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Chapter 6 – Urbanising Tibet: Aspirations, Illusions and Nightmares
By Gerald Roche, James Leibold, and Ben Hillman
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ON 28 MARCH 2019, the People's Republic of China (PRC) celebrated 'Serfs Emancipation Day' 西藏百万农奴解放纪念日 or, alternatively, the sixtieth anniversary of 'democratic reform in Tibet' 西藏民主改革. Exiled Tibetans commemorate 10 March 1959, the date of the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in India, as 'Uprising Day', when thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Potala Palace in Lhasa and skirmished with the military after rumours circulated that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) planned to kidnap the Dalai Lama and assume full control over Tibet. According to Beijing, the PLA 'peacefully liberated' Tibet in 1950 and claimed the territory for the new PRC, citing Tibet's historical connection with former Chinese empires. The PLA allowed the Dalai Lama's Tibetan government limited autonomy, which lasted until the uprising of 1959. However, Tibet had enjoyed de facto independence since the collapse of the Qing empire in 1911, and many Tibetan exiles and their supporters maintain that Tibet was forcefully invaded in 1950. Some continue to challenge the legitimacy of Chinese rule, even as all member countries of the United Nations now recognise the PRC's sovereignty over Tibet.
Like much of Tibet's history, the events of 1959 remain contentious, as does the PRC government's record in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which was established in 1965. Exiled Tibetans and other critics draw attention to human rights abuses, the marginalisation of Tibetans in their own land, and the suppression of religious and cultural practices.1 Many Tibetans remain frustrated with policies that constrain religious and cultural expression.2
Meanwhile, Beijing trumpets its record in bringing prosperity and improved social systems to the region. Many among China's Han ethnic majority has long viewed Tibetans as culturally backward: superstitious savages who required 'saving' and 'civilising' by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to bring them into the modern world alongside the Han.3 As state media outlet Xinhua triumphantly proclaimed in March 2019:
Democratic reform has achieved a great leap from the feudal serf system to the socialist system in Tibet. The establishment of the socialist system not only liberated and developed the productive forces, but also promoted Tibet's economic development to a new level, and greatly promoted the overall progress of Tibetan society.4
Beijing has long maintained that Tibetan grievances can be best addressed by improving Tibetan living standards and better integrating Tibetans into China's mainstream society and economy.5 Since 2001, Beijing has invested more than US$100 billion in development projects across the Tibetan Plateau,6 and around ninety percent of the budget of the TAR, which was established in 1965, comes from Beijing.7 Development policy for the region now centres on urbanisation, which is seen as key not only for economic growth, but also for taming the wild plateau and its unruly inhabitants, and promoting 'ethnic intermingling' 民族交融, including intermarriage.8 Urbanisation has emerged as a new tool of multiethnic governance for the CCP — an integral strategy for President Xi Jinping's dream of the 'great rejuvenation' 伟大复兴 and 'communal consciousness' 共同体意识 of the Chinese nation.9
Urbanising Tibet
Party officials in Beijing dream of a string of 'civilised cities' 文明城市 stretching across the Tibetan Plateau: urban landscapes of concrete, glass, and steel where Tibetans live, work, and consume much like their Han counterparts in Beijing and Shanghai. Cities are sites of civility and modernity in the eyes of Chinese leaders — places where orderly, rational, and obedient citizens act out the China Dream 中国梦 according to party prescripts. With more intrusive and detailed forms of state surveillance, cities increase the control of the Party over citizens.
The National New-Type Urbanisation Plan (2014–2020) aims to raise urbanisation rates to sixty percent nationally.10 This is not just an economic strategy to increase consumption and growth, but also a mechanism for enhancing Party governance. The Thirteenth Five Year Plan specifically targets China's ethnic frontier, including all areas of Tibet, where urbanisation rates are relatively low: 47.1 percent in 2015 compared with the national average of 56.1 percent.11 In 2010, only 5 percent of Tibetans permanently resided in a city — an increase of just 6.9 percent over the previous decade.12 There are now ambitious plans to boost the urbanisation rate in the TAR to more than thirty percent by 2020,13 with similar efforts under way across the Tibetan Plateau (which extends beyond the TAR to include Qinghai province and parts of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Xinjiang).
Tibetans are shaping their own visions of what urbanisation means for them, including the opportunities and threats cities present for their livelihoods and ethnic identity. These visions, as expressed in popular culture, and pop songs in particular, are far from homogeneous. Three recent Tibetan pop songs, and the rich visual tapestry of their music videos, display a range of Tibetan attitudes towards urbanisation as well as providing an insight into the complex realities of Tibetan urbanisation today. They also evoke ideas of universal relevance to the vicissitudes of urbanisation in other places around the world.
The Nightmare City
The song 'City' གྲོང་ཁྱེར by Lobsang Nyima བློ་བཟང་ཉི་མ presents urbanisation as a Tibetan nightmare. The song's video clip opens with the camera hovering above a snow-speckled mountainscape. The Tibetan lute སྒྲ་སྙན་ that can be heard as the camera drifts across the landscape is deep and resonant, combining a Metallica-esque riff with a melody from a traditional circle dance སྐོར་གཞས, and creating an unsettling trill reminiscent of a sprightly dirge. Suddenly, the urban form materialises: an upside-down cityscape occupying the empty space above the mountains. Here, we see the basic theme of the song: the city as the inverse of the rural.
Still from the music video, 'City', by Lobsang Nyima
Source: Tibetan HeartBeat, YouTube
The singer, Lobsang Nyima, was born in the countryside of Ngawa རྔ་བ/Aba 阿坝 county14 in the mountainous north-western corner of Sichuan province, which has been a hotspot of ethnic protests and self-immolations since 2008. While ninety-one percent of its residents are still classified as nomads, the county seat, Ngawa/Aba town, is now home to nearly 12,000 residents, having tripled its population in recent decades. The new county-level city of Barkam འབར་ཁམས/Markang 马尔康市 is only a couple of hours away by road, and is home to another 60,000 urbanites, who live in high-rise buildings squeezed on to the region's steep, rugged mountains.
The lyrics to 'City' contrast images of rural purity — white clouds, white eagle feathers, and yoghurt — with the pollution of the city. This pollution includes not just the dust, noise, and bustle of the city, but also social pollution — the ways in which the city corrodes trust between people, leading to spiritual and emotional suffering. The singer laments losing his 'mind' སེམས and his capacity to love in the urban milieu.
The video follows the singer on his downward spiral through pollution and loss, from arriving in the city in his traditional robes to donning a leather jacket, getting drunk, and becoming violent and disoriented, before returning to his rural homeland, perched atop a mountain ridge, wistfully surveying the landscape. Equating the city with the sufferings of 'worldly existence' (from the Sanskrit samsāra), this idyllic return to the homeland seemingly equates the rural not just with freedom, but also with mastery of the self.
Decades of research by Indigenous scholars in settler-colonial states such as Australia, the United States, and Canada have shown how Indigenous peoples have been discursively erased from the city because their cultures are portrayed as being 'incongruous with modern urban life'.15 To portray Indigenous people as fundamentally rural is to justify their exclusion from cities and their containment in rural spaces. Since the mid twentieth century, Indigenous social movements around the world have asserted the right of Indigenous people to inhabit urban spaces and claim them as their own.16 Therefore, while Lobsang Nyima's song evokes the ways in which state-led urbanisation negatively impacts Tibetans, it also reinforces a problematic romantic binary in which 'authentic Tibetanness' is rural and traditional, while the urban and modern are antithetical to it; Han space can only corrupt, erode, and destroy Tibetan culture and identity.
The Aspirational City
The contrasting images of rural purity and urban pollution are challenged by one of the most popular Tibetan pop songs in recent years, 'Fly' འཕུར, by ANU ཨ་ནུ.The rich synth tapestry, rolling beats, and electronic steel drums make for an irrepressibly upbeat song (think Avicii, but Tibetan). When the city first appears in the video clip for this song, the singer is standing on a mountain top, arms spread, the city far below him. Similar images are repeated throughout the video, showing the city as something to soar above and tower over rather than get lost within.
Still from the music video, 'Fly', by ANU
Source: Tibetube, YouTube
The city in the music video is Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai province and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau, with 2.4 million permanent residents. Han norms dominate Xining's language, architecture, and culture yet it is also home to more than 130,000 Tibetans. Payag and Gonpa are the two young men behind ANU. The band's full name, Anu Runglug ཨ་ནུ་རིང་ལུགས, means the 'philosophy of youth' or 'youthism' in Tibetan. Originally from rural Nangqên/Nangqian County ནང་ཆེན་རྫོང/囊谦县 in southern Qinghai, the pair moved to Beijing in their twenties to pursue their music dreams. Multilingual and media savvy, they make effective use of Chinese-language social media outlets such as WeChat and the video-sharing app Meipai to promote their music and fashion label (also called ANU), using one to cross-promote the other.17
Differing from the didactic cautionary tale of 'City', 'Fly' is more of a neo-liberal hymn to aspiration and self-realisation. The lyrics encourage listeners to 'fly' — breaking the chains of fate to love liberty, find their true soul, achieve their highest dream, and escape a meaningless life. And if you don't fly? ANU tell us that your hopes will be wasted and your life will be over.
Throughout the clip, the fast-moving imagery shifts back and forth between the urban and the rural. Rather than presenting a binary contrast between the two, both environments are represented as spaces for unfettered bodily motion and human achievement; people run, leap, and dance; they raise their fists in the air as they crest a mountain, the city lights glowing below them. Importantly, we see a city that is at once unashamedly modern and exciting and also Tibetan. Stupas and prayer flags perch above the metropolis, where Tibetans have tattoos featuring traditional iconography such as the Buddhist 'endless knot' and breakdance to Tibetan hip hop in nightclubs.
'Fly' highlights another contrast. Many Chinese cities such as Chengdu and Xining, and even Beijing and Shanghai, are important cultural and social hubs for Tibetan youth. With the exception of Tibet University in Lhasa, all the major institutions of higher education for Tibetans and other 'ethnic minorities' (or minzu 民族 in Chinese for short), which are major engines of socioeconomic mobility, are located in such cities. For Tibetans, the most significant institutions are Qinghai Minzu University in Xining, Northwest Minzu University in Lanzhou, Southwest Minzu University in Chengdu, and Minzu University of China in Beijing. For those such as Payag and Gonpa who seek commercial success and fame, moving to one of these larger cities — often to establish a business enterprise with the help of government subsidies — is an important strategy. Provincial and local governments offer start-up grants to entrepreneurs to support establishment costs (such as rent and decorating a store or restaurant) and staff training.
Yet Tibetans also migrate to cities in search of more menial jobs such as construction or factory work. The city has, therefore, in one way or another, become a place where Tibetans can pursue their dreams of upward mobility, regardless of their levels of skill and education. The Party-state uses the hukou 户口 (household registration) system and other forms of social control to guide Tibetan mobility and urbanisation. There is a hierarchical aspect to this. Rural migrants are more generally encouraged to move to, but not settle in, large cities, in a manner that sociologist Eli Friedman labels 'just-in-time urbanisation', attracting 'high-quality' 高素质 individuals to large cities as permanent residents while drawing on 'low-quality' 低素质 migrant labour as needed.18 In fact, for most Tibetans, urbanisation occurs in situ through the creation of small urban settlements built on former pastureland with only a couple of thousand inhabitants. In 1978, Qinghai province had just one city and six towns; today, there are six cities and 143 towns.19
The Illusory City
If 'Fly' subverts the moral binary proposed in 'City', 'Flame's Lament' མེ་ལྕེའི་འོ་དོད by Lhudrup Gyamtso ལྷུན་སྒྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ/黎智坚措, aka Uncle Buddhist, presents a more complex picture. It portrays both the city and the rural homeland as dreams — dreams in the sense of fantasies or mirages rather than aspirational goals. Uncle Buddhist delivers his lyrics in a rapid-fire whisper, both urgent and intimate. The acoustic guitar, soaring flute, and plaintive vocal hook of the chorus give the song a brooding, melancholic feel. And, while the video clips for 'Fly' and 'City' depict anonymous cities of steel, concrete, and glass, 'Flame's Lament' takes us to Lhasa, bringing the tensions of urbanisation to the very heart of Tibetanness.
Still from the 'Dreaming of Tibet' music video by Uncle Buddhist & Kalnor
The thirty-year-old Uncle Buddhist, now known as 'Scar K!d' in English, was born in a pastoral area along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River but grew up in the urban townships of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture མགོ་ལོག་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་/果洛藏族自治州 in south-eastern Qinghai. Like ANU, he honed his musical talents in Beijing, where he has lived since graduating in 2012 from the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy. His eclectic sound merges traditional Tibetan music with edgy urban rap in the style of Kanye West and Jay-Z, while singing in Mandarin, Tibetan, and English.20
The lyrics of 'Flame's Lament' begin by describing an idyllic image of the singer's rural childhood home: the shining sun, clear water, and the grassland where he would happily sleep. He then compares this with his life in the city, which is noisy, polluted, hot, bustling, and alienating. The city is a space of absence, loss, and exclusion, where you have 'no house, no car, no job', and even 'completely forget your mother tongue' ཐ་ན་ཁྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཕ་མའི་སྐད་དང་ཡི་གེ་བརྗེད་ཚར. But rather than settling with this familiar contrast between the idyllic rural and the nightmarish urban, the lyrics then take us back to the singer's hometown, which is now developed and polluted. As the lyrical pace and intensity build to a crescendo, we hear that the city is becoming green, and its air pure — the rural and urban have changed place — and the singer describes searching in vain for a road back to a homeland that has seemingly vanished forever.
Consistent with the complexity of the lyrics' treatment of the rural–urban divide, the images in the video clip also present contrasts that are less stark than those in 'Fly' or 'City'. Although we see iconic depictions of mountains and grasslands, most of the visuals are harder to parse. For example, the city is mostly represented by the Potala Palace, surrounded by bright lights and streaming traffic, and the rural is represented more often by images of small-town Tibet than by uninhabited nature. Like the lyrics, the visuals make it difficult to draw a sharp distinction between urban and rural, and to contain particular moralities and identities within either space.
Finally, 'Flame's Lament' draws attention to the translocalism and fractured identities of most Tibetans today. Although their rural homelands have been economically and socially dismantled, few Tibetans are able or have the permission required to move to large cities permanently thanks to the Party's 'just-in-time' urbanisation strategy. For most Tibetans, urbanisation presents two stark options. One is to relocate to low-tier towns — the orderly yet soulless prefecture and county-level settlements scattered across the Tibetan Plateau. The other is translocality — moving back and forth between urban places of employment and rural places of belonging; between exclusion from a dynamic urban socioeconomic context and inclusion in stagnant rural economies; between the social, linguistic, and cultural alienation of the city and the cultural security of the countryside.
Urban Futures: Dream or Fantasy?
President Xi recently asserted: 'Today, we must closely rely on the collective strength of each ethnic group if we are to achieve the China Dream.'21 Xi's vision involves an urban and collective future for all Chinese citizens, including Tibetans. Cities are what Party officials call 'large melting pots' 大熔炉 in which to forge a shared national culture and identity and inscribe the thoughts, behaviour, and norms of the Han-dominated Party-state. By urbanising Tibet, the Party-state hopes to integrate Tibetans more firmly into the social fabric of the nation.
Yet, like other governments across the globe, the CCP also fears the instability associated with large-scale urbanisation and has sought to carefully manage it.22 It employs a toolkit of governance mechanisms such as the hukou restrictions, identification checks, facial recognition tracking, and other surveillance tools to regulate and monitor the flow of human and material capital to raise the 'quality' of urban populations and create a hierarchy of urban spaces. On the one hand, the Party stresses the need to make cities more accessible to ethnic minorities. On the other, it remains nervous about the clash of cultures and any spontaneous outbursts of resistance, especially in large urban centres.23 And so most Tibetan urbanisation occurs chiefly in small and medium-sized townships created by the rezoning and development of former pasturelands, rather than through large-scale migration into major Han metropolitan centres.
Tibetan pop songs highlight some of the complex responses of younger Tibetans in the PRC to urbanisation. For some, the city is the secret to realising their dreams; it is a place where they can move easily, express themselves, and achieve their full potential. For others, the city represents a nightmarish end to Tibetan ethnic and cultural identity. Many more Tibetans are trapped in a sort of peri-urban limbo, lamenting the rural past while aspiring to a brighter future under the city lights. As cities come to Tibet and Tibetans go to the city, urbanisation is presenting a new test of what it means to be Tibetan in today's China.
Françoise Robin, 'Discussing rights and human rights in Tibet', in Ben Hillman and Gray Tuttle eds, Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang: Unrest in China's West, New York: Columbia University Press, 2016, pp.60–96.
Ben Hillman, 'Unrest in Tibet and the limits of regional autonomy', in Ben Hillman and Gray Tuttle eds, Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang: Unrest in China's West, New York: Columbia University Press, 2016, pp.18–39.
See Ben Hillman and Lee-Anne Henfry, 'Macho Minority: Masculinity and Ethnicity on the Edge of Tibet', Modern China, vol.32 (April 2006): 251–272.
'Great leap: 60 years of democratic reform in Tibet', Xinhua, 27 March 2019, online at: www.xinhuanet.com/local/2019-03/27/c_1124287873_4.htm
Ben Hillman and Gray Tuttle eds, Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang: Unrest in China's West, New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.
Estimate based on calculations from multiple state media reports.
James Leibold, 'Interethnic conflict in the PRC: Xinjiang and Tibet as exceptions?', in Ben Hillman and Gray Tuttle eds, Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang: Unrest in China's West, New York: Columbia University Press, 2016, pp.223–250.
James Leibold, 'China's ethnic policy under Xi Jinping', China Brief, vol.15, no.20 (October 2015), online at: jamestown.org/program/chinas-ethnic-policy-under-xi-jinping/; James Leibold, 'China's minority report: When racial harmony means homogenization', Foreign Affairs, 23 March 2016, online at: www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2016-03-23/chinas-minority-report
Xi Jinping, 'Speech at the National Ethnic Unity Awards Ceremony' 习近平:在全国民族团结进步表彰大会上的讲话, Xinhua, 27 September 2019, online at: www.xinhuanet.com/politics/leaders/2019-09/27/c_1125049000.htm
Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, National New Urbanization Plan, 2014–2020, Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 2014.
State Council of the People's Republic of China, 'State Council Notice of the 13th Five Year Plan to Promote the Development of Ethnic Minority Regions and Ethnic Groups with Small Populations' 国务院关于印发"十三五"促进民族地区和人口较少民族发展规划的通知, 24 January 2017, online at: www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2017-01/24/content_5162950.htm
Ma Rong, 'Evolutions of ethnic relations during the process of China's urbanization' 中国城镇化进程中的民族关系演变, Northwest Journal of Ethnology 西北民族研究, vol.84 (2015): 19–34.
State Council of the People's Republic of China, 'Tibet's urbanization rate expected to exceed 30% by 2020', Xinhua, 14 January 2015, online at: english.www.gov.cn/news/top_news/2015/01/14/content_281475039136272.htm
'Music video: "City" by Lobsang Nyima', High Peaks Pure Earth, 16 August 2018, online at: highpeakspureearth.com/2018/music-video-city-by-lobsang-nyima/
Evelyn Peters and Chris Andersen, Indigenous in the City: Contemporary Identities and Cultural Innovation, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.
Nick Estes, Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline & the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance, London: Verso, 2019.
'Music video: "Fly" by ANU', High Peaks Pure Earth, 19 July 2017, online at: highpeakspureearth.com/2017/music-video-fly-by-anu/
Eli Friedman, 'Just-In-Time Urbanization? Managing Migration, Citizenship, and Schooling in the Chinese City', Critical Sociology, vol.44, no.3 (2018): 503–518.
Luo Xiaofei, Wang Jun, and Bai Shaobo, 'New clusters of cities along the Qinghai–Tibet railway' 青藏铁路沿线崛起新城市群, Xinhua Daily Telegraph, 27 June 2016, online at: www.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2016-06/27/c_135468232.htm
'Two music videos by Uncle Buddhist: "Do Whatever You Want (Phantoms of Youth)" and "Tsampa" ', High Peak Pure Earth, 29 June 2018, online at: highpeakspureearth.com/2018/two-music-videos-by-uncle-buddhist-do-whatever-you-want-phantoms-of-youth-and-tsampa/
Xi, 'Speech at the National Ethnic Unity Awards Ceremony'.
Jeremy Wallace, Cities and Stability: Urbanization, Redistribution, and Regime Survival in China, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
State Council, 'State Council Notice of the 13th Five Year Plan to Promote the Development of Ethnic Minority Regions and Ethnic Groups with Small Populations'.
Yearbook 2019: China Dreams
Introduction: Dream On
Forum: Illusions and Transformations - the many meanings of Meng 夢
From the Land of Illusion to the Paradise of Truth
Zhuangzi and his butterfly dream: the etymology of meng 夢
Chapter 1 - A Dream of Perpetual Rule
Forum: Enforcing the Dream
Xi Jinping's War on 'Black and Evil'
The Changing 'Dream' in the Classroom: Literary Chinese Textbooks in the PRC
Chapter 2 - Hong Kong's Reckoning
Forum: Under Observation
Legalism and the Social Credit System
'Evil Cults' and Holy Writ
Chapter 3 - Meridians of Influence in a Nervous World
Forum: Projecting the Dream
Dreams in Space
Antarctic Ambitions: Cold Power
Chapter 4 - Conscious Decoupling: the Technology Security Dilemma
Forum: Conscious Coupling!
Queer Dreams
Chapter 5 - AI Dreams and Authoritarian Nightmares
Forum: Life and Death
Dream Babies
Recurring Nightmare: The Plague Visits Beijing
Chapter 6 - Urbanising Tibet: Aspirations, Illusions and Nightmares
Forum: Forgotten Histories
'Prairie Mothers' and Shanghai Orphans
Chapter 7 - Schemes, Dreams and Nightmares: China's Paradox(es) of Trust
Forum: Vigilante Justice
Taking justice into their own hands: 'Netilantism' in Hong Kong
Chapter 8 - Hong Kong and the Tiananmen Playbook
Forum: Sharing the Dream?
South Korea and the 'China Effect'
Taiwanese Dreams: Security, Sovereignty, and the Space to be Seen
Chapter 9 - Campus Conundrums: Clashes and Collaborations


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Sarah Taylor
Actors cold read hard facts from teleprompter for 'feminism' project. Their reactions are priceless.
Image source: TheBlaze
Several actors were recently filmed in what they thought was a public service announcement on feminism — but they couldn't have been more wrong.
Conservative street reporter Austen Fletcher, creator of Fleccas Talks, helmed the video project, which he shared on his YouTube channel and titled, "Actors Cold Read Facts on FEMINISM Off of a Teleprompter."
What are the details?
In the video, Fletcher and his team encourage the actors to cold read facts from a teleprompter that completely shut down feminists' notion of the patriarchy, toxic male masculinity, and the gender wage gap.
The actors' responses in some cases are outright comical.
The video begins with simple text, which says, "We held an open casting call for an Honest PSA," and continues with a producer telling the actors about the project in which they'll be taking place.
"So basically what we're doing here today, we're having people read real facts about a variety of subjects," the producer says. "These are all true facts, and we're wanting to capture real, honest reactions to what the facts are."
What did the facts say?
Simple text then pops up on the screen that reads, "They are reading these facts for the first time."
One of the actor participants reads a blurb about the wage gap, which effectively explains that the wage gap statistic that a woman earns 77 cents to every dollar a man earns is figured by skewed reporting and incomplete supporting information.
By the time the participant finishes her sentence — in which she reads, "When such relevant factors are considered, the wage gap narrows to the point of vanishing" — she looks perplexed, and thoughtfully adds, "Hmm."
Near the conclusion of the video, another of the actresses, apparently feeling duped, says, "I thought this was like, feminism. ... I'm realizing what this is now."
The video had received over 86,000 views, and that number is quickly climbing.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
Q: Should I use update or bulk update? Hi I am trying to update two data point in my table using the sequelize with raw sql as follows:
await db.sequelize.query(`UPDATE Person SET status=:status WHERE loginName IN(:loginName)`, {
  replacements: {
    status: 'inactive',
    loginName: ['name1', 'name2']
  },
  type: sequelize.QueryTypes.BULKUPDATE
});

Should I use sequelize.QueryTypes.BULKUPDATE or just sequelize.QueryTypes.UPDATE? I am not familiar to which one to use since I am just updating two rows here with the WHERE condition, not a bunch of data.
EDIT: The answer that not only gives solution but explains the reason/ concept behind will be selected.

A: A Sequelize raw query returns an array containing [results, metadata]. Since you're performing an UPDATE query and it appears you don't need the results, setting options.type is unnecessary.
According to the sequelize docs the query type "affects how results are formatted before they are passed back" and "Sequelize.QueryTypes is provided as convenience shortcuts."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This page lists facilities around Tampa, Florida available to rent for hosting kids' parties and events.
Reservations for rental facilities including meeting rooms and picnic shelters are available. Please visit the site below or call to reserve.
Rent the Park For Birthdays, Special Occasions or just a fun session with only your friends.


text:
A human-centric solution for BINGO Industries
Workforce composition
field service workers
Renewables & Environment
Customer-facing
Australia's leading waste management company BINGO knew their wellbeing solution needed an overhaul. The existing mental health counselling services were not working - issues were left untreated and unrecognised, workers were suffering in silence, leading to increased absenteeism and claims. The team knew these challenges existed but were blind to who, when, where and how they were presented.
Case complexity
At the time of launch, BINGO was comprised of 142 corporate staff members, 300 drivers and a large on-the-ground team (fondly referred to as GOgetters) often working long night shifts.
A culturally diverse workforce with a high number of EASL staff
A high proportion of mobile workers working varied hours with no access to support after 5 pm
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Do employees need medical support more than mental health support?
Over the years, employee wellbeing initiatives "to keep employees happy" have been many and varied. They've included everything from yoga studios, food trucks, NASA sleep pods, climbing walls, puppytoriums, karaoke parties, music-jam sessions, wine bars, massage, in–office scooters, volleyball courts,…
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The San Jose Mercury News articles stated that an economist who lived in San Francisco in the 1980s, whom the articles gave the pseudonym "David Morrison," had reported information to the FBI in the mid-1980s about the Contras and Norwin Meneses. According to the article, Morrison had learned that Meneses, who was contributing to a Contra group called United Support Against Communism, "wasn't just smuggling cocaine for himself. He was doing it for the FDN, and he was selling them weapons as well, with the knowledge of the FDN's military commander and, it appeared, the tacit approval of the U.S. government." The article stated that Morrison reported to FBI agents that Meneses would have been arrested in a major drug case in 1983 or 1984 except that he had been warned of the case by a corrupt law enforcement officer, and that the FBI had no interest in Morrison's information on Meneses.
In FBI files we found the report from two San Francisco FBI agents who, on January 21, 1987, interviewed the person the San Jose Mercury News called "David Morrison." The FBI report had been sent to FBI Headquarters and turned over to the Iran-Contra special prosecutor. According to the FBI report, Morrison described himself as a self-employed real estate investor who coordinated fund raising trips to San Francisco by Contra leader Adolfo Calero. According to the report, Morrison heard "word" in the Nicaraguan community that the FDN was "probably" engaged in cocaine smuggling.
The FBI report contained some information on Norwin Meneses. It stated that Calero had come to San Francisco in June 1984, and Morrison sponsored a party for him at the St. Francis Yacht Club, attended by sixty people, including several Republican Party leaders and businessmen. After the party, Calero and approximately twenty people went to a restaurant, where Meneses picked up the tab for the entire dinner party. In addition, the report stated that in September 1985, Renato Pena suggested to Morrison that the FDN was involved in drug smuggling with the aid of Norwin Meneses. Morrison also heard from a reporter that Meneses owned a ranch in Costa Rica that the FDN was using to refuel planes flying in from Colombia with cocaine. The report stated that a U.S. Customs Service undercover officer investigating the Nicaraguan role in a narcotics ring had complained that "national security interests" had interfered in his investigation. The Customs officer allegedly told Morrison that "Norwin Meneses would have been arrested in a major drug case in 1983 or 1984 except that he had been warned by a corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer. Renaydo [sic] Pena may have been present when the DEA Agent warned Meneses."
The OIG interviewed "David Morrison" about this information. Morrison described how he became involved with the FDN in the fall of 1983 and began to meet exiled Nicaraguans. Morrison said that Adolfo Calero met with him and other business leaders in San Francisco but Morrison said he was never involved in fund raising for the Contras.
Morrison said he had no first hand information about drug smuggling by the Contras. He said that some FDN troops told him that cocaine was coming back to the United States on planes flown by Americans in connection with the supply network for the Contras, but Morrison stated that this was "just hearsay information." Morrison said that "Commander Aureleano" told him that he would get more information about drug shipments but Aureleano was murdered in Honduras.
Morrison told the OIG that in the summer of 1985, he began to hear that money and supplies were not reaching the Contras. Morrison became concerned about what was being done through the supply network and speculated with a friend that the planes "may not be coming back empty." When questioned about what "supply network" Morrison was talking about, he could not say who was running the network, what type of aircraft was being used, or who the pilots were. Morrison stated that because Americans were flying the planes, he assumed that the CIA was involved, although he provided no facts to support this assumption. Morrison also said that Contra troops told him that they had no involvement in drugs but that "something fishy" might be going on at a ranch in Costa Rica owned by John Hull.
Morrison said he only met Meneses once, in the spring of 1984, at the dinner with Adolfo Calero. Morrison also recalled that in the summer of 1985, FDN members told him that Meneses had made a $40,000 donation in 1981 to the Contras to purchase camping equipment and radios. Morrison remembered hearing that Meneses was "playing both sides" because he was trading weapons for cocaine paste from the Sandinistas. Morrison stated that in his opinion it was "business, not politics" with Meneses and that the San Jose Mercury News articles "got it wrong" because Meneses was just a drug dealer who had no real connection with the Contras and did not give them any money after the 1981 contribution. Morrison stated that he had heard rumors that Meneses was close to Enrique Bermudez and that Bermudez was involved with drugs, but Morrison said that this was all "hearsay" and that he was not sure if the rumors concerned small drug deals by the Contras or the Contras' allowing drug planes to refuel in areas they controlled.
Morrison said that in the summer of 1985, he was told by Nicaraguan friends that Meneses was "protected" and that Meneses had an informant in DEA on his payroll. Morrison said he did not know if this referred to a DEA informant or a DEA agent. Morrison said that Renato Pena told him that Meneses had been tipped off by "Willie" that Meneses was to be arrested by the FBI and that Meneses paid "Willie" $1,000. Morrison said that when he gave his information to the FBI agents who had interviewed him, they started screaming at him, "How dare you accuse Mr. Meneses of anything. There are no files against Mr. Meneses in any government agency. Who the hell are you?"
Morrison told the OIG that he had talked to a Customs agent about the drug problem in San Francisco and that the agent told him that the Customs budget had been cut by about 75 percent and that there were not enough agents to handle the cases. Morrison denied that the Customs agent ever told him that "national security interests" were interfering with Customs investigations, as reported in the FBI account of his interview. Morrison also told the OIG that he had asked the Customs agent about Norwin Meneses and that the agent told Morrison that there was a Customs file on Meneses but that it would be a "career-breaker" to do any work on it. Morrison claimed the agent said it was all right to file reports, but that any substantial work on the matter would result in a transfer to a dismal outpost or other retaliatory action, and that Customs agents "just knew by bureaucratic pressure" not to work on certain cases. Morrison denied that the Customs agent ever told him that the case was not to be touched because of national security interests or because of CIA influence. Morrison also denied statements attributed to him that the Customs agent was transferred as a result of his investigation into the FDN.
The OIG attempted to talk with the Customs agent with whom Morrison spoke, but he is retired and he refused to talk with us.
We interviewed the two FBI agents who took the report from Morrison in 1987. One stated that he was asked to provide some leads in San Francisco for the FBI "Front Door" case, which later became the Iran-Contra Independent Counsel's case. He said that after Morrison had contacted the FBI, he and another San Francisco FBI agent were assigned to interview Morrison. The FBI agents were instructed to do the interview and pass the information to FBI Headquarters for transmittal to the Iran-Contra special prosecutor. The FBI agent said that he remembered that Morrison saw conspiracies everywhere. The FBI agent said that, as instructed, he interviewed Morrison, wrote a report containing the information that Morrison reported, did not evaluate it or investigate it, and sent the report to FBI Headquarters for transmittal to the special prosecutor. The FBI agent did not remember receiving any response from Headquarters about it.
Both FBI agents denied having any confrontation with Morrison about Meneses. They said they had not heard of Meneses prior to the interview and denied chastising Morrison for raising any allegations about him.
In sum, Morrison's statements as reported in the San Jose Mercury News articles and FBI report and his statements to us differed in several respects. He denied to us that he had first hand knowledge of much of the information in the report and he claimed not to have said certain things that were included in the FBI report and Mercury News articles. We find it unlikely that the FBI agents screamed at him for reporting information about Meneses, as he claimed to us. They credibly claimed that they had not known about Meneses before the interview and they included Morrison's comments about Meneses in their report and passed the information along.
Morrison's information about a corrupt DEA officer refers to an allegation that was investigated in 1985 by the DEA Office of Professional Responsibility (DEA OPR). DEA OPR files show that in June 1985, DEA OPR opened a case based on an allegation from the defense attorney for Jairo Meneses that a DEA agent had accepted money from Norwin Meneses for investigative information.
On June 20, 1985, DEA OPR investigators interviewed Jairo Meneses about his lawyer's allegation. Jairo Meneses stated that in 1981, a drug dealer whom he named (referred to here as "the source") had told his uncle, Norwin Meneses, that he could provide information and protection from his "connection" in DEA. "The source" named his contact in DEA. According to Jairo Meneses, in the summer of 1982, Norwin Meneses tried to give the agent $5,000 in cash in a bowling alley in Dale City, California. The agent told Norwin Meneses to give the money to Jairo Meneses, who gave the money to the agent outside the bowling alley.
On June 26, 1985, the DEA polygraphed Jairo Meneses, asking him whether he lied about giving the agent $5,000. The polygraph examiner determined that Jairo was deceptive when he denied lying. Jairo Meneses nevertheless continued to maintain that he had in fact given the money to the agent.
DEA OPR also interviewed Renato Pena in 1985. Pena claimed that sometime around the summer of 1983 he heard Jairo Meneses tell Norwin Meneses that the reason the "DEA agent" did not take the money was because Norwin had "thrown" the money at the agent, so the agent had made Jairo hand him the money. Pena knew only the agent's first name. Pena said he was present during conversations when the Meneseses discussed getting information from "the source." Pena believed the source's information came from a DEA agent. Pena could provide no further information concerning the agent. Pena was not polygraphed by the DEA.
In July 1985, "the source" was interviewed by DEA OPR. "The source" said he had worked for the DEA as a confidential informant since 1978 and worked with the agent until late 1982 or early 1983. "The source" said he sometimes represented himself as a "crooked" DEA agent who worked with other "crooked" DEA agents. He recalled using this approach with Norwin and Jairo Meneses and said he may also have identified the agent as crooked as part of the ruse. "The source" denied having any illegal or improper dealings with the agent or any other DEA agent. "The source" said his business partner was present during some conversations with the Meneseses.
DEA OPR also interviewed "the source's" business partner, who said that "the source" often told people that he worked for DEA and that he and several DEA agents were corrupt. The business partner said "the source" did this to initiate drug cases for DEA and to introduce DEA agents undercover. The business partner added that he had heard Meneses brag about having connections in the United States government, including the CIA and politicians in San Francisco. The business partner never heard Meneses talk about any corrupt DEA agents, and the business partner had no knowledge of any.
On August 22, 1985, DEA OPR interviewed the agent and took a sworn statement from him. He denied ever receiving any illegal payments from the Meneseses or supplying them with any DEA information. The agent said he had tried to get Jairo Meneses to cooperate with DEA after his arrest in 1981 in the case investigated by Sandra Smith (see section above). Jairo had refused because he feared for his safety, but had said he would try to get Norwin Meneses to cooperate. In late 1981 or early 1982 the agent received a phone call from Norwin Meneses, who said that he had spoken with Jairo and would attempt to assist Jairo by supplying information about drug trafficking. Norwin said he was living in Los Angeles and traveling frequently to Central America, "where he was involved in the revolution to overthrow the Nicaraguan government."
The agent said that in 1982, when he stopped by "the source's" office, he saw Norwin and Jairo Meneses there. The agent was introduced to Norwin Meneses, who said that he was "a revolutionary and not interested in drug trafficking; however he wanted to help Jairo and knew others who were involved in cocaine smuggling." Norwin Meneses said that if he received information about drug transactions, he would pass it on to the agent. The agent denied having any other meetings with Norwin and denied that any bribe was ever offered or discussed.
DEA OPR issued a report on October 7, 1985, concluding that the allegations were not substantiated. On February 3, 1986, it issued a letter of clearance to the agent.
Later, in July 1986, the FBI polygraphed both Jairo Meneses and Renato Pena concerning the alleged bribe to the agent. The FBI polygrapher concluded that they were deceptive when they denied lying about their allegations.
In 1987, after Norwin Meneses offered to cooperate with the DEA's Costa Rica office, he again raised the allegation about the agent to Sandalio Gonzalez, the DEA agent in Costa Rica who debriefed him. According to a memorandum from Gonzalez, during a debriefing session on February 10, 1987, Meneses said that "he had personally paid the sum of $5,000 on numerous occasions to the agent, allegedly for protection. This took place in the San Francisco area approximately 3-4 years ago." Meneses added that the agent " was working in concert with some corrupt San Francisco police officials." Gonzalez reported in the memorandum that he did not get a detailed debriefing on this subject but was sending it to DEA Headquarters in compliance with DEA policy. The memorandum noted that there was a possibility that Norwin Meneses would meet with DEA inspectors concerning his allegations, and Gonzalez asked for instructions from DEA Headquarters on how to proceed.
According to a handwritten note in the DEA OPR file dated March 16, 1987, a DEA OPR official advised Gonzalez by telephone that the allegation about the agent had been made in June 1985, was investigated by DEA OPR then, and was found to be false. No further action was requested or taken concerning Meneses' claim.
Retired FBI agent Manuel Hinojosa told us that Pena had told him in 1984 about a San Francisco police officer whom Pena said Norwin Meneses was "paying off," but Pena never told Hinojosa that he had seen any money exchanged. According to Hinojosa, Pena never said anything about any federal agents being paid off or about any payoff in a bowling alley.
When we interviewed Norwin Meneses in Nicaraguan prison, he denied that anyone in DEA provided him with any information about any investigations. We were unable to locate Jairo Meneses.
We also interviewed the agent about this allegation. Consistent with his previous statement to DEA OPR, he denied receiving any bribe from Meneses or providing Meneses with any information. The agent said that after the arrest of Jairo Meneses in 1981, he had tried to get Jairo to "roll over" on Norwin but Jairo had refused. However, Jairo thought that Norwin Meneses would work with the DEA. The agent said he met with Norwin, who denied being a drug trafficker and said he was only interested in "getting his country back." Norwin eventually returned to Nicaragua and later contacted DEA agent Gonzalez in Costa Rica.
The agent said he did not recall specifically the conversation with Norwin Meneses about what he was doing for the Nicaraguan revolution. The agent said that Meneses was "pretty cryptic." The agent said he had the "impression" that Norwin was moving guns for the Contras. The agent said he also suspected CIA involvement with Meneses because of his claimed ties to the Contras. The agent said he contacted CIA in San Francisco and asked if the CIA was involved with Norwin and the CIA denied it.
In short, the allegations about the DEA agent's corruption were previously raised, investigated, and found to be unsubstantiated by DEA OPR. Pena and Jairo Meneses gave conflicting stories about the alleged bribe, and they failed polygraphs conducted by the DEA and the FBI. Moreover, an FBI agent said that Pena had told him about corrupt police officers but never mentioned anything about a corrupt DEA official. Our review found no information to undermine the credibility of DEA OPR's conclusions.
In Chapter II, section G, of this report, we described in detail how Norwin Meneses became a source of information for the DEA Costa Rica office in 1986 and the unsuccessful 1986-87 Los Angeles OCDETF investigation involving him. Rather than repeat that discussion in detail here, we will briefly summarize it before discussing the continued use of Meneses as an informant by the Costa Rica DEA after the Los Angeles OCDETF investigation was closed in 1987.
In July 1986, Norwin Meneses approached the Costa Rica DEA office unsolicited and offered to provide information on drug traffickers. The DEA agent in Costa Rica, Sandalio Gonzalez, debriefed Meneses, who provided the names of numerous drug traffickers inside and outside the United States. After checking DEA databases and finding no arrest warrants for Meneses, Gonzalez proposed using Meneses to introduce an experienced DEA confidential informant (DEA CI-1) to drug traffickers in Central America, South America, and elsewhere.
In December 1986, under Gonzalez's direction, Meneses and DEA CI-1 traveled to Los Angeles and in January 1987 met with Danilo Blandon, Ivan Torres, and members of Blandon's organization. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco were surprised to learn about this use of Meneses. The lead FBI agent on the Los Angeles OCDETF case, Doug Aukland, was also upset that he did not get a chance to interview Meneses before he returned to Costa Rica in January 1987.
In February 1987, discussions among various agencies conducting the investigations of Blandon and Meneses in Los Angeles and San Francisco, including the DEA, FBI and United States Attorney's Offices, resulted in an agreement that Meneses could be used as a source of information in the Los Angeles OCDETF case against Blandon but that Meneses would have to plead guilty to a cocaine-related charge based on his drug trafficking activities in San Francisco. The FBI in San Francisco opened a case on Meneses, but placed it in an inactive status while the Los Angeles OCDETF investigation proceeded.
In the spring and summer of 1987, attempts to get Meneses to return to the United States were unsuccessful. In response to requests to get Meneses to cooperate in the OCDETF case, DEA agent Gonzalez reported from Costa Rica that Meneses was not willing to testify in court, that Meneses would speak only with certain DEA agents, and that Meneses wanted assurances that he could live in the United States. DEA Headquarters refused to agree to protect Meneses' identity. In July 1987, prosecution was declined in the OCDETF investigation, and the case was closed, partly because of Meneses' unwillingness to cooperate.
Despite Meneses' reluctance to testify in court or cooperate with the Los Angeles OCDETF investigation, on July 24, 1987, the DEA in Costa Rica formally established him as a confidential informant. The Costa Rica DEA office wrote that Meneses, who had been a major trafficker, was prepared to assist the DEA and travel for the DEA in furtherance of major drug trafficking investigations in the United States, Central America, and South America. The DEA report noted that among the groups that might be targeted were some Nicaraguan government officials. In the DEA paperwork that activated him as an informant, the DEA Costa Rica wrote under the heading Prior Criminal Record, "no pending charges known at this time."
In September 1987, at the request of the Costa Rica DEA, Meneses received a 45 day visa to travel to the United States to assist in DEA investigations. On September 19, 1987, Meneses and DEA CI-1 went to Miami and made contact with a significant number of drug traffickers, one of whom was Blandon. DEA CI-1 reported that when he and Meneses met Blandon, they broached the subject of money laundering. Blandon said he was laundering money on a small scale for narcotics traffickers but that he expected this business to grow.
From Miami, Meneses traveled to San Francisco. On October 3, 1987, an FBI informant told FBI Special Agent Donald Hale that Meneses was in San Francisco. This informant later advised Hale that Meneses was telling his associates that he was an informant for the CIA and that was why he had not been arrested for drug trafficking.
We found no mention of Meneses' visit to San Francisco in the Costa Rica DEA files. But a later debriefing of DEA CI-1 by DEA agents in Los Angeles, found in a DEA general file entitled "Cocaine," stated that DEA CI-1 said that DEA CI-1 and Meneses went to San Francisco to work on a DEA operation there. The report stated that Meneses met with a pilot to arrange for the smuggling of 10,000 kilos of cocaine into the United States but no agreement was reached.
Meneses returned to Costa Rica where he was debriefed by Gonzalez about his activities in the United States on behalf of the DEA. He continued to work on other cases for the DEA Costa Rica office, including a major investigation of Colombian drug traffickers.
On November 23, 1987, the DEA Costa Rica office requested another 45-day single entry visa for Meneses to enter the United States. In November and December 1987, Meneses and DEA CI-1 returned to the United States and traveled to Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to meet with drug traffickers on behalf of the DEA. As a result of Meneses' cooperation, several DEA cases were initiated, including a case against Aparicio Moreno.
In January 1988, DEA agent Gonzalez was transferred from Costa Rica to the DEA office in Mexico City, and his cases and confidential informants were reassigned to other agents. DEA Special Agent James Rivera continued to work with Meneses after Gonzalez left Costa Rica. In 1988 and 1989, Rivera initiated several cases on drug traffickers in Central and South America based on information and assistance from Meneses that resulted in the arrest of several persons and the seizure of cocaine intended for shipment from Panama through Costa Rica to the United States.
On December 23, 1989, the DEA Costa Rica office deactivated Meneses as an informant. The deactivation form stated that although Meneses attempted to generate activity in investigations in which he was involved, none of them "appears to have any chance of fruition" and that given DEA guidelines concerning informant utility, he had to be deactivated.
According to DEA records, between the time Meneses was established as an informant in July 1987 until he was deactivated in December 1989, the DEA paid him $6,877, much of it to cover expenses Meneses incurred during his travels for the DEA. As we describe below in section I, the Costa Rica DEA activated him again in May 1990 for a short time, paid him $500, and deactivated him several months later. All told, Meneses received a total of $7,377.50 spread over 13 payments from the DEA.


MTV's content to ninemsn's audience of over eight million people.
locally produced content like MTV's flagship live music show The Lair.
European deal announced earlier this year.
The offering is scheduled to launch in June 2008.
An audience of eight million people, hey? Thats nothing to scoff at.


There has been some rumbling regarding Orange's move to be one of the first to officially go for Intel's Medfield chip and finally some specs and pictures have showed up online. Orange is the first to announce and later ship Intel powered phones in Europe.
Although it looks like Intel's reference device that was previously seen at CES 2012, Orange version looks a bit more polished. The specs include Intel's Atom Z2460 CPU paired up with Intel XMM 6260 HSPA+ loving platform. The chip is placed behind 4.03-inch 600x1024 screen and packs 8MP back, with support for 1080p and 1.3MP front camera.
The dimensions of the new Orange, "Orange Santa Clara" codenamed, smartphone are set at 123x63x9.99mm and it weighs in at 117g. The rest of currently known specs also includes Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS, 802.11bgn WiFi and 16GB of storage space. Unfortunately, the new smartphone will hit retail/e-tail with Android Gingerbread OS while ICS update is planed to follow "shortly thereafter".
According to Orange, the device will be exclusive to Orange customers in the UK and France. Intel also started an advertising campaign at European version of Wall Street Journal to support this brave move from Orange. Since Orange branded phones are usually much cheaper than the better branded competition, this kind of backs our story that Intel goes for the affordable market, here.


Colorful, floral, bold. Come see what's in store for spring this year.
Who are the women who wander?
THEY ARE BRAVE, ADVENTUROUS, RESTLESS, AND CURIOUS. Read more about our shop, women who inspire us, and the places we go on our blog.
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Ashley started Wanderer in Taos, New Mexico in 2016 where she pulled inspiration from the high desert mountains and placed it into an old adobe building in the heart of town.
Within a year, Wanderer opened its second location in Albuquerque and in 2018, the entire brand relocated to Fort Worth, TX so it could reach its full potential.
Wanderer has a unique mix of products and apparel so everyone can find something they love. Prices range from $15 to $250 which showcases a mix of trendy to sustainable, & handmade to manufactured. There is always an influence of the high desert and a wandering soul within, a reflection of Ashley and the modern women of today. Thank you for shopping small and wandering with us.
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Minister for Health Ahmet Gülle announced that protocols on kidney transplantation had been finalised and that (State) transplant operations would begin next month.
Touching upon the latest developments on the issue of organ transplantation, he said that consultations had been made and that a 3 year protocol had been signed with Ankara Hacettepe University's Faculty of Medicine.
"With this protocol, we envisage medical interventions and training of doctors as well as the organ transplant operations to be conducted by our doctors in a period of 3 years" Gülle said.
Speaking on BRT, Gülle also announced that work on the construction of a new modern hospital in Nicosia had begun.
"We are in the process of planning the 10 year period of the health sector. Work has begun to build a new, modern and better equipped hospital", Gülle said.


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Home»Comics » 'James Bond: Vargr' Vol. 1 Review
'James Bond: Vargr' Vol. 1 Review
Comics, Reviews
Created by Ian Fleming; Written by Warren Ellis; Art by Jason Masters; Colors by Guy Major; Letters by Simon Bowland
James Bond: Vargr details everyone's favorite 00 agent, James Bond, as he tackles the task of dissuading a drug importer from supplying a new and peculiar drug onto the streets of the United Kingdom. Bond's first step is to meet an informant residing in Berlin, Germany, but of course things do not go as planned, and Bond finds himself stumbling upon a much more complex and threatening criminal endeavor.
The first volume of James Bond: Vargr has plenty of fantastic, action-filled panels. In fact, Vargr often dedicates several panels, even pages, strictly to action sequences. The result is impactful and certainly helps deliver the Bond-style action fans have come to expect and love, but it may be costing the comic over all.
I suggest this because while the illustrations are engaging, the story-line itself is somewhat lackluster. As I have said in a previous review of the first issue of Vargr, the story-line that Ellis creates for readers appears promising, but it is introduced rather late. The first nine pages are devoted to James' assassination mission, which is only a small piece of the overall story. The kill is what prompts James to work the case involving the drug importer, but it is of no other importance to the heart of the conflict to come, and a similar developmental issue persists in the rest of the volume. The fact of the matter is, the promising story-line never seems to fully flesh out. In fact, it seems to lack much needed depth since the motivations of the main antagonist are explained in vague, superficial terms, as are the motivations of the antagonist's associates.
There also seems to be the typical Bond tropes laced within the work, such as the villain of the story cornering Bond into a deadly trap. Oh, and let us not forget the evil monologue he will inevitably tell Bond, depicting his machinations in detail, before leaving the oo agent to die a slow death. After one of the minions of the antagonist mentions how Bond never seems to die, one would think the mastermind behind all the chaos would refrain from nonchalantly leaving Bond alive, but the bad guys have not seemed to learn much in Bond's sixty-three years.
Now, that is not to say these tropes are not enjoyable. Some fans might argue it would not be Bond without these familiar scenarios, but that does not excuse the lack of innovation in the rest of the comic. The story-line could have certainly showcased some of those Bond tropes while also adding interesting layers to that familiar formula. I will say this, the comic does incorporate some interesting biotech that fits well with the Bond realm while also adding something refreshing to the spy thriller; however, I wish it would have been explored further, instead of being only touched upon as physical identification markers for one of the villainous associates.
James Bond: Vargr is not a bad comic, it simply was not what I had expected. It will still entertain readers, especially those who wish to see those classic Bond elements, but those who wished for something more, may end up slightly disappointed in the volume.
Buy 'James Bond: Vargr' on Amazon
Tags : action, comic, Guy Major, Ian Fleming, James Bond, Jason Masters, review, Simon Bowland, Spy, thriller, Vargr, Warreen Ellis
Star Wars Revisited Part IV – 'Episode II: Attack of the Clones'
'How to Talk to Girls at Parties' Comic Review


Releases on the Dub Conductor Music record label. All Dub Conductor Music releases are available as digital downloads. All purchases of Dub Conductor Music vinyl releases come with a free digital copy of the release.


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The interview was on WTOL in Toledo, Ohio and the screencap below shows the religious sign.
The interview took place at Genoa High School and was confirmed by the reporter who did the story. While the message on the sign is inspirational to some people, it has no place in a public school. Religious messages should be at church or in the home.
It is our understanding that a sign hanging in Genoa High School reads "FOLLOW CHRIST." An image of the sign is enclosed for your review.
It is unconstitutional for Genoa Area Local Schools to encourage its students to "Follow Christ," in effect encouraging non-Christian students to convert. We write to request that this sign be removed immediately.
The District violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when it allows its schools to display religious symbols or messages.
This religious display is particularly inappropriate given that nearly 30% of Americans are non-Christians, either practicing a minority religion or no religion at all, and about 44% of millennials are non-Christian." The display alienates those students, families, teachers, and members of the public whose religious beliefs are inconsistent with the message being promoted by the school.
Clearly the sign needs to be removed. I will let you know of any updates when I hear about them.
Happy National Day of Reason!
FFRF was notified today, 5/5/2016, which happens to be the National Day of Reason, that Genoa schools removed the "Follow Christ" sign.
The sign in question has been removed.
FFRF was also informed that students at the High school seem to be selling T-shirts to "save" the sign.
As long as the school isn't leading that action then there is nothing wrong with the sale.
You can teach and display Muslim precepts. You can have "wear a hijab" support days legally, but do not dare to mention Christ. FFRF is silent here. This newly hijacked America is morally empty and religiously discriminatory. Unfortunately, not equally discriminatory even where laws apply.
Your arguments do not hold water in my view. Learning to draw the early fish symbol used by Christians will never take place in schools, nor will wearing of yellow felt "star of Davids" with "Jude" imprinted on them as in the German holocaust.
"What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." – Confucious, could hang on the front door of any school, but if we quoted "…Love your neighbor as yourself" it would not be allowed because it is a quote from the Bible."Do not unto others which would cause pain if done to you."would probably be acceptable because the author Mahabharat was a phlosopher and "I will be as careful for you as I should be for myself in the same need." would surely be acceptable because it is quoting from the "Odyssey" by Homer. You could surely suggest that young people follow the advice of any of these quotes, yet only the Bible quote would be excluded from public display.
It seems that there are people who are bothered by certain sources of good advice… as if some voodoo within it might be catchy and I believe that this sign is such a case.
Your stand on leaving the sign as is, but removing "follow?
So you can't have a sign that says: "Be kind, love others, speak truth, show grace, work hard, be grateful." _ Christ, but it could be credited to a philosopher and be alright?
I doubt those were said by Christ. If you have the bible verse were he says that let me know. If the sign did attribute the words to Christ and that was the only sign with that message then it would still be a problem in a public school. If it was part of a display of inspirational messages by different people then it might be okay. It would depend on the context.
Deflection the question was not "Is this a quote from Jesus?".
If you have an example of a school exhorting its students to wear a hijab or encouraging them to become Muslims, why don't you inform the FFRF and ask them to intervene?
Giving a hypothetical example of something that may or may not happen, with no evidence that it has, is not an argument for displaying this sign in school. I'm a Christian myself, and a teacher, and I would be extremely uncomfortable if my school's administration decided to display something like this. It's not appropriate in school.
I was challenged that stories should not be hypothetical. Maybe we should let others read the news as reported and decide for themselves. I'm not afraid you won't believe it, only that you'll never get the chance to decide.
Sorry Doug, #1, this is not a "news" item, it's an opinion of Snopes. #2 your posting skipped by the first 15 paragraphs to post only where you found justification for what you believe. You have clearly shaved a large portion out of the context of this report. EVEN SO, the very basis of the story's headline, QUOTE: "Claim: Students at a middle school in Tennessee had to transcribe a portion of the Shahada." is considered "TRUE" by Snopes. This lends credence to the original report after all. Snopes never says the claim nor the supplied photo of the directive to write "Allah is the only God;" are false claims. It actually describes them as true. Near the end of the interview the teacher states that they did discuss Islam for one day. How do you discuss Islam and not discuss religion… Islam is "a religion"? TO AMY, this WOULD BE a good source to look over while considering what is true and what's not as both sides of the discussion have weighed in.
#1 I was pretty clear I included the item from snopes as an example of stories going around the Internet – an example you've still failed to provide when asking us to believe that Christians are being discriminated against in public schools. #2 In general, as snopes points out, the stories have SOME truth to them in this case the students were asked to translate a portion of the Shahada BUT the difference here is it wasn't put up as a sign by the school outside of the educational context nor did the teachers make any truth claims about the Shahada. They didn't teach the students the statement was true only that it was part of the Islam religion. They weren't demanding the students believe the statement or in the religion. It wasn't being used to provide inspirational support like the "Follow Christ" sign.
The stories are out there, both about teaching the five "Pillars of Islam" and in wearing of the hijab in support of Islam in schools and at school functions. In case you think the hijab is not a religious issue, find stories defending Muslim reasoning for wearing them in driver's license pictures. Just for clarification, I am anti all religious precepts being taught in school. I am not against the teaching of moral behavior no matter who you're quoting.
Teaching the five pillars of Islam isn't proselytizing any more than teaching that the Pope is the head of the Catholic church. It's a set of, "Here is what Muslims believe." Schools do the same thing when they teach about what the Know-Nothings believed, what the Shakers believed, what the Puritans believed. If this school had said, "Christians believe Jesus is the son of God," that's not proselytizing either. But when they change the statement to "Follow Christ," it's a huge problem. And I have never, EVER heard of a school posting or teaching an Islamic equivalent of that.
Again, if YOU have a SPECIFIC EXAMPLE please share it. Telling me "the stories are out there" leaves us with the conclusion that you either can't find or can't be bothered to find actual, concrete examples of a school promoting Islam. And you can't, because they don't exist.
Update: There is now a very large duplicate sign on private property where all the students can see it when they drive to school and the principal can see it from her office window. There are hundreds of tee shirts and yard signs on order. The people of Genoa, religions and non-religious alike do not appreciate someone with a letterhead and fax machine in Wisconsin telling us what we can and cannot do and have come together for a common goal. You lose, FFRF, you lose.
I didn't know you spoke for the non-religious too.
The principal put the sign up and it has been removed. FFRF was successful in the request as it should. The sign had no business being promoted by a school or administrator. The issue wasn't the sign itself but the fact that the school had put it up or allowed it to be put up outside the current legal views of various state and federal courts.
It a huge one is on private property and students are wearing t-shirts with the sign is not a violation and is in fact how religious expression in a public school is suppose to work.
Jennifer, a school should be teaching the Constitution, not ignoring it. Their job is to teach, not proselytize. How would you feel if it said "Follow Mohammed?" The people defending her now would burn down the school if she were pushing Islam.
FFRF has not lost at all. The students—and you, apparently—are missing the point completely. FFRF's objection is to government speech. All they want is for the GOVERNMENT to not promote religion. Signs saying "follow christ" are appropriate on private property, including students' shirts, but not on the wall of the school. This demonstration unwittingly underlines FFRF's victory.


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NBC Hypes Hawks-Wings on Sunday
March 3, 2010 by Stephen M. Lepore Leave a comment
NEW YORK – Mar. 2, 2010 – On Sunday, February 28, Olympic stars Patrick Kane of the USA and Jonathan Toews of Canada were opponents when Canada defeated the USA, 3-2, in overtime to win the gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. This Sunday, Mar. 7, Kane and Toews are reunited as teammates on the Chicago Blackhawks, who host the Detroit Red Wings, including Team USA's Brian Rafalski and Canada's gold medal winning head coach Mike Babcock, at United Center at 12:30 pm ET on NBC Sports.
Mike "Doc" Emrick (play-by-play), Eddie Olczyk (analyst) and Pierre McGuire (inside-the-glass reporter) call the action. McGuire will pull double duty, hosting NBC's studio show alongside analyst Mike Milbury on site at United Center.
EMRICK: "Detroit has been Chicago's nemesis. The Blackhawks have challenged the Red Wings but have never been able to overtake them. But this year, Chicago leads the Central. The United Center will be filled with 20,000-plus fans screaming their lungs out. It will be raucous."
With 87 points, Chicago is in first in the Central and second in the Western Conference. Detroit, the two-time defending Western Conference champions who have suffered through a string of injuries, are third in the Central with 70 points, good for eighth in the conference. No two NHL teams have played more regular-season games against each other than Chicago and Detroit.
EMRICK: "Detroit is starting to get healthy and you wouldn't want to run into them in the first round. They will be one of the foremost interesting teams to watch down the homestretch."
CLOSE GAMES: All five of NBC Sports' NHL games this season have been decided by one goal and four needed extra time to determine a winner. Prior to the Olympics on Feb. 7, the Capitals defeated the Penguins, 5-4, in overtime on Mike Knuble's goal. In the game, Sidney Crosby scored twice for Pittsburgh and Alexander Ovechkin registered a hat trick for Washington.
The week prior, on Jan. 31, the Penguins were on the winning end when they defeated the Red Wings in a Stanley Cup Final rematch, 2-1, via an overtime shootout. On Jan. 24, the Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, on a power-play goal by Matt Cooke with 1:47 remaining. In NBC's inaugural "Game of the Week" on Jan. 17, the Chicago Blackhawks needed a shootout to beat the Red Wings, 4-3, in Detroit. The Boston Bruins needed overtime to defeat the Flyers, 2-1, at Fenway Park on New Year's Day in the 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic.
NBCSPORTS.COM: NBCSports.com will again offer "Star-cam" this season, tracking a player from both teams throughout each of their shifts. Following the game, NBCSports.com will present bonus material, including "Star-cam" and "Net-cam" and bonus analysis from NBC Sports commentators.
FLEX SCHEDULING & CONSISTENT 12:30 PM ET START TIME: Again this year, "Game of the Week" broadcasts will consistently start at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sundays (except for Feb. 7 and Apr. 11, Noon ET start times). For the third straight season, the NHL and NBC Sports will utilize flex scheduling and will be able to select from up to four games on Sunday afternoons. At least 13 days prior to the scheduled games, the NHL and NBC Sports will announce one of those games as the "Game of the Week" to be broadcast during the NBC Sports window. The other games will remain available to the teams' regional carrier but will not be televised during NBC Sports' broadcast window.
2010 NHL GAME OF THE WEEK REGULAR-SEASON FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE
(All Games Announced At Least 13 Days Prior)
Sunday, Mar. 14, 12:30 p.m. ET
Washington @ Chicago (Flexed)
New York Rangers @ Boston
Buffalo @ Carolina
Sunday, Apr. 4, 12:30 p.m. ET
Detroit @ Philadelphia
Sunday, Apr. 11, 12:00 p.m. ET
Boston @ Washington
New York Rangers @ Philadelphia
Detroit @ Chicago


Quaint cobbled streets lined with boutiques and restaurants, pretty architecture and warm sandy beaches await you on holidays in Gouvia. Ideal for those looking for a taste of Greek history with all the modern conveniences, upmarket Gouvia is the perfect Greek Islands paradise for 2019 and 2019. Relaxation is what it's all about in this charming town, with a choice of pebble or sandy beaches and an array of excellent restaurants for foodies. If you're looking for some action dive into some of the many water sports available along the seaside. Or, keep your feet dry and explore nearby Corfu Town, which is just 15 minutes away.
Taking it easy is the name of the game on Gouvia holidays, with a fantastic selection of pretty beaches where you can simply watch the world go by. Choose from shingle, pebble or sandy and settle down for the day with a good book. Those who get itchy feet will enjoy sailing, parasailing, jet skiing and more in the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Head into the town for the evening and wander back in time through cobbled streets, stopping off in one of the many quaint, independent boutiques along the way. Those looking to try delicious traditional Greek cuisine paired with a selection of wines will not be disappointed.
Gouvia holidays cater to foodies and wine lovers alike. Choose from a selection of delightful local restaurants serving up recipes which have been in the family for generations. The calamari is excellent here, with freshly caught seafood almost from the fisherman's net to your plate, while meat lovers will find excellent local lamb and meat dishes to try. Enjoy al fresco dining as you watch the world go by, as well as expertly paired wines with local flavours. If you prefer to try something different or are on holiday with fussy eaters there are plenty of other cuisines available, including pizza and a selection of Indian, sushi and Chinese eateries. Almost all restaurants will cater to children.
A holiday in Gouvia is ideal for families with children of all ages. Little ones will enjoy the sheltered horseshoe shaped beach which shelves gently into the shallow, calm waters of the sea. Older children can spend their days making the most of the many water sports and activities on offer, or simply splash about in the balmy sea. There's a wide range of activities on land as well, including horse riding treks through the countryside, while further afield there is a waterpark, play park and even paintball to try. In the evenings there are plenty of eateries which cater to children and a warm, friendly atmosphere.
A holiday in Gouvia centres around its stunning beach, with plenty of activities to try. Try your hand at sailing and take in the beautiful countryside along the coast. Let someone else do the work for you and take a boat trip, or make the most of this stunning shoreline, pack a picnic and spend the day walking. For that adrenalin rush you can try parasailing, a banana boat ride or even water skiing. And if that isn't enough head to the nearby water park, which is just a 15 minute car ride away and will leave groups of all ages wanting to come back for more.
Located on the warm sunny east coast of Corfu, Gouvia holidays have long been a popular destination for anyone seeking the elite of the islands beaches. The town's main beach consists of gleaming white pebbles spread around a sheltered half moon which shelves gently into the sea; ideal for those travelling with little ones. Water sports enthusiasts should head to either end of the shore, where there are jetties and lots of activities to try, while swimmers and sunbathers should settle in the middle. Alternatively, just a five minute drive along the coastline will uncover idyllic sandy coves perfect for children of every age.
Gouvia offers guests a quiet nightlife scene, with restaurants open until late and ideal for those wanting to chat with friends and enjoy a glass of wine late into the evening. There are some bars dotted throughout the centre, which are the perfect place to meet people, watch the world go by and enjoy a cold drink or two. If you're looking for somewhere to dance in the centre of town you can enjoy some oldie tribute acts which pull in a crowd most evenings. If you're looking for a bigger night out the large resort of Corfu Town is just 15 minutes away by taxi and is home to a huge choice of both bars and clubs.
Couples will enjoy a romantic break in Gouvia, with sunny days spent soaking up the warmth of the sun on the beach and enjoying each other's company. For the explorative couples, there is lots of walking to enjoy in the local area, as well as water sports on the main beach and boutique shopping in the centre of the resort. In the evenings there are wine tastings, some charismatic bars, and a fantastic selection of romantic restaurants. Treat your better half to dinner al fresco and enjoy a cool drink among the beautiful architecture and soft, romantic, lights of the town.
The whole town of Gouvia is filled with Greek history, allowing you to step back in time as you soak in the cobbled streets and pretty architecture of the resort. Church Ipapantis is just a 10 minute walk from the town along its stunning coastline. Open in the mornings you can enjoy its historic paintings and ornate interiors, light a candle for a loved one and admire its pretty aspect, stretching out into the harbour. The Venetian Arsenal is a former shipyard, built by the Venetians in the 1700s when they ruled Corfu. It offers a wonderful sense of the long and fascinating history of Greece. Those craving a holiday packed with history, art and culture will not be disappointed, just don't forget your camera!


Want to grow lots of different sprouts at the same time? These ten mini trays allow you to do that and a full set of ten fills the growing area in the EasyGreen. You can also use them to have a variety of sprouts at different stages of growth, so you will always have some ready to use. Each tray measures 18 cm long by 9 cm wide.


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Q: Comparing 2D and 3D model in single Forge viewer I am new to Autodesk Forge Viewer. I want to achieve something like this but using splitScreen Extension or in single viewer. Is it possible to do it?   I am using Angular component Forge Viewer 7.

A: Unfortunately the splitscreen extension only supports synchronized navigation between the subscenes - that is you can only see different models in the subscenes from the same view/perspective.
Also see this sample here to achieve synchronized view in two separate viewers.


Welcome to the forum for Erratic's Graphics! This is the perfect place to come, if you have a quick question (or answer!) about graphics or coding. Or, if you'd like some advice on a graphics program or hints and tips on coding.
Have something to say that doesn't fit into our other topics or catagories? Say it here!
Want to advertise your graphics, coding services, premades, graphic examples, or anything as such? List it here!
Need some constructive and helpful critique on one of your graphics, layouts or premades? Here's the perfect place to ask for some.
Need some contructive critique on a snippet of coding, or some HTML you wrote yourself? Here's the place to ask for it.


Armor provides protection against a variety of damage types, as well as resistance (or vulnerability!) to certain status effects. Certain armor can also modify other aspects of your knight positively, such as by providing several extra health at the start of each Clockworks expedition, or boosting weapons.
Note: All stat images shown are of unheated items.


We took these photos a few weeks ago at the gorgeous Dallas Arboretum and we decided use some fun props! Quinn wanted to be held in almost every shot so we were lucky to get a few of just him on his own! Hard to believe my boy is 1 in 3 months?!!
I've skipped a few months but here is a little update on my 9 month old..
Size (Diapers, Onesies): size 3 diapers! Bottoms 3-6 and tops 9-12! His thighs are chunky still but everywhere else is thinning out quite a bit! He's finally in a big boy stroller and car seat.
Eyes: Getting darker blue every month! I'm happy he kept his blue eyes like me!
Hair: Finally getting long but just in the back!! My bald baby is officially growing a mullet! Staying brown but turning into a lighter brown.
Sleeping: yay! He's finally back to being a solid sleeper!! Most nights he sleeps 12 hours from 7-7. Sometimes wakes up around 5 but i'm trying to break that habit! We have been traveling a lot so he is a little off from changing time zones! As soon as 7 hits he is crazy fussy-she knows it's bed time! He will never sleep past 7 am but he takes amazing naps during the day so i don't mind the early morning at all.
Eating: I've gotten way way better at feeding him solids this month! We started introducing a lot of finger foods this month along with his normal solids! His favorite solid flavors are sweet potatoes, chicken noodle, chicken and apples (Sounds so gross but he loves it) His favorite finger foods are yogurt bites, bananas, avocado, apple cinnamon cheerios, and strawberries + rasberries! He eats three meals a day at the same times everyday!
He can stand by himself unsupported for up to 10 seconds!
Pulls himself up and walks along walls, drawers, furniture…pretty much everything. He loves to climb into everything and is always getting into mamas shoes and cookbooks.
Started putting his head under in the swimming pool!
Rode on his 8th airplane ride!! He is starting to get this traveling thing down!
DOGS(Maverick is his favorite dog) and pretty much obsessed with every other animal. We take him to pets mart and he has the most excited squeals.
The vacuum (He starts bawling every time I turn it on) haha!
Sitting in his stroller at the mall or anytime I want to get any shopping done. I have to hold him the whole time so we never get very much shopping done.


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This health-care non-profit's culture deck is getting attention in the startup world
Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar
If you think Silicon Valley is a challenge, try setting up shop here.
By Max Nisen
June 14, 2014 This article is more than 2 years old.
It's becoming increasingly common for companies to publicly detail their culture and management ideas, a trend kicked off by Netflix's famous culture presentation. Lately a presentation from Possible Health, a non-profit health provider that works mostly in rural Nepal, is attracting attention.
This is a pretty interesting company in its own right. Possible Health has designs to provide care inexpensively in desperately poor and remote places. The presentation borrows pretty heavily from the language and ideas of the startup world, applying those principles to purpose-driven work.
But in an interview with First Round Review, CEO Mark Arnoldy says his non-profit's experience could also be instructive in the for-profit world. Here's the full deck:
Possible's For-Impact Culture Code
Camille Ricketts
Since Possible operates in regions of a developing country with highly constrained resources and almost non-existent infrastructure, making its processes simple and functional—no matter the setting—is essential. Staff must work with minimal support, and to do that they must possess grit, Arnoldy explained:
"You want people to be dedicated to the battle irrespective of outcome. We always share a quote from the Gita that says, 'You're obligated to the battle, but not entitled to its fruits,'" he says. "No matter what gets in their way, they will continue to execute. That, more than anything, is the best secret sauce I've seen for any organization."
Much of the world lives in circumstances with far less than what the engineers, designers, and leaders of Western companies take for granted. The people, products, and companies that will succeed—particularly when operating in emerging economies—are those who can be resilient, scale rapidly, and bounce back if things go wrong. (Some in Silicon Valley have made a similar point.)
To find this grit in potential hires, Arnoldy suggests two interview questions:
First, ask candidates if they feel lucky to be where they are in their career. A positive answer points to optimism and gratitude. Then ask candidates to tell you about a time when they took a risk and failed, and a time when they took a risk and succeeded. Ask them what the difference was in their approach, how they felt, what they did afterward. "This really shows you how willing someone is to be bold, to fail, how resilient they are when they do, how humble and execution-focused they remain even when they succeed. Grit is very closely tied to humility."


Home » Backhoe Owner Operator Income Protection Insurance: Can Worksite Accidents Be Prevented?
Aside from long haul transport services, the earthmoving sector is also known to be Australia's haven for professional owner-operators. Think of backhoe loaders for excavation, road paving, landscaping, and transportation of heavy materials. These "mean machines" have always been making things possible for many Aussies to enjoy new residential building construction, state of the art commercial complexes, and other establishments essential for the economy to operate. Whilst many of these professional operators have backhoe owner- operator income protection insurance as a safety net, accident prevention must always be considered top priority in a worksite.
So, what particular causes are known to result in injuries, permanent disability or worse, fatality in various worksites involving backhoe loaders? What possible actions can be done to ensure safety?
Lack of Training. Backhoe loaders require not just driving but also certain techniques in maneuvering, loading and unloading, and so on. With such high demand in the earthmoving industry and the drive for cutting costs, many companies tend to contract operators who are inadequately trained or with little or no experience in handling such machinery. Driving a backhoe requires proper training with certification on safety focusing on certain aspects like handling of different situations. The key is for companies to roll out good training programmes. If there's none, driver-operators must always seek ways to be trained on how to handle different ground situations, inclement weather conditions, and other relevant aspects on safety.
Strict Adherence to Rules. Many experienced backhoe owner-operators tend to take shortcuts. With their vast experience, some of them look for ways they believe will make matters more convenient and less rigorous. These aspects, however, can often lead to disastrous results. In the same light, companies may also have the tendency to be complacent in their implementation of workplace safety. To correct this, stringent compliance measures must be carried out with contract owner-operators and penalties sanctioned for wrongdoings even without any incident to ensure strict compliance.
Lack of or Zero Preventive Maintenance. A common mistake among many heavy machinery owner-operators is the lack, if not zero, preventive maintenance. Backhoe operators tend to forget that their vehicle is virtually exposed to grueling tasks day in and day out. Poor maintenance or lack thereof only makes it as dangerous as having an untrained operator behind the wheel. The key is to put in place a regular preventive maintenance routine to identify problems and immediately address them while they're still manageable. It can save lives and costs, too!
Even with a reliable backhoe owner-operator income protection insurance policy, it is recommended that preventative action if seriously considered. Risks are common in the heavy equipment and transport industries. It is with your while to brush up on your skill set and update yourself with new training and safety management systems nowadays. Always engage in regular preventive maintenance and strictly follow implemented rules and guidelines regarding worksite safety. With these in place, injuries and fatalities can be minimized or prevented in whichever worksite you are in. At the end of the day, the life you save may be your own.
Remember that it is important to have a dependable backhoe owner-operator income protection insurance policy in place. Call us or send an email request to learn more.


Repositioning is sometimes used by organizations when faced with particular problems. To successfully reposition a product, the firm has to change the target market's understanding of the product. This is sometimes a challenge, particularly for well-established or strongly branded products.
What is repositioning and why is it used?
Should we reposition or launch a new brand?


My son and I went out to watch the Harvest Moon rise tonight over Marblehead. I've shot the Harvest Moon several times and always favored a composition including the lighthouse. Today, I decided to head down Beacon Street and shoot the full moon as it rose over Gerry Island, Childrens Island and boats moored in Little Harbor. Despite some haze at the horizon, the full Harvest Moon was a brilliant sight to behold. I composed this image to include the working boat Bertha in the frame. I've got a panorama of the full scene below.
The path between Gerry Island the main land is one of the most magical pieces of Marblehead - appearing twice a day like clockwork at low tide and disappearing without a trace as the tide rolls back in. I was out on Gerry Island hoping for a solid sunset backdrop for this image of the boats and houses along Doaks Lane. While the sunset never materialized, I still really liked this image of the road back to town leading the eye toward the mainland. Have a great weekend!