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Agrippina the Elder: The Woman Who Would Be Empress
Leave a Comment / Rome / By Mary Naples
Long before her boat docked at the port of Brundisium in the winter of 19 CE, Agrippina (the Elder—14 BCE- 33 CE) might have known that the mourners would come out. Like the perfectly choreographed event many believe it was, people were packed on the waterfront elbow to elbow, some standing for days others for hours; they lined the city walls, with the boldest of them perched onto unstable rooftops—all to catch a glimpse of her. Adored and admired—she was the Roman darling. "The glory of a nation, they called her, the lone survivor of Augustus' bloodline" writes Tacitus in his Annals. Agrippina was the daughter of Augustus's (63 BCE-14 CE) only biological child, Julia, who had died in exile when Agrippina was a mere twelve years old. Although she once had four siblings, Agrippina, was considered the sole biological grandchild of the Divine Augustus—Augustus was so popular as emperor that upon his death he was deified. Her brothers were all dead at or before the tender age of twenty-five and her only sister, Julia, was in punitive exile from which she would never return. But on this day, Agrippina was more than just the progeny of a god; one half the golden couple, she was also the newly minted widow of Rome's heir-apparent and one of the most celebrated of her generals—Germanicus Julius Caesar (15 BCE-19 CE). Biological nephew and adopted son of the ever-unpopular Emperor Tiberius (42 BCE-37 CE), Germanicus, was the hope of a nation and scion of the Julio-Claudian dynasty whose charisma off the battlefield and his multiple successes on it compared him to another beloved war-hero, Alexander the Great, who also died too young at thirty-three years of age.
The image of a grieving nation, an emaciated and pale Agrippina made her way across the gangplank with two of her six children in tow carrying the ashes from her freshly deceased husband when a collective wail descended from the crowd. Indistinguishable one from the other, men were crying, women were keening, strangers to Germanicus wept as fervently as his friends. In a boundless display of communal grief the people tore at their hair, pounded their chests, and howled for the world to hear—their golden prince was dead. But the mourning did not stop at Brundisium, it had only just begun. The tribunes and centurions of two praetorian cohorts greeted Agrippina lifting Germanicus's urn onto their shoulders while the funeral procession marched across the Italian peninsula stopping at designated towns along the way. In a grand display of public bereavement grieving Romans dressed according to their station; plebeians wore black, knights dressed in vibrant purple and those in the upper stations wore dark togas. Coming from far and wide to pay respects to their fallen prince, the mourners streamed into the streets advancing their way to Rome where they were met by consuls and senators as well as Germanicus's family members. Tiberius's son, Drusus (14 BCE-23 CE), and Germanicus's brother, Claudius (10 BCE-54 CE), and the rest of Agrippina's and Germanicus's six children took part in the nationwide funeral. But for all the solemn pomp and circumstance of Germanicus's most public of funerals, one luminary was conspicuous in his absence, Germanicus's biological uncle and adopted father: the Emperor Tiberius or as he preferred to be called the Princeps (first citizen). It was no secret that the relationship between the two men of contrasting dispositions was oftentimes strained.
Germanicus, great-nephew and a favorite of the Divine Augustus was designated in Augustus's will as Tiberius's successor. In fact, Augustus initially wanted Germanicus to be his immediate successor but was persuaded into choosing Tiberius by his wife, the ever-controlling Livia. Because Augustus had no sons, as part of the succession arrangement, Augustus had adopted his stepson, Tiberius, with the stipulation that Tiberius adopt Germanicus. Even though Tiberius's son, Drusus, was only one year younger than Germanicus, the proviso was that Germanicus be next in line of succession. Aloof and ill-at-ease, the perennially unpopular Tiberius was uncomfortable in his role as emperor and saw Germanicus's rising fame on and off the battlefield as a threat to his staid governance. Forasmuch as Tiberius was apprehensive with Germanicus's military victories, he was even more so with Agrippina's.
As a general rule, conventional Roman wives did not accompany their husbands on military expeditions. A staunch supporter of conservative values, Tiberius believed that Roman wives should stay home to demonstrate wifely virtues such as spinning and weaving, much as his mother Livia reportedly did. But Julio women were not known for their propriety. To be sure, Agrippina's plucky mother, Julia, had accompanied her husband—the brilliant General Marcus Agrippa—on his military excursions; it was on such an expedition that Agrippina was born. Insisting on accompanying her husband during a dangerous military exercise against mutinous forces in the Rhine, Agrippina appeared in the thick of things in 14 CE, along with their toddler son, Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus—affectionately dubbed "Caligula" by the soldiers for sporting miniature soldier's boots caligae.
Unhappy with the tight-fisted Tiberius for keeping them at war while not raising their wages, the malcontents wanted a change in governance. Reports from the field became increasingly alarming. In an attempt to quell the uprising, interceding senators had themselves became accosted. Even the popular Germanicus was unable to calm the mutinous soldiers. At a tense moment in the campaign, Germanicus insisted that Agrippina, along with tiny Caligula, withdraw from the skirmish. Initially she would have none of it. The word 'retreat' was not nor ever had been in her lexicon. After all, as progeny from the Divine Augustus, danger was not something Agrippina had ever shirked. Much back and forth between the couple ensued with Agrippina ultimately acquiescing. But the sight of their adored princess and her young son escaping from the very soldiers who were supposed to be defending them, rebuked the mutineers as nothing else had. Shamed and crestfallen, the soldiers finally capitulated. Where military might and the state's authority had failed, the mere presence of Agrippina had prevailed.
Yet again, her military mettle was challenged the following year when she accompanied Germanicus into the Rhine. Germanicus and some of his troops were in pursuit of a German chieftain in an area beyond the Rhine while a pregnant Agrippina stayed behind with the rest of the forces. When a rumor came out that the Romans were surrounded by Germans whose objective was to cross the Rhine river into the Gaulish provinces, the soldiers' knee-jerk reaction was to dismantle the bridge as a means of cutting off the Germans. But tearing down the bridge would have led to certain disaster as Germanicus and some forces were still on its other side. Amidst the chaos and threat of warfare, Agrippina kept her head. As a means of circumventing the destruction of the bridge—armed with ingenuity and the steel will that was her birthright—Agrippina established herself at the foot of the bridge and distributed food and clothing to the returning soldiers. Looking for all the world like the sovereign she was, she greeted each soldier personally and thanked them for their service while they crossed the bridge she alone had saved.
If the people adored her before the military victories, they worshipped her after them. Across the Roman Empire, statues of Agrippina went up in her honor. Even Tacitus calls her "a woman of great spirit," high praise from the historian. But news of Agrippina's intervention on the battlefield was not well-received by Tiberius. While he believed the presence of a woman on the field feminized the valor of the soldiers, more importantly he was concerned that Agrippina's rising popularity exceeded that of his commanders and that she had sidestepped their essential role. But the truth is, if it were left to the commanding officers, the bridge would surely have been demolished spelling certain defeat for Germanicus and his mission. Notwithstanding her bravery in the field, the relations between Tiberius and Agrippina had always been tense.
At this point, it is worth noting that Tiberius was Agrippina's stepfather as well as her adopted father in law. In the merry-go-round of arranged Julio-Claudian marriages, the ever-dour Tiberius—Livia's first born from her marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero—was ill-fatedly wed to the bon vivant, Julia, Augustus's only biological child. Alas, theirs was not destined to be a happy union. Raised as brother and sister, the two had long disdained each other. After their only son died in infancy, Tiberius—much to the bewilderment of Augustus—"retired from Roman politics" and moved to the island of Rhodes, a full fourteen hundred miles away from Rome. Never one to let grass grow under her feet, Julia was subsequently accused of adultery and ultimately exiled by her father to the barren and windswept island of Pandateria. After Augustus's death, as emperor, Tiberius cut off her food provisions while Julia slowly starved to death. Some believe he did it at the instigation of his mother, Livia, whose hatred for Julia was legendary. Nevertheless, one can only imagine the animus Agrippina must have felt for the man responsible for her mother's cruel death.
Regardless of Agrippina's troubled relationship with the Princeps, after the victories on the Rhine, Rome welcomed the conquering hero with a triumph ostensibly designed to showcase Germanicus's ever-burgeoning young family. Much to Tiberius's deep disdain, spectacle is what the golden couple did best and the people adored them for it. One cold heartbeat away from becoming the first family, Romans—from all walks of life—eagerly streamed into the city streets to have a look at the celebrity couple and their children. Beside their parents in the chariot, the children were in chronological order: Nero, Drusus, Agrippina and Drusilla. But the public's favorite was seated next to his father—four-year old Caligula. The crowd went into spasms of delight at the sight of Rome's little darling outfitted as a tiny soldier sporting his signature soldier's boots—Agrippina dressed him for maximum effect. Who would guess that in just over two years, the memory of this happy family welcomed by celebrating Romans, would be transformed into one of grief and mourning?
A short while later—at the zenith of Germanicus's popularity—Tiberius saw fit to send his heir designate away from Rome and into the eastern provinces under the proviso of breaking the client-king systems; that is to say transforming ancient kingdoms into provinces. Accompanied by the ever-expectant Agrippina and their favorite, Caligula, the almost-first family took in the culture of Athens visiting ancient sites along the way, while Agrippina gave birth to their last child, Julia Livilla, on the island of Lesbos. As a commander of the eastern provinces, Germanicus had the authority of an emperor, but it may not have been a coincidence that at the time that Germanicus was sent to head the east, a new governor was installed in Syria who many believe was deployed by Tiberius for the express purpose of spying on his heir apparent. A lifelong friend of the Tiberius's, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso came from a distinguished Roman family with strong ties to the Claudian line. Further, his wife, Munatia Plancina, was one of Livia's closest confidants. But the close family connection did nothing to endear the two men or their wives to each other. Even before they met, Piso seemed determined to dislike Germanicus, hurling insults at him for visiting Athens and calling the Greeks "a decadent race." Perhaps history would have taken a different course but for the benevolence of the golden prince. When Piso's flotilla was overcome by a whirling tempest, Germanicus generously sent out a party to save the governor. It might seem rational to suppose that saving his life would improve Piso's combative disposition toward Germanicus, but such was not the case. If anything, he grew still more pugnacious. But things went from bad to worse when Germanicus returned to Syria from an excursion in Egypt only to discover that Piso had cancelled all the orders he had made before his trip. Furious at the gross insubordination, Germanicus and the governor quarreled heatedly with Piso departing in "open enmity," reports Tacitus. Soon after, Germanicus fell ill. From the outset he was convinced that Piso and his wife had poisoned him. He wrote letters to his friends telling them of his suspicions and calling for revenge. Upon news of Germanicus's untimely death, in wild jubilation Piso and Plancina threw open the temples for celebration, flagrantly rejoicing his death while making it seem to all the world how likely they were mixed up in it.
Meanwhile, Agrippina's world was in ruins. Suddenly her status changed from empress in waiting to private Roman matron. Deemed "impatient for equality," as a Roman female Agrippina could never be empress in her own right—yet she was weaned for regency. According to Tacitus, a dying Germanicus begged Agrippina "to set aside her pride," not anger anyone by competing for power and warned her "of the threat caused by Tiberius." Still, being the progeny of a deity does not lend itself easily to humility. Beloved by the people, as the sole living grandchild of the Divine Augustus, Agrippina had no intention of going gently into the night. After all, her children were the future and the hope of a nation. Worn out and devastated by the loss of her husband—yet unwilling to lose any time—a steadfast Agrippina set sail for Rome on the wintry seas in January 19, with two missions in mind: retribution for Piso and his wife and securing a place on the throne for her sons. By staging a funeral fit for a king she was influencing public sentiment against his murderers while at the same time laying the groundwork for her sons to be in line for succession.
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Even before the funeral march, Roman tongues were wagging. By their close association with Piso and Plancina, people were convinced that Tiberius and Livia were involved in the poisoning of the heir apparent. Why had Tiberius sent Germanicus to the east just as he was installing Piso as governor of Syria? Further, why were Livia and Plancina always meeting behind closed doors? Although Livia was notorious for being intransigent, was she wicked enough to kill her own grandson? After all, Germanicus was the son of her second born, Drusus, who had also died young and was beloved by the people. Tacitus claims that Germanicus, like his father before him, had republican instincts and would have "restored liberty to the people" had he became emperor. If that were the case, it may not be difficult to understand why the emperor and (Julia) Augusta (an honorarium bestowed on Livia after Augustus's passing) would have sought to quell Germanicus's reign.
In his characteristic indifference, Tiberius did nothing to assuage the people's fears that he was behind Germanicus's untimely death. In fact, his behavior stoked them. To the people, Tiberius's absence from Germanicus's funeral was not only an affront to Germanicus's memory but more importantly testament to the Princeps' culpability for his murder as well. Making matters worse, at Germanicus's burial, people took it as a slight that Tiberius—in his hallmark frugality—conferred too few honors on the fallen prince. Tone-deaf as ever, Tiberius was impatient with the commemorations and displayed his petulance with the inconsolable mourners by urging them to get back to work. In their sorrow and fury, public outcry was reaching a fever pitch; the people had been robbed of their prince and would not be silenced. Tacitus remarks that it would have gotten out of control had Tiberius not summoned—however reluctantly—Piso and Plancina to Rome. Upon trial, Tiberius was hesitant to reach a decision about his friends. Never mind that they may have been responsible for killing his heir and adopted son or short of that—gross insubordination, the reluctant Princeps deferred the case to the servile Senate. Meanwhile, further widening the breach between Agrippina and Livia, the most reverend Augusta intervened on Plancina's behalf to have her pardoned. Livia's bosom buddy took full advantage of her amnesty and abandoned her husband to his fate. Yet not even the most reverend Augusta had the temerity to come to Piso's rescue. Manic in their frenzy, the crowds were out for blood. Statues of Piso were toppled and smashed on the Gemonian Steps—where bodies of the condemned were tossed —while all over town posters began appearing which cried "Give Us Back Germanicus." The writing was on the wall, Piso's fate was sealed. Beating them to it, he took his own life.
Eventually, a certain détente had settled between Tiberius and Agrippina. Because her children were too young to rule, she was resigned to Tiberius's son, Drusus as successor. In 23 CE, Tiberius was sixty-five years old and looking forward to handing the reigns over to his son one day. But in characteristic Julio-Claudian fashion, at thirty-seven, Drusus died after a brief illness. Then within the year, one of his twin sons, Germanicus the Younger—at a tender four years of age—rushed to join his deceased Julio-Claudian forebears. Alas, poor Tiberius, his successors—like those of Augustus—found it difficult to succeed him. His plans shattered, a devastated Tiberius—stoic as ever—went before the Senate adopting Agrippina's two eldest sons, Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar: 'Adopt and guide these young men—these offspring of an incomparable bloodline.' Tiberius had planned for Drusus to act as mentor to the boys, truth being that Tiberius had neither the energy nor the enthusiasm for the endeavor. A loner by nature with few friends and confidants, Drusus's loss set up a vacuum which was filled by an ambitious praetorian prefect whose aspirations far exceeded his station. Lucius Aelius Sejanus had been a favorite of Tiberius's before Drusus died but afterwards his counsel became increasingly indispensable to the emperor. Tiberius once referred to Sejanus as socius labroum "my partner in my toil." Yet, Sejanus longed to be more than just a partner to the Princeps; his ambitions included elevation to the throne itself—to the detriment of Agrippina and her two eldest sons.
It began slowly at first. Sejanus—Iago-like—began a whisper campaign against Agrippina. With relations between Agrippina and the Princeps tepid in the best of times, it proved easy to do. First, he suggested to Tiberius that the domineering and haughty Agrippina was over-stepping in asking the priests to offer vows for the safety of her two eldest sons right alongside those for Tiberius. The effrontery of that woman! Even though the priests denied that she did so, Tiberius cautioned the Senate to take the boys down a peg in their self-importance. Then even more destructively, Sejanus whispered to the emperor that a "faction of Agrippina" was threatening to divide the Roman state by civil war. Although today most question the veracity of this claim, the truth is if anyone could raise an army against Tiberius, it would be Agrippina. Ever-paranoid about his rule, Tiberius began to tighten the noose around her inner circle. In 24 CE, Gaius Silius and his wife Sosia Galla were arrested. Besides being guilty of having been close friends with Germanicus and Agrippina during their time in Germany, perhaps indiscreetly, Silius had bragged that if his forces had mutinied along with the others on the Rhine they would surely have overthrown Tiberius. With the cards stacked against him, Silius eventually committed suicide and Sosia went into exile. Then in 26 CE, Agrippina's cousin and confidant, Claudia Pulchra, was accused of plotting against Tiberius. As with the charges against Silius and Sosia, there is no way of knowing if the accusations had any semblance of truth to them. Regardless, Agrippina's name was sullied by association just the same, which Tacitus believes was the primary motive for the claims. Shortly thereafter, Agrippina confronted Tiberius when she found him sacrificing at the altar of Augustus. Infuriated, she raged at the hypocrisy of his praying to Augustus while he persecuted Augustus's progeny especially as she was "the true image" of Augustus, "a descendent of his heavenly blood." Dismissive as ever, Tiberius quoted a Greek verse: "Because she did not rule did not mean she was being mistreated." Characteristically, he ignored her grievance on the one hand, but on the other hand—more ominously—the quote revealed his fears about her thwarted desire to rule. According to Suetonius, Tiberius was never to speak with her again.
In her late thirties by now, Agrippina sought to remarry. Tacitus cites from Agrippina the Younger's journal (now lost) how her mother requested permission from Tiberius to re-marry. A Roman widow—even a woman as powerful as Agrippina—had to get consent from the senior male in her family for something as fundamental to her life as remarriage. The fact is, even by herself Agrippina was a political threat to Tiberius. But she was doubly so with a husband by her side. Tiberius could not risk her remarrying but instead of flatly denying her, he chose the cowardly way out. He ignored her plea altogether. Ever paranoid and cruel, under the "guidance" of Sejanus, Tiberius was becoming even more so. Relentless in his scheme to derail Agrippina, Sejanus infiltrated Agrippina's inner circle of friends and spread a rumor amongst them that the Princeps was planning on poisoning her at the dinner table. Believing Tiberius capable of it, Agrippina refused to eat anything at his table. Initially stung, Tiberius then used her suspicion of him as justification for his severity with her. The noose was steadily tightening. In 26 CE, Tiberius, desperate for a reprieve from governance, moved to Capri—nearly permanently—leaving Sejanus in charge of everyday governance.
As acting emperor and prefect, Sejanus had the all-important Praetorian Guard at his disposal. Initially the Praetorian Guard was formed by Augustus for the personal security of the emperor, but as a result of its power, it acquired a reputation for political intrigue. Indubitably, plots against his progeny were not something that Augustus envisioned when he first established the guard. At the Prefect's behest, his officers spied on Agrippina and her son Nero. After taking copious notes of everything said and done in her household, nothing exceptional was found. But that did not stop the onslaught. Masquerading as friends, Sejanus's operatives urged Agrippina and her son to move to Germany. Although their response is not known, Sejanus circulated the rumor that they were considering it. Make no mistake, in his smear campaigns Sejanus never needed proof to damage credibility. Finally, in 28 CE, another close friend of Germanicus's was accused of treason. In a bogus trap, Titius Sabinus, a distinguished knight, had what he thought was an innocent enough conversation with one of his friends, Latiaris, who had been briefed beforehand by Sejanus. As instructed, Latiaris began by praising Germanicus then expressed sympathy for his widow. Unlucky Sabinus walked right into it, agreeing with Latiaris's statements then went one step further by denouncing both Sejanus and even the noble Emperor himself. Naturally, Sabinus's time on the planet would be coming to an abrupt end. About this period, Tacitus writes: "Never had the city known greater tension and paranoia." In an increasing climate of distrust and fear, Sejanus ruled by rumor and conjecture pitting friends and family members one against the other. "People were tight-lipped even with their closest relatives," records Tacitus. After Sabinus was most cruelly dispatched into the hereafter, Tiberius sent a letter to the Senate thanking them for punishing Sabinus then made reference to various threats to his life and the state aimed obliquely at both Agrippina and Nero.
Agrippina might have been hard pressed to believe that the only person saving her and her two eldest sons from a tragic fate was one of the darkest forces in her life. But even Livia's blood was thicker than water and Agrippina's children were her great-grandchildren, after all. When Livia passed in 29 CE, the gloves came off. No sooner had her cold, hard body been relegated to the funeral pyre—yet another funeral her son, the Princeps chose not to attend—then a letter materialized as if from the heavens. Written by Tiberius and sent to the Senate, the letter accused Nero Caesar of obscenity and homosexuality. Accusations of sexual transgressions were impossible to prove or disprove—which was a big reason they were so effective in smear campaigns. Besides besmirching Nero, the letter denounced Agrippina as arrogant and insubordinate—no breach too petty for retribution by the Princeps. Meanwhile, in the Curia, the people made themselves heard. In support of Germanicus's revered widow and his son they held effigies of them while condemning the letter as a forgery. Edgy at the growing crowds, the cringing Senate was confused. Was it a hoax? Why would Tiberius denounce his own family members? Even if it were real, the Senate was unsure what they were supposed to do with it. So they took a page out of Tiberius's playbook and ignored the letter altogether. Furious that his letter had been disregarded the Princeps then wrote a more severe letter to the Senate that was unequivocal in its wrath against his daughter-in-law and heir apparent. Back on track, the Senate condemned both Agrippina and her son as co-conspirators then denounced Nero as an enemy of the state. Groveling, the Senate asked the most august emperor if these atrocious offenders should be put to death. But Tiberius had other plans. The granddaughter and great-grandson of the Divine Augustus were bound, shackled and put under heavy guard for transfer to two separate prison islands off the Tyrrhenian Sea. In a sinister nod to the past, Tiberius sent Agrippina to Pandateria, the island where her mother, the ebullient Julia was confined before eventually starving to death. Again, the people took to the streets in protest. Never one to take the public's opinion to heart, Tiberius did what he did best—he ignored them.
Shortly thereafter, orchestrated yet again by the Prefect, Agrippina's second son, Drusus, was condemned by the Senate on trumped up charges and confined to a dungeon on the Palatine—where he would ultimately die when food was withheld. Meanwhile, in 31 CE, his older brother, Nero, was either executed or died of starvation while in confinement on the penal island of Pontia. The two heir apparents thus dispatched, must have sent Sejanus jumping for joy. Clearing the path for himself, he had effectively removed both obstacles in the way of succession. Only Rome's darling, Caligula, was left. Living on an island retreat with his grandfather and adopted father—the Princeps—a teenaged Caligula was as yet a difficult target for even a talented marksman like Sejanus to pursue. Alas, the Prefect had to remain content with those whose lives he could more readily destroy.
By this time, Sejanus's power had been steadily growing. Honors, decorations and even a consulship were stacking up for him, all over Rome statues were turning up depicting the ever-obedient Prefect by the Princeps' side. Forasmuch as Sejanus's influence appeared to be waxing in Rome, hidden away in his island cave, Tiberius's influence appeared to be on the wane. In Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Suetonius reports that after Agrippina and her two eldest sons were condemned, Tiberius lived at such a heightened state of paranoia that "he never removed to any place but in fetters and in a covered litter, closely attended by soldiers." But paranoid and apprehensive as Tiberius may have been, he was still emperor. Once Agrippina and her two eldest sons were out of the dynastic picture, Tiberius took a harder and closer look at his "partner in toil." Perhaps Suetonius was correct when he claimed that Tiberius may have used the Prefect all along in order to remove Agrippina's two eldest sons thus paving the way open for his grandson Tiberius Gemellus for dynastic succession. Others believe that it was a letter penned by Antonia the Younger, the mother of Livilla (widow of Drusus)—with whom Sejanus had long been enamored—that awakened Tiberius to the devious machinations of the Prefect. To Tiberius's horror, Antonia's letter even implicated Sejanus (and Livilia) in his son's Drusus's sudden passing.
Now that the lidded eyes of the Princeps were finally open, the trap was easily set for his ensnarer in chief. In addition to all the other powers conferred on him over the years, Sejanus was led to believe that he was being awarded the all-important tribunician power—a sure sign that he would be heir-designate. Hotly anticipated, he eagerly swallowed the bait. Sejanus arrived at the Senate chamber amid much fanfare from the toadies and sycophants he had long cultivated there. But it did not take long before things began to go amiss. Read on the Senate floor was a letter from Tiberius that became increasingly incendiary toward his Prefect. Far from Sejanus receiving the tribunician power, at long last, he was now on the receiving end of one heinous accusation after another. But this time the charges were all true! Finally, the punishment his nefarious activities had so long meted out to others was to be dropped on him. His so-called supporters, who had fawningly rushed to his side only a few minutes earlier now scurried away like mice making room for the magistrates to arrest the most august Prefect. The end came swiftly. Sejanus was executed the following day. His lifeless body thrown unceremoniously onto the Gemonian Steps where for three days it was abused and pummeled by those who had long despised him—just about everyone living in Rome. More closely resembling something amphibious than anything human, his remains were finally hurled into the Tiber, a burial reserved for only the most heinous and despicable of criminals. At last, he had found his true station.
If Agrippina had hoped that the downfall of Sejanus would help her dire situation, she would be most cruelly disappointed. In contrast, after Sejanus shuffled off this mortal coil Tiberius became even more vocal and antagonistic against Agrippina and her two eldest sons. Unfamiliar with the notion of clemency, the small minded, tight-fisted Princeps held fast to his petty grudges and grievances. Even the subsequent deaths of his adopted sons were not enough to calm down his ire. Long past the point of defending themselves, Tiberius heatedly denigrated the young men by repeating the spurious allegations used against them and further ridiculed his imprisoned daughter-in-law. By then she had lived on the windswept and barren island of Pandateria for a few years—never known for her forbearance—Agrippina was increasingly vocal about the grievous conditions there. In retribution for her ire, Tiberius ordered a centurion to beat her so brutally she lost an eye. Defiant until the end, Agrippina vowed to starve to death, but Tiberius had her force fed instead. Finally, at forty-seven years of age, on October 18 in 33 CE, two years to the date that Sejanus was executed, the granddaughter of the Divine Augustus perished. Priding himself on his leniency, Tiberius boasted to all and many how—but for his clemency—he could have had his stepdaughter and adopted daughter-in-law strangled or tossed on the Gemonian Steps. Telling tales about her unpleasantness, he then declared the anniversary of her (and Sejanus's) death as a national holiday and ordered an annual sacrifice be made to Jupiter each year in observance. But Agrippina may have had the last laugh.
In a fitting denouement, Caligula is believed to have murdered the Princeps in 37 CE. By this time, Tiberius was in his seventy-eighth year and had served as emperor for twenty-three long, hard and arduous years. Unsurprisingly, his death was greeted amid much fanfare amongst the Romans who were not only celebrating the death of their dour and utterly unlikeable emperor, but also reveling in the return of their long-lost hero, Germanicus, in the guise of his only surviving son. Although Tiberius did everything to prevent it, he was succeeded by of one of Agrippina's sons, after all. In spite of the fact that his golden family was in tatters—or perhaps because of it—the people loved Caligula for no other reason than being the personification of their long-lost golden couple. Once he ascended the throne, Caligula capitalized on the public's nostalgia for his family and made Agrippina the star in his campaign to restore them. With coins and statuary crafted in Agrippina's image, the granddaughter of the Divine Augustus and mother to the extant emperor was made the centerpiece of the Julia-Claudian dynasty. Eventually, her legacy would span generations and include two emperors (a son and a grandson) and a daughter—"impatient for equality" like her mother—who was the driving force behind the reigns of her emperor husband (Claudius) and her emperor son (Nero). For centuries, Agrippina's indelible image of strength and fortitude could be found throughout the empire, rendering her as famous in death as she had been in her abbreviated life.
As Published in the May 2020 Classical Wisdom Magazine


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SF Playhouse makes 'Promises' worth keeping
COURTESY JESSICA PALOPOLI
Jeffrey Brian Adams is excellent as junior executive with yearnings in San Francisco Playhouse's production of "Promises
Sporting a "Mad Men" attitude and some standout performances, San Francisco Playhouse offers a carol-free alternative to holiday theatergoing with "Promises, Promises."
The 1969 musical boasts the talents of comedy hitmaker Neil Simon and songwriting kings Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and was faithfully adapted from Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning film "The Apartment."
Unfortunately, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts, and "Promises, Promises" manages just a handful of memorable tunes – the two best at the very end of the show – and a plot that bogs down with unnecessary production numbers and underdeveloped characters.
That doesn't stop director Bill English from working through or around most of these obstacles with the help of an energized cast, zippy choreography by Kimberly Richards, period-evocative costumes by Tatjana Genser, clever projections by Micah Stieglitz and music direction by David Möschler and Kevin Roland that demonstrates a clear affinity for Bacharach's percolating style.
It all centers on Chuck Baxter, an insurance office drone hopelessly in love with Fran Kubelik, the executive dining room attendant. They only connect in elevators and hallways – often involving his funny fantasy conversations – until he scores a promotion by loaning his apartment to executives ladder-rungs above him so they can consummate their extramarital affairs. Remember, it's the '60s!
As Baxter, Jeffrey Brian Adams carries the heart of the show and delivers a triumphant performance rich in endearing self-effacement, deadpan comic delight, impressive full-throated vocals and a physicality so buoyant he can't keep it contained on the stage. The man is simply made for musicals.
Staking out her territory next to Adams is Monique Hafen as the object of his affections and those of their boss. A pale beauty with a golden voice, Hafen smartly eschews musical comedy perkiness to dig deeper into a young woman coming to grips with her role and her goals in a quickly changing culture.
Saddled with an unfair share of the shortcomings of the score and script plus the erstwhile villain's role, Johnny Moreno cuts a great stage figure but fares less well as Sheldrake, the self-serving executive for whom Fran is just another entry in his romantic portfolio.
Rounding out the cast, Ray Reinhardt feels a little under rehearsed as the Baxter's long-suffering doctor neighbor, but Corinne Proctor spices up the second act as Marge, Baxter's hysterical barfly pick-up with haute pretensions.
Major kudos also go to the very talented multi-tasking ensemble of Morgan Dayley, Joseph Estlack, Rudy Guerrero, Kathryn Fox Hart, Stephen Shear and Leah Shesky who literally keep the show moving.
It's a fun, attractive and complex physical production and more performances – and maybe a few trumpet rehearsals – will likely iron out some of the opening night glitches as it settles in for its extended run.
Where: San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., S.F.
When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays. 3 p.m. Sundays; closes Jan. 10
Tickets: $20 to $120
Contact: (415) 677-9596, www.sfplayhouse.org
Tags: arts, Jeffrey Brian Adams, Promises, San Francisco Playhouse
Bay Area crab among most sustainable in world
By Margaret Hetherwick Special to The Examiner

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


DCAC Blog | CPP and the dangling carrot.
← Still learning after all this time.
CPP and the dangling carrot.
I received a phone call this week from a clergyman - let's call him Cameron. Cameron had just turned 60. He could no longer work as a clergyman a position he had held for 30 years or more due to multiple disabilities both physical and mental. Cameron had applied for CPP disability at 59. He was denied because the Feds said whilst they recognise that he has limitations he was still suitable for some type of work. No surprise this is the standard denial vernacular.
The Feds go on to say and I am paraphrasing, well you cannot have your disability benefit but, because you will be turning 60 in whatever length of time that is - or if you are already 60 - we are delighted to advise you that you can collect you CPP early retirement benefits. Just sign here, withdraw the disability application, and there you have it we will put you on these benefits and just forget the CPP disability. We will even recognise the date of your appliation to CPP early retirement benefits as if that is the date you applied for early retirement benefits (note I am being a tad sarcastic).
The CPP early retirement benefit payment is significantly lower that what you would collect on a CPP disability benefit - so the Feds have saved themselves a lot of money. It is my opinion that the Feds are also playing on people's emotions and desperation of the fear and financial implications of not having a monthly income. In Cameron's case I have seen the medical reports and the doctors have all supported that he is not capable of doing any work quite clearly.
I have seen this situation occur over and over again. Most people understand what the dangling carrot is - and the smart people of Canada are on to it.
I would also like to make note of one more thing. I have seen a lot of write ups lately from financial planners talking about taking early retirement from CPP. It is their perogative to give financial information but I get frustrated that not one of the financial planners mention that if you take early retirment one of the implications is the window of eligibility to access CPP disability benefits. I have talked at great length about this in previous blog entries.


Foreword: In this part of the series, I give you coding examples of a client and a server socket, for ECMAScript.
This is part 3 of my series, Internet Socket and ECMAScript. In this part of the series, I give you coding examples of a client and a server socket, for ECMAScript. You should have read the previous parts of the series before coming here, as this is a continuation. In order to test the code samples you need to have Node.js installed in your computer.
Typically, in a client-server system, the server is put on first and it remains on. The client is put on next and it connects to the server. If the connection is successful, the server responds with a greeting message. After recieving the greeting, the client sends a request and recieves a reply, sends another request and receives another reply, sends a request and recieves a reply, and so on; until the client closes its socket and goes off. The server may stay on for another connection.
and press Enter, to run the client.


text:
KOP/PKC Policies – Old Portal
All Other Policies – New Portal
Login: Employee
Login: Agent – KOP/PKC (Old Portal)
Login: Agent – All Other Policies (New Portal)
MissionSelect Insurance Press Release
MissionSelect Forms To Provide Innovative Alternative for Texas Independent Insurance Agents Who Sell Residential Property Insurance.
A new managing general agency – MissionSelect Insurance Services, LLC – has been formed in Texas "To provide a much-needed, innovative alternative for Texas independent insurance agents who sell residential property insurance in this state," Dave Lacefield, president of the new firm, said today.
MissionSelect , based in Argyle, was formed with the backing of San Diego, Calif.-based K2 Insurance Services, LLC, which invests in managing general agencies across the country.
Managing general agencies sell insurance coverage, but differ from other agents in that they are authorized by insurers to actually underwrite and bind risks. MissionSelect , Lacefield explained, will underwrite business on behalf of highly rated insurers, marketing insurance coverage through Texas independent agents.
"Texas agents are struggling, as they're being largely ignored by giant insurers and are having to deal with diminished capacity from regional carriers," Lacefield said. "MissionSelect offers a practical, no-nonsense approach to help agents write insurance for residential properties – from tenant-occupied properties to half-million-dollar owner-occupied homes."
Lacefield said MissionSelect has developed a "suite" of innovative insurance products designed to make it easier for independent agents to write new business. MissionSelect , he added, will underwrite business on behalf of highly rated, financially sound insurers, "making the process very efficient for professional insurance agents."
He added that MissionSelect will not impose credit scoring in evaluating properties. "This meets a crucial need for today's credit-challenged consumer, while making the process more efficient and less mysterious for the agent," he said.
Lacefield explained that the new company will utilize proprietary software that will enable agents to price and bind coverage quickly for policyholders, providing policy forms and other information "at the agent's fingertips."
"Many insurance companies continue to operate with legacy computer systems developed in the 1970s and 1980s," Lacefield said. "Our system gives agents much-needed flexibility, enabling them, for example, to respond easily and quickly to customer inquiries."
MissionSelect is focusing on residential properties in non-coastal areas. Expansion to additional areas and to other personal lines of insurance is expected in the future.
MissionSelect leadership
The company's co-founders include Lacefield and Chief Financial Officer Ashley Hunter:
A veteran of the insurance industry, Lacefield began his career as a homeowners insurance pricing analyst at USAA in 1977. Most recently he was executive vice president of National Lloyds Insurance Company in Waco, Texas. He has also held executive positions with insurers GeoVera Insurance Holdings and Texas Select Lloyds Insurance Company, as well as earlier positions with CIGNA Corp. and Kidder, Peabody & Co. A member of the Casualty Actuarial Society and the American Academy of Actuaries, he recently served as vice chairman of the board of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service.
Hunter, a Certified Public Accountant, founded Hunter Alliance Group, which provides accounting and administrative consulting services to insurance firms.He has also held positions with insurance broker Aon Corp. and with accounting firms Ernst & Young and James Howard & Associates. He holds master's and bachelor's degrees from Texas Tech University and serves on the board of directors of the Amarillo, Texas-based Christian Relief Fund.
"A key criterion for our insurance investments is the quality of management," commented Bob Kimmel, president of K2 Insurance Services. "Dave and Ashley have the relationships, background and know-how to build a strong insurance franchise in Texas." Additional information on K2 is available at www.K2ins.com
K2 was formed in 2011 with the backing of private equity fund Endeavour Capital, based in Portland, Ore. Additional information is available at www.endeavourcapital.com
Jay Donaldson2018-02-23T22:44:55+00:00February 11th, 2013|
It's Easy in EZLynx!
MissionSelect appointed as MGA for Aegis Security Insurance Company
RC Coverage on Homes up to 60 Years Old.
Practical, No-Nonsense Guidelines.
No Credit Scoring.
"A-" Rated Carrier.
Agents | Employee
Copyright 2018 MissionSelect Insurance | All Rights Reserved
Effective July 1st, login to our new GameChanger agency portal for all new business. All other policies will continue to use the legacy portal.


text:
Q: have problem in stacked group bar graph javascript I have problem in my javascript. This is my bar graph
i have 3 bar in one month. each bar have 3 status of every candidate. i have three year of average from my bar graph.
i want just three of this from my bar graph. And remove duplicate content to get a better bar graph in my project.
this is my code.

new Chart(document.getElementById("MyChart"), {
                type: 'bar',
                data: {
                    labels: [2017, 2018, 2019],
                    datasets: [{
                    label: "Gagal",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Base",
                    backgroundColor: "red",
                    data: [30, 31, 32],
                    }, {
                    label: "Menunggu",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Base",
                    backgroundColor: "yellow",
                    data: [15, 16, 17],
                    },{
                    label: "Lulus",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Base",
                    backgroundColor: "green",
                    data: [15, 16, 17],
                    }, {
                    label: "Gagal",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Sensitivity",
                    backgroundColor: "red",
                    data: [20, 21, 22],
                    }, {
                    label: "Menunggu",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Sensitivity",
                    backgroundColor: "yellow",
                    backgroundColorHover: "yellow",
                    data: [10, 11, 12]
                    },{
                    label: "Lulus",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Sensitivity",
                    backgroundColor: "green",
                    backgroundColorHover: "green",
                    data: [10, 11, 12]
                    },
                    {
                    label: "Gagal",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Kehormat",
                    backgroundColor: "red",
                    data: [20, 21, 22],
                    }, {
                    label: "Menunggu",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Kehormat",
                    backgroundColor: "yellow",
                    backgroundColorHover: "yellow",
                    data: [10, 11, 12]
                    }, {
                    label: "Lulus",
                    type: "bar",
                    stack: "Kehormat",
                    backgroundColor: "green",
                    backgroundColorHover: "green",
                    data: [10, 11, 12]
                    }]
                },
                options: {
                    scales: {
                    xAxes: [{
                        //stacked: true,
                        stacked: true,
                        ticks: {
                        beginAtZero: true,
                        maxRotation: 0,
                        minRotation: 0
                        }
                    }],
                    yAxes: [{
                        stacked: true,
                    }]
                    },
                }
                });
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Chart.js/2.7.1/Chart.min.js"></script>
            <canvas id="MyChart" width="400" height="200" ></canvas>

i want make stacked group bar graph for my company. please help me.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


It was a similar story in neighbouring Pakistan, where Telenor has built-up an agent network of over 150,000, compared to a bank branch network of only around 8,000. "We have a more widely recognised brand than any bank," claimed Telenor Pakistan's Arif Abdul Qayyum.
Telenor's easypaisa is offered in collaboration with local microfinance bank Tameer (in which Telenor owns a majority stake), and uses franchise partners to manage its dealer network. Qayyum said that the scheme uses an 'over-the-counter' model where agents process easypaisa transactions on behalf of the customer. This model has helped the operator avoid the 'chicken and egg' problem in rolling out a new service, but Qayyum admitted that there was still work to do in incentivising and educating its agents. "We have made our GSM dealers rich, but we need to sell them a new service and we need to encourage them to invest," he said.
Baltao said that Globe currently has 18,000 GCASH outlets nationwide. He noted that the scheme has been boosted by a recent regulatory change in the country, which has allowed more of Globe's airtime distributors to act as GCASH outlets.
Mobilink also going to launch mobile banking with name "Waseela Micro-Finance Bank". Hopefully the model would be pure mobile commerce.


Freightliner announced plans to produce an electric eCascaida model as part of its Electric Innovation Fleet that customers can test in real world conditions.
PORTLAND, OREGON. Freightliner Trucks premiered two fully electrified commercial vehicles, a Freightliner eCascadia and a Freightliner eM2 106, during the Daimler Trucks Capital Market and Technology Day on June 6. Freightliner plans to deliver an Electric Innovation Fleet of 30 vehicles to customers later this year for further testing under real-world operating conditions.
Both electrified Freightliner models are designed to fit specific applications, carefully identified through an extensive "co-creation process" with customers.
For the eCascadia, for instance, the focus is on port drayage and local and regional distribution. The eM2 is designed for local distribution, pickup and delivery, food and beverage delivery, and last-mile logistics applications.
The eCascadia uses wheel-end motors to produce up to 730 peak horsepower. The batteries provide 550 Kwh usable capacity, a range of up to 250 miles, and have the ability to charge up to 80% (providing a range of 200 miles) in about 90 minutes.
The eM2 has up to 480 peak horsepower. The batteries provide 325 Kwh of usable capacity, a range of up to 230 miles, and have the ability to charge up to 80% (providing a range of 184 miles) in about 60 minutes.
"The Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 are designed to meet customer needs for electrified commercial vehicles serving dedicated, predictable routes where the vast majority of daily runs fall between 45 and 150 miles," said Roger Nielsen, president and chief executive officer of DTNA.
The Freightliner eCascadia with 80,000 lb. gross combined weight rating (GCWR) and eM2 with 26,000 lb. GCWR are part of Daimler Trucks' global electrified truck initiative. The Mercedes-Benz eActros, with a range up to 124 miles and a 55,000 lb. GCWR, is now entering testing for distribution applications with customers in Europe, while the E-Fuso Vision One, a Class 8 concept truck in Japan with a range of 220 miles and a 51,000 lb. GCWR, gives an outlook on the electrification of the Fuso portfolio. The Fuso eCanter, a light-duty truck, is already in regular production as a fully electric truck from Daimler Trucks.
"Our primary goal at DTNA is bringing vehicles to market that are safe, reliable and efficient. Heavy-duty electric vehicles present the greatest engineering challenges, but they also are the best learning laboratories," Nielsen said.
An electric eM2 106 was also shown off at the Daimler Trucks Capital Market and Technology Day in Portland, Ore.
Daimler emphasized that this rollout is part of a global effort, and in fact the goal is to develop a single proprietary electric system that will be used on its products around the world.
Saying that it aims to become "the undisputed number one when it comes to e-mobility," Daimler said it has bundled all of its electric activities under a new organization for e-mobility: the E-Mobility Group (EMG).
EMG will define the strategy for everything from electrical components to completely electric vehicles for all brands and all business divisions, while also working to create a single global electric architecture.
DTNA understands the success of electric commercial vehicles requires extensive knowledge and support on the infrastructure side, and is leading the initiative to develop a commercial vehicle charging infrastructure for North America.
Germany-based Daimler AG, DTNA's parent, is a founding member of CharIN, the Charging Interface Initiative – an effort to develop a standard charging system for battery-powered vehicles. DTNA itself is heading a CharIN taskforce to develop a new electric commercial vehicle charging standard globally, collaborating with utilities and service providers.
While the Society of Automotive Engineers recently released charging recommendations for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, Andreas Juretzka, chief engineer for Daimler's e-mobility efforts, told HDT that they are concerned that the SAE process may not move quickly enough. The trucks shown here to journalists and investors were equipped with European charging ports.
Stay tuned for more reports from HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge, who is covering this special event from Portland.


text:
Data Collection Terminal
The LANpoint 7, an open-architectured data collection terminal, includes the Windows CE operating system running on an Intel X-Scale processor. These AutoID computers are designed for industrial, manufacturing and supply chain applications. Their waterproof, dustproof cases work in dusty, dirty or spray-down environments. The terminals are powered by an Intel XScale 400 megahertz RISC processor, provide nonvolatile storage expandable to 500 megabytes, and have standard Ethernet 10/100BaseT and optional IEEE802.11b/g wireless connectivity. The compact terminals come with an integrated full-size keyboard; various LAN and WAN wireless connectivity options-IEEE802.11b/g11 megabytes per second and 54 megabytes per second LAN or Sierra Wireless EDGE/GPRS/GSM-compatible WAN; a bright ½ VGA LCD display; a wide standard temperature range; and expanding software utilities, like the lock-down (kiosk) Web browser, which can be used to limit Web access to only the approved Web-based application. The terminal is available with touch and non-touch displays.
Intelligent Instrumentation Inc.
www.lanpoint.com
Machine Vision at 90 FPS
The CleverDragon line of industrial-grade cameras is capable of up to 90 frames per second and all pixel data readout at VGA resolution. Featuring Power over Camera Link (PoCL) technology to allow transfer of image data, power and control signals on a single cable, the new cameras are optimized for semiconductor, packaging and other high-speed detailed inspection tasks. Two models are available in resolutions of XGA (1024 by 768) or VGA (640 by 480). Equipped with a full-frame shutter that allows all-pixel reading even during random trigger shutter operations, the cameras read data three times faster than conventional CCD cameras, while providing vertical resolution without degradation. Ideal for replacing existing monochrome analog cameras, both models have a compact form factor-29 millimeters by 29 millimeters by 26.5 millimeters. PoCL further assists the integrator by eliminating the need for separate power and control cables.
Toshiba Teli Corp.
www.toshiba-teli.com
Miniature Quartz Force Sensor
The Model 219A05 miniature charge output quartz force sensor is for industrial applications where space is at a premium. The sensor is ideal for obtaining an indirect measurement of injection molding cavity pressure by positioning the sensor behind an ejector pin. The high stiffness property of the sensor allows it to follow very fast transient events. It also may be used to measure short-term quasi-static processes. The removable cable allows for a choice of lengths and terminating connector type, and facilitates easy field repair in the event a cable is damaged. The sensor's full-scale measurement ranges up to 560 pounds (2.5 kilonewtons), and its compact size of 0.24-inch (6 millimeters) diameter by 0.24-inch (6 millimeters) height allows the sensor to be used for other applications involving compression forces, such as push buttons and pin insertion on circuit boards, switches and actuators.
PCB Piezotronics
www.pcb.com
Zoom Extender
High-magnification zoom lens systems can achieve greater working distances with the addition of the Zoom Xtender. The Xtender increases the versatility of the Zoom 6000 and 12X Zoom systems by extending their reach yet still maintaining internal focus and parfocal zooming. It also allows the operator to keep computer-controlled motorization and detents intact.
Navitar Inc.
www.navitar.com
Thickness Gage
The American-made PosiTest DFT coating thickness gage has been updated to include a flip display for right-side-up viewing in any position and a built-in wrist strap for added convenience and security. The gage is available in two models, Ferrous for steel or Combo for all metals. Fast, repeatable measurements and no calibration required for most applications make it ideal for paint applicators and inspectors.
DeFelsko Corp.
www.defelsko.com
Modular CMM Fixturing
A complete line of modular CMM fixturing in ¼ to 20 thread size for holding parts during inspection is available. This system offers fixture plates, fixture towers, a wide selection of standoffs and pin rest pads, magnetic rest pads and soft-touch clamps. Hard-coat, black anodized aluminum CMM fixture plates have ¼-20 tapped holes on ½-inch centers and are alpha-numerically labeled for documenting fixture setups. Standard fixture plate sizes start at 12 inches by 12 inches and go up to 28 inches by 40 inches to cover most CMM measuring ranges. Special fixture plate sizes can be quoted. ½-inch, ¾-inch and 1-inch diameter standoffs come in ½-inch, ¾-inch, 1-inch, 2-inch and 3-inch height increments to allow quality managers to build repeatable part fixtures that offer optimal part access for measurement with a coordinate measuring machine. After a part has been located and positioned, soft-touch clamps provide light clamping force for holding parts in position under touch probing.
www.te-co.com
The ACW is a wireless transmitter, controller and display. It can be powered by either current transformers or potential transformers in existing power line installations. The patent-pending technique of the device uses the signal (voltage and/or current) to power the RMS-DC converter and wireless transceiver for volts, amps, hertz or watts (or all four) that operate from 315 to 928 megahertz. The receiver can be powered from 5 to 32 VDC or 90 to 265 VAC and comes in a NEMA 4X case. Industrial, mil-spec or nuclear grades are available. 902 to 928 megahertz spread spectrum is for U.S. applications; 315 to 870 megahertz is for foreign installations.
OTEK
www.otekcorp.com
Specimen Marker
The Hand-Operated Marker (HOM) is for use with non-contacting video extensometers, allowing marks to be placed on a specimen with consistent size, color density and spacing. Inks will stretch along with the specimen, unlike traditional stick-on paper dots that may move as the material is being strained, which can introduce error. Printed dots provide the advantages of improved edge sharpness, uniformed density across the dot and a smoother-shaped outline than hand-drawn dots. Well-defined printed dots improve dot tracking algorithm performance and allow greater tolerance to video image error sources, such as background color and density variations.
Instron
www.instron.com
Products Test
Color vision sensor
The DVT 535C entry-level color vision sensor is not limited to a single machine vision function such as color sorting, but can handle a much broader range of applications with a compete set of color tools for sorting, color match and defect detection.
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DOWNEY - In one sense, it's amazing how many public programs there are hoping to convince you to save water. They have catchy names, like "WaterSense," "Energy Star," "Bewaterwise," "SoCal Water Smart," "Shut Your Tap" (my personal favorite), and the City of Downey Department of Public Works Utilities Division. Okay, maybe that last one wasn't quite so catchy. But you get the idea.On the other hand, these public agencies are acutely aware that the water supply is among our most precious resources. And in California in particular, these same public organizations recognize that constant care and vigilance are necessary to insure that our water supply is able to meet the needs of the population. So we continue this week with our assessment of water conservation tips as provided by the aforementioned (not too catchy) Public Works Utilities Division. We are still seeking ways to conserve water indoors, and still more opportunities present themselves, specifically with clothes washers and dishwashers. There's one simple no-(additional)cost rule for saving water and energy with these appliances: make sure you're always washing full loads. Clearly the cycle will use the same amount of water, regardless of how many clothes or dishes there are in each load. So common sense dictates a full load every time. Both clothes washer and dishwasher will also undoubtedly have different cycle options, so it's a good idea to read the manual so you're familiar with the water and energy usage of each available cycle, and choose accordingly. (As far as energy use is concerned, you can, of course, save a bit more if you select an all-cold clothes washing cycle.) Most other gains in water savings with these devices come from the technology, and once again, the EPA's websites are delighted to project what kind of water and energy savings are achievable. While the WaterSense site deals primarily with bathroom devices, EPA's Energy Star website lists standards and potential for clothes washers and dishwashers. The Energy Star site estimates that "the average American family washes almost 300 loads of laundry each year." Further, Energy Star qualified clothes washers use "14 gallons of water per load, compared to the 27 gallons used by a standard machine"--a 50% reduction. The lifetime water savings of each of these new machines is therefore estimated to be 43,000 gallons. From another perspective, the Energy Star site declares ebulliently that, "if every clothes washer purchased in the U.S. this year earned the Energy Star, we would save...32 billion gallons of water." Closer to home, the Metropolitan Water District water conservation site, bewaterwise.com, offers rebates to single-family residential customers through its SoCal Water Smart program on High-Efficiency Clothes Washers. Similarly, Central Basin Municipal Water District also offers a menu of rebates on "HECWs" (or HEWs), as they are sometimes called. CBMWD also sponsors the "Shut Your Tap" water conservation program. To be clear, while the City of Downey participates as a member of both the CBMWD and the MWD, Downey supplies all its own water from local wells, so an interested party would need to consult directly with each agency to determine rebate eligibility. Returning to dishwashers, Energy Star models use 5.8 gallons per cycle or less, whereas older machines use 10 or more additional gallons per cycle. Two low-cost tips from the EPA Energy Star site (and you can trust them, because I've heard these guys do all their own dishes) are to scrape food rather than rinsing, and to use the dishwasher rather than washing dishes by hand. According to Energy Star, using qualified dishwashers will save 5,000 gallons of water annually over hand washing. More importantly, using an Energy Star qualified dishwasher, rather than washing by hand, will annually save you 230 hours of your time. Giving you more free time to read The Downey Patriot.


text:
Two more black lives that didn't seem to matter: In Rio, 24-year-old model/designer Kathlen Romeu struck down during police action; she was 14 weeks pregnant
June 14, 2021 Marques Travae Black News From Brazil, Violence 1
Note from BBT: You know, there comes a time when you simply run out of words to express your sentiments. This is especially true when you continue to see the same tragedies extermination techniques being carried out. Even becoming aware of the level of violence by agents of the state in states like Rio de Janeiro and Bahia more than 15 years ago, it's still difficult to register how often the Brazil eliminates the lives of its black citizens. This is all I could think when I began seeing how many people were posting the news of the death of another young black Brazilian. This time, 24-year-old Kathlen Romeu.
Without having read the news the first time her photo appeared on my timeline, all I wondered was, who is this beautiful young black woman that keeps appearing on my feed. But then it hit me. Another life violently ended due to a police action. If that wasnt tragic enough, then I learned that she was pregnant with her first child. I…simply…don't…have….any…words…
When I first saw Katlen's face, I didn't think I knew who she was. But then as the news of her death took over the media, I then discovered that I actually had seen her face before. She was one of the beautiful black women that appeared in the video of the song 'Pretinho Tipo A' by Leo Santana and Thiaguinho that I covered a few years ago. Two more black lives snuffed out and others whose lives have been turned upside down….again.
Romeu appeared in the video of the song 'Pretinho Tipo A' by Leo Santana and Thiaguinho. In Thiaguinho's post, he asks what many black Brazilians continue to ask: how long will these murderous police actions continue taking mostly black lives?
For years I listened as Brazilians consistently argued that their country wasn't racist or at least not as racist as the United States. ''We never had a KKK in Brazil'', people would always say to justify their belief that Brazil was clearly less racist than the US. But, as I've argued countless times, when you compare the numbers, this argument flies in the wind.
''Why?'', someone unfamiliar with the genocide going on Brazil might ask. After all, weren't the KKK one of the most violent hate groups in the history of the world? ''Look at all the violence that this group inflicted upon black Americans. Surely you can't compare Brazil with that,'' someone might say.
Well, actually, when you do the comparison, the verdict is clear. Brazil kills far more black people than the US, even when we include the violence of organized vigilante groups like the KKK. I've crunched the numbers several times and there's simply no way to avoid my conclusion.
If you define black in Brazil as all blacks and browns, Brazil kills 17 times more persons of African descent than the US. in total numbers, Brazil's police regularly kill 5-6 times more people than American police. Now, consider the terrorist crime of lynching so often associated with white lynch mobs, the KKK and rogue police.
Official numbers show us that, at the height of lynching in the us, 1882-1968, there were 4,743 lynchings in the US, 1,297 victims being white, 3,446 being black. In other words, 73% of the victims of these crimes were black. In comparison, today in Brazil, about 77% of victims of police violence are non-white. These figures were recently updated to almost 6,500 victims, the majority being black.
Add this to the fact that, for at least two decades, but probably longer, Brazil's police have regularly killed as many as five times more people annually than American police, the majority of those victims being non-white and then we can confirm which country violently takes more lives of black people and it's not the United States. I'm in no position to defend police in the United States, but if the subject is a killing machine of black people, Brazil is the champion hands down.
I know that when people read these stories about Brazil's murderous people, they may argue, ''well, they don't mean to kill these people; it's just their duties to fight crime.'' This also doesn't fly because, Brazil's police don't enter majority white communities with guns blazing. Many people have pointed out that a large proportion of drug trafficking clients in Brazil are from well-to-do, white, middle class neighborhoods but you don't see these neighborhoods under siege by routine police invasions.
There's simply no denying this. Black bodies falling to the ground due to police bullets has been going on for decades and the reckless abandon these police have when entering majority non-white/black communities simply proves the point. Maybe we can agree that police don't aim to specifically kill the people, most often innocent, who die during these actions (that's up for debate). But having shoot outs in areas in which people live will often times lead to death or serious injury. So, with intent or not of killing innocent victims, the result is the same.
I say again, as I always have. Call it what it is. GENOCIDE.
24-year-old Katlen Romeu was struck down during a police operation in Rio
Kathlen Romeu: woman, mother, black and yet another victim of the Police State
The 24-year-old designer and model was killed in an armed confrontation in the Lins community, in Rio de Janeiro; she was pregnant with her first child
By Isabella Otto
Another black life was interrupted in a community in Rio de Janeiro during an armed confrontation. Kathlen Romeu, 24, an interior designer, FARM (clothing brand) saleswoman and model, was killed in the Lins community, in the northern part of the city. The young woman, who was four months pregnant, was, according to the military police (MP), the victim of a stray bullet.
Authorities also said that it all happened because UPP (Pacifying Police Unit) police were cornered by members of a faction known as "Beco da 14". During the exchange of fire, Kathlen ended up getting hit. The victim was taken to the Salgado Filho Municipal Hospital, in Méier, but she succumbed to her injury.
Romeu in a photo with her partner Marcelo Ramos; the two were expecting their first child together
Marcelo Ramos, the girl's boyfriend, spoke on social networks about what happened. He said he was completely shattered and that neither she nor the baby, who was to be named Maya, if she were a girl, or Zayon, if he were a boy, will be forgotten. "Sometimes it's hard to understand God's will, but I know you're better than us. Here I will only miss and remember you, the most radiant and lively person I've ever met in my life. I will win for you! May God give me strength. I love you forever", he posted on Instagram.
Luciano Gonçalves, father of the model, also spoke in an emotional appeal to Bom Dia Rio, on TV Globo. "Ninety-nine percent of the community are good people. The same operation that you constantly have in our area, in the South Zone, you don't do it. My daughter was the most special thing in my life. A good person, intelligent," he vented. After the report, the journalist and host, Flávio Fachel, blamed the criminals for what happened. "The banditry dominates these areas where the State is not present," he said. The MP guarantees that the shot that killed the young woman didn't come from a weapon belonging to the police and that no police action was taking place at the scene.
Kathlen Romeu was only 24 years old
The Civil Police informed that "witnesses will be heard and steps will be taken to clarify all the facts and identify where the shot that struck the victim came from." A protest on the Grajaú-Jacarepaguá Highway took place shortly after the young woman and her child died. In networks, the revolt for yet another black life lost in a Rio community is great – and necessary. "It's not possible that for us there is only pain. And it only hurts, because we mourn the death of our son, father, uncle, and we don't have the opportunity to dream. This pain that the State always throws in our laps, where do we put it? Where will our hatred move us? A genocidal state," wrote the Human Rights activist and columnist for the Revista Autismo, Luciana Viegas, on Twitter.
Countless people took to twitter to express their sorrow and anger over the loss of yet another life due to police actions
This pain that the State always throws in our laps, where do we put it? Where will our hate move us?
GENOCIDE STATE. And for us there's more than that lump in our throat and the fear of knowing that one of these days it could be me or mine.
May guias protect and comfort the family.
— luciana viegas ♿ (@luu_viegas) June 8, 2021
Diego Tbt, history professor and member of the Gazela Negra collective, also stated: "It's revolting, but it gives nothing. The state puts five-year secrecy into the investigation and the killers continue there. There is no salvation in a Police State. It's death for us," he said.
I just found out about Kethlen Romeu's case and unfortunately, I have nothing to say that I haven't already said dozens of times.
It's revolting, but it gives nothing. The state puts five-year secrecy into the investigation and the killers continue there.
There is no salvation in a Police State. It's death for us.
— Diego Tbt (@ReTintaPreta) June 8, 2021
Famous people also began to get angry on the networks. Nanda Costa shared on Instagram the print of a tweet asking how many black lives it will take for people to start caring.
Writer and columnist Atila Roque, whose post was shared by the actress, used the networks to send a message to fellow journalists: "Don't accept the official version, don't repeat that it was an exchange of fire or a stray bullet. Don't call this disaster a police operation. Don't be part of the concealment of this genocide," he wrote.
This Thursday, 10, would complete a week since Kathlen Romeu shared the news that she was pregnant on Instagram. "Today I am writing this text feeling very happy and fulfilled. I feel like I now have a bigger reason to be the coolest person ever! You know that girl-woman that people admire and are proud of?! Today she wants to be more and more!!! All for this little being that I carry in here!", celebrated the young mother of 24 years of life, which last Tuesday was interrupted. "A news that is repeated so often that it makes you nauseous. Innocent people. Black. Dead. Police operation. The Brazilian state is not at war on drugs. Since its formation, it has been serving the extermination of the black and peripheral population. It's no longer possible to pretend that it's not," pointed out actor Icaro Silva on Instagram.
Just the previous week, Kathlen Romeu had announced her first pregnancy via her social media account
Kathlen Romeu didn't die from a stray bullet, journalists from Brazil
By Kauê Vieira
Kathlen Romeu's photos have flooded social media in the last 24 hours. The black woman, wearing an asymmetrically designed flat nagô braid, appears smiling, with a white blazer no less pretty than her face and hairstyle.
This journalist who is writing to you came to think that it was just another black woman on the cover of a magazine. Have you seen the wonderful work of people like Suyane Ynaya? Did you ever notice Camilla de Lucas' exuberance on the cover of Elle?
It wasn't a magazine cover. It was, in fact, the last record of yet another black girl murdered in Brazil. Kathlen Romeu was killed in an alleged exchange of fire between police and drug dealers in a favela in Rio de Janeiro.
Kathlen's smile had reason. The 24-year-old girl was pregnant with her first child. The photo shoot was precisely to celebrate the growth of her belly, a symbol of the love of Kathlen and Marcelo Ramos, her partner.
Kathlen Romeo was 24 years old
It's Dia dos Namorados (Brazil's Valentine's Day) week in Brazil, nothing more natural than an overdose of people celebrating love, so necessary in times where authoritarianism seems to suffocate. It doesn't seem like it, because the excesses of a State that doesn't care about its population really suffocate, see covid-19, which mainly affects those who have not completed high school and work in professions that are socially despised.
São Paulo, which has 40% of its population made up of black people, has registered a 20% increase in deaths among Afro-Brazilians since the beginning of the pandemic that has killed nearly 500,000 Brazilians so far. The increase among whites did not exceed 11%.
Celebrities such as actor Ícaro Silva, rapper emicida, comedian Yuri Marçal, singer Kevin O Chris, actress Camila Pitanga and others mourned Romeu's death
Kathlen didn't die of covid. She was murdered by another Brazilian wound, the racist violence of the armed wing of the State: the police. And, before they say that the police made a mistake or it didn't work out, reflect. The corporation strictly follows the objectives proposed by the Brazilian State since slavery: the extermination of as many black people as possible.
Not even in a pandemic are the bodies of blacks are spared. Dear reader, dear reader, it hasn't been a month since social networks were taken over by images of other interrupted black dreams.
Stray bullet, dear journalist?
The abuse of the police commanded by the Rio de Janeiro State government in Jacarezinho is still fresh in memory – at least in the memory of the father who had his daughter's room bathed in blood. How do you live?
That police operation in Jacarezinho killed 28 people. All bandits or criminal records, the State tries to sell. As if that justified. The worst is that it sticks. A large part of the Brazilian press is at fault in the registry.
Black genocide has a face, zip code and address. Have you read the newspapers today? Police operation, stray bullet, the crying of the family that is orphaned, two or three bureaucratic speeches from the government and life that goes on. Will we have another newspaper with only black journalists?
Jacarezinho was the target of slaughter with 28 dead
Stray bullets don't exist. The bullet is not stray, it has a target. The bullet from the MP's rifle always hits a black body. The Monitor of Violence shows that, in 2020 in Brazil, 78% of those killed by the police were black. This means that four out of every five people killed by the civil and military police in 2020 were pretos (black) or pardos (brown).
The research is by the G1, in partnership with the Brazilian Public Security Forum and the USP Violence Study Nucleus, which was based on conflicts with civilians or unnatural injuries with the participation of active police officers.
Kathlen Romeu, 24, died after an alleged exchange of gunfire between the military police in Rio de Janeiro and drug dealers from the Barro Vermelho community, in Lins de Vasconcelos, in the northern part of the marvelous city. Kathlen was 14 weeks pregnant with her first child.
How long are we journalists going to chicken out? How long are we going to call what happened to Kathlen a police operation? Is it all in the name of half a dozen seized rifles and a few grams of marijuana or cocaine? Is such a drug war a justification for taking a young woman full of dreams with a baby who hasn't even seen the light of day?
The name of this is GENOCIDE. Kathlen was murdered by the Brazilian State, which still doesn't tell us who the authors of the death of Councilwoman Marielle Franco are. Little Miguel, son of Mirtes, died due to the negligence of his mother's boss, Sari Corte Real, exactly one year ago. Miguel was five years old and fell from a luxury building because of his mother's boss's impatience, who didn't come for the boy when he missed his mother. So, what is the definitive opinion of the courts? Is there justice for a black mother?
Will most of the Brazilian press buy this version again? What is the interest of the major media outlets in this country in not facing racism head on?
The military police have to stop. It's not possible that we watch, every day, the extermination of black lives in the most unsafe country for a black person to live in. Society is sick, but we are the ones who foot the bill.
When will this stop?
"A childhood friend, who has always struggled since she was young, who was proud of her parents and was expecting a child. Nobody can take this killing anymore, we have to end this clowning. They killed a worker, a sweet girl who was fulfilled because of being a mother," a friend of Kathlen Romeu told UOL.
Source: Capricho, Hypeness
black genocide
black population
police murder
pregnant black woman
For black people, "clothes can be armor against racism", says Hanayrá Negreiros, the new assistant curator of fashion at MASP, one of Brazil's top museums
With a feature in TIME magazine, selected GQ Brasil's 'woman of the year' and new single and video, ''Gueto'', singer IZA prepares for a big year
I heard about this and as a tragic as it is, it's not the least bit surprising to me. Government supported law enforcement has long been used as termination squad for Black people globally. Rest In Paradise to Kathlen Romeu and her unborn child and condolences to her boyfriend Marcelo Ramos.


Maria is a 25 year veteran nurse and currently managing St. Joseph's Hospital here in Phoenix. She was inspired and motivated to open an Assisted Living Group Home as a result of caring for her grandfather, Ed "Pop" Cullen, who had been living with undiagnosed Alzheimer's. After several negative experiences with larger facilities and unable to find suitable care in the smaller group homes, Maria realized that to give Pop the care he deserved she would have to "do it myself." Thus, Because We Care was born. Pop passed away before construction was finished but Maria decided that the community needed a different type of group home and carried on with the project.
Sunny is described as tireless, strong, and quiet. His demeanor exemplifies the amazing spirit and atmosphere of life at Because We Care. His eight years experience adds a unique dimension to our home. His careful and loving manner is loved by all the residents and their families, as well as the entire staff. Along with his several other contributions, Sunny designs physical exercise programs tailored to the individual's needs.


This research paper proposes a framework for globally interconnected distributed heterogeneous object-oriented systems and the problem of semantic interoperability.
The proposed framework is depicted in Figure 1 as a globally interconnected set of objects positioned in a huge address space referred to as the ObjectCosmos. Each object is identified by an immutable ObjectIdentity consisting of a unique CosmicAddress within the ObjectCosmos. CosmicAddresses assigned to objects are never reused. The collection of all objects in the ObjectCosmos is referred to as the ObjectUniverse.
activity causal agents referred to as sparcs (*).
A sparc is an abstraction of the primary source or causal agent of any activity such as a process, thread, coroutine, actor, etc. Sparcs have their own ObjectIdentity, ie. immutable CosmicAddress, and are the causal agents of all activity in the ObjectCosmos. When a sparc invokes an operation on an object, it is driving a thread (~) through that object. Objects which have no thread operating in them are called passive objects, whereas objects which have threads being driven through them by sparcs are called active objects.
Objects are covered by covers (boxed figures) discussed further below.
The simplest semantic cover that exists is a composition cover that partitions the ObjectUniverse into collections of objects. In its simplest form, a composition cover simply lists the CosmicAddresses of the objects it collects. The composition cover is itself an object having CosmicAddress. Composition covers are self-descriptive, ie. they contain not only the CosmicAddresses of the objects they cover, but also contain their own CosmicAddress.
Covers may be hierarchically nested as shown in Figure 1, which depicts a composition cover over the ObjectCosmos. The outermost cover is referred to as the ObjectUniverseCover. The next level of [Composition[*]] subcover is referred to as an EnterpriseCover. It represents enterprises recognized as legal independent entities in international law such as persons, organizations and nations. The notion of a legally recognized enterprise is important because it is associated with security and authentication mechanisms that are required to be able to fully specify security semantics for the ObjectCosmos.
We utilize the notation [Cover[*]] to represent a cover in a textual description. For example, Figure 1 depicts the [Composition[*]] cover over the ObjectUniverse. The [*] notation is suggestive of hierarchical nesting of covers. The notation is capable of unambigously identifying a specific cover as in for example [Composition[BNR[Ottawa]]] which identifies the composition cover identifying the BNR-Ottawa objects. A separate cover over the ObjectCosmos which is orthogonal to [Composition[*]] is [Class[*]]. [Class[*]] consists of meta-information specifying the class or type information for the ObjectUniverse.
We note that OMG's IDL MODULE construct is capable of specifying [Class[*]] over the ObjectCosmos.
We refer to [Composition[*]] and [Class[*]] as [Being[*]]; ie. it specifies completely the existential semantics for the ObjectUniverse. These existential semantics are in a sense analogous to the notion of objects and their distribution in space in the real cosmos.
Each sparc operative as a causal agent in the ObjectCosmos is coupled to a [Doing[*]] meta-object that describes its current state and sphere of influence in the ObjectCosmos. A [Doing[*]] cover effectively describes sparcs and their operations on objects within the lifetime of each sparc. [Doing[*]] effectively completely specifies the operational semantics for the ObjectUniverse. These are in a sense analogous to the notion of causal change agents and their effects in time in the real cosmos.
Sparcs are ultimately traceable to persons having legal authority within an Enterprise cover. Sparcs are also primitives used to specify [Consistency[*]] and [Security[*]] semantics further described below.
[Consistency[*]] deals with consistency semantics in the ObjectCosmos under conditions of sparcs with intersecting / colliding [Doing[*]] meta-objects.
[Security[*]] semantics specify the security semantics operative in the ObjectCosmos, by specifying the 'keys' held by sparcs that permit them to open the appropriate 'locks' covering the objects they wish to access.
The framework deals with multiple schema analogous to the ANSI / SPARC 3-schema model for data. These schema are a CosmicSchema, an ImplementationSchema and a ViewSchema. These correspond approximately to the ANSI / SPARC conceptual schema, internal schema and external sub-schema.
The CosmicSchema is a description of the ObjectCosmos in terms of its orthogonal covers of [Being[*]], [Doing[*]], [Consistency[*]] and [Security[*]]. Figure 1 above is a CosmicSchema representing the [Composition[*]] sub-cover of [Being[*]]. It deals with conceptual notions rather than implementation notions.
Figure 2 depicts the ImplementationSchema. It is a separate independent layer on top of which resides the CosmicSchema represented by Figure 1. The CosmicSchema is mapped into the ImplementationSchema by the various implementations of portions of the ObjectCosmos.
At the InternalSchema, there are a number of activity engines (AE) which can be loaded with sparcs in order to perform the sparc's activity. Activity engines are generally limited to being able to perform only a few types of activity covers from the total set of activity cover types in the ObjectCosmos (eg. UNIX SUN/OS process, active Microsoft Window, ...).
Dispatching Engines DE perform dispatch of operations on objects originating from an activity running on an activity engine AE. Such operations use a CosmicAddress as the ObjectIdentity. DE maps that CosmicAddress into an ImplementationAddress of the local ObjectSpace and performs the dispatching operation. DE is therefore very similar to an OMG ORB. If the object is not local to DE (ie. it is not contained in a local ObjectSpace), then DE will interact with other DE's supporting the ObjectCosmos to locate the object in order to perform the dispatch.
DE has knowledge of the semantic covers over each of its ObjectSpaces. DE also performs the semantic transformations required to support semantic inter-operability between two objects, whereever such semantic inter-operability is indeed possible. Ie. DEs implement an object's semantic covers.
Objects may also be replicated, relocated or moved within the above InternalSchema Platform. Such mechanisms are managed by the DEs. Failures and restarts are performed by DEs or with their assistance, and generally involve relocating objects to avoid failed components AE, DE and ObjectSpace.
The InternalSchema identifies the distribution of the CosmicSchema over the InternalSchema Platform. Ie. it identifies the distribution of the objects of the CosmicSchema over the activity engines, dispatching engines and ObjectSpaces of the InternalSchema platform.
A ViewSchema resides above the CosmicSchema and provides different perspectives and views of the CosmicSchema in accordance with the requirements of a viewer.
The first level of [Composition[*]] below the ObjectUniverseCover of Figure 1 is the EnterpriseCover. Each enterprise has an Enterprise Repository Engine that manages the Enterprise Cover. An Enterprise Cover is semantically complete and operationally accessible from other EnterpriseCovers in the ObjectCosmos in order to support inter-enterprise operation.
Rainer Kossmann is an architect at Bell Northern Research in Ottawa, Canada working on telephony switching system software. His interests include distributed heterogenous object oriented systems, OMGs OMA architecture as well as repository architectures.


text:
Canada enacts new regulations before US drug import rule
New Trump administration rule allowing US pharmacists and wholesalers to import prescription drugs in bulk from Canada comes into effect Monday.
The Canadian government has announced new measures it said are designed to prevent drug shortages, only days before a new Trump administration rule would allow pharmacists and wholesalers in the United States to import drugs from Canada.
In a statement on Saturday, Canada said that as of Friday certain drugs intended for the Canadian market were barred from being distributed outside the country "if that sale would cause or worsen a drug shortage".
Companies also must provide the government with information about existing or potential shortages when requested. Those requests must be answered within 24 hours if there is a serious or imminent health risk, the statement said.
"Our healthcare system is a symbol of our national identity and we are committed to defending it. The actions we are taking today will help protect Canadians' access to the medication they rely on," Canada's Health Minister Patty Hadju said.
US President Donald Trump announced plans late last year to allow US states and Indigenous governments to set up programmes to import prescription drugs from Canada as part of an effort to lower what are often exorbitantly high costs for American consumers.
That new regulation, known as the Importation of Prescription Drugs rule, comes into effect on Monday.
Under the new regulations, Indigenous governments, pharmacists and wholesalers will be allowed to propose drug importation proposals to the US Food and Drug Administrations (FDA).
Importers must demonstrate how those proposals respect US health and safety regulations and help reduce costs, the rule states.
"The purpose … is to achieve a significant reduction in the cost of covered products to the American consumer while posing no additional risk to the public's health and safety," according to the new rule.
Ottawa has said importing drugs from Canada would not help address high costs in the US since the Canadian market of prescription drugs represents only two percent of global sales.
The cost of prescription drugs in the United States is often exorbitantly high [File: George Frey/Reuters]
But several US states, including Florida and Vermont, have expressed an interest in importing drugs from Canada, the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, said last year, Reuters News Agency reported.
On November 23, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he had submitted a proposal to the HHS to import medication from Canada.
The state will begin by importing drugs to help people with chronic health conditions including asthma, diabetes and HIV/AIDS, DeSantis said in a statement.
For too long, Floridians have been paying high prices for prescription drugs. Yesterday, we took another step towards lowering those prices by submitting a proposal to @HHSGov for a first of its kind Canadian Prescription Drug Importation Program. Info – https://t.co/Wnutjc1KM8
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 24, 2020
"For far too long, Floridians have been paying exorbitant prices for prescription drugs," he said. "Today, we take another step towards lowering those prices."
US pharmaceutical companies have raised opposition, however, and earlier this week, three industry groups filed a lawsuit against the new regulation, alleging it "disregards key protections … designed to ensure patient safety".
"It is alarming that the administration chose to pursue a policy that threatens public health at the same time that we are fighting a global pandemic," James Stansel, executive vice president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement.
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