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Palestinian Guantanamo Detainee Says CIA Tortured Him
A Palestinian held at the Guantanamo detention center has accused U.S. government intelligence agents of torturing him while he was held at secret prisons elsewhere in recent years, and says he made false confessions to his interrogators to get them to stop the torture. The allegation came in the transcript released Monday of a hearing the detainee had at Guantanamo three weeks ago. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
According to the Defense Department transcript, the detainee known as Abu Zubaydah (Zayn al Abidin Muhammad Husayn) told a panel of U.S. military officers he was tortured by agents of the Central Intelligence Agency because they thought he was a partner of the al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden. Officials removed most details of the alleged torture from the transcript, but Abu Zubaydah charged that his physical treatment exacerbated serious injuries he had suffered in 1992.
In addition, he charged that the CIA interrogators promised to return his diary to him and then did not, which he said affected him emotionally and triggered seizures.
Abu Zubaydah said he told the interrogators he was working with Osama Bin Laden just so they would stop torturing him.
Responding to Abu Zubaydah's charge, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said the United States "does not conduct or condone torture." He said the agency's terrorist interrogation program is implemented lawfully, and has produced information that has "disrupted terrorist plots and saved innocent lives."
Abu Zubaydah said he has not been mistreated since he arrived at the U.S. military-run detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with 13 other men in September. The U.S. Defense Department calls these men "high value detainees."
The U.S. military says Abu Zubaydah managed a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and helped transfer more than half a million dollars to Osama Bin Laden. It also says he had plans in his diary for attacks on civilian targets in the United States.
At the hearing, Abu Zubaydah denied being part of Bin Laden's organization and said the plans in his diary were only ideas. He said he did not manage the training camps, but did operate a guest house where fighters stopped on their way to and from one training camp.
Abu Zubaydah told the panel he opposes attacks on civilian targets, and that his view put him at odds with Bin Laden. He said he believes the September 11, 2001 attacks against civilians at the New York World Trade Center were not in keeping with Islamic Law on Jihad. But he said after the attacks, he was ready to help defend Afghanistan against the U.S.-led invasion.
The Palestinian, who was raised in Saudi Arabia, said he has been an enemy of the United States since he was a child because of its support for Israel. But he said he considers himself an enemy only of the U.S. government and military, not the American people. He said he is not an enemy combatant and never conducted or financed any operation against the United States.
The hearing Abu Zubaydah had late last month is designed to help determine officially whether he is an 'enemy combatant.' Another hearing was to be held in secret to review classified evidence and the final decision will be made by senior officials at the Pentagon. All Guantanamo detainees have such hearings, as well as annual reviews of their status.
Hundreds of detainees have been released as a result of these proceedings. Those who are found to be 'enemy combatants' remain at Guantanamo and could be charged, tried and sentenced by the U.S. military under a new procedure approved last year by the Congress.
US Judge Rejects Torture Claims in Trial of Alleged al-Qaida Member
A U.S. judge has refused to drop terrorism charges against an alleged U.S.-born al-Qaida operative because of claims that he was tortured. From Miami, VOA's Brian Wagner reports the ruling is unlikely to settle concerns about torture against Jose Padilla or other terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. Judge Marcia Clark rejected the motion filed by defense attorneys for Jose Padilla, who is accused of giving material support to the al-Qaida terrorist…
Debate Continues on Holding Terror Suspects at Guantanamo Bay
The U.S. Congress is debating legislation to change the way alleged terrorists, known as unlawful enemy combatants, are allowed to use America's legal system while they are being detained by the Defense Department at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Bush administration argues the United States can hold enemy combatants until the end of the war on terror, while others say the detainees should not be in custody for lengthy periods without criminal charges or complete access to…


Photo by Ke Chean Neoh. Dongdaemun Design Plaza. All Rights Reserved.
When we hear outdoor Hanbok photo shoot, I am sure many of us would think of shooting at Gyeongbok Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village or any other ancient remains or relics in Korea. But we wanted something different. So during the pre-shooting prep discussion with Azri and Neoh, we talked about having the photos taken at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the neo-futuristic building stood elegantly and defiantly at Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station. We thought the gray, spaceship-looking façade and the beautiful flowing lines of the building could create an avant-garde atmosphere to the photo.
So here are some of the photography works by the two talented photographers, Azri and Neoh. I love the harmonious clash of tradition and modernity in the pictures.
Photo by Azri Idzuandi. Dongdaemun Design Plaza. All Rights Reserved.
One candid photo showing what was behind the scene. On the left is Jamie the photogenic dongsaeng in a classic hanbok; in the middle is our lovely photographer Neoh, who totally nailed his modeling pose.
By the way, I am wearing a rental Hanbok sponsored by Oneday Hanbok, a friendly hanbok rental service provider based in Seoul. The simple, muted tones of my hanbok fit nicely with the background and created a sense of conformity. The sky blue upper-garment is called a Dang-ui 당의, a garment commonly wore over a short jacket (jeogori) by the queen consort, the king's concubines, the sanggung (court matron), and the noblewoman. There are many different styles available at their new shop near the exit 8 of Chungmuro station 충무로역. Check my review on Oneday Hanbok here if you intend to rent a hanbok during your trip to Seoul!


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Athletics 2014 Spring Training Roster
56 Fernando Abad L-L 6'1" 220 Dec 17, 1985
70 Raul Alcantara * R-R 6'3" 205 Dec 4, 1992
60 Jesse Chavez R-R 6'2" 160 Aug 21, 1983
48 Ryan Cook R-R 6'2" 215 Jun 30, 1987
62 Sean Doolittle L-L 6'3" 210 Sep 26, 1986
54 Sonny Gray R-R 5'11" 195 Nov 7, 1989
44 Luke Gregerson L-R 6'3" 200 May 14, 1984
64 A.J. Griffin R-R 6'5" 230 Jan 28, 1988
45 Jim Johnson R-R 6'6" 240 Jun 27, 1983
26 Scott Kazmir L-L 6'0" 185 Jan 24, 1984
68 Arnold Leon R-R 6'1" 205 Sep 6, 1988
25 Josh Lindblom R-R 6'4" 240 Jun 15, 1987
57 Tommy Milone L-L 6'0" 205 Feb 16, 1987
39 Eric O'Flaherty 60-day DL ** L-L 6'2" 220 Feb 5, 1985
61 Dan Otero R-R 6'3" 215 Feb 19, 1985
11 Jarrod Parker R-R 6'1" 195 Nov 24, 1988
13 Drew Pomeranz R-L 6'5" 240 Nov 22, 1988
33 Fernando Rodriguez R-R 6'3" 235 Jun 18, 1984
50 Joe Savery L-L 6'3" 235 Nov 4, 1985
58 Evan Scribner R-R 6'3" 190 Jul 19, 1985
67 Dan Straily R-R 6'2" 215 Dec 1, 1988
66 Michael Ynoa * R-R 6'7" 210 Sep 24, 1991
35 Chris Gimenez R-R 6'2" 220 Dec 27, 1982
5 John Jaso L-R 6'2" 205 Sep 19, 1983
36 Derek Norris R-R 6'0" 210 Feb 14, 1989
21 Stephen Vogt L-R 6'0" 215 Nov 1, 1984
10 Daric Barton L-R 6'0" 205 Aug 16, 1985
18 Alberto Callaspo S-R 5'9" 225 Apr 19, 1983
20 Josh Donaldson R-R 6'0" 220 Dec 8, 1985
15 Jake Elmore R-R 5'9" 185 Jun 15, 1987
7 Nate Freiman R-R 6'8" 250 Dec 31, 1986
8 Jed Lowrie S-R 6'0" 190 Apr 17, 1984
37 Brandon Moss L-R 6'0" 210 Sep 16, 1983
32 Shane Peterson * L-L 6'0" 210 Feb 11, 1988
1 Nick Punto S-R 5'9" 195 Nov 8, 1977
28 Eric Sogard L-R 5'10" 190 May 22, 1986
52 Yoenis Cespedes R-R 5'10" 210 Oct 18, 1985
4 Coco Crisp S-R 5'10" 185 Nov 1, 1979
3 Craig Gentry R-R 6'2" 190 Nov 29, 1983
16 Josh Reddick L-R 6'2" 180 Feb 19, 1987
23 Michael Taylor R-R 6'5" 255 Dec 19, 1985
Designated Hitters B/T Ht Wt DOB
55 Matt Buschmann R-R 6'3" 195 Feb 13, 1984
72 Jose Flores R-R 6'3" 250 Jun 4, 1989
71 Deryk Hooker R-R 6'4" 215 Jun 21, 1989
47 Philip Humber R-R 6'3" 210 Dec 21, 1982
53 Jeremy McBryde R-R 6'2" 225 May 1, 1987
49 Fernando Nieve R-R 6'0" 220 Jul 15, 1982
31 Andrew Werner L-L 6'2" 215 Feb 25, 1987
74 Dusty Brown R-R 6'0" 195 Jun 19, 1982
73 Bruce Maxwell L-R 6'2" 235 Dec 20, 1990
22 Luke Montz R-R 6'1" 230 Jul 7, 1983
38 Jose Martinez R-R 5'11" 175 Jan 24, 1986
63 Darwin Perez S-R 5'10" 160 Jul 27, 1989
17 Addison Russell R-R 6'0" 195 Jan 23, 1994
19 Billy Burns S-R 5'9" 180 Aug 30, 1989
29 Sam Fuld L-L 5'10" 175 Nov 20, 1981

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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SPLC Sues Tuscaloosa Sheriff to Release Public COVID-19 Jail Records
Special To The ...November 23,2020
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a lawsuit today against Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy for not complying with the Alabama Open Records Act.
Nearly four months after SPLC requested public information regarding COVID-19 in Tuscaloosa's jail, Abernathy has failed to respond.
The complaint, filed in the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County, asks the court to compel Abernathy to respond to its public records request and numerous follow-up attempts seeking information critical to the health and safety of Tuscaloosa residents and Alabamians, including the number of COVID-19 tests administered, number of positive cases, and related cell assignment policies.
More than 220,000 Alabamians - and more than 12,000 Tuscaloosa residents - have been infected with COVID-19 since March 2020. Thousands have died and cases continue to rise.
"We know that jails and prisons are especially vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19," said Alex Jordan, SPLC staff attorney for the Economic Justice Project. "Incarcerated people are crowded in close quarters without the ability to safely social-distance and without access to essential personal protective equipment. Staff come and go between the jail and the community daily. New people are booked into the jail and released each day. Despite this perfect storm created for COVID-19 to spread and the dangers it poses to Tuscaloosa residents inside and outside the jail, Sheriff Abernathy is refusing to disclose information, which the public is entitled to under Alabama law."
Despite the dangers of a pandemic, the Tuscaloosa County Jail is operating at 135 percent of its capacity and, in September 2020, an outbreak of approximately 100 people occurred within the jail, according to the complaint filed today. The Alabama Department of Corrections, which publishes updated COVID-19 data on its website, has recorded nearly 1,400 cases and at least 34 deaths across 33 of its facilities throughout the state. Other outbreaks have been reported at the jails in Mobile and Bullock counties.
"Many people, accused of committing only misdemeanor offenses, are sitting in the Tuscaloosa County jail simply because they cannot afford to pay for their release, putting their health and well-being at-risk," Jordan said. "Sheriff Abernathy is choosing to withhold essential information that would allow incarcerated people, jail staff, justice system stakeholders and the public to protect themselves from this virus that has proven to be deadly in some cases."
The complaint is available here.
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy
Alabama Open Records Act
Alex Jordan
Economic Justice Project
Tuscaloosa County Jail


City-centre fights and A&E admissions, fuelled by alcohol misuse, make for high profile media stories. But there are other effects of alcohol misuse, which happen 'behind closed doors', that have an influence on family life.
The report is based on evidence from two separate pieces of research. The first of these is the Birth Cohort Study (BCS), a cohort study of more than 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week during 1970. Over the course of the cohort-members' lives, the BCS has collected information on many factors including alcohol consumption and family life. The current study used information collected from follow-up in 1980 (when the cohort members were aged 10), in 1986 (when they were aged 16) and in 2004/05 (when they were aged 34).
The researchers then looked at whether parenting styles had any association with children's drinking levels at 16 and 34 years of age.
The second piece of research involved in-depth interviews with 50 families across the UK where at least one parent was accessing alcohol support services for being a 'harmful' or problematic drinker. Most of the parents were single mothers, many of whom had started drinking at a very young age.
High quality family-based support for parents who are 'harmful' drinkers.
Alcohol support programmes to focus on parenting and advise on parenting techniques.


Washington, D.C. – The Diesel Technology Forum today issued the following statement regarding the practice known as "Rolling Coal", whereby a diesel pickup truck engine and/or emissions control system is modified to generate excessive black smoke emissions.
"The diesel industry is extremely disappointed that a small segment of diesel pickup truck owners have chosen to tamper with the emissions and engine control systems to over-fuel the engine so as to deliberately produce black smoke emissions. For the last decade, the industry has invested billions of dollars to produce diesel engines that today are near-zero in emissions. That's why they're called clean diesel," said Allen Schaeffer, the Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum, a non-profit educational group.
"Diesel engines have long been a popular option in heavy-duty pickup trucks because of their superior fuel efficiency and towing performance - not black smoke emissions. This practice of 'rolling coal' which has targeted drivers of hybrid vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, law enforcement and others is dangerous, harmful to the environment, and illegal. We urge state and local air quality and law enforcement officials to fully enforce all clean air and vehicle emission laws available to stop this unlawful practice.
"We're proud to be 'rolling clean' with today's new clean diesel pick-up trucks, which utilize advanced combustion and emissions control technology to meet the most stringent of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean air standards. As a result, these clean diesel trucks have near zero emissions of particulate matter as well as other emissions.
"Since 2007, engines have been designed to run on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel that has reduced sulfur content from 500 part per million (ppm) to 15 ppm – a 97 percent reduction. This lower sulfur fuel has enabled manufacturers to reduce emissions through use of emissions control technologies such as particulate filters.
"The Diesel Technology Forum is strongly opposed to tampering with emissions controls or engine performance for the purpose of generating excess smoke emissions - both of which are in violation of the Clean Air Act. Highly modified vehicles creating black smoke by over-fueling are not representative of mainstream diesel owners or vehicles, and certainly do not represent the new generation of clean diesel technology.
"The diesel engine, filter and equipment manufacturers worked closely with EPA, the California Air Resources Board, national health and environmental organizations and numerous other organizations over the years to develop today's clean diesel technology.
"This research and development has lead to the creation of the world's cleanest diesel engines and fuel which has reduced particulate matter and NOx emissions by more than 98 percent. In addition, the new technology has increased diesel fuel efficiency.
"According to research commissioned by the Diesel Technology Forum, a new diesel powered pickup truck will consume 425 less gallons of fuel in one year compared to a comparable gasoline powered pick-up. A typical diesel pickup truck owner will save, on average, $1,400 in fuel costs thanks to the efficiency of these clean diesel engines. This is a significant savings that will be compounded each year of ownership.
The Diesel Technology Forum is a non-profit national organization dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of diesel engines, fuel and technology, and working with policymakers and other stakeholders on common solutions. Forum members are leaders in clean diesel technology. For more information visit www.dieselforum.org.
For the latest insights and information from the leaders in clean diesel technology, join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @DieselTechForum, or YouTube @DieselTechForum and connect with us on LinkedIn.


We departed Galveston, hugging the coastline for as long as possible going through Kemah and then west to Houston. Once in Houston we proceeded to the Project Rowhouses, a block of vintage structures that are now used as studios and display spaces for artists. The houses didn't open until twelve and we were too early, so we did a short walk around the Third Ward neighborhood where the rows of cleaned up and repurposed single shotgun-style buildings are. We then met up with Frazier King, who is a board member at HCP, the Houston Center for Photography, to discuss over lunch the Photographers-Squared project and possible further plans. We then headed over to HCP to get a tour of the facility and see the shows that are now up.
Hoping to get perhaps a photo or two more for the book, we took a chance and headed to a section of the Houston Shipping Channel. Unfortunately, like many cities, it's difficult to get down to the water and without the correct credentials you can't enter the area. It had been raining on and off since being at HCP, so we rode back to the Project Rowhouses to see the actual installations that by now were open for viewing.
I am deeply honored and in gratitude not only for all the support we have received over the past 5 months, but to all the people we have met along the way. This project has been a dream of mine for 7 years, and now, at the close of our last travel day, I find myself a more enriched woman.
I cannot express enough gratitude to Sheree Sanborn for her skills and persistence in contacting and organizing all of our High School, College and adult presentations. Thank you!
Sayaka - thank you for being a trooper driving us around making crazy u-turns for us and stopping on a moments notice when we spot something on the road. You made our last 2 trips so much easier and enjoyable.
Here are our final iPhone photos and our video.
Day 4 was our most productive day thus far with 5 subjects. We started out this morning taking a ferry ride to Bolivar Peninsula where we found a lighthouse and fort, but alas didn't capture any images.
With all the rain we had the past few days, the mosquitos were out in full force at the fort, and we were the ones under attack. They even followed us into the car but luckily we had rapid fire window smashes and claimed victory.
We drove further north to Highland and the Intracoastal Highway where we found some tugs and barges passing close at hand. We drove back to the ferry where I was lucky to be the recipient of a sizable seagull dropping. Rather than go explore Galveston with an abstract poop print on my shirt, we decided to go back to the hotel to clean up.
The rest of the day was spent exploring some locations we had on our list but we didn't find anything to photograph.
During dinner we were discussing plans of what to do tomorrow and we decided to head out early and drive to Houston. With only 4 subject taken today (total 9 for the week) we were getting a little nervous about reaching our 10-12 subject goal. As we were talking I mentioned a VW van with a Texan flag we saw and we decided to see if it was still parked where we saw it. Luckily it was there, and the owner, Eric, allowed us to photograph it. Subject 5 for the day and 10 for the week was reached!
Tomorrow will be our last video for the trip and for our travels. I can't believe that we've been to all 5 locations and that the our traveling is coming to an end.
We have posted todays iPhone photos and video to our site. Thank you for all the wonderful comments and feedback!
Today was really packed. We explored both the the northern tip of Galveston Island and then uncovered subject number five on the southern part in a locale called Surfside Beach. After our early morning explorations we were then off to do a presentation at Ball High School. Ball has an interestiing history in that it was built by a philanthropist, George Ball, and then given as a gift to the city of Galveston. We had to squeeze the presenatation into a scant forty-five minutes, but it was clear that the students took a real interest in the project and photography. We fielded a number of rather sophisticated questions such as what it is like making the transtion from film to digital and how certain camera sensors differ.
Since we had a break before our evening presentation at the Galveston Arts Center, we took some time to explore the abandoned Falstaff Beer factory, a tip we received from the photography teacher, Britney Nealon, at Ball. The site yielded some nice iPhone photos, but before MIndy and I could even consider if it was a subject, the local sheriff pulled up and we had to get a move on. We then did some looking around in the Strand, the historical district of Galveston.
Our presentation at GAC was five people, which was not that unexpected; it's difficult to get people to turn out on a weeknight, but what it lacked it quantity, it made up for in quality. One gentlemen had traveled forty-five minutes to see and hear about what we are doing. Both Bryan Garcia, Technical Director for the center and Jennifer Justice, Exective Director were in attendance and the discussion became much like a roundtable on the philosophy of photography and what exciting possible future directions the project might take. Both Mindy and I have a lot to think about, but first we have to go and find subects number six to twelve!
Here are our iPhone photos and video from today.
This morning we started out excited about visiting the abandoned Hot Wells Hotel and Spa in San Antonio. Our excitement slowly waned as it became increasingly clear that it was difficult to find. The address listed online wasn't correct. I went and asked the front desk clerk at a Motel 6 nearby if he knew where we could find it. He gave me instructions and off we went. To find nothing. We then asked in a gas station, where the owner knew nothing of what we asked. We then asked two local gentlemen who were standing on the street waiting for a bus and they excitedly guided us where to go. No good. Nothing. We then came across a group of 5 police officers who we asked. They were all so friendly and one of them even offered to drive us to the now 'construction site' of where the spa used to be.
So off we went, escorted by the very kind Officer Salinas, to the construction site which was behind a no trespassing train track gate. Of course we meandered our way over to the site which had a locked gate and was covered with razor wire. No entrance. Even though there were cars behind the gate, we couldn't find a human soul to ask to let us in.
As RA says, 'onward'. We have come across situations like this a few times on our various journeys where we searched for something we know we wanted to see, but the universe had different plans for us. At least we tried.
Next stop: Mission San Jose - which was open AND allowed us to take photos. The mission was an outpost established by the Catholic religious orders to spread Christianity to the natives and was built in the late 18th Century. We explored the compound and towards the end we found a subject we agreed to photograph. Hallelujah!
Thereafter we drove to find the largest cowboy boots in all of Texas (you'll see a photo of it in our travelogue page) and then a healthy lunch at Vegeria, a Vegan restaurant.
Sayaka then drove us all the way back to Galveston in cloudy, rainy, downpour, cloudy rainy conditions.
Tomorrow we'll be presenting at the Ball High School in the afternoon, and then at the Galveston Arts Center in the evening.
We did not do a video today as the weather was not working in our favor, but you can view our iPhone photos on our travelogue page.
It's hard to believe we are already on the last trip of our five location adventure. We've been dodging raindrops. Luckily we had clear skies for the three subjects we captured --a great start since we usually aim for a total of twelve and its only the first day! It looks as though there is going to be on and off rain for the remainder of the trip. Northern Texas got hit with the worst of it including at least one tornado. So, fingers crossed!
We headed along the coastline to Victoria (the spot that was originally randomly chosen on the map) and then down toward Seadrift where the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers terminate in San Antonio Bay. We then turned back northward to San Antonio. The plan is to photograph tomorrow in San Antonio and then head back to Galveston for two presentations there and then exploring Thursday and Friday. Galveston is a city rich in history (it was once known as "The Playground of the South") and appears to have a great deal remaining that is linked to its past.
Special thanks to Sheree for arranging what came down to an eleventh hour presentation at one of the high schools in Galveston and to Sayaka for driving just about all day today.
Today we spent most of the day in the car driving slowly back towards Seattle. We made a few stops to view some of the historical sites along the way, but only took one photo - our first of an interior. We are now in the City of La Grande, OR, where we'll spend the night and rest up.
These past few days have really been interesting and enjoyable for us. First, we were both more relaxed as Sayaka was doing all the driving. Second, we had some really good leads on where to shoot, especially from Sean Cassidy, the Professor at Lewis-Clark State College and Patricia Keith who we happened to meet yesterday in a cafe before our presentation, which she was planning to attend. The weather has also been on our side - not too cold nor too hot.
We were also very much surprised at the beauty of the landscape - rolling hills, forests, plains, mountains and rivers.
The hospitality and friendliness was welcomed by us - everyone we encountered was genuine, authentic and willing to assist when we asked any type of question.
And we can't forget about the food! All three of us were pleasantly surprised by the selection and quality that was served to us.
All in all we feel we had a very successful trip. At this point we have photographed 10 subjects, giving us some wiggle room to negotiate pairings for the book.
Next month we will fly to Houston to photograph Galveston and the surrounding area.
To view some photos we took with our iPhone today please click here.
We set out early again today in the hope of getting a good shot of the local paper mill. Unfortunately, it seemed to be in a lull and lacked the billowing steam that can make it look so powerfully overwhelming. Undaunted, we ate breakfast and headed back in the direction of Stites, a town with a whopping population of around 200. At this point, we had fairly heavy rain, but it lightened up by the time we hit Kooskia, another small town with its own style of quirky energy. There we added three more subjects to our collection. We continued on to Stites, having coffee at the town's only cafe, but not finding any subjects. Heading back, I got out and rephotographed one subject that had been difficult to capture in the light rain while Sayaka had patiently held an umbrella over my non-weather sealed camera.
Reaching Lewiston around 1 PM, we were greeted by clear skies and sun. We made a side trip to find a site on the Clarkston waterfront that had been suggested yesterday by one of the students at the high school, but we had no luck locating it. After lunch we headed back to the abandoned Collins farm, just a few miles outside of Lewiston, and finally, after two previous visits, found a workable light. From there we revisited three more sites, one in Uniontown and two others in Lewiston, but found all three to not be workable either because of the particular light or the subject matter, once it was more carefully considered. At this point, we took a stroll down Main Street in Lewiston, ending up at a cafe where we ran into Patricia Keith, a colleague of Sean Cassidy, the photography professor at Lewis-Clark College where we presented yesterday. Patricia was able to map out for us what should be a facinating and dramatic route back to Seattle that we will embark on tomorrow. This was a really lucky chance meeting.
Primed with scones and hot drinks, we did our PowerPoint presentation to a small, but lively audience at Lewis-Clark State College Center for Arts and History. We were also treated to a special tour of the building (a former bank) and the exhibits by Kelsey Grafton, the Exhibit and Programming Coordinator. A special shout out to Kelsey for making this happen!
To view our iPhone photos from today please click here. For today's video please click here.
This morning RA & I had a plan of what we wanted to photograph however we came across a situation which hadn't really happened to us before: the lighting was such that in one location I couldn't take the photo as I needed more light (RA was fine) and the next subject I could photograph (the light was too flat for RA). We decided to skip it until tomorrow afternoon when the light will be suitable for us both.
Later in the morning we had the pleasure of presenting at the Clarkston High School. The class was an AP class (Advanced Placement) and some of the questions were quite sophisticated - we were impressed!
After having lunch at our favorite cafe (Mystic Cafe) we decided to explore more of Nez Perce National Park. We first drove to 'Heart of the Monster' where the Nez Perce believed they were originally created. It was an interesting location - a little challenging to shoot (more so for RA than myself), but we felt that it was worth trying to capture.
We then continued south to Whitebird Battle field, where in 1877 the Nez Perce had their first battle with the US Army. The battlefield is a prairie in a valley but it was very difficult to portray a visual story. We ended up not taking any photos.
What was very interesting were some of the small towns in between Heart of the Monster and Whitebird. We will be discussing the possibility of driving back to one town in particular which had a lot of eye candy.
After Whitebird we felt we had enough time to head back to one of the locations Sean brought us to yesterday. Unfortunately the sun was a little too low to give us the light we needed. We will return there again. The third time should be the charm!
Overall, it was visually stimulating day - we are both very surprised at the vastness and ever changing beauty of the landscape. It far exceeded my expectations!
Today was one of those jam-packed days that are exciting and hugely productive. We started with an early breakfast and then headed to the visitor's center at Nez Perce National Park where we got much background information as well as directions to areas within the park. We then headed south, past Asotin to check out some petroglyphs along the Snake River that are believed to have been incised in stone some 4500 years ago. These enigmatic and fairly small pictographs can easily be missed by the casual eye, yet start to visually multiply once you start to carefully observe them. We could have easily spent hours looking, but time was short since we had a presentation to do in the afternoon at Lewis Clark State College, so from there we headed back to Lewiston.
To view today's iPhone photos click here, and today's video click here.
We're back! I can't believe we've started our 4th journey - this time in the north west part of the US.
We flew into Seattle last night and started driving south east to Lewiston, ID this morning. Benefit of jet lag - we got a really early start which allowed us a full day of exploring! We decided to go to Palouse Falls State Park as we heard about an amazing waterfall that dwells in the ravines. What a sight to see! Absolutely stunning beauty (if you want to see some iPhone images, please visit our travelogue photos). We walked along some of the twisty ravine paths to really get a feel of natures pure beauty - and had to get close to the ledge to get the full effect - not good if you're afraid of heights (luckily RA & I are not). A definite site to see for anyone who visits the area.
We then continued east and came across a beautiful rail bridge - RA and I simultaneously shouted "ooooo" so we stopped and explored and photographed our second subject of the day. You can get an idea of the area if you watch today's video.
We are both super excited about the fabulous start to the trip. We can't wait to see what Idaho has in store for us!
Thank you, Sayaka, for being our chauffeur on this trip - it's really allowing RA & I to pay attention to the scenery around us.
RA and I are excited to announce that we've posted our favorite shots from our second trip to Charleston, SC!
We scanned through all our photos, choose our favorites and discussed (multiple times) which photos will work best as pairs for the book. The out-takes are what we've posted to our site. To view the out-takes please click here.
All the photos on our site are for sale. If you would like more information on price and sizing please contact me (color photos) or RA (black & white photos) directly.
Please note we also have a Travelogue tab on our site which contains all the images and videos that we've taken along the way from our iPhone and/or point & shoot camera. To view the images please click here and to view our videos please click here.
Over the next few weeks we will be working on our Joshua Tree, CA images. We look forward to sharing them with you!
Mindy and I were up and out the door again at about 5:50 this morning. We chose to revisit Joshua Tree State Park one more time in the hope of making a few more images. We succeeded there, working again in the magical, clear light that happens just after sun-up. We then had breakfast and proceeded to Desert Christ Park, where there are many devotional sculptures made of what appeared to be whitewashed concrete and reinforcing rods--a true outsider artist installation that yielded some interesting captures. Close by was Pioneer Town, a complete main street used for filming westerns. While the street was a lot fun, we did not find anything to photograph. Heading onward towards Palm Springs, our final destination, we couldn't resist stopping at Cabazon, California, a place that could best be described as a roadside attraction/theme park that features giant dinosaurs (one houses a gift shop). And yes we photographed them and yes, they may make therir way into the book!
At this juncture, we had eleven subjects. Both Mindy and I wanted to have twelve from which to chose the final five. We rolled into Palm Springs, ate lunch and then hit the visitors' center. Explaining what we are looking for is not easy. We did get directions to some natural destinations that might have been a bit different and great to hike through, but it wasn't quite the wavelength we were after. After a few minutes of interchange, the arts district was mentioned and we proceeded there. It turned out to be pretty small and not the kind of thing we were looking for. Mindy caught something out of the corner of her eye as we were about to leave--a tableau within a vacant lot. We proceeded to photograph a very unexpected image number twelve and pretty much wrapped our photographing for this trip.
Tomorrow we will drive back to LA and then fly back to NYC, going from 95 F and sunny to a delayed spring in the northeast US. Trips like these always feel like a time warp. The hours and days zip by but the overall time sense feels long. There was a particularly surreal quality to this jaunt that I think will show in the final photos. California dreaming perhaps?
Click here to view today's video and here to view today's photos.
This morning saw us up and out to the car in the 5:30am darkness so we could drive back into Joshua Tree State Park and try to catch some early morning light. Courting serendipity, we searched and drove until it looked like the sun was just about to start illuminating the landscape. The reward was a clear, almost shimmering illumination and yes, we made some captures!
Descending into Twenty-Nine Palms, the only breakfast place available was a Denny's but it had really good coffee and pretty decent food. From there, we proceeded to the Twenty-Nine Palms High School to give a presentation to one of the most engaged group of students we have had so far. They really paid attention and were full of great questions.
After the presentation, we drove on to another part of the park that contained some natural finds of its own that worked well in the midday light. We followed the park's road back into Joshua Tree, had lunch and proceeded to the outdoor sculpture museum of artist Noah Purifoy that is tucked away on a sand road a few miles off of the main highway. Although the seven acres of found object assemblages did not yield a subject Mindy and I could both photograph, the joyous inventiveness of the work was more than worth the trip; it was a fine coda to a long day of photographing and presenting.
Click here to view today's video (we apologize for the quality) and here to view today's photos.
As I'm writing this blog entry, I realized we just had a 14 hour workday. We started early this morning at 6 AM as we wanted to drive to Salton Sea which is approximately a one hour drive from Joshua tree. It was a good thing that we started early as it took us a little longer than expected to find what it was that we were looking for. We did eventually find something that surpassed our expectations so we were very happy with the overall outcome.
After lunch we ventured back into Joshua tree where we captured a few more images. As of now, we have documented five subjects so we are both very happy.
Earlier this evening we did a presentation at the Beatnik Lounge as well as a radio interview with DJ Ted of Radio Free Joshua tree. The interview was recorded and will be available online.
Tomorrow morning we will be presenting at 29 Palms High School and then we will venture on to photograph some more.
Click here to view today's video (we apologize for the quality-we are working on fixing that) and here to view today's photos.
We got an early start this morning, having breakfast even before sun up. The change in the landscape from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree is dramatic. There are enormous, dramatic, and varied rock outcroppings that feel as if the are pushing out of the earth and of course, many many of the oddly shaped Joshua trees dotting the landscape. First we circled the park and then after lunch we headed back to explore on foot, walking two trails: one called "Hemingway" and another that led to a tiny reservoir that had been originally built by cattle ranchers in the 1900's. The midday light in the park is fairly harsh. Mindy and I plan to make a number of return trips at daybreak and dusk. There is no shortage of distinctive forms and vistas to photograph; the real challenge will be finding those with which we both connect.
On the educational and inspirational side of the project, we received a great twelfth-hour notification that we will be doing a presentation at Twenty-Nine Palms High School on Wednesday. Many thanks to Sheree for her persistence in arranging this for us as well as our other presentation connections and logistics! Additionally, we will be doing a presentation at the Beatnik Lounge, a community arts and culture space in Joshua Tree as well as being interviewed on-air for Radio Joshua Tree. https://www.facebook.com/RFJTListeningLounge.
To view today's video click here and for our travelogue photos click here.
We are happy to announce that an article was written up about our presentation at the Rod Serling School of Fine Arts! You can read the article on page 7 here.
RA and I are excited to be going to LA next Saturday for our Joshua Tree shoot. We plan on being at the LA Photo Center open house Saturday afternoon if anyone is in the area and wants to say hello.
Who needs a Holga when you have a "leaky" Hasselblad?
I've been developing and scanning the 120 Tri-X from our last trip to Charleston, SC. It's been a kind of routine for the last five days--developing in the morning, letting the film dry, and then scanning it in the PM. On this last trip, even though I recently had both film backs overhauled at Photo Tech in NYC, one of the light traps leaked under very bright conditions. Luckily, I didn't lose anything crucial. I knew which rolls had been shot with each of two backs (one having the problem) and yes, I was genuinely worried! I'm happy to say, my film captures paired with Mindy's color images look great. We actually ended up with more than what we need and will have to wheedle down to five pairs.
With film, there is always a certain amount of insecurity. Unlike digital photography, you don't really know what you have until days, sometimes weeks later; sometimes it's month or years; I have rolls in my refrigerator from last summer, I don't even remember on what I was working. I feel I'm a different person, a different photographer, since then. I suspect it will be like peering into a past life.
Images from our first trip!
RA and I are excited to announce that we've posted our favorite shots from our first trip to Steamtown, PA and Binghamton, NY on our site! We had to choose our favorites (what we've posted) and from that we selected our 5 pairs for the book (not posted). To view our images please click here.
All of the photos are for sale. If you would like more information on price and sizing please contact me (color photos) or RA (black & white photos) directly.
We have also changed the tabs on top of our site. We now have a Travelogue tab which contains all the images and videos that we've taken along the way from our iPhone and/or point & shoot camera.
Over the next few weeks we will be working on our Charleston, SC images. We look forward to sharing them with you as well!
We had a full day of driving around but with success! This morning we were welcomed with a frigid 19 F and drove to John's Island to visit the Angel Oak tree. There was hardly anyone there and this majestic oak (thought to be over 1,500 years old) spoke to us. I think RA shot more photos of the tree than any other subject this week.
We then ventured about 1 hr north to Mepkin Abbey, which was formerly a plantation. We took a tour as that was the only way to see the church, but unfortunately didn't find anything to photograph there. We then explored the gardens but alas nothing again.
As we were driving out, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a sign: "African American Cemetery" 1.5 miles down the road. We drove down this muddy overgrown path, through a cotton field, made a left down another dirt road through another cotton field and came to find it.
As we walked up the path, both of us suddenly felt touched with a deep sense of sadness. There was a beautiful iron gate, but only 5 gravestones and a few benches. It felt as if no one had visited it in a very very long time. We were looking for non-touristy sites and we certainly found one here.
All in all, though we had a lot of struggles finding subjects to photograph, we both felt we have a good selection of photos to work with. Charleston truly is a beautiful city - but when you're looking for unseen beauty it's a little hard to find!
PS - we are about so take off to our photos will be posted later. Be sure to check in at a later time!
Today was the first full day we had to simply photograph. The weather was very unseasonal for the area, about 35 degrees F, but the skies were cloudless and clear making for a crisp, if not somewhat hard outdoor light. We headed down to the East Bay Street section in the lower, eastern side of Charleston. Mindy made a great discovery involving ice that we agreed on and photographed. After grabbing some hot beverages to warm up again, we headed back to a church garden we had seen earlier and worked there. Then we did more exploring downtown and stopped in at the visitors' center to see if they might have some suggestions. The area around Mount Pleasant, called Shem Creek, came up again, so we headed north after lunch.
Although Shem Creek looked like it might yield some interesting images, it proved impossible to get close enough to our subject: the place where the commercial fishing boats docked. We even asked a few locals for directions to see if we might find a place to stand. After much driving and walking around, we decided it was best to simply take a breather.
The Charleston area is extremely picturesque: palm trees, majestic seaside mansions, little gardens and quaint alleyways, but there is a kind of homogeneity about the landscape. It's difficult to find the things that are a bit out of place, chance juxtapositions, or historical remnants; it's a bit too manicured. Still we've made a good number of captures and tomorrow will likely yield more.


TERLYN Industries Inc. was founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1996 and moved the corporate headquarters to Clearwater, Florida in 2001. In this time, TERLYN has developed seven (7) different and distinct water treatment products and also designs assembles a series of peristaltic feed pumps, all of which are sold on a national scale.TERLYN Industries, Inc. is the manufacturer and owner of the Crystal Clean Iron Eliminator treatment and system.
The Crystal Clean treatment enables any standard water softener to remove iron from well water with the same effectiveness as an iron filter, but at a fraction the price.
We have been selling the Crystal Clean system to local Water Softener Dealers nationwide since 1980. Just recently have we made the system available factory direct through our website for the homeowners that do not have a convenient local dealer.


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CEE Alumni Named Hertz Fellows
McLean, Virginia – April 30, 2015 – The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) congratulates its alumni, Katherine Xue and Maxim Rabinovich, for being named 2015 Hertz Fellows.
Katherine attended CEE's United States Biology Olympiad (USABO) in 2008 which is jointly sponsored with Purdue University to train in the biological sciences. She is presently a PhD candidate studying biology and genome sciences at Washington University. Katherine is interested in evolutionary biology and has performed research in biochemistry, microbiology, and molecular genetics. She is applying frameworks from theoretical evolutionary biology to problems in medicine and ecology. Her goal is to harness the power of genomic technologies to understand evolutionary forces and their lasting effects.
"Scientific literacy is incredibly important in today's society—it informs decisions ranging from everyday choices to issues of international importance," said Katherine Xue. "I think that scientists have a responsibility to communicate to the public not only about scientific findings, but also about scientific ways of thinking."
Maxim attended CEE's Research Science Institute in 2008 for six weeks which is offered in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study advanced theory and research in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. He is currently pursuing his PhD in computer science at University of California Berkeley. Maxim is researching machine learning and natural language processing. Maxim is also interested in developing artificial intelligence tools that support and extend human reasoning.
"The scientific community needs tools, and that's a big part of what artificial intelligence can offer," said Maxim Rabinovich. "I'm interested in building more efficient ways to gather and process information. One of the great things about the Hertz Fellowship is that it puts an emphasis on going out in the world and using science to do interesting things."
The Hertz Fellowship is awarded annually by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. Each Fellowship consists of up to 5 years of academic fiscal support valued at $250,000. The Graduate Hertz Fellowship Award is based on merit and is broken down to a cost-of-education allowance and a personal support stipend.
"Maxim and Katherine are examples of the fine scholarship of alumni of the programs of the Center for Excellence in Education," said Joann DiGennaro, CEE's President. "As Hertz Fellows, they will continue to pursue answers to the 'Big Challenges' in science."
About the Hertz Foundation
For more than half a century, the Hertz Foundation has found and supported the best and brightest graduate students in the sciences, furthering our country's leadership in these fields. Hertz Fellows pursue a PhD in the STEM fields and follow their academic curiosity with greater financial independence. These students are chosen for their intellect, their ingenuity and their potential to make scientific advancements for the public good. The Hertz Foundation also builds a vibrant Hertz Fellows community, gathering the Fellows together at annual workshops and retreats to allow them to inspire and learn from one another across generations. For more information visit www.hertzfoundation.org and follow the Foundation on Facebook.
Maureen Palmer, Public Affairs Manager, 703-448-9062


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Damir Kedžo (born 24 May 1987) is a Croatian pop singer. While he started his career in 2003 by participating in Story Supernova Music Talents, he became even more famous in Croatia after winning the third season of Tvoje lice zvuči poznato, the Croatian version of Your Face Sounds Familiar. He also performed in musicals.

Life and career

1987–2002: Early life and education
Kedžo was born on 24 May 1987 in Omišalj, where he finished musical school, and was singing in a church choir. When he was a child, besides singing, he wanted to be a gynecologist, but he gave up on that idea when signed up for the Story Super Nova Music Talent Show. Damir had a jaw surgery, because he could not speak or eat normally, and he had problems with pronunciation of words, which was important for the profession he chose. After the surgery, he could not speak for a month, and the complete recovery took him three months, when he could chew normally again. He admitted that, after the surgery, he became a stronger person, and more confident in himself and his decisions.

2003–2005: Story Supernova Music Talents and Saša, Tin i Kedžo
In 2003, Kedžo auditioned for the first and only season of Nova TV's talent show Story Supernova Music Talents, where he excited the audience and the jury with his personality and attitude and his song interpretations which took him into the top 7. He was 16 at the time when he decided to compete in one of the most famous Croatian TV shows.

A year after, in January 2004, he became a part of the Croatian boy band "Saša, Tin i Kedžo" along with Saša Lozar (winner of the second season of Tvoje lice zvuči poznato) and Tin Samardžić. The band's debut album, titled Instant, sold 10,000 copies in its chart run, while their debut single "365" topped the Croatian charts for six weeks. In 2005 the band disbanded and Kedžo took a year off in his career.

2006–2009: Melodije Istre i Kvarnera and debut album
After he won an award at Melodije Istre i Kvarnera (MIK) for the best debuting artist with the song "Ki bi sad reke" in 2006 and the award for the best interpretation for the song "Kanet na vetru" in 2007, he has seen his path in pop songs with elements of Italian canzone. That was visible in his song "Odlučio sam otići".

2010–2014: Slavianski Bazaar, Dora 2011 and musicals
Damir has also appeared in Croatian performance of musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in double role, Benjamin and Potiphar. He had a great start in his acting career, he got awarded for great successes of young artists in operetta and musicals for the role of Hudi in musical "Crna kuća".

He debuted in 2006 on MIK with the song "Ki bi sad reke" and won the best debuting artist award. In 2007, on MIK, he won the award for the best interpretation with the song "Kanet na vetru" and the first place of the juries. In 2008 he published his debuting album with his most popular songs "Sjećam se", "Idem" and "Kažnjen u duši". A year later on MIK, he won the second place of the jury and third place of the audience with the song "Peza od zlata". In 2010 on the international festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, Belarus, he won the Grand Prix.

In 2011, Kedžo applied for Dora 2011, Croatian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. In 2012, he won the best interpretation award on MIK with the song "Daj mi kapju vodi" and the first place of the juries. 2014 was a very successful year for Damir, he already sold two concerts in HKD Sušak.

2015–2019: Tvoje lice zvuči poznato and continued success
In 2015 he won on a Russian festival "New Wave". Since then, he started working on his songs in English. In 2016 Kedžo had one of his biggest concerts on International Women's Day in front of 3,500 people in Zamet Hall, Rijeka.

In December 2016, Kedžo won the third season of Tvoje lice zvuči poznato, the most watched Croatian TV show. After a wide spectre of enjoyed performances (Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, Britney Spears, Petar Grašo, Doris Dragović), he claimed the victory of the show as Mariah Carey. In January 2019, Kedžo won Zagrebfest with the song "Srce mi umire za njom".

2020–present: Eurovision Song Contest 2020
On 23 December 2019, Kedžo was announced as one of the 16 participants in Dora 2020, the national contest in Croatia to select the country's Eurovision Song Contest 2020 entry, with the song "Divlji vjetre". He won the competition with a total of 31 points and was supposed to represent Croatia in Rotterdam. However, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He later was denied the opportunity to represent Croatia in the 2021 contest.

On 9 December 2022, Kedžo was announced as one of the 18 acts to perform in Dora 2023, which was held on 11 February 2023. He performed the song "Angels and Demons", and placed fifth.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Croatian pop singers
1987 births
Living people
People from Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Croatian folk-pop singers
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2020
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Croatia
Slavianski Bazaar winners
New Wave winners
Your Face Sounds Familiar winners

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


After returning home following a four game road trip, the Badgers could not capitalize on home ice advantage, falling to the Nipissing Lakers by a score of 4-0 on Saturday.
Heading into the matchup, the Badgers found themselves near the top of the OUA standings with a 4-1-1 record so far this season. The Lakers were near the bottom with a 2-2-1 record.
Brock was looking to find their scoring touch back after scoring two goals last weekend in their games against Ryerson and the University of Toronto.
Both teams got off to slow starts, with a feeling that neither wanted to make the first mistake. As a result, neither managed to generate any offense, let alone scoring chances. An uneventful first period ended with the score tied at 0-0, while Nipissing held the edge in shots 8-6.
It took until 8:58 into the second period before the deadlock was broken, after Nipissing forward Brooklyn Irwin slid the puck past Jensen Murphy on a rebound. The Badgers tried to get even, but could not find a way to generate any sustained pressure in the attacking end. When asked what the Lakers did well to limit the amount of chances the Badgers had, head coach Margot Page noted how quickly Nipissing closed in on the Brock forwards.
"They used their speed defensively against us and put pressure on us right away," said Page.
That speed in the defensive end carried into other aspects of their game as well. Just over a minute into the third period, the Lakers used that speed on the forecheck, forcing a turnover which lead to a breakaway for Samantha Strassburger who capitalized on the opportunity to double the Nipissing lead to 2-0. The game opened up after this, evident by the shot totals in the period, with the edge going to Nipissing once again 17-13.
Despite more offensive play in the period, it was the Lakers who were able to pull away late. Robyn Degagne capitalized on the Lakers' only powerplay opportunity of the day, managing to get a shot past Murphy from a bad angle, pushing the score to 3-0. Just 1:29 later, Marilyn Fortin added the fourth and final goal for the Lakers, ending Murphy's game. She finished with four goals against, while also stopping 30 shots in the loss. Julia Pettella played the final 5:09 of the game, stopping all four shots she faced in that time.
While the result was not what the Badgers were hoping for, there were still some positives that can be taken from the game.
When asked what changes she was looking to make before their second game of the weekend, this time facing Laurentian, Page said the plan remains the same.
Whatever Page told her team heading into Sunday's matchup worked. The Badgers came away with a 3-1 win against Laurentian to get back on track. While Brock struggled to get shots on net, finishing the game with just 22, they made them count, scoring three times. The Badgers built their lead on goals from Maggie Spratt-Mallick and Amanda Ieradi — before Annie Sheridan of Laurentian cut the lead to just one goal. Then with just over a minute left, Hunter Accursi found the empty net to secure the win for Brock. After allowing four goals on Saturday, Jensen Murphy rebounded quickly with a 35 save performance.
"Incredibly important," is what Page had to say about the performance of her goaltender this season.
Next up, the Badgers look to build on momentum from their win from Sunday as they play host to Guelph and Windsor November 18 and 19.


Man…I think I'm actually nervous about working again! How odd…you'd think I'd been off for several months or something. Oh yeah, I have been! Hope I remember how to do everything…. Today is all about laundry and planning lunches and stuff like that. I have to find my real shoes as well, as I've been living in sandals for weeks. It is fairly exciting, though. We'll be putting a show through its initial paces for several days before being the first city of its tour for a week. That's always an adventure.


Everyone is out to get you! The world is full of jerks! Total failure is right around the corner! Oooooh boy. There are people who will treat you badly, or be looking for a way to take advantage. And they'll often perceive your kindness as weakness. But don't let that change the way you do business. The next time you're in a negotiation and your fears start niggling at the back of your brain, smile. Play nice. Be nice. Say please and thank you and remain poised. You're not weak, you're strong – and that strength of character will take you far.
This week, practice your smile. Not in a cheesy prom photo kinda way…take that smile to the streets. Shopper bumps your heels with their cart? Smile. Consult call is a no show? Smile. Customer asks for a refund? Smile.
What's got you stressing out? When was the last time you *just barely* held onto your patience? How has playing nice and keeping that smile worked for you? Let me know in the comments below!


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Chinese students signing "loyalty" pledges before arrival in Sweden
The Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter has obtained evidence of letters being written by Chinese doctoral students before their entry into Sweden apparently "swearing loyalty" to the ruling Communist party in their home country, among other agreements.
The regime requires that they also must "serve the interests of the regime" and "never participate in 'activities' that go against the will of the authorities", the report said.
In addition, the agreement states that there is a possibility that if they go against what is written in the letters, or if their education is "interrupted" their families in China could end up "being in financial debt to the state".
The newspaper mentioned the Karolinska Institute, Lund University, Uppsala University and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm – and said it had identified at least 30 students who went through the Chinese Scholarship Council stream and had signed these agreements.
"This is exactly how dictatorships work"
The CSC is run by China's education ministry, and promotes international academic exchange with universities across the world – hundreds of Chinese students go through it every year to destinations in the USA, UK, Sweden and others.
"What really worried me was that there is also a wording that the student's guarantor, who is usually a close relative, cannot leave the country for an extended period as long as the student is staying abroad," said David Gisselsson Nord, vice dean for internationalisation at Lund University's medical department.
"This is exactly how dictatorships work, that the family is held hostage in the home country. It is unpleasant," he continued.
The first alarm bells rang when a student enrolled at Lund University began struggling with his exams and coursework, and was advised not to continue with his course.
"The student then became worried and said the decision would mean big problems for his family in China," Nord recalled – namely, a letter signed by his relatives stating that they would be liable for damages if he didn't finish his studies.
"We were surprised, because we had never heard of such a contract," he added.
However, Nord said that it was only when another student enrolled and they asked to check their documents that they found the letters in question.
This caused other universities to begin looking into student contracts. The Karolinska Institute, one of Sweden's top research universities which regularly receives over 30 students a year through collaboration with the CSC – also picked up on the possibility of the existence of the letters.
"There are uncertainties, for example what is meant by going against the interests of the Chinese state," said Bob Harris, VC for research studies at the Karolinska Institute.
"We had never heard of such a contract"
"For the time being we have decided not to admit more research students via CSC," he continued.
Stefan Östlund, vice rector for international relations at the Royal Institute of Technology – locally known as KTH – has refuted the allegations, saying there has been "no evidence" of the letters.
"We are in talks with Karolinska and CSC about these letters, but in all the years that we have had CSC students, we have never heard or received signals that students would have been harmed because of these letters," he told DN when approached.
He continued that he couldn't be "100% sure", but staff at the university who speak Chinese have "never picked up signals" of any wrongdoing of that kind.
Asked regarding the line in the letters signalling students should not "act in the interest of the state", Östlund was clear that it was a cultural message and was "nothing strange".
"I interpret it as that they should behave and do well when they are abroad. Most scholarship organisations have letters like this," he said.
Despite KTH not pausing its program application portal – which is still available – Uppsala University and Lund have said they will be concluding any involvement with the CSC.
While both Nord and Harris said they are "not critical of the students", as the students they have worked with have always been "pleasant and well-educated", Nord conceded there was too much pressure within the letters and it wasn't in line with Sweden's Higher Education Ordinance.
Harris told DN that they have been negotiating on the subject since May 2022, but a decision still has not been made.
Östlund said that people must "know what China is like" as a country on the world stage, but that all countries want their students to represent them well and behave appropriately.
He insisted that despite the allegation that the letters do not conform to the students' right to freedom of expression, KTH "understands the problem" and now has a dialogue with the CSC.
"We cooperate with many countries that have different rules and a different culture than our own, and then there is often a balancing act," he added.
Tags: ArrivalChineseLoyaltypledgesSigningStudentsSweden


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Latest News — June 28, 2018 at 9:57 am
Plateau Massacre: Armed Fulani Herdsmen Attacks and Killings Targeted at Christians Across Nigeria
by Rev. Dr. Soja Bewarang | Chairman Denominational Heads Plateau and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Plateau State | Press Release By Church Denominational Heads in Plateau and Christian Association Of Nigeria (CAN) Plateau State Over The Renewed Armed Fulani Herdsmen Attacks and Killings Targeted at Christians Across Nigeria on June 28, 2018.
The renewed attacks on Christian communities and churches across Nigeria and particularly in the middle belt of the country where over 6000 persons mostly children, women and the aged have been maimed and killed in night raids by armed Fulani herdsmen have necessitated our outcry through this medium with a view to call on those in government authority, especially the President and Commander- in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to stop this senseless and blood shedding in the land and avoid a state of complete anarchy where the people are forced to defend themselves.
We also wish to appeal to the international community, particularly the United Nations, to intervene in the ongoing Fulani herdsmen pogrom in the country to avert unpleasant consequences that may spill over into other countries and continents.
We are particularly worried at the widespread insecurity in the country where wanton attacks and killings by armed Fulani herdsmen, bandits and terrorists have been taking place on a daily bases in our communities unchallenged despite huge investments in the security agencies. The perpetrators are being deliberately allowed to go scot free. It is even more worrisome that these huge numbers of over 6000 deaths in 2018 alone have been recorded in various attacks, especially in the northern and middle belt states of Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kwara, Borno, Zamfara and other states when the country is not in a state of war.
The worst that have shocked the world is the recent genocide and blood bath in Barkin Ladi, parts of Bokkos, Riyom and Bassa Local Government Areas of Plateau state. There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage.
The attacks by the so-called herdsmen across the local areas listed in 11 villages of Plateau state where over 200 persons were brutally killed and our churches destroyed without any intervention from security agencies in spite of several distress calls made to them, further buttresses our concern that the security architecture of the land and the handlers have woefully failed.
To further show the incompetency of the security agencies and deliberate attempt to hide the facts of the massacre that took place, the police could not and have not been able to determine the exact number of the casualties. They keep navigating from 11, 86 and 100 figures which in actual sense has a death toll figure so far of 238.
What is happening in Plateau state and other select states in Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately.
We strongly also disagree with the federal government's attempt to politicize the attacks and divert people's attention from government glaring failures and national shame by blaming it as the handiworks of desperate opposition politicians. We reject the narrative that the attacks on Christian communities across the country as "farmers/herdsmen clash". The federal government has been so immersed in this false propaganda and deceit while forcefully pushing the policy idea of establishing cattle ranches/colonies on the ancestral farming lands of the attacked communities for the Fulani herdsmen as the only solution to the problem. How can it be a clash when one group is persistently attacking, killing, maiming, destroying; and the other group is persistently being killed, maimed and their places of worship destroyed? How can it be a clash when the herdsmen are hunting farmers in their own villages/communities and farmers are running for their lives? How can it be a clash when the herdsmen are the predators and the inhabitant/indigenous farmers are the prey? Until we call a disease by its real name and causatives, it would be difficult to properly diagnose the disease for the right curative medications.
Despite efforts by the states of Benue and Taraba to enact laws for the control of open grazing in accordance with the constitution, we have seen the herdsmen with the support of federal government and security agencies abuse these laws as it continues to attack and destroy communities in the states.
We note with disappointment, the unfortunate comments of the Minister of Defense, Monsur Dan Ali and the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris against the state laws on open grazing as clear support for the herdsmen violent inversion on Christian communities. We view the recent arrest and quick convictions to death of five Christian youths defending their communities against herdsmen attacks Demsa, in Adamawa State as part of the conspiracy and support by the government. Unfortunately, no armed herdsmen has ever been arrested for prosecution even when they are caught in the act.
The attempt by the federal government to create cattle ranches across the country for the murderous herdsmen against the people's resistance is an open call to anarchy by the government, indicating that there might be other ulterior motives (like taking over the inhabitants' ancestral farming land) for the call to establish these ranches with public funds which ordinarily should have been private businesses by the cattle owners.
While we appreciate the personal visit of the President, Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo to Plateau state to commiserate with the people, we urge the federal government to go beyond the cosmetics of such political visit to fish out the perpetrators of these attacks and make them pay for their crimes against humanity.
The usual excuse and claims in all the areas affected by these violence by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Associations, MACBAN, the herdsmen body, that the attacks was a retaliation for the cattle rustled by the natives can no longer be accepted. It is popular knowledge that it is not easy to handle herds of cows if one is not used to it. It is also well known to the security agencies that most cases of rustled cattle are by the herdsmen themselves who later turn around to accuse their host communities.
It is as a result of the forgoing that we hereby make the following demands:
That the heads of security agencies in the country is skewed to one religion and region of the country and have consistently shown grave bias and incompetency in tackling the wide insecurity challenges in the country and should be reconstituted to reflect the federal character of our country to earn the required trust, confidence and support of the general populace.
All communities ravaged by the herdsmen violence should be rebuilt and adequate security put in place to enable displaced persons return to their homes and means of livelihood.
The federal government should roll out a robust advocacy programme to enlighten the nomadic herders on modern cattle rearing against open grazing and roaming across state and national boundaries
The federal government should desist from any attempt to take people's ancestral farmland for the establishment of cattle ranches across the country. As a private business, cattle owners should rather be encouraged to buy land and build their ranches like every other private investor.
While the federal government under the current administration is celebrating an over exaggerated agricultural revolution, most farmers can no longer go to their farms due to the attacks of herdsmen. We therefore urge the government to reconcile its priority by providing the necessary safety for the farmers to go on with their farming activities.
We demand that all tiers of government should invest more on human capital development instead of focusing on capital spending in a society ravaged by unprecedented insecurity, crime, loss of jobs, poverty, hunger and squalor. This is even more urgent against the backdrop of the recent IMF report which reveals that Nigeria with over 180 million populations now has the highest global poverty rate of 74 percent overtaking India of over a billion populations.
It would be recalled that it is under this administration that thousands of Nigerians left the shores of this country in search of jobs abroad, several of whom were turned into slaves and many killed in various bizarre circumstances.
We demand that the government should immediately apprehend and prosecute leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, MACBAN for not only taking responsibility for the various attacks but justifying the killings as retaliation over cattle rustled by unknown persons. On the contrary, what we have seen is the pampering of these killer groups who rather than being apprehended by the security agencies for justice to take its course are being paid and pacified, giving the impression that they are above the laws of the land.
We observe the continuous abduction of under aged Christian girls by Muslim youths who are forcefully converted to Islam and taken in for marriage without the consent of their parents. We wish to state that this does not only violate the fundamental human right of the girls but is also a call to anarchy when such actions are retaliated by Christian youths. This is even more worrisome as such acts are supported by several highly placed clerics and Emirs. We hereby call on the federal government to stem this tide in order to ensure inter-religious harmony in the country.
We also note the lukewarm attitude in the government's handling of negotiations for the release of the abducted Chibok school girls and of Leah Sharibu. We therefore reiterate our demand that the federal government should deploy more efforts to ensure the release of the girls without further delay.
Tags Plateau massacre
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Now before you hop online to estimate how many pounds of Starbucks coffee you'll need to satisfy their caffeine needs for an entire year, get in your car and drive to EVO Lou instead.
Walk inside, and pick up an EVO travel mug, which will give your climbing partner access to unlimited EVO coffee, made for them daily by the front desk crew beginning at 6a weekdays and 8a weekends.
They'll also have access to milk, sugar, almond milk and creamer to meet their coffee-taste preferences and can take as much coffee to go (hence the travel mug) as they'd like.
Now, stop by the front desk to pick up an EVO gift card for $870 (or $790 if your partner is a student)–this will give them membership access to the gym for all of 2019, so they don't feel weird getting free coffee here daily.
Oh, and while you're already at EVO, we'd recommend climbing for a while; since, you no longer have to spend time holiday shopping for your climbing partner(s).
*Wait, did you just say your favorite climbing partner doesn't like coffee?!?!? We'll forgive them.
A year's supply of our new, improved chocolate chunk cookies, made at Redgarden with chocolate, love and butter (and a couple other things). An EVO gift card for $449.28 will get them 4 cookies a week for all of 2019 (tax included). Consider spending an extra $2.16 to get them one cookie now.
Your friend is gluten free and doesn't drink coffee?! We suggest buying them a year of membership, because their life sounds terrible, and we think climbing regularly will make it less bad.
Hate those ideas? Here are a few more.


Today marks two important occasions: the birthdate of the United States Army and Flag Day.
There will be no fireworks and no time off from work. In fact, there may not be any celebration at all. But the calendar shows that Thursday is the designated holiday to honor the stars and stripes: Flag Day.
Officially recognized for nearly a century — President Woodrow Wilson first established June 14 as Flag Day in 1916 — but long overlooked in terms of significance to most Americans, Flag Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. flag in 1777.
Bill James, manager of the American Legion post in Palmetto Bay, said he believes the holiday provides an opportunity to honor the nation's most recognizable symbol.
"The flag is a symbol of our country and our history," said James, 67, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam.
Indeed. One part of our nation's brave military force protecting this symbol is the US Army. Happy birthday, soldiers.


Worth a peek, if only to try and remember life before The Phantom Menace Existed. In 3D.
Source: How Same Status Updates Will Look Like In Different Social Networking Websites | Saket Jajodia.
Check out the link above to see the page of the genius who put this together. I swore no more Star Wars posts from me today but I had to share this.
A Special for pancake day! following the link to see how Jim made this masterpiece!
Star Wars Pancakes! | Jim's Pancakes.
All content producing companies should read this and sort it out.
What Han did after Return of the Jedi.


text:
Crown Green Bowling
Season runs from April to September.
There are three groups.
Group 1 - Meets every Tuesday at 10.30am at the Holts arms (The Foot).
Leaders :
Allan Ward
Kathly Claybrooke
Group 2 - Meets every Tuesday at 1.30pm at the Holts arms (The Foot).
Howard Marshall
Doreen Whalley
Group 3 - Meets every Tuesday at 10.30am at St Matthews, Highfield.
Leader: Norman Sherrington. See Newsletter for phone number.
Participants need to provide their own bowls.
/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64:crown-green&catid=50&Itemid=46


Russell Jee praised his players' determination and character after Willand Rovers beat Bridport 4-2 at Silver Street on Saturday.
Twice the Mid Devon side were pegged back after taking the lead, but they stuck to their task to bag a welcome three points.
Craig Veal netted twice, while there were also goals for Fletcher Williams and Luke Mortimore and a man-of-the-match performance by Luke Alden.
"Our performance was strong and the players displayed immense determination," said manager Jee.
"We thoroughly deserved to win. On the balance of play I think we were two goals better than them.
Rovers entered the match having already defeated Bridport 5-1 back in August.
However, the Dorset side knocked Rovers out of the Les Phillips Cup last month, so Jee's men knew not to take them lightly.
The Mid Devon outfit made the breakthrough after 20 minutes, when Alden's shot following a mazy run was parried into the path of Veal to open the scoring.
Bridport hit back after just five minutes, but Rovers again took the lead when Williams set up Veal for a2-1 half-time advantage.
Both teams were aggressive in the second period, but it was the visitors who netted when keeper Mike Searle conceded a penalty that he could not keep out.
Not to be deterred, Williams restored Willand's lead just four minutes later following Veal's cross.
And with five minutes remaining, Ryan Guppy crossed for Mortimore to wrap up an entertaining victory.
Rovers' Boxing Day game against Buckland Athletic was postponed, meaning their next match is at Street on Saturday.
And despite last week's encouraging victory, Jee is taking nothing for granted.
"We now look forward to travelling to fellow champions Street on Saturday in what will be a good game for any neutral watching," he said.


aving a well-maintained process model has sustainable advantages and BIC Governance helps stay ahead of the curve. Its automatic processes handle essential routine maintenance of a company's model, reducing the number of tasks users need to perform manually in BIC Design and the BIC Portal.BIC Governance offers assistance during routine model administration operations. From clearance of new content and targeted distribution of information to version management, there's nothing BIC Governance can't do.
BIC Governance simplifies content maintenance, liberates employees from routine tasks, and saves time on overall model administration. And since its preconfigured workflows make it simple to integrate into existing work processes, companies will see a quick ROI.


text:
Q: How to focus on a specific cell when adding a new row to Datagrid? When using Silverlight/WPF Datagrid and you add a new row to the existing collection, how can I jump into a specific cell's edit mode in order to hint to the user that this field needs to be filled out right away?
Many Thanks,

A: This is how I was able to make it work in SL 5 RC.
dg.ItemsSource.Add(data);
dg.SelectedItem = data;                  //set SelectedItem to the new object
dg.ScrollIntoView(data, dg.Columns[0]);  //scroll row into view, for long lists, setting it to start with the first column
dg.Focus();                              //required in my case because contextmenu click was not setting focus back to datagrid
dg.BeginEdit();                          //this starts the edit, this works because we set SelectedItem above

Hope this helps.

A: In Silverlight 4 it is:
dg.SelectedItem = data;
dg.CurrentColumn = dg.Columns[1]; // You have to use this line instead
dg.Focus();
dg.BeginEdit();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Obama is wrong on solitary confinement
Separating dangerous inmates from the general population and civilians inside correctional facilities is an essential deterrent used to ensure everyone's safety. It is a protective measure that exists for a rea
Obama is wrong on solitary confinement Separating dangerous inmates from the general population and civilians inside correctional facilities is an essential deterrent used to ensure everyone's safety. It is a protective measure that exists for a rea Check out this story on pal-item.com: http://pinews.co/1TaXh3P
Norman Seabrook Published 1:47 p.m. ET Feb. 9, 2016
Attacks on correction officers show some inmates must be segregated to ensure safety.
Empty prison cell(Photo: Getty Images)
Separating dangerous inmates from the general population and civilians inside correctional facilities is an essential deterrent used to ensure everyone's safety. It is a protective measure that exists for a reason.
While we welcome President Obama's involvement in this discussion, his actions regarding federal prisoners – in particular a ban on solitary confinement for juveniles – do not take into consideration the reality that correction officers face every day.
We patrol the nation's most dangerous precincts, doing a job no one else wants to do in a place most Americans would rather not think about, all with the objective to keep them safe.
Our officers are routinely spit on, and have urine and feces thrown at them. They are punched, slapped and kicked by inmates. Making matters worse, we've recently seen an uptick in slashings and stabbings in facilities where our members work and at some prisons around the country. And after the banning of punitive segregation for 16- and 17-year-olds in New York City, we have seen these inmates become even more dangerous.
Just last month, correction officers on Rikers Island were attacked by gang-affiliated inmates from this very age group, their faces battered by those who did not fear punishment for their actions. Correction officer Ray Calderon was slashed within an inch of his life in November, by inmates who were all under 21 and who would fall under the solitary confinement ban.
After this series of brutal attacks on correction officers, the Department of Correction commissioner in New York delayed a ban on punitive segregation for 18- to 21-year-olds and cited safety as the main reason.
No inmate or prisoner deserves to spend years or months on end in solitary confinement. We agree with the president that it should be used judiciously and sparingly, and that there should be limitations. But it must remain for enforcement.
Obama noted the tragic and unfortunate case of Kalief Browder, who spent three years in prison, two of them in solitary confinement, for allegedly stealing a backpack, and then committed suicide after his release. That's an example that I, too, have used for years. Browder never should have been forced to sit on Rikers Island for three years awaiting trial. Yet that is a failure of the larger criminal justice system – not of his treatment at Rikers. His case demonstrates problems that run far deeper than where or how someone is incarcerated.
We are not opposed to reform. In fact, we have been calling for real changes to the criminal justice system for a long time. We thank the president for making this a national conversation. But it should be exactly that – a dialogue that brings everyone to the table, including correction officers.
Norman Seabrook is president of the New York City Correction Officers' Benevolent Association (COBA).
Read or Share this story: http://pinews.co/1TaXh3P
Letter to the editor, July 14
July 13, 2019, 10 a.m.
Chuck Avery: Acting according to directions
Letters to the editor, July 7
July 6, 2019, 11 a.m.
Chuck Avery: A former serf visits a castle
Chuck Avery: Everything old is new again
Feldman: Health legislation missed the mark


text:
Q: transforming data from cartesian plane to isometric plane Here is a brief description of what I'm trying to accomplish. I created a 2d top down game that operated on a Cartesian plane and used some custom polygons to determine collisions and perform actions within the game engine.
I have converted the engine into a tiled isometric game and have got the majority of it working. I can translate the mouse click to the tile selected and can go back and forth between Cartesian coordinates and isometric tile coordinates. However, transforming some of my polygons is proving difficult. I need them to not only display correctly along the isometric plane but also to retrieve the adjusted coordinates in order to perform collision detection tests. I also need to accurately determine the "simulated" distance between a pair of points on the isometric plane.
Here is an examples to help clarify the situation a little bit:

This image is from the 2d top down game, with an isometric background to help clarify the issue. In this image you can see the green bounding box of a character in the game and the blue custom polygons used to simulate a sword swing. However in this image you can see that the bounding box and the sword swing polygons are still represented in the Cartesian plane.

This image is from the isometric game, with the Cartesian axis being represented by the red lines. They meet at point (0,0). There is a blue bounding box for the character that has now been transformed to fit the Isometric plane. To the bottom right you'll see a tile I selected outlined in green. Inside the tile are some points and lines that will be used to demonstrate the problem.
The teal letters represent coordinates and the red numbers represent lines. The distance (on the Cartesian plane) between B and F is 45 and the distance between H and D is 90. However, on the isometric plane the "simulated" distance (within the game) should be the same, in order to give the effect of a 3d environment.
Hopefully, that's enough information to get to the actual problem. What I need help with is deriving a formula for converting an angle and a "simulated" distance (on the isometric plane) to a Cartesian coordinate.
For example if given the coordinate of point A, the angle 0 and the distance of 45 you should get the Cartesian coordinates for the point D. Similarly if given the angle 90 and the distance of 45 you should get the point B. If given the angle 180 and the distance of 45 you should get the point H. If given the angle 270 and the distance of 45 you should get the point F.
Similarly if asked what the distance of point A to all of those points you should get 45 as the distance.
These examples wont necessarily transform the polygons but they will allow me to recreate them and the majority of my other custom polygons. Sorry if this doesn't make sense. If needed I'll try to clarify the problem more, just let me know what needs to be explained further.
Thanks for your time.
EDIT: if there is some type of transformation matrix that would accomplish this and be easier, I'm definitely open to that as well.
EDIT 2: using the answer provided by amd below I was able to get the answers needed. my isometric view was created by rotating an object 45 degrees and then scaling the y axis in half. In order to find the distance between the two points I simply needed to reverse the transformation and then determine the distance. also the formula provided by amd worked to determine a point given a distance and angle, however to fit my example i needed to change the 1/sqrt(3) into 1/2 and add 45 degrees to the angle provided before running it through the formula.
EDIT 3: here is an example of the finished product

A: Angles and lengths can be introduced into a vector space by giving it an inner product. The familiar Euclidean scalar product $\mathbf u\cdot\mathbf v = \mathbf v^T\mathbf u$ defines lengths and angles via the well-known equations $\mathbf v\cdot\mathbf v=\|\mathbf v\|^2$ and $\mathbf u\cdot\mathbf v=\|\mathbf u\|\|\mathbf v\|\cos\theta$. We can define a different inner product $\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle_A$ by choosing a positive-definite (symmetric) matrix $A$ and letting $\langle\mathbf u,\mathbf v\rangle_A=\mathbf v^TA\mathbf u$. The previous formulas can then be taken as defining lengths and angles relative to this new scalar product.
We can try to find a scalar product for the isometric view that has the desired properties. First note that we can get the isometric view from the top-down view via the transformation matrix $$
B=\pmatrix{1&0\\0&\frac1{\sqrt3}}.$$ This maps the circle $x^2+y^2=1$ onto the ellipse $x'^2+3y'^2=1$, so unit vectors in the isometric view must satisfy the latter equation. On the other hand, we have $\langle\mathbf u,\mathbf u\rangle_A = a_{11}x'^2+2a_{12}x'y'+a_{22}y'^2$, so we must have $$A=\pmatrix{1&0\\0&3}$$ as the matrix of the inner product.
This gives us the desired lengths in the isometric view, but we should also check that the angles look right. Taking the ellipse in the diagram as the image of the unit circle, $AC$ represents the image of the 45° line, i.e., the line parallel to $\left(\frac1{\sqrt2},\frac1{\sqrt2}\right)^T$. This is transformed into $\left(\frac1{\sqrt2},\frac1{\sqrt6}\right)^T$. Taking the inner product of this with $(1,0)^T$ and $\left(0,\frac1{\sqrt3}\right)^T$ (the images of the standard basis vectors) yields $\frac1{\sqrt2}=\cos\frac\pi 4$, which is what we wanted.
To produce a vector with a particular angle and length relative to this inner product, generate it in the top-down view first and then transform the resulting vector: $$
\pmatrix{1&0\\0&\frac1{\sqrt3}}\pmatrix{r\cos\theta \\ r\sin\theta}=\pmatrix{r\cos\theta \\ \frac r{\sqrt3}\sin\theta}.
$$
The above all assumed that the isometric view was generated by looking down at the $xy$-plane and then tilting it away from the viewer so that $45°$ lines changed to $30°$. If you're using some other isometric transformation, you can follow a similar procedure to compute a compatible inner product.
Here's another way to compute the inner product matrix $A$ given the non-singular transformation $B$. We want $\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle_A$ applied to the images of a pair of vectors under $B$ to equal their dot product, i.e., $$\begin{align}
\langle B\mathbf u,B\mathbf v\rangle_A &= (B\mathbf v)^TAB\mathbf u \\
&= \mathbf v^T B^T A B \mathbf u \\
&= \mathbf v^T\mathbf u,
\end{align}$$ so $A=(B^T)^{-1}B^{-1}=(BB^T)^{-1}$.


Peirs P., Lefèvre P., Boarbi S., Wang X-M., Denis O., Braibant M., Pethe K., Locht C., Huygen K. and Content J. Mycobacterium tuberculosis disrupted in its genes encoding the phosphate binding proteins PstS1 and PstS2, is deficient in phosphate uptake and demonstrates reduced in vivo virulence. Infect. Immun. 73,1898-1902,2005.


text:
Monday Oct. 4, 2010 2:54 PM (EST+7)
Palestinian beer festival brews good cheer
By OMAR RAHMAN
Read more: Taybeh, Taibeh, beer, brewery, Oktoberfest, economy, internationals
RAMALLAH, October 4 (JMCC) - Thousands of Palestinians and internationals crowded into the small Christian village of Taybeh over the weekend in beer-related revelry at the annual Oktoberfest celebration in the occupied West Bank.
Old and young, Muslim and Christian alike partook in the colorful festivities that included live music and dance, a wide array of sizzling meats and local cuisine, and copious amounts of the fizzy golden drinks.
The Taybeh Brewery—the only one of its kind in the Palestinian territories—is the brainchild of the Khoury brothers, Palestinian Christians who emigrated back to the village from the United States in the mid-1990s.
Although they face little internal competition, the Taybeh Brewery competes in the doubly hostile environment of an overwhelmingly Muslim country that is under Israeli military occupation.
"We have a lot of challenges," says Nadim Khoury, cofounder of Taybeh Bewery. "We suffer a lot from occupation, religion, culture, and the lack of advertisement. We have no borders, no airport. All these are obstacles that make it difficult to sell our product."
Yet, despite trials and tribulations, spanning 15 years of operation, the local company has managed to succeed and is now producing upwards of 600,000 liters of the delicious beer annually.
Taybeh is now sold not only for domestic consumption, but to markets in Israel, Jordan, Japan, Sweden and Chile. They have even begun producing a non-alcoholic version of the beer for Muslims who observe the religious ban against alcohol, a venture that is starting to take root.
The two-day festival has become a major attraction and meeting destination for tourists and expatriates working in the Palestinian territories, drawing around 14,000 people this year according to Khoury.
"Everyone looks forward to Taybeh Oktoberfest all year," says Doris Carrion, an American who works with Palestinian children in Nablus.
"It's a time you get to see all the internationals you encounter in Ramallah, Jerusalem and all over the West Bank and Israel."
Taybeh began the Oktoberfest celebration in 2005 as the second intifada against Israeli occupation was winding down. The festival has been growing in size ever since.
"We are very happy with everything, says Khoury. "It was extraordinary this time. It's doubled from past years.


text:
Taylor Swift stage invader pleads not guilty
5th Sep 2015 8:00 PM
TAYLOR Swift's stage invader has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Christian Ewing, 26, was arrested and charged after being taken down by four of the 'Blank Space' hitmaker's bodyguards when he snuck into her concert at Petco Park in San Diego, California on Saturday night (29.08.15) and jumped up on stage alongside the star.
He was charged with assault with force, battery with serious injury, misdemeanour for giving a false name and a municipal code violation for getting into the concert, and his bail has been set at $100,000.
However, Ewing has denied all charges.
A source told gossip website TMZ.com that the Ewing charged towards the 25-year-old beauty while she was performing 'Style' and attempted to fight off her security in a bid to get closer to her.
Although he was eventually dragged away, one member of Taylor's team is believed to have suffered a broken rib during the incident.
District Attorney Jessica Coto said in court that when asked why he went on stage, he said, "I love that girl".
He is due back in court on September 14.
Ewing is not the first security scare for Taylor, the 'Bad Blood' hitmaker has been forced to secure restraining orders against a number of stalkers in the past.
Timothy Sweet, 33, was ordered to stay away from her and her parents, Andrea and Scott, for three years in March 2014 after he sent her dozens of emails, letters and social media posts declaring his love for her.
He also allegedly threatened to "kill any man," including US Secretary of State John Kerry, who came between him and Taylor, as he believed he and the singer were married.
Anne Hathaway: Taylor Swift is a 'force of nature'
Miley Cyrus hits out at Nicki Minaj rant
Gigi Hadid 'so proud' of Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift 'rejected millions to perform at wedding'
Taylor Swift shocked by streaming success
Billy Connolly: I won't let Parkinson's bring me down
Sadie Frost: Dad tied me to crucifix
Selena Gomez was insecure her voice not 'feminine' enough
Kristen Stewart: Fear kills life, but a little helps
Anne Hathaway: Age is 'fluid' and so is casting
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner 'much happier' since split
Taylor Swift wins Emmy Award
bang showbiz taylor swift