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FIRST-EVER FAN FEST ANNOUNCED
Join the Ducks for a fun-filled day at Bethpage Ballpark
(Central Islip, N.Y., March 21, 2013) – The Atlantic League champion Long Island Ducks today announced that they will be hosting the team's first-ever Fan Fest at Bethpage Ballpark on Saturday, April 13. This will be the first chance for fans to see the defending champs take the field at the Duck Pond in preparation for the 2013 season, the team's 14th on Long Island.
"This will be a day chock full of fun and excitement for fans of all ages," says Ducks president and general manager Michael Pfaff. "Our fans and the entire organization are excited for the start of baseball season, and our Fan Fest will bring the 'Faithful Flock' closer to the team than ever before."
The Fan Fest will begin at 10:30 a.m. and feature a variety of different events for fans to enjoy. Season Ticket Holders will be able to enjoy their annual season ticket holder barbeque, which will take place in the Hebrew National Picnic Area. VIP Season Ticket Holders attending the barbeque will be treated to an all-you-can-eat picnic along with visits from select Ducks players and coaches. Season ticket holders will also be able to pick up their VIP gifts anytime during the fan fest at the Newsday Customer Service Center.
Members of the Bethpage Federal Credit Union/Long Island Ducks Kids Club will be able to attend QuackerJack's birthday party. The event will take place in the Smokin' Al's Party Deck, where members will get to sing "Happy Birthday" to the Ducks' lovable mascot and enjoy hot dogs, cake and beverages.
The general public will be able to enjoy a host of fun activities taking place at Bethpage Ballpark. Fans can jump around in the Ducks Bounce House, see how fast they can throw at the Speed Pitch, make an everlasting memory in the Photo Booth and even try out their accuracy skills at the brand new Dunk Tank! The Waddle In Shop will also be open for fans to browse and purchase a wide selection of brand new championship-themed and other Ducks merchandise. Furthermore, 94.3 FM The Shark will be greeting fans on the plaza outside Bethpage Ballpark.
At approximately 12:45 p.m., fans will be introduced to the 2013 Long Island Ducks for the very first time as players and coaches line up along the first base line. Following introductions, the Ducks will take the field for a spring training game against the cross-sound rival Bridgeport Bluefish, with first pitch slated for 1:05. With the team leaving early for Texas this year, this will be the team's only scheduled home preseason game so be sure to come out and cheer on Long Island's hometown team before the season gets underway.
The Long Island Ducks are members of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and play their home games at Bethpage Ballpark. Opening Day is April 26. For further information, call (631) 940-DUCK or visit www.liducks.com.


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Home | Opinion | Amit Shah pays tribute to Arun Jaitley on his birth anniversary
Amit Shah pays tribute to Arun Jaitley on his birth anniversary
Union Interior Minister Amit Shah paid tribute to Arun Jaitley in Delhi on Monday. It also unveiled a six-foot statue of the late leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, formerly known as Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, on the occasion of his 68th birthday.
"He made a lasting contribution to Indian politics and served the nation with great passion and devotion. My heartfelt tribute, "Shah said, adding that it was a matter of honor for him to be in the stadium that has witnessed historic cricket moments in the past.
Other leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also paid tribute to Jaitley. "Remembering my friend, Arun Jaitley Ji on his birth anniversary. His warm personality, intellect, legal acumen and wit are missed by all those with whom he closely interacted. He worked tirelessly for the progress of India, "Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
BJP Chairman JP Nadda recalled the former Finance Minister as an "articulate speaker" and a "capable strategist." Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that Jaitley will always be remembered for his contribution to the public life of India and his role in strengthening the party.
Jaitley was President of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for 14 years, from 1999 to 2013. He passed away on August 24, 2019.
Reference site
Army Chief Visits South Korea to Strengthen Military Ties | India News
Delhi is the capital of a great global strategic power and this glory must be reflected, says Prime Minister Modi
Attack on Mata Amritanandamayi led to CPM debacle
Gujarat Vidhyasahayak Bharti notifies recruitment 2014
Invitation to Taliban and Al-Qaeda for Jihad in Kashmir
Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif meet architect, to decorate their new home
Tamil Canadian film to make world debut at Shanghai International Film Festival

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Best of spring sports season: Awards, honors for the top Franklin County athletes
Dan Sostek
Franklin County spring sports didn't slow down in 2021 despite a year off for COVID, with local athletes compiling career-best performances and helping push their teams to the postseason.
MORE: Chambersburg's Stahl realizes Olympic dreams
With the dust settled on the season that was, here's a rundown of some accolades for the best individuals and teams in the area this spring.
Male Athlete of the Spring
Weber Long, Greencastle-Antrim track and field: Long followed up a stellar cross-country season with a dynamite long-distance track campaign, winning two District titles in the 1600 and 3200, then taking home a pair of medals in states. Still an underclassman, Long should be able to replicate these successes in 2022.
Honorable mention: Dakota Arana, Shippensburg track and field; Kyle Ganoe, Chambersburg volleyball; Maddox Brooks, Waynesboro baseball
Female Athlete of the Spring
Hannah Runk, Chambersburg softball: It was tough to pick which Chambersburg softball player earned the nod here, but it was clear one of the Trojans had to be the choice after their Mid-Penn Commonwealth title and second-place showing in Districts. while Alyssa Brechbill, Sam Paetow and MacKenzie Stake all had cases, in the end, Runk was the choice for anchoring an offense that was never out of a game, providing tons of pop for a team head coach Chris Skultety dubbed "the comeback kids."
Honorable mention: Cierra Bender, Shippensburg softball; Bailee Martin-Irving, Greencastle-Antrim softball
Rookie of the Spring
Cierra Bender, Shippensburg softball: It's easy to forget that sophomores this year were essentially freshmen, with the 2020 season down the drain. But you would never have guessed this spring was Bender's first taste of high school competition. A true two-way player, she struck out 210 batters, won 16 games, and also managed to hit .566 on the season.
Honorable mention: Natalia Holmes, Chambersburg track and field; Clare Paci, Greencastle-Antrim track and field
Biggest Surprise
Dakota Arana, Shippensburg track and field: Arana was expected to do well at District track and field this year. And he did, earning a state berth in the high jump with a first place finish. That was all well and good. But in an upset, Arana repeated the feat in a tougher field, coming away with PIAA state gold the following week. Arana outperformed his second-place seed and becoming the first Greyhound to capture track and field gold since Neely Spence in 2008.
Honorable mention: Shippensburg baseball
Coach of the Spring
Travis Hardman, Waynesboro baseball: It's never easy to replace a legend, and that's exactly what Hardman was tasked with this season, following in the footsteps of his old coach Greg Chandler and his three decade run with the Indians. Hardman's team barely missed a beat, earning a District playoff berth and placing a handful of players on all-conference teams.
Honorable mention: Chris Skultety, Chambersburg softball; Mike Sassin, Shippensburg track and field
Logan Layton, Greencastle-Antrim baseball: One of the crazy aspects of the pandemic was how sophomores became seniors overnight, and Layton is a prime example of this. A solid contributor in 2019 for the Blue Devils, Layton was a force this year for G-A in their District playoff qualifying season, proving to be one of the best two-way players in the Mid-Penn, dazzling on both the mound and as a slugger.
Honorable mention: Erin Pattillo, Chambersburg softball; Tucker Chamberlin, Shippensburg baseball


Hi, I'm interested in GREY WATER SYSTEMS & GREEN CLEANING AGENTS. Please contact me. Thanks!
With water resources becoming more scarce and water restrictions getting tighter & tighter we decided to develop a range of simple, value for money graywater systems. So whether you looking to reuse the bath, shower, basins or washing machine water for the lawn or garden we can help. The systems are available with submersible pumps or pressure pumps of between 0.37 and 0.75kW and all except the entry level model come with a float switch. All come with a filter system be it a simple strainer on the submersible versions or a 100 micron filter on the pressure pump versions and there are options to have the pump top mounted to allow systems to be dug into the ground.
Whether you want to connect the system to a simple hose pipe with sprinkler fittings or couple it up to your existing irrigation system to ensure your pop-ups, micro, impact or static sprayers can still be used, we have different outlet options available.
We keep a range of Green or Organic cleaning agents including Green Washing Powder, Green Washing Liquid, Bio dishes liquid & general purpose microbial cleaner.
So if you want to save water and ensure your garden & lawn continue to flourish why not pop in & speak to Garion or Leanne who have helped numerous clients and gained much experience since we started selling Greywater Systems in November 2016.
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Pool pump and 2 bag sand filter. Good working condition. 0.8 hp.


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Ranking The Least Supportive Fanbases In The NFL And NBA
By Darren
Nothing unites people quite like sports. It doesn't matter where you come from, your age, your color, or whether you're male or female. When you watch the game with other people, it's like being part of a big family who all love the same thing as you do. Or at least, that's the way it should be.
However, some fanbases are absolutely terrible. So today we're going to take a look at the very worst of the NBA and NFL. Some fanbases are just obnoxious and entitled. Others just don't show up to games at all. The reasons are many, but they all share the unfortunate fact that they're intolerable.
If you're a normal person and you follow one of the 20 teams below, then congratulations. You're one of the tiny few we can tolerate. Don't take this one too seriously folks. It's all just a bit of fun. Check out the list below.
Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports
20. Washington Redskins
In a recent study by the Bleacher Report, the Redskins fanbase came in last out of the 32 NFL teams. Once renowned as one of the most passionate and supportive collectives in the league, things have gone downhill for the franchise. There are quite a few reasons why fans have stopped showing up to games.
When you combine their dysfunctional leadership, problematic fanbase and ramshackle stadium, the Redskins really aren't helping themselves. Over the past decade, the FedEx Stadium has seen a 30% dropoff in attendance. Whatever way you try to spin that, it's not good.


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Calcium: historical information
Discoveror: Sir Humphrey Davy
Place of discovery: England
Date of discovery: 1808
Origin of name : from the Latin word "calx" meaning "lime".
Compounds such as lime (CaO, calcium oxide) were prepared by the Romans in the first century under the name calx. Literature dating back to about 975 AD notes that plaster of paris (calcium sulphate, CaSO4, dehydrated gypsum) is useful for setting broken bones. Other calcium compounds used in early times include limestone (CaCO3, calcium carbonate).
Calcium metal was not isolated until 1808. After learning that Berzelius and Pontin prepared calcium amalgam by electrolysing lime in mercury, Sir Humphry Davy was able to isolate the impure metal. He did this by the electrolysis of a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide (HgO). Calcium metal was not available in large scale until the beginning of the 20th century.
Sometime prior to the autumn of 1803, the Englishman John Dalton was able to explain the results of some of his studies by assuming that matter is composed of atoms and that all samples of any given compound consist of the same combination of these atoms. Dalton also noted that in series of compounds, the ratios of the masses of the second element that combine with a given weight of the first element can be reduced to small whole numbers (the law of multiple proportions). This was further evidence for atoms. Dalton's theory of atoms was published by Thomas Thomson in the 3rd edition of his System of Chemistry in 1807 and in a paper about strontium oxalates published in the Philosophical Transactions. Dalton published these ideas himself in the following year in the New System of Chemical Philosophy. The symbol used by Dalton for calcium is shown below. [See History of Chemistry, Sir Edward Thorpe, volume 1, Watts & Co, London, 1914.]


Cornell Wright has a long history of providing clients, friends and colleagues with advice and coaching based upon his professional and personal journey. Whether as a professional service or human connection, Cornell Wright has become known for his clarity and sound advice.
The approach used by Cornell Wright to assist his business coaching clients is that of a "running partner." In business, you do not have time to stop. You need services and resources that can maintain the pace of your life and your business. Because of his extensive client industry background, Cornell will be up to speed quickly and able to "run" with you toward your goals. An occasional nudge on the route to avoid a puddle is what you can expect, when Cornell is your running partner.
In 2010, based upon his desire to offer support and coaching to a group that is critical to the delivery of customer service, Cornell Wright established a Community of Interest — The LinkedIn group of I AM A RECEPTIONIST.
This Community of Interest, of receptionists from around the world, currently has over 24,000 global members and is continuing to grow. Based upon the success of this Community of Interest, Cornell Wright and his colleagues will develop other groups with the same intention of providing a platform for sharing, learning and growth of those professions who are critical to the delivery of quality customer service.


Des Williams got a $15 parking fine despite having time left on the meter. The Hamilton man says council needs to better publicise its time-limit rules.
He fed the meter, but Des Williams still got pinged for parking.
And the same could happen to you if you ever reach the time limit and just move your car a few parks along, or even top up your meter and stay in the same spot.
That's against the rules, says Hamilton City Council, as that behaviour shuts out shoppers and visitors in the central business district.
This photo of the street was taken about 10 minutes after Des Williams got his ticket.
On Friday, Williams picked a 120-minute spot near his work on the edge of the town centre and was topping his meter up every two hours. But he wasn't moving his car.
And that's why, on on his third top-up trip and with six minutes left on the meter, he found a parking warden giving him a ticket.
Williams says he was told he had to move his car off the stretch of Harwood Street to avoid falling further foul of traffic bylaws.
He took the "senseless $15 fine" and moved his car around the corner.
"I've been parking [in Harwood Street] for 10 years and I've been topping up the meter like everybody does - you trot out and put your money in the meter and you top it up - thinking that's quite acceptable. But according to [the warden's] interpretation, I can't do that. I've got to move away from the zone," he said.
"How come it's taken me 10 years to find out about it?
"If that is council's law, the way they interpret it, then they need to do some publicity about it so I'm not the only mug who gets landed with this."
The parking time limits are all about making sure shoppers and visitors can get easy access to town, a council spokesman said.
"In the CBD, on-street metered parking is for a maximum of two hours to encourage vehicle turnover," city transport manager Jason Harrison said in a statement.
"After that time, under our bylaw, the car should be moved to another zone or be away from the park for at least 20 minutes."
Generally, moving to another zone means moving to a different street.
"The zones are marked by the arrows on parking signage, but in general, different streets will be in different zones, as are areas with different time restrictions," parking compliance supervisor Shannon Brisco said.
But Williams didn't buy the turnover argument because he took a snap of the street about 10 minutes after the ticket was issued and it was mostly empty.
"It's hard to know what to make of it.
"If there were 20 people waiting for me to move out so they could move in, you could understand some logic to it," he said.
"If Hamilton had a CBD like other cities, where people are always looking for a park, yeah, that's fine. But we're a long way away from the CBD [in Harwood Street]. We're 10 minutes' walk away."
Though he's frustrated, he says he'll hand the money over - with a letter to council.
"I don't care about the money. I can pay the $15. It's the bloody illogic of it all."
Commuters should be looking to city parking buildings or off-street parking options made for longer-term stays, the council said.
"Short-term parking is installed at high turnover areas to allow shoppers and visitors the chance to access the central city, rather than for commuter parking," Harrison said.
Hamilton's parking rules are governed by the Land Transport Act and the city's bylaws, and the time limits for on-street parking are displayed on signs beside them.
Anyone who wants to appeal a parking ticket can write to Hamilton City Council.
Do you think the fine is fair? Support your opinion with evidence from the article, or a relevant experience from your own life.
Identify and describe two habits of mind Des used when responding to this parking ticket.
Describe at least two benefits of the council charging for parking spaces.
Describe at least two drawbacks of the council charing for parking spaces.


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Alternating GM/Campaigns within the same group? [closed]
This question gave me some ideas regarding my current gaming group. I was introduced to D&D roughly a year ago before graduation, so shortly after getting into it everyone involved went separate ways. Recently I proposed playing D&D with some friends and it's been going pretty well. Because I was the only one familiar with the game it seemed appropriate that I become GM. I'm not opposed to this, but I'm unable to get my RP fix in my current position.
We're only a few sessions in at this point, and I'm currently leading everyone through the first module of The Sunless Citadel series. We're almost done with the first module, and I'm wondering if one of the players in the group who has really gotten into the game would want to start their own campaign. Would it be easy to switch about every five sessions from one campaign to the next within the same group, with each GM overseeing their campaign exclusively?
Each block of the campaigns would be self contained, say on average five sessions long, containing a beginning, middle, and end. This would allow closure before the switch. There would be an overarching story(in mine at least), but each block would be separate enough to feel like we weren't stopping in the middle of something or leaving anything unfinished.
Would this work? I've talked to the person and they liked the idea, but are there problems I could run into I don't realize? This all assumes the other person makes a competent GM. Thoughts?
dnd-3.5e group-dynamics
HunterHunter
closed as unclear what you're asking by SevenSidedDie Jul 21 '15 at 6:22
\$\begingroup\$ This feels like it's inviting discussion, but --aside from the invitation for "thoughts" at the end-- I can't quite put my finger on exactly how to tighten it up. So I'm not voting to close, just leaving this comment, because I may be wrong. \$\endgroup\$ – BESW Mar 26 '14 at 0:18
\$\begingroup\$ Are you asking about swapping GMs while people keep the same characters and the same world continuity (sometimes called "round-robin GMing"), or are you asking about completely separate campaigns with entirely different character rosters? That seems to be a point of confusion in the answers. \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Jul 21 '15 at 6:21
I think it really depends on the players.
I tried something similar with two different groups, and it worked like a charm with one and made everything messy with another.
The biggest problem you could encounter (IMHO) is the fact that every GM have a personal style for managing his campaign: storytelling, rules management, XP allocation, combat/non-combat scenes balance, more or less connecting plot details going through story arcs... Everything can be different, and frequent changes can be seen as a good way of make everything less boring, or just an annoying change of cozy habits.
Try to talk to your players about that, and if you feel that you could like the continuous campaign changes, give it a try. My experience says that it's something uncommon and that usually players DO likes the continuity given by a single GM, but you could actually enjoy that.
St0rMSt0rM
In my experience (I've co-GM'd a few games in my short time with RPGs), having multiple GMs can be a problem if one of those GMs' wanting to be a player is a priority for them compared to GM'ing itself (which it sounds like it is). As you are the most familiar with D&D, be prepared to stay in the GM role for awhile even if you prefer being a player (which again, is what it sounds like). If you feel like you can persuade your friend to GM in alternating sessions or sets, then by all means go ahead. However, it sounds like your friend is still comparatively new to D&D and my first thought would be that if they wanted to GM they would have already asked or suggested this. Be aware that though they might like being on the Player side of the table, GM'ing might not be a good fit for them and you risk putting them off or having them be Player only forever after.
You also mention that you're assuming they end up being a competent GM. This is a big red flag for me personally. If you've never played under them and you haven't seen any signs in their play that you would consider GM material, it's going to be an issue down the line if you don't get the Player experience you desire. They may actually take cues from your GM'ing but they will likely have their own way of GM'ing and herein lies the biggest issues with co-GM'ing: people are different. Apart from mechanical and setting considerations -- which are honestly trivial to this -- if you two are not on the same page when it comes to GM'ing style, you're likely going to find that this endeavor does not go the way you expected or wanted. Additionally, it sounds like you essentially want a clone who takes over the reins and then you return to the role once you've had your fix. That's not going to happen.
Best bet is to start sharing your campaign notes and setting details alongside any mechanical adjustments or custom rules you've made with your friend and drop hints along the way about how you want their time in the GM chair to go. Sit down with them and be explicit about what you want and what you expect out of the game -- expect the same from them and encourage them to do so too. You've gotta be open about this. Plan out the campaign with them: think of yourself like the captain of the table and they're your lieutenant, if it helps. Be active with this. Run through scenarios outside of the game and mentor them on GM'ing as you know and understand it -- this can be the big thing that helps keep the GM'ing style consistent and means you get the Player experience you're looking for. Treat them like they were your twin.
I wish you the best of luck in getting this to work -- Lord knows it can be hard work to get it there but it can be a blast if you manage it.
PrometheanVigilPrometheanVigil
I always played in groups where (virtually) everyone was a DM, the biggest issue that happened was not deciding exactly who would be the DM for a particular meeting. Usually the problem goes like this:
"I thought Bob was the DM" said Alice, "I thought Alice was the DM" said Bob.
On the flip side, because we knew the structure wasn't rigid more often than not folks that were better prepared for that day would jump in and be the DM.
I don't know what is the best (if a unbreakable schedule or completely wild), but for sure the feeling of never having a story finishing was never a problem, and the stories and characters were always so nice that we never suffered of continuity problems. Of course we would forget things from one game to the other, but that was a perfect moment for the DM to rewrite the most convenient version of the facts.
In the end of the day, the best games were DMed by the most prepared folks. Sometimes when the DM was new we would have two different games on the same days, with the most experienced DM as the last one.
CatLord mentioned the issues of using the same locations when two DM's are preparing the adventure. My group found extremely entertaining to receive quests from more powerful characters that at that moment were NPC's (therefore role played by the DM), and myself as a DM always thought easier to use these characters as they are already created to its fullest so I could concentrate on the other parts of the adventure.
The most biggest issues I see are mostly related to continuity and prominence of magic. Personally I tend to DM low treasure/magic item adventures to keep less magical vocations relevant where another DM I know sometimes lets us choose which magic items we "randomly" find if he likes our RP enough. I've also been in worlds where a +2 sword is as good as a butter knife because of insane opposition. I truly think it might be best if the two campaigns aren't in the same setting while your player finds a groove (should they even want to take the leap just yet). More than St0rM's answer to talk to your players, talk to your fellow DM and see what NPCs, PCs, and locations they will expect to use. If they overlap, you two have to collaborate on what is within bounds for use between the two of you.
CatLordCatLord
I'm in a gaming group where we have been playing in the same campaign for close to 20 years now (D&D 2ed to 3e, 3.5e and now Pathfinder). There are several of us in the group that have run as DM on a more or less rotating basis as we have gone. Each DM essentially runs a module , which may or may not involve existing characters, new characters, or a mix of old and new. It's not every few weeks switch (we play weekly). It usually ends up being every 3 to 6 months that it switches.
This seems to work very well for us, though it sometimes is difficult to transition between each DM's playing style. The only exception to this pattern is that most years we pause around Halloween while one of our party runs a 3-5 week Call of Cthulu campaign. This also adds a good break to the pattern each year.
So really it's up to your group's style. Our style works well for us. The main DM of the group runs/controls the main campaign storyline/plot and the rest of us who DM run side plots and stories that fit in to the overall campaign but really don't have a lot of influence or affect on the main plotline.
BBlakeBBlake
I tried doing a rotating-DM thing once, but I didn't like it. The biggest problem seemed to be that there was no overarching plot, and everyone knew it, so people didn't pay much attention to plot and instead focused on personal character wealth. We also kept having incidents where inexperienced DMs accidentally generated battles that were too difficult and weren't fun.
At the minimum, I recommend not keeping the same characters between DMs. This will avoid distracting questions of whether the DM's character will be more or less powerful than the rest of the party when they step down from DMing.
Better, I think, would be to pick your most promising player and encourage them to start their own campaign. Don't give them a time limit or any other guidance; let them decide when and if to step down.
If you're the DM for a long time, and then you become a player suddenly, people will continue to defer to you out of habit. Try not to take advantage of that. :) It can ruin the game if you handle it badly.
Dan BDan B
\$\begingroup\$ I don't believe the question is about round-robin GMing, but about switching campaigns on a regular schedule: "each GM overseeing their campaign exclusively." \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Jul 21 '15 at 6:19
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged dnd-3.5e group-dynamics or ask your own question.
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Should pc's level for killing one another 3.5?
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I have a ruthless DM and I'm considering leaving the party. What are my options to minimize the negative impact to the rest of the group?


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Pupils taste student life
Published: 11:00 AM January 2, 2007
HIGH-FLYING pupils from a Suffolk school have spent a day in Cambridge to get a taste of what life is like at a top university.Thirty-one year 11 pupils from Hadleigh High School attended two lectures given by academics, visited the University's Zoology Museum and explored the city.
HIGH-FLYING pupils from a Suffolk school have spent a day in Cambridge to get a taste of what life is like at a top university.
Thirty-one year 11 pupils from Hadleigh High School attended two lectures given by academics, visited the University's Zoology Museum and explored the city.
At lunchtime, they had a meal in the old library of Pembroke College, which works with schools in Suffolk to help raise pupils' aspirations.
The visit was the first university trip run by the high school as part of its "gifted and talented" programme, which strives to enhance the progress of academically-able pupils.
Co-ordinator Mike Quinn said: "There's a danger that some of our pupils might feel that Cambridge is "not for them". That's why it's wonderful to be able to bring them here and show them that it's a friendly place, accessible to anyone with ability."
Hadleigh pupil Bethany Everett, 15, said: "If you don't feel right in a place, you wouldn't be able to learn there. Cambridge feels relaxed, it's a beautiful place, and it has the kind of atmosphere that would encourage you to work hard."
Katie Macleod, also 15, agreed: "The visit has shown us that getting a place at Cambridge is nothing to do with your background or what kind of school you went to. Anyone can get in if they are really bright and determined."


...from the spin. I've been hard at work with Southern Motion and trying to get these sections edited up right.
I've been sort of running around like a chicken with my head cut off (a little frazzled by all the work to be done) but I've decided on a work flow and it's helped tremendously.
So, not really any new news, besides the fact that I'm stoked on doing all of this. And things are coming along nicely.
I'm hoping to have all the editing and video treatment wrapped up by next week, its been taking a bit longer than I thought it would. And then of course after all that, it'll be time to animate soo stay tuned.
Also, Carolina's Mega Session in Greensboro this Saturday the 30th, so be there!


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Weaponizing Narratives
Transcript - We live during a time where there is a weaponization of narratives, and no one is immune to this type of false information targeting. To weaponize a narrative is to gain control over how people think, what they believe to be true, and to control their perception in the process of delivering them disinformation that is designed to weaken them and weaken their defenses. Why do the Controllers want you weakened? Reflect on that. What really weakens you emotionally and mentally, and your ability to discern the truth and make informed decisions for yourself that empower and support your spiritual strength, that which is needed to actualize your purpose in the world? The number one weakening tactic used by those leaders controlled by Thothian hijack that generate Propaganda is to get you to believe a lie as a truth. If you believe lies you are being told your perception, your beliefs and your behaviors will be fully controlled, your spiritual guidance will be distorted, you'll think north is south and south is east, and this keeps you lost in the sea of confusion. Lies confuse your inner compass, you will not know what direction you are traveling. That is what it means to weaponize narratives, believing in lies weakens people, you cannot know what direction you are travelling if your Spiritual Guidance System is messed up and you are moving in the wrong direction and are not aware that you need course correction.
This is an important part of Psychological Warfare, and mostly it is designed to confuse people into webs of disinformation and then get people to spread the disinformation as facts or made into a belief system. For a moment let us break that down. Weaponizing Narratives is how intelligentsia works to undermine a community of people, in which the attackers want to derail the truth and to spin people off into false and made up narratives that are pure deceptions, manipulations and Gaslighting tactics. Then they put unscrupulous people on the payroll to spread disinformation stories, spread it all over the internet, and get gullible and unaware people in the group or movement to believe it and spread these deceptions in their own communities, so more of the public believe that the deception narrative it is a real and true fact, when it is really a made up lie designed to derail the group of people that believe it.
Weaponized narratives are targeted attacks made against a group of people, and this extends to nations and countries, where the attacking group seeks to undermine an opponent's civilization, identity, and superimpose and subvert their will – in the global arena this is commonly used and purposely designed to destroy a person's culture and way of life. By generating confusion, complexity, and political and social schisms that generate polarization and conflict in many groups of people usually people that identify with some kind of a classification system, black white male female gay transgender, etc., it confounds the response on the part of those who are trying to defend themselves from the pubic onslaught of negatively or Propaganda. Everyone knows in controlling narratives that the truth does not matter, its only what people believe to be true so they say anything that they think they can get the population to believe in so to control the narratives in 3D reality. Sadly this happens in the new age, leaders tell the audience what they want to hear in so thy can gain a following, because no one really wants to face Unpleasant Truths. It is really challenging to tell the truth in this environment of deception and lies, this is why so many people just follow the easier path and tell people what they want to hear.
How Does Weaponized Narrative Work?
Today, thanks to the Internet and social media, the manipulation of our perception of the world is taking place on previously unimaginable scales of time, space and intentionality. That, precisely, is the source of one of the greatest vulnerabilities we as individuals and as a society must learn to deal with. Today, many actors are exploiting these vulnerabilities. The situation is complicated by the increasingly rapid evolution of technology for producing and disseminating information. The core element of the weaponization of narratives is the manipulators correct assessment of their intended audiences' cognitive vulnerability—the premise that the audience they are targeting is already predisposed to accept because it appeals to existing fears or anxieties that remain in the human subconscious. So they look to manipulate subconscious fears in those groups as much as possible to control people. If you have no idea about your subconscious programs and fears you can become like a puppet in their hands. For many of us that are awake and aware, this can appear like dark portal puppets, when you are awake people around you can be used to attack you quite viciously, and this is a casualty on the earth, as many people are not aware, and thus their physical vessel is used to hurl energetic weaponry or other methods to attack you. Many of us as awakened Starseeds have the experience when a person just hates your guts for no apparent reason, and decides they are going to defame your character for their amusement, and spread a bunch of lies about you.
A fast-moving information deluge, saturating people with a lot of data coming in all directions is the ideal battleground for this kind of psychological warfare. A fire-hose of narrative attacks coming from every direction gives the targeted person, population or an organized community of people little time to process and evaluate the information as truthful because its being flooded into the community in several directions. Let's say a narrative for attacking a group or person arises, and it is being saturated on social media platforms, and no one really knows if the information or accusation is true or false. This media saturation is cognitively disorienting and confusing, especially if the targeted opponents barely realize that an organized attack of character assignation or disinformation is actually what's hitting them. Opportunities are then created for gaslighting and emotional manipulation of the community, which when under attack in this way, undermine the person being targeted for finding a way to respond or resist the accusations or information being saturated into the community via people that spread the disinformation by jumping on the bandwagon. This can destroy organizations, movements, and even a person's reputation, it can get people arguing in circular debates over things that never even happened in the first place.
Distort Perception of Reality
Propaganda can be used to distort perceptions of reality:
People are generally poor judges of true versus false information and they do not necessarily remember that particular information that was actually verified later as being false.
Information overload leads people to take shortcuts in determining the credibility and trustworthiness of messages.
Familiar themes or messages can be appealing to people, even if they are false.
Statements are more likely to be accepted if they are backed by evidence, even if that evidence is false.
Using Peripheral cues to propagate the disinformation. This happens when a listener is persuaded into falsity because he or she notices that a message has many arguments within it, but lacks the ability or motivation to think about each of these arguments individually. In other words, the many arguments are intentionally being conflated into one message, like a short-cut of cliff notes that are being mixed together, and combined with an appearance of objectivity, this tactic can increase the perceived credibility of spreading Propaganda and disinformation.
Essentially what this means is we have to use common sense, Critical Thinking and see if the information passes our b.s meter, and if we stop long enough to get quiet and then deeply feel into the information, many times we can get many intuitive impressions about it that helps us discern if this is a weaponized narrative or manipulation-deception signature.
Weaponizing Narratives are used to destroy communities and trust between people, it is to create conflict, controversy and divide and conquer scenarios which break apart the organization or community goals for unity and working together for a common purpose.
Weaponized narratives can also be half truths or lies that furnish the illusion of some emotional certainty at the cost of rational understanding and critical thinking. The emotionally satisfying decision to accept a weaponized narrative is to believe and to have faith in partial truths or lies prevents the opening of intelligent debates and discussion. Thus, it inoculates cultures, institutions, and individuals against counterarguments and inconvenient facts. If we don't want to look at the truth because its unpleasant, we let people get away with murder because its more convenient to us. Then we are complicit with feeding the monster, we're helping to co-create the ego monsters in the New age, Ascension and Disclosure movement. Therefore the Truth can be overwhelmed with constantly repeated statements that represent falsehoods, soon the truth has been replaced with lies, and no one even notices.
Keep this in mind as we continue to understand infiltration and hijack of the general narrative, because as I've just explained, this is the major component of the Psychological Warfare used to weaponize the new age, Ascension and Disclosure community. It is up to us to actually see and understand how they are accomplishing this infiltration so that we can refuse to be controlled by it. As conscious and spiritual people, we should make a commitment to truth, truth telling, and not fall into deception narratives by jumping on the bandwagon of consensus and controlled opposition. Be the person that sees it as it is happening, and refuse to participate with it. Many times weaponized narratives are being directed by paid for online trolls that are designed to be set up for ensnaring groups in circular debates. They do not want to find any resolution to the problem topic that is outside of their own end result agendas, in which they are spinning the narrative in the direction they want the public themselves to self enforce.
Circular Debate
An argument that goes nowhere. Though a person believes he or she is arguing a point, the argument does not progress because the individual has an fixed and immovable belief that is considered to be a fact and this is the core point of the argument, which in their belief system, is actually not debatable. The Negative Ego tends to exert Mental Rigidity which fixates on polarizing belief systems on right and wrong, black and white, Splitting behaviors that compartmentalize thinking into Circular Reasoning and Linear Thinking.
(Source: Ascension Q&A June 2019)
"The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything." ~Atisha (11th century Tibetan Buddhist master)


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Download the full press release here: Press Release – September, 2016.


text:
Naftogaz VS Gazprom
Yuriy Vitrenko Library My position at ...
My position at Naftogaz is being cut, because the fight against Russian aggression is not currently a priority
15 May 2020,
Yuriy Vitrenko
Friends! I have just been formally notified that my position is being cut, which means that in two months I will be laid off by Naftogaz. Since one constantly has to fight against misinformation, and "with the overwhelming forces of the enemy" at that, I must again resort to radical openness and set out my understanding of the situation.
It is symbolic that I will be laid off by Naftogaz in a situation when our team, which I have the honor to lead, showed record profits in 2019 against the background of losses incurred by the remainder of Naftogaz (https://bit.ly/35Igd4), and when more than enough work remains to be done ( https: / /bit.ly/2V8c5a).
Reason for the layoff.
I will immediately go to the root causes, to the essence. In such a situation, the most logical explanation for my dismissal is that the fight against Russian aggression, in particular the effective protection of Ukraine's interests in relations with Gazprom, is not currently a priority. The fight against corruption, particularly its causes in the gas sector, is also not a priority. It turns out that there are other priorities, which, unfortunately, have become a barrier to drawing closer to Europe, changing the rules inside the country to European ones, and forcing Russia to play by civilized rules in relation to Ukraine.
I will explain why we can draw such a conclusion:
– Our team inflicted such a defeat on Gazprom, Russia, and the Putin regime, that it is not surprising that we have been a bone in their throat for a long time. I'm referring to the Stockholm Arbitration, where we repulsed Gazprom's claims worth more than $80 billion and instead secured compensation amounting to $5 billion; about reverse gas supplies from Europe, which did not allow Ukraine to be brought to its knees due to the termination of gas supplies by Gazprom; about general changes in commercial relations between Naftogaz and Gazprom – if previously the average balance of payments for imported gas and transit was negative for Naftogaz, and $5 billion each year went from Ukraine to Russia, now this balance is positive and hundreds of millions of dollars go from Russia to Ukraine.
– Likewise neither Russia nor its "business partners" in Ukraine liked the fact that our team forced Gazprom to sign a contract with a "ship or pay" commitment, and with volumes higher than originally proposed by Gazprom. This thwarted the plans of those in Ukraine who were already preparing to "cash in" on "direct supplies" of Russian gas. For, if Gazprom has to pay for gas transit even if it does not utilize the full capacity, it must still include these shortfalls in the cost of "direct supplies". This does not allow "intermediaries" to cash in". In other words, the intermediaries were anticipating sharing with Gazprom almost $32 per thousand cubic meters, and instead this money should go in effect into the state budget of Ukraine.
– Oligarchs and corrupt people have never liked the way we systematically reduce the space for corruption. Although we are not anti-corruption bodies, and our team's ability to fight corruption has always been very limited, we fought against it, not in words but in deeds. We did not allow Rosukrenergo-2 to be created. We have significantly reduced corruption opportunities in the Ukrainian gas market, in particular for the Firtash Group and for those such as Favorov. We constantly hindered those who were involved in corruption in procurement in Ukrgazvydobuvannya, Ukrtransgaz and other structures of Naftogaz. Even if you look at Ukrnafta, the large-scale siphoning of money from this company occurred until our team began to affirm the rights of Naftogaz as a shareholder of Ukrnafta (i.e. until 2018). But, as they say, when you fight corruption, it starts to fight you. For example, with fake reports and gossip. It is especially improper when their source is your "colleagues" for whom your principledness interferes with their "work". But as you know, guilty consciences speak.
– Our team did all this thanks both to internal work and the promotion of European reforms at the state level. For example, through the implementation of European rules in the Law on the Natural Gas Market, and through the introduction of international standards of corporate governance in state-owned companies. However, our initiatives were distorted by political compromises at the law-making stage, and then by incompetence and procrastination at the implementation stage. And we criticized this. Consequently, both those who were opponents of reforms from the very beginning and the mediocrities – the pseudo-reformers, whom these reforms brought to the top like foam – were angry with us.
– Already at the beginning of this year, almost immediately after I had negotiated with Gazprom and signed a new transit contract, and when rumors spread not about my dismissal, but rather about the appointment of me as head of Naftogaz (and even prime minister), I publicly stated my position on the need to continue to actively defend Ukraine's interests in the confrontation with Russia, force Gazprom to play by European rules towards Ukraine, and adhere to these rules ourselves.
– The "last straw" was probably a detailed analysis of our opportunities to earn more than $17 billion for Ukraine, which apparently was contrary to the interests of Gazprom and the Kremlin https://bit.ly/2wH1vNX, as well as some stakeholders in Ukraine who do not need such changes.
Perhaps the lack of political will to fight Russian aggression, in turn, is due to a lack of understanding that concluding the war successfully for Ukraine is possible only if Ukraine shows that it can defend itself against Russia, if Ukraine becomes strong.
For Ukraine to become strong, for successful reforms to be carried out, established professionals who know what to do are required in leadership positions.
When the administration has other priorities, it appoints weak but politically expedient "executors"; and inconvenient but effective professionals are "tolerated" only as long as they do not threaten the interests of their "bosses".
And what about Kobolev?
Is he also being dismissed? He's also a "reformer", also fighting Gazprom and corruption? Is he not in the same team as me?
No, Kobolev is not being laid off. On the contrary, the Cabinet of Ministers, again without carrying out any competitive search, has extended Kobolev's contract for four years. And now Kobolev is in fact firing me.
We ourselves helped Kobolev to create his image. Yes, Naftogaz pays for his personal PR, but that's not the point. We wanted a change in the political leadership. We wanted "new faces". We needed to defend Ukraine together with the political leadership from Russian aggression. We needed the political leadership to carry out reforms that could bring us into Europe. But we were afraid to "wash our dirty linen in public," worrying that it would help our opponents criticize our European choice.
And herein lies the perennial problem of relations between the state and society. On the one hand, society should make the authorities strong so that the state is able to perform its functions, especially to protect society from external enemies. But very often those whom we empower do not stand the test of power and cease to act in the interests of society. Therefore, society must force the government to use this power in the interests of society, not their own. Understandably, this creates a conflict. And this requires from society not a blind faith in the image of the powerful, which we ourselves helped them to create, but constant restraining, even a fight against those whom we made the government.
Kobolev is part of the system of power.
One can argue about when he became such, whether he betrayed and moved to the "other side", but that's all secondary. The main thing is that he made his choice himself and now fits into the government very organically.
What is a typical "boss" in a system where there is no meritocracy?
He is a parasite on the achievements of others. He says what the people he and his patrons depend on want to hear, although he does not intend to do these things.
At the same time, he tries to hide the inconvenient truth and manipulate the data, to manage the undesirable, justifying it by the need to protect others "from enemies."
That is why the society cannot accept at face value such "bosses", or their PR.
It is an illusion that the government does not control Kobolev, and he does what he pleases.
Who in March of this year extended Kobolev's responsibilities for four years without carrying out any competitive search?
He was recommended by the Supervisory Board, which is appointed and dismissed by the Cabinet, and which as a matter of fact was also appointed without a competitive search, as if it were a "temporary option". But the final decision was made, formally at least, by the Cabinet itself. And they should have been aware of the parasitic nature of the "bosses". Therefore, they could definitely have substantiated why Kobolev's contract should not have been renewed. This was not done. So, they "made a deal" with Kobolev again.
Well, even formally, the decision on changes in the organizational structure, in fact on my dismissal, was agreed with the Supervisory Board, which is appointed by the Cabinet, and which includes representatives of both the Cabinet and the President's Office.
Kobolev's image is the garb from the tale about the naked emperor.
I needed to tell you about Kobolev's role, otherwise the connection between the root causes and the formalities of my dismissal would not be clear.
For many of you, this was unpleasant to hear. You can now understand how unpleasant it is for me to witness this. But now I have not only a moral right, but a moral obligation, to tell society about it.
Our team came to Naftogaz after the Revolution of Dignity to help our country defend itself from Russian aggression and realize the choice of the Ukrainian people – to get into Europe. In this regard, Naftogaz was the most important strategic company. As I wrote above, we carried out our job honestly and successfully. And now we can't just quietly leave. At the very least, we have to warn society honestly that we are not sure whether our cause remains in safe hands, and explain why.
But first let me remind you that the decision to cut my position, in fact about my dismissal, was formally made by Kobolev. And I'm telling the awkward truth about Kobolev not because he fired me. On the contrary, my dismissal is Kobolev's reaction to the inconvenient truth which he sees as a threat to his position. In turn, this is used by those who keep Kobolev in this post.
I told Kobolev to his face that his shortcomings as a leader undermined the achievements of our team at Naftogaz and discredited reforms. That his insufficient level of competence and moral and ethical qualities is a problem for the transformation of Naftogaz into an effective national company. That this affects negatively first and foremost Ukraine's ability to successfully resist Russia, fight corruption, and develop the economy. That off late it smacks of parasitism. I also told this to the Supervisory Board. Read on to learn more about how and why I raise this awkward truth.
Let me remind you that in the Ukrainian legislation there is no such reason for cutting a position as the "threat to the authority and to the position of the boss". Furthermore, Kobolev should have agreed the decision to eliminate my position with the Supervisory Board, which includes representatives of the President and the Cabinet, and which in principle is appointed by the state. Thus, the question is not why Kobolev wanted to release me, but why he was allowed to do so. That's why above I pointed out the deeper reasons behind my being laid off.
Now, after this lengthy introduction, let's talk honestly about whether Kobolev can effectively manage Naftogaz ?
To begin with, it is necessary to answer the question why Kobolev became the head of Naftogaz and remains in this position, despite political changes.
In 2014, Yatsenyuk, under the influence of Martynenko and Yeremeyev (by the way, he was Firtash's business partner at the time), appointed Kobolev without a competitive search – as a compromise between society's demand for untainted officials after the Revolution of Dignity and the desire to have a politically convenient executor. What did they expect when they appointed a person without managerial experience to a responsible position at such a difficult time? Let's look at the facts.
By the way, they could have told you about them in a slightly different way ? For example, in an interview with Yanina Sokolova, Kobolev said without hesitation that he was chosen through a competition, and was recommended by the then Minister Pivovarsky. But the problem is that there was no competition, and Pivovarsky worked for Yeremeyev at that time, and became a minister only in Yatsenyiuk's second government (that is, not in March 2014). Of course, it's all easy to check. https://bit.ly/2SK4HjC
What kind of trust can there be in the authorities when people are deceived so blatantly by those looking them in the eye?
But back to the facts.
– The first thing they did after Kobolev's appointment was to send him to Moscow to meet with Miller to negotiate about Russian gas supplies. Kobolev could not reach an agreement. Most likely, this was what those who were preparing to create a "Rosukrenergo 2" were counting on. Their plans were thwarted, on the one hand, by the hostilities in the Donbas and the resulting public feeling in Ukraine, and, on the other hand, by the success of our team at Naftogaz in securing gas supplies from Europe and in the Stockholm arbitration.
– Now let's return to 2020 and look at the latest developments. After our team at Naftogaz, without the participation of Kobolev, who was in effect removed from the process, forced Gazprom through the Stockholm Arbitration Court to pay $2.9 billion and sign a new contract with the "ship or pay" principle, Russia realized that Kobolev himself was not a threat to it. On the contrary (more on this later). In addition, we have a "peaceful" process being promoted by Yermak. There is also an influential politician in the security structures, Avakov, and an influential businessman, Kolomoisky, who like Kobolev. And there is Zelensky, who has to balance. In view of these facts, a logical explanation emerges as to who needs Kobolev at the helm of Naftogaz.
Let me note that grasping certain things does not always mean agreeing with them. I also emphasize once again that I am telling you about Kobolev so that you better understand the threats involved.
Of course, Kobolev can say that under his leadership, Naftogaz became profitable, defeated Gazprom, was the engine of reforms and significantly reduced the level of corruption.
But to what extent should we be grateful to Kobolev for these achievements? You'll agree that there is a difference between the achievements of Kobolev himself and the achievements of others during his leadership of Naftogaz. For example, we owe the successful development of ProZorro in 2016-2019 not to Kubiv, who was the Minister of Economy, but to his deputy, Max Nefedov. Likewise, we attribute the success with the launch of the Patrol Police in 2014-2016 primarily not to Minister Avakov, but his deputy Eki Zguladze. We can also mention the successes of Sakvarelidze under the stewardship of Shokin (who fired him out of revenge :). We can refer to the extreme example of the Cherkasy minesweeper team, which displayed heroism during the Russian seizure of Crimea, despite the orders of the brigade commander, who betrayed Ukraine.
It is also important not to forget that Naftogaz has formally introduced the principle of "Individual responsibility" of managers and affirms the principle of "openness". Therefore, let's talk candidly about the responsibility of a particular leader in specific processes.
And there's no point hiding behind the mantra of "teamwork". In a large company there are many teams – the "bosses" are not always a team. In any case, teamwork is a double responsibility; it does not remove the individual responsibility of each team member for the contribution to the overall result. Other wise, it's just manipulation to conceal their own failure and avoid individual responsibility.
In a normal company, where there are different areas of activity, the head of the company will never be evaluated by the results of only one of the areas. Because success in one direction should not make it possible to hide failures in other areas. Moreover, the head of the company can only be indirectly involved in the successful area, because he must deal primarily with general management, which in turn means responsibility for the organization of the management in each of the areas.
Let's look at Naftogaz's record profits in 2019. If we subtract the result (UAH 68.4 billion) in the area of work (gas transit) of our team in Naftogaz, which is directly headed by me and not Kobolev, the rest of Naftogaz shows a huge loss (UAH 5.1 billion). https://bit.ly/3eYqzS5 In the recent high-profile victory of our team in recovering $2.9 billion and the conclusion of a new transit contract Kobolev was completely removed from the negotiations with Gazprom and the signing of the agreements. https://bit.ly/2Vv6zgZ
As for Naftogaz's previous high-profile victories, Kobolev did not initiate the relevant processes, nor directly manage them, and his role was generally ambiguous. This applies to the victory over Gazprom in the Stockholm Arbitration, the organization of gas supplies from Europe (when Gazprom cut off gas), reforms related to this, and the fight against corruption.
He was connected to them, and he can even be called a member of our team that worked on these processes, but he was not a leader in these teams. His task was rather to "deal" with his superiors (to whom he was obliged by his position), or to perform a representative function.
Yes, a leader and a boss are not the same thing. And Kobolev and I have different cultures of management. It is telling that when Kobolev can really boast of participating in the resounding victories of Naftogaz, he was a member of the team of which I was the leader. At the same time, it is important that despite the fact that he was formally my boss, in these teams the culture of management was determined more by me, and he adapted to it.
By the way, in 2018 I resigned from the position of the head of the Integrated Gas Business precisely because Kobolev began to demonstrate that he was the "boss" and did not allow me to be a leader and to introduce my management culture (which corresponded to the new corporate principles). I already knew then that when Kobolev was the "boss", when his unprofessional, post-Soviet management culture dominated, there could be no success.
And this was only confirmed by the results of 2019: if we subtract the results in our team's area, the rest of Naftogaz, where Kobolev is the "boss", saw losses, notwithstanding the fact that gas prices had risen (increasing 10 times compared to 2014).
When Kobolev was not in my team, when I did not control the whole process, he did not show himself to be either very conscientious or a competent specialist. Here are two specific examples to back this up. I have to do this because it is also directly related to the threats I am talking about. These are also examples of what I mean when I say that Kobolev had an ambiguous role in the victories over Gazprom.
In 2009, Dubyna and Didenko, then leaders of Naftogaz, relied on Kobolev in the 2009 negotiations. As an adviser to the chairman of the board, he was supposed to verify that Gazprom's proposed wording of the "take it or pay" contract was in line with European standards. We all know very well how it ended – Gazprom deceived Naftogaz, which resulted in a problem for Ukraine to the amount of more than $80 billion, which our team then had to solve with huge problems in the Stockholm arbitration. And we were all very fortunate that the arbitration came down on our side. Next time we may not be so lucky. But this problem might not have arisen at all if Kobolev had done his job properly and shown that Gazprom's proposals did not conform with European norms, even with the help of examples available on the Internet, and then Dubina and Didenko would have negotiated with Gazprom and, if necessary, persuaded Tymoshenko to raise this issue in talks with Putin.
In the summer of 2009, Naftogaz's management instructed Kobolev to prepare a letter to Gazprom stating that the transit tariff was too low and that Naftogaz wanted to revise it. Kobolev prepared such a letter, the management signed it, and it was sent to Gazprom.
We then used this letter in the Stockholm arbitration on the transit agreement – as a request to review the transit tariff from 2010. The arbitration decision was that this request did not correspond to the formal conditions of the contract, and therefore the arbitration tribunal would not even consider our claim on its merits. Fortunately, we had an alternative claim, on the basis of which we won $4.6 billion. But meeting our basic requirement could have given us $7.8-12.3 billion more. For this, in particular in 2009, Kobolev only needed to have indicated in the letter the obvious changes in the formation of transit tariffs in Europe and show that the Ukrainian tariff did not correspond to the European one.
But in addition to the successes of Naftogaz under the leadership of Kobolev, we also have to talk about failures. As I said above, from the second half of 2018, I see mostly failures in other areas which negate the achievements of our team in Naftogaz and discredit reforms. At the same time, unfortunately, a substitution of concepts is evident – support for reforms is replaced by support for Kobolev in office.
The year 2019, when I stepped down from the general leadership and dealt mainly with the confrontation with Gazprom, is indicative in this regard:
– If you deduct the profits in my area of work with Gazprom (transit), Naftogaz is unprofitable.
– Production shows a two-decade record decline, despite ever-increasing investment and costs. I have recently written about this and the responsibility of Favorov, who was appointed by Kobolev, rhttps://bit.ly/3a3MYcN, https://bit.ly/2SX6BxJ
– Contrary to the plans, a system of remunerating managers (salaries and bonuses) which most Ukrainians would consider transparent and fair, has not been created. All this leads to an extremely negative perception of Naftogaz by the general population.
– Even the process of separating gas transportation activities from production and supply activities (unbundling) would have been a failure if I had not helped bring it out of the dead end into which Kobolev had taken it.
You can respond that not everything depends on the head of the company, in this case Kobolev. I agree. But he has to bear responsibility within the sphere of his duties, and his is quite broad.
In particular, he assumed personal responsibility for the transformation of the management system. As my fellow analysts noted in their report, progress in this extremely important area for Naftogaz in 2019 could be described as "too little, too late" https://bit.ly/2V9f7Ln. In other words, it failed. This negatively affected the course of negotiations on a new transit contract.
I will add that our team was the main developer of both the reforms, and the company's strategy, its transformation plan. Kobolev and the external consultants involved were co-authors, and they agreed with us. But the evidence shows that the problem was not in the plans, but in their implementation. And this despite the fact that our team has provided Naftogaz with such financial resources that other companies in Ukraine can only dream of.
As I have already mentioned, if we analyze the reasons, Kobolev objectively lacks both the competence and integrity (moral and ethical qualities).
And this is not a claim, but a statement. Kobolev has neither oil and gas education, nor business education. He has no experience in operational activities – production, transportation, trade, supply of gas and oil. There is no managerial experience either in market conditions or in a normal company. Therefore, it is not surprising that in an area he is personally responsible for, things turn out as "not enough, too late". That the truth about this personal responsibility becomes so inconvenient. But sooner or later people will understand the true state of affairs.
And integrity is, for example, when you declare zero tolerance for corruption because you do not tolerate corruption in your life that you know about, or even only suspect. As they say in English, you need to walk the talk (do what you say).
I understand that it can be difficult to accept all this, because it is another source of disappointment. Perhaps you still refuse to believe that Kobolev is "no" manager. Then try to find significant achievements of Naftogaz yourself, where Kobolev's role would not be secondary at best, or for which we should attribute to his organizational skills.
And this despite the fact that, as I have repeated, the last high-profile victory of Naftogaz, the recovery of $2.9 billion from Gazprom and the conclusion of a new transit contract, was obtained when Kobolev was completely removed from the negotiations with Gazprom. Thus, the facts prove that the successes of Naftogaz do not have to be connected to Kobolev at all. But the main failures of Naftogaz, as I have already shown, are directly linked to Kobolev.
I have always openly reported to you about the results of our team's work and my individual responsibility – these are the main victories of Naftogaz that you have heard about. But I and at least some key members of our team will leave Naftogaz soon. And Kobolev will remain the head of Naftogaz.
That is why we are not sure that our business will remain in safe hands.
I hope, as I promised, I have explained why.
I do not know how events will unfold over the next two months, which I have still to complete at Naftogaz (as the law sets certain timeframes and procedures for redundancies).
I want to believe that everything will be done in a civilized manner, both in relation to the members of our team and in the transfer of the files.
And on the last day of work, I will post a good write-up on Facebook thanking everyone who has helped me and our team for the past six years.
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Bessie first started out with Projects Abroad as a volunteer in 2011; she travelled to Peru and spent time on both the Archaeology and Conservation projects. Bessie graduated with a degree in Philosophy and History from the University of Exeter. Following graduation she spent some time working as a Volunteer Coordinator in Nepal and with the Group Trips team in the UK. Bessie loves reading and taking her two Labradors for walks in the South Downs. Bessie has visited Peru, Nepal, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Ashish has been working with Projects Abroad since January 2009. After working for operations in Nepal and India, Ashish has joined Recruitment Team in India in 2013. He believes that Indian students should get a chance to explore the world. He is a cricket player and is often seen with a bat during his free time.
Nadeesha joined Projects Abroad in April 2010 to the Social Media Team. In 2012 she joined the Alumni team and gets in touch with UK volunteers after they finish their placements and helps to develop the UK Alumni Network. She holds a degree in IT. She has also completed higher studies in World affairs and is very interested in reading books.
Luke has visited Sri Lanka.
Daryll joined the UK team in 2017 as a Content Creator, working with website content, newsletters, and social media. He has an undergraduate degree in Communications, and is in the process of completing his Honours degree in Media Studies. Daryll was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, and has travelled through most of North America, and the UK. His interests include film, music, and all things literary.


text:
A gergoviai csatát Kr. e. 52-ben vívták a gall Vercingetorix lázadó erői és a Római Köztársaság csapatai. Ez volt a gall háború egyetlen csatája, amelyet Julius Caesar, Róma későbbi ura elveszített.

Gergovia az arvernusok, az egyik legerősebb gall törzs legfontosabb, megerősített városa volt egy hegy tetején a mai Auvergne-ben, a mai Puy-de-Dôme közelében. Valamikori falainak és földerődítményeinek maradványai máig láthatók.

Előzményei
Caesar Avaricum meghódítása után fordult hat légiójával Gergovia ellen. Meglepetésére a haeduusok, Róma korábbi szövetségesei a gall törzseket egyesítő Vercingetorix oldalára álltak.

Caesarral egyidőben Vercingetorix hadai is megindultak. Megsemmisítettek minden hidat az Allier folyón, hogy Caesar ne tudjon átkelni, Caesar azonban elrejtett két légiót egy erdőben, akik helyreállítottak egy hidat. A római sereg átkelt, és ötnapos menetelés után megérkezett Gergovia alá.

Az ostrom kezdete

A rómaiak visszaszorították a gall lovasságot. Vercingetorix kedvező pozícióban helyezte el seregét, de Caesar észrevette, hogy a várhegyhez csatlakozó egyik dombot a gallok alig védték. Éjszaka két légió megszállta a magaslatot és megerősített pozíciókat épített ki. Caesar nem akart kockázatos frontális támadást indítani, ostromra és a gallok kiéheztetésére készült. Tábora és az elfoglalt magaslat közt mély dupla árkot ásatott.

Harc a felmentő csapatokkal
De mielőtt még befejezhette volna Gergovia körbekerítését, a tervét összezavarta a haeduusok érkezése, akiket egy Litavicus nevű vezér azzal a hamis hírrel tüzelt fel, hogy a rómaiaknak előzőleg adott túszaikat legyilkolták.

Caesar két légiót hagyott az ostromművek védelmére Gaius Fabius vezetése alatt, és négy légióval megindult a haeduusok elé. Látva a fenyegetést, a haeduusok ismét behódoltak, Litavicus pedig Vercingetorixhoz menekült.

Miközben Caesar a haeduusokkal foglalkozott, hírt kapott, hogy a mintegy negyven kilométerre lévő Gergoviánál hagyott légiókat hevesen támadja az ellenség. Caesar megmutatta félelmetes gyorsaságát, és egy éjszakai menettel ismét Gergovia alatt termett Fabius felmentésére.

Sikertelen ostrom
A gallok közben még jobb pozíciókat vettek fel a vár tövében, hogy megelőzzék a bekerítést. Hogy kicsalogassa őket, Caesar hátrébb vont egy légiót, majd amikor a gallok kimozdultak magaslati pozícióikból, fő erőivel támadást indított, sikerrel. A döntő rohamhoz ekkor visszarendelte erőit, hogy újrarendezze őket, azokhoz azonban nem jutott el az utasítás, és megtámadták a várfalakat, megfeledkezve a veszélyről.

A gall főerők, amelyek a csaléteknek küldött légió ellen indultak, akkorra visszatértek korábbi állásaikba és újra leszorították a rómaiakat a hegyről. A híres 10. légió és a 13. egy része a sík terepen csatarendbe sorakozott, hogy megállítsa az ostromlókat üldöző gallokat, de Vercingetorix nem akart számára kedvezőtlenebb terepen csatába bocsátkozni, és visszarendelte embereit.

Ebben az egyetlen rohamban a rómaiak 700 közkatonát és 40 centuriót vesztettek.

Másnap a római hadsorok ismét felsorakoztak, de nem sikerült csatába csalogatni a gallokat. Caesar, akinek seregei eközben más törzsek ellen is hadakozni kényszerültek a régióban, hidat építtetett az Allier folyón, és visszavonult a helyzetből, amely könnyen veszélyessé fordulhatott volna a számára.

Következményei
Az alesiai csatában végül Caesarnak sikerült megsemmisítenie a lázadók főerőit.

A meghódított Gergovia lakosságát a győztes rómaiak kitelepítették, a néhány kilométernyire épített Augustonemetumba (a mai Clermont-Ferrand).

A római–gall háborúk csatái
Gallia
I. e. 52

sv:Gergovia

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text:
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Bio-on issues licences enabling the production of MINERV-PHA™ to produce:
Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a linear polyester naturally occurring as a result of bacterial fermentation of sugar.
This family can bring together more than 100 differing monomers to produce materials whose properties vary very greatly.
Thermoplastic or elastomeric materials can be created with melting points ranging from 40 to more than 180°C. MINERV-PHA is a high-performance PHA biopolymer.
MINERV-PHA is endowed with optimal thermal properties. Production needs which range from -10°C to a +180°C can be met through characterization. This product is particularly suitable for injection and extrusion methods for the production of objects.
It takes the place of highly pollutant materials such as PET, PP, PE, HDPE and LDPE.
NATURAL BIODEGRADATION IN WATER
The MINERV PHA increases its biodegradability factor in bacteriologically impure water. This type of polymer biodegradation is the future of biodegradability. The natural dissolution of a biopolymer in bacteriologically impure water (e.g. river water) in a few days is a rare and very difficult result to obtain. MINERV-PHA is the first biopolymer obtained from sugar co-products to achieve this important result. In just 10 days in normal river water, MINERV-PHA turns into river water or sea water.
Natural and inexpensive methods such as biodegradation in water are the future of biodegradability. Biodegradation in natural water sources (e.g. river water) is the easiest way to destroy and then recover the elements. This permits maintenance-free materials (no handling, transport or distribution). Biodegradation in water is even more beneficial than biodegradation in soil (compost). The process remains the same: natural decomposition by bacteria. In room temperature water this decomposition happens without being forced in any way, allowing complete biopolymer biodegradation in just a few days. If we combine these features with the initial "performance" of the biopolymer (strength, flexibility, printability), it is easy to understand the final product quality. PHAs are also the only plastics biodegradable in the ocean.
PHAs produced by BIO-ON
Using MINERV PHAs (Polyhydroxyalkanoates developed using beets) Bio-on has identified the possibility of producing a new family of naturally biodegradable polyesters derived from sugar beets. The MINERV PHAs logo identifies the product that will in turn be marked and protected by their specific characterization and subsequently sold or licensed to third parties.
Polyhydroxyalkanoates or PHAs is a linear polyester produced in nature by bacterial fermentation of sugar. More than 100 different monomers can be joined by this family to create materials with extremely different properties. Thermoplastic or elastomeric materials ca be created with melting points ranging from 40 to 180° C. MINERV-PHA is a high-performance PHAs biopolymer. MINERV "spheres" in white represent the MINERV-PHAs biopolymer obtained from sugar beets. These elements are the result of bacteria nourished by beet juices. Recovery is the next step in the process (recovery of PHAs) when Polyhydroxyalkanoates are recovered and separated from the rest of the organic material of the cell. All waste materials (small amounts) are put back into the production cycle to feed new bacterial colonies along with the intermediate beet juice (exclusive Bio-on patent).
SPECIFIC ON DEMAND CHARACTERIZATION OF PHAs
Bio-on makes on demand degrees of characterization.
Our laboratories select common, well-known plastic products to be characterized on the basis of Bio-on technology useful for producing PHAs from by-products of sugar beet or cane sugar.
List of known product macro families* whose technical characteristics are replicable by PHAs:
- Low density polyethylene (LDPE)
- High density polyethylene (HDPE)
- Polypropylene (PP)
- Polyvinylchloride (PVC)
- Polystyrene (PS)
- Polyethylene (PE)
- Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
(*) after identifying PHAs corresponding to the macro family (e.g. Polypropylene PP) specific characterization is performed to identify a further field of use of the precise mechanical, physical and thermal properties.
"OK Biodegradable Water" certification was granted to Bio-on's MinervPHATM bioplastic in 2008. This important recognition was attributed to Bio-on by Belgian body Vinçotte, one of the world's most important and authoritative certifying bodies, thus confirming the complete biodegradability of MinervPHATM in water at ambient temperature.
The MinervPHATM biopolymer, made through technologies owned by Bio-on using agricultural and agro-industrial waste and by-products as raw materials, was the first in the world to obtain such certification. Products certified OK Biodegradable guarantee natural (unforced) biodegradation in a natural freshwater environment and thus make a substantial contribution towards reducing refuse in rivers, lakes and seas. Biodegradation occurs through the action of bacteria colonies naturally present in all environments: the microorganisms attack the material, breaking it down and leaving no trace in the environment. The bacteria colonies and their concentrations differ depending on where biodegradation takes place (specific temperature, humidity, pH, oxygen, etc.).
"BIOBASED PRODUCT" label and certification assigned in 2014 to Bio-on's MinervPHATM by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Bio-on's biopolymer was tested by an independent certified laboratory and was found to be a biobased material 100% originating from agricultural, forest or marine ingredients.
The USDA's BIOBASED PRODUCT certification verifies that the renewable and biobased ingredients meet or exceed the criteria laid down by the USDA itself. Based on the results obtained from these tests, consumers can be confident of the precise quantity of organic content in the product and can therefore make better-informed and more conscious purchasing decisions.
Through this voluntary labelling based on an initiative of the USDA's BioPreferred Programme, companies can request the certification of their products, the biobased origins of which are tested and verified according to ASTM standard D6866 by independent third parties using a transparent, efficient and analytical control method.
"Certificate of Material Excellence" from Material ConneXion: Certificate of excellence for MinervPHATM issued by a jury nominated by Material ConneXion in the "Naturals" category.
In 2015, MinervPHATM bioplastic was carefully evaluated by an international and interdisciplinary technical jury. Based on the results achieved, the biopolymer received the "Certificate of Material Excellence" and was included in the prestigious virtual "Materials Library" and displayed at Material Connexion's New York headquarters. This database is the world's largest tool for collecting and consulting innovative and sustainable materials and processes. This great archive, with its library of samples and its online database of thousands of items, aims to collect only the most interesting materials in terms of innovation, technical characteristics and potential for application.
Starting in 2016, Minerv-PHA will also be available through representative product samples at Material ConneXion's other libraries around the world, in Bangkok, Bilbao, Daegu, Milan, Skövde and Tokyo.
Material ConneXion, part of SANDOW, is a consultancy firm for materials and innovation worldwide that helps clients create the products and services of the future through smart materials and Design Thinking. Material ConneXion is the trusted consultant for Fortune 500 companies, and for forward-thinking agencies and government bodies seeking a creative, competitive and sustainable margin. With premises in Bangkok, Bilbao, Daegu, Milan, New York, Tokyo and Skövde, Material ConneXion's international network of specialists provides a global and inter-sector perspective on materials, design and development of new products, sustainability and innovation.
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Bio-on • info@bio-on.it • @BioOnBioplastic • P.I. 02740251208 • Work in bio-on: cv@bio-on.it
SITI WEB BOLOGNA


text:
Q: Online Credit Card Storage? I am about to inherit and work on a small business retail website that is very poorly designed. Among other things, the greatest concern is with the current credit card processing.
Currently, the owner retrieves credit card information (name, number, CVV2 and expiration date) from an online order form and saves all of that information in plain text within a MySQL database. A notification then gets sent to his email that someone has ordered. Thereafter, he has an administrative back-end page that he views the orders and credit card information which he uses to process offline with his own merchant.
After retrieving the information from the back-end page, the credit card number and CVV2 is immediately deleted (PHP script automatically called). The information is also deleted if that page is not accessed within 7 days. So, there is a potential for all of the information to be in the database in plain text for seven days before transaction processing.
This does not seem like a good design and may be illegal. If it is illegal, I am going to have to break this to him, because he does not realize that yet.
My question: Besides being insecure, is this illegal or a violation of terms of use (PCI DSS)? And, if so, how can I prove it to him so that he will allow me to change his ways (obviously, I don't want to put my hands into something that is illegal. Also, sometimes the wording of terms of use can seem subjective)? Finally, what are the best options for fixing this issue (3rd party online merchant, becoming PCI DSS compliant, or something else)?

A: This is a major violation of PCI rules.  You can obtain the documents here: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_dss.shtml
 It would be smart to go third party like Google Checkout or something similar.  Becoming PCI compliant is a big headache and involves annual reviews (may be self assessed), which can include penetration testing, etc.  If you really examined it, he probably does not need to have access to the credit card information at all, just the transaction ID.  Not only do you need to encrypt the data, you must have an elaborate scheme for protecting the encryption keys.  This is much bigger than what a small business wants to get into.  Some of the advice above sounds good, but it does not meet the PCI specification.  Read the documents and you will quickly see it is a large undertaking.  I currently support an in house PCI compliant system and had to spend significant effort to get it up to standards.  We also had to make a number of network changes as well. It will be cheaper for the business to convert to third party.

A: That is a violation of PCI DSS. Not only are you storing information you aren't supposed to be storing (CVV) but you're not encrypting the credit card number (also a violation).
Even worse he is violating Visa and MasterCard guidelines which state that all online transactions must be processed using an ECI compliant device or software and Internet orders must have a separate merchant account. Their credit card terminal is definitely not ECI compliant as none are. They need to get a new merchant account and use a payment gateway like Authorize.Net to process these orders.
Edit
Since I doubt the webbsite owner will actually bother to get a new merchant account or implement a payment gateway your best bet is to use two way encryption to store this information. Then make sure the page they use to retrieve the credit card information is encrypted (SSL cert) so the information is secure from end-to-end.
I highly recommend getting an Internet merchant account and using a payment gateway like Authorize.Net. Besides being PCI and ECI compliant and just the smart way to go, the potential for the business to not only lose their merchant account but to be blacklisted and prohibited from ever have a true merchant account again is very high. All it takes is one chargeback for their merchant account provider to realize what they are doing and for the trouble to start.

A: There are lots of third party payment providers for you that will deal with all security and compliance issues.
For any small to medium businesses this is one function that should definitely be outsourced to those with expertise.

A: Using a  3rd party credit card processing gateway obviates the need for storing credit information on the client's server - the POST'ed cc info is passed along to the processing gateway which returns a transaction id that can be used for record-keeping by your client.
A credit card payment gateway is provided by companies like Authorize.net, LinkPoint Central - even PayPal is getting into the game. All the major gateways have existing code for integrating a shopping cart with most of the popular web programming platforms (.NET, PHP, Java, etc.). Plus most major shopping carts support the major gateways out of the box, or at the very least have installable modules for most gateways.
So, your client should get an internet payment gateway setup and you should integrate their existing code with the gateway.

A: Correctly protecting payment data is a complex topic.  Even very large companies sometimes have large numbers of credit cards stolen from their systems.
At a minimum, here are steps to consider:

*

*Ensure the online order form is using HTTPS to capture data.

*If the DB and web server are different boxes, ensure a secure path between them.

*Encrypt the payment data in the DB. MySQL Reference.

*Ensure strong access control to the back-end web page (is it physically accessible to the outside world?  Does it require a strong password?  Is it HTTPS?)

*Ensure there are no logs (e.g. debug log) that end up writing the payment info to the file system.

A: It is definitely a violation of PCI rules.  However, it shouldn't be that hard to add encryption to the stored data, especially if it's rare a human will have to look at it.
Having worked for a third party credit card transaction processing company, I highly recommend it if their system is that bad.  However, you'll still need to encrypt that information, or not store it at all after it's sent to the TPP.  The TPP really works for the merchant, so they can help you with any compliance issues and help you get the best interchange rates.

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Completely forgot to mention this! My Colonial Marine review has been updated with the Allied Troopers from Sgt. Major Miniatures.
They're quite nice, so go check out the review. You know you want to. Really, go now.
EDIT February 14 2013: As the Vendel lines were acquired by Sgt. Major Miniatures, I've changed the title of the post. These are the mastiffs originally produced by Vendel Miniatures.
With a massive body, broad skull and head of generally square appearance, it is one of the largest dog breeds in terms of mass. Though the Irish Wolfhound and Great Dane are taller, they are not nearly as robust.[…]When in 1415 Sir Peers Legh was wounded in the Battle of Agincourt, his Mastiff stood over and protected him for many hours through the battle.[…]The breed is characteristically innately good natured, calm, easygoing, and surprisingly gentle for its size.
This is the dog we're talking about in this review, or rather, miniature renditions of the breed. I've always been a fan of mastiffs, and the idea of actual dogs of war in general. There's simply something endearing in the mental image of a pack of 100+ kg dogs slamming into basically whoever they want to slam into.
I've been drooling over the mastiffs produced by Vendel Miniatures for years. I've never really had a use for them, which has kept me from making an order. Enter a friend about to start an RPG campaign and in need of a few guard dogs and hell hounds and what do you know, I'm in possession of seven mastiffs, three of which I'll eventually keep after painting. Yes, seven, even if Vendel's site says six. I don't know if this is just a lucky accident, but I'm not complaining!
There is a variety of poses in my seven mastiffs. Three of the dogs are in fairly neutrally posed, either walking or standing. Two are in more aggressive postures, with one growling and the other reared on its hind legs, leaping at an opponent. The final two would be at home in dioramas: one is sitting and the other laying down, seemingly relaxed. Though you might not expect it from dog models, the miniatures have a lot of character, and the two aggressive ones for example are positively ferocious. Vendel mastiffs are available both with and without collars, these are of the former type. The mastiffs mostly fit on 25mm round bases, As usual, the models below have been given a black ink wash to show the detail better. Larger versions open in a new tab.
The sculpts are very nice indeed. The miniatures are well proportioned and really look like the animals they're supposed to portray, which is sadly far too rare in dog miniatures. They're large and robust, really conveying the feeling of huge dogs well. There were some mould lines and flash present, but nothing terrible. I cleaned up the seven models in less than ten minutes.
Both the subject and the variety of poses makes this pack useful to a large crowd. As said, I'm painting some of these as hell hounds and some as regular dogs. While my friend will keep the hellish variety, my dogs are off to do some zombie/vampire/werewolf-hunting as well as ending up as police dogs and fighting dogs for gangsta gangs and the like. Historical gamers will find a lot of uses for these as well, as they were regularly used as fighting dogs. The collarless variety would make fora great pack of wild dogs for post-apoc gaming and such. As the size comparison shot below shows, the mastiffs go well with other 28mm minis. Remember, these are big dogs.
Overall verdict: They're mastiffs. No, seriously, if this is what you're looking for, look no further. The ratio of price to quality is excellent, and there's a ton of uses for big dogs in miniature. The only small gripe I could find is that not all of the dogs fit snugly on a 25mm round base, but this shouldn't be a deal breaker. If you need them, buy them. If you don't need them, make up a reason to do so. You can find the miniatures here for $10.50.