Our turbine flow meters include the GPI G Series High Precision flow meter line, the most accurate of the GPI turbine flow meters. These flow meters and are available in a range of sizes from ½ inch, to 3-inch diameter with connection options including NPT, BSP, ISO, ANSI flange & Sanitary Clamp fittings.
GPI TM series water meters are accurate, economical and designed to last. Choose GPI meters for water processing and irrigation applications. TM series water meters meet schedule 80 PVC specifications and come standard with low profile computer display. Seven sizes are available from 1/2″ to 4″ diameter with male (spigot) end fittings to allow universal connections. Female NPT fittings, BSP and ANSI 150 lb flanges are also available for the 3 and 4″ diameter meters.
The lithium battery powered electronic LCD is calibrated to read in litres and gallons and display accumulative total, batch (reset) total and rate of flow, eg. litres/minute.
TM Series water meters are also available with pulsed output This economy water flowmeter is an ideal alternative to traditional water meters. The TM Series water meters offer flow rate and flow total indication that help monitor water flow in waste water applications, water treatment, and sub-metering applications. The battery powered electronic display is calibrated to read in gallons and litres.
GPI A1 Commercial Grade Water Meters are packaged as a self-contained unit. Select this meter when you need an accurate, basic meter. GPI Commercial Grade Meters come in Aluminium and Nylon. Choose one of three sizes of Aluminium meters for petroleum products. Use the Nylon meters for water or non-aggressive chemicals. The aluminium or nylon meters have a flow range from 1 – 11 lt/min and 11 – 190 lt/min with the large 2″ diameter in aluminium having a range from 114 – 1135 lt/min.


Your quality system is designed to satisfy customers and improve performance. Your system may or may not be based on an external standard (i.e., ISO 9001), but regardless, your system is vital in order to achieve profitability. The Quality Basics video training program is an excellent training tool for reinforcing the commitment of your employees to quality. It is an easy-to-understand, 16 minute program that discusses what quality is, the importance of quality to company success and the four basic guidelines for assuring satisfactory quality. This program will strengthen your employees' resolve for achieving the objectives of quality: customer satisfaction and continual improvement.
The sections of this video include: • Introduction • What is quality • Quality perspectives are important • Your role in achieving quality • and Conclusions.


Let Our Security Experts Guide You.
Partner with SRMC, our experts will help you build a plan that gets you to the finish line.
Like you, we value efficiency and expertise.
We make certain that every aspect of project implementation and management is consistent with your design, operational and environmental requirements. Our process is built on our unique mix of extensive experience in security and law enforcement operations management.
We understand the operational and technology needs of security management in diverse environments. As a result, we provide your organization with ongoing expert support throughout all aspects of your security management program.


text:
The Belle of Louisville has been cruising along since 1914. She looks good for her age doesn't she? A National Historic Landmark and an icon of the Louisville waterfront, the Belle is the only remaining authentic steamboat from the great American packet boat era.
No matter what you're boarding for – sightseeing, a four-course dinner, live music excursion or unique event – it's always a very special occasion. A cruise on the Belle is a chance to explore and enjoy a living, operating museum.
history of belle
When you're 108 years old and counting, you've got a rich history. Learn more about the Belle from her time as the Idlewild and the Avalon up to her journey to Louisville's waterfront.
The Idlewild was launched on October 18th at Pittsburgh, PA. She served as a ferry between Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas and moved freight as a day packet.
The Idlewild spent a season in Louisville running trips to Rose Island and Fontaine Ferry amusement parks.
After years of traveling U.S. waterways from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and Montana to Pennsylvania, the Belle returned to Louisville and stayed through World War II.
The Idlewild offered moonlight cruises during the Big Band era and occasionally served as a USO nightspot on the Mississippi River to help the war effort.
Idlewild Master Ben Winters' death-bed wish was granted by renaming the boat Avalon.
The Avalon was sold to a group of Cincinnati investors. Over the next 13 years, she became the most widely-traveled river steamboat in American history.
The Avalon was put up for auction at Cincinnati. She was purchased by Jefferson County Judge Executive Marlow Cook for $34,000 and renamed the Belle of Louisville.
Countless hours were spent rebuilding and repairing the Belle. On April 30th, she began her new life by racing against the Delta Queen in the first Great Steamboat Race.
The Belle was highlighted as the nation's oldest and most authentic river steamboat at the first celebration of the steamboat era, Tall Stacks in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In August, the Waterfront Development Corporation assumed the operation of the Belle of Louisville on behalf of Louisville Metro.
The Belle of Louisville celebrates her 100th birthday with a 5-day gathering of her peers on Louisville's Waterfront.
10 Facts About the Belle
Cruising April through October
At 108 years old, the Belle of Louisville is the oldest operating Mississippi River-style steamboat in America, with only one other vessel of similar age in the world!
In fact, she's the only river steamboat in American history to reach the age of 100
Her engines are even older– dating to the mid-1880s (and are still doing the job!)
Still today, the Belle operates under steam power
The Belle of Louisville was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Our ticket office, Life Saving Station #10, is also a National Historic Landmark and the only inland life-saving station in the country
The Belle began as a packet (freight) boat, ferry and excursion boat, then switched to excursion only in the early 1930s
She has been registered under three names: Idlewild (1914 – 1948), Avalon (1948 – 1962) and Belle of Louisville (1962 – present)
US Coast Guard Approved Capacity: 800 People

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Jazz Bear Visits DFJHS!
"The Strength of the Team is the Team" is our motto this year at Diamon Fork. We adopted the idea from the Utah Jazz as they shared it with fans across the state last spring during their playoff run. The Jazz organization was so thrilled that we follow the motto they sent the Jazz Bear to us for an awesome assembly. We had cheerleaders, our choir was fantastic, and the Jazz Bear handed out t-shirts and filled the air with silly string and confetti. It was a great day here at Diamond Fork! A big shout out to the tech crew for helping get the stage set up, thanks.


Researchers in Italy believe they have found a simple blood test which can predict whether early moments of forgetfulness will turn into Alzheimer's disease. It is based on detecting levels of free copper in the blood. The study found that people with high levels of free copper have a 50% chance of developing Alzheimer's within four years.
This is all too late for the 800,000 dementia sufferers already living in Britain.
Who hasn't asked one of these questions from time to time?
Blow all my money in the next four years?
Say goodbye to all my family and friends before I forget who they are?
Sell my house and move into residential care while I can still make my own decision?
Label everything in anticipation of the forgetful years to come?
Go off to Dignitas straight away or leave it for a while?
Know that I will find my phone and car keys eventually.
If the day of the week is important, now I am retired, I can look at the top of the newspaper.
An whatever it was I went upstairs for, can't be that important if I have forgotten it so quickly.
Oh, and there is at least 50% chance I have not got dementia!
This entry was posted in HEALTH and tagged Dementia. Bookmark the permalink.
No then, now then! I brush my worried brow, and ask as you so rightly say: 'What can I do?' is anything of anything any good..
Firstly my brain challenges the copper in the body! can I reduce it or increase it by eating the right stuff! I beleive for instance 'Spinch Puts iron in the body, and did Popeye no harm, even proberbly putting lead into his pencil? so now what – No Pencil? well I must wear my copper bracelet for '????( The reason escapes me) what? Here my memory is slipping; Maybe one of you may know?
All I know if i have too much copper I may develope 'Verigree' and have a complextion like the 'Green man or a martian. .
My world is getting better I go to my maker as a martian incarnate ready for the next world. Wonderful people thses Italian Researchers, and their green cheese(Dolcilote): What is it a version of a mild but soft stilton-Here my memorory goes again! The researchers are right i cannot recall all the facts of a lifetime, even my own life? So here for you is a conundrum what can the human brain remember/store etc, such as a modern computer, are we when we take the alzhimiers test by the quack to be refered to a a BYTE not of course the ladies who may interprate the meaning as an enuendo for BIT Or Bird a bit flighty and again terribly forgettful. Happy Reading.


Need to know more about ion chromatography, new to the technique and not sure where to start, or just need a refresher? If the answer to any of the above is yes, then this 'Basics of Ion Chromatography' learning hub is just what you need.
The OMNIS Sample Robot from Metrohm meets the need of petrochemical laboratories for automated TAN/TBN determinations in large numbers of samples.
Completely unattended volumetric water determination in up to 50 samples is now possible with the OMNIS Sample Robot from Metrohm.
The new OMNIS Karl Fischer titrator stands for a safer and more convenient way of volumetric water content determination.


Who?! Who had to "call him back?" I badgered him, while he kept trying to hug me. Looking back, I now realize that was probably the longest 15 minutes of his life. He was, as the song goes, "waiting for the world to change." Little did I know, it was my world that was about to change. The phone rang again. Jay answered it and then handed me the receiver.
It was my brother Mark. "Katie. It's Mark. . . Dad passed away last night . . ." The rest is a blur to me. That first phone call was someone from Vanderbilt University calling to make sure that Jay was with me when my brother called. The second call was the one Jay had to wait on, knowing my world was never going to be the same.
For those interminable 15 minutes he sat with me, held back his tears, and gave me the gift of presence. Waiting for someone who you love's world to change—and not for the better—is an intense but worthy business.
Jay, who is now my husband of more than 24 years, sat with me while I cried. He held my head in his lap and drove the three hours to my home. Jay listened, cried with me and still, after almost 26 years later, lets me relive that day anytime I need to.
During those first weeks of grief for the loss of my dad, people tried to help. Some things were comforting, such as when people shared their stories of my dad. Even all these years later, I still love to hear anecdotes about him. One thing that wasn't helpful: people who quoted Scripture. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the Lord with all my heart! But when I was grieving, it did not help me when people quoted Scripture. In that moment, it just felt sterile and distant.
If you're ever unsure of what to do in a sad situation, let the one who is grieving dictate the mood. Follow their lead. When they are happy and sharing memories, jump in to do the same. If they are sorrowful, walk along with them in their sorrow. John 11:35 tells us, "Jesus wept." Demonstrate your compassion for their suffering, as Jesus did. Many times, the only action you need take is to "be" with them. Give the gift of presence when someone is grieving the loss of a loved one. Words are not necessary but "with-ness" is.
Wisdom beautifully spoken, Katie! God bless you!


In the world of globalisation, expansion of your business requires you to establish connections with businesses outside your national boundary. Many of such business owners might not be able to speak or communicate properly in English. However, language should never be a barrier for development and expansion of business.
Doing Business in Asia – How We May Help?
Asia is currently one of the most lucrative business destinations. With its delightfully low labour costs and high technical expertise of the work force, China in Asia, provides amazing business opportunities. Doing business with your Chinese counterparts may yield productive results for your business. The language barrier that you may initially face is not something to be worried about.
intellectual property asset acquisition and protection.
At Owen Hodge Lawyers, we take pride in the diversity of our workforce. We endeavour to provide quality services to our clients who are often benefitted by the services of dually qualified lawyers working with us.
The translation of the legal statements and disclosure documents from Chinese to English requires the scrutiny of qualified legal practitioners who are conversant with both the law relating to the product in China and its applicability in Australia. Our team of legal experts are conversant with such situations and can provide you expert advice regarding the same.
A multi-jurisdictional business transaction often attracts different kinds of tax implications and other legal implications due to the different legal structure. The alien law and its terms written in a foreign language needs to be interpreted and reviewed correctly.
In regards to translation of legal documents in particular, utmost accuracy and in-depth knowledge of the correct terminology is very crucial. Consistency regarding the same is also important, as document volumes are often quite large.
The disclosure should have consider consumers' needs.
The legal system in China is intricate and is composed of a myriad national laws and local regulations, supplemented by Court interpretations, departmental notices and most importantly, local practices.
We believe that any contract irrespective of its size and/or complicacy needs proper reviewing by legal personnel especially on the terms, nature and content of the contract.
The legal advice obtained should be consistent with the legal structures of China and also be structured for a fair result that protects your interests and avoid any linguistic issues.
Choosing the right business partner is the most essential factor you need to consider before building up a business with a foreign partner. This includes having a proper understanding about the company, its history, structure and background. You also need to know the key individuals involved; both with your business and, if they are different, the owners/key decision-makers in the firm.
You also need to ensure that a part of your workforce have certain knowledge or experience working in China, which minimises your risk involved in the business.
In case your business requires you to import or purchase goods from China, look for trial shipments to ensure that the goods you are buying are meeting your requisite requirements. Also ensure that the business with whom you are dealing with is a legitimate one.
Try to employ a local agent to consolidate, sample and verify goods prior to export. This will help you ensure that the goods you receive on the other end are actually the one you have ordered for.
This article is aimed to provide you a summary regarding how we at Owen Hodge Lawyers can assist you in doing business in Asia. For any assistance, contact us at Owen Hodge Lawyers.


Nora Cucina endeavors to deliver cuisine derived from the farm work taking place in the fields and farms of Toyosaka. Our name comes from the word "nora sagyo," meaning "farm work" in Japanese and "cucina," the word for cooking in Italian.
Everyone in this restaurant, from the owner to all the staff members, were born and raised in Toyosaka. The ingredients we use are lovingly grown by the farmers of Toyosaka and we strive to prepare and serve them with care.
Nora Cucina's building was originally the dining hall of a Japanese restaurant that operated for over a hundred years.
It fell into disuse because of deterioration and was on the verge of being demolished.
However, after laborious reconstruction, Nora Cucina was born. The newly converted building made full use of the quaint features and garden of old trees. The thick beams running through the center of the restaurant and the vintage fittings were brought all the way from an old house in Gosen City before it was demolished. Even our Italian-made stone oven was collecting dust at some storage space with nowhere to go. We took the pains of repairing and transporting it to make it into the piece it is now.
We invite you to come take a look around our space.
Additionally, we also serve a variety of seasonal dishes.


text:
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Input;
using Xamarin.Forms;

namespace XamlSamples
{
    class KeypadViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        string inputString = "";
        string displayText = "";
        char[] specialChars = { '*', '#' };

        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

        // Constructor
        public KeypadViewModel()
        {
            this.AddCharCommand = new Command<string>((key) =>
                {
                    // Add the key to the input string.
                    this.InputString += key;
                });

            this.DeleteCharCommand = new Command((nothing) =>
                {
                    // Strip a character from the input string.
                    this.InputString = this.InputString.Substring(0,
                                        this.InputString.Length - 1);
                },
                (nothing) =>
                {
                    // Return true if there's something to delete.
                    return this.InputString.Length > 0;
                });
        }

        // Public properties
        public string InputString
        {
            protected set
            {
                if (inputString != value)
                {
                    inputString = value;
                    OnPropertyChanged("InputString");
                    this.DisplayText = FormatText(inputString);

                    // Perhaps the delete button must be enabled/disabled.
                    ((Command)this.DeleteCharCommand).ChangeCanExecute();
                }
            }

            get { return inputString; }
        }

        public string DisplayText
        {
            protected set
            {
                if (displayText != value)
                {
                    displayText = value;
                    OnPropertyChanged("DisplayText");
                }
            }
            get { return displayText; }
        }

        // ICommand implementations
        public ICommand AddCharCommand { protected set; get; }

        public ICommand DeleteCharCommand { protected set; get; }

        string FormatText(string str)
        {
            bool hasNonNumbers = str.IndexOfAny(specialChars) != -1;
            string formatted = str;

            if (hasNonNumbers || str.Length < 4 || str.Length > 10)
            {
            }
            else if (str.Length < 8)
            {
                formatted = String.Format("{0}-{1}",
                                          str.Substring(0, 3),
                                          str.Substring(3));
            }
            else
            {
                formatted = String.Format("({0}) {1}-{2}",
                                          str.Substring(0, 3),
                                          str.Substring(3, 3),
                                          str.Substring(6));
            }
            return formatted;
        }

        protected void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
        {
            if (PropertyChanged != null)
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
A Transformational Approach to Climate Change
With most of its land only a few feet above sea level, Kiribati is seeing growing damage from storms and flooding. But even under a zero carbon emissions scenario, sea level rises would continue for centuries, causing massive human displacement and loss of livelihoods for billions of people. Credit: UNICEF/Vlad Sokhin
Opinion by Adam Day (new york)
The writer is Director of Programmes at United Nations University Centre for Policy Research
NEW YORK, Aug 10 (IPS) - The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its starkest report yet, expressing a clear consensus on the rapid changes to global temperatures.
While this has been called a "code red" moment and a "wake-up call" for action, the report builds on what the scientific community has been saying for decades: climate change is irrefutably being caused by human activity and it is having system-wide impacts on every aspect of our lives today.
As Greta Thunberg points out, the IPCC report only summarizes the science, it does not tell us what to do. Unless we take a transformational approach to climate change, we will continue to collectively hit the snooze button long after the last alarm bell has rung.
A transformational approach recognizes that we are already beyond any of the best-case scenarios, views climate change as central to our collective security, and demands a new understanding of growth.
We are already beyond the 1.5 degree threshold
For the first time, the IPCC report lays out what would happen if we ceased all carbon emissions today. Global temperatures would stabilize in a few decades, reversing some of most pernicious effects of climate change.
But even under a zero carbon emissions scenario, sea level rises would continue for centuries, causing massive human displacement and loss of livelihoods for billions of people. And that is under a highly improbable scenario of a total end of carbon emissions right now – the reality is going to be much worse.
While the 1.5 degree goal is a useful tool to encourage emissions reductions and greater funding, realistically we need to start planning for some of the worst scenarios laid out by the IPCC and others. We need the kind of global disaster preparedness that was clearly lacking when the pandemic broke out.
The twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to the UNFCCC will take place in November 2021 in Glasgow. Credit: United Nations
Climate is fundamental to our security
As our recent research has shown, climate change is acting as a risk multiplier for conflict and insecurity across the world, often causing risks indirectly through displacement, economic shocks, natural disasters, and rapid changes in livelihoods.
From climate wars to farmer herder conflicts, rising global temperatures are contributing to instability. This points to the need to move climate change from a marginal issue to a central one across all major areas of government: security, health, infrastructure, education, and development.
The Biden Administration's decision to make climate change part of the US national security strategy is the right step. We will need to tackle climate holistically across all government functions rather than treating it as an isolated, standalone issue.
A transformational approach to growth
Estimates of what is required to cope with climate change runs into the trillions per year, already far outstripping the pledges made under the Paris Agreement. As global populations and urbanization increase together, the cost of climate change is not only rising dramatically, it constitutes an existential risk to our model of human development.
Mobilizing resources is part of the story, but if we pour those resources back into the same kind of energy consumption – or worse, if the pandemic response bypasses the safeguards put in place to protect the environment in a rush to build back better – it will be like putting a band-aid on an amputated limb.
What is needed is a more fundamental shift in how we view development and prosperity: rather than being measured solely in terms of Gross Domestic Product, we need to value and measure our collective wellbeing, the sustainability of our actions, the ability of our production to contribute to a cycle rather than an endless output of carbon.
While continuing to mobilize funds, the COP26 agenda needs to also push this more transformational agenda, to think of development as a symbiosis with our environment rather than a parasitic or predatory relationship between humans and the Earth.
Follow IPS New UN Bureau on Instagram
Nature and Animal Conservation
Consumption and Consumerism

A Transformational Approach to Climate Change, Inter Press Service, Tuesday, August 10, 2021 (posted by Global Issues)

A Transformational Approach to Climate Change, Inter Press Service , Tuesday, August 10, 2021 (posted by Global Issues)


Clauss, Marcus; Suedmeyer, W K; Flach, E J (1999). Susceptibility to cold in captive giraffe (giraffa camelopardalis). Proceedings of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians:183-186.
Download PDF 'Susceptibility to cold in captive giraffe (giraffa camelopardalis)'. Item availability may be restricted.


Working with CRST Malone Trucking, you'll receive outstanding revenue, great fuel surcharges, high-quality freight and a level of support that's unmatched in trucking. You get access to our online Load Board and agent network. And all the time, you're in control – of what loads you accept and what geographic areas you choose to run in.
As a 100% Independent Contractor company, CRST Malone Flatbed partners with the very best Owner Operators in America. Since 1928, CRST Malone has served our customers well by helping contractors build successful, profitable businesses. No flatbed experience required. Trailer rental available. Securment equipment with low weekly payments.
CRST Malone Owner Operators to pull Flatbed and Heavy Haul.
We have deliberately kept this site simple and as "uncluttered" as possible so that you can find what you are looking for and find your way around easily.
We never sell or transfer your information. We do work with you one-on-one. Please contact us personally at 1-800-837-1320 during business hours to speak with a real person.
8:30AM - 5:30 PM Central Time. PLEASE NOTE: because we do work with you one to one, and offer personal assistance, it does tie up the phones a bit longer. If you do leave us a message we will call you back as soon as we can.
Finally, Here is an Overview of the Owner Operator business from a professional Owner Operator Fleet Consultant. We have posted much of his information of this site to help you plan, improve and grow your trucking business as an owner operator.
Profitability is affected the most by utilization (miles).
Once you have your miles up, then lowering fuel costs have the second largest impact on profits.
Then you can go through the rest of your numbers because the 'pennies per mile' do add up.
Remember that - FIGURES LIE AND LIARS FIGURE - when looking at other's numbers.
then create strategic relationships with professionals for the rest."
Many flatbed owner operators fail or fail to make money because they think like a company driver, or have an "employee mentality."
On this CRST Malone Flatbed Trucking Jobs site you will find the basics to building a successful and profitable business as a single truck owner operation. We don't attempt to show how to build a fleet or trucking company.
We also recommend a few services and products that you will find helpful as you go and grow.


text:
Tech support scams remain a global threat - Microsoft
By Shannon Williams, Mon 26 Jul 2021
Tech support scams remain a threat across the world despite drop in encounters, according to a new survey from Microsoft.
Microsoft unveiled the findings of its 2021 Global Tech Support Scam Research report that looks at tech support scams and their impact on consumers. The survey saw an overall fall in scam encounters three out of five consumers (59%) were found to have been targeted by a tech support scammer in the last 12 months, a drop from 64% in 2018. One out of six consumers (16%) were then tricked into continuing with the scam, a three-point decrease from 2018.
Of those surveyed, Gen Zers (aged 18-23) and Millennials (aged 24-37) were found to have continued interactions most when targeted with the scams 23% for both age groups. Across the Asia Pacific countries surveyed, results were diverse: Consumers in India were three times more likely to continue with a scam interaction (49%) than the global average (16%), while consumers in Japan performed best globally, with only 5% of those surveyed proceeding to interact with a scammer. Australia (19%) and Singapore (14%) saw rates on-par with the rest of the world.
Each month, Microsoft receives about 6,500 complaints globally from people who have been the victim of a tech support scam; this is down from 13,000 reports in an average month in prior years.
"Tech support scams are perpetrated globally and target people of all ages," says Mary Jo Schrade, assistant general counsel, regional lead, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit Asia,
"While we do see progress made in the percentage of people who declined to engage with the scammers, there is continued need to monitor and address how the attacks are evolving," she says.
Schrade says tactics used by fraudsters to victimise users online have evolved over time, from pure cold calling to more sophisticated ploys, such as fake "pop-ups" displayed on people's computers.
"Across the diverse region of Asia Pacific, we are seeing attack rates vary according to demographics and habits yet tech support scams continue to affect all countries," she says.
"We are committed to online safety and hope these survey findings will help to better educate people so they can avoid becoming victims of these scams."
Fewer exposed to scams, but more lost money
The global fall in scam exposure rates between 2018 to 2021 was largely driven by a reduction in scams involving pop-ups (-8%) as well as those with redirects to websites (-7%). This trend was also reflected in the region, with Japan recording the greatest decrease among the APAC markets surveyed, at a 12-point drop for encounters relating to pop-ups and a five-point drop for website scams across the same period. Australia, India, and Singapore also saw decreases of four, five and one points around pop-ups respectively and two, one and three points around website scams, respectively.
On a global level, there was a one-point increase in consumers losing money during the scam interaction in 2021 (7%) as compared with 2018 (6%). This trend was also seen in the APAC markets with Japan (3%) and Singapore (5%) recording a one-point increase from 2018 to 2021; Australia (9%) recorded a threepoint increase during the same period. More significantly, about a third of consumers in India (31%) who continued with such scams lost money as a result, an increase of 17 points from 2018 (14%).
Millennials, Gen Zers, and males most likely to fall victim to scams
Microsoft is seeing younger people fall prey to tech support scams more often, particularly the Gen Zers (aged 18-23) and Millennials (aged 24-37). Globally, one out of 10 Millennials and one out of 10 Gen Zers that encountered a scam fell for it and lost money. This is correlated to the higher engagement that younger people have with riskier online activities, such as using torrent sites (16% for Gen Z; 15% for Millennials) and sharing email addresses in exchange for content (30% for Gen Z; 28% for Millennials).
Males were also identified to be the hardest hit and most likely to have lost money as a result of such scams. 20% of males globally continued with such tech support scams in 2021, with half of them losing money as a result.
In contrast, 13% of females globally continued with such tech support scams, with about one in three losing money in the interaction.
Computer problems the most common issue during scam interactions
Among those who continued with a scam, the most common issue experienced globally during the interaction was computer problems (30%), followed by compromised passwords (23%), and fraudulent use of credit/debit/store cards (18%).
Following a computer-related scam, 77% in Australia and 82% in India surveyed spent time checking and repairing their computer, slightly higher than the global average of 76% in 2021. It is crucial to carry out checks, as some scammers are known to install malware on computers, allowing them to maintain remote access to people's computers long after the victims believed the interaction was terminated.
What Microsoft is doing to combat scams
The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit is working to help combat this issue by partnering with law enforcement, strengthening technology, and educating consumers. Microsoft has been fighting against tech support scams since 2014 and has supported law enforcement officials to take legal action against scammers across the years in Asia, the U.S., and Europe.
The DCU works to combat tech support scams by investigating tech support fraud networks and referring cases to law enforcement as appropriate, strengthening Microsoft's products and services to better protect consumers from various fraudulent tactics, and educating consumers about this type of fraud by providing guidance and resources on how to identify, avoid, and report them.
"Tech support scams will remain an industry-wide challenge until sufficient people are educated about these scams and can avoid them," says Schrade.
"The best way consumers in Asia Pacific can protect themselves is to learn about these scammers are targeting people, be suspicious of any unsolicited contact from purported tech company employees and avoid letting people they do not know remotely access their computer."
New roundtable series by The Malaysia Global Business Forum to discuss threat matrix in digital economy>>
Enea identifies trends that will shape the mobile industry in 2022>>
DHL tops list of companies most impersonated by criminals
Cybercriminals often impersonate brands to gain valuable data, and new research by Check Point Software has found DHL to be the brand most frequently imitated by cybercriminals. >>
Explainability: the foundation of trust in data
In 2022, data is one of the most valuable assets Australian organisations possess. Long-term success and durability for businesses rest upon it.>>
Thycotic named Gartner Peer Insights customers' choice for Privileged Access Management
Centrify was also listed as an Established PAM provider based on user interest and adoption. >>
Netcetera partners with EML Payments Ltd. to enhance secure payment solutions
EML Payments Ltd. has partnered with secure digitisation company Netcetera to implement their state-of-the-art Access Control Server (ACS), which includes a Risk Based Authentication (RBA) solution.>>
Supply chain vulnerability identified in SAP transport system>>


The Genesis Parent Portal will open on Thursday, August 30th at 4:00 pm for parents to log on and see their students' schedules and teacher assignments.
Please note that over the summer, the portal was accidentally accessible to parents for a short time and was closed as soon as someone let us know. Please be aware that anything that you may have viewed previously on the portal was not final and may have changed due to scheduling, staff, and student roster changes.


Fire control includes creating buffer zones against the spread of forest fires.
Having a fire extinguisher in your home is one way to control a fire.
Firefighters practice fire control using a variety of methods.
The method of fire suppression depends upon the cause of the fire.
Fire control is the practice of limiting the spread of fires through techniques like fire suppression and prevention. This term can also be seen in use in a military context, to describe the operation and control of weapons systems with a high degree of accuracy and safety for operators as well as troops on the ground. For the purpose of this article, the focus is on its use in fire science.
Fires rely on fuel, oxygen, and heat, the three components of what fire crews refer to as "the fire triangle." Taking out any one leg of the triangle causes it to collapse, suppressing the fire. Fire crews can use tools like fire foams and water to limit the supply of oxygen, for example, or they can create a buffer zone to eliminate fuel. Fire control can include automated systems as well as fire crews on the ground.
Large buildings usually have a fire suppression system. This can include sprinklers as well as releases of inert gases to force oxygen out of areas on fire. Gas suppression can be useful for limiting damage to the area, or in cases where water might make a fire worse; on metal and grease fires, for example, water can facilitate splatter and actually cause the fire to spread. Electrical fires also cannot be fought with water because the liquid will conduct electricity and make the fire larger.
One aspect of fire control is prevention, through the use of safety measures to limit the chances of a fire in the first place. These can include regular inspections of flammable systems as well as measures like keeping grass and shrubs near a house tightly trimmed so a wildfire cannot jump from the wilderness to a house. Building codes may include measures for fire control like the use of fire doors, which will resist the heat and flames to prevent a fire from streaming rapidly through an entire building or a craft like a boat.
When a fire breaks out, fire control focuses on eliminating one side of the fire triangle to stop the fire from spreading and put it out. The crew will consider the size and type of fire and evaluate their available options. Wildland firefighters cannot eliminate heat or oxygen, for example, but they can create buffer zones to eliminate fuel, forcing a forest fire to stay within a limited area. Conversely, a cook with a flaming pan could quickly eliminate oxygen by smothering the pan in baking soda and stopping the fire.
Does Wildfire Spread Faster Uphill or Downhill?
What Is Gaseous Fire Suppression?
What Are the Different Types of Fire Alarm Systems?
What is a Fire Alarm Annunciator?


Marie, this is a great idea! I bet the young women loved their inspirational eye chart!
I love this, Marie! What a great site to find! It looks like so much fun, and I bet the girls loved it!
these are on my list of things to (one day) make. love yours!
What a great theme for YWs! Super cute idea.
I love this for your church. My hubby is a youth minister- I may make something like this for our youth room. Thanks for linking to Things I've Done Thursday.
OOOO! I have to try this. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm pinning it!


text:
Q: How can I set a random seed using the jags() function? Each time I run my JAGS model using the jags() function, I get very different values of fitted parameters. However, I want other people to reproduce my results.
I tried to add set.seed(123), but it didn't help. This link describes how to achieve my goal using the run.jags() function. I wonder how I can do similar things using jags(). Thank you!
Below is my model in R:
##------------- read data -------------##
m <- 6
l <- 3
node <- read.csv("answer.csv", header = F)
n <- nrow(node)

# values of nodes
## IG
IG <- c(c(0.0, 1.0, 0.0), c(0.0, 0.0, 1.0), c(1.0, 0.0, 0.0), c(1.0, 0.0, 0.0), c(0.0, 1.0, 0.0), c(0.0, 0.0, 1.0))
IG <- matrix(IG, nrow=6, ncol=3, byrow=T)
V_IG <- array(0, dim=c(n, m, l))
for (i in 1:n){
  for (j in 1:m){
    for (k in 1:l)
    {
      V_IG[i,j,k] <- IG[j,k] # alternatively, V[i,j,k] <- PTS[j,k]
    }
  }
}

## PTS
PTS <- c(c(1.0, 0.5, 0.0), c(1.0, 0.0, 0.5), c(1.0, 1.0, 0.0), c(1.0, 0.0, 1.0), c(0.0, 0.5, 1.0), c(0.0, 1.0, 0.5))
PTS <- matrix(PTS, nrow=m, ncol=3, byrow=T)
V_PTS <- array(0, dim=c(n, m, l))
for (i in 1:n){
  for (j in 1:m){
    for (k in 1:l)
    {
      V_PTS[i,j,k] <- PTS[j,k]
    }
  }
}

##------------- fit model -------------##
set.seed(123)
data <- list("n", "m", "V_IG", "V_PTS", "node")
myinits <- list(list(tau = rep(1,n), theta = rep(0.5,n)))
parameters <- c("tau", "theta")

samples <- jags(data, inits=myinits, parameters,
                model.file ="model.txt", n.chains=1, n.iter=10000,
                n.burnin=1, n.thin=1, DIC=T)

And my model file model.txt:
model{
    # data: which node (1, 2, 3) was chosen by each child in each puzzle
    for(i in 1:n) # for each child
    {
        for (j in 1:m) # for each problem
        {
            # node chosen
            node[i,j] ~ dcat(mu[i,j,1:3])
            mu[i,j,1:3] <- exp_v[i,j,1:3] / sum(exp_v[i,j,1:3])
              for (k in 1:3) {
                exp_v[i,j,k] <- exp((V_IG[i,j,k]*theta[i] + V_PTS[i,j,k]*(1-theta[i]))/tau[i])
             }
    }
}
    # priors on tau and theta
    for (i in 1:n)
    {
        tau[i] ~ dgamma(0.001,0.001)
        theta[i] ~ dbeta(1,1)
    }
}

A: I know this is an older question, but for anyone using the jagsUI package, the jags() function has an argument for setting the seed, 'seed = ####'. So for example, a JAGS call could be;
    np.sim1 <- jags(data = data1, parameters.to.save =  params1, model.file = "mod1_all.txt",
    n.chains = nc, n.iter = ni, n.burnin = nb, n.thin = nt, seed = 4879)

    summary(np.sim1)

A: Here is a toy example for linear regression. First the model:
model{

  a0 ~ dnorm(0, 0.0001)
  a1 ~ dnorm(0, 0.0001)
  tau ~ dgamma(0.001,0.001)

  for (i in 1:100) {

    y[i] ~ dnorm(mu[i], tau)
    mu[i] <- a0 + a1 * x[i]
  }
}

Now we generate some data and you the set.seed function to generate identical results from multiple calls to the jags function.
# make the data and prepare what we need to fit the model
x <- rnorm(100)
y <- 1 + 1.2 * x + rnorm(100)

data <- list("x", "y")
parameters <- c("a0", "a1", "tau")
inits = list(list(a0 = 1, a1=0.5, tau = 1))

# First fit
set.seed(121)
samples <- jags(data, inits,
  parameters,model.file = "./sov/lin_reg.R",
  n.chains = 1, n.iter = 5000, n.burnin = 1, n.thin = 1)

# second fit
set.seed(121) # with set.seed at same value
samples2 <- jags(data, inits,
  parameters,model.file = "./sov/lin_reg.R",
  n.chains = 1, n.iter = 5000, n.burnin = 1, n.thin = 1)

If we pull out the draws for one of the parameters from samples and samples2 we can see that they have generated the same values.
a0_1 <- samples$BUGSoutput$sims.list$a0

a0_2 <- samples2$BUGSoutput$sims.list$a0

head(cbind(a0_1, a0_2))
          [,1]      [,2]
[1,] 1.0392019 1.0392019
[2,] 0.9155636 0.9155636
[3,] 0.9497509 0.9497509
[4,] 1.0706620 1.0706620
[5,] 0.9901852 0.9901852
[6,] 0.9307072 0.9307072

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Pauline Fredericka Vargo, 62, 1701 Post Road, Melbourne, died Friday. Born in Monroe, Mich., she moved to Melbourne from there in 1960. She was a homemaker and a member of Ascension Catholic Church. Survivors: husband, John G.; sons, John P., Darrell, Donald, all of Melbourne, Fred, Springfield, Va.; daughter, Mrs. Pamela Bishop, Cocoa; sisters, Mrs. Annabell Worrell, Monroe, Mrs. Betty Muszynski, Wyandotte, Mich.; eight grandchildren; three great- grandchildren. Davis Funeral Home, Melbourne.


text:
Q: Ho modify authenticationManagerBean() in maven repository I need to modify authenticationManagerBean in WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter to expose the AuthenticationManager but this code is in .class file.
I have source jar on .m2 folder.
I modified the source jar but i don't know how i can obtain the class version compiled version of this jar... (the jar containing .class files).
Can someone help me?
   @Bean(name = BeanIds.AUTHENTICATION_MANAGER)
   @Override
   public AuthenticationManager authenticationManagerBean() throws Exception {
       return super.authenticationManagerBean();
   }

A: If you need to patch a project, try to check it out from the source code provider (e.g. github) and build it with a version number like 1.2.3-patched. If this is not possible, create a new project from the source code and the pom.xml and work with that. Never try to manipulate the repository in .m2.


The Junior League of Bristol is planning their annual Uncork the Spirit Wine Tasting for Friday, November 14 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Foundation Event Facility downtown State Street in Bristol, Tennessee. The event will include a casual tasting of select wines and craft beers as well as small plate appetizers selected from the Junior League's Start Your Ovens cookbook. Beverage contributors include Holston River Brewing Company, Damascus Brewery, Reedy Creek Vineyards and Cellars and Chateau Morrisette. Tickets to the wine tasting are $30 per person and can be purchased at the door. Please RSVP to jlbwinetasting@gmail.com.
"The Junior League is excited about our 3rd Annual Wine Tasting. It's not only a fun social event to attend but the proceeds will benefit our community in such an exciting way," states Junior League of Bristol President, Tasha Foy. The funds raised from the event will go to the Junior League of Bristol's literacy initiatives including Books on Break and the Little Free Library.
Sponsors of the wine tasting event include: Marsha Gilliam, Strongwell, and Bristol Tennessee Essential Services.
The Junior League of Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia, Inc. is committed to ensuring that children and their families have the opportunity and services for optimal physical, intellectual, emotional, mental and social growth and development and will advocate that opportunities and services are provided.


text:
Daniel Lima dos Santos Daio (nascut en 1947) és un polític africà, antic Primer Ministre de São Tomé i Príncipe. Fou el primer polític elegit lliurement per a aquest càrrec a les eleccions legislatives de São Tomé i Príncipe de 1991, va ocupar el càrrec del 7 de febrer de 1991 al 16 de maig de 1992. És membre del Partit de Convergència Democràtica - Grup de Reflexió.

Referències

Polítics de São Tomé i Príncipe

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Heading for the South Pole
Photojournal: PIA17203
The south polar region of Saturn's active, icy moon Enceladus awaits NASA's Cassini spacecraft in this view, acquired on approach to the mission's deepest-ever dive through the moon's plume of icy spray. The wavy boundary of the moon's south polar region is visible at bottom, where it disappears into wintry darkness.
This view was captured shortly after PIA17202.
This view looks towards the Saturn-facing side of Enceladus. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 22 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 28, 2015.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 38,000 miles (61,000 kilometers) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 42 degrees. Image scale is 1,198 feet (365 meters) per pixel.
The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Saturn Moons
Catching Saturn's Waves September 17, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06479 The Cassini spacecraft captured this artistic view of elegant waves and...
Catching Saturn's Waves
Dwarfed by Storms November 19, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06524 Tiny Mimas is dwarfed by a huge white storm and dark waves on the edge of a...
Dwarfed by Storms
These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft show the 12km diameter Floronia crater on asteroid Vesta, after which Floronia quadrangle is named. Floronia crater is the middle crater in the vertical col...
Topography and Albedo Image of Floronia Crater
A Voyager 2 view of Neptune processed by an amateur image processor. The image was taken on August 31st 1989 around 17:00 UTC by Voyager 2's narrow angle camera.
Neptune - August 31, 1989
These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Urbinia quadrangle, in Vesta's southern hemisphere; many small boulders are visible on the right side of Sossia crater.
HAMO and LAMO Images of Sossia Crater
The Sun's rays strike the terrains near the terminator on Tethys at low angles, throwing features there into sharp relief. The cluster of peaks at the center of the crater Odysseus (450 kilometers,...
Rough Sphere of Tethys
This view is part of a montage of images from the NASA Cassini and Voyager missions shown in D Ring Revelations. The inset image from the montage is presented here by itself and in its original ori...
D Ring Revelations (Inset image)
Four images of Jupiter show the luminous night-side impact of fragment W of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragment W Impacts Jupiter (1994)
On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings -- and, in the ba...
The Day the Earth Smiled (with planets annotated)
A close-up view of an astronaut's bootprint in the lunar soil, photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the moon.
Close-up View of Astronaut's Footprint in Lunar Soil
This moody portrait of Saturn captures a razor-thin ringplane bisecting the clouds of the bright equatorial region. The rings cast dark, shadowy bands onto the planet's northern latitudes. At left...
Tilted Giant
With Saturn's terminator as a backdrop, this view of the unlit face of the rings makes it easy to distinguish between areas that are actual gaps, where light passes through essentially unimpeded, a...
This brief animation "flickers" between New Horizons spacecraft views of Arrokoth, the spacecraft's New Year's 2019 flyby target in the Kuiper Belt.
Arrokoth (2014 MU69) in Stereo (Flicker Effect)
Enceladus is a world divided. To the north, we see copious amounts of craters and evidence of the many impacts the moon has suffered in its history. However, to the south we see a smoother body wit...
The right-hand limb of Saturn's moon Mimas appears flattened as Herschel Crater is viewed edge-on in this Cassini spacecraft image. The planet's rings are in the background. Herschel Crater is 130...
Mimas' Flat Spot
Densely cratered plains cover the ancient surface of Saturn's moon Rhea. Following the Voyager spacecraft encounters with Saturn, cryovolcanism was suggested as a source for the wispy markings on ...
Ancient Plains of Rhea
This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, taken June 7, 2016, shows part of Lono Crater (at bottom) within the giant Yalode impact basin on Ceres.
Dawn LAMO Image 195
The projection of Saturn's shadow on the rings grows shorter as Saturn's season advances toward northern summer, thanks to the planet's permanent tilt as it orbits the sun.
Short Shadow
This image of a wall on Occator Crater on Ceres was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on July 5, 2018 from an altitude of about 26 miles (43 kilometers).
Occator Crater Wall
The wispy fractured terrain on Dione is illuminated here by "Saturnshine" -- dim reflected light from the planet. The region pictured on Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is on the moo...
Bright Fractures in the Dark
Almost all of the hydrocarbon seas and lakes on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan cluster around the north pole, as can be seen in this mosaic from NASA's Cassini mission.
Titan's North: The Big Picture -- Unannotated
This graph illustrates the Cassini spacecraft's transition into Saturn's magnetosphere from an outer region called the magnetosheath.
Entering the Magnetic Bubble
This Cassini image was the ninth 'skeet shoot' narrow-angle image captured during the Oct. 31, 2008 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The source region for jet VII (see Enceladus Jet Sources) ha...
Enceladus Rev 91 Flyby - Skeet Shoot #9
This pair of Voyager 2 images (FDS 11446.21 and 11448.10), two 591-s exposures obtained through the clear filter of the wide angle camera, show the full ring system with the highest sensitivity.
Neptune - Full Ring System
These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft show Pinaria crater on asteroid Vesta, after which Pinaria quadrangle is named. Many young fresh impact craters are visible on the slumped material.
Topography and Albedo Image of Pinaria Crater


The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spat in his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, "What next? What do you want to say next?" The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody's face, he will ask, "What next?" He had no such experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and they had reacted. Or if they were cowards and weaklings, they had smiled, trying to bribe the man. But Buddha was like neither, he was not angry nor in any way offended, nor in any way cowardly. But just matter-of-factly he said, "What next?" There was no reaction on his part.
Buddha said, "You keep silent. He has not offended me, but you are offending me. He is new, a stranger. He must have heard from people something about me, that this man is an atheist, a dangerous man who is throwing people off their track, a revolutionary, a corrupter. And he may have formed some idea, a notion of me. He has not spit on me, he has spit on his notion. He has spit on his idea of me because he does not know me at all, so how can he spit on me?
Puzzled, confused, the man returned home. He could not sleep the whole night. When you see a Buddha, it is difficult, impossible to sleep anymore the way you used to sleep before. Again and again he was haunted by the experience. He could not explain it to himself, what had happened. He was trembling all over, sweating and soaking the sheets. He had never come across such a man; the Buddha had shattered his whole mind and his whole pattern, his whole past.
Buddha said, "Forgive? But I am not the same man to whom you did it. The Ganges goes on flowing, it is never the same Ganges again. Every man is a river. The man you spit upon is no longer here. I look just like him, but I am not the same, much has happened in these twenty-four hours! The river has flowed so much. So I cannot forgive you because I have no grudge against you.


Silver is such a gripping psychological and yet brutal crime novel that it has left me shocked and bewildered. It's about a man and his revenge, about a boy grown up in such surroundings, that he is lost forever. Meet the authors that die according to the crimes in their own novels and discover the gruesome plot behind their deaths. Why is he slowly but steadily controlling his environment and the people that are unfortunate enough to have caught his attention?
What is happening in Westfield prison? Who is Ray de Gil and why is he manipulating everyone around him? What sick game is he playing? Did Joy Haversham have to die? What is the shocking truth behind her unfinished novel 'Silver'? Has crime journalist and author Nick Slater ulterior motives when courting Joy's daughter Grace and is it just the manuscript he's interested in finishing and publishing? And what on earth is professor Roger Haversham, belated husband of Joy, creating in the secrecy of his home in the woods?
Where the book starts with the so-called accidents of crime writers becomes clearer with every page that these could very well be premeditated and therefore murders. We get an insight into the childhood of two brothers, with an abusive mother and a father who imprints his visions into his children, especially the youngest one. This would be Ray de Gil, or is he not? Is he wrongfully accused and innocently biding his time in Westfield prison or is there more that the eye cannot see? And why oh why went Nick Slater away from an interview in prison with the concept of a book in his head, that looks a lot like Joy Haversham's unfinished brutal novel 'Silver'?
Silver is a thrilling read! Be aware that you carefully choose your time to pick up this crime and suspension novel, because once entered into the evil world of Ray de Gil, you simply cannot turn back. You have to get to the bottom of this dark and psychological drama and will be enthralled and captivated until the very last pages. Catch your breath because you will only be able to inhale freely after you've closed this book and know it all.
Mark Fowler is a graduate in philosophy from Leicester University, who lives in Staffordshire, and is currently writing a follow-up to Red Is The Colour. When he isn't writing he enjoys time with family and friends, watching TV and films, playing guitar/piano and going for long walks. 'Coffin Maker' is the author's 2014 début novel (my review), in which his interest for psychological thrillers, crime fiction and horror is combined. His other works are the 2015 detective fantasy 'The Man Upstairs' (my review) and soon to be published with Bloodhound Books: Red is the Colour (my review to follow on July 29th).


text:
Published: 0258 GMT January 27, 2017
AEOI: Iran will be fourth stable isotope producer in world
The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said Iran will be the fourth stable isotope producer in the world following the conclusion of joint cooperation agreements it signed with Russia.
Kamalvandi said that two cooperation deals were signed during his recent trip to Russia, IRNA reported.
One of the agreements was about the production of stable isotopes and the other was about a roadmap to produce nuclear fuel, he added.
Noting that the agreement on stable isotope production will be implemented in the Fordo site, the official said that the material has industrial and medical applications, and is currently being produced in three points in the world; Russia, the US and Europe's Urenco Group, which is a nuclear fuel company operating several uranium enrichment plants in Germany, the Netherlands, United States, and United Kingdom.
Iran will be the fourth place in the world, Kamalvandi said.
Kamalvandi visited Russia last week at the official invitation of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation.
During his two-day stay in Moscow, Kamalvandi met with senior Russian officials and held talks on a range of issues, including ways to deepen nuclear cooperation between the two countries.
Back in September 2016, Iran and Russia started the construction of the second unit of a nuclear power plant near the Iranian southern port city of Bushehr.
The second unit is expected to take nine years to complete. A third unit will also begin to be built 18 months after that.
Regarding the agreement on fuel production, he said that the roadmap to producing fuel in the country is important because Iran's goal in enrichment is attaining fuel.
He described production of power plant fuel as a very complicated process, saying that Iran managed to produce 20 percent of the fuel for research reactor, but power plant fuel has numerous complexities and Russians have good experience in the field.
Currently, Russia is carrying out 40 percent of the world's enrichment and it intends to raise it to 60 percent in 2030, the official said.
Kamalvandi
Black box of Flight 752 still in Iran, civil aviation official says
Swiss trade channel for Iran to be discussed at Davos
CIT head: German University of Münster plans to offer Iranology courses
Mauritanian university adds Persian language to its curriculum
Flight 752 victims to be commemorated at Fajr Int'l Music Festival
Persian Gulf airlines continue to fly over Iraq, Iran: Report
Iran seeks to examine downed plane's black boxes itself
Iran says Zafar satellites ready for launch
Iran warns of ramifications for IAEA over European trigger action
Iran's geography lesson to Macron: Gulf located south of Iran is Persian Gulf


text:
वेद Veda
Vedic Knowledge Online
Sports and Games in Ancient India
Do You Know? » Sports and Games in Ancient India
Games like, Chess, Snakes and Ladders, Playing Cards, Polo, the martial arts of Judo and Karate had originated in India and it was from here that these games were transmitted to foreign countries, where they were further developed.
Several games now familiar across the world owe their origins in India, particularly, the games of chess, ludo (including ladders and snake), and playing cards. The famous epic Mahabharata narrates an incidence where a game called Chaturang was played between two groups of warring cousins. Thus this game was known in India nearly 4000-5000 years ago.
The Game of Chess
The game of chess was invented in India and was originally called Ashtapada (sixty-four squares).
"Ashtapada" Sanskrit for spider -"a legendary being with eight legs" was played with dice on an 8x8 checkered board. There were no light and dark squares like we see in today's chess board for 1,000 years. Other Indian boards included the 10×10 Dasapada and the 9×9 Saturankam.
Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga on an 8x8 Ashtāpada.
Later this game came to be known as chaturanga. The Sanskrit name Chaturanga means 'quadripartite' — the four angas (divided into four parts). The earliest known form of chess is two-handed chaturanga, Sanskrit for "the 4 branches of the army." Like real Indian armies at that time, the pieces were called elephants, chariots, horses and foot soldiers. Unlike modern chess, chaturanga was mainly a game of chance; results depended on how well you rolled the dice.
Map showing origin and diffusion of chess from India to Asia, Africa, and Europe, and the changes in the native names of the game in corresponding places and time.
Chaturanga is well recognized as the earliest form of chess. Played on an authentic cloth game surface by 2, 3 or 4 players, Chaturanga combines the basic strategy of chess with the dynamic challenge of chance as each move is determined by the random roll of wooden dice. There is evidence of 'chaturanga' having been played with dice, which is still not uncommon, although it involved more skill than chance in this version. In fact, Yudhishthira and Duryodhana, in the Mahabharata, played a version of chaturanga using a dice. The game Chaturanga was a battle simulation game which rendered Indian military strategy of the time.
In 600 AD this game was learned by Persians who named it Shatranj. Shatranj is a foreign word among the Persians and the Arabians, whereas its natural derivation from the term Chaturanga is obvious. Again affix the Arabic name for the bishop, means the elephant, derived from alephhind, the Indian elephant.
Even the word 'checkmate' is derived from the Persian term Shah Mat which means 'the king is dead!'. The Sanskrit translation of this term would be Kshatra Mruta. Another term viz. 'the rooks' which is the name for one set of the counters used in chess, originated from the Persian term Roth which means a soldier. The Persian term is derived from the Indian term Rukh, which obviously seems to have originated in the Sanskrit word Rakshak which means a soldier from Raksha which means 'to protect'.
About the introduction of this game into Persia, the Encylopedia Britannica says that the Persian poet Firdousi, in his historical poem, the Shahnama, gives an account of the introduction of Shatranj into Persia in the reign of Chosroes I Anushirwan, to whom came ambassadors from the sovereign of Hind (India), with a chess-board and men asking him to solve the secrets of the game, if he could or pay tribute. The king asked for seven days grace, during which time the wise men vainly tried to discover the secret. Finally, the king's minister took the pieces home and discovered the secret in a day and a night.
Chaturanga.
The Encyclopedia Britannica concludes that "Other Persian and Arabian writers state that Shatranj came into Persia from India and there appears to be a consensus of opinion that may be considered to settle the question. Thus we have the game passing from the Hindus to the Persians and then to the Arabians, after the capture V of Persia by the Caliphs in the 7th century, and from them, directly or indirectly, to various parts of Europe, at a time which cannot be definitely fixed, but either in or before the 10th century. That the source of the European game is Arabic is clear enough, nor merely from the words "check" and "mate", which are evidently from Shah mat ("the king is dead"), but also from the names of some of the pieces.
Local Variations
Tamil variations of chaturanga are 'puliattam' (goat and tiger game), where careful moves on a triangle decide whether the tiger captures the goats or the goats escape; the 'nakshatraattam' or star game where each player cuts out the other; and 'dayakattam' with four, eight or ten squares, a kind of ludo. Variations of the 'dayakattam' include 'dayakaram', the North Indian 'pachisi' and 'champar'. There are many more local variations.
The Game of Cards
The popular game of cards originated in ancient India and was known as Krida-patram. It was one of the favorite pastimes of Indians in ancient times. This game was patronized especially by the royalty and nobility. In medieval India, playing cards was known as Ganjifa cards which were played in practically all royal courts. This game is recorded to have been played in Rajputana, Kashyapa Meru (Kashmir), Utkala (Orissa) the Deccan and even in Nepal. The Mughals also patronized this game, but the Mughal card-sets differed from those of the ancient Indian royal courts.
According to Abul Fazal's (author of the Ain-e-Akbari) description of the game, the following cards were used. The first was Ashvapati which means 'lord of horses'. The Ashvapati which was the highest card in, the pack represented the picture of the king on horseback. The second highest card represented a General (Senapati) on horseback. After this card come ten other with pictures of horses from one to ten.
Another set of cards had the Gajapati (lord of elephants) which represented the king whose power lay in the number of elephants. The other eleven cards in this pack represented the Senapati and ten others with a soldier astride an elephant. Another pack has the Narpati, a king whose power lies in his infantry. We also had other cards known as the Dhanpati, the lord of treasures, Dalpati the lord of the squadron, Navapati, the lord of the navy, Surapati, the lord of divinities, Asrapati, lord of genii, Vanapati, the king of the forest and Ahipati, lord of snakes, etc.
On the authority of Abul Fazal we can say that the game of playing cards had been invented by sages in ancient times who took the number 12 as the basis and made a set of 12 cards. Every king had 11 followers, thus a pack had 144 cards. The Mughals retained 12 sets having 96 cards. These Mughal Ganjifa sets have representations of diverse trades like Nakkash painter, Mujallid book binder, Rangrez, dyer, etc., In addition there were also the Padishah-i-Qimash, king of the manufacturers and Padishah-izar-i-Safid, king of silver, etc.
Cards were known as Krida-patram in ancient India. These cards were made of cloth and depicted motifs from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc. A tradition carried on today with floral motifs and natural scenery.
The pre-Mughal origin of the game of cards is evident if we examine the pattern of painting the cards. We also find that despite the observation of Abul Fazal that Akbar introduced the pack with 8 sets, we find that even earlier, in Indian (Hindu) courts we have packs with 8, 9 and 10 sets apart from the usual 12. The numbers were derived from the eight cardinal directions Ashtadikpala, for the pack with 8 set, from the nine planets Navagraha for the one with 9 sets and from ten incarnations Dashavatara of Vishnu for the pack with 10 sets.
Themes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata are painted on these cards. The largest number of such cards are to be found in Orrisa. The largest number of such cards are to be found in Orissa. The painters from Orissa have represented various illustrations like the Navagunjara, a mythical birdhuman animal which was the form assumed by Sri Krishna to test Arjuna's fidelity, illustrations from the Dashavatata of Vishnu are also portrayed.
All these cards were hand-made and were painted in the traditional style. This required considerable patience and hard meticulous work. The kings usually commissioned painters to make cards as per their preference. The commoners got their cards made by local artists who were to be ; found in urban and rural areas. In order to -obtain the required thickness a number of sheets of pieces of cloth were glued together. The outlines of the rim were painted in black and then the figures were filled with colors.
As cards were played by members all strata of society we find different types of cards. Some cards were also made of ivory, tortoise shell, mother of pearl, inlaid or enameled with precious metals. The cards were of different shapes; they were circular, oval rectangular, but the circular cards were more common. The cards were usually kept in a wooden box with a lid painted with mythological figures. This art of handmade, hand painted cards which had survived for hundreds of years. gradually feel into decay and became extinct with the introduction of printed paper cards by the Europeans in the 17-18th centuries. With the extinction of the art of making and painting cards also was erased the memory that Indians ever had played the game of cards with their own specific representations of the Narapati, Gajapati and Ashvapati.
The Game of Snakes & Ladders
The game had its origin in India and was called Moksha Patam or Parama Padam or Mokshapat. It was used to teach Hindu Dharma and Hindu values to children. The British renamed it as Snakes and Ladders.
The game was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births. There are certain references which take the game back to 2nd century BC.
Indian Snakes and Ladders game (1700's AD)
In the original game square 12 was faith, 51 was Reliability, 57 was Generosity, 76 was Knowledge, and 78 was Asceticism. These were the squares were the ladder was found. Square 41 was for Disobedience, 44 for Arrogance, 49 for Vulgarity, 52 for Theft, 58 for Lying, 62 for Drunkenness, 69 for Debt, 84 for Anger, 92 for Greed, 95 for Pride, 73 for Murder and 99 for Lust. These were the squares were the snake was found. The Square 100 represented Nirvana or Moksha.
Also known as 'paramapadam', there are a hundred squares on a board; the ladders take you up, the snakes bring you down. The difference here is that the squares are illustrated. The top of the ladder depicts a God, or one of the various heavens (kailasa, vaikuntha, brahmaloka) and so on, while the bottom describes a good quality. Conversely, each snake's head is a negative quality or an asura (demon). As the game progresses, the various karma and samskara, good deeds and bad, take you up and down the board. Interspersed are plants, people and animals.
The game serves a dual purpose: entertainment, as well as dos and don'ts, divine reward and punishment, ethical values and morality. The final goal leads to Vaikuntha or heaven, depicted by Vishnu surrounded by his devotees, or Kailasa with Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Skanda, and their devotees. In this age of moral and ethical degeneration, this would be a good way of teaching values to children who think they already know more than their parents.
If paramapadam teaches moral values, pallankuli develops skill and quick thinking. Two players compete on a board consisting of between seven and twenty pits per player; each player has to collect the coins or shells or seeds with which the game is played, the player with the maximum number being the winner. There are nine variations of this game, each a 'pandi', with regional, caste and religious variations. It was very popular among women and required a good memory and alertness, as they had to count and remember the number of coins or seeds accumulated by the opponent.
The British took the game to England in 1892 and named it Snakes and Ladders and changed it according to Victorian values.
A die found in excavations at a Harappan period site. Note that the six is not opposite the one.
The dice is attributed to India by some accounts. Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of oblong dice have been found in Harrapan sites such as Kalibangan, Lothal, Ropar, Alamgirpur, Desalpur and surrounding territories, some dating back to the third millennium BCE, which were used for gambling. The oblong or cubical dice (akṣa) is the precursor of the more primitive vibhīṣaka—small, hard nuts drawn randomly to obtain factors of a certain integer. Dicing is believed to have later spread westwards to Persia, influencing Persian board games. Early references to dicing can be found in the Ṛig Veda as well as the newer atharvaveda.
Do you know that Kalari is considered to be the most complete and scientific martial art and is the mother of all martial arts?
Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk from India, introduced Kalari into China and Japan in the 5th century. He taught this art in a temple This temple is today known as the Shaolin temple. The Chinese called him Po-ti-tama. What he taught has evolved into Karate and Kung Fu. One can find a lot of similarities among the three.
Thus Judo, Karate, Kung Fu and other similar marshal arts which are today identified with the far-east actually originated from India. At times the changes made in the original nature of the Indian sport-forms were so many and so fundamental that the game lost all similarity with its original form in India. Some Indian games were not transmitted abroad and remained confined to India.
For instance we have Kabbadi, Kho-Kho, AtyaPatya, Malkhamb, Gulli-danda, etc., which are being played today exclusively in India. In this chapter we shall look into how the games like Chess and Ludo (Snakes and Ladders), the martial art of Karate, and Playing cards had existed in India for the past 2000 years and how in some cases the indigenous form of the game became totally extinct erasing the fact that the game had ever been played in India.
The teacher here is not looked upon only as a coach as in western martial arts like boxing and fencing. This relationship between a teacher and student in Judo and Karate could have its roots in the Guru-Shishya tradition of India.
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Anybody who hasn't heard from the poker game? Anybody who hasn't played a round of poker game?i assume not. Even celebrities today take part in celebrity poker games. But who knows how poker came about? In truth, there's a dilemma as to who can lay claim for the birth of this card game. The French have it 'poque' which descended from the Germans' 'pochen' which means "to knock". Even so, it may be contested that it could have originated from the Persian game of 'as nas' that could have been taught for the French settlers by Persian sailors in New Orleans. However poker came about, everyone is playing it and loving the challenge. Poker guidelines for that reason are exceptionally crucial due to the fact you could be betting your car or truck keys already, for all you realize. The poker guidelines guides the green horn on tips on how to shed graciously the first few offers. As a result studying to play a good game of poker is pricey.
We ought to know the fundamentals on how you can play poker, the poker rules in line with the poker variant, poker etiquette and poker hands http://winonlinepokertoday.com to be in a position to passably play. Winning is every thing in poker since this can be a mind game far more than something else.
First off, we need to clarify the distinctive poker game variants to know which poker rules have to be in play. There are lots of variants for the poker game however the additional universal poker game variants are: draw poker, stud poker, widow poker game, and miscellaneous poker games (which involve Stud Horse poker, Oxford stud, Billabong (and Shanghai), Guts, and Blind Man's Bluff). Nevertheless, the most frequently played poker games for the first 3 variants are the five-card draw, seven-card stud, and also the Texas hold 'em.
Considering the fact that this is by far the most played poker game variant, poker rules for the five-card draw are typically simple to remember. It truly is assumed that you basically know the basic poker game play, the hand values plus the betting method. Poker rules differ from the home-style games towards the a lot more formal games as played within the casinos. For formal games blinds are commonly utilised when for residence games, it is actually extra common use an ante. Ante is exactly where the first betting round begins in the player for the dealer's left, then the second round betting begins with the player who opened or made the initial non-zero betting inside the preceding round.
A typical residence rule in playing 5 card draw in property or social games is the fact that a player can not replace extra than three cards, unless he holds an ace or perhaps a wile card in order that the deck stub will not be quickly depleted. Another popular home rule is that the last card in the deck stub is not dealt anymore to make sure that anybody who could have observed it's going to not use that details.
In the seven card stud, poker guidelines are a little additional complex than the 5 card draw given that two to eight players can play. The only poker rule to recall, (greater make it your mantra) is two down, 4 up, a single down. This is the lay of your cards and not meant to mean anything else.
The third most usually played poker game may be the Texas hold 'em. The poker guidelines here are the exact same together with the initial two but what tends to make this different would be the introduction of lipstick cameras exactly where spectators had been in a position to view every single player's cards.
Unquestionably, we've observed that poker guidelines modifications a little depending around the game of poker getting played. Now that we've learned the unique poker guidelines, playing it just like the pros could be as easy as pie.


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Written on behalf of Grosman Gale Fletcher Hopkins LLP / February 23, 2018 / Disability & Accommodation
Human Rights – Duty to Accommodate
Duty to Accommodate Disabled Employee
Every employer has a legal obligation to accommodate medically disabled employees. This issue usually arises due to a human rights complaint following either a termination of a disabled employee or the refusal to allow an accommodated return to work following a medical absence.
Accommodation is the cornerstone of the human rights regime. Its purpose is to "ensure that an employee who is able to work can do so" and that "persons who are otherwise fit to work are not unfairly excluded where working conditions can be adjusted without undue hardship".[1]
The objective is "to remove barriers of arbitrariness or stereotypical assumptions or attitudes about disability and to replace them with the mindset of inclusion".[2]
The obligation of accommodation is not limited to disability issues. It applies to all protected human rights.[3] It does arise frequently with respect to disability cases which often is the subject matter of the leading cases on this subject.
The intent to discriminate is not the significant issue. The importance lies in the consequence of the conduct, as opposed to the intent.[4]
A Cautionary Approach
This issue does not present as one of stark alternatives. The decision of accommodation is an exercise of prudent judgement. As noted by the Ontario Court of Appeal, it is a highly individualized process.[5] Based on the issues at stake, the employer would be wise to be cautiously generous as to the assessment of what steps should be taken to accommodate. An error in the scale of what accommodation should be extended, apart from the social and human issues, will expose the decision maker to substantive financial and other liabilities.
Examples of Damage Awards
The breach of the duty to accommodate has led to the most significant awards of lost income allowed by human rights tribunals. The remedies for the failure to accommodate are nothing short of gargantuan.
For example, an Alberta case based on gender allowed for an award of $620,000.[6] An Ontario case[7] set the lost income sum as 8.5 years back pay of $420,000 plus reinstatement due to the employer's failure to accommodate the applicant's disability by allowing for a return to work following her disability. The time clock for the lost income claim continued to tick pending the appeal made by the employer.[8]
A similar lost income claim of 10 years in addition to a prospective income loss of an additional 5 years totaling $280,000 due a perceived disability was granted by the federal human rights tribunal.[9]
The B.C. Tribunal awarded 6 years lost income to a medical doctor who had been delayed entry into a specialist program due to a mental disability. The lost income award amounted to $385,000.[10]
To determine whether an evident discriminatory standard is a BFOR[11], the Supreme Court[12] determined that the following three requirements must be present:[13].
These three requirements are:
A rational job related purpose;
Which has been effected in good faith;
That was required to accomplish a legitimate work-related purpose.
It is within this third step that the duty to accommodate arises. To prove that the standard is reasonably necessary, it must be shown that it is "impossible to accommodate individual employees sharing the characteristics of the claimant without imposing undue hardship upon the employer". This does not mean that the employer must show it is impossible to accommodate. The employer, rather, must show it is impossible without undue hardship.[14]
Should further accommodation be possible without undue hardship, then the standard will not be seen as a BFOR and the prima facie case of discrimination will stand.
The word "undue" demonstrates that some form of hardship is to be accepted. The factors of hardship were repeated to be an open forum but will include "the financial cost, the relative interchangeability of the workforce and facilities and the prospect of substantial interference with the rights of other employees".[15]
When considering ways in which an individual's capabilities may be accommodated, "employers, courts and tribunals should be innovative yet practical when considering how this may best be done in particular circumstances". Some issues to be addressed will include the following:
Has the employer investigated alternative approaches that do not have a discriminatory effect, such as individual testing against a more individually sensitive standard?
If alternative standards were investigated and found to be capable of fulfilling the employer's purpose, why were they not implemented?
Is it necessary to have all employees meet the single standard for the employer to accomplish its legitimate purpose or could standards, reflective of group or individual differences and capabilities, be established?
Is there a way to do the job that is less discriminatory while still accomplishing the employer's legitimate purpose?
Is the standard properly designed to ensure that the desired qualification is met without placing an undue burden on those to whom the standard applies?
Have other parties, who are obliged to assist in the search for possible accommodation, fulfilled their roles?[16]
Workers' Compensation & Human Rights Duties
The Supreme Court of Canada[17] has very recently concluded that this duty of accommodation must apply to the Quebec equivalent of Ontario's Workers' Compensation Act. Ontario's statute does presently include a form of accommodation for a return to work, yet this statute is not full compliance with human rights requirements. The impact of this decision upon the Ontario law will be reviewed in the next posting.
Let Legal Advice Lead Your Actions
The issue of accommodation of a medical disability is a fundamental legal obligation. As an employer it is vital to understand and prepare for your legal obligations on a return to work. The failure to act in compliance with this onus can create enormous liability and hardship.
As an employee, you must understand the need to co-operate with the accommodation process. It is not a one-sided obligation.
Whether you be an employer or employee confronting this question of accommodation, let preventative legal advice guide your actions.
If you have questions about the duty to accommodate a medical disability, contact the offices of Toronto employment lawyers Grosman Gale Fletcher Hopkins. We regularly advise workplace parties on a wide range of legal workplace issues. Contact us online or by phone at 416 364 9599 to schedule a consultation.
[1] The Supreme Court of Canada in its 2008 decision of HydroQuebec v Syndicat des employe-e-s de techniques professionnelles et de bureau d'Hydro-Quebec
[2] Bish v Elk Valley
[3] See the Supreme Court 1999 decision of BC (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) v BC ( Council of Human Rights), referred to in most cases as "Grismer".
[4] The Supreme Court of Canada in O'Malley v Simpsons-Sears Limited, a 1985 decision written by Mr. Justice McIntyre.
[5] Hamilton-Wentworth School Board v Fair
[6] Walsh v Mobil Oil
[7] City of Hamilton,
[8] This decision was affirmed by the Ontario Court of Appeal in May of 2016. The lost income claim, which is not set out in the reasons, appears to be roughly 12 years.
[9] Turner v Canada Border Services CHRT
[10] UBC v Kelly
[11] Bona Fide Occupational Requirement – a defence to the assertion of the need to accommodate
[12] The traditional analysis allowed a bona fide occupational requirement in a case of direct discrimination, but no such defence was available to a case of adverse-effect discrimination. This is no longer the case.
[13] Bona fide occupational requirement
[14] Coast Mountain Bus v CAW Canada
[15] British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Commission v BCGSEU, "Meiorin"; Some jurisdictions now set out in the statute what are the factors of undue hardship, as set out subsequently.
[16] As Sopinka J. noted in Renaud v Central Okanagan, supra, at pp. 992-96, the task of determining how to accommodate individual differences may also place burdens on the employee and, if there is a collective agreement, a union.
[17] Quebec v Caron


Is having a contiguous empire worthwhile?
I'm playing through my first campaign now, and one of the most common things I'm running into is skipping planets to hit the high-value targets beyond them. However, the planets left behind have developed into minor nuisances, and I'm considering cleaning them out.
Would this be worth the AI Progress, or is it best to just keep transporting through them?
Re: Is having a contiguous empire worthwhile?
I usually just make sure to keep them neutered.
To answer your question shortly: it's only a matter of style. AI War is a game where, at reasonable difficulty (non-10, in fact), many (many, many) playstyles are possible. You can go archipelago or large empire; you can unlock mostly turrets and go turtle, or mainly fleetships and go big-army, you can focus on starships and play raid (and there is also the golems, spirecraft and fallen sîre, with minor factions), you can deepstrike all the time or get stepstones, etc, etc.
I'll do an "extreme archipelago playstyle" post, one day.
On a more "regular" playstyle, taking around 20 planets sounds reasonable (some players out there have a higher average, but I believe above 30 becomes "rather high" AIP games). When you aim for that kind of moderated end-AIP, taking a specific planet or not may indeed be an actual question. What do you get for 20 AIP? 150,000 energy, some metal, 3,000 K and one spot on the map. If you're comfortable with energy, maybe it's not worth, but if you need some, deduce the energy you'll invest in turrets (if it's a backyard world with few or no adjacent warpgates, you may get a big benefit). Metal is infinite, and even if it has many deposits, remember each deposit is only 20 m/s (un-upgraded); you'd better micro your fights and avoid loses. Most capturables are hackable; it's often a big HaP investment, especially if you play at damn-low AIP level, but it spares you the energy-consuming defenses and the fear of losing it. K is raidable, so if you're sure you'll never need that planet for energy, gateraid, beachhead and K-hack it. Also, a beachheaded world on your frontier is a nice defense, but cost a lot of energy (and provide none). At very low AIP, not beachheading is fine. At medium AIP, beachhead if it's "inside" your territory, and consider only gateraiding if it's on the frontier. If you play archipelago-style, however, gateraid and beachheads are rarely (almost never) useful. A last bit to take into account in the take/neuter question is: all your ships get a x2 speed bonus (more with logistic station). If your fleet need to cross this planet often to defend a frontier on the other side (defend against a reprisal wave, CPA or heavy threatfleet), it might be wise to capture it and put a logistic OCStation on it.
In the end, is having a contiguous empire worthwile? If it's well done (low profile, chokepoints, Kahuna-style defenses), sure, it's a very potent strategy. However it's not the only strategy and going archipelago is also a viable strategy. And of course, there is the middle ground: a thin and/or scattered empire (or big-island-archipelago) with large profile but few pressure.
Well, I think I covered the most part of the AIP spectrum (I think I might detail more the big-island-archipelago. Human warpgates, transports, etc). I hope it helped; don't hesitate to ask more specific questions. I'll be happy to answer them. Also remember there is more style customization in AIW: superweapon minor-factions, exotic map styles, larger or smaller galaxies (try 10 planets, just once), etc, each requiring its own specific strategies.
Thank you so much, that helps immensely. I didn't actually expect a response either so quickly, or so detailed, and I cannot tell you what a pleasant surprise logging in to this message was.
I'm already halfway through, and it looks like I went Archipelago, but I'll likely find myself doing Empire more often than not now that I know it's actually viable. I just assumed trying to take planets that way would get me served to the AI on a fresh, steam-cooked platter.
Thank you again, I really can't tell you how much I appreciated that read. Perhaps we could play a game together sometime?
For the play proposal, I... will reply in the appropriate thread.
The biggest advantage to a contiguous empire is when you enable the Dyson Sphere and then free it from the AI. This causes it to spawn Dyson Gatlings that are friendly to you. Their AI is a little weird, but in short if they wind up on a human planet, they patrol to any other adjacent human planets. This can result in a huge patrolling defense force defending your planets for you.
I usually wind up with a chunk of the map near my homeworld that's either captured or fully neutered, and then I cap isolated systems to let me strike out to the AI homeworlds. Sort of a hybrid strategy. The outlying systems I may not even bother keeping (deepstrike counting from the nearest non-AI controlled system), or I may use warp jammers so that I don't have to neuter everything around them.