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Ryan Lochte's Story Has Changed
Barry Petchesky
Two American swimmers were pulled off an airplane, their passports confiscated, and were held by Rio de Janeiro police for four hours, as everyone tries to get to the bottom of what in the hell is going on, and what happened early Sunday morning when four swimmers claimed they were robbed at gunpoint. We're reaching full-on scandal levels here, and meanwhile Ryan Lochte, (in this sense at least) the smartest of the four, got himself the heck out of Brazil days ago.
Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz (above) were removed from their plane last night and detained in the expectation that they would give police more details about the alleged robbery on Sunday. The two were definitely eager to leave—Bentz was at the airport at 4 p.m., according to a USA Today reporter who spoke to him by phone, more than five hours before his flight was scheduled to depart.
O Globo reports the pair were more than four hours in a police station at the airport, but did not talk with police. An attorney representing them criticized the seizing of their passports, which he said made it unclear whether they were being considered witnesses or suspects, and advised them not to answer any questions until their status was cleared up.
Police did not find a third swimmer, James Feigen, who was scheduled to be on the same flight as Conger and Bentz. In an interview with USA Today last night, Feigen said he was still in Rio and intends to cooperate with authorities.
Ryan Lochte, meanwhile, is back home—he got out of the country on Tuesday, before all this shit started to hit the fan. He spoke by phone to NBC's Matt Lauer yesterday, and in an odd, compelling bit of TV, Lauer described their conversation to Bob Costas on last night's Olympic broadcast.
Lauer said the medal-winning swimmer "softened" or "stepped back" elements of his story, including details of how his alleged attackers approached Lochte's taxi. Lochte initially said the robbers, posing as police, pulled the taxi over, but he told Lauer that the taxi had stopped at a gas station so the swimmers could use the bathroom. When they returned to the taxi and asked the driver to leave, Lochte said, the driver didn't respond, and the swimmers were subsequently accosted.
Lochte also told Lauer that the gun was "pointed in my direction," which differs from his original characterization of the gun being put to his head.
Lauer said Lochte insisted they were victims of a crime, strongly denied that the robbery story was a cover story for anything else, and blamed the trauma of the hold-up for any inconsistencies in his story.
It was those inconsistencies, along with a lack of specifics offered by the alleged victims, that led a judge to order the swimmers in for more questioning. (Lochte and Feigen had previously given their accounts to the FBI, the U.S. State Department, USOC security, and Rio tourist police—Conger and Bentz, as far as we know, haven't formally spoken to authorities.) The judge also cited surveillance video of the foursome arriving back at the Olympic village, in which she said they looked unconcerned and even joking around. The Daily Mail has obtained that video:
Open www.dailymail.co.uk
There is a lot going on here, and it's all very messy, and by this point everyone has their own suppositions—we're being emailed reports of the (entirely uninformed) rumors circulating around Rio, and they're exactly what you think they might be—but the important thing to remember is that we never would have heard a word about this if Ryan Lochte hadn't told his mother. Lochte said they didn't initially report the robbery "because we were afraid we'd get in trouble," and it was only after Lochte's mother talked to the media that the IOC, USOC, and police got involved. Ryan Lochte talked to his mom and started an international incident.
Update, 9:45 a.m.: This is all about to get even more interesting:


TWO YEARS ago I could barely paint my nails successfully. Since then, I've developed a bit of an addiction to it, progressing from simple dots to full on designs. I often get people asking how I do it, but I've never actually found it that hard!
To prove my point, I've written a guide for my latest design – a simple Valentine's theme of X's, O's and hearts. Here's the finished product, and below, a full walkthrough on how to make your nails ready for V Day!
Firstly, cut your nails (with a nail clipper – throw away those manky scissors, now! They'll only lead to hangnails!) into a nice shape – everyone has different shaped nails but you should know what suits you. I usually go for quite a circular tip but some people prefer squarer ones – it's really up to you!
Then, file the edges down. I hate filing more than anything, it puts my teeth on edge, but it just makes the tips of your fingernails *so* soft.
Next, it's time to start painting! I always (especially when I'm wearing darker or very vibrant colours) wear at least one coat of clear.
That's the clear coat done – wait for it to completely dry before doing anything else though. I usually do the clear coat before bed so it properly hardens before the morning.
When you've waited for that, it's time to start with the colour. Take your chosen red and paint it on. Don't worry about going over the edges too much, although if you've got a good brush on your varnish bottle it shouldn't be too hard. Only paint to ~1mm above your cuticle line, not right down!
Depending on how good the colour you've got is you made need a few coats. I've used two to achieve my look, but it's really a matter of personal taste.
If you do go over then invest in some of Superdrug's cotton buds – not the normal ear ones, but you can get pointed ones. They're a little more expensive but the BEST and getting rid of niggly areas.
Once you've done this, it's time to move onto the design. What you'll need here is a cocktail stick (an old pen also works, or if you're feeling fancy, a proper dotting tool – about £1 on eBay if you're interested).
The best way I've found to do small designs is by emptying a little bit of the nail varnish onto a Post-it note, and swirling the cocktail stick around in it. From that you've basically got a pen! Practice on the Post-it before actually putting it on your nails though, although it is relatively easy to wipe off if you do make a mistake.
The design I picked is alternating X, O and hearts, although you can pick any little characters you want. Draw them on in lines (starting with the little finger so it doesn't smudge).
I'm a big fan of accent nails, which I always do on the thumb and fourth finger – they're the ones with the full design on. The others I drew an imaginary line in my head and stopped the design there, so it looks like it's on half – although you can choose to do it any way like that. You can even have the design on all of them if you want!
The great thing about simple designs like this is that it's so easy to alternate between colours or anything, and means once you've done it once, you can KNOW that next time, it'll be easier, but you can change it enough that noone will notice!
Get painting and show them off!


How in blazes have we made it through October and into November already? Did all of you enjoy your extra hour of sleep Saturday night? I used it as an excuse to stay out later - oops.
Happy Halloween! Considering I thought we had agreed we were going to hide and not hand out candy this year, I thought the giant bowl of all my favorites M bought was rather cruel.
Happy palindrome day. The picture has nothing to do with that, but whatever. It's my blog.
My daughter competed in the conference prelims and finished 23/33 after 5 dives. She qualified for semifinals but bowed out since she wouldn't be able to compete in the finals on Saturday anyway because of a schedule conflict with marching band. I'm so proud of my girl for how hard she's worked this season.
We headed to the east side of the state to celebrate my friend Jen's birthday! An all vegan menu, tons of wine, and the company of good friends was exactly what I needed.
D and K's marching band competed in the state finals and got to march at Ford Field. They finished 10/12 at finals and 10/15th in the state for Flight 1 (the largest schools).
There you have it. The end to another busy week. Hopefully things will settle down a bit now that diving is finished and marching band is almost done. How was your week? Anything fun to report?


'Trap All Day' is a stunning collection of five Construction Kits including elements influenced by some of the top Dirty South/Trap artists and producers on the scene. Everything from drums and basses to pianos, synths and choirs are inc… Inspired by Mike Will, Metro Boomin, Sonny Digital, Drumma Boi, Rich Homie Quan, Drake, Rich Homie Quan, Young Thug and more, tempos range from 50 to 77 BPM and include all the separate drum tracks for perfect drum loop mixing. Individual drum hits and must-have elements are included allowing you to build a solid Dirty South track; pianos, synths, strings, FX, choirs, vocals…it's all here.


THE OTHER MEN IN BLACK Teaser (4 minutes) from Arbor Avenue Films on Vimeo.
The Other Men in Black: The Hasidic Movement, Past and Present (featuring Fyvush Finkel), the story of the Hasidic movement, is in post-production. The focus of The Other Men in Black is the Hasidic movement in Judaism, which originated in eighteenth-century Ukraine and Poland. It seemed an ideal starting point because it has had an enormous impact on Judaism, it is still very much alive, and has musical and storytelling traditions that are an excellent vehicle to showcase our multimedia format. Funding for "The Other Men in Black" has been generously provided by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Allene N. Gilman Charitable Trust.
The Jewish History Media Project (JHMP), an initiative of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at The Ohio State University, creates multi-media hybrid educational films about Jewish history for high-school, university, and adult learners. The Jewish History Media Project was created by Matt Goldish, director of the Melton Center at Ohio State, and Todd Delman, a recent recipient of the Master's in Fine Arts from Ohio State's Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) program. Matt and Todd were fortunate to have the support of ACCAD's director, Maria Palazzi, and the partnership of Phil Garrett, a film writer, director, and producer, who teaches at Columbus College of Art and Design. The goal of JHMP is to produce films that enliven the study of Jewish history by using inventive scripts, cutting-edge animation, and exciting historical re-creations. Each film is a half-hour in length and is intended to serve as a springboard for a curriculum that will be distributed to teachers after the film's initial run in local and national festivals.


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Q: How to save events in Android & get reminders of events but without showing events to other Calendar Apps? I have an app in which I am allowing the user to schedule future events and control volume settings during those times. So, I am allowing user to create events (with dates, times, and frequency).
I was thinking of using the Calendar API in Android but I do not want these "event times" to be visible to other calendar apps.

*

*Can I use the Calendar APi - to save event times & get notifications AND also hide it from other apps?

*Or Do I have to implement my own reminder functionality (like a Service already in the background which reads event info from my own sqllite db and changes volume settings accordingly)
Are there any other alternative approaches or libraries that can be of help there?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Pucking zombies! The horror/comedy "AHOCKALYPSE" is coming; trailer, poster, release info
Friday, July 27, 2018 | News
By MICHAEL GINGOLD
For decades, hockey masks have been associated with one particular horror icon, but now the undead are taking the ice in AHOCKALYPSE. It debuts next month; read on for the details, trailer and poster.
Sparrowhawk Pictures will release AHOCKALYPSE on VOD August 17. Written and directed by Wayne H. Johnson Jr., it stars Jesse Rennicke, Alex Galick, Squall Charlson, Kaylee Williams, Gabrielle Arrowsmith and Mason Hendricks, which special appearances by hockey legends Kelly Chase and Barry Melrose. The synopsis: "The Prairie Kings hockey team is about to battle for the championship and their lives—all in the same night! After the boys win the cup, their riotous celebration is interrupted when the Earth is suddenly overrun by a zombie Ahockalypse! Now, these lovable goons have to battle their way back to their home arena for a final showdown with the undead. Can hockey legend Barry Melrose help the guys escape with their lives—or is it sudden death for the Prairie Kings?!"
AHOCKALYPSE
Wayne H. Johnson Jr.
Michael Gingold
Michael Gingold (RUE MORGUE's Head Writer) has been covering the world of horror cinema for over three decades, and spent 28 years as a writer and editor for FANGORIA magazine and its website. In addition to RUE MORGUE, he currently writes for BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, SCREAM, IndieWire.com, TIME OUT, DELIRIUM and others. His book THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO MONSTER MOVIES (FAB Press) is out this fall, and he has contributed liner notes and featurettes to a number of Blu-ray and DVD releases. Among his screenplay credits are SHADOW: DEAD RIOT and LEECHES!, and he is currently working on THE DOLL with director Dante Tomaselli.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Lewis hamilton f1 car
What f1 car does Lewis Hamilton drive?
Does Lewis Hamilton own a f1 car?
Hamilton said the only road cars he currently drives are the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz EQC and Smart EQ ForTwo. Hamilton has also been involved in the development of the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar, which uses the actual engine from Mercedes' championship-winning F1 cars .
Is Lewis Hamilton leaving f1?
In essence, Hamilton is factually correct in what he said – there is no guarantee he will be in F1 in 2021. It is November, the current season concludes in a few weeks, and yet the 35-year-old is currently without a contract for next season and beyond. Negotiations have yet to commence.
How much does Lewis Hamilton's f1 car cost?
Lewis Hamilton's F1 car for the road: The £2.4MILLION Mercedes One undergoes final high-speed tests before the 217mph hypercar is unveiled later this year.
Why is there no Lamborghini in f1?
So, Lamborghini hasn't competed in Formula 1 in the past due to other priorities and I think it's fair to say that the financial investment involved and the reputational and financial risk to poor performance is too much for VW Group to absorb at the moment.
Do f1 drivers get free cars?
With the amount of money they're paid, F1 drivers –well, certainly, the successful ones–can get their hands on pretty much any road car they like, no matter how limited it may be. Some manufacturers even offer them cars for free as part of sponsorship deals. It's definitely alright for some.
Do f1 drivers wear diapers?
Apparently some drivers wear adult diapers , but most of them just let nature take its cause. According to lifestyle website Gizmodo F1 cars are equipped with a "drinks system" – a simple bag of fluid with a pump. The "drinks" button sits on the steering wheel, with the tube feeding the driver through the helmet.
You might be interested: Mclaren f1 gtr specs
Do f1 drivers listen to music?
Listening to music while racing in competition would be way to distracting. So in answer to the question, NO…they don't listen to Music while racing …
Which f1 drivers are confirmed for 2021?
Haas-Ferrari TBA Mick Schumacher
McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M Daniel Ricciardo
Mercedes TBA Valtteri Bottas
Has Lewis Hamilton signed for 2021?
Lewis Hamilton has admitted there is "no guarantee" he will remain in Formula 1 for 2021 despite his and Mercedes' prolonged success, as the six-time champion spoke in-depth about his own and team boss Toto Wolff's future.
Is Toto Wolff leaving Mercedes?
Toto Wolff will not stay in F1 after leaving Mercedes The Mercedes boss was already contemplating his future, and whether operating as just a team principal were his sole ambitions. But, he has somewhat moved to clear that when he does depart from Mercedes , he will not remain in the F1 paddock.
Why is f1 so expensive?
Behind all the sport's pioneering technological achievements, elements such as each cars' materials, each racing teams' crew and each Grand Prix's logistics all contribute immensely to making Formula 1 the most expensive sport.
You might be interested: F1 2015 game review
Are f1 cars street legal?
It's the result of a bet with Lola engineers: Could you make a road- legal F1 car ? The answer, with a few caveats, is yes. The biggest issue, as you'd imagine, was ride height. That's been increased to offer 1.9 inches of ground clearance, and is adjustable up to 2.9 inches.
How much does a f1 engine cost?
The average price of an F1 engine is $10.5 million which varies according to the features demanded by each individual racing team. Teams which are owned by constructors, Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault generally get some assistance with the cost of engines while other teams have to come completely out of pocket.
Whirlpool cabrio dryer f1 code
F1 tv schedule 2019 usa


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Tag: sam hodges
[podcast] Funding Circle's Sam Hodges on scaling growth by navigating globally
Online lending is enjoying its moment. New platforms are launching monthly and raising hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and equity in a race to redefine how we borrow and from whom. And it's not just a US phenomenon — it's happening globally.
Sam Hodges, Funding Circle
Starting 5 years ago, Funding Circle was an early player in this marketplace lending space and has emerged as a leader servicing SMBs. The firm is originating $100 million in SMB loans every month and since inception has lent $1.7 billion to 12,000 businesses. The company was quick to expand internationally — with strong footholds in Western Europe and the US. The company is exclusively focused on providing finance to small business owners worldwide. Institutional lenders are looking to deploy capital across markets and Funding Circle is enjoying scale advantages from this exposure.
Sam Hodges, the co-founder of Funding Circle USA, joins us on the Tradestreaming Podcast to discuss the challenges he and his company successfully navigated in growing the business globally and how he's planning to continue growing out into the next year.
Listen to the FULL episode
What you'll hear on this podcast:
How Funding Circle is leveraging its sole focus on lending to SMBs
The challenges of taking a fintech company global early on and why, for Funding Circle, it makes all the difference
How Sam and the rest of the Funding Circle team overcame these challenges
How institutional lenders turn to firms like Funding Circle to help deploy capital across markets
How Funding Circle prioritizes entering new markets and how the company sizes up these opportunities
THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR
This week's episode of the Tradestreaming Podcast was sponsored by Collective2 — automated trading for humans.
Choose one of the thousands of automated trading strategies at Collective2, and trade it in your brokerage account.
To learn more, go to www.collective2.com/tradestreaming and as a Tradestreaming listener, you will get $55 off the first strategy you publish to Collective2.
Funding Circle (website)
Photo credit: ShashiBellamkonda via Visualhunt / CC BY
Funding Circle's Sam Hodges explains how tech gives SMBs access to much-needed cash
Funding Circle is a leader in a pack of new financial companies bringing increased scale and online convenience to the world of SMB lending. While traditional banks have shied away from expanding their credit operations, companies like Funding Circle have filled in the gaps, working closely with SMB borrowers to provide them needed credit, quickly and efficiently. Funding Circle has shown its intention to grow globally.
Tradestreaming sat down with Sam Hodges, co-founder of Funding Circle, USA, to get caught up on the company's progress in light of a recent acquisition it made in Germany.
Why did you found Funding Circle?
Over the past few decades, banks have largely pulled out of small business lending due to tighter regulations and archaic credit models and technology that make it difficult for them to profitably underwrite small business loans. This has left millions of small business owners without access to the financing they need to grow – something I actually I experienced first-hand.
Sam Hodges, Funding Circle USA
Along with a few business partners, I owned a successful network of fitness businesses – but getting access to capital was a horrible experience. We had a great financial profile, strong personal guarantors, extensive experience and a profitable business. Yet, we could not secure a loan to purchase new equipment to expand. We talked to almost one hundred different lenders and were either turned down or offered terms that simply didn't make sense. The irony was, when my co-founder and I were working on Wall Street, we saw bankers lining up around the corner to give out $100 million loans for higher-risk businesses. That's when we realized the traditional banking system was broken, and we set out to build a better solution.
Why is Funding Circle better than current solutions? How do you think your firm differentiates itself from the numerous competitors popping up?
The traditional banking system is broken and restricted by legacy issues, and many online lenders are either expensive or incredibly transactional, relying solely on computers to make credit decisions. At Funding Circle, we think small businesses deserve better.
We are the world's leading global marketplace for small business loans and have been built from the ground up to help small businesses secure the funding they need to grow. Using technology to cut out the middlemen who take advantage of information asymmetry, we connect supply directly with demand for a fraction of the cost.
Unlike other lenders, we take a customer-first approach to create an experience that is fast, simple and very transparent. We also believe businesses are more than their credit score, which is why we layer human underwriters with our innovative technology and proprietary data analytics to look at the full picture and better assess the creditworthiness of a loan. It takes just 10 minutes to apply for a loan, and businesses can get affording financing in less than 10 days.
Can you give us a feel for the progress you've made in the business over the past couple of years (quantify it)?
Our business, along with the marketplace lending industry, has experienced tremendous growth over the past couple of years. Since 2010, we've helped more than 12,000 small businesses across the world access $1.6 billion in financing to help them grow, hire more people and ultimately stimulate the economy. Globally, we're currently originating ~$100 million per month, and have 43,000 individual and institutional investors active on the marketplace.
One thing I'm particularly excited about is a groundbreaking deal we announced a few weeks ago to help millions of businesses across Europe sidestep the outdated banking system and borrower directly from investors, too. Last month, we joined forces with Zencap (now operating as Funding Circle) – continental Europe's leading marketplace for business loans – to create the first truly global marketplace lending platform. We now operate in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, alongside our existing operations in the UK and US. The market opportunity across continental Europe is larger than both the UK and US markets combined, with more than €1 trillion of outstanding loans for small businesses.
On the partnerships side, last year in the UK we became the first marketplace to announce a formal referral partnership with Santander and have since announced a similar partnership with RBS. In the US, we're in active talks with a wide range of banks and other lenders about how we can work together and are looking forward to announcing something soon.
Since launch, we have raised $273m in equity capital from the same investors that backed Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb and Wealthfront. And as of today, Funding Circle now has nearly 500 employees across the UK, the US and Continental Europe.
You just acquired Zencap which provides a foothold for further access into Europe. How do you think about international expansion?
Our vision for Funding Circle is as a global lending exchange, where business from all over the world come to find finance from an army of investors, big and small. Small businesses are underserved in most of parts of the world, and we believe our marketplace model can help millions of businesses and investors to get a better deal. At the moment, we are focusing all of our energy on building a successful business here in the UK, USA and Europe.
Who's a typical borrower for Funding Cirlce? How about a typical investor?
Walk down Main Street in any American town, and you'll see examples of our borrowers. They are restaurateurs, gas stations, medical clinics, construction firms and IT consultants. These are established businesses that have assets and cash flow to secure loans, and a legitimate plan for growth. More specifically, our borrowers have typically been in business for around ten years, have annual revenue of $2 million and employ about 10 people. On average, small businesses borrow $130,000 for 36 months and use their loan for expansion and growth.
On the investor side, we've seen really strong appetite for our loans from a wide range of investors of all shapes and sizes. In the US, our investors range from individual accredited investors and family offices to large global asset managers like Victory Park Capital and KLS. Looking forward, we'll continue to see an evolution and diversification in our investor base as we look to continue to bring down our cost of capital to offer even better rates and products for our borrowers.
What are Funding Circle's challenges in the near future? What are the industry's challenges?
Education and awareness remains a key focus for our industry. The most powerful marketplaces bring together the largest number and diversity of participants across a breadth of products and geographies. Our goal is to be the leading global marketplace for the full gamut of small business loan products worldwide. As a company and an industry, though, we still have a way to go in terms of raising awareness that there are other forms of financing out there that are fast, affordable and transparent alternatives to bank loans and MCAs.
We took a big step in this direction when, this summer in Washington DC, we partnered with other industry leaders to unveiled the first-ever gold standard for responsible business lending in America. As part of the initiative, we launched a national campaign to help educate small business owners about their rights as a borrower and how to find and compare different financing options.
Over the next few years at Funding Circle, we will continue to spread the word about the benefits marketplace lending and invest heavily in technology and talent to help us continue to build a transparent, sustainable and diverse marketplace.


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Home/Meghan Markle/The Queen's very strict rule for her grandchildren revealed – and you won't believe it
The Queen's very strict rule for her grandchildren revealed – and you won't believe it
It is no secret that the Queen was referred to as "the boss" within the confines of Buckingham Palace, and it has now been revealed that Her Late Majesty had a very strict policy regarding her grandchildren's use of mobile phones.
The royal confidant told the MailOnline, quoting from his upcoming book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait by Gyles Brandreth, which is scheduled for publication in December, that the Queen not only had her own mobile phone but also never, ever permitted the younger royals to use them at the dinner table.
The Queen had such a lovely relationship with her grandchildren
He explained in the piece: "She had her own smartphone and willing grandchildren who were willing to show her how to use it. She was able to understand texting, but she felt rather outmatched by apps. She also strictly prohibited her grandchildren from bringing "devices" to the dinner table."
The late Queen was renowned for having a very special relationship with her grandchildren despite her strict rules when they were present. In one particularly touching moment in 2006, she caused Prince William to lose his composure while standing at the Sovereign's Parade at The Royal Military Academy in Camberley.
A number of recently discovered pictures show the Prince of Wales grinning slightly as the Queen passes by him.
Prince William couldn't contain himself
William's emotion stood out even more because the other cadets had stern expressions of composure. We are curious as to what Her Majesty, who is renowned for her wonderful sense of humor, said to cause William to smile.
The monarch was grinning as well, so it was obvious that she knew exactly what she was doing. At that time, William was 34 years old and participated in the parade with 227 other cadets while donning a black uniform and red sash.
See also Prince Harry seen in black suit as he arrives at Balmoral without Meghan Markle - see photo
Princess Kate, who is now his wife, sat in the audience to watch William graduate.
Previous Meghan Markle looks so different in new photo ahead of family celebration
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JD.com Growing into a Formidable Fashion Force
Updated On November 24, 2020 by Editorial Staff
China offers the largest market in the world. As the country with the highest population, the consumption rate is very high. Many global companies are targeting this market as one that can bring substantial short-term gains. China already has well-established businesses in offline and online fields. E-commerce businesses control fifteen percent of retail business in the country, and JD.com currently is the largest retailer in China. With a market value of about 60 billion, it is also the fourth largest business in the country. The company is under the leadership of Mr. Richard Liu, the founder and CEO. He created this company in 2004 after realizing that e-commerce offered better chances of growth as compared to a brick-and-mortar business.
Today, JD has the largest portfolio of products in the world, competing with the likes of Walmart. Through various initiatives coming from this company, the Chinese market has earned a reputation as a source of legit and high-quality products. In the past, this market has been associated with low-quality and counterfeit items. Mr. Liu joined the e-commerce business with the aim of correcting the mistakes that other players were making. After years of consistent improvements, JD is now supplying products not only in China but in the whole world. It is now possible to buy a product in China and have it delivered in New York within 10 to 15 days.
At the recent world economic forum meeting, Richard Liu held an interview where he gave detailed information about his company. He said that the name JD.com came after taking his name and that of his then-girlfriend. He added that the idea to migrate to the e-commerce platform came after and the SARS outbreak that hit China in 2003. Many small businesses were forced to close down as customers and employees were house-bound. This tragedy made Richard Liu think of diversifying into online business where he would be able to continue running business operations despite such challenges.
Over the years, JingDong has added as many products to its portfolio as possible. Today they almost any product found on the Chinese market. In order to give customers the best shopping experience, they have created an easy to use mobile and web platforms where everyone can make an order. After that, they have invested in advanced logistics channels that allow customers to receive products within 24 hours. In Beijing, the delivery time is as short as three hours. Already, they are using autonomous robots that can avoid traffic jams to deliver items in the city. For remote parts of China, they are deploying drones.
In 2017, JingDong appointed Xia Ding as the president of international fashion. Her appointment came after running a successful 20 years career in the fashion industry. She began work at Hanesbrands Inc. and was responsible for the introduction of Hanes and Champion brands in China. She later worked Nielsen, a market research firm, before landing at JD. In the past two years, she has initiated plans are that have seen the fashion department become one of the highest revenue sources at JingDong. The company has invested $400 million in Farfetch, an online fashion market, as well as supporting the development of Toplife, a digital platform that allows high-end brands to open stores in China.
JD has opened up China to the global luxury fashion brands, therefore giving customers in China an option to explore a wide variety of top luxury brands. For instance, by giving Farfetch a level 1 entry into it JD.com's app, over 300 million JD customers can access dozens of globally recognized luxury brands. With fashion being among the fastest growing sectors in the world, JingDong is ready to tap into this market.
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Berberana Gran Tradicion Cava Brut is clear and pale lemon in color.
The nose is clean with medium intensity aromas. Aromas consist of apple, lemon and blossom in the primary notes and pastry on the secondary. I would consider this wine youthful.
The palate is dry with medium acidity and body. This wine has a creamy mousse and medium intensity flavor profile. The profile consists of lemon and lime juice, apple, blossom and a bread similar to that of toasted brioche. This wine had a medium length finish.
I thought this Berberana Gran Tradicion Cava Brut had balance and some complexity which makes it a good wine. The length and intensity could have been longer and stronger, but the drinking experience was pleasant. This wine is for drinking now – not suitable for aging.
Simple lime and salinic aromas are clean and fresh. The palate is juicy and tight with lime, apple, and dry spice flavors. Finishes balanced and citrusy, with proper length and mouthfeel.


Magic Bullet Colorista IV brings gorgeous color grading to your favorite editors, and moves between them with consistent, natural-looking results. Its three stages of correction -Primary, Secondary, Master- use a color engine that's similar to big-budget systems. Magic Bullet Colorista IV has 3-Way Wheels for true Lift/Gamma/Gain; an incredible Keyer for precision editing; real-time preview; and Power Masks for perfect finishing. The interface is easy to use, and equally good for quick deadlines or finessing your footage without limitations. Whether you are a color expert or an aspiring colorist, Magic Bullet Colorista IV gives you high quality grading at an entry-level price.
Magic Bullet Colorista IV runs on your graphics card's GPU - giving you the color grading power you've come to expect in Magic Bullet Colorista - but much faster. With OpenCL and Cuda support, Colorista works with the Mercury Playback engine in Premiere Pro, giving you real time, interactive color correction, even during video playback.
The new Colorista Panel Premiere Pro and After Effects can compliment any workspace and workflow. As a panel, Colorista is always available to adjust a clip on your timeline without the need to manually apply an effect to every clip. Colorista can also dynamically scale/reorganize UI elements to fit your needs, whether that be a second monitor or a slimmed down column in your workspace.
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text:
Ilkeston FC boss Kevin Wilson revels in promotion glory
Manager Kevin Wilson says Ilkeston FC have already started to create their own history after winning promotion to the Northern League Premier Division.
The Robins, re-formed in 2010 after the demise of Ilkeston Town, beat Leek Town 2-0 in the Division One play-off finalexternal-link at the New Manor Ground on Saturday.
"It's fantastic," Wilson told BBC Radio Derby. "There's a little bit of history here now. Ilkeston FC are in the books.
"Ilkeston Town are part of the past now really and the future is now born."
Ilkeston were on top throughout but had to wait until the second half to go ahead when Matt Richards and Daryll Thomas found the target.
"We huffed and puffed in the first half but the quality came through in the second half with two great goals," Wilson added.
"Everybody this season has have been different class. I've managed in the Football League and got promotion but, this is little Ilkeston.
"The fans have been brilliant all the way through and I am just delighted. We have got our rewards. This club has got a good future and we are a year ahead of out time.
"People looking at it may think we might consolidate next season, but this group of players are good enough to do well in the Premier."
Premier League: Unfortunate own goal restores Saints lead over Brentford
Watch: Masters Snooker - Selby and Maguire level after four; O'Sullivan outclasses Lisowski to advance to quarter-finals
EFL: Reading 0-1 Fulham - Wilson gives Championship promotion-chasers lead, plus League One & Two updates


text:
Pelosi says she won't withhold impeachment articles "indefinitely"
By Grace Segers
Updated on: January 9, 2020 / 11:42 AM / CBS News
Pelosi to send impeachment articles "soon"
Washington — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she's not withholding articles of impeachment from the Senate "indefinitely" and will probably send them over "soon," responding to mounting pressure to allow the Senate to open proceedings in President Trump's impeachment trial.
"You will keep asking me the same question, I will keep giving you the same answer," Pelosi said in her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning. "As I said right from the start, we need to see the arena in which we are sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?"
Pelosi has previously said the House will not deliver the articles to the Senate until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell publishes a resolution laying out the rules for the trial.
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"I'm not holding them indefinitely. I will send them over when I'm ready and that will probably be soon," she added.
Pelosi also countered the Republican argument that Democrats are afraid to send the articles to the upper chamber.
"We are ready. We are proud of our defense of the Constitution of the United States," Pelosi said, adding that the House was "concerned" senators would not honor the oath they take to conduct an impartial impeachment trial.
She cited new evidence that has emerged as the House and the Senate have been locked in this "impasse," such as emails from Pentagon officials expressing concern about withholding military aid from Ukraine. The speaker indicated it was more important to move strategically than quickly.
"I think we should move smartly and strategically," Pelosi added. "I'm not responsible to Mitch McConnell, or anybody else, except my members."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks on Capitol Hill on Thursday, January 9, 2020. J. Scott Applewhite / AP
For his part, McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday that the upper chamber would move on to its legislative agenda if Pelosi continues to withhold the articles.
"The House Majority can create this temporary cloud over a commander in chief if they choose — if they choose — but they do not get to keep the cloud in place forever," he said.
McConnell announced Tuesday that Republicans have the votes to pass the organizing resolution determining the rules of the trial, which would mirror the procedures used in the Clinton impeachment trial. The resolution would allow for opening statements from House prosecutors and the president's defense team before the Senate votes on whether to call witnesses or consider new evidence. Democrats have pushed for an agreement on witnesses and evidence before a trial gets underway.
A growing number of fellow Democrats have said in recent days that the time to proceed with the trial has come, including Representative Adam Smith, chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee. Smith told CNN on Thursday that he believes "it is time to send impeachment to the Senate and let Mitch McConnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial. He ultimately is."
Asked to respond to Smith's comments before her press conference on Thursday, Pelosi said she is "a big fan of his" and is not concerned about losing the support of members of the Democratic caucus.
Smith quickly tried to walk back his comments, tweeting that he "misspoke" and believes "we should do everything we can to force the Senate to have a fair trial."
Pelosi also discussed a vote set for later in the day on a resolution to limit Mr. Trump's authority to strike Iran under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, as Democrats attempt to reassert Congress' constitutional authority to declare war amid a tense standoff.
Pelosi unveiled the resolution on Wednesday, saying it would be sent to the House floor for a vote on Thursday. The resolution is sponsored by Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, a freshman Democrat and former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense.
The speaker said Thursday that the concurrent resolution has "real teeth," dispute legal questions about the validity of the move.
"This is a statement by the Congress of the United States and I will not have that statement diminished" by a veto, Pelosi said. She also condemned the administration for not notifying Congress before a strike on Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani last week.
"We must avoid war. And the cavalier attitude of this administration is stunning," she said.
First published on January 9, 2020 / 9:49 AM
Grace Segers
Grace Segers is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital.


text:
All Of The Following Are Uses Of A Thesis Statement Except:
I would like to summarize that framework, quoting from his world renowned research paper, which is considered a mainstream thesis. the sole ground that the later is following a different religion.
Jul 16, 2018. The thesis proposal is an outline of the research work you plan to do in your thesis or. Note that the writing of the thesis proposal does not follow the actual. in all aspects of the thesis proposal except the thesis statement itself, which. Use more than one spellchecker; Remember, your future depends on.
A thesis based on. Note that any key metrics used for the discounted cash flow occur in black and bold writing, the financials presented are trailing twelve-month figures from Q1 2018, and all.
For more information about non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA, and a reconciliation of non-GAAP net income to net loss, and adjusted EBITDA to net loss, see the sections of this press release.
We believe the junior mining space offers a rare opportunity as a contrarian investment thesis. International Copyright laws. All rights reserved. No license is granted to the user except for the.
Following the first version of this document prepared by the author in 1987, All share three common factors — an Introduction, Body and Conclusion. of formulating a clear thesis statement and adequate development of that thesis in the. just as the Primary Support Paragraph except that the Topic Sentence is built upon.
(Brigham and Women's Hospital also issued the following statement. to use Rosenbaum's disturbed ideology) to an avoidable medical practice for the sake of "majority benefit", of "convenience",
Following. storage of all packages has been cut down to 250-500GB from unlimited cloud space, making the offering even less attractive when compared to alternatives. On the flip side, Carbonite is.
Research Hypothesis Example In Thesis Altogether 150 water samples were collected and flow rate of each sample was taken. The collected samples. research was compared with the hypothesis set. The most definitive rebuke by the government of the endocrine disruptor hypothesis. Research will be releasing a slew of state-of-the-art oral ingestion studies over the next 18 months testing, yet. A hypothesis has classical
The only problem was that I could barely find enough information in all the available books to fill it. Intrigued, I made this the subject of my thesis with which to. in Detroit was on life support.
All tables. be used to invest in omnichannel strategies or to be held in the Treasury for the difficult days to come. Keep in mind that cash flow from operations already reflect interest expense as.
Mar 15, 2017. Here are some of the thesis statement examples to help you make. who can use it because it will be easy to manipulate people's minds, Multiple cases show that all the diets have a short-term effect on the body. There is nothing good about getting married at a young age except for it being romantic.
I would like to state a few things that all investors should know. I'll model what the income statement will look like in 2022, assuming the following: • On the Q3 2019 earnings call.
A statement of the goal of the paper: why the study was undertaken, or why the paper. All cited work should be directly relevent to the goals of the thesis. The methods section should answering the following questions and caveats:. Alternatively, this goal can be accomplished by careful use of phrases such as "I infer.
The white economic anxiety thesis is. disagreed with the following statement: "Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve." The other half of the sample was provided with.
A Comparative Ethnography Of Alternative Spaces May 10, 2011 · Read "Institutional change at the frontlines A comparative ethnography of divergent responses to institutional demands, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal" on DeepDyve, the largest online rental service for scholarly research with thousands of academic publications available at your fingertips. Consequently, it is necessary to consider alternative methods that would allow. of
Salary Of Professor In California like a politician who [answers] a different question," said Linda Babcock, an economics professor at Carnegie. A few. In general, UC professors earn more than the CSU, but a UC professor colleague told me just. by the economic crisis we have been facing in California. Then when the economy improved, we have salary. Tenure In Higher Education The
Lectures On Urban Economics Brueckner Solutions Salary Of Professor In California like a politician who [answers] a different question," said Linda Babcock, an economics professor at Carnegie. A few. In general, UC professors earn more than the CSU, but a UC professor colleague told me just. by the economic crisis we have been facing in California. Then when the economy improved, we have salary.
Your laptop is an "uber-computer", as it were, and therefore, arguably deserves the title "computer" much more than any other object in your house (except maybe you). What does all this business.
A well-focused thesis statement, key to organizing an essay, contains two elements: a. Use a precise topic rather than a generalized topic when writing a thesis. A thesis should have the following characteristics:. 2017 all rights reserved.
It is my opinion that there are substantial weaknesses in Spruce Point's August 19th short thesis. The following is my critique of the many negative points Spruce Point made about CSTE. Spruce.
Though more advanced academic papers are a category all their own, the basic. Before you even get to this thesis statement, for example, the essay should begin. is an introductory paragraph to an essay in response to the following question:. use your strongest argument or most significant example unless some other.
Choose from classroom, online, self-paced, or accelerated courses – all. The first step in writing an effective thesis statement involves the focusing, Avoid the dictionary definition (I'll explain why when we discuss definitions-unless someone asks. Use the first paragraph to direct your essay, but do not crowd too many.
Comparisons of important ratios, like P/E and short interest, a thorough analysis of the financial statements. it is better to use ETFs and mutual funds to obtain diversification. The investment.
and for all three of them walking is a central tactic, used in really different ways. Walking is actually central to so much of what those three groups did even though it almost never gets pointed out.
Finally, the introductory paragraph presents the writer's thesis statement. Use this kind of introduction when you know there are things that the reader needs. In this case, the story represents all similar situations which could happen to anyone. work or works you are writing about; then follow with your Thesis Statement.
The following is the script for. edit vs our mutual final draft But most of all throughout this process, I'm a sounding board. Tony and I often build a thesis by arguing the points with each other.
Hiv Curricula In South Africa Aug 30, 2019 (Data Bridge Market Research via COMTEX) — A new business intelligence report released by Data Bridge Market Research with title Global HIV. Europe], South America [Brazil, Argentina, Deputy president David Mabuza says South Africa remains confronted by the challenges of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) epidemics. Deputy President David Mabuza says South Africa is not doing
thesis statement without too much of an abrupt. Read the following introduction and decide where the hook ends, where the writer. Use a quotation or surprising fact. However, we all became very sad when we found out thatthe lights.
Our articles of association contain the following statements: "Any acquisition of the company's A, B or D Shares shall require a prior consent of the board except. all the C and D shares have been.
Thesis. energy & transportation industry use Caterpillar products to transport and power resource and construction industry activities, and the financial products segment allows customers to fund.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Majorca floods
Arta still waiting for aid and report into floods
There is concern about insurance payouts for cars. | Archive
Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterArta13/12/2018 18:29
FTWM
Arta councillor Bartomeu Gili, whose father Rafel died as a result of the floods on 9 October, says that there is a complete lack of movement by Madrid in providing aid. "We don't know anything and we don't expect anything."
By contrast, he is full of praise for assistance that has been forthcoming from the regional government. He has welcomed the willingness of senior politicians to deal with issues that go beyond the mere nature of the disaster and points to psychological factors having been taken into account in determining aid as well as physical ones.
Gili explains that there is still a concern about insurance payments. There haven't yet been assessments related to cars. He believes that the courts may have to get involved in various cases. He also says that there has been no news about the report into what happened on 9 October, and the activation of the regional government's Inunbal flood emergency plan in particular. He stresses that "we will not waver until everything is made clear and is made public, be it good or bad, so that this cannot happen again".
Mallorca snow. You haven't seen anything yet!
More Brexit complications for British tourists
Get the Mallorca Beach App!
Saturday night shiver in Mallorca, massive dump of snow
The deep freeze in Mallorca, island placed on red alert for cold


text:
Joshua Eisenthal
Philosophy of Physics
Early Analytic
Teaching Home
Sample Syllabi
Teaching Evaluations
"A Logical Obscurity" (in preparation; draft available on request)
In this paper, I argue that the picture of the world provided by classical mechanics may not be as cohesive as it appears. In particular, I argue that the traditional formulation of mechanics appeals to at least two distinct notions of force which are not obviously compatible with one another. I claim that, as a result of this tension, Newton's action-reaction principle is not applied in a uniform way to bodies in direct contact (such as the parts of a rigid mechanism) and to bodies acting on each other at a distance (such as celestial objects moving under the influence of gravity). According to standard interpretations of classical mechanics, Newton's laws are intended to be universal and exceptionless, applying equally well to molecules, chairs, and galaxies. However, I argue that the subtle ambiguity underlying Newton's action-reaction principle challenges the cogency of this standard interpretation, and that the apparent universality of classical mechanics depends, in part, on the tacit unification of a diverse range of problem-solving strategies.
"A Raum with a View" (revise and resubmit; co-authored with Neil Dewar—draft available here)
In this paper, we argue that Hermann Weyl's analysis of the conception of physical geometry implicit in Einstein's theory of general relativity offers a novel insight into how geometry represents the world. Following the rapid proliferation of geometries in the nineteenth century, consensus developed around the idea that only constant curvature geometries were candidate physical geometries. However, this idea was unequivocally undermined by the use of a variable curvature geometry in general relativity. Indeed, in the wake of general relativity there is no generally accepted account of which geometrical objects represent spatio-temporal structure: although some argue that spacetime is best represented by a bare topological manifold, others argue that such a manifold must be equipped with a metric—a means of determining distances and angles—in order to represent spacetime. We argue that Weyl's work reveals a level of geometrical structure intermediate between the manifold and the metric, and that there are good reasons to regard this intermediate structure as the mathematical representation of spacetime in general relativity.


Ragdolls are large, laid-back, longhaired cats with captivating, widely-set, oval-to-slanted sapphire blue eyes. They have wedge-shaped heads with flat top skulls, well-developed chubby cheeks and rounded muzzles. Their noses are short and have a slight dip, or a stop, at the level of the eyes. Ragdolls have long, muscular bodies, broad chests, thick short necks, heavy legs, big round paws and stocky hindquarters. They also have especially bushy, soft tails. Males typically average from 15 to 20 pounds in weight, with females being somewhat smaller at maturity. In overall appearance, the Ragdoll is a well-balanced, beautiful cat with no one extreme or remarkably distinguishing physical attribute.
Ragdolls are a pointed breed that comes in a variety of colors and three distinct patterns. Ragdolls come in several color varieties: Seal, Blue, Chocolate, Lilac and, in some registries, Red and Cream. Pointed varieties can show lynx, tortie or torbie (lynx and tortie) patterning.
The Color Pointed variety is marked like the Siamese, with an ivory to beige body coat, especially on the belly and chest, and darker points about the ears, face, back, legs and tail. It has no discernible white anywhere on its body. The Mitted Ragdoll has color-pointed features together with distinct white "mittens" on its front paws. The front mittens are strongly preferred to be well-matched in size and shape and should not extend higher than the angle of the paw (or the "ankle break"). The white "boots" on the hind legs, called gauntlets, should continue all the way up to the level of the hocks. The Mitted Ragdoll's entire underbody is white, from tip to tail. This variety carries the dominant white spotting gene. The Mitted comes in all the base colors of the Color Pointed Ragdoll.
The third pattern, called the Bi-color, has white feet, legs, underbelly and lower neck, and a distinctive triangular white patch (or an inverted white "V") on the front of its face. Bi-colors can also have a limited amount of white splashed on the upper darker parts of its body, although the lower white should not extend highly into the darker pointed upper areas. The upside down white "V", which resembles a blaze, is an important feature of the Bi-color Ragdoll.
The Ragdoll's long coat is plush, silky and dense, with no undercoat. This makes it less prone to shedding and matting than many other semi-longhaired and longhaired breeds, although it certainly can shed during the warmer months. The fur around its neck and chest is longer than that on the rest of the body, giving it the impression of wearing a baby's bib. Ragdolls require regular grooming to maintain their delightfully fluffy appearance.
The Ragdoll is a docile, gentle, unusually relaxed animal with a decidedly even disposition. When socialized correctly from birth, they will be friendly and endearing members of the family. Ragdolls can be welcoming to strangers and love being held and snuggled by people of all ages. This breed tends to prefer the company of people more so than that of other pets. They normally are a good pet for young children, as they tolerate and appreciate affection and attention and typically can withstand a child's exploration and potentially unexpected behaviors. Nonetheless, Ragdolls generally prefer calm, rather than rowdy, living environments and are happiest housed entirely indoors. They are great companions for a modern, busy household.
As a breed, the Ragdoll is not an especially active animal. They tend to prefer being on the floor rather than jumping or leaping to high places. Still, these are playful cats that love attention.
In the early days of the Ragdoll breed, it earned the far-fetched reputation of being genetically insensitive to pain. The first Ragdoll kittens supposedly inherited this resistance to painful stimuli from their white longhaired mother, Josephine, who successfully gave birth to that litter despite being severely injured in an automobile accident. We now know that Ragdolls are not insensitive to pain. They do, however, have an unusual ability to become extremely relaxed, especially when being stroked lovingly or held by their owners or by others. Ragdolls are known for becoming "limp as a ragdoll" when they are picked up, which is the basis for the name of the breed. The Ragdoll's specialized temperament is probably due to the fact that the breed developed primarily or only from prearranged matings of cats with especially loving dispositions.
Ragdolls often run to greet their owners at the front door and have been known to learn to play fetch and come when called. They are gentle creatures and typically play without extending their claws.
Ragdolls - which are sometimes referred to as Cherubims or Ragamuffins - were developed by Ann Baker, a cat fancier who lived in Riverside, California. All purebred Ragdolls in any cat registry descend from Ms. Baker's cats. According to reputable reports, in the early 1960s Ann Baker took in a domestic longhaired white female that she found running loose in her neighborhood. She named that cat "Josephine." Josephine mated with another free-roaming cat that Ms. Baker found or already owned. Unfortunately, Josephine apparently was involved in a serious automobile accident and was left with permanent injuries during her pregnancy. Nonetheless, and remarkably, she successfully delivered her litter of kittens, despite her disabilities.
Josephine's kittens had unusually placid temperaments and would become totally relax when picked up or petted. Starting in 1963, Ms. Baker selectively bred those kittens with other exclusively free-roaming or non-pedigreed cats that she owned or found and that had the look and temperament she wanted for her breeding program. Most authorities suspect that Burmese and Birman bloodlines played a roll in the Ragdoll's development somewhere along the line. Over years of selective breeding, Ms. Baker created and standardized the Ragdoll for its desirable traits, including large size, gentleness, luxurious coat and a unique tendency to go "limp as a ragdoll" when stroked or held.
The Ragdoll was granted recognition in the United States by the National Cat Fanciers' Association in 1965, and later gained approval by other national and international purebred cat registries. Great Britain recognized the breed in 1983, two years after it first arrived there. Today's Ragdoll is popular world-wide. Although still not particularly common, this is a unique American addition to the cat show fancy.
The Ragdoll is a slow-growing cat that can take 3 or 4 years to reach full maturity, size and coloration. It is predisposed to developing a cardiovascular condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), which is most prevalent in middle-aged and older males.
The saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Check out the many different Ragdoll Cat Breed Pictures and Ragdoll Cat Breed images. Get an in depth look at the Ragdoll Cat Breed and see the many things that this breed has to offer.


text:
Putin says U.S. wants to push gender "perversions" on Russian schoolchildren
TinyMart is sharing this content, the original was posted on lgbtqnation.com by  Daniel Villarreal Sunday, October 9, 2022, So please click here to go there
It's not surprising that Putin opposes gay marriage and transgender rights. What's surprising is how many Republicans in the U.S. agree with him.
By Daniel Villarreal Sunday, October 9, 2022
Russian President Vladimir PutinPhoto: Shutterstock
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed anti-LGBTQ views in his speech following the annexation of four Eastern Ukrainian regions into Russian territory.
Putin delivered the speech last Friday in Moscow after Ukrainians in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia voted to join Russia. The four territories held elections overseen by Russian military troops and pro-Russian separatists. The U.S. has since called the elections a fraudulent "sham" meant to justify Russia's taking of Ukrainian land.
In his speech, Putin criticized the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Western alliance seeking to limit Russia's military expansion.
"[Western countries] spit on the natural right of billions of people, most of humanity, to freedom and justice, to determine their own future on their own. Now they have completely moved to a radical denial of moral norms, religion, and family," Putin said.
He then addressed "all the citizens of Russia," asking, "Do we want to have, here, in our country, in Russia, parent number one, number two, number three instead of mom and dad? Have they gone mad out there? Do we really want perversions that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed on children in our schools from the primary grades? To be drummed into them that there are various supposed genders besides women and men, and to be offered a sex change operation? Do we want all this for our country and our children? For us, all this is unacceptable, we have a different future, our own future?"
It's not surprising that Putin would make statements against same-sex marriage and transgender identity. He is renowned amongst global human-rights groups for his anti-LGBTQ policies.
What's surprising is how many Republicans and right-wingers in the United States agree with him.
Under the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Republicans have cited gay marriage as a threat to families, religion, and social order. Republicans have tried to ban any acknowledgment of LGBTQ identities from schools and have falsely claimed that LGBTQ people and allies are forcing "sex change operations" on transgender youth. In reality, such operations aren't conducted on children.
In February, Steve Bannon, former advisor to Trump, said U.S. citizens should support "anti-woke" Putin because of Putin's long history of anti-LGBTQ politics.
Bannon and his podcast guest, private military contractor Erik Prince, said Russian people "still know which bathroom to use," know that there are only two genders, they don't fly Pride flags and "they don't have boys swimming in girls' college swim meets," an apparent reference to trans female swimming champion Lia Thomas.
In June 2013, Putin signed a law banning so-called "gay propaganda" in Russia. The law ostensibly seeks to "protect children" from any "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships," according to the law's text.
The law has mostly been used to silence LGBTQ activist organizations, events, websites and media, as well as to break up families and harass teachers. The law has been roundly condemned by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the human-rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as civil rights activists around the world.
Putin has also largely ignored an ongoing and years-long crackdown against LGBTQ people living in the semi-autonomous Russian region of Chechnya.
In the crackdown, which began in December 2016, police and military officials arrest suspected queer people under claims of drug dealing or terrorism. The officials then use electrocution, beatings, extreme cold, starvation, dehydration, isolation, forced nudity and homophobic insults to get arrestees to reveal more suspected homosexuals, according to the Russian LGBT Network. An estimated 33 people have died in the crackdown and hundreds have fled the region since it began.
The Russian military has been accused of torturing and bombing civilians since it first invaded Ukraine in February. Both are war crimes forbidden by the Geneva Conventions.


text: Jonathan Edelstein, Of Counsel to the firm, has practiced criminal defense law for 12 years, with a focus on State and Federal appeals, post-conviction remedies, habeas corpus petitions and challenges to sex offender restrictions. A graduate of Fordham University Law School, he is admitted to the bar in the State of New York, the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of New York, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third and Fourth Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Edelstein has authored or co-authored 15 law journal articles on various aspects of criminal law and has appeared as an Outside Counsel columnist in the New York Law Journal daily newspaper. His work has been cited by numerous Federal courts as well as the highest courts of New York, Kansas, Maryland and Montana. Notable cases litigated by Mr. Edelstein include United States v. Corsey, ___ F.3d ___, 2013 WL 3796393 (2d Cir. 2013) (remanded for resentencing where district court applied the maximum sentence without explaining its analysis and where significant mitigating factors existed), United States v. Flores, ___ F.3d. ___ 2013 WL 3957751 (9th Cir. 2013) (finding that there was insufficient evidence to support a sentencing enhancement for use of a minor in a drug trafficking crime), United States v. Garcia, 587 F.3d 509 (2d Cir. 2009) (guilty plea to money laundering vacated on the basis of the Supreme Court's Cuellar decision); Cotto v. Herbert, 331 F.3d 217 (2d Cir. 2003) (court overcame a procedural bar to find that habeas petitioner was unconstitutionally denied his right to cross-examination); United States v. Graziano, 616 F. Supp. 2d 350 (E.D.N.Y. 2009) (conviction on top count of arson indictment vacated after trial, thus removing defendant's exposure to a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence); and People v. Hull, 71 A.D.3d 1336 (N.Y. App. Div. 2010) (murder conviction vacated based on gunsmith's expert affidavit that weapon could have discharged accidentally).


Red light therapy has been well established through hundreds of peer-reviewed trials as a safe, effective, and natural treatment for skin & anti-aging, joint pain & inflammation, and muscle health. Now, after a series of encouraging human trials, researchers are optimistic about light therapy's potential to improve brain cell function and cognitive performance like memory, retention, reaction time, executive function, and learning.
In addition, emerging research has shown red light therapy's potential as a non-invasive, natural treatment for traumatic brain injuries, as well as a new avenue for fighting cognitive decline caused by age, Alzheimer's, and dementia.
If you're not familiar with light therapy, this piece gives a good general overview of what it is and how it works. The following article summarizes research on cognitive function and gives an overview of how red light therapy treatments can improve brain function and performance.
How Does Light Therapy Improve Brain Health and Cognitive Function?
When applied directly to the head, light therapy uses red and near infrared wavelengths to stimulate, preserve, and regenerate brain cells and tissues. A high-quality light therapy device can send photons of light through the skull, stimulating the mitochondria of brain cells to produce more metabolic energy.
Beneficial effects on the human brain are achieved by increased cerebral blood flow, increasing oxygen availability & consumption, and boosting ATP energy production through enhanced mitochondrial activity.
That's some pretty dense stuff, so let's take a look at the real-world results from the human trials on light therapy and cognitive performance.
Quicker Reaction Times: "Significantly improved in the treated vs. placebo control groups" in sustained-attention psychomotor vigilance task (PVT).
Better Memory: "Showed significant improvement in treated vs. control groups as measured by memory retrieval latency and number of correct trials" in delayed match-to-sample tasks.
The 2013 findings opened a lot of eyes in the medical research community to the possibility of a natural, noninvasive treatment that could aid brain cell regeneration and improve prefrontal cortex executive function, without risky drugs or surgeries. Several new controlled human trials testing light therapy and cognitive performance were launched, many of which have been completed and published in the last few years, with similar positive results.
A 2017 study published in the Journal of Neuropsychology noted that the 2013 results had shown enhanced attention and short-term memory in humans. These authors extended that experiment to executive functions and found that people who received light treatments "made fewer errors relative to placebo controls" on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, the gold standard of executive function tests.
Another 2017 study sought to expand upon earlier research by assessing light therapy's effects on category learning tasks for the first time. The study tested 118 people who received either light therapy treatment or a placebo, and then had to learn a series of categories and rules to test their ability to integrate knowledge and conditions.
Another recent study used EEG tests of the brain's electrical activity to measure near infrared light effects on cognitive abilities. 31 healthy volunteers between the ages of 14 and 65 were tested on event-related responses before and after light therapy treatments. 18 volunteers returned 2-4 months later for a second round of tests with a control arm.
The study found that "change in reaction time significantly differed between treated and control, with a mean of 23.8 msec improvement compared with controls".
The authors noted that "all participants improved in all cognitive measures after light treatments".
Cognitive improvements included significantly quicker reaction time, fewer lapses, and more correct responses in tests.
More results are needed and more studies are in progress, but this early data gives hope for combating age-related cognitive decline in a natural, non-invasive manner that doesn't require drugs or surgery.
We wrote a separate article on the science and research behind red light therapy and regenerating damaged brain tissue and synapses in TBI and CTE patients if you want to dig deeper.
We wrote a separate post on the emerging Alzheimer's/dementia research if you want to learn more about these results, including how red light therapy may be able to reverse forms of Alzheimer's-related cognitive decline.
 Hamblin, Michael. Shining light on the head: Photobiomodulation for brain disorders. ScienceDirect. 2016 Sept.
 Hennessy M, Hamblin M. Photobiomodulation and the brain: a new paradigm. Journal of Optics. 2017 Jan;19(1):013003.
 Vargas E, Barrett DW, et al. Beneficial neurocognitive effects of transcranial laser in older adults. Lasers in Medical Science. 2017 July;32(5):1153-1162.
 Barrett DW, et al. Transcranial infrared laser stimulation produces beneficial cognitive and emotional effects in humans. 2013 Jan 29;230:13-23.
 Blanco NJ, Maddox WT, Gonzalez-Lima F. Improving executive function using transcranial infrared laser stimulation. Journal of Neuropsychology. 2017 Mar;11(1):14-25.
 Blanco NJ, Saucedo CL, et al. Transcranial infrared laser stimulation improves rule-based, but not information-integration, category learning in humans. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 2017 Mar;139:69-75.
 Grover F Jr1, Weston J, et al. Acute Effects of Near Infrared Light Therapy on Brain State in Healthy Subjects as Quantified by qEEG Measures. Photomedicine in Laser Surgery. 2017 Mar;35(3):136-141.
 Chan AS, Lee TL, Yeung, Hamblin. Photobiomodulation improves the frontal cognitive function of older adults. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 2019 Feb;34(2):369-377.
 Berman MH, Halper JP, Nichols TW, et al. Photobiomodulation with Near Infrared Light Helmet in a Pilot, Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial in Dementia Patients Testing Memory and Cognition. J Neurol Neurosci. 2017;8(1).
 Saltmarche AE, et al. Significant Improvement in Cognition in Mild to Moderately Severe Dementia Cases Treated with Transcranial Plus Intranasal Photobiomodulation: Case Series Report. Photomed Laser Surg. 2017 Aug;35(8):432-441.
 Zhang J, Yue X, et al. Antioxidant Redox Signaling. 2018 Jul 23. Illumination with 630 nm Red Light Reduces Oxidative Stress and Restores Memory by Photo-Activating Catalase and Formaldehyde Dehydrogenase in SAMP8 Mice.
 Wang R, Dong Y, Lu Y, et al. Photobiomodulation for Global Cerebral Ischemia: Targeting Mitochondrial Dynamics and Functions. Brain Research. 2018 Mar 1;1682:36-43.
 Lu Y, Wang R, et al. Low-level laser therapy for beta amyloid toxicity in rat hippocampus. 2017 Jan;49:165-182.


text:
astrogeologist
NAME THAT EP and SCENE!
By the way, are these presenting a challenge to ANYBODY?!???
Apparently they are only stumping me (quite consistently too). I love pics, but there are a lot of episodes that I have only seen once... and I apparently didn't pay as much attention as a lot of other folks! I have been absolutely blown away by how folks are able to nail the episode and the actual scene and dialogue (I have to look all that up).
Oh, and I'll guess (even though I'll be wrong ):
Out of Mind?
majorsal
Yeah...overall Stargate is a pretty safe show to watch with kids of all ages.
There are some episodes that I just won't allow my four year old to watch.
Not because there is alot of blood or people dying, but simply because there is just too much action going on and she gets overwhelmed by it. I learned early on that children pick up on things even when we don't think they are even paying attention.
One example...Friday night I was watching Lockdown and my daughter walked in playing with one of her dolls. During the scene where Anubis takes over Sam's body and zats the guard in the corridor, my daughter started pacing back in forth in front of the television. Then when Jack zatted Sam she just stared at the tv and kept asking questions...
"Mommy is Carter good or bad?"
"Mommy why did Jack shoot Carter? Doesn't he like her anymore?"
"Mommy is Carter dead or sleeping?
Is she sleeping? Mommy is Carter sleeping?"
She refuses to watch any episode with a Gou'ald in it. She's frightened by the glowing eyes and strange voices. She always asks before an episode if there are any bad guys in it. Luckily there are lots of episodes to choose from and we can avoid the heavier episodes.
my mom, dad, and myself were afraid of letting my mentally disabled brother watch that ep. whenever he sees a man hitting a woman, he starts asking questions like 'why is he doing that?!', and then can start acting out his frustration by screaming. autistic children are *very* affected by things, and my brother is especially affected by violence against women. maybe because a woman is more apt to vocalize her pain and fear (screaming and crying) than a man? anyways, i can relate to your sweet daughter for being worried about sam. they just don't understand it's pretend, and then they don't understand why someone would pretend something like that. how do you explain it to them, you know?
Originally posted by astrogeologist
Very close! So close in fact that one might say that it was actually PART of that same 2 PART episode...
Well it looks like the last pic I added (which NO ONE has gotten yet btw) will be the last for the evening for me...
One of my clients is having me move one of his websites to a whole new server so that's all that'll be uploading this evening!
So hopefully the last picture I posted here will present enough of a challenge for you all. (that is, if you actually care about the NAME THAT EP! game as much as I hope you all do... )
Originally posted by chocdoc
Wow! It took a long time to catch up, reading such a wonderful and thoughtful discussion of Sam!!!
I wholeheartedly agree with Skydiver's sentiments above. One thing that is very clear from the thoughtful posts here and at some other forums, a very substantial number of fans really care about the character of Sam. Sam and AT are immensely popular. This is true whether one thinks the writers have made some major mistakes over the past two seasons, whether one thinks they have made mistakes and are mildy bothered, or whether one has actually enjoyed the storylines for Sam in the last two seasons. (And regardless of where one stands on this, AT has had the opportunity to show off her incredible acting range in the last two seasons, particularly compared to Seasons 5 and 6).
For me, AstroG's comments hit home----there hasn't been a balance for Sam in the last two seasons between Sam's exploration into some less travelled parts of her psyche and the Sam's kickass military scientist persona we all love. I did not mind the personal exploration actually, but this could have been balanced with Sam actually LEADING in season eight as well. And also as AstroG pointed out, the last two seasons lacked the balance between Sam's explorations and role in the scifi end of the show, compared to the three male leads. A great point.
But I still think there continues to be a double standard in how we perceive the female lead and the three male leads. The male characters get away with alot more (in terms of having feelings/relationships, making mistakes, their lack of feelings as well etc) than Sam, in my opinion. And if Sam seems at all "too feminine", she is accused of being "too girly." I have to admit, I hate that expression, as if girly is a derogatory word. But I digress.
My least favorite moments for Sam (I think I only have four, whereas I have countless favorite moments )
1) Fragile Balance---please, no way would the pilots be at all disrespectful to Major Carter---that was just poor writing, in this case poor writing from a male writer point of view. These pilots would know how often she saved the day, how brilliant she is, and how much experience she has had offworld. They should have been in awe! Here, the writers forgot to heed AT's words--just write my character as a person, not a female.
2) Chimera--- crazy how she dealt with Pete's childish behavior---why oh why didn't they pick a boyfriend that made sense to the scifi aspect of the show!! Nice to see Sam being a little lighter, but because Pete was written so poorly to me, seeing this side of Sam was ruined. And I agree with others---did not need or want to see the bedroom scene. But the scenes between Daniel and Vala in Prometheus Unbound, mixing violence and sexual remarks, was way worse for me!!
3) Affinity---no way would Sam accept Pete's proposal while still doubting what was going on inside her, but also particularly not at a stakeout, as AT also protested.
4) Lost City I and II, Affinity, and Threads--- I got quite tired of Sam trying to talk with Jack about her feelings---Sam looks worse than the male lead and again this was written from a male biased point of view. I do think Jack has feelings for her as expressed in Threads later, but why is she the one that has to look awkward and insecure. AHHHHHHHHH
There were remedies though to some of these---telling Pete it won't work out BEFORE she knew that Kerry broke it off with Jack---and interaction between Sam and Jack that was not awkward, such as their interaction concerning her father, the fishing scene, and really the whole beginning of Meobius as well.
Season nine provides a beautiful opportunity to bring Carter back into balance. No pete, a chance for more natural interaction with Jack if RDA makes guest appearance later in the season, a mission far far away for professional reasons, and a large fan base that posts their heartfelt sentiments about the development of Carter's character as it is so far, and where it should go. Woohoo!!
What a five-star post, chocdoc! I agree with your 'least favorite' Sam moments wholeheartedly and I am impressed by how cleanly and succinctly you expressed things. I completely agree with your last 'least favorite' - I too was tired of seeing them writing Sam as trying to go to Jack... and having it fail... the word pathetic keeps coming into my mind and I hate thinking of that while watching Sam scenes .
Also love your last paragraph - 'Season Nine provides a beautiful opportunity to bring Carter into balance'
And to touch back on something that I mentioned earlier - I still marvel at how we are having such a great discussion on this thread and we are doing it without tearing down the other characters (this is not what I've seen on other threads or websites). On this thread, folks are expressing constructive criticisms and critical evaluations as well as hopes and suggestions for the future development of the character of Sam Carter -- and doing it without being nasty or degrading about the other show leads. Very impressive, and I think it's a tribute to both the character of Sam Carter and that of Amanda Tapping.
Last edited by astrogeologist; 09 April 2005, 08:43 PM.
I'd put money on that being a 6.
I was thinking more of a 2.
*ÜberSG-1Fan ducks tomato lobbed by AstroG*
Hey, it worked on me...it was a good show and I got to know the characters a bit better...
Oh, I quite agree. It was the episode that got me hooked on SG:A. (Damn those crafty PTB!) But the much-ballyhooed Amanda guest spot was rather a bait-and-switch gambit.
As for Carter being pushed up against a wall and Getting Busy, yes, that's awfully racy for SG-1—if not quite as kinky as Daniel fathering symbiotes in Hathor. Mind you, it wouldn't bother me if Sam were Doing It with Martouf or Jack (or—best of all—with Janet) ... anybody but the emetic Pete. Only seeing Pete drawn & quartered by RepliCarter will satiate my bloodlust.
AT likes the idea of Sam riding motorcycles... and didn't we have a quoted (or linked to) post where she said that she'd jumped out of plane (parachuted) before she'd completely read all of the things that she's 'not supposed to do' because of the insurance coverage?
I don't remember seeing this? Details?
I think it was in that Australian convention interview/transcript? Hmmm... goes off muttering to self and searching through bookmarks... nope, apparently didn't bookmark it.. but I think I remember the base website... goes to find that... mhmmm... and now...interview... Amanda Tapping... woohoo.. got it!
AT at Australian Convention
Audience member: (question hard to hear, but has something to do with motorcycle riding)
Amanda: Wouldn't that be fabulous? It so funny, they have this insurance policy, so... at the beginning of every year, you go for your cast medical, and you have to sign off saying you won't ride motorcycles, you won't, ah, jump out of planes - and it's very funny because the first year I had jumped out of a plane, and so I saw that and went, "okay, I guess I won't be doing that anymore" - and you have to say if you're gonna ski, you have to say... it's just insane cos they have to insure you right, cos if you break something or, God forbid, even worse the insurance policy goes through the roof, so they're really strict.
So when I got the Indian motorcycle for that one scene with the classic bike - and they originally had me digging in my garden... they said 'we need to see Sam doing something (a bit hard to understand) that's her own thing so we thought we'd have you digging in your garden. I said 'this woman spends half her time off-world, she doesn't have garden. She has, like, one dead basil plant in her kitchen window, and that's it. So I said 'can't she do something cool like fix a bike?' And they were like 'oh, okay'. And I said 'a classic bike'. And the props guys were like 'well, oh, I don't know'. And I said 'a classic Harley or Indian, that would be cool!' And they found this 1940 classic Indian motorcycle, so that's where it started. But I wasn't allowed to sit on it.
Much laughter.
Amanda: So I don't know that we'll ever see her take... yeah... but maybe Amanda will, on the last day. (makes motorcycle rev noise )
Interview Index website
Also, I keep trying to give you jello, but I keeping being told I need to "spread it around." Grrrrr... Never before have I had the urge to start random jello fights, but, by golly, it's becoming a daily occurrence. Thanks for posting all the season summaries!
ROTFLMAO at 'Never before have I had the urge to start random jello fights, but, by golly, it's becoming a daily occurrence.'
NearlyCircular
In case you missed it, David made a bunch of new avatars available. Check out the miscellaneous section for some interesting ones.
I care! I'm just nor very good at it...lol... of course, I like to play Trivial Pursuit, too... and I usually get severely whumped! And I love the pics even when I don't know which episode they are from
Originally posted by NearlyCircular
Oi, we both chose the same AV lol
*goes to change it to the other RepliCarter one
Huh? Astrog lost that 'thread'.... goes off to figure out what the reference was to...
Strix varia
My LJ
Originally posted by Agent_Dark
Ahh, I see that you've got access to one that I don't.
Dadgumit... I deleted it, but apparently not quickly enough. It was potentially inappropriate speculation about your age...
spoilers for s7 and s8
i totally agree that sam-as-the-commander-of-sg1 *really* needed to be fleshed out more. i was jumping up and down literally in 'it's good to be king' with sam leading sg1. not that i wasn't happy that jack came along later, but... i still liked seeing sam 'in charge' without having to defer to someone of higher rank.
2) Chimera---crazy how she dealt with Pete's childish behavior---why oh why didn't they pick a boyfriend that made sense to the scifi aspect of the show!! Nice to see Sam being a little lighter, but because Pete was written so poorly to me, seeing this side of Sam was ruined. And I agree with others---did not need or want to see the bedroom scene. But the scenes between Daniel and Vala in Prometheus Unbound, mixing violence and sexual remarks, was way worse for me!!
i agree. i wasn't offended (i'm not easily), but it did make me a bit uncomfortable. it actually brought out a weird reaction in me because i wanted daniel to beat her up. i don't usually want a man to hit a woman, but vala was so obvious. i didn't like that episode. it felt off to me in many ways (putting aside that sam wasn't even in it).
i like the way you put that.