICJ judgment requiring review of those cases for prejudice, and another nation refusing to comply — our leaders would rightly demand that compliance be forthcoming.
Unfortunately, as the United States continues to flout international law, other nations might not be so interested in extending favor to us that they do not get from us. And why should they? Why should other nations not be allowed to exercise their sovereignty just as the United States does? Oh, that's right: it's because the people in power in this nation believe in the Rule of Might over the Rule of Law, and the United States just happens to have the biggest guns.
The women still in the race
at August 4, 2008	in blogosphere, mainstream media, people of color, politics/government and women.	10 Comments
For all the talk about the historic nature of the Clinton (woman!) and Obama (Black!) campaigns that's gone on in the mainstream media for the past year, you might not have any idea that a third, equally unprecedented ticket was being run: Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, the presidential and vice-presidential nominees of the Green Party. This is the first all women of color presidential ticket in the history of the United States. Now, I understand that a nomination's historical importance and newsworthiness tends to be defined by the likelihood of its success – or, as is often the case, by the degree to which people decide to blame the Democratic party's failures on the Greens. Yet one would hope that in between all of the celebrity gossip and other tripe that makes it onto the news regularly, the mainstream media would find a little more time to devote to a presidential ticket that is unique not only for its makeup but also for the platform it's running on, a platform that offers a radically different choice from the rightly-named corporate parties that dominate the politics of this nation.
But predictably, the mainstream media has almost completely ignored the McKinney/Clemente ticket. When they won the Green nomination, there were a few articles here, a few news reports here, most of them focusing more on the candidates' chances of being "spoilers" in the upcoming election rather than focusing on, you know, their positions or platform or qualifications, all of which the MSM apparently deems irrelevant. Most of what I've heard about McKinney and Clemente has come from the blogosphere, and even here, coverage is slim. The majority of the mentions I've seen have been about McKinney being a possible alternative vote for Clinton supporters who don't want to vote for Obama, and even there, McKinney is discussed less often than John McCain as the alternate vote. Even on Feministe (if my memory and our search tool are working properly), McKinney's candidacy hasn't been mentioned in an actual post, only in the comments.
Now I get that this lack of coverage is to be expected, especially if you're measuring a candidate's importance or significance by their likelihood to win come November. McKinney and Clemente won't be in the White House come January, and I'm sure they both understand that. However, the actual presidency is not the only thing at stake here, especially for the Greens and more generally for the future of third parties in this country. In an interview with Newsweek (subtitled "Will a third-party candidate be a 'spoiler'?"), McKinney discusses another important and far more feasible goal (emphasis mine):
There are currently about 200 members of the Green Party who are elected officials. These are mostly local elections. The Green Party does not yet have representation on the federal level, but it's quite a successful "minor" party. With 5 percent of the electorate, it can move from minor party status to major party status [and qualify the Green Party for federal funds]. So our goal is to get onto as many ballots as we can, since then achieving a 5 percent goal becomes possible. When I got to Washington D.C., I realized that public policy was made around the table. The 5 percent puts another seat at the table.
As Obama continues to hedge, flip-flop, and trend right on a variety of issues, and as McCain continues to be his usually sucky self, it becomes clearer and clearer that another seat at the table, a true alternative to corporate politics as usual, is desperately needed. And while even 5 percent of the vote is an uphill battle for McKinney, Clemente, and the rest of the Greens, it isn't impossible. Such a victory would be huge, a major step in breaking this country away from the two-party system that time and time again shows itself to be severely lacking for people who believe in true peace and true justice.
But who's gonna vote for them? Continue reading 'The women still in the race'


TopRankers in association with Paramount is launching a new batch of SSC Gold Live Class. The class starts on 4th July 2018. With the help of these live classes, you can prepare for all SSC Prelims exams like CGL, CHSL, MTS, etc. from the comforts of your home. The classes are in English medium to cater to the needs of students all over India whose mother tongue vary from region to region. This is an amazing opportunity for those who could not enroll in the previous batch.
Get up to 58% OFF on the packages, only for a few days.
Disclaimer: This is a Sponsored post, and may not represent Views of Team QMaths.


text:
The Foundation Review: Call for papers
Abstracts of up to 250 words are being solicited for Vol. 13, Issue 4, of The Foundation Review. This issue, sponsored by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, is focused on Community Leadership and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The SDGs, based on five pillars for sustainable development (economic, social, environmental, cultural, security), acknowledge that sustainable development needs to happen everywhere and that inequality exists within all communities. As such, the SDGs are meant to be implemented in all nations, with a focus on community-level actions, and indicators are meant to ensure that "no one is left behind."
The goal of this issue is to disseminate what has been learned about how the SDGs have been used by the philanthropic sector at the community level as a communications, organizing, and evaluation framework. International contributions are encouraged. Papers for this issue might address issues such as:
What are the benefits for communities and community-focused funders in using the SDGs? Can it be demonstrated that using the framework has led to better outcomes for communities?
How have the SDGs been used to promote coordinated community action? How have community, corporate, and family foundations used them for collaboration? How are they related to other familiar tools and frameworks (e.g., impact investing, collective impact) for community-level collaboration and shared metrics?
How does the global nature of the goals help or hinder their use at the community level?
What role do the SDGs play in communicating within and across community stakeholders? Are there examples of how they have been used effectively to bring communities together?
What are ways in which the SDGs have informed community-level investment and other non-grantmaking decisions of foundations?
Abstracts are due 4th January 2021. If a full paper is invited, it will be due 15th June 2021 for consideration for publication in December 2021. Submit abstracts to submissions@foundationreview.org.
Abstracts are solicited in four categories:
Results. Papers in this category generally report on findings from evaluations of foundation-funded work. Papers should include a description of the theory of change (logic model, program theory), a description of the grant-making strategy, the evaluation methodology, the results, and discussion. The discussion should focus on what has been learned both about the programmatic content and about grantmaking and other foundation roles (convening, etc.).
Tools. Papers in this category should describe tools useful for foundation staff or boards. By "tool" we mean a systematic, replicable method intended for a specific purpose. For example, a protocol to assess community readiness and standardized facilitation methods would be considered tools. The actual tool should be included in the article where practical. The paper should describe the rationale for the tool, how it was developed, and available evidence of its usefulness.
Sector. Papers in this category address issues that confront the philanthropic sector as whole, such as diversity, accountability, etc. These are typically empirically based; literature reviews are also considered.
Reflective Practice. The reflective practice articles rely on the knowledge and experience of the authors, rather than on formal evaluation methods or designs. In these cases, it is because of their perspective about broader issues, rather than specific initiatives, that the article is valuable.
Authors can view full manuscript specifications and standards before submitting an abstract here. For more information, please contact Teri Behrens at behrenst@foundationreview.org. This same announcement can be viewed on The Foundation Review website.


Although this blog doesn't get much in the way of traffic or updated that often, I'm having to turn on moderation for spam. I don't like nonrelated comments on my posts or comments with links to illegal downloads.
My comment policy is simple.
2. Don't try to sell me something.
4. I have final say is what stays on my blog and that includes any comments from anyone.


It is important to make sure that you are well aware of what you should do after an incident with your windshield. This way, you will be well on your way to having it fixed in no time at all. Since this is vital in order for you to be able to safely drive, you will want to make use of the following tips right away.
If the windshield broke or cracked as the result of another vehicle or a large rock that fell out of a truck, you will want to make sure that you are calling the police so a report can be filed. The main reason for this is because it might be a requirement from your insurance company in order for them to cover the expense of having the windshield replaced.
It is important to make sure that you are contacting your insurance company right away in order to get information regarding whether the repair or replacement of your windshield is covered. If it is covered, you will want to get all of the details you can regarding what you need to do in order to file a claim. If they are not able to cover the cost to repair or replace your windshield, you will want to then consider how you will pay for it on your own.
Not all windshield replacement companies will charge the same amount of money for the same replacement windshield. Therefore, you are going to want to call around to get some of the best prices, especially if this is an expense that you are going to have to handle on your own. Make sure that you have the year, make, and model of your vehicle before you place the call, as they will need that information in order to look up the exact windshield that you need.
This is something that can come in handy since you will not have to worry about calling off of work or missing your child's sporting event in order to take your vehicle somewhere for a windshield replacement. The mobile windshield replacement company can send a qualified technician to wherever you are and replace it right there on the spot for you. All you will have to step out to your vehicle for is to sign paperwork and make the necessary payment.
With that information in mind, you will know what to do should you end up with a damaged windshield.


text:
package io.github.pellse.decorator;

@FunctionalInterface
public interface DelegateProvider<T> {
	T getDelegate();
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Democrats lose their minds, put 'woke' politics ahead of economic rescue from Wuhan Virus influence
Analysis/Opinion
I was raised a Democrat. My parents, like most people of their Greatest Generation (Depression and World War II) were Truman Democrats. As did most of the children of that era, I followed in their footsteps.
The first election in which I could vote was 1972. I couldn't bring myself to vote for either Richard Nixon or George McGovern, though my parents did vote for the South Dakota senator who lost all but Massachusetts. He couldn't even carry his home state.
In 1976 I voted for Jimmy Carter. I was six years into a 22-year military career, and he turned me into a Republican. As Ronald Reagan said, I did not leave the Democrat Party; the Democrat Party left me.
Despite my estrangement from the Democrats at the time, there was still room in the party for a Scoop Jackson, a Sam Nunn, and a Phil Gramm. Those men were great but now-forgotten legislators who claimed the mantle of the middle and working classes. They were anti-communist and patriotic. They were committed to free speech and freedom of religion.
Those days are long gone. Today's party would have no place for Harry Truman or John Kennedy. It didn't even have room for Phil Gramm. He became a Republican in 1983.
It is now the party of rich bi-coastal liberals who disparage those who grow their food and make things work — the "deplorables" clinging to their guns and religion.
More distressing is the sad fact that the Democrat Party has become the anti-Constitution party. Of course, progressives, who have long dominated the Democrat Party, have never been fond of the Constitution as drafted by the Founders and Framers, who saw it as a framework for sharing power within a democratic republic.
The Founders and Framers established a document in the Constitution that has stood the test of time for 234 years, but the Democrats want to essentially scrap it. (Painting: 'Signing the Constitution,' Howard Chandler Christy, 1940)
It has been proven time and time again: This is the only form of government capable of protecting the liberty and natural rights of citizens.
Founding progressives such as Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt, on the other hand, saw the Constitution, with its separation of powers and federalism, as an obstacle to their enterprise of using government to solve the country's social problems. Its checks and balances could not accommodate the necessarily far-reaching new programs and agencies to achieve that goal.
Progressives nonetheless paid obeisance to the document, arguing only that its interpretation must change with the times. For fifty years, they have argued it is a "living" instrument of government, subject to reinterpretation.
Now the Democrats are going further, happily attacking the Constitution itself: They contend the Constitution is "not sufficiently democratic," as illustrated by such elements as the Electoral College and the makeup of the Senate, in which each state, no matter how large or small, gets two senators.
It is the party of dueling victimization narratives: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall/Who is the most oppressed of all?" It is the party of blatant anti-Semitism. It is the party of unrestricted abortion against which no opposition will be tolerated. It is the party of socialist policies that have destroyed prosperity across the globe.
The clearest example of this last point is the party's opposition to the provision of abundant and relatively cheap energy as a generator of economic growth. Thanks to technological innovations such as fracking and multidirectional drilling, the United States is now the number one producer of natural gas and oil in the world.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stood in the well of the Senate Monday and tongue-lashed the Democrats for holding up passage of the economic rescue package over progressive wish-list items like the Green New Deal and eliminating 'corporate welfare.' (Photo: Fox News)
Our nation achieved that status after only two and a half years under President Donald J. Trump. We achieved that status despite the policies of the Obama administration, which, in thrall of the radical environmentalists and "green" energy, rent-seeking, crony capitalists, engaged in nothing short of a war on oil, gas and coal.
But the Democratic Party has now gone farther, paying fealty to the "Green New Deal" a requirement for any Democrat with presidential aspirations. Unbelievably — at least it should be — they are trying to stuff the entire Green New Deal into the $1.6 trillion economic package now stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Among the measures the Democrats will try to force down America's throat are reduction of the airline industry's "carbon footprint," grossly expanded tax credits for wind and solar power, "special treatment" for Big Labor — of course, because Big Labor keeps the Democrats well-funded. That is just to name a few.
Not only that, they want to strip what they call "corporate welfare" out of the bill, as though the aircraft, auto, chemical, oil and gas industries are some kind of self-sustaining monoliths that don't need to help through hard economic times. They need to keep their employees, keep their supply lines feeding into them and keep the economy running, just as much as we need small businesses to do the same.
This is not the Democrat Party of my parents, who were hard-working farmers. They would not recognize the party today.
The Democratic Party was pulled sharply to the left during the Obama administration. It is poised to continue tacking left in 2020. The question is whether a Democratic candidate who is acceptable to the party's radical base, as represented by such individuals as Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, can appeal to a broad, national, constitutional majority, as required by our system.
I don't think so. I will happily watch the Democrats commit suicide this fall.


text:
Q: Releasing application in Android Market I want to release an android application to android market. Different versions of this application should run on different Android platforms, i.e. 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, and 2.2. How can I release these separate versions under one app name?

A: Generally, it's best to have one package that works on all platforms.
When this isn't possible, or when you really want to make use of features on newer platforms and still support older ones, Android Market now has support for multiple APK files. With this feature, you can upload several APK files, each targeting different Android versions, and release them under one app name.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
from re import X
from absl.testing import absltest
import splitbrain
import statistics
import graphdef_utils
import program_graph_pb2

class SplitbrainTest(absltest.TestCase):

  def assertSummaryASumsAcrossB(self, A, B, name):
    x = 0
    for CL in A:
      x += getattr(CL, name)
    self.assertEqual(getattr(B, name), x)

  def test_fib(self):
    graphdef = graphdef_utils.load_graphdef_from_file(
        "testdata/example_graph.textproto")
    G = graphdef_utils.make_graph_from_proto(graphdef)
    algorithm = splitbrain.SplitbrainV2()
    CLs = algorithm.run(G)
    self.assertEqual(CLs, [['fib', 'my_error'], ['do_fib']])

    stats_pb = statistics.evaluate(G, CLs, graphdef)
    self.assertLen(stats_pb.split_changelist, len(CLs))

    # This is a little confusing, but the goal is to confirm that the number
    # of nodes, lines changed, etc... is equal between the source program graph
    # and the individual summary records.
    for prop in [
        "lines_added",
        "lines_changed",
        "lines_removed",
    ]:
      self.assertSummaryASumsAcrossB(stats_pb.split_changelist,
                                     stats_pb.original_changelist, prop)
      self.assertSummaryASumsAcrossB(graphdef.symbol,
                                     stats_pb.original_changelist, prop)

    self.assertSummaryASumsAcrossB(stats_pb.split_changelist,
                                   stats_pb.original_changelist,
                                   "number_of_nodes")

  def test_SplitbrainV1_only_uses_bazel(self):
    """Tests that SplitbrainV1 fails when faced with non-Bazel data.

    This is because the algorithm has a special edge-case and can only function
    upon Bazel data.
    """
    nodedef = program_graph_pb2.NodeDef()
    nodedef.kind = program_graph_pb2.NodeDef.Kind.SYMBOL
    graphdef = program_graph_pb2.GraphDef()
    graphdef.symbol.append(nodedef)
    self.assertFalse(splitbrain.SplitbrainV1().is_valid(graphdef))

if __name__ == '__main__':
  absltest.main()


text:
Named Entity Results, Fredericksburg, Va. (Virginia, United States)
hide Matching Documents
The documents where this entity occurs most often are shown below. Click on a document to open it.
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Massachusetts in the Army and Navy during the war of 1861-1865, vol. 1, Mass. officers and men who died.	 461 449 Browse Search
William F. Fox, Lt. Col. U. S. V., Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865: A Treatise on the extent and nature of the mortuary losses in the Union regiments, with full and exhaustive statistics compiled from the official records on file in the state military bureaus and at Washington	 457 125 Browse Search
Frederick H. Dyer, Compendium of the War of the Rebellion: Regimental Histories	 432 88 Browse Search
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10. (ed. Frank Moore)	 425 15 Browse Search
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Volume 3.	 398 2 Browse Search
William Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac	 346 0 Browse Search
Brigadier-General Ellison Capers, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 5, South Carolina (ed. Clement Anselm Evans)	 303 1 Browse Search
Maj. Jed. Hotchkiss, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 3, Virginia (ed. Clement Anselm Evans)	 247 5 Browse Search
Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 3. (ed. Henry Coppee , LL.D.)	 210 0 Browse Search
Horace Greeley, The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860-65: its Causes, Incidents, and Results: Intended to exhibit especially its moral and political phases with the drift and progress of American opinion respecting human slavery from 1776 to the close of the War for the Union. Volume II.	 201 1 Browse Search
View all matching documents...
Your search returned 10,556 results in 1,632 document sections:
1 2 3 4 5 6 ...
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Address of Congress to the people of the Confederate States: joint resolution in relation to the war. (search)
eradded to these, sinking us into a lower abyss of degradation, we would be made the slaves of our slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for those upon whom God has stamped indelibly the marks of physical and intellectual inferiority. The past, or foreign countries, need not be sought unto to furnish illustrations of the heritage of shame that subjugation would entail. Baltimore, St. Louis, Nashville, Knoxville, New Orleans, Vicksburg, Huntsville, Norfolk, Newbern, Louisville and Fredericksburg, are the first fruits of the ignominy and poverty of Yankee domination. The sad story of the wrongs and indignities endured by those States which have been in the complete or partial possession of the enemy, will give the best evidence of the consequences of subjugation. Missouri, a magnificent empire of agricultural and mineral wealth, is to-day a smoking ruin and the theatre of the most revolting cruelties and barbarities. The minions of tyranny consume her substance, plunder her
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Book notices. (search)
review of it. We can only say now that the author seems to have bestowed on it a great deal of labor, and has produced a book of historic value which will be widely read. It was not remarkable, perhaps, that Federal commanders during the war should have so egregiously overestimated our numbers; but it is entirely inexcusable that a historian at this day (with easy access to the official reports of the Confederate generals) should commit the same blunders. Mr. Bates puts Hill's corps at Fredericksburg at 30,000 men, Stuart's cavalry at Brandy Station at 12,000, the force which environed Milroy at Winchester at 60,000, and General Lee's entire force at Gettysburg at 107,000 men. Now the truth is that these figures are most inexcusable exaggerations. General Lee's entire force at Gettysburg was not quite 57,000 men. Ah! if our grand old chieftan had commanded the numbers which Northern generals and Northern writers attribute to him, then the story of Gettysburg and of the war would ha
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), chapter 2.12 (search)
of the Federal army — as the easiest way to avoid the dispositions that were being made to cut him off, should he return the way he marched. Must I tell you of his trip to Catlett's, in Pope's rear, or of his second ride around the same McClellan, and of his ride from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to Leesburg, Virginia, a distance of ninety miles, in thirty-six hours--a march that has no equal in point of rapidity in the records of the war? Of his behavior upon the right of Jackson at Fredericksburg? Of Chancellorsville, where an eye-witness asserts that he could not get rid of the idea that Harry of Navarre was present, except that Stuart's plume was black; for everywhere, like Navarre, he was in front, and the men followed the feather ? And where, riding at the head of and in command of Jackson's veterans, his ringing voice could be heard high, high above the thunder of artillery and the ceaseless roar of musketry, singing, Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out the wilderness ? Of t
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Address before the Mecklenburg (N. C.) Historical Society. (search)
rth were drenched with Southern blood. At the battle of Brooklyn, a regiment of Marylanders fought so stoutly and checked the British advance so long, that it was virtually destroyed. Half the victors at Trenton and Princeton, who changed the wail of despair of the American people into shouts of victory, were from Virginia. Two future Presidents of the United. States, of Southern birth, were in that battle, one of whom was wounded. The only general officer there slain, was from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and he was commanding Southern troops. The retreat at White Plains would have been a terrible disaster, but for the charge of Southern troops that drove back, for a time, the British, flushed with victory. At Germantown, a Southern brigade gained deathless honor, and the life-blood of a North Carolina general was poured out. After the massacre by the Indians in the valley of Wyoming, 1776, George Rogers Clark, of Virginia, with a brigade of his countrymen, penetrated to the upper
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Strength of General Lee's army in the Seven days battles around Richmond. (search)
ecause, prompted in part at least, let us hope, by the love of truth, he renewed in the Senate of the United States after the war a resolution which in substance he had previously brought forward? Resolved, That * * * * * it is inexpedient that the names of victories obtained over our own fellow-citizens should be placed on the regimental colors of the United States. This resolution would erase from the colors of the United States army such names as those of Cold Harbor, Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, which you have seen inscribed upon captured flags. Now we believe that we won those fights, and we wonder why a resolution of Congress should be necessary to blot them from the list of Union victories recorded on the standards of its armies. We think that we know something about the second battle at Manassas, and yet is not General Fitz John Porter, who fought us so stubbornly at the first battle of Cold Harbor, now in disgrace; because it was proved to the sati
Colonel William Preston Johnston, The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston : His Service in the Armies of the United States, the Republic of Texas, and the Confederate States., Chapter 4: Jefferson Barracks. (search)
on, especially Colonel James McDowell, in Rockbridge County. During this distant tour he paid a visit to Mrs. Edmonia Preston, at Lexington. The writer then visited a house which forty years later he occupied as a residence for a time. Lieutenant Johnston visited the Peaks of Otter with John T. L. Preston, who later in life was of Stonewall Jackson's staff. Leaving Cherry Grove, the residence of Colonel McDowell, on the 8th of September, they traveled by carriage, passing through Fredericksburg on the 11th, and reaching Baltimore on the 14th. They spent several days in Philadelphia, in order to consult the eminent Dr. Physick; and, after visiting New York, returned to Louisville, where they arrived on the 21st of October. During their absence their youngest child had died. Mrs. Johnston says: After much traveling and fatigue I am here again. My babe is in her place of rest, and my dear grandmother Mrs. Margaret Strother Hancook, who died about this time, at a very advan
An English Combatant, Lieutenant of Artillery of the Field Staff., Battlefields of the South from Bull Run to Fredericksburgh; with sketches of Confederate commanders, and gossip of the camps., Chapter 19: (search)
mber of his troops during the heaviest part of the winter, Johnston had granted thirty days furlough to all of the twelve months volunteers who should enlist for the war. Although the entire army accepted these terms and re-enlisted, only a few thousands were permitted to depart at a time. But although this movement was known to McClellan, he did not know that for every man going home on furlough, a regiment travelled on the same train towards Culpeper Court-House and our lines on the Rappahannock River. In fact, McClellan was quietly maturing plans for the surprise and capture of Centreville and Manassas, when Johnston suddenly gave orders for a general retreat, and all our army began to move rapidly southward. This retreat was certainly one of the finest things of the war and the brilliancy of its, design and execution presaged a glorious summer campaign. Se perfectly were all things arranged and so quietly performed, that all stores, baggage, sick, materiel, and guns were rem
John Beatty, The Citizen-Soldier; or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, December, 1862. (search)
roundless. A few shot only had been fired at the foragers. December, 17 The news from Fredericksburg has cast a shadow over the army. We did hope that Burnside would be successful, and thus bn the prospect for a speedy peace; but we are in deeper gloom now than ever. The repulse at Fredericksburg, while it has disabled thousands, has disheartened, if not demoralized a great army, and giv force. The old game of concentration is probably being played. The repulse of our army at Fredericksburg will embolden them. It will also enable them to spare troops to reinforce Bragg. The Confean cut across and concentrate rapidly, while we must move around. They can meet Burnside at Fredericksburg, and then whip across the country and face us, thus making a smaller army than ours outnumbe the North, who were clamoring for action, are probably responsible for the fatal repulse at Fredericksburg and the defeat at Bull run. The North must be patient, and get to understand that the work
John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee: The Unwritten Story of Army Life, chapter 13 (search)
n left in his place; but later in the war all animals abandoned by the Union army were shot if any life remained in them, so that even this resource was to that extent cut off from the inhabitants, and the family cow, while she was spared, was fitted out for such service. But the soldiers did not always content themselves with taking eatables and forage. Destruction of the most wanton and inexcusable character was sometimes indulged in. It is charged upon them when the army entered Fredericksburg, in 1862, that they took especial delight in bayonetting mirrors, smashing piano-keys with musket-butts, pitching crockery out of windows, and destroying other such inoffensive material, which could be of no possible service to either party. If they had been imbibing commissary whiskey, they were all the more unreasonable and outrageous in their destruction. Whenever a man was detected in the enactment of such disgraceful and unsoldierly conduct, he was put under arrest, and sentenced
company, lost his arm from a flesh-wound — needlessly, as he and his friends always asserted and believed. A corporal of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery suffered a compound fracture of the left knee-joint from a piece of shell by which he was struck at the battle of A stretcher. Hatcher's Run, Oct. 27, 1864. In the course of time he reached the Lincoln Hospitals (well do I remember them as they stood on Capitol Hill where they were erected just before the bloody repulse at Fredericksburg), where a surgeon decided that his leg must come off, and, after instructing the nurse to prepare him for the operating-room, left the ward. But the corporal talked the matter over with a wounded cavalryman (this was a year when cavalrymen were wounded quite generally) and decided that his leg must not come off; so, obtaining the loaded revolver of his comrade, he put it under his pillow and awaited the reappearance of the surgeon. He returned not long after, accompanied by two men wi


In this tutorial we'll learn how to install git on CentOS 6.
Yum will list all packages to be installed.
Press Y to install the listed packages.
Yum will import GPG key used to sign the package.
Press Y to import the GPG key.
Git will be install, to check git version installed you can use command below.
At the time of this writing, the latest stable version of Git is 2.13.3. We can install latest version of Git from Inline with Upstream Stable (IUS) project repository.
This process will also install epel-release package as dependency. Enter y to continue.
Now let's install latest version of git from IUS repository.
Press Y to import GPG key and continue installation.
Git installed from IUS repository. To check git version we can use command below.
This is not the latest version up to minor (2.13.3) but pretty recent since it already version 2.13.
In this tutorial we learned how to install git from CentOS repository. We also learn how to install the latest version of Git on CentOS 6 from IUS repository.
You can start using git to manage your code, configuration or any files that you plan to give version to.


Network Installation & Upgrade Services Our Network installation and upgrade services ensure that your network operates with maximum efficiency and is the most cost effective way to connect with your computers. There are many ways to build a network . We ensure that yours is right for you and your budget. Contact us to see how ICS can help with your NJ small business network setup.
Windows Small Business Server Essential 2012R2 Windows Small Business Server 2012R2 is an "all-in-one" server solution designed to help you keep your data more secure, your company more productive, and gives you the tools to present a more professional image to customers. It provides many of the features used by larger corporations - email, Internet connectivity, internal websites, remote access, support for mobile devices, file and printer sharing, backup and restore - all at one affordable price.
Microsoft Exchange Server Specialists Exchange Server, the Microsoft messaging and collaboration server, enables businesses to send and receive electronic mail and other forms of interactive communication through computer networks. Designed to interoperate with a software client application such as Microsoft Outlook, Exchange Server also interoperates with Outlook Express and other email client applications.
Firewall Installation & Network Security A firewall is a system or group of systems that enforces an access control policy between two or more networks. Firewalls can be used to protect your direct connections to partners or vendors and more. Integrated Computer Services can help you keep unwanted individuals out of your network while allowing you to get your job done.


text:
Alienware Lands Deal as LEC Hardware Sponsor for 2021 Season
1 "New Opportunities for Dreams to be Realised"
2 Match of the Week
3 Exciting Start to the Spring Split
With the new LEC League of Legends season set to start on Friday January 22, the organisation has announced that it has penned a deal with Alienware for the latter to become the official PC Partner for the LEC over the course of the 2021 season.
The new deal means that it will be the third year in a row that Alienware has provided European League of Legends teams with top of the range desktop computers and displays.
However, in addition to renewing that deal for a third year, the PC and gaming accessories company has also announced that it will be giving the analysts of the games a little bonus in the form of their new Alienware Aurora Battlestation.
The new Aurora Battlestation will "showcase mechanical segments on broadcast as you have never seen them before" according to comments from the LEC in a press release.
"New Opportunities for Dreams to be Realised"
Speaking about Alienware striking a deal for a third successive year, the Global Marketing Director of the company, Bryan de Zayas, stated:
"We are excited for the new LEC season to kick off."
"A new season represents new opportunities for dreams to be realized among teams and by their fans watching at home. We're proud to play a role in bringing the realization of these dreams to life."
Match of the Week
Alongside providing equipment to the teams competing in the LEC, Alienware's involvement in the competition will go further. The company will also be responsible for presenting the Match of the Week segment once again.
This segment of the broadcast will showcase a number of individual players journeys to reach and throughout the LEC, as well as highlighting some of the biggest rivalries in the competition throughout the course of the season.
Speaking about the Match of the Week production, the LEC commented:
"In 2020, Match of the Week brought fans up close and personal with some of the most influential players in the league, showcasing the best talent that EU had to offer, with explosive match previews featuring exclusive comments from players and casters."
There was also further positive news for fans in Germany too according to Alban Dechelotte, the head of sponsorships and new business EU esports at Riot Games.
"The additional Match of the Week content brought to German LEC fans is a token of the brand's commitment to elevating LEC local fandoms, and we are looking forward to this next chapter of our relationship."
Exciting Start to the Spring Split
Unlike North America, which has done away with the Spring Split, the LEC will continue using the same Spring/Summer Split format for this year's 2021 LEC and the first day of action in the Spring Split is slated for January 22.
All ten teams will be in action on that date in five fixtures which are outlined below:
G2 Esports v MAD Lions
Astralis v SK Gaming
Rogue v Excel Esports
Team Vitality v FC Schalke 04
Misfits Gaming v Fnatic
As per usual, you can enjoy a wide range of League of Legends esports betting on all these games and the remainder of the matches in the LEC season.
EsportsBets.com > Esports News > LoL > Alienware Lands Deal as LEC Hardware Sponsor for 2021 Season


text:
https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/STATE-SWIM-DIVE-Alton-8217-s-Clancy-advances-13638557.php
STATE SWIM, DIVE : Alton's Clancy advances to backstroke finals at state meet
But with only 2 minutes restbetween, breaststroke suffers
Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com
Updated 12:52 am CST, Saturday, February 23, 2019
WINNETKA — Facing back-to-back events at Friday night's IHSA Boys State Swim Meet prelims at New Trier High School, Noah Clancy knew the odds were against him.
The Alton High junior nonetheless elected to go for it anyway and swam the 100-yard backstroke and 100 breaststroke prelims with little time between.
But even Clancy was surprised by how little time and he ended up paying for it in the breaststroke.
Two minutes.
Some 120 seconds after making the championship final in the backstroke, in which he was seeded No. 1, Clancy found himself on the blocks for the start of the breaststroke prelims after barely enough time to take off his swim cap and put it back on.
"I feel terrible right now," Clancy said about 20 minutes after the breaststroke. "My muscles are sore and I'm tired. I had 10 minutes at the sectional (between races), but tonight only about two minutes."
Clancy finished sixth in the backstroke prelims, grabbing the final championship final spot. He finished in a time of 50.03 seconds, slightly slower than his top seed time of 49.57.
"Getting to the 'A' finals in the backstroke was my main goal at state," Clancy said. "I did that and I can concentrate on getting and ice bath, eating some food, getting some rest and coming back tomorrow."
Still aching from his backstroke race, Clancy's time suffered in the ensuing breaststroke. Headded nearly five seconds to his seed time and finished 39th overall, going from a 58.18 seed to a 1:02.31 Friday night.
Clancy will swim in the championship final Saturday. Competition is set to begin at 11 a.m. The backstroke is the 13th event. One of those events prior to the backstroke is the time-consuming dive competition, as well as a pair of 15-minute breaks.
Alton's other state qualifier, Caden Akal, had considerably more time between his two events Friday, the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 freestyle.
Akal finished 27th in the 500 freestyle in a time of 21.64, slightly off his seed time of 21.52. In the 100 freestyle, Akal went a 47.54, again just off his seed time (47.28) and was 25th.
"My times were a little slower," Akal said, "but that's kind of to be expected with the different pool and the atmosphere and all.
"I tried and did my best and I can be happy with that. I was here for the experience mainly."
The top six finishers in each event advance to Saturday's championship finals, with the next six moving to the consolation finals. The next two swimmers in the prelims are considered alternates and can move up to a final if one of the qualifiers in unable to swim.
The alternate swimmer role came into play twice for Edwardsville's Porter LeVasseur, who finished 14th in the 50 freestyle and tied for 14th in the 100 freestyle.
In the 100 freestyle, the tie with Plainfield's Alex Dvorak was broken by a coin flip and LeVasseur lost it.
"(Dvorak) was going to concede," Edwardsville coach Christian Rhoten said, "but I decided to leave to chance. We lost it, but it's pretty much ceremonial anyway. I can't remember a second alternate ever moving up."
LeVasseur and Dvorak each posted a time of 47:09 in the 100 freestyle. In the 50 freestyle, Rhoten's 14th-place time was 21.19. Richard Lee of Stevenson was 13th in 21.15.
Edwardsville's McClain Oertle was 38th in the breaststroke in 1:02.09 and Tiger Logan Mills was 44th in the 100 butterfly in 54.27. Diver Owen Kaufmann was 32nd in the Friday morning prelims with 172.80 points.
The Edwardsville 20 medley relay team of LeVasseur, Oertle, Mills and Matt Mendez was 22nd in a time of 1:36.92. The same four combined for a 27th-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay team in1:29.13.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the Tigers' Matt Doyle, Noah May, Mendez and Evan Grinter were 27th in 3:29.99.
"It's a good experience for all our swimmers," Rhoten said. "The ones who hadn't been here before got a taste of what its like and what to expect. they;re already thinking about coming back."


text:
Dr. C.V. Raman University, Bihar (CVRU) is a private university located at Bhagwanpur in Vaishali district, Bihar, India. The university was established in 2018 by the All India Society for Electronics & Computer Technology (AISECT) under the Bihar Private Universities Act, 2013, the fourth of six private universities planned in Bihar, following the first two private universities, K. K. University and Sandip University, Sijoul and later Amity University, Patna. The university was approved by the Bihar Cabinet on 10 January 2018, notified in the gazette on 7 February 2018 and the university became active in the July 2018 session. The university offers various diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate courses in five faculties. It is named after the first Nobel Laureate of the country, C.V. Raman.

Academics
The institute offers diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate courses through fiv faculties:
 Faculty of Commerce and Management
 Faculty of Arts & Humanities
 Faculty of Science
 Faculty of Computer Science & IT
 Faculty of Agriculture
 Faculty of Engineering and Technology

Department of Political Science
 HoD : Dr Manish Ranjan

References

External links

Universities and colleges in Vaishali district
Universities in Bihar
Educational institutions established in 2018
2018 establishments in Bihar
Private universities in India

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Whenever you go shopping Yampil Flower bouquets online with Kievdelivery, you will see stunning flower arrangements. Kievdelivery designs bouquets with devotion, attention to detail, and exceptional care. Kievdelivery is focused on making wonderful Yampil flower bouquets. Our company also offers delivery of top quality presents for almost any occasion. Our delivery company provides probably the greatest variety of floral gifts in Ukraine for almost every occasion. You can order Birthday flowers, Love and Romance floral arrangements. Send sweet New Year and Xmas holidays sets in Ukraine by means of Kievdelivery. We are famous for the best cost-saving recommendations for holiday packages for St. Valentine's Day and Easter.
Our company provides elegant, fresh flowers. Our florists can create excellent flower gifts to suit any kind of special event. Local florist features easy and quick delivery all through for your convenience. Are you looking for flower bouquets delivered across Ukraine? Kievdelivery's reputable system of florists provides nationwide. The company features same-day flower delivery services for almost any last minute gift requires. Send her the best anniversary flower arrangements or birthday gifts in Yampil by way of website https://kievdelivery.com fast and conveniently! We certainly have professional and professional florists in every city of delivery in Ukraine. Flowers and presents you purchase for delivery will arrive at your recipient right in time. We assure you quality and fragrance.
Our customer support services are available 24/7. Competent support specialists wait to obtain your order. Our online site is improving every day to raise the effectiveness of ordering bouquets in Ukraine for our customers. Florists are going to be pleased to deliver flower arrangements to the ones you love for any special occasion. Order flower bouquets today, experience advantage and enjoyment of placing an order. Take pleasure in the present of smile you bring to your beloved. Regardless of what the sort of the bouquet of flowers you would like. Florist offers all types of charming flower designs for a lot of different occasions.
Kievdelivery offers a number of flower arrangements and gifts delivery in Ukraine. We supply gorgeous gifts baskets, cosmetics, and exclusive items' delivery. You get to pick and choose the day of the delivery. Our elegant courier will show up with an amazing arrangement. Your gifts and flower arrangements will always make a beautiful awesome impact on the recipient. Business present presenting is a considerable part of expressing thanks. Say gratitude to your clients and companions. Food and chocolate present baskets are usually popular for holiday celebrations in Ukraine. Local florist presents fresh and top quality products only.


Locate your new home or may a business-subject to zoning-on this space approx acre parcel located in the heart of the city. Plenty of parking options on property. Enjoy the White River frontage which runs along the lot line. Easy access to downtown area. Take a close look at developing for your needs. Old VFW bld once stood proud and functional. Call today for more information. Waste Available to Site = Laterals.
Main St Wautoma turn south on Scott St. Parcel located just before River St curves down a hill.
The details on 203 W RIVER STREET: This land located in Wautoma, WI 54982 is currently for sale for $25,000. 203 W RIVER STREET is a – square foot land with – beds and – baths that has been on Estately for 973 days. This land is in the attendance area of Wautoma High School.


text:
Attorney's fees — Proposal for settlement — Where defendants had actual notice of plaintiff's proposal for settlement, and plaintiff satisfied requirements of section 768.79 on entitlement, it was error to deny attorney's fees because initial proposals were not emailed under rule 2.516(a) — Offer of judgment is not a document "filed in any court proceeding" to which rule applied
fees — Proposal for settlement — Where defendants had actual notice of
plaintiff's proposal for settlement, and plaintiff satisfied requirements of
section 768.79 on entitlement, it was error to deny attorney's fees because
initial proposals were not emailed under rule 2.516(a) — Offer of judgment is
not a document "filed in any court proceeding" to which rule applied
JOHN MCCOY, Appellant, v. R.J.
REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY, Individually and As Successor By Merger To BROWN
& WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION, Individually and As Successor By Merger
To THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, A Foreign Corporation; PHILIP MORRIS – USA,
INC., A Foreign Corporation; LORILLARD TOBACCO COMPANY, A Foreign Corporation;
LIGGETT GROUP LLC, (f/k/a Liggett Group, Inc., f/k/a Liggett & Myers
Tobacco Company); and VECTOR GROUP LTD., INC., (f/k/a Brooke Group, Ltd.), A
Foreign Corporation, Appellees. 4th District. Case No. 4D16-1378. October 25,
2017. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit,
Broward County; John J. Murphy III, Judge; L.T. Case No. 08-25806 CACE (19) and
08-80000 CACE (19). Counsel: Celene H. Humphries, Shea T. Moxon, Maegen P. Luka
and Thomas J. Seider of Brannock & Humphries, Tampa; and Scott Schlesinger,
Steven Hammer, Jonathan R. Gdanski and Brittany Chambers of Schlesinger Law
Offices, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant. Scott Michael Edson of King
& Spalding LLP, Washington, D.C.; Val Leppert, William L. Durham II, and
Chad A. Peterson of King & Spalding LLP, Atlanta, Georgia; and Stephanie E.
Parker and John M. Walker of Jones Day, Atlanta, Georgia, for appellees, R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company and Lorillard Tobacco Company. Geoffrey J. Michael of
Arnold & Porter LLP, Washington, D.C., for appellee, Philip Morris USA Inc.
(GROSS, J.) We reverse the circuit
court's order denying a motion for attorney's fees based upon a 2014 proposal
for settlement under section 768.79, Florida Statutes (2015).1
On July 24, 2014, the plaintiff/appellant
served a proposal for settlement on each of three defendants. The proposals
were served by U.S. certified mail. The plaintiff also filed a Notice of
Serving Proposal for Settlement via e-mail on the same date.
The defendants had actual knowledge
of the proposals for settlement and did not accept them.
After a trial, the plaintiff
obtained a verdict that entitled him to attorney's fees under section 768.79.
The plaintiff moved for attorney's fees. The defendants opposed an award on
procedural grounds that he failed to e-mail the proposals under Florida Rule of
Judicial Administration 2.516.
The circuit court denied the motion
for fees for the failure to comply with Rule 2.516.
Where a party has actual notice of
an offer of settlement, and the offering party has satisfied the requirements
of section 768.79 on entitlement, to deny recovery because the initial offer
was not e-mailed is to allow the procedural tail of the law to wag the
substantive dog. See Kuhajda v. Borden Dairy Co. of Ala., LLC., 202 So.
3d 391, 395-96 (Fla. 2016). We agree with the analysis of Judge Badalamenti in Boatright
v. Philip Morris USA Inc., 218 So. 3d 962 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017).
The focus of the statute is on
actual notice — an offer of judgment is required to be "served upon the party
to whom it is made, but it shall not be filed unless it is accepted or unless
filing is necessary to enforce the provisions of this section." § 768.79(3),
Fla. Stat. (2014). Echoing the requirements of the statute, Florida Rule of
Civil Procedure 1.442(d) provides that an offer "shall be served on the party
or parties to whom it is made but shall not be filed unless necessary to
enforce the provisions of this rule."
Identifying those documents for
which e-mail service is required, Rule 2.516(a) provides, in pertinent part:
Service; When Required. Unless the
court otherwise orders, or a statute or supreme court administrative order
specifies a different means of service, every pleading subsequent to the
initial pleading and every other document filed in any court proceeding .
. . must be served in accordance with this rule on each party.
(Emphasis added). An offer of
judgment is not a pleading. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.100(a). At the time it
is initially served, an offer of judgment is not a document "filed in any court
proceeding"; both section 768.79(3) and Rule 1.442(d) expressly state that it
is not to be filed. Under the plain language of Rule 2.516(a), then, the
initial offer of judgment is outside of the e-mail requirements of that rule.
To arrive at a different conclusion,
Wheaton v. Wheaton imports language from rule 2.516(b) to add words to
the plain language of 2.516(a). 217 So. 3d 125, 126 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017). Instead
of focusing on subsection 2.516(a), which specifies when e-mail service is
"required," the Wheaton court looked to subsection 2.516(b) to hold that
e-mail service was required for the initial delivery of an offer of judgment.
We disagree with Wheaton; subsection
(a) is not ambiguous, so a court should not add words to manipulate its
meaning. Even a strict construction of Rule 2.516(a) should consider "only the
literal words of [the] writing." Strict Construction, Black's Law Dictionary
(8th ed.) (Brian Garner ed.) p. 332.2
We reverse the circuit court order
insofar as it applies to the 2014 offers of judgment. (CIKLIN and KLINGENSMITH,
JJ., concur.)
1Because we
find the 2014 proposal for settlement to be valid, we do not reach the validity
of separate proposals for settlement served by e-mail in 2015.
2Section
768.79, Florida Statutes (2014) was enacted in 1986 by the legislature for the
purpose of "encourag[ing] parties' to settle claims without going to trial." Aspen
v. Bayless, 564 So. 2d 1081, 1083 (Fla. 1990). After three decades of
litigation, most lawyers and judges question whether Rule 1.442 and the statute
are "fulfilling [their] intended purpose of encouraging settlement or at times
is having the opposite effect of increasing litigation." Campbell v. Goldman,
959 So. 2d 223, 227 (Fla. 2007) (Pariente, J., specially concurring). For an
excellent discussion about the tension between the substantive law and
procedural rules in this area, see Lauren Rehm, A Proposal for
Settling the Interpretation of Florida's Proposals for Settlement, 64 Fla.
L. Rev. 1811 (2012).


Assessment of marketing tools at your disposal, including ads; promotional material; online marketing; sponsorship; PR; selling and lead generation; events and trade shows; and customer relationship management.
Our marketing plans are in plain English – with no obscure marketing phrases that will leave you wondering what on earth we're talking about. They are practical and down-to-earth guides and they finish with clear action plans that tell you what needs to happen and when. A Breathe Marketing plan won't sit on a shelf in your office gathering dust.


text:
namespace glgui
{

class ControlIndex {
private:
  std::unordered_map<std::string, ControlPtr> my_Index;

public:
  void insert(const std::string& ControlId, ControlPtr Ptr) {
    my_Index.insert(std::make_pair(ControlId, Ptr));
  }
  void remove(const std::string& ControlId) {
    my_Index.erase(ControlId);
  }
};

class ControlStorage {
private:
  std::vector<ControlPtr> my_Controls;

public:
  void insert(ControlPtr Ptr) {
    my_Controls.push_back(Ptr);
  }
  void remove(ControlPtr Ptr) {
    auto iter = std::find(my_Controls.begin(), my_Controls.end(), Ptr);

    if(iter != my_Controls.end())
      my_Controls.erase(iter);
  }

  decltype(my_Controls.begin()) begin() {
    return my_Controls.begin();
  }
  decltype(my_Controls.end()) end() {
    return my_Controls.end();
  }
  ControlPtr operator[](unsigned Offset) {
    return my_Controls[Offset];
  }
};

}


Even if you have lived somewhere your entire life you can still find magical places around. I like to think of Kentucky Horse Park as one of those spots; in the spring there is a field of weeds so beautiful you would swear it was a purposefully planted with purple flowers. This time of year it's dead of course, but that doesn't mean the Horse Park doesn't still have a few tricks up its sleeve.
The Cove always reminds me of The Secret Garden. Unfortunately there is no mysterious door, but there's plenty of stone covered in lush green vines, and even an epic staircase! One problem though: it tends to get pretty swampy after big downpours. Thank goodness today's outfit includes boots!
I've been obsessed with climber earrings ever since I saw them for the first time this fall. Their style is almost edgy but not so much so that I feel like I'm being trendy when I wear them. These feather climbers have just the right amount of sparkle; they aren't too flashy which I appreciate. I'm not much of an accessories gal so when I shell out the cash for some jewelry you can bet I'm pretty head over heels for it.
This is also my favorite belt to wear; it's so unique and cool that all of my other brown belts just don't measure up anymore. If you're going to wear a dress like this with a striped top leading straight into the skirt you really need to wear a belt, the separation a belt provides really pulls everything together.
All season this dress has been one of my favorite pieces to wear. It's so comfortable and flattering it's ridiculous. The tulip skirt is one of my favorite parts. The way it drapes is so flattering that even if you're feeling self conscious about your mid section (because lets be honest who isn't?), it's forgiving. The skirt also gives you the look and shape a pencil skirt provides but the material is soft and flexible so you actually have the freedom to move. I also love that there are buttons on the sleeves; it's a nice accent.
If I could own only one pair of boots I would pick these: they're practical, functional, comfortable, and so stylish. I will be the first girl to tell you I can't last that long in heels but these boots completely changed my mind on the wedge front; I can wear these bad boys all day long with absolutely no issues. Sorel is my absolute favorite brand for boots. My family and I own so many pairs and they are such good quality that every pair is still in rotation today. This particular pair I get more compliments on than any other they're so badass!
She told me I could jump for a pic and well, I can't do that without doing air guitar guys… Sorry.
My makeup was inspired by Taylor Swift, she wears some of the most beautiful looks and lately I have felt like recreating almost every single one of them. For this look I used my LORAC PRO palette; it's my go to everyday palette that has shades for just about any look. I'm also wearing one of my favorite bright pink lipsticks NARS Schiap, it's the perfect color to balance out a darker eye.
It may not be Valentines Day but who can pass up 70% off candy!


On behalf of Joseph J. Colarusso, Attorney at Law posted in Criminal Defense on Thursday, April 26, 2018.
A parent of a Connecticut juvenile is notified that their child has been charged with a crime. This can be a terrifying scenario for any parent. What does being criminally charged mean for their child? Will their young one end up going to prison, and will that child suffer a damaged reputation? In such a scenario, it is important to understand that Connecticut offers avenues for some juveniles to avoid worst case punishments and even avert having a criminal conviction on their records.
On behalf of Joseph J. Colarusso, Attorney at Law posted in Drug Charges on Wednesday, April 11, 2018.
The term "drug paraphernalia" might seem unclear to many people in the state of Connecticut. What does it refer to? Generally, drug paraphernalia is any object that can be used to ingest illicit substances or to produce and prepare them. Drug paraphernalia can encompass a lot of different objects and tools. Some people may fear that the police might mistake an object in their possession as qualifying as drug paraphernalia.


After your car accident, you're feeling stressed and in pain. The biggest concern on your mind is getting to the hospital or doctor and making sure that you and your loved ones are okay.
But the immediate aftermath of an auto accident and the days following it are critical for making sure that you'll remain eligible to get full compensation for your injury-related expenses. Insurance companies are ready to spring into action when they find out about crashes involving their policyholders, and they know plenty of ways to avoid paying full settlements.
Don't admit fault to the other driver, police officer, or insurance adjuster.
Even if you think you might have contributed to the accident, it's important to avoid admitting fault to anyone involved, whether it's the other driver, the responding police officer, or any representative from the insurance company. Evidence, including surveillance footage, skid marks, and witness statements could prove that the other driver was at-fault.
Don't accept the first settlement offer from the insurance company.
Insurance companies know that auto accident victims are in shock, in pain, and worrying about how they're going to pay their bills. That's why they may offer settlements right away, long before victims have had a chance to calculate how much they'll owe for their accident-related expenses.
After you've received medical treatment for your injuries, your next priority should be getting a Nashville car accident attorney on your side. We'll protect your rights by handling communication and negotiation with the insurance company, so that you can focus on getting better. Get a free consultation today and take the first step toward getting the legal representation you deserve.


text:
Grad Student is First Cedars-Sinai Gilliam Fellow Research News Cedars-Science 2020 Research News Grad Student is First Cedars-Sinai Gilliam Fellow
2020 Research News 2020 Research News Toggle mobile sub-nav
Back to 2020 Research News
Grad Student is First Cedars-Sinai Gilliam Fellow
"When I was working on the application, I looked at a list of previous recipients. That's when the self-doubt kicked in," said Thomas Mota, who just started his fourth year in the PhD Program in the Cedars-Sinai Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Mota's inner doubting Thomas departed when an email arrived recently from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announcing he had been awarded a Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study. Mota is the first Cedars-Sinai graduate student to be named a Gilliam Fellow.
"The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a prestigious organization," said William Parks, PhD, professor of Medicine, associate dean for Graduate Research Education and scientific director of the Women's Guild Lung Institute.
"I was asked to submit a nomination because I have a T32 grant, so I nominated Thomas, who I thought was a very strong candidate," Parks explained. Graduate programs that have T32 Institutional Training Grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are invited to submit Gilliam Fellowship nominations.
Created in 2004, Gilliam Fellowships have a two-pronged purpose: support exceptional doctoral students; advance diversity and inclusion in the sciences.
Applicants are assessed based on scientific skills, leadership abilities and their commitment to careers in academic science. Prospective fellows also must be from racial, ethnic or other underrepresented groups in the sciences.
Mota's maternal and paternal grandparents immigrated from Mexico. Their perseverance to overcome monumental obstacles has always motivated Mota when facing struggles of his own, as was the case when a professor at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), flatly informed him graduate school was out of his reach.
Ritchie Ho, PhD, (left) and doctoral student Thomas Mota review data from Mota's thesis project. Mota was recently awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study. Ho is Mota's thesis advisor.
Not only did Mota graduate from CSULB with a master's degree in microbiology, but he helped other students along the way. For two years, he served as a graduate mentor fellow with the NIH-funded Hispanic Health Opportunity Learning Alliance.
At Cedars-Sinai, Mota has continued to demonstrate leadership. In 2019, he served as president of the Graduate Student Association, and currently is one of two student representatives on the Graduate Research Education Oversight Committee.
For his thesis project, Mota is focusing on the gene TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1). Mutations in TBK1 have been identified as a cause for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a deadly neurodegenerative condition also called Lou Gehrig's disease. While it's known that TBK1 plays a pivotal role in modulating the immune system response to viral infections, it's not clear how TBK1 mutations lead to ALS. Mota hopes to shed light on that connection.
Although Mota's academic career hasn't been hiccup-free, he's always stayed true to his scientific North Star. "I knew if I focused on my research, that would be my path forward," observed Mota.
Robert Baloh, MD, PhD, professor of Neurology and director of the Cedars-Sinai Center for Neural Science and Medicine, submitted a letter of recommendation in support of Mota's Gilliam Fellowship.
"Thomas is intelligent, widely read and highly skilled in the laboratory," wrote Baloh, who serves on Mota's thesis committee. "He has demonstrated the maturity and tenacity to succeed and become an independent researcher and leader in his field."
Mota is conducting his research in the laboratory of Ritchie Ho, PhD, principal investigator and research scientist in the Center for Neural Sciences and Medicine.
"Thomas is a sharp learner and his scientific skills are well developed for someone at his stage of academic training," said Ho, who is Mota's thesis advisor.
As part of the Gilliam Fellowship, the student's advisor must participate in mentor-development workshops to learn about cultural identities and how to engage across cultures to create inclusive environments.
"I think this is really exciting and a great opportunity to learn how to reach out to different cultures when building a team environment in the lab," Ho said.
For 2020, Gilliam Fellowships were awarded to Mota and 44 other doctoral students nationwide. Each receive annual funding of $50,000 for up to three years. A small portion of each year's award is used by students' advisors to fund activities designed to foster diversity and inclusion at the graduate level.
At Cedars-Sinai, additional funds for these activities will be provided by Graduate Research Education and the office of Diversity and Inclusion.
"Diversity and inclusion are important components of our core values. We plan to provide our graduate students with inclusive leadership and diversity education, and to discuss how these topics impact medicine, research and health equity," said Nicole Mitchell, director of Diversity and Inclusion.


text:
Miocallicebus is an extinct genus of New World monkeys from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 mya). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia. The type species is Miocallicebus villaviejai.

Etymology
Miocallicebus is derived from the Greek name for the modern genus of titis, Callicebus, with the prefix Mio for Miocene. The species epithet refers to Villavieja, a village close to where the fossil remains were found.

Description
Fossils of Miocallicebus were discovered in 1997 during a field study executed by researchers of the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University. The specimen consists of a right maxillary fragment preserving a root of M1, a complete M2, and a badly damaged M3, discovered at the Bolivia Site in the Tatacoa Desert of Huila, south-central Colombia. The genus has not been found in the "Monkey Beds" of La Venta. The fossil remains were uncovered just above the Tatacoa Sandstone Beds of the La Victoria Formation, which has been dated to the Laventan with a range from 13.86 to 12.38 mya.

The estimated weight for Miocallicebus, considered similar to but much larger than the extant genus Callicebus, is . However, it may be phylogenically nestled within Callicebus, which would warrant a replacement of the species to be in that genus.

The evolutionary split between Pitheciidae of Cebupithecia from the Honda Group and Callicebus, including Miocallicebus, has been placed at 15.2 mya.

Habitat

The Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America. It has been argued that the monkeys of the Honda Group were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest.

See also

 List of primates of Colombia
 Stirtonia (monkey)

References

Bibliography

Further reading

Prehistoric primate genera
Prehistoric monkeys
†Miocallicebus
Miocene genus first appearances
Miocene extinctions
Miocene primates of South America
Laventan
Neogene Colombia
Fossils of Colombia
Honda Group, Colombia
Fossil taxa described in 2001


Overseas travel undertaken by officers of Queensland Treasury.
Overseas travel undertaken by Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation listed by financial year.
Consultancy spending undertaken by Central Queensland University.
Overseas travel undertaken by officers of Central Queensland University.
Overseas travel undertaken by officers of the Torres Strait-Northern Peninsula Hospital and Health Service.
Travel behaviour for tourists collected froma random selection of accommodation on the Sunshine Coast collected from June to August 2008.
Travel behaviour for tourists collected from a random selection of accommodation on the Gold Coast collected from May to August 2007.


Two new cryptocurrency exchanges have been authorized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines' central bank, to process conversions between cyrptocurrencies and the Philippine peso.
BSP's deputy governor Chuchi G. Fonacier said the Philippines central has approved applications filed by Virtual Currency Philippines, Inc. and ETranss as platforms, reports the Philippine Star.
This brings the total number of approved and regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the Philippines to five as the two exchanges join Betur Inc., the operator of Coins.ph, and Rebittance Inc., approved in September and October 2017, respectively, and BloomSolutions, approved in May 2018. There are currently 29 pending applications for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Fonacier said the regulator may no longer require applicants operating cryptocurrency exchanges to also secure electronic money issuer (EMI) licenses, easing up the process.
"There are some refinements. This may entail additional requirement but not automatically an EMI license," she said.
Cryptocurrency activity has surged in the Philippines in the past months. Latest data from the BSP showed trading volume between cryptocurrencies and the Philippine peso averaged US$36.74 million per month in the first quarter of 2018.
The BSP established a formal regulatory framework for cryptocurrency exchanges through Circular 944 dated February 6, 2017. The circular requires cryptocurrency exchanges to register with the BSP as remittance and transfer companies. They are also required to put in place adequate safeguards to address the risks associated with cryptocurrencies including control measures to counter money laundering and terrorist financing, technology risk management systems, and consumer protection.
The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), the state agency which manages the special economic zone, will open its doors to as many as 25 cryptocurrency exchange operators in its tax-friendly jurisdiction, according to a recent announcement.
Each exchange will only have sub-licenses of as many as 20 to 30 traders or brokers and will be required to initially invest US$1 million within two years.
CEZA's administrator and CEO Raul L. Lambino said citizens living in the Philippines will not be allowed to invest or trade in ICOs.


Was visiting the movie director shekhar Kapoor's blog today... saw three amazing posts there! Giving links and excerpts here!
The first symptom of the process of our killing our dreams is the lack of time.
What does a teacher make ?
Is there communication in absolute silence and stillness ? Is there communication in a sense of being ? Beyond just the simplistic scientific ideas of thought transfer and telepathy ?
इस जीने का क्या मतलब था?


text:
Contract manufact...
Contract manufacturer's £2m investment sparks recruitment drive
The new investments include a new large-format fibre laser cutting system and a 640-tonne press brake. (Image: MTL)
Contract manufacturing specialists MTL Advanced, based in Rotheram, UK, has recently invested £2 million into new equipment to address demand from the defence and construction industries.
The new investments, which include a new large-format fibre laser cutting system and a 640-tonne press brake, have led to the firm launching a recruitment drive.
The firm commissioned a new 6 x 2.5m 10kW 3060 TruLaser system from Trumpf earlier this month. This was a welcome addition to the company's already extensive profiling cell, which includes two other 6 x 2.5m lasers, a 20 x 3.2m bevel laser and a large 25 x 5m high-definition plasma cutting machine, on top of four other laser cutting machines.
The new fibre laser will provide MTL with a significant boost in productivity, allowing it to offer better cutting lead times and improved contour quality to customers for large profiles of up to 30mm in thickness.
The new laser follows another major investment last month: a 4.5m wide, 640-tonne Ursviken press brake. Now boasting three 640-tonne presses, including two that are 7.2m wide, MTL has strengthened its position as a go-to contract manufacturer for large cut and fold requirements in mild steel, wear-resistant steel, aluminium, stainless steel, and armoured materials.
Back in May the firm also purchased two new Hartford machining centres to boost its CNC milling capacity, which together with the more recent investments has resulted in many additional job vacancies across the business.
'Investing in the very latest technology continues to strengthen our position as one of the UK's leading contract manufacturers and we are extremely pleased with our recent purchases as this reinforces our ability to handle large multi-million pound projects,' said Karl Stewart, general manager at MTL. 'We have just secured new long-term orders in excess of £10m this month, with production starting in the new year, and these new additions to our machinery line-up will enable us to meet the demands of these contracts. These are really exciting times for MTL as we approach 2022 with a very strong order book and this has created many exciting new vacancies to join our operations here in Rotherham.'
The firm has just advertised around 40 new vacancies on the back of the recent investments and contract wins. These include, to name a few: seven laser operators and general operatives, four welders/fabricators, four CNC millers, two press brake operators, two paint sprayers, two material handlers, as well as various project engineers, supervisors, training officers, and sales estimator positions.
These new job roles come in addition to MTL's recent major apprentice recruitment scheme, which has already seen the firm hire 12 new commercial and technical apprentices in September, as well as four new recruits, as part of the nationwide KickStart campaign. This is a national scheme aimed at getting 16-24 year-olds who were previously at risk of long-term unemployment, into work.
Stewart added: 'Investing in the next generation of talented engineers is critical to our ongoing success and we now have dedicated trainers in the factory whose sole purpose is to mentor and upskill our home-grown workforce. We are now gearing up our operations ahead of these major future contracts, and our recent investments in training and modern machinery will enable us to proactively plan our forward growth and attract the required new talent into the business.'
MTL Advanced
Skills gap
Fibre lasers
The programme aims to inspire more than 3,500 local students aged 13-18 with first-hand experiences of engineering. (Image: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff)
GE invests £2.5m in next generation of engineers
Skills gap, Education, Energy production
HV Wooding has experienced a £600,000 increase in turnover since the UK emerged from lockdown. (Image: H V Wooding)
Engineering firm invests in cutting system to address e-mobility demand
Cutting, Automotive, Aerospace, E-mobility, Batteries, Energy production, Mild Steel, Stainless steel, Aluminium, Copper
Cutting, Welding, Drilling, Cleaning, Additive manufacturing, Surface treatment & texturing, Marking & engraving, Industry 4.0


text:
Home News Human Trafficking Can Be Eradicated With Your Help and a New U.S....
Human Trafficking Can Be Eradicated With Your Help and a New U.S. Law | Opinion
Today, over 49 million people live in what is known as modern slavery, including one in 130 women and girls, and it's a problem that grows more dire with each passing day. Although we often imagine human trafficking to mean shadowy figures in alleyways kidnapping victims—and it often does—the reality is we may be unknowingly perpetuating human exploitation and even benefiting from its spoils by ignoring how the goods we buy are produced.
Fortunately, there are steps the government is taking to change this, and there is much that businesses and consumers can do, too.
January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which went into effect last summer, is likely the broadest import legislation in modern U.S. history targeting forced labor, pushing the global retail industry to take an unprecedented step in the fight against human trafficking.
Each year, an estimated $125 billion worth of garments are produced using some form of slavery and imported to the wealthiest countries in the world. While we've certainly seen consumers express a desire for more supply chain transparency and awareness spreading, positive changes occurred in baby steps—until now.
The UFLPA, currently in its first full year of action, will transform the American fashion industry by changing the way the United States imports goods from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China, one of the industry's most common sourcing regions. Here, members of the Uyghur ethnic minority are forced into state-sponsored labor—but goods produced there are no longer permitted as U.S. imports. Under the UFLPA, U.S. authorities must assume that any goods or merchandise manufactured in XUAR—in whole or in part—were produced via forced labor. This means a ban on all goods from the XUAR, unless there is "clear and convincing evidence" that they were not produced this way.
For the retail industry, this is a paradigm shift. As recently as 2020, an estimated 20 percent of the world's cotton was produced under forced labor conditions in the XUAR, much of which goes into the jeans and T-shirts we buy. Under the UFLPA, this can no longer happen. What makes the law even more remarkable is that the law bans goods that were even partially manufactured in the XUAR. So, if 90 percent of a sweater's manufacturing process took place in India or Bangladesh, but the remaining 10 percent of the production process involved passing through the XUAR, that sweater cannot be imported to the U.S. for sale.
In the past, supply chains have been difficult to vet because they can involve convoluted steps and materials sourced across many factories and locations—and this has allowed unethical manufacturers to slip their goods in through the cracks. Now, the UFLPA provides an opportunity for our country to obtain clear evidence of exactly where supply chain abuses are occurring and how they are happening—thus enabling the law to be applied and enforced effectively.
A photo illustration shows a label inside an item of clothing reading "Made in China."
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images
On the consumer side, supportive steps are already in motion. In fact, young people are adamant about where they place their support, with 83 percent of young consumers saying they want the brands they shop to align with their beliefs, and 65 percent report having boycotted a brand in the past based on their values.
Although the term "boycott" dates back to the 19th century, voting with one's purse goes back even further. One of the first records is from the early 1700s, and perhaps most notably in 1791, two British abolitionists, William Fox and James Wright, resisted purchasing sugar produced by enslaved people in the Caribbean. They published pamphlets encouraging consumers to boycott slave-produced sugar and started a movement that earned a nickname: the anti-saccharites.
Today, nearly 250 years later, consumers can continue the time-honored tradition of voting with their dollars. When shoppers opt to spend their hard-earned cash on clothes that were made in vetted ethical factories that pay workers, they're showing brands exactly where they stand—and providing an incentive for the industry to clean up its act.
While legislative measures like the UFLPA and consumer action are both critical moves toward ending modern slavery in supply chains, we can take even stronger steps to lead the way. Brands can make a difference by getting clear on exactly what's happening at each step of their supply chains, implementing third-party vetting of workplace safety and wages in each of their factories, and sharing their progress toward transparency with consumers. By championing progress over perfection, brands can align with their customers' values in the process and help reduce forced labor.
The more brands take these types of actions, the closer they are to becoming industry-wide standards. And changes like these are in every brand's best interest—not only to avoid diluting the integrity of their brand, but also to pave the way for a world where no one is forced to work under duress. Clothing should be an industry of joy and self-expression. But when forced labor plays a part in its production, it becomes an industry of suffering. Let's all commit to raising the standard.
Jane Mosbacher Morris is the founder and CEO of TO THE MARKET, a technology platform powering the ethical supply chain. She is also the author of Buy the Change You Want to See (Penguin Random House, 2019). She previously worked in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Counterterrorism and Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Previous articleMan Allegedly Poisoned and 'Fed to Crocodiles' by Lover: 'Devastated'
Man Allegedly Poisoned and 'Fed to Crocodiles' by Lover: 'Devastated'
Gray Whale With Huge Shark Bite Washes Ashore in Oregon
First Mover Americas: Bitcoin's on a Tear, Up 30% in 2 Weeks
fewsus fewsus fewsus fewsus fewsus
Kylie Jenner Faces Backlash for Lion Dress: 'Animals Are Not Trophies'
kapolres - January 23, 2023 0
Businesswoman and socialite Kylie Jenner is under fire in some corners of the internet over a dress she wore to a fashion show...