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Wok Skills 102
Part of The Wok
Why The Wok?
The Importance of the Wok
Essays & Profiles
Q&A: Grace Young & Her Woks
From China: The Future of the Wok
San Francisco's Iconic Wok Shop
Excerpt: The Science of Woks
Wok Recipes
Dim Sum–Style Steamed Pork Ribs
Tofu With Peas and Silky Egg
Sichuan Stir-Fried Potatoes
Chinese Scrambled Eggs With Tomato
Taiwanese Deep-Fried Squid Balls
Thai Chicken and Curry Stir-Fry
Japanese Shrimp in Chili Sauce
Deep-Frying
Passing-Through
Essential Knife Skills for Wok Cooking
Setting Up a Wok Cooking Station
How to Season Your Wok
Hacking Wok Hei at Home
The Wok Gear Guide
Best Flat-Bottomed Woks
The Best Torches for Wok Hei
The Full Wok Accessory Guide
Outdoor Wok Burners Picks
Essential Chinese Knife Skills and Techniques
A guide to common knife cuts drawn from Chinese culinary techniques.
Lucas Sin
Lucas Sin is the chef of Nice Day and Junzi Kitchen in New York, NY and New Haven, CT.
Roll Cut
Push Cut
Pull Cut
Strip Cut
Slap Cut
Rock Chop
Gallop Chop
Horizontal Slice
Bias Slice
Reverse Bias Cut
Knife skills are an essential part of any culinary tradition. They give cooks the ability to safely and efficiently cut up ingredients in ways that are appropriate for the dishes they'll be used to create.
To that end, I've written a guide to some common knife cuts drawn from Chinese culinary techniques. This guide is by no means exhaustive—it covers only some of the most commonly used knife cuts in Chinese kitchens—but if you become proficient at cutting vegetables and meats in the ways I've described below, they will serve you well when cooking the vast majority of the dishes that fall under the very large umbrella of Chinese cuisine.
One of the things to keep in mind about these cuts is that they were developed for use with a Chinese-style cleaver. Unlike cleavers from Western culinary traditions, which are primarily used for chopping through bones, Chinese-style cleavers are incredibly versatile, used for vegetables just as often as they're used for slicing fish or cutting up meat. While most Chinese knives are referred to as "cleavers" in English (likely a consequence of their resemblance to a Western-style cleaver), they should not all be used for heavy work like chopping through bone; in fact, there are three primary types of Chinese cleavers—thin blades best suited to more delicate tasks like slicing and dicing, thicker ones for chopping through bone, and hybrid styles that are thicker near the heel for heavy-duty work and thinner at the tip for finer cuts. That being said, I think all of the techniques I describe below can be done with Western-style knives, or even Japanese-style knives, like santokus and gyutous (the photos below demonstrate the cuts using various knife styles). However, a Chinese-style cleaver will be far easier to use when, for example, smashing ginger or garlic.
This is my favorite cut for cylindrical vegetables for most stir-fries and braises. It produces cuts with a large amount of surface area, which makes them ideal for absorbing flavors, while also producing an even, rounded shape that can be easily tossed in a wok.
To cut the vegetables, slice them at a 45-degree angle, then rotate the vegetable a quarter turn before executing the next cut. You can place the index finger of your non-dominant hand on the top of the vegetable to help you judge how far to rotate it. As the cylinder widens, as with a carrot, you can cut smaller chunks off the cylinder to keep the cuts the same size. Large vegetables, like a very large carrot, can be split lengthwise to make thinner lengths before being roll cut.
Commonly used for: Any cylindrical vegetable, for stir-fries or braises
Straight Cut 直刀
This is the most basic cleaver cut, where the weight of the cleaver guides the blade through a solid ingredient. This cut is designed to offer control at speed. While the goal is to minimize any forward movement of the knife, there is still some forward movement. You can place one or two fingers of your dominant hand to grip the flat of the knife: one finger will give you less control; with two fingers, the balance of the knife shifts forward, giving you a little more lateral control that encourages you to lean a little more weight into the cut.
To cut vegetables, first make sure that whatever you're cutting has a flat surface that can lie directly on the cutting board. Then position your non-dominant hand so that it rests on top of the vegetable, with your fingers curled into a claw; this hand will guide the placement of the blade. Using a sufficiently sharp and heavy knife (like a cleaver), make cuts using a mostly downwards motion with minimal forward movement, letting gravity exert most of the force on the knife. As one slice is completed, shift your non-dominant hand slightly back before the next cut.
Commonly used for: Firm fruits and vegetables, such as potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions
This technique gives you a high degree of precision because you start the cutting motion with the thinnest part of the blade, toward the tip.
To start, position your non-dominant hand over the ingredient and form your fingers into a claw. Using the knuckles of your non-dominant hand as a guide, start slicing the ingredient by moving the knife forward as you press down, starting with the front part of the blade and using as much of its length as is necessary to complete the cut. This cut is easiest to do with a blade that has a flat profile along its edge, like a Chinese-style cleaver, a santoku, or a nakiri. With a Western-style chef's knife or gyutou, both of which have a curved blade profile, executing this cut can look like a kind of forward rolling motion.
Commonly used for: Thin slices and strips of cooked meats, fruits and vegetables, tofu
This technique is used to minimize bruising on tender vegetables and herbs, like chives and scallions. It's also useful for cutting up soft, wet ingredients that have a tendency to stick to the blade, like meat.
To start, position your non-dominant hand over the ingredient and form your fingers into a claw. Using the knuckles of your non-dominant hand as a guide, start slicing the ingredient with the heel of the blade, then pull the blade towards you as you press down, using as much of its length as is necessary to complete the cut. You can anchor the tip of the blade on the cutting board so that most of the slicing is done towards the heel.
Commonly used for: Strips of meat, leafy herbs
Strip Cut (Julienne)
The one everyone knows: thin, uniformly cut strips, with a width and thickness of about 2mm x 2mm. Strip cut ingredients can easily be picked up with chopsticks; they also recall the shape of thin noodles.
To produce the strips, start by slicing your vegetables into thin planks, then stack the planks and cut through the stack to create consistent strips. Alternatively, you can shingle the thin planks across the cutting board and, using the knuckles of your non-dominant hand to guide the blade, slice the planks into strips.
Commonly used for: Fruits and vegetables
A cut that can be made after you've cut an ingredient into strips; the size of the dice is determined by the width/thickness of the strips. Line up strips of your ingredient and slice them crosswise to produce cubes of a consistent size.
Dicing is important for aromatics or ingredients that need to be bloomed quickly, like bacon, Chinese sausage, as it creates a lot of surface area, and it produces small, uniformly sized pieces for mixed dishes like fried rice.
Commonly used for: Bacon, Chinese sausage
This is a cut that's used on soft ingredients, and while it's most often used with a serrated or bread knife, any knife can be used as a saw.
No matter what knife you use, exert as little downward pressure as possible, and rely instead on the backward and forward motion of the knife to help the knife's edge saw through the ingredient. The goal is to maintain the structural integrity of whatever you're cutting into presentable slices.
Commonly used for: Bread, dough, tomatoes with a dull knife, jelly-like items, frozen tofu
This is a quick and efficient way to pulverize ingredients that you want to mince finely, like garlic and ginger. It quickly extracts aromatic compounds, like alliinase in garlic, but also releases a maximum of water and oil, which in turn maximizes the flavor of the ingredient.
Start by holding the knife in your non-dominant hand, positioning the flat of the knife over a small piece of the ingredient you want to smash. Then bring your dominant hand down in a quick, firm motion to smash the ingredient. It's important to position the ingredient you're smashing in the correct way. For ginger, you want to position the pieces you're smashing so the grain of the rhizome is perpendicular to the cutting board; for garlic, you'll want to halve the cloves and position them vertically, cut side down, on the board.
Commonly used for: Garlic, ginger
This technique is for cutting quickly and cleanly through ingredients, whether they're soft, like a boiled egg, or brittle, like chicken bones. It minimizes that amount of sawing action, which can produce unsightly sawing lines, as with an egg; it also minimizes shattering and the possibility of cutting yourself when cutting through bones. When used on bones, it is typically done with a thick cleaver.
Lodge the knife in the ingredient by sawing into it. Stabilize the knife with your dominant hand, then pound the spine of the knife firmly with your non-dominant hand to finish the cut.
Commonly used for: Cooked eggs, bone-in chicken pieces
This is a quick and efficient way to finely chop a large amount of a given ingredient without being too precise.
Anchor the tip of the knife to the cutting board with your non-dominant hand placed on the spine of the knife, toward the tip, then rock the back end of the knife so the blade passes through the ingredients. For an even faster cut, you can hover your non-dominant hand over the front half of the knife and, when the tip comes up as you rock chop, you can push it back down using your non-dominant hand so that the blade tip bounces back down, allowing you to chop with both the tip and the heel of the knife. It's helpful to use "soft hands"—that is, to not grip the knife too tightly as you do this cut.
Commonly used for: Garlic, ginger, soaked spices
Named after the sound of galloping horses, Chinese chefs use this technique to mince large quantities of an ingredient, usually meat or fish. I think of it sometimes as being a "clop chop" because of the sound it produces. I want to stress that this is not just a manual method for mimicking the effect of a food processor or a meat grinder; while the final mince may look similar to meat processed using those other methods, the texture is distinctly different and quite important for a the light and soft texture of a dish like lion's head meatballs.
Using two heavy knives (preferably cleavers), chop the ingredient up using firm, regular downward strokes. If you can manage it, try to go at double speed with the knife in your dominant hand. As you chop, use the cleavers to bring the mass of ingredients back together.
Commonly used for: Herbs, relishes, meat, fish, and shellfish
This is a technique that's used to produce thin slices of an ingredient, typically used for meat and fish, but also for the end bits of vegetables, like potatoes or turnips. While it offers the accomplished practitioner a fair amount of control in determining the thickness of the slices, it's a difficult technique, and it can be dangerous, as it requires you to saw a thin slice of the ingredient as you stabilize the top of the ingredient with your fingers; it requires a sharp knife, a steady hand, and your undivided attention. If you're not comfortable cutting towards your fingers in this way, you can use the bias slice to produce similar cuts while slicing away from yourself with the blade.
When using this technique on meat, it's helpful to partially freeze the ingredient first (in China, some home fridges have a special compartment that's held at 32°F, so items placed in that compartment are just barely frozen and ready for slicing). When freezing ingredients, try to freeze them flat, in the form that you want to slice them.
With the fingers of your non-dominant hand, press down on the surface of the ingredient. Holding the knife horizontally, parallel to the cutting board, use a sawing motion to create thin slices. The cutting should be mostly done by the sawing motion, not through the use of force exerted by your dominant hand.
Commonly used for: Slices of fresh meat, slicing ends of vegetables when finger space runs out
This is a common cutting technique for preparing sashimi, as it allows you to precisely cut thin, elegant slices at an angle against the grain of the flesh (it's a translation of the Japanese sashimi cutting technique known as hirazukuri).
At a 45° angle, cut off a small piece of the ingredient so you have a flat incline. Place two to three fingers of your non-dominant hand on the flat incline, then begin cutting just under your fingers at a 45° angle starting with the heel of the knife, pulling the blade back toward your body and using the length of the blade to slice through the ingredient. Just before cutting through to sever the slice from the rest of the ingredient block, rotate the knife so it's perpendicular to the cutting board and pull to complete the cut; remove the slice with your non-dominant hand.
Commonly used for: Fresh meat and seafood, when precise, thin, clean slices are needed, for use in things like hot pot and stir-fries
Reverse Bias Slice
This is an easy technique to cut vegetables on a bias while protecting your fingers that's most often used with leeks and scallions, but can also be used for greens like gai lan or stems like asparagus. It also can be used as an easier alternative to the horizontal slice.
Positioning your non-dominant hand over the ingredient, using your knuckles to form an incline. Using your knuckles as a guide, pull the knife toward you while slicing down, using the length of the blade to cut through the ingredient.
Commonly used for: Leeks and scallions are most common, but this is also an alternative and easier technique than bias slices for meats
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Eyes On U.S. — When African Leaders Go To Washington, China Is In The Room
Some 100 of the most important political eyes in Africa aren't turned towards the U.S. this week — they're in the U.S. For the first time in eight years, the White House is hosting 49 African heads of state and leaders of government (and the Senegalese head of the African Union) for a U.S.-Africa summit. Not invited: any nation that has recently undergone a military putsch, or otherwise not in good standing with the African Union, like Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Sudan.
It's only the second such summit, after Barack Obama held the inaugural one in 2014. For African nations, it's a chance to push for trade agreements and international investment, as reports FinancialAfrik, as well as to showcase their most successful businesses. According to RFI, dominant in its coverage of West Africa, on the agenda are: fighting terrorism, climate change, food security, and a financial facility intended to facilitate African exports to the U.S.
These themes are recurrent in national coverage and official diplomatic communiqués, from the likes of Cameroon (whose communiqué pointedly notes the U.S.'s "lack of colonial history" in Africa), which is seeking to regain access to the the U.S. market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to Madagascar, which as an island nation, is particularly concerned with climate change.
But is the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and the accompanying nice talk all just cynical cover for what are, in fact, purely U.S. strategic interests in its wider global competition with China? That's certainly the message from Chinese media — but also a point of view either echoed, or simply acknowledged as matter of fact, by African voices.
"No matter how many fancy words the U.S. uses, the country still sees Africa as an arena to serve its strategic goal of competing with China," Liu Xin writes for China's state-run Global Times.
Indeed, for the U.S., the summit is a chance to move past the disinterest — if not outright disdain — that the Trump administration showed for Africa at a time when both China and Russia were ramping up their economic and military presence on the continent. Even if Biden Administration officials have been eager to talk about Africa on its own terms, the "long shadow" of China is everywhere, writes Kenya's The Standard.
There is more than simply a U.S.-China competition at work.
The U.S. is playing "catch up," writes The Standard, having fallen behind China when it comes to foreign direct investment in Africa, and must convince African countries that it is a better partner than China. The Nairobi-based daily isn't coy about Africa's growing strategic importance, leverage, and need to be wooed, writing, "The continent, whose leaders often feel they've been given short shrift by leading economies, remains crucial to global powers because of its rapidly growing population, significant natural resources, and a sizable voting bloc in the United Nations."
Cognizant of the UN voting bloc that African countries constitute, the Biden administration is eager to court their support for Ukraine, but maintains that irrespective of outcome, it wants Africa to have a louder international voice — perhaps, as Al Jazeera reports, by making an African nation a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Finally, for Malcom Biiga, writing in the regional Francophone magazine Jeune Afrique, there is more than simply a U.S.-China competition at work, and the timing of the summit can't be disconnected from France's pullback from West Africa, in particular the announcement this year of the end of its military mission in Mali. "As anti-French sentiment grows larger across Africa, the U.S. is giving it a go with a charm offensive," Biiga says. It's not so much competitively "thumbing its nose" at French President Emmanuel Macron, but an expression of Washington's worry that Russia or China will step in to fill France's void — reminding readers that Russian military contractor group Wagner has done exactly that in Mali.
As Cameroonian research Paul Simon-Handy told RFI on Tuesday, the U.S. "is trying to define its own strategic vision [in Africa] while remaining a strategic ally of France [in the region]."
Biiga, meanwhile, concludes his analysis of the African leaders' collective pilgrimage to Washington by wryly pointing out that neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to visit Africa.
— Alex Hurst
U.S. scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced that they have — for the first time — created a net positive amount of energy from fusion. It could be a major breakthrough in the search for near limitless clean energy. The experiment used enormous, high powered lasers to start the reaction. Even if actual electricity generation on a large scale remains a long way off, for the Italian daily LaRepubblica, it's the very first glimpse of a "spark" from the future.
⚜ AMERICAN EXPORT
"We need an Anglo-American cultural detox," writes a worried Montréal columnist, otherwise les Québecois risk becoming "Anglo-Americans who just speak French."
It's tough being an 8-million person linguistic island in the middle of a 350-million strong North American anglophone ocean … Referencing a professor friend who queried his students about Christmas movies and realized that none of them had any francophone references (like cult comedy films Le Père Noël est une ordure or Les Bronzés font du ski), Loïc Tassé doesn't just fret about a loss of Québecois culture, but proposes solutions: more public financing of French language movies, books, and music, and introducing more francophone writers (possibly even in English translation) in school courses.
🎅🏻🎄 SO AMERICAN?
Germans are known to take their Christmas sehr seriously. And should they wish to expand their merry horizons and "celebrate it like in the USA," Focus came up with a handy list of typically American customs for its readers. Some are well known (cookies and milk for Santa, hanging up socks, etc.) and others … less so.
Case in point, the "Christmas pickle," which the weekly magazine says probably originated in Germany, and wherein a small cucumber (or cucumber-like ornament) is hidden among the other Christmas tree decorations. Guests and children are then invited to look for said Weihnachtsgurke, with the person finding it being awarded an extra present.
Hmmm? It seems most American readers will be as interested as Germans to discover this supposed popular tradition ...
Worldcrunch's 10 Most Popular Articles Of The Year
Here are the 10 most-read articles of the past year:
Who Is Lauriane Doumbouya, The French Wife Of Guinea's Coup Leader?
New Guinea president Mamadi Doumbouya and his wife Lauriane Doumboya, née Darboux
Sall Hiro Kun Manga
During the recent inauguration of new Guinea president Mamadi Doumbouya, the presence of a female French police officer alongside the coup leader grabbed the public's attention. But little is still known about the new first lady.
— JEUNE AFRIQUE
In Russia, Brands Advertising Diversity Are Under Attack
In Russia, Brands Advertising Diversity Under Attack
Yobidoyobi
Russian sushi delivery Yobidoyobi removed an advertisement with a Black man and apologized for offending the Russian nation, while a grocery chain was attacked for featuring an LGBTQ couple.
— KOMMERSANT
A Dose Of Epicurus: Ancient Philosopher Cures Italy's COVID Souls
Ancient Philosopher Cures Italy's COVID Souls
Pikist/Worldcrunch
In Italy, Epicurus's "Letter on Happiness" is being sold at pharmacies to help people face down the stress and anxiety of COVID times.
French Wine, Cancelled? The Sexist World Of France's Winemakers
Unsplash user @lamerbrain
Discriminatory comments and practices still reign supreme in wine cellars. But the women of the French wine industry are determined to break down old barriers.
— LE MONDE
The Case For Letting Algorithms Run The Vaccine Rollouts
Paul Christian Gordon/ZUMA
Belgium's vaccination campaign is a prime example, computer scientist Hugues Bersini argues, of how technology can not only improve efficiency, but also, in some cases, make things more fair.
— LE SOIR
China's 'One-Child' Generation Chooses Cats Over Babies
Xinhua via ZUMA
Menglin's boyfriend accompanied her to the clinic. It took less than 10 minutes for the doctor to place the contraceptive implant in Menglin's upper left arm. It's now very unlikely she'll get pregnant in the next three years. She is 31, a good age to give birth, but she is reluctant to start trying.
— THE INITIUM
Germany's #Instacops, The Perils Of Police As Influencers
tagebucheinerpolizistin
Some police officers have used their toned bodies, selfies in uniform, and professional insights into social media notoriety. But all that attention can also lead to problems at work.
— DIE WELT
Time To Triage (Out!) The Anti-Vaxxers Who Get COVID
MatNap/Unsplash
In Canada's Western province of Alberta, hospital beds are running out and forcing officials to "triage" to decide who does and doesn't get care. The same formula should not apply to those who have chosen not to get the COVID vaccine.
— WORLDCRUNCH
Why French Fashion Has Been So Slow To Embrace Inclusive Sizing
@arson_photography
Clothing companies in France have a habit of simply ignoring larger-sized women. But led by a new generation of designers, some of them inspired by first-hand frustrations, the sector is finally showing signs of change.
— LES ECHOS
Latin American Pariah, The Cost Of Brazil's Isolationism
President Donald Trump with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach
Allen Eyestone/TNS/ZUMA
By turning its back on regional integration, the conservative government of Jair Bolsonaro is putting ideology above the country's long-term economic and political interests.
— CLARIN
The phone rings over and over without response. There is no one to answer the line registered to Mamadi Doumbouya. The contact refers to an address in Chabeuil, more precisely to a staff house in the gendarmerie , the French military police corps, of this small town in southeastern France. It was there that Lauriane Doumbouya, née Darboux, used to serve in the French police force.
No one answers because the French officer now lives several thousand miles away, where during the Oct. 1 inauguration ceremony of Mamadi Doumbouya as the new president of Guinea, the presence of this white woman did not go unnoticed.
Dressed in a traditional boubou robe and bazin headscarf, Lauriane Doumbouya, still unknown to the general public, was propelled to the rank of first lady of this West African nation of 13 million.
Information blackout
It's a transition that's all the more unexpected because it was by violent force that her husband came to power. On Sept. 5, heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace; hours later, Lieutenant Colonel Doumbouya took control of state television and declared that President Alpha Conde's government had been dissolved.
Of the past life of Mamadi Doumbouya, little information is available. So when it comes to his wife, finding out about her background is even more complicated: There's no official biography, no allocated office, no communication service.
From Chabeuil, France, to Conakry, Guinea, from the men of the National Committee of Rally for Development (CNRD) to the Darboux family, everyone protects the mystery surrounding this woman who stands at a height of 5-foot-9, standing tall next to her physically imposing husband.
Google Street View screenshot of Chabeuil's gendarmerie
Guarding the Élysée Palace
According to our information, Mamadi Doumbouya and Lauriane met shortly after his arrival in France in 2005. The man who would become the head of the Special Forces Group (GFS) came to Europe to don the green beret of the Foreign Legion, a section of the French army for highly trained soldiers.
The Foreign Legion is unique for being open to foreign recruits and offering a path to citizenship. For five years, Doumbouya served in the Second Foreign Infantry Regiment of Nîmes. Lauriane had just completed a three-month training course at the Tulle school for assistant gendarmes.
Athletic and self-confident.
One of her former classmates describes her as "athletic" and "self-confident." She was also a good horseback rider, which led her to leave the south of France in 2006 to join the Republican Guard in Paris, which guards the Élysée Palace and other government buildings.
But things didn't go as planned. The menial roles given to the deputy gendarmes of the Guard did not excite her: "She wanted to be a gendarme, but because she was so young, she didn't consider the sacrifices she would have to make," says one of her classmates.
Another adds: "We were young and we had just graduated from high school. At that age, many of us were there without really knowing what to do later on." This classmate describes Lauriane Darboux as "joking," "jovial" and "lively."
Photo of the first couple at the inauguration
Doumbouya couple at last month's inauguration
screenshot Djoma TV
Two careers, three children
She left Paris without having lost her accent to return to the south of France. She was drawn to the Rhone Valley where members of her family still live. After going to Libourne (Gironde) in 2006 to do her non-commissioned officer training, she returned to her native town, Chabeuil, which is where her career as a gendarme really started. According to our information, by Sept. 2008, Lauriane was donning her uniform.
Did she meet Mamadi Doumbouya during one of his breaks? Until 2010, he was only able to visit her occasionally, because a legionnaire is entitled to just 45 days of leave per year (with the agreement of the command), plus weekends. It was shortly after his release from the legion in 2011 that he married Lauriane. They now have three children.
For Lauriane, the amateurism of her early days gave way to determination. In 2011 and in 2014 she received bonuses for exceptional results. Not stopping there, she became a judicial police officer of the gendarmerie in 2016 and chief marshal in 2017. It was a rapid ascent, like that of her husband.
Between Europe and Africa
After a few years during which we have no trace of him, Mamadi Doumbouya was sent in 2013 to the School of Application of Infantry of Thies, in Senegal. Then in 2014, he completed an internship at the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale in France. Four years later, he received the brevet d'études militaires supérieures from the École de guerre in Paris. He was then promoted to commander of the Special Forces, the elite unit in charge of counter-terrorism.
Doumbouya has since settled permanently in Conakry, Guinea's capital, and it's unclear whether his wife comes and goes between Europe and Africa, or what her current status is with the French military police. According to a source close to the government, she has developed close relations with some of her in-laws in Kankan, Mamadi Doumbouya's hometown.
In 2018, she was seen there at the Muslima Tabaski (or Eid al-Adha) celebrations. According to our information, just after her husband's Oct. 1 inauguration, Lauriane Doumbouya was staying at the People's Palace, just a few steps from where ousted President Alpha Conde was being held in custody. Since then, the first lady has not appeared publicly, neither in Conakry nor in Chabeuil.
Vaccinating The World Requires More Than Just Doses
It's imperative that people everywhere also have access to COVID-19 vaccines. But shipping and sharing the vaccine doses is only half the battle.
-OpEd-
BRUSSELS / CONARKY — Chances are that your social media feed already features plenty of freshly #vaxxed friends and family proudly showing off Band-Aids on their biceps or signed certificates indicating that they're now protected against COVID-19.
Throughout Europe, the vaccination campaign has indeed begun to take off. And yet, the sad reality is that in the rest of the world, one in four people will likely have to wait until at least 2023 for access to a vaccine.
Because of this disparity, many are demanding solutions: Either vaccine patents must be lifted or more contributions made to the COVAX program, the international vaccine-access campaign being co-led by the World Health Organization.
Should we be fighting for greater vaccination equity? Absolutely. It goes without saying that everyone should have access to vaccines. But we also need to make sure people are willing to get vaccinated. For that to happen, there's a crucially important factor that has unfortunately been neglected in fragile and conflict-affected countries: how much — or how little — citizens tend to trust their governments.
Our organization, Search for Common Ground, is dedicated to peacebuilding in conflict-affected countries, and we have conducted several surveys on the links between coronavirus and conflict in places where we work. We have found that only 36% of respondents responded "satisfied" when asked about their government's handling of the pandemic. Even more telling is that 50% rated their government as employing a "discriminatory approach" (i.e. failing to consider the needs of various segments of the population equally) in their coronavirus response.
For persecuted minorities or those living under authoritarianism and corruption, distrust in government is to be expected. But during a global pandemic, when trust in the state, particularly in its vaccination plan, is absolutely essential, this can be deadly.
This distrust is already unfolding with troubling ramifications. While the media celebrates the delivery of vaccines to certain parts of the Global South, the coverage of this trust factor is lacking. A case in point is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has just returned 75% of its COVAX vaccines — the equivalent of 1.3 million unused doses.
Meanwhile, health authorities in Ivory Coast worry that 500,000 doses of vaccine will expire because there are not enough people on the vaccination lists. What links these two countries? A history of conflict and low trust in the government.
Getting vaccinated in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Photo: UNICEF in RDC.
Skeptics might argue that fear of the vaccine is widespread, that wild rumors are spreading even in Europe. While this is a valid observation, it is a false comparison. When distrust in government has been built from years of war, persecution and discrimination, citizens are left feeling that at best their government does not care for them, at worst it wants them dead. Such a level of distrust will surely influence national vaccination plans.
In order to end the pandemic and ensure that citizens in post-conflict societies benefit from the vaccine, we must focus, therefore, on building trust.
Our teams of mediators and analysts work in some of the most challenging areas of the world. We know that there are two key variables for ensuring trust in a vaccination campaign. The first is how the information is communicated and the second is who is communicating that information.
This is why it is essential to carefully consider who will be the face of the vaccination campaign, and how this must be adapted to different communities. Everything must be thought out, down to the radio stations chosen to broadcast messages, the locations of vaccination centers and the ethnicity or religion of the nurses who will administer vaccines. Every detail is crucial for ensuring that various communities feel respected, safe and understood. These are issues that should be central to the planning process, not an afterthought.
While the COVID-19 pandemic remains first and foremost a public health challenge, it goes without saying that there will be no sustainable global progress without seriously considering these complex social dynamics. Yes, vaccine distribution is essential. But let's face it: Investments in the COVAX program will only yield real results if we put the issue of trust at the center of immunization efforts. People in post-conflict countries deserve to see the light at the end of the tunnel too.
*Charline Burton is Executive Director of the NGO Search for Common Ground, based in Brussels; Allassane Drabo, based in Conakry, Guinea, is the organization's West-Africa Director.
**This article was translated with permission from the authors.
On This Day - October 2
Joan Tilouine
The Painful Lurch Toward The End Of Ebola In Guinea
FORÉCARIAH — Assény Touré's tightly drawn features bear testament to his harrowing ordeal. In December, after he was diagnosed with Ebola, this taciturn 30-year-old was chased out of the village where he was born, Béta, an hour-drive away from Forécariah, in western Guinea. The virus killed 19 members of his family. He survived. And yet he's still a pariah.
"Ebola killed my family," says Touré, who has taken up shelter in a Red Cross tent where four patients are being quarantined. "I won't let other Guineans die of that disease."
Now cured, Touré is trying to raise awareness in this town where Ebola leaves people either angry or indifferent. The epidemic, which moved from the forest in the northeast to the coast, is still ravaging the region even as it is finally being contained in the rest of the country. Nearly 3,600 cases have been confirmed in Guinea since December 2013. More than 2,300 people have died.
With Liberia and Sierra Leone farther along in the recovery from Ebola, the Guinean authorities are still hoping to announce the end of the epidemic before the end of May. Only nine cases were reported last week, the lowest number since the epidemic started. But they fear that Forécariah, the last active center, might contaminate the capital Conakry and the towns in between.
"We're a kind of shield to prevent Ebola from spreading to the capital," says Emmanuel Pajot, operations coordinator at the Red Cross Ebola Treatment Center, set up at the end of an alley in ochre earth. "The goal is to do as much as possible before the rainy season because some remote areas are already difficult to reach."
Nearly 80% of the cases reported since January are located in this prefecture. Complicating matters is how wary people tend to be of health personnel. Many suspect health workers of transmitting the virus. The Ebola epidemic has also taken on political dimensions in this region, which is where Prime Minister Mohamed Saïd Fofana comes from. A presidential election is planned for Oct. 11.
"The government abandoned us and takes advantage of Ebola and NGOs to attract investments and to campaign for the election," sighs one inhabitant. "They're not welcome here anymore."
"The snake's head"
As a result, some patients would rather turn to traditional healers, even if it means traveling to Conakry or 150 kilometers north to Boffa and thus taking the risk of spreading the virus. That's how Binta Diallo, 26, was infected in June 2014. An aunt suffering from diabetes came from Kenema, in Sierra Leone, by way of Forécariah to be taken care of in Conakry. The old woman was especially weak. "We thought it was her diabetes but it was Ebola. Eleven of us were infected and six died," Binta says.
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U.S. Air Force supporting WHO actions in Guinea — Photo: DVIDSHUB
Mandy Kader Kondé, who heads the commission for research for the fight against Ebola, says the biggest challenge right now is sick people traveling. "We're facing the same difficulties on the coast as we did six months ago in the Guinean forest," she says. "In Forécariah, we're in the home stretch, but it's the most difficult part."
"Forécariah is the snake's head," says doctor Sakoba Keita, the national coordinator for the fight against Ebola. "If we can control Forécariah, we can control Conakry." So in addition to the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization (WHO), teams of health workers are sent from the capital and are striving to raise awareness among the inhabitants, to try and clear up suspicions and potentially detect new cases.
Scrambling for patients
Pharmaceutical multinationals are also keeping a close eye on the situation in Forécariah as they compete to carry out their vaccine tests. "Guinea has become a laboratory," a doctor says.
Since March 7, the WHO has been testing the VSV-ZEBOV vaccine developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the U.S. company Merck. The British foundation Wellcome Trust has allocated close to $3 million to the WHO. By the end of April, almost 1,000 tests had been carried out, one of the people in charge of the campaign said. The figure is a long way from the 9,500 required before the third phase of the trials can be validated.
"We think we can obtain preliminary results this month, but without a fresh outbreak, we risk not being able to see these trials to the end due to the lack of patients," notes Jean-Marie Dangou, the WHO's representative in Guinea.
Another actor is now present in Guinea: British multinational GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which had chosen Liberia and Sierra Leone to carry out its own vaccine trials. But since Ebola is about to be eradicated in these English-speaking countries, the number of patients is running low. So they're turning their gaze to tiny Guinea which, until recently, "they looked down on," a civil servant says.
"GSK is calling upon us but I don't know where to send them," doctor Sakoba Keita says. "The latest patients have been taken care of by Merck, and they don't want to give ground to their competitors. This is now a race for patients."
Rémi Barroux
Twice Victims In Guinea, Where Ebola Survivors Are Ostracized
MACENTA — Just a few months ago, people would queue outside the shop of Jean Segbé Bavogui, 41, a tailor in Banizé, a neighborhood outside the Guinea town of Macenta. But the small workshop is now empty. Bavogui hasn't seen any clients or received any orders for over a month. Even the well outside his door where his neighbors used to collect water has been deserted. This is all because Bavogui is an Ebola survivor, which makes him a damned man in the eyes of his community.
Bavogui was infected by his wife Jeanne, becoming sick on Sept. 28 just as his wife was being released from the hospital — cured. As soon as the first symptoms appeared, he rushed to the treatment center in Guéckédou, which is run by Doctors Without Borders, before going through the living hell that the disease creates for patients: vomiting, diarrhea, fever and bleeding.
"I thought I was going to die," he says. "Three other patients in my room passed away. I wanted to call my brother, who was taking care of my children, to tell them goodbye."
The tailor is among the lucky ones. Between 50% and 80% of those infected die from the virus — 1,192 patients of the 1,971 infected since the beginning of the outbreak in March, according to the Guinean Health Ministry. Doctors declared Bavogui "healthy" Oct. 5 and gave him a certificate to confirm he was cured and carried an immunity against the virus.
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An Ebola treatment center — Photo: CDC Global
When he returned home to his wife with his "release certificate," the neighbors had moved away. Other people in the neighborhood now greet him only from a distance, when they don't turn away from him entirely. Today, the tailor works with his wife at a nursery where Ebola patients send their children. Like him, a handful of survivors participate in Ebola-related humanitarian aid work.
A double hell
"Even with the certificate, I see mothers, cured, forced to leave their homes with their children, thrown out by their own husbands who, when they have another wife and other children, don't want to take any risks," explains Dr. Abdul Fadiya, who works for UNICEF.
In the region, where the epidemic started in March 2014, almost 80% of the population is illiterate. And for months, people in villages have been saying that nobody ever comes out alive from treatment centers. The authorities accuse community leaders of spreading the worst rumors about the disease.
"If you tell these people that coal is white, they'll say it's white," says Sékou, a teacher and a cured patient himself. "If you tell them to attack, they'll attack. So when somebody who was infected comes back, if the village leader doesn't help that person, they don't belong there anymore."
It doesn't help that survivors appear ravaged. In the vast majority of cases, patients return weakened, exhausted, leaner and in pain. "In Balisia, a 13-year-old boy was cured but remained so weak that his mother wasn't sure he had recovered," explains pastor Jérémy Boré. "I told her that his fatigue was normal and that he should be well fed and eat fruits." A few days later, the boy was able to go outside and play soccer with his friends.
Curing patients is no longer enough. Overwhelmed by the urgency to take care of the sick, aid organizations have had to learn to handle the return of cured patients after their communities reject them. UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross now allocate means especially for this mission. The World Food Programme gives supplies of rice, oil, salt and lentils to villages that have had at least five cases of Ebola.
The treatment center in Guéckédou now provides Ebola survivors with hotel rooms and meals. It was also necessary to raise awareness among bus drivers to prevent cured patients from being barred from public transport. "But in bush taxis, other passengers refuse to travel with them, so they have to pay alone for the journey, and it's too expensive," says Pascal Piguet, a Doctors Without Borders official in Guéckédou.
Is relapse possible?
Over the past few days, the return of cured Ebola patients has been dramatically questioned. A woman officially declared "healthy" was released from the treatment center and transported back to her village in Djomba Koidou. But a few days later, new symptoms appeared: She was very tired, which can be easily explained, and her gums were bleeding. The villagers instantly suspected Ebola. The Guinean Red Cross came to get her and, after going through more tests, she was once again declared infected with the virus. She died on Nov. 16. Organizations that were visiting the village the same day had to flee for fear that the population might take them hostage.
Photo: CDC Global
This case, the first suspected relapse, is yet another worry for authorities. Until now, the scientific community has claimed that a patient cured from Ebola was immune to the disease and no longer contagious. "It's an exceptional case, and we have to go through the woman's whole file once again," says Saverio Bellizzi, a doctor who specializes in epidemiology for Doctors Without Borders in Macenta. "The virus' location could be out of the ordinary — for example, in a part of the brain more protected against antibodies."
The virus is known for surviving longer in certain areas of the body — testicles, for example — and sperm can still carry it two or three months after a patient is cured. A mistake during the woman's test could also explain the result, but the laboratory that did it in Guéckédou has ruled out that possibility.
"For the first time, we have a large number of Ebola survivors and, more importantly, we are still faced with an active epidemic," says Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, a French immunologist. "We still have a lot to learn. We will be able to study when and how antibodies appear and are active. Cured patients are not a homogenous population. So, did that woman die of the first infection, or was she infected again after she went back home?"
The news, which has been kept quiet, could be a bombshell and make it more difficult for populations to accept the return of survivors. Until the results of the investigation are complete, the rule still stands: In 99.9% of cases, those cured are not infectious and are immune to the virus.
Into The Ebola Triangle, As Doctors Risk All To Stop The Spread
A reporter follows international doctors into the heart of the West Africa where Ebola is spreading, from Gueckedou (Guinea), Kailahun (Sierra Leone) and Foya (Liberia).
KAILAHUN — It's late July in the south of Kailahun in Sierra Leone, and a small convoy of white four-wheel drives from Doctors Without Borders (DWB) and the World Health Organization (WHO), along with a local ambulance, slowly rolls towards the tiny village of Mendekema.
It takes more than an hour to drive just 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) on this road weaving deep into the bush, and soaked by heavy seasonal rains.
A death believed to have been caused by the Ebola virus has been reported by telephone, and this team is on its way to carry out a saliva test on the deceased. Several dozens of village residents have gathered around the vehicles and refuse to hand over the body. Tension is rising.
"Ebola isn't here," shouts Salomon, a 20-year-old man. "We don't want to have anything to do with all that."
The body is apparently in one of the village houses. But after an hour-long debate, the team has made no progress in gaining access. The convoy turns back, leaving the community to bury its deceased and risk infection. All the medical staff can do is pass on a few recommendations for minimizing the chances of the disease spreading.
Not a word is spoken on the road back to Kailahun, where there is a DWB Ebola treatment center and a base camp for the international organizations.
The Ebola triangle
The doctors are on the front line in the war against this deadly epidemic, and we traveled with them hundreds of kilometers into the heart of the Ebola triangle, from the towns of Guéckédou (Guinea), Kailahun (Sierra Leone) and Foya (Liberia). We are in the area of the Kissi people, an ethnic group that lives on either side of the Makona River, a natural border to the south of forested Guinea that we cross in boats.
The Mendekema episode illustrates how this epidemic — which officially hit Guinea in March before moving on to Liberia and Sierra Leone — has killed so many people and, most of all, why it continues to spread. In just four months, the virus infected more than 1,300 people, and so far more than 880 people have died after suffering intense fever, diarrhea, vomiting and sometimes hemorrhages.
It is by far the most serious epidemic since the 1975 arrival of the virus to the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the Ebola River for which it is named. For 30 years, the number of victims — 1,570 deaths — had been relatively contained. But now the regional epidemic is considered out of control. The three West African capitals of Conakry, Freetown and Monrovia have all been hit. On July 26, Nigeria had its first confirmed case after an adult, who returned from Liberia via Togo, died in Lagos.
Mistrust of "white people"
The opposition we witnessed in Mendekema isn't isolated. In early July, more than 20 villages in Guinea refused intervention from medical staff. Exploiting the absence of treatment and mistrust towards "white people," opportunists are offering miracle cures based on onion potions. It is impossible to know the real health situation in these villages, and on the few occasions when medical teams gain access to them, unwelcome surprises inevitably await.
The most serious episode took place in Kolobengo, a small village to the north of Guéckédou, Guinea. In mid-July, local residents banned any access to the village. Two New York Times journalists were greeted with machetes, and young people even attacked a delegation of elderly people who came to talk with them. Police officers arrested 28 residents.
The opposition is persistent, and rumors are wreaking havoc. Many of the villagers believe "white people" are here to kill the population by spreading the poison with the sprays that are used to disinfect the homes. Denial of the illness, which is rumored to be an invention of governments and NGOs, is mixed with fear of the virus.
Clashes with medical teams
"Many think that going to a treatment center means certain death, that they do lethal injections, cut off ears and burn the bodies," says one person who was previously infected with the virus.
Marc Poncin, a DWB coordinator for Guinea, says that fear breeds fear in a vicious cycle. "People are suspicious, refuse our services, call us when it's too late," he says. "And seeing as the people in the advanced states of the illness die in the centers, they say it's our fault." Attacks against NGO vehicles are frequent. Residents throw stones and make threats with sticks.
"There is a clash between these different ways to handle the illness," explains Professor Cheikh Niang, a Senegalese anthropologist who travels around villages in Sierra Leone with a medical staff of 10 people. "When people say, 'you're taking our dead,' it's a metaphor for the absence of communication from the medical community." He says villagers reject the authority embodied by "doctors, power, the illness."
He is working to implement processes and rituals that take community traditions into account. "In Uganda, when a person dies, the body is covered with a traditional cloth," he says. "So during a previous Ebola epidemic in this country, medical teams added a cloth around the bag that contained the body."
Avoid all contact
Funerals represent a high risk of contamination. Families gather, and neighbors come to bid farewell to the body, to kiss it and touch it — the perfect conditions for the virus to spread from one family to another, and from one village to another. Despite the apparent tranquility of these communities, which are spread out around this forest region that produces fruits, vegetables and rice in large quantities, it is now difficult to feel safe, facing this invisible enemy.
The teams are reminding the people they are able to reach that they must reconsider their habits. They should wash their hands frequently, with a chlorinated preparation and, most importantly, avoid shaking hands, using at most a fist bump instead. The learning process has been tough for the local medical staff, who are accustomed to warmer relations.
"They're not used to Ebola," explains the young doctor Keita Namory, a Guinean from Conakry who works with DWB. "It's the first time we've had to face this epidemic. We need to teach disinfection, security measures."
Like his colleagues from the other centers, he has accepted the risks, the concerns and sometimes rejection by family to fight the deadly threat.
To battle the epidemic, authorities have developed messages intended for the various populations. "Ebola is real," for example, is written on large billboards at the border between Liberia and Guinea. At the Conakry airport, travelers must pass through a sanitary control. Medical personnel take temperatures, and travelers are required to fill out a document certifying that they have not had diarrhea, vomiting, abnormal bleeding, fever or "felt unusual tiredness" in the 24 hours before departure.
In the end, the medical teams are the ones doing the heavy lifting to contain the virus. As Namory says, "In an epidemic: It's up to doctors to lead from the front."
Fanged Frog Species Discovered, Eats Other Frogs
GENEVA— A team of German and Swiss zoologists have discovered an imposing new large-fanged frog species in West Africa. The batrachian's anatomy and genetics are very different from its cousins of the same region, according to the report published in the periodical Frontiers in Zoology.
The frog, named Odontobatrachidae, has the notable characteristic of big curved teeth in the upper jaw and two distinctive fangs in the lower jaw, which, the scientists say, could be used to eat other frogs, a relatively rare but not unheard of amongst some frog species.
The zoologists came across the new species while studying other types of frogs living in tropical forests in Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Liberia. Such discoveries are extremely rare in the 21st century.
The scientists say the Odontobatrachidae form a very distinctive group that may have been separated from other frog lines around 90 million years ago, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth.
Read the full report here.
Photo: Natural History Museum of Geneva
Strauss-Kahn's Accuser: A Visit With Those Who Know Her Best, In NYC's French-Speaking African Milieu
The alleged victim is an immigrant from northern Guinea, and her ethnicity is Fulani, who are known as pious, hardworking Muslims
NEW YORK – The alleged sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the now former head of the International Monetary Fund, has been major worldwide news. But it has hit especially hard in New York's French-speaking African community, home to the Guinean woman employed as a maid at the Sofitel Hotel where she says the 62-year-old French politician sexually assaulted her.
In the heart of Harlem, a small grocery store offers a flavor of Africa. The plump 45-year-old woman owner, Ms. A, who gives her customers a warm welcome in impeccable French, wears a long traditional green-colored African dress, and a turban made out of the same fabric is wrapped round her hair. Born in Guinea, she is a Muslim woman who belongs to the Mandinka ethnic group. The alleged victim is from northern Guinea, and her ethnicity is Fulani.
Julien Baba Sylla, a telecommunications engineer who introduces himself to us as the leader of New York's Guinean community, which counts some 5000 people in total, gives us a lift in his Ford Expedition. He says the grocery owner had become like a big sister to the alleged victim. The two woman talked to each other in a mixture of Bambara and French.
Ms. A loses her composure when we enter, appearing like a lady who needs to think before telling what she knows. Maybe she acts in this way because she is a smart shopkeeper, and knows she is sitting on a pile of gold: someone will pay for her secrets. But she has already told some important information to Julien Sylla, which contradicts one point about the alleged victim: she is married, not a widow as has been widely reported. Her husband is still living in the U.S., but not with her, and may have had trouble with the law.
Journalists investigating this case come up against a wall of silence, imposed both by investigators and defense attorneys for DSK (as Strauss-Kahn is referred to in France), and followed by the Sofitel Hotel's management, and the victim's attorney. Reporters have no other choice but to glean information from the accuser's family and friends. Are these people speaking because truth is their sole concern, or because they want to show off in front of the television cameras? Because after all, not every day do journalists from around the world go poking around Harlem and the Bronx.
The African Restaurant 2115, located on the corner of 119th street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue in Harlem), is another place where the Sofitel maid often went to eat. The owner is a Senegalese man who belongs to the Fulani ethnic group. His name is Blake Diallo, a friend of the alleged victim and regular customer, who liked lamb stew and fried plantains. In Restaurant 2115, most of the customers are French-speaking Africans: from Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast or Mali. In this restaurant people don't drink alcohol and they don't swear. Soccer matches are aired on TV, world events are discussed. In the evening, many men get up and go out for about 10 minutes, to cross the boulevard and go to the Islamic center al Aqsa to pray. Al Aqsa is a mosque without a minaret run by people from northern Ivory Coast called the Dioula.
When we talked to Senegalese people who often go to Restaurant 2115, we learned that the alleged victim was a serious and hardworking young woman. In no way was she wild or provocative. "Her family is very pious, because it is Maraboutic, in other words, religion means everything to them and money nothing," explains Amadou N'Diaye, the owner's childhood friend from Senegal. "You must understand that in the Fulani community, love is not to be treated lightly. Fulani people try to marry off their daughters very early, when they are still teenagers. For them, if someone from their family has sexual relations before marriage, it brings shame upon the whole family."
Like many Fulani people, who could not occupy key positions during the reign of Sekou Toure, the first President of Guinea from 1958 to 1984, the accuser's family emigrated to Casamance, in southern Senegal. Then, the young woman went to Dakar to get a US visa. "Make no mistake, this affair brings shame upon her family. In Africa, the parties involved would have solved this problem in secret," says N'Diaye. "From now on, two lives have been unnecessarily ruined, (the victim's) life and DSK's life. DSK is a man who the French-speaking African community appreciates a lot."
At Restaurant 2115, people show solidarity with the alleged victim, but nobody is eager to condemn DSK. Africans who live in New York think that the charges "will not hold up." "How could a 62-year-old man, who is not athletic at all, have forced a 32-year-old woman, who is tall and muscular from her manual work, to have sexual relations with him?" one wondered.
Amadou imagines a scenario in which "three very different cultures clash." The French culture of DSK, who made an extremely inappropriate move in suite 2806, but who called the hotel while heading for the airport, unaware that he had committed a crime. The culture of modesty of a pious Funali woman, who did not expose the crime and who did not confide her shame to the Sofitel Hotel's management, but was rather found sobbing by her coworkers, who then called the police. The "Prussian" culture of the American police in which things are either black or white, with no gray areas.
Read the original article in French.
Photo – DennisInAmsterdam

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The man and the woman decided to visit the house, not knowing what awaits them inside!
Selling a house is not an easy task: I want the deal to be profitable and take place in a short time! The idea that you will have the pleasure to see now is not just a hint for anyone who has not been able to sell property for a long time. It is the key to the heart of any buyer, and this advice is applicable to goods of any kind!
You will not need Plot to sell a house, So that they can buy it quickly. There is a simple magic that works without fail, and her name is happiness.
I watch the video for the third time and I understand that this is a brilliant marketing move! Having swept all around the house, people are sincerely happy, and good emotions help to decide on the purchase ... of a successful excursion!
That's what it looks like Fast house sale - the originality of this idea does not hold! If you watched the video with bated breath, be sure to show it to your friends. And you would like to arrange a similar attraction in your house?


Dr. Pete Vergot, University of Florida, IFAS Extension, gave a workshop on "Using Social Networks for Innovative Cooperation and Collaboration" at the AIAEE conference in Saskatoon, Canada.
He suggested that social networks have always been around: camp fires, town meetings, office cork boards, and the 1970s electronic bulletin boards. Now, 85% of U.S. students in colleges and universities are using a variety of social networking applications. He suggested that social networking is a way to recruit new members in the Association and also mentioned that USDA uses Twitter to make announcements. He described the University of Florida's decision to purchase Microsoft Communicator - a wireless network for online conferencing that integrates with other MS products. The University of Florida provides a campus server that allows all faculty members to communicate through this licensed program (pricing based on numbers of users). It includes a chat function, video, and allows for conferencing with any number of faculty and staff. The system checks Outlook calendars automatically to see who is available. Sessions can be recorded and archived and put in Outlook Inbox.
Dr. Vergot also provided overviews of Facebook, Twitter, Google Wave, and YouTube. Also mentioned was Google Wave - a new online communication and collaboration tool whose purpose is to seamlessly manage real-time interactions with multiple participants more seamless, although Dr. Vergot noted some are finding it difficult to use. During the discussion, an audience member from IICA said that of the 400 people they have in their system, only 3-4% were using their blog. However, when they changed to Facebook, usage went up 98% and involved 36 countries.


Concern about Taiwan is growing. This tiny nation of around 23 million has been a democratic success story, showing, to the shame of the giant nation on the mainland, that Asians can indeed govern themselves.
And while governing themselves, the Taiwanese have stood firm, facing down the giant military of the People's Republic of China that has regularly threatened invasion.
But now, observers agree, the danger to Taiwan may now come less in the form of brute force, and more by turning the nation's ballot box against itself, as subversion by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) threatens to change the character of Taiwan, and undo its proud legacy of freedom.
Tsai praised the TRA for helping Taiwan go through the darkest time in Taiwan's history, and is proud of the fact that Taiwan has become one of the freest countries in the world.
"In terms of security, [the act] laid out a framework to not only 'provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character' but also 'to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States," she said.
When asked about what was the one wish she wanted to make, Tsai said that for the young generations in Taiwan, the only way of living they know of is that of democracy.
Tsai that that she "could not agree more" with U.S. President Donald Trump's view that "economic security is national security." She believes Taiwan is "part of that," as Taiwan has the capacity to expand its economic relationship with the United States.
Tsai said this is particularly relevant in the case of Huawei, and the battle over the control of the 5G networks.
Tsai said that Taiwan is committed to defend itself under the military threat from China, and has made more investment in defense.
Tsai ended her speech by stressing again the "shared values" of the United States and Taiwan.
"At this critical moment, it is more important than ever to ensure that the letter and the spirit of the TRA prevail, and that the values we share continue to shape the future of our region," she said.
While Tsai sounds more optimistic and hopeful towards what is in store for Taiwan, China experts and observers are more concerned.
"Here in Taiwan, it's China that dominates every discussion. Beijing's malign influence is apparent everywhere, while the United States is seen as largely absent. Washington must wake up to the danger of China's massive effort to infiltrate, undermine and eventually abolish Taiwan's democracy," Josh Rogin, a columnist of the Washington Post wrote in an opinion article.
Dr. Frank Tian Xie, a business professor at University of South Carolina Aiken, agrees that although military threat is also one of the major challenges for Taiwan, the most dangerous one is the CCP's infiltration.
Xie thinks that the possibility for CCP to wage a war against Taiwan is low, as a war could trigger fiercer internal struggles in the CCP and objections from the Chinese public, as well as America's military intervention.
By influencing elections, deploying spies, buying over not only media, but also elites in the political and business communities, Xie said, the CCP has raised its interference to a dangerous level. The media and the compromised elites have become representatives of the CCP.
Xie said that even some Taiwanese-founded Chinese-language newspapers in the United States have now become mouthpieces for the CCP, such as the World Journal and The China Press.
Xie said Taiwan should adopt a law similar to America's "Foreign Agents Registration Act," and require those media that actually represent the CCP to register as foreign agents so that the Taiwanese public would not be misled by these outlets' fake news that harms Taiwan.
The third threat Taiwan is facing, Xie said, is its economic dependence on China. In 2017, Xie was invited to National Taiwan University to conduct research on the trade relationships and interdependence between Taiwan and China.
After analyzing economic and trade figures for the past 20 years, Xie and his co-researcher found that Taiwan's economic dependence on China was 10 times China's dependence on Taiwan.
Xie said this was an alarming figure, and Taiwan should realize the grave danger.
He said a Bilateral Free trade Agreement between the United States and Taiwan is a very good initiative. Given the Trump administration's strong support for Taiwan, Xie said the opportunity is ripe for Taiwan to start direct talks with the United States.
Chinese political and economic analyst Qin Peng told the Epoch Times that a Bilateral Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Taiwan can not only enhance U. S. national security and offer Taiwan more protection by reducing Taiwan's dependence on China, but will also benefit China by encouraging healthy development there.
Qin said, as part of the global high-tech supply chain, Taiwan plays a critical role for global information security, including the security of the United States and the Indo-pacific region.
If a Free Trade Agreement can be achieved, given that the United States has started to restrict the transfer of high-tech to China, more Taiwanese high-tech companies would choose to move back to Taiwan. This can in turn prevent CCP's forced technology transfer, theft, and potential compromise of critical parts of the supply chain.
Qin said a free and safe Taiwan is the beacon for many mainland Chinese who long for democracy. Taiwan's development and safety can give Chinese people hope and more incentive to strive for freedom and democracy, and to contain the CCP's predatory expansion.
Tang Baiqiao, former 1989 Tiananmen Square-uprising student leader and president of Democracy Academy of China, said a free trade agreement would bring U.S.-Taiwan relations to another height, and make the United States feel more secure about Taiwan's attitude. If Taiwan becomes too close with the CCP, there is little the United States can to do intervene, even when the CCP is trying to suffocate free institutions in Taiwan.
Tang said, a trade agreement with the United States can also set an example for other countries, encouraging them to improve trade relations with Taiwan, and he hopes that Taiwan can seize the opportunity.
Cao Ji (alias on Twitter), a former professor at a university in Shanghai who lives in Taiwan now, said that whether the status quo between Taiwan and China can be maintained depends on China's economic status in the coming years.
If China's current financial stimulus policy cannot save China's economy, the CCP could use "Taiwan Independence" as an excuse to create and intensify tensions at the Taiwan Strait to distract attention from its own crisis. Both Taiwan and the United States should prepare for this possibility in advance, he said.
Cao said, faced with the CCP's aggressive pressure on all fronts, Taiwan should cooperate more with the United States in politics, the economy, diplomacy, and the military.
At the same time, the Taiwanese government should be more proactive in supporting the Chinese people's fight against the CCP's tyranny, as well as their struggle to gain freedom and democracy.
Taiwan should be involved more in international human rights and the activities by NGOs to expose the CCP's atrocities.
Cao said, Taiwan is an important base for the semiconductor industry, and has the responsibility to make sure that sensitive technology will not fall into the CCP's hands. Taiwan and the United States should cooperate in law enforcement to punish Taiwanese businesses and individuals that secretly transfer U.S. technology and patents to the CCP, to prevent further damage.
He Qinglian, a China scholar, wrote in a commentary in Chinese that amongst the new "Romance of Three Kingdoms" of the United States, China and Taiwan, the U.S. attitude is an important force to balance the relationship across the Taiwan Strait.
However, the main "function" of TRA is to ensure that the U.S. will ensure Taiwan's safety if, and only if, the CCP tries to "unify" Taiwan with force. TRA cannot and will not protect Taiwan from CCP's "peaceful" infiltration.
In this sense, He argues, the TRA does not have the function of protecting Taiwan's democracy, as many Taiwanese have wished.
Therefore, the greatest challenge for people in Taiwan, who have somehow taken free elections for granted, is how to select the next president in 2020, who can fight against the CCP's red influence, and develop Taiwan's economy at the same time, while finding the fine line to balance its relationships with the two superpowers: the United States and China.
Jan 10 Is Beijing Ready to Surrender in Trade Talks?


Entering a nursing facility from a hospital or from the community can be a confusing and stressful time for any individual and the individual's family. When you are assisting an individual to move into a facility, you may be overwhelmed with information.
If an individual is expected to enter a nursing facility from a hospital for a rehabilitation stay and you are unsure if the individual will be able to return home, then it is important that you have a conversation with the case manager or discharge planner at the hospital. If the individual does not have the funds to pay privately for the individual's care for a period of six months, then the case manager or discharge planner should complete a screening for long-term care placement. The screening tool is called a Universal Assessment Instrument (UAI). It is important that this screening occur while the individual is in the hospital, and that the UAI is given to the facility in which the individual will be placed. The case manager or discharge planner is the person who has the ability to complete this screening while the individual is in the hospital. You should discuss the available placement options within the long-term care system in your area. You should also visit some of these facilities.
If an individual is entering a nursing facility from home or another community setting and the individual does not have the funds to pay privately for his or her care for a period of six months, then you should contact your local Department of Social Services to request a screening. In this situation, a social worker and a public health nurse will come to the individual's home to conduct the screening. It is important to plan ahead as much as possible, because most localities operate on a "first come, first served" basis and will conduct the screenings in the order in which they receive the requests. Some localities may take a minimum of four weeks before the screening can be done.
As stated in the Pre-Admission Screening Provider Manual, Chapter IV, the pre-admission screening is used to determine whether an "individual needs nursing facility services and, when appropriate, authorizes the nursing facility or community based long-term care." This screening is the first level of authorization for Medicaid reimbursement for nursing facility level of care. Therefore, the screening is a critical part of the planning process.
Zero to Six Months: Screenings are valid and do not require updates.
Six to Twelve Months: Screening updates are required.
Over Twelve Months: A new screening is required.
The attorneys and life care planner at Oast & Hook can assist you with these processes to guide you and your family member through these placement procedures.
Carey N. Raleigh is the life care planner with Oast & Hook, P.C. Ms. Raleigh earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from the University of Vermont in 1994 and a Master of Science in Social Work from Norfolk State University in 1998. She has over 16 years experience working as a director of social services in nursing and rehabilitation centers, as a medical social worker for a home health agency, and as an adult protective services worker for the City of Virginia Beach. Ms. Raleigh is the president of the Social Workers Association of Tidewater, the secretary for the Virginia Beach Task Force on Aging, and a member of the Virginia Beach Mayor's Commission on Aging.
O&H: Allie, We've heard that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking for a few good dogs. Please tell us about it.
Allie: Sure! A recent article in the Daily Press discusses the DHS's elite corps of approximately 2,000 dogs who sniff for bombs, drugs, and smuggled cash. The DHS wants to expand its corps by 600 dogs each year for the next five years. DHS is looking for Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, German shepherds, Dutch shepherds, and Belgian Malinois. DHS will also accept other working, herding, or sporting dogs, but requires prior approval. The bid solicitation sent to small breeders throughout the country stated that the candidates must be "alert, active, outgoing, confident," and "extremely tolerant of people." U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, is among the largest users of canines. Customs officials have 550 canine teams at ports of entry, and the Border Patrol has 850 teams in the border regions. Dogs also help the Federal Emergency Management Agency hunt for survivors or victims after a disaster, board ships with the Coast Guard, and help the Secret Service by sniffing for bombs. The Transportation Security Administration is requesting $71 million this year to set up 275 new canine teams for explosives detection in airports. Dogs usually work about ten years, and although they do not have federal retirement benefits, they are often adopted by their human partners when they are too old to work. Clark Larson, the individual who runs DHS's canine program, says "Their pension is sitting nicely by the fireplace with the handler." Sounds like our canine friends are doing a great service for our country. Now let me see if I can sniff out my favorite catnip toy. I hid it around here somewhere. See you next week!


Emily Louise Heard grew up in a small seaside village, and has loved art all of her life. Fear of becoming a 'starving artist' drove her to study Psychology and put her on a path that she didn't really want to follow. Her psychology studies have inspired her to create works of art that are aimed at simply making people feel happy.


Even though it is still cold outside, spring baseball and softball registration is currently underway and will soon come to an end. We have baseball and softball programs for ages 5 to 16 years old. With over 700 children in our program, join one of Lake County's premier baseball and softball organizations. No resident requirements!
Ratings day will be March 4th and we will quickly move into drafting/assigning teams. To help make this process run smoothly we strongly encourage our families to register by February 28th. Therefore, starting March 1st there will be an additional $25 fee charged. Register now to avoid the late fee!
Access the registration website at www.lvtb.org. Payments can be made via credit card or by printing out a registration form and mailing it in along with a personal check. Players will not be officially registered or placed on a team until payment is received.
The concept is simple. We come directly to your home and collect household materials that do not belong in a typical trash or recycling bin. Easy and Convenient!
Our Call Center Representatives will guide you through the list of acceptable items in your specific area. Certain restrictions and limitations may apply due to local and state guidelines.
Our program is usually offered under an agreement with your local public agency (city, county, township, district, etc.). If you would like to start this type of program in your community, contact your local officials and ask them to visit this website.
Copyright © 2015 Lake Villa Township. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Q: Packages `python-apt-common` and `python3-apt` in kinetic This is an Ubuntu 22.10 system release-upgraded from previous versions. Running:
$ pro security-status --unavailable
2036 packages installed:
     2 packages no longer available for download

Packages that are not available for download may be left over from a
previous release of Ubuntu, may have been installed directly from a
.deb file, or are from a source which has been disabled.

Packages:
python-apt-common python3-apt
[...]

lists python-apt-common and python3-apt as "no longer available for download".
I do not know anything about these two packages. Searching https://packages.ubuntu.com/ didn't give me any good information.
Is it safe to delete these? Are they replaced by other packages in a newly installed Ubuntu 22.10 system?

Please, note the following command output (which is scary!):
$ apt --dry-run remove python-apt-common python3-apt
NOTE: This is only a simulation!
      apt needs root privileges for real execution.
      Keep also in mind that locking is deactivated,
      so don't depend on the relevance to the real current situation!
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  apg apport-symptoms aptdaemon-data cabextract distro-info gir1.2-snapd-2 gir1.2-vte-2.91 gnome-control-center-faces gnome-online-accounts libcolord-gtk4-1 libglu1-mesa libgnome-bluetooth-ui-3.0-13 libgnome-rr-4-2 libgssdp-1.2-0
  libgupnp-1.2-1 libgupnp-av-1.0-3 libgupnp-dlna-2.0-4 librygel-core-2.6-2 librygel-db-2.6-2 librygel-renderer-2.6-2 librygel-server-2.6-2 libwhoopsie-preferences0 libxatracker2 mobile-broadband-provider-info network-manager-gnome
  python3-click python3-colorama python3-debconf python3-defer python3-distro-info python3-gdbm python3-httplib2 python3-jeepney python3-keyring python3-launchpadlib python3-lazr.restfulclient python3-lazr.uri python3-problem-report
  python3-pyparsing python3-secretstorage python3-wadllib rygel rygel-tracker whoopsie-preferences x11-session-utils xinit xinput xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-libinput xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-all
  xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-qxl xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  apport apport-gtk aptdaemon command-not-found gdebi-core gnome-control-center language-selector-common language-selector-gnome python-apt-common python3-apport python3-apt python3-aptdaemon python3-aptdaemon.gtk3widgets
  python3-commandnotfound python3-distupgrade python3-software-properties python3-update-manager software-properties-common software-properties-gtk ttf-mscorefonts-installer ubuntu-advantage-desktop-daemon ubuntu-advantage-tools
  ubuntu-desktop ubuntu-desktop-minimal ubuntu-drivers-common ubuntu-minimal ubuntu-release-upgrader-core ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk update-manager update-manager-core update-notifier update-notifier-common xorg xserver-xorg
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 34 to remove and 6 not upgraded.
[...]

A: Let's find out if these packages are safe to delete....
Let's test the removal of the python3-apt package, and see of it's significant:
$ apt remove python3-apt --simulate | wc -l

75

Well, it removes 75 packages. That is a lot! It might be serious. Let's look for metapackage removals:
$ apt remove python3-apt --simulate | grep "Remv ubuntu"

Remv ubuntu-desktop [1.497]
Remv ubuntu-desktop-minimal [1.497]
Remv ubuntu-advantage-desktop-daemon [1.10] [ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk:amd64 ]
Remv ubuntu-advantage-tools [27.11.3~22.10.1] [ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk:amd64 ubuntu-minimal:amd64 ]
Remv ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk [1:22.10.8] [python3-distupgrade:amd64 ubuntu-drivers-common:amd64 python3-software-properties:amd64 python3-update-manager:amd64 ubuntu-minimal:amd64 ]
Remv ubuntu-release-upgrader-core [1:22.10.8] [python3-distupgrade:amd64 ubuntu-drivers-common:amd64 python3-software-properties:amd64 python3-update-manager:amd64 ubuntu-minimal:amd64 ]
Remv ubuntu-drivers-common [1:0.9.6.3] [ubuntu-minimal:amd64 ]
Remv ubuntu-minimal [1.497]

Oh, my. That's mighty serious: Removing python3-apt looks like seriously bad news for the system. It removes the desktop metapackage and even the minimal system metapackage. Removal of this package is definitely NOT safe.

*

*You can see from this example that your Ubuntu system depends upon the Python3 bindings for apt. This makes sense: Many of the features that make Ubuntu great are written in Python3.

*You can use the same method to test python-apt-common.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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"Fun-loving, mischievous Fox wishes he were a tiger. Tigers are big and fast and sneaky. So he decides to become one!"--Provided by publisher.
"Guided reading level E"--Back cover.
100 ME:PersonalName 1 $a Personal name Tabor, Corey R.
$c Statement of responsibility by Corey R. Tabor.
500 General Note $a General note "Guided reading level E"--Back cover.
520 Summary $a Summary, etc. note "Fun-loving, mischievous Fox wishes he were a tiger. Tigers are big and fast and sneaky. So he decides to become one!"--Provided by publisher.
521 Target Audience 0 $a Target audience note 0.9.
655 IT:Genre 7 $a Genre/form data or focus term Humorous fiction.
830 SAE:UnifrmTitle 0 $a Uniform title I can read book.


The South African theme for NNW 2017 supports the South African Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG): "Drink lots of clean, safe water" and "Use sugar and food and drinks high in sugar sparingly" . The FBDG recommendation for sugar intake is also in line with the WHO recommendations for free sugar intake. The FBDGs or Guidelines for Healthy Eating as it is more commonly known are aimed at promoting healthy eating behaviours among consumers.
This serves as a background document highlighting the concept and supporting messages to be used throughout National Nutrition Week (NNW) 2017. It can be used in conjunction with the 'Questions and Answers document'.
The objective of this document is to outline the key messages to be communicated and statistics to be used; in order to ensure consistency in communication by all involved with National Nutrition Week 2017.


It's great you all can be here today to celebrate with us this special occasion. Today we celebrate that 12 of the 15 people living here, including myself, will become 'official inhabitants' of this house. A house, which is, to say the least, a very special house, or should I say, a very special church.
It's about three years ago that the first people came to live in this convivium which is part of the Ruimzicht-foundation. For the international students from the PThU it was a great opportunity to live here in Groningen together with Dutch students. Also for the Dutch students it was and is a great chance. Who else can say they live together with so many people of different nationalities?
I arrived here last summer. At that time the house seemed pretty quiet. Almost all the former international students had left and the Dutch students were enjoying their holidays. I was actually thinking, to be honest, that I moved into a very peaceful and quiet house in which nothing was really going in.
However, I was mistaken. In September all the international students arrived and also the Dutch students had finished their holidays. It turned out that it was a very colorful and special group I would be living with this year. I assume I speak for each of us when I say that everybody in this house is very involved with each other. It might be the setting of the house which is quite inviting for being involved with each other or it might just be the people, but when coming home there is always someone to talk to. And believe me, after a tough day a nice and warm greeting can really be a blessing. As the Dutch say: a good neighbor is better than a far friend.
Also, it certainly is not a quiet group. This became clear to me when I tried to organize a bible study on one of the house evenings but forgot that I was dealing with a group of pastors: how naive of me. I spent most of the evening urging people not to interrupt each other with theological interpretations and insights.
I think – all in all – that I speak for everybody when I say that we learn a lot from each other. It is not only that we can exchange our ideas, but it is also in the very subtle things that we learn from each other. The way we greet each other, the way we take care of each other, the food we make – and apparently our vla is a very special desert – but also we learn from each other in the way we pray to God. It is a great joy to see how everybody is so different but still can be a community, especially on the Wednesday evenings: we have danced together, sang together, played games together and much more. I wish for many more evenings like these.
It's a great pleasure and honor to live here. It's great that we are at the beginning of a history which hopefully will go on for a long, long time. We are very thankful that you, our guests, want to celebrate this special occasion with us today! I really hope you will enjoy this evening. In a moment you may also enjoy the food, but before we start I first want to ask Sybren and Hillian to tell something about our meal and say a blessing. Have a great evening!


text:
Philips, SK Telecom to Test NFC in Seoul
The two companies are launching a trial of Near Field Communication technology in Seoul, Korea, that will let participants use their mobile phones to download music, unlock doors and pay for goods and services.
By Claire Swedberg
Tags: Innovation
May 26, 2006—Philips Semiconductors and South Korean mobile telephone communications company SK Telecom (SKT) are launching a trial in Seoul, Korea, using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to download content, unlock doors and pay for goods and services. The trial will include about 400 participants, about half of which will use phones manufactured with a Philips' NFC RFID chip, antenna and microcontroller. The other half will use phones retrofitted with what Philips and SKT describe as "plug and play" add-on NFC hardware (an NFC chip and antenna).
SK Telecom is providing the commercialized payment services, says Bettina Kuhrt, Philips Semiconductors' program manager for NFC projects, while Philips is contributing NFC phone hardware, software, reader chips and applications know-how. Philips is also working with a variety of partners for this pilot, including operators, service providers, handset manufacturers, credit card companies, consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers.
Bettina Kuhrt, Philips Semiconductors
The company has been involved in several similar trials, Kuhrt says, in the United States, Europe (see French NFC Payment Trial Kicks Off), Taiwan and other areas. Since July 2005, Philips has been working with Taiwan's Proximity Mobile Transaction Service Alliance (PMTSA) to make secure payments using NFC for public transportation. "I think, by having these trials, we prove there is a global interest in this technology," Kuhrt says, "and we are able to bring a benefit to users, wherever they are."
The NFC-enabled phones, equipped with Philips' RFID chips compliant with the ISO 14443A standard for contactless cards (smart cards), can be read at a range of less than 10 centimeters (4 inches). As such, the phones can function like contactless cards to pay for goods and services or access facilities. The phones can also serve as RFID interrogators (readers) to read tags, download data and enable peer-to-peer communication with other phones and devices.
According to Kuhrt, the Korean pilot begins in June and will run for about six months. During that time, participants will use their phones to unlock doors and read active posters (i.e., those with embedded RFID tags). For access-control applications, the users will be able to open doors by holding their phones close to an adjacent interrogator. With active posters, users will present their phones close to the poster and download such things as wallpaper, ring tones, music and public transportation schedules.
RaceKit Pro Offers RFID Race Timing in a Box
RFID Brings Flexibility to Race-Timing Company
Feig Electronics Buys Panmobil to Provide Handheld, Wearable Technology
Is Retail Approaching the Tipping Point for RFID?
Tracking Asylum Seekers via RFID
Are High-Paid U.S. CEOs Risk-Averse?
RFID Journal LIVE! 2018 Report, Part 2
Technology Sessions
Executive Strategy Track
RFID's Sporting Life
RFID Journal LIVE! Europe 2008 Report
Playing With RFID


This morning my radio started acting up. I had music on my phone playing fine but the artist wasn't showing up on my radio display properly .I pushed the play button at the bottom of the screen and now every song I play goes for about five seconds and the starts over again in a continuous loop. I've tried unpairing and then re pairing the phone and get the same thing. Any suggestions?
There could be a firmware update for this issue, but couldn't begin to tell you how to do it.
i have the same on my car... i just live with it. the dealership couldn't fix it.
What music app/provider are you streaming with? Phone?
If you have an iPhone u need at least 1 song in your iTunes, and iTunes has to be enabled, otherwise this happens.
If your phone is android you might try rebooting it.


Our client is one of the world's leading companies when it comes to machine tools and lasers for industrial manufacturing. Taking manufacturing technology to the next level has always been their mission and they are poised for continued growth. On their behalf we are currently searching for a Field Service Engineer to join their Ontario service team. This position would be responsible for the installation, troubleshooting, repair and maintenance of machines at customer sites primarily across Ontario, with some need to travel to other provinces to assist other service teams.