'Temptation' is a 120.01ft /36.58m Custom motor yacht built in 2013 by Trinity Yachts, and Trinity Yachts have also created her exterior design. She is award-winning, and with good reason.
Temptation's spacious interior layout sleeps up to 8 guests in 4 rooms, including a master suite, 3 double cabins. She is easily capable of carrying up to 6 crew members onboard to ensure you and your guests enjoy the most exquisite charter experience, making use of the superyacht's impressive amenities.
She has an aluminium hull and aluminium superstructure, with a cruising speed of 18 knots, a maximum speed of 23 knots and a range of 3,500nm from 37,055litre fuel tanks. Her mixture of style and performance is particularly impressive.
A large portfolio of toys onboard include 2 x Seadoo Jet-Skis, 2 x Paddleboards (Stand up), 1 x Wake Board (Adult), Snorkelling Equipment (Adults and Children), 1 x Freestyle Waterslide, Fishing Equipment, and 1 x Towable Toy (Super Rockin Mable), sure to keep guests of all ages entertained.


text:
Anniversaries, Cover Stories, Editorials,
Interviews, Lists, and Comprehensive Rankings
Ranking The Doors: Every Album from Worst to Best
Fifty years later, Jim Morrison's poetry sounds beautiful and misanthropic
by Michael Roffman
on January 04, 2017, 12:00am
Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7
06. The Soft Parade (1969)
"Horse Latitudes": 36.17°N 115.13°W — or, Las Vegas, NV — Forget gambling, skip the strip clubs, and don't buy tickets to any shows. You are the show. Take your ass to the Bellagio and start singing each song here — and loud. Though, be careful who you ask for "soft asylum." Could get rough.
Number of songs pre-written for The Bee Gees: 1, "The Soft Parade". John Densmore's scatterbrained percussion has Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb written all over it.
The best cover of "Five to One": "Wild Child". Okay, so it's not the same song, but the stomping Godzilla-like rhythm section and the song's vocal melody echo the greatest track off of Strange Days. Morrison's snarl on "wild chi-ld" even mimics how he screams "five to one." Maybe they forgot.
Scrapped theme song for Dallas: "Tell All the People". It's all in the lyrics: "Can't you see me growing, get your guns"; "Gonna bury all our troubles in the sand": "Follow me across the sea/ Where milky babies seem to be." Morrison hated the song, but J.R. would have loved it. Well, maybe not.
"Where's your will to be weird?" When the 1885 version of ZZ Top — see: Back to the Future Part III — seemingly chimes in throughout "Runnin' Blue". Though, we doubt guitarist Robby Krieger would have been able to flip his guitar around like Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons. Just sayin'.
Wanna know how long this album took to make?
Shortest song: "Runnin' Blue" (2:26)
Longest song: "The Soft Parade" (8:35)
Val Kilmer did it better: Nothing beats a drunken Kilmer flubbing the recording sessions and ad-libbing the lyrics to "Touch Me", specifically the iconic chorus. It's impossible to listen to the song now and not belt out: "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon now suck me, babe. Can't you see, I need some fuckin' head…" Thanks, Val.
Analysis: It's unfortunate (and mildly unfair) to call The Soft Parade the band's worst album, especially since it's one of their more singular efforts and finds them tinkering with brass and strings in a manner that would become rather prevalent during the '70s. The problem is that the album's meandering, soggy middle — ahem, "Shaman's Blues", "Do It", "Easy Ride", and "Five to One"-rip-off "Wild Child" — deflates so much of the energy set in motion by "Tell All the People" and "Touch Me". Even worse, they completely fumble their comeback (see: "Runnin' Blue" and "Wishful Sinful") with the dubious title track.
Having said that, "Touch Me" would slot somewhere in the top five best Doors songs, and proves that their brazen attempt at candied pop was not only earnest but completely warranted. That showy opening, that triumphant sax solo by Curtis Amy, and those lush magical strings … it's gorgeous rock 'n' roll. It's also irresistibly catchy, and anyone who sings it inevitably sounds like a drunk and stoned Bill Murray at late-night karaoke, which isn't a bad thing by any means. For that alone, it's worth having The Soft Parade in your collection, and with enough brandy, it'll start to sound like the craziest Pat Boone album.
Fun fact: This was, not surprisingly, the band's most expensive album.
Classic Rock News
The Downward Spiral of It's Always Sunny's Dennis Reynolds
Album Review: Brian Eno – Reflection

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Raman Kisliak applies against inclusion in lawbreakers' database
Submitted by admin on Tue, 11/13/2012 - 20:48
Тhe unlawful inclusion of the human rights defender in this database by the police became the reason for his detention and subsequent fingerprinting on 8 November.
In the appeal, filed by Raman Kisliak t the head of the Leninski District Police Department of Brest, it is stated that the inclusion him in the database of lawbreakers by officers of the Leninski DPD is unlawful, as far as they have neither addressed him in connection with the procedure of dactylography nor presented him any administrative charges lately.
Show solidarity with ARCHE!
"ARCHE" is the only thick monthly magazine in the Belarusian language which has been regularly issued since 1998. However, the events that have been taking place since the arrest of it's the then chief editor Valer Bulhakau can put a cross on the further existence of the edition.
Belarus: PACE committee proposes the nomination of Ales Bialiatski for the 2013 PACE Human Rights Prize
Strasbourg, 04.10.2012 – In a statement adopted today in Strasbourg, the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) announced its unanimous decision to support the proposal by Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, to nominate Ales Bialiatski – the human rights defender sentenced on 24 November 2011 to four and a half years' imprisonment – for the 2013 PACE Human Rights Prize.


text:
News from EuropeVideo
A Norwegian documentary scientifically disproves gender ideology
In 2010, Harold Eia, a Norwegian sociologist and writer, presented a documentary on YouTube, entitled "Hjernevask" (Brainwash). In the documentary, he questioned the scientific foundations of gender ideology and proved that this ideology has no basis in reality.
In the documentary, Harald Eia contrasts theoreticians' statements of gender ideology with other neuroscientific and evolutionary psychology studies. While gender ideologists state that there is no biological difference between the comportment of men and women, and the differences exist just because of the social structure, other scientists have proven with empirical tests, that there is a biological difference between the preferences of men and women.
The studies pointed out that culture can influence a person's comportment, but they proved that our genes also determine some conduct. Gender theoreticians refuse to accept the results of these studies, however, their gender ideology exists just theoretically, and it is not proven empirically.
Catherine Egeland, a "gender philosopher", admits in the documentary that she is "not interested at all" in this kind of science, and according to her "it is frightening that some people are interested in researching these differences".
You can watch the seven-episode documentary of Brainwash with English subtitles here. The first video is Gender Equality Paradox.
Source: pt.aleteia.org
TagsDocumentaryEuropegendergender ideologyNorway
After the attacks in France, African terror groups incite Muslims to terrorism
Masses without the faithful until the 17th of January in Austria


text:
Inside the IGF Student Competition: Polyglot Cubed
December 12, 2008 | By Jill Duffy
More: Console/PC, Student/Education, Exclusive
Games education site GameCareerGuide, an affiliate of Gamasutra, is running a series of interviews with student developers who have submitted works to the 2009 Independent Games Festival Student Competition.
In the latest article, reprinted here, MFA student Lindsay Grace discusses her language learning game, Polyglot Cubed. She was the sole developer.
The word polyglot refers to people who speak more than one language. Grace, a graduate student at the University of Illinois, Chicago, calls the title a puzzle game designed to aid in the retention of listening vocabulary. Polyglot Cubed has a user modifiable environment created to facilitate learning a variety of languages with minimal training.
The game is designed around six rooms of floating, cubicle tiles. Each tile is assigned a foreign language word, and a pictographic representation of that word. The cubes are clustered by topic, usage, or form of speech to encourage contextual recognition and aid visual memory. The player must match the spoken word (by selecting the bottom of the screen) with the cube that corresponds to it.
The game currently has two versions, one for Portuguese and one for Mandarin Chinese, It's designed to be played on a Tablet PC, but it also works with a mouse and keyboard. It's also customizable, so users can add their own images and vocabulary using a mod tool or by replacing the files in the program's installation directory.
Tell us how Polyglot Cubed came to be.
Lindsay Grace: Polyglot was originally designed as a mission-based adventure game called Bangkok Taxi. I wrote a game design document and prototyped a game where the player drove a taxi and needed to follow the passenger's directions as they were spoken in Thai. The prototype proved that the idea wouldn't work well. I discovered that it is too much stress to require someone to translate a foreign language and drive a car at the same time. I really should have seen that coming.
I was about ready to abandon the project when I realized that casual gameplay was the secret. Even the most committed language learner doesn't want to spend hours in translations, so I designed a game that really emphasized a few minutes of simple gameplay.
After a few iterations, I came upon the idea of breaking the experience into rooms and really compartmentalizing the language goals. The rest of the work, like designing a sign system for the pictographs, just involved lots of good old-fashioned creativity and research.
What was your goal in developing the game?
LG: Like most people, I'm extremely busy. The project was my way of blending several goals. I'm a full-time MFA student, so I needed a semester-long independent research project. I also teach games, so I wanted to get in some design and development practice. Lastly, I've been trying to teach myself Mandarin Chinese and Portuguese. The project just blended all of my needs and passions.
What do you think is the game's greatest asset? What sets it apart from other games in the IGF?
LG: The game's greatest asset is its design. In my research, I found many educational games set their sights on primary and secondary school students. They also tend to focus on one very specific skill, like learning numbers in Spanish.
Despite precedent, I tried to design a game for a wide audience and provide a very general set of language skills. As a matching game, it's pretty easy to understand and could offer that sense of universal appeal that more complicated games may miss.
In technical terms, the game is also extensible. If you want to use the Polyglot game mechanic to learn medical terms or even Klingon, you can just build your own game. I provide a program for modifying the game with your own content.
I've been following the IGF for years and I just feel there aren't enough attempts at education. It seems like such a missed opportunity. When I was younger, I spent more time learning about the world of Zelda than I did on homework. Interestingly I was still reading, but I was reading game guides, because they helped me get better at something I wanted to do: succeed in game.
IGF is such a great resource. Whenever I run into someone who says they don't like playing games, I say, "But wait!" and bring out a gem from past competitions. The best games of the IGF set themselves apart by critically challenging gameplay standards. Polyglot Cubed tries to pursue a challenge to educational game design by shedding some of the standard assumptions about meaningful play.
Polyglot Cubed also endeavors for simplicity. That's one of the reasons it's designed for touch displays. In its next iteration, I really want to put it on an iPhone or Google Android. That suits the design best. I also really like the idea of having multiple people in front of one large multi-touch screen, competing to get the next Polyglot word.
I haven't seen many IGF games that are designed to be modded either. I like the idea of a kind of open source game environment.
What drew you to use a game to teach language acquisition?
LG: Honestly, I learned my first (and only) German word from Wolfenstein 3D: Achtung!
I believe that games are tremendous teaching tools. It's amazing how much people know about the fictive worlds of some games. In complex games we learn about the geography of the game world, the characters, their back stories, and a whole set of fictions. I realized that in some ways, as a game player, you are routinely acquiring new words just to maintain efficacy in the game world.
I figured, why not put all that learning to a use.
What games (or non-game things) influenced this game? How or why?
LG: Funny. Originally it was supposed to be a Grand Theft Auto II for language learning. It's a good thing that didn't last; I really could have wrecked a classic (see Bangkok Taxi above).
Instead, the game is a response to tools like Rosetta Stone, Chinese Pod, and the study tools that come with college textbooks. I also poured through a bunch of "learn language X in 30 days" books and thumbed through linguistics resources to determine the ideal set of 250 words an English speaker would want to say. The goal was to create something that was more interesting than each of those resources on its own.
The older I get, the more I move toward casual play. Games I can start and stop on flights or squeeze in at lunch just fit my life better. Games with rhythmic gameplay and a little brain power, like Crayon Physics, are probably the biggest influence.
I'd also say all those little puzzles buried in games like Onimusha influenced the design.
What was the most difficult part of developing Polyglot Cubed?
LG: I was surprised to find that the programming was the easy part. Achieving a balance between educational content and entertainment value was tough. It's also not easy trying to come up with a 200 word sign system when you hit words like take, how, use, and was.
Tell us one interesting thing that you learned in developing the game.
LG: I can't stress how hard it is to balance the meaningful with the fun. Every new idea that would offer some cool fun feature then got in the way of some educational goal.
I spoke with people who offered perspectives from fine art, education, linguistics, psychology, and game design. As soon as I met the fine art needs, I destroyed the psychology needs; as soon as I got the educational structure I demolished the fun.
I really appreciate how many little decisions have to be met when taking on a wide audience. The game, for example, doesn't use much color to facilitate universal accessibility and limit the amount of distraction. Color, on the other hand, is one of the few key elements of visual design.
I learned that sometimes the wider the audience, the narrower the design.
Since making Polyglot Cubed, have your opinions or assumptions about game development changed in any way? If so, how and what were they before?
LG: I didn't think it before, but simplicity is sometimes born from a lot of hard work by the developer. There are so many little decisions about content, size, shape, color, movement, extensibility, etc., that go into the development of a game.
112417 newswire /view/news/112417/Inside_the_IGF_Student_Competition_Polyglot_Cubed.php Loading Comments


Click HERE to see the Overview, Daily Activities, Accommodation and Maps on our Digital Itinerary.
Join Us on A Unique Elephant and Rhino Conservation Safari. August 31-September 8, 2019 in South Africa. ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT. Call Jim Holden (949) 500-0094 or Sonia Marsh (949) 402-7828 to reserve your space.


Society currently faces a set of new challenges that are both global in scale and highly dynamic. Some of the most critical are: climate change, energy, security and the spread of new diseases such as HIV and the continued devastating effects of old diseases, such as malaria. These issues involve resources and impacts which no single in society controls, but which affect all people worldwide. They require the allocation of significant resources to the preservation or development of 'public goods', such as the earth's climate, security or public health.
The purpose of GSD is to create a new set of links between scientists and stakeholders to develop new simulation and visualisation methods analyse these issues and to seek new ways in which science can support policy and decision making. The project will organise a series of workshops and conferences to bring together the scientists specialising in the analysis of these global challenges, including experts in the application of ICT FETs for the analysis of complex, dynamic systems. In parallel, a series of dialogues will be carried out between scientists, stakeholders and decision makers to explore new mechanisms of interaction between these groups exploiting the application if modern ICT FET simulation tools for rapid analysis of complex dynamic systems, including the analysis of very large, dispersed data sets.


text:
package com.helger.photon.bootstrap3.navbar;

import javax.annotation.Nullable;

import com.helger.html.css.ICSSClassProvider;
import com.helger.photon.bootstrap3.CBootstrapCSS;

/**
 * Type of navbar position
 *
 * @author Philip Helger
 */
public enum EBootstrapNavbarType implements ICSSClassProvider
{
  DEFAULT (null),
  STATIC_TOP (CBootstrapCSS.NAVBAR_STATIC_TOP),
  FIXED_TOP (CBootstrapCSS.NAVBAR_FIXED_TOP),
  FIXED_BOTTOM (CBootstrapCSS.NAVBAR_FIXED_BOTTOM);

  private final ICSSClassProvider m_aCSSClass;

  EBootstrapNavbarType (@Nullable final ICSSClassProvider aCSSClass)
  {
    m_aCSSClass = aCSSClass;
  }

  @Nullable
  public String getCSSClass ()
  {
    return m_aCSSClass == null ? null : m_aCSSClass.getCSSClass ();
  }

  public boolean isTop ()
  {
    return this == STATIC_TOP || this == FIXED_TOP;
  }

  public boolean isBottom ()
  {
    return this == FIXED_BOTTOM;
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Toto je seznam hlavních představitelů rodu Schwarzenbergů. Dnešní knížecí rod nese jméno podle panství Schwarzenberg v bavorském okrese Středních Frankách nedaleko města Scheinfeld. Panství v první polovině 15. století zakoupil svobodný pán Erkinger I. ze Seinsheimu, který se jako první začal psát ze Seinsheimu na Schwarzenbergu.

Seznam

Svobodní páni (1429-1599)
 Erkinger I. (ze Seinsheimu na Schwarzenbergu, 1362–1437), zúčastnil se válek proti husitům
 Michal II. († 1469), jeho syn
 Michal III. († 1499), jeho syn
 Erkinger II. († 1518), jeho syn
 Vilém I. (1486–1526), jeho syn
 Vilém II. († 1557), jeho syn

Hrabata ze Schwarzenbergu (1599-1670)
 Adolf hrabě ze Schwarzenbergu (1551–1600), jeho syn; roku 1599 získal tureckou hlavu v erbu a hraběcí titul
 Adam hrabě ze Schwarzenbergu (1583–1641), jeho syn

Knížata ze Schwarzenbergu (1670 - dosud)
 Jan Adolf I. hrabě ze Schwarzenbergu (1615–1683), jeho syn, od roku 1670 kníže
 Ferdinand Vilém Eusebius kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1652–1703), jeho syn
 Adam František Karel Eusebius kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1680–1732), jeho syn, dědic Eggenbergů, první vévoda krumlovský z tohoto rodu (1723)
 Josef I. Adam kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1712–1782), jeho syn
 Jan I. Nepomuk kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1742–1789), jeho syn
 Karel I. Filip kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1771–1820), jeho syn, generalissimus jeden z vítězných vojevůdců bitvy národů u Lipska
 Karel II. kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1802–1858), jeho syn
 Karel III. kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1824–1904), jeho syn
 Karel IV. kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1859–1913), jeho syn
 Karel V. kníže ze Schwarzenbergu (1886–1914), jeho syn
 Karel VI. kníže Schwarzenberg (1911–1986), jeho syn
 Karel VII. / I. kníže Schwarzenberg (* 1937), jeho syn, současná hlava rodu, politik
 Jan Nepomuk Schwarzenberg (* 1967), jeho syn

Schwarzenbergové
Seznamy lidí

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Fontevivo 72 is positioned a few steps from San Miniato Alto, historical and peaceful town on the splendid Tuscan hills between Pisa and Florence.
On one side you can admire the entire Arno valley and on the other side enjoy the stupendous view of the Tower of Federico II.
From here you can easily reach in a short time the most beautiful cities and the charming ancient villages of Tuscany such as Florence, Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano, Arezzo, Lucca, Pistoia. . .
It is the ideal place to enjoy quiet, serenity, culture and traditional Tuscan cuisine offered by many trattorias and restaurants in the area.
Adjacent to the estate you can find the sports center "Golf Club Fontevivo" with gym, tennis courts, 9-hole golf course and restaurant.
Fontevivo 72 was born as a result of the restructuring of an old barn and is composed of the manor house and three apartments each with air conditioning, Wi-Fi, TV, solarium, private garden and parking.
Designed by the owner, architect Alessandro Mancini, who lives and works in the main house built on a hill representing a unique model of housing. The interiors, furnished in a modern and sophisticated way, are very bright thanks to large windows that overlook the solarium and the south facing private garden, from where you can admire the green valley below the Rocca of San Miniato.


text:
import redis from 'redis'
import debug from 'debug'
import config from './config'

const log = debug('www:cache')

const client = redis.createClient({
  host: config.cache.host,
  port: config.cache.port
})

client.on('connect', function () {
  log(`Connected to cache server ${client.address}`)
})

client.on('warning', function (warning) {
  log(warning.message)
})

client.on('error', function (error) {
  console.error(error.message)
})

export default client


text:
Arianna Huffington (Atenas, 15 de julho de 1950), nascida Ariánna Stassinópulos (), é uma colunista, autora e escritora greco-estadunidense. É mais conhecida como co-fundadora do site de notícias The Huffington Post. Foi casada com o deputado republicano Michael Huffington por onze anos, tendo mantido o sobrenome dele após o divórcio. Uma popular comentarista política conservadora em meados da década de década de 1990, ela adotaria crenças políticas mais liberais na década seguinte. Em 2003, concorreu na eleição para governador da Califórnia como candidata independente, tendo perdido para Arnold Schwarzenegger.

No dia 7 de fevereiro de 2011, a AOL anunciou a aquisição do The Huffington Post por 315 milhões de dólares. A AOL informou que Arianna irá desempenhar o cargo de presidente e editora-chefe do recém-criado The Huffington Post Media Group, o qual irá englobar todos os conteúdos do Huffington Post, além de alguns conteúdos da AOL, tais como Engadget, TechCrunch, Moviefone, MapQuest, Black Voices, PopEater, AOL Music, AOL Latino, AutoBlog, Patch e StyleList. A AOL espera que a transação termine no final do primeiro quadrimestre do ano. A internacionalização do Huffington Post, começando pela criação de uma seção brasileira, foi anunciada por Arianna como uma das prioridades do grupo.

Biografia
Huffington nasceu em Atenas, na Grécia, em 15 de julho de 1950. É filha de Konstantinos Stassinopoulos, um jornalista e consultor empresarial, e Elli Georgiadi. Ela possui uma irmã, Agapi, autora, oradora e artista. Arianna se mudou para a Inglaterra aos 16 anos de idade, onde estudou na Universidade de Cambridge. Em 1971, foi eleita presidente da Sociedade de Cambridge, tornando-se a terceira mulher a assumir o posto. Em 1972, obteve bacharelado em economia. No ano seguinte, publicou o livro The Female Woman (), um panfleto contra o movimento de emancipação feminina.

Após sua formatura, mudou-se para Londres, onde morou com o jornalista e apresentador de televisão Bernard Levin, que ela conheceu quando os dois foram jurados do programa da BBC Face the Music. Em 1980 ela desmanchou o namoro com Levin, após ele ter se recusado em pedi-la em casamento, e foi morar nos Estados Unidos. Após a morte de Levin, em 2004, Arianna declarou que ele foi "o grande amor de minha vida". No início dos anos 1980, ela se envolveu com o político democrata e então governador (atual Advogado-Geral) da Califórnia Jerry Brown. Foi nesta época que ela primeiramente flertou com os ideais de esquerda, posição política para a qual retornou no final da década de 1990, após ter sido de direita durante o final da década de 1980 e início de 1990.

Arianna conheceu o empresário milionário e político republicano Michael Huffington, amigo da família Bush, numa festa de Ann Getty em 1985 em São Francisco. Os dois se casaram em 1986 em um casamento pago por Getty, que dizia que precisava encontrar um marido para Arianna. Eles se mudaram para Washington, D.C., quando Michael foi nomeado Subsecretário-Adjunto de Defesa para Negociações Políticas. Os dois estabeleceram residência em Santa Barbara em 1992 para que Michael pudesse se candidatar para a Câmara dos Representantes dos Estados Unidos pelo estado da Califórnia. Ele foi eleito por uma grande margem de votos e manteve-se conservador em vários aspectos durante seu mandato: defendia um governo menor que gastasse menos em assistência social. Em 1994, perdeu uma vaga no Senado para a democrata Dianne Feinstein por uma pequena margem. Arianna teve duas filhas com Michael: Christina e Isabella.

O casal divorciou-se em 1997 e, no ano seguinte, Michael Huffington revelou à imprensa sua bissexualidade. Um artigo da revista GQ, publicado em 1999, argumentava que Arianna "entrou no relacionamento com conhecimento total do interesse sexual de Michael Huffington em homens". As cláusulas financeiras do divórcio nunca foram reveladas, apesar de que é sabido que Arianna recebeu a maior parte de sua fortuna do ex-marido. Ela decidiu manter o nome de casada, apesar de que era conhecida como Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington durante o período em que foi casada.

Carreira
No final da década de 1980, Arianna escreveu vários artigos para a revista conservadora National Review. Em 1981 ela escreveu uma biografia da cantora Maria Callas, intitulada Maria Callas — The Woman Behind the Legend (Maria Callas - A Mulher Por Trás da Lenda) e, em 1996, uma sobre o pintor Pablo Picasso, sob o título Picasso: Creator and Destroyer (Picasso: Criador e Destruidor). Ainda em 1996, Arianna participou, ao lado do comediante liberal Al Franken, do programa Strange Bedfellows, do canal Comedy Central, que fazia a cobertura das eleições presidenciais de 1996. Por seu trabalho no talk show Politically Incorrect, da mesma emissora, foi indicada ao Emmy de melhor roteiro de um programa de variedades. Arianna também participou dos seriados Roseanne, The L Word, Help Me Help You e do filme EdTV como atriz.

A visão política de Arianna começou a mudar a partir do final da década de 1990. Uma "ex-direitista", ela mudou notavelmente para a esquerda e atualmente descreve a si mesma como uma "populista progressiva". Foi então que ela passou a condenar o envolvimento estadunidense na Guerra Civil Iugoslava. Em 2000, ela instigou eleitores a protestarem as convenções dos Partidos Democrata, em Los Angeles, e Republicano, na Filadélfia.

Arianna fundou o Detroit Project, um grupo de interesse público que faz lobby para que os fabricantes de automóveis comecem a produzir carros que sejam movidos com combustíveis alternativos. As propagandas televisivas do grupo, que foram ao ar em 2003, revelaram-se particularmente controversas, uma vez que equiparavam o ato de dirigir utilitários esportivos ao de financiar o terrorismo. Algumas emissoras recusaram-se a exibir os comerciais.

Durante uma aparição pública no The Daily Show, em 2004, Arianna anunciou seu apoio ao candidato democrata à presidência John Kerry, afirmando que "quando sua casa está queimando, você não está preocupado com a arquitetura". Nos últimos anos, Arianna  tem estado associada estreitamente com o Partido Democrata. Ela foi uma das oradoras na convenção estadual do partido em 2005 na Califórnia, além de ter discursado também durante a convenção nacional dos estudantes democratas em 2004.

Candidata ao governo da Califórnia
Huffington foi uma candidata independente nas eleições que revogaram o mandato do governador democrata Gray Davis na Califórnia. Ela descreveu sua candidatura contra Arnold Schwarzenegger como "o híbrido versus o Hummer", em clara referência ao fato de que ela era dona de um Toyota Prius e, Schwarzenegger, de um Hummer.

Mesmo tendo o ex-senador Dean Barkley como um conselheiro de campanha e o executivo publicitário Bill Hillsman como seu diretor de mída, Arianna decidiu abandonar a disputa em 30 de setembro de 2003. "Estou saindo e vou concentar cada grama de meu tempo e energia durante a próxima semana para derrotar a revogação, porque percebi agora que esta é a única maneira de derrotar Arnold Schwarzenegger", ela declarou na época. Alguns comentaristas políticos, entretanto, atribuiram a saída dela da disputa com sua incapacidade de obter apoio popular, uma vez que ela tinha apenas 2% das intenções de voto nas pesquisas. Apesar de ter falhado na tentativa de evitar a revogação do mandato de Davis, o nome de Arianna permaneceu nas cédulas e ela terminou a disputa em quinto lugar, obtendo 0,55% dos votos.

Presença na mídia
Na década de 1970, no auge de sua proeminência como presidente da Sociedade de Cambridge, Arianna era uma convidada frequente do programa semanal da BBC Radio 4 Any Questions?, que promove discussões sobre questões políticas. Ela também foi jurada nos programas de televisão da BBC Call My Bluff e Face the Music.

Arianna co-apresenta o programa de rádio Left, Right & Center, transmitido em emissoras públicas dos Estados Unidos. Ela originalmente ocupava a cadeira "da direita", mas hoje é descrita como membro da "blogosfera independente-progressista". A partir de maio de 2007, Arianne e Mark J. Green começaram a apresentar 7 Days in America, novo programa da Air America Radio.

Arianna também tem presença forte na internet com seu website The Huffington Post, que apresenta comentários dela e de um grande número de jornalistas, políticos e celebridades proeminentes da esquerda estadunidense, do ex-candidato à presidência dos EUA John Kerry aos atores Jamie Lee Curtis e John Cusack. O site também destaca matérias jornalísticas de várias fontes. O site é um sucesso sem precedentes na história da internet, tendo recebido quase 9 milhões de visitantes únicos em fevereiro de 2009 (a título de comparação, seu competidor de direita, o Drudge Report, teve pouco mais que 3 milhões de visitantes). Por causa de seu trabalho no site, a revista PC World, nomeou Arianna uma das 50 visionárias da história da tecnologia.

Antes do The Huffington Post, Arianna escrevia para um site pessoal chamado Ariannaonline.com. Sua primeira incursão na internet foi num site chamado Resignation.com, que pedia o impeachment do então presidente Bill Clinton. O site era um ponto de encontro frequente para os conservadores que se opunham às ações governo Clinton.

Em novembro de 2008, a FOX anunciou que Arianna vai fazer parte do elenco do seriado The Cleveland Show, de Seth MacFarlane, dando voz a uma personagem também chamada Arianna.

Em 17 de novembro de 2008, Arianna substituiu a apresentadora  Rachel Maddow no programa da MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show. Em 22 de novembro de 2008, Arianna foi imitada pela atriz Michaela Watkins no Saturday Night Live. Ela também havia sido imitada por Tracy Ullman na primeira temporada do programa State of the Union em 2008.

Bibliografia
 The Female Woman (1973) ISBN 0706700988
 After Reason (1978) ISBN 0812824652
 The Gods of Greece (1993) ISBN 087113554X
 Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend (1993) ISBN 0815412282
 The Fourth Instinct (1994) ISBN 0743261631
 Picasso: Creator and Destroyer (1996) ISBN 0671454463
 Greetings from the Lincoln Bedroom (1998) ISBN 0517396998
 How to Overthrow the Government (2000) ISBN 0060988312
 Pigs at the Trough (2003) ISBN 1400047714
 Fanatics & Fools (2004) ISBN 1401352138
 On Becoming Fearless...In Love, Work, and Life (2007) ISBN 0316166820
 Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (2008) ISBN 9780307269669

Notas

Ligações externas
 Perfil de Arianna Huffington no The Huffington Post
 Artigo sobre Arianna no The Observer
Entrevista com Arianna na Wired

Huffington
Alunos do Girton College
Gregos do século XX
Gregos do século XXI
Ativistas dos Estados Unidos
Biógrafos dos Estados Unidos
Blogueiros dos Estados Unidos
Naturais de Atenas
Pessoas envolvidas em controvérsias de plágio


text:
search filter All ContentCalifornia History
Richard J. Orsi Prize
This article was originally published in
California Historical Society Quarterly
Other| March 01 1970
California Historical Society Quarterly (1970) 49 (1): 25154412.
https://doi.org/10.2307/25154412
Front Matter. California Historical Society Quarterly 1 March 1970; 49 (1): 25154412. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/25154412
Copyright 1970 The California Historical Society
"I Do Not Mean to Frown on Everything the Men Propose": California's First Assemblywomen in the Forty-Third Session of the Legislature, 1919
Out of the Shadows and into Politics: The Experiences of Chinese American Women in the American West
From Socialite to Public Servant: Luella Johnston and the Evolution of "True Womanhood" in Sacramento
"The Future of Women in Government Is Indeed a Bright One": March Fong Eu and Mid-century California Politics
Announcing the Richard J. Orsi Prize


A patient has been taken to hospital and Northamptonshire Police are attending an ongoing incident in Duston.
The incident happened in Sam Harrison Way on the Timkin estate just after lunchtime today (Friday) when East Midlands Ambulance Service were called to deal with a medical emergency.
The ambulance service was called to Sam Harrison Way just after noon.
An eyewitness said that the air ambulance landed on the football pitches nearby.
Michael Boeg said: "This started at 11.30am and it's still going on.
"No-one was allowed to go anywhere.
"People wanted to come down and walk their dogs but they were not allowed.
Police are still on scene in this street.
"An air ambulance was called and landed in the football field."
A spokeswoman for East Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We received a call at 12.16pm today to Sam Harrison Way, Northampton to assist with a medical emergency.
"We sent two paramedics in two ambulance cars, a crewed ambulance and the air ambulance.
"We transported one patient to Coventry and Walsgrave General Hospital."
Northamptonshire Police have been contacted for comment but have not yet responded.


Come and see Chris Bannister play at the Ropery Hall!
Come and join us at the amazing Ropery Hall for a great evening of entertainment, for the whole family!
Come and see Simon Goulding play at the Ropery Hall!
Come and see this amazing act, all the way from Colorado in the USA! Even better, it is being held at the iconic Ropery Hall!
Come and see Gareth Moulton play at the Ropery Hall!


text:
How Pixar's animation has evolved over 24 years, from 'Toy Story' to 'Toy Story 4'
Kyle Desiderio and Ian Phillips
"Toy Story 4" comes out on June 21. It's a technological achievement that shows how much Pixar movies have changed since "Toy Story" came out in 1995.
Each Pixar movie builds on the achievements of the last.
Sully from "Monsters, Inc." was covered in over 1 million hairs. One single shot from "Coco" alone contained 8 million lights.
Visit INSIDER.com for more stories.
Following is a transcript of the video.
Woody: There's no place like home!
Narrator: This is a dog in 1995's "Toy Story." It was a staggering achievement at the time, but the detail in the fur just isn't there. Compare that to this cat in "Toy Story 4." The difference is clear. But getting from that dog to this cat required a lot of innovation in between.
Pixar forever changed animation in 1995 with "Toy Story," the first full-length computer-animated movie. With "Toy Story 4," it's proving that it's far from done changing the game.
Between 1995 and 2019, Pixar has made 21 feature-length films, four of those being "Toy Story" movies. When "Toy Story" was first released in 1995, nobody had ever seen anything like it before. And in order to bring it to life, the animators had to do some unbelievable things.
And one of the most important factors in how Pixar makes its magic happen involves rendering. Rendering saves the computer image to the perfect finished image or video frame, with lighting and motion effects. In order to render "Toy Story," the animators had 117 computers running 24 hours a day. Each individual frame could take from 45 minutes to 30 hours to render, depending on how complex. There were a total of 114,240 frames to render. Throughout the movie, there are over 77 minutes of animation spread across 1,561 shots. They had to invent a new software, called Renderman, to handle all this footage.
Woody: These guys are professionals. They're the best!
Narrator: According to producer Jonas Rivera, if they had to today, they could render "Toy Story" faster than you could watch the entire movie. However, the complexity of "Toy Story 4" means it can take 60 to 160 hours to render one frame.
And there were a lot of limitations. For instance, at this time, Pixar hadn't quite figured out how to fully animate human characters. Animating clothes was time-consuming, so you'll notice a lot of shots of hands and feet in the movie from a toy's perspective. Additionally, they would sometimes choose not to fully light characters, so you wouldn't see any missing details. More on lighting characters and fully clothing them later.
When "Toy Story 2" came around in 1999, they'd had some time to work out some of the kinks, especially with 1998's "A Bug's Life" in between the two movies. In this sequel, you'll be able to see more visible, fully formed human characters. One key thing the animators were starting to figure out here to help them tackle humans: smoothness, which they got practice on in "A Bug's Life." Here, you can see the improvement in just a few years. They wouldn't be ready to have a fully human cast until 2004's "The Incredibles."
But before mastering humans, they stepped into fantasy with 2001's "Monsters, Inc."
Worker: Ooh, they're so awesome!
Narrator: In "Monsters, Inc." they tackled fur head-on. Fur is hard to animate, whether computer-generated or stop-motion. This is because it involves animating thousands, or even millions, of individual parts of a character's body.
In the VFX world, characters are designed then rigged by adding points of movement, which can then be manually manipulated. While limbs are typically manual based on the scene, something like fur needed to be automated, since it would take a lot more time to move each individual strand of hair. "A Bug's Life," which centers on insects, didn't have a need for fur. And there is a dog in "Toy Story," but as you'll notice, it's pretty smooth, as is the dog in "Toy Story 2." Sully, who's tall and covered head to toe in fur, has over 1 million hairs on his body.
But it's not just how it looks; the animators had to get all of those hairs to move. To do this, they created a program called Simulation, in which certain elements that are too difficult to hand-animate are motion-simulated. See, instead of looking at Sully's hair as a whole, they looked at each strand as a distinct particle. They had to look at every kind of force that would act on those particles, and thus how each one would move in reaction to them. So if you want to work at Pixar, you might need to know physics.
They also found real-world fur on different animals, like llamas, for reference. By doing this, they found the best way to make hair look and move realistically is to clump it together. "Monsters, Inc." laid down the technical foundation, which allowed Pixar to have over 250 furry monsters in the sequel, "Monsters University."
The tools at their disposal also helped them create fur on animals seen in "Ratatouille" and "Up," the moss on the submarine from this scene in "Finding Nemo," and the grass on the ground in "Cars."
Pixar's next movie, 2003's "Finding Nemo," also required the animators to create things they'd never put on screen before. This time, they had to figure out how to make a movie set largely underwater. Once again, science and real-world references would help them out. Just as they did with hair, they broke down the water as much as they could to get it right.
According to director of photography Danielle Feinberg, they started with a real-life underwater clip, re-created it in the computer, and broke it down to find the most essential elements. The biggest one? Light, and how it travels through water. The light they created affected both the visibility and the color of the film's elaborate underwater world. And while they need science to animate certain elements of a movie, there are times where they can use artistic license. For instance, they made the water in Sydney Harbour look fairly green to fit the mood of the scene. In reality, it would not be that color.
Once the environment was created, they had to populate the world. Perhaps the most challenging sea creature they had to create was Hank the octopus from the 2016 sequel, "Finding Dory." It was literally impossible for them to put Hank in "Nemo," and you can see why. Creating just one scene with him supposedly took about two years. Character supervisor Jeremy Talbot explained that they had to break down an octopus and piece it back together again, which sounds a lot like how Pixar mastered fur and water.
One thing they discovered was that octopus tentacles don't bend but almost unfurl. An engineer spent six months just getting the curve of one of his tentacles right, and this was even before they mastered his camouflage. And as Pixar got better at developing the natural world, it also improved on the man-made world. By the time 2006's "Cars" came around, Pixar had about 1,000 times the computing power it did on "Toy Story."
"Cars" gave the animators a chance to hone their skills creating metal surfaces. As they did with the water in "Finding Nemo," they took time to make the light reflect off Lightning McQueen. Those metal surfaces would then be rusted up and seen in 2008's "Wall-E," often considered one of Pixar's most visually stunning works.
Then when "Ratatouille" rolled around in 2007, Pixar combined its ability to work with fur from "Monsters, Inc." and with water in "Finding Nemo" to display wet fur.
Lighting is one of the most important factors in making CG animation look real. It takes a lot of rendering time to get it right. And it's not just one or two lights we're talking about. This one shot alone in "Ratatouille" contained 230 lights. But that's nothing.
Jump ahead to 2017's "Coco." When Miguel enters the Land of the Dead, he's laying his eyes on about 8 million lights. And even with a movie as visually ambitious as this one, something as simple as clothes can be the biggest challenge.
A lot of the characters that wore clothes in "Coco" were actually skeletons. The animators found that while simulating clothing, the cloth would often get caught between individual bones, creating a wedgie of sorts. For this, it implemented a technique called continuous collision detection, which allowed the animators to spot the clothes getting caught, even at moments where it was difficult to notice.
A year later, when the long-awaited "Incredibles 2" came out they were back to working with humans: skin, bones, and all. There was a 14-year gap between the two "Incredibles" movies and the benefits of improved technology actually allowed them to make Jack-Jack look even cuter than he did in the first movie.
All of these movies would eventually lead to "Toy Story 4."
Twenty-four years after the original was released, it seems like this sequel is trying to do a lot of things the original just couldn't. The differences couldn't be more stark. While "Toy Story" used a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, "Toy Story 4" expanded to 2.39:1, so what you saw went from this to this.
Now that Pixar had figured out how to put fur on one character and then hundreds more, it could make the animals in this movie eye-popping. Fans pointed out that a cat in a clip for the movie looked 100% real. Compare that with Sid's dog in the original if you really want to know how far Pixar has come. Even just compare how much different it looks from the cat in "Coco."
In the same vein, creating stuffed animals covered in fur was not the challenge it once was, and it allowed Pixar to give Ducky and Bunny starring roles. In addition, rain scenes are not easy to animate. Just like with the water in "Finding Nemo," the animators did a physics-centered, frame-by-frame analysis of raindrops. Luckily, they'd done enough creating rivers in "The Good Dinosaur" that bringing a torrential downpour to life was a little less challenging.
Like with Jack-Jack in "Incredibles 2," the animators use sequels as an excuse to improve upon their classics. They didn't just give Bo Peep a new outfit; they were also able to make her look like a much more convincing doll. Years of perfecting shiny surfaces allowed them to really bring out Bo's porcelain skin.
To effectively light this material, the director of photography referenced lighting of female characters in movies made from the 1930s through the 1960s. The team also realized they couldn't use square lights on Bo. Only circular lights without sharp edges would reflect well on porcelain.
"Toy Story 4" also gave Pixar a chance to do something surprising: go back to basics. Look no further than Forky.
Forky: I don't belong here!
Narrator: There are no tentacles, no fur, no shiny surfaces here, just a plastic fork. But he couldn't be more real. And Pixar isn't slowing down anytime soon. In fact, they're moving "Onward," literally.


text:
Штепан Смолен (;  19 вересня 1983, Чеський Крумлов) — чеський, римокатолицький священник, письменник і перекладач.

Життєпис

Походить з Чешського Крумлова. Учив філософію, релігієзнавство і богослів'я в Карловому Університеті. Працював як спочатку працював медбратом в Шпиталі Сестер Милосердя св. Карела Боромейського у Празі під Петршином. Потім вступив до священицької семінарії, закінчив католицький богословський факультет і отримав дияконські рукоположення в 2014 році, ставши священником через рік. Як священник працює в Литомержицькій єпархії. З 1 вересня 2021 року став духовним адміністратором парафій деканату Яблонець-над-Нісою.

Пише як окремі тексти (напр. в часописах Дінгір чи Християнське ревю), так і белетристику.

Праці
 Будь там, де ти є (Buď, kde jsi, укр. переклад 2021)
 Sehnsucht: Úvod k romantické touze (2017) — knižně vydaná dipl. práce
 Do boje s růžencem aneb Jak se porazit a přitom vyhrát (2017, slov. překlad 2019)
 Cesta na Západ. Po stopách ochočeného Boha. (2018)
 Cigánský evangelia (2020)
 Pominuté chvály (2021)

Спільні праці
 Předmluva ke knize Philip F. Lawler: Ztraceni — Kolaps katolické kultury

Переклади
 George MacDonald: Snílci, Volvox Globator 2012
 Peter Kreeft: Tolkienovo vidění světa',' Paulínky 2014
 Peter Kwasniewski: Povstávání z prachu, Hesperion 2016

 Статті
 «Evropa na kolenou», RC Monitor'' 13/2016, 10-13. Dostupné online.

Примітки

Посилання
 «Wow, to je punk!» interview se Štěpánem Smolenem. Denník Postoj, 26.12.2018

Чеські священники
Чеські письменники


text:
Q: Difference between super and this in the commands below? What is the difference between these commands when I have a class A and a Class B where B extends A , and they have a common instance variable size and the commands below are called from a method printSize1 inside B?
class A {
    protected int size;
}

class B extends A {
    protected int size=7;

    public void printSize1() {
        System.out.println(((A)this).size)
        System.out.println(super.size);
    }
}

Also I have the same question with these two. I have a class A and a class B where B extends A, and they both have a method with the same name printSize and an instance variable size and the below commands are called from a method printSize2 inside class B.
class A {
    protected int size;

    public void printSize() {
        System.out.println("Size=" + size);
    }
}

class B extends A {
    protected int size=7;

    public void printSize2 {
        ((A) this).printSize();
        super.printSize();
    }

    public void printSize() {
       System.out.println ("MSize="+size);
    }
}

A:
i have a class A and a Class B where B extends A which they have a common instance variable size

No, they don't. They have separate instance variables called size. One is in the part of the object associated with A, and the other is in the part of the object associated with B. Let's call them A$size and B$size. For them to have a common instance variable, you'd remove the declaration of size from B so they're both using A$size.
Redeclaring an ancestor's non-private instance variable (field) is always a bad idea, because it leads to this sort of confusion.
Both of the below output 0 for your example code, because they're both accessing A$size, which you never assign a value to, so it has the default value 0:
System.out.println(((A)this).size);  // 0
System.out.println(super.size);      // 0

So the question is: Why are they both using A$size and not B$size? Because of the type of the reference we're using to look up size. In both cases, the type of the reference is A, because the type of (A)this is A (via cast) and the type of super in a method in B is also A. Since the type of the reference is A, it's A's size that gets used.
In this particular case there isn't much of a difference between the two, but there would be if you added another layer to the hierarchy:
class A {
    protected int size = 1;
}
class B extends A {
    protected int size = 2;
}
class C extends B {
    protected int size = 3;

    void printSize() {
        System.out.println(((A)this).size);  // 1
        System.out.println(super.size);      // 2
        System.out.println(this.size);       // 3
    }
}

Moral of the story: Don't redeclare instance variables declared by an ancestor (unless the ancestor's version is private).
Note that this is different for variables than it is for methods. Instance methods are polymorphic. Instance variables are not. With methods, you get the method associated with the final type of the object (unless you use super or a qualified super, because those are special and bypass polymorphism).
This is what's coming into play in your second example in printSize2. Because methods are polymorphic, it doesn't matter that you've cast this to be type A in ((A)this).printSize(), you still get B's printSize. But super.printSize() is special because super is special and bypasses polymorphism, giving B access to A's printSize.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Glendale Police Officers' Association stands with our brothers and sisters in blue. Our fallen comrades will never be forgotten. You are true heroes. Godspeed friends!
Sergeant Steve Owen was shot and killed after responding to a burglary in progress call in the 3200 block of West Avenue J-7 in Lancaster, California on October 5, 2016.
Police Officer Lesley Zerebny and Police Officer Gil Vega were shot and killed while responding to a domestic disturbance call in the 2700 block of Cypress Road shortly after noon on October 8, 2016.
Deputy Sheriff Jack Hopkins, 31, was shot and killed while responding to a disturbance call near the intersection of County Road 115 and County Road 170 at approximately 10:30 am on October 19, 2016.
Other responding officers took the subject into custody approximately 30 minutes later.
Deputy Hopkins had served with the Modoc County Sheriff's Office for approximately one year and had previously served with the Alturas Police Department.
Sergeant Al Lopez suffered a fatal heart attack while responding to assist other deputies who were involved in a high speed pursuit in Compton at approximately 5:20 am on October 24, 2016.
Shortly after he responded from the station a citizen came into the lobby and advised deputies that a patrol car had crashed at the intersection of Myrrh Street and Willowbrook Avenue and the driver was unresponsive. Deputies responded to location and began performing CPR on on Sergeant Lopez. He was transported St. Francis Medical Center where he passed away.
It is believed that Sergeant Lopez suffered a fatal heart attack prior to his vehicle colliding with a fence at low speeds. The pursuit he was responding to was terminated shortly after it began due to the dangerously high speeds of the fleeing vehicle.
Sergeant Lopez had served with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for 26 years and was assigned to the Compton Station. He is survived by his wife and two adult children.
Police Officer JD DeGuzman was shot and killed as he and his partner conducted a subject stop near the intersection of Acacia Grove Way and 38th Street at approximately 11:00 pm on July 28, 2016.
The subject shot Officer DeGuzman's partner once in the neck before shooting Officer DeGuzman five times as he was still sitting in the police car. Officer DeGuzman's partner was able to return fire and wounded the subject as he fled on foot. The man was found hiding in a nearby ravine a short time later and taken into custody. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Officer DeGuzman had served with the San Diego Police Department for 16 years and was assigned to the Gang Suppression Unit. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Corporal Montrell Jackson, Police Officer Matthew Gerald, and Deputy Sheriff Brad Garafola, of the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, were shot and killed by a subject outside of a convenience store at 9611 Airline Highway shortly before 9:00 am on July 17, 2016.
Officer Gerald was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and had served with the Baton Rouge Police Department for less than one year.
Sergeant Michael Smith, Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens, Police Officer Michael Krol, Police Officer Patrick Zamarripa, of the Dallas Police Department and Police Officer Brent Thompson, of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police Department, were shot and killed by an active shooter during a protest in downtown Dallas, July 7, 2016.
The subject was cornered in an adjacent parking garage and barricaded himself inside for several hours while he spoke to negotiators, during which time he stated he specifically targeted white police officers. He was killed when the Dallas Police Department's Bomb Squad moved an explosive device to the man's location using a robot and detonated it.
Officer Krol had served with the Dallas Police Department for nine years and had previously served with the Wayne County, Michigan, Sheriff's Office for four years.
Sergeant Smith was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Dallas Police Department for 27 years. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.


This section is dedicated to helping expanding the minds of those in search of truth. The Last American Vagabond is devoted to seeking out the light in the darkness within the currently corrupt system of this country. The Expanded Knowledge section is a compilation of all media dedicated to that same purpose.
Fill out the from below to submit content for the Expanded Knowledge section.


Normally when it comes time to come home after being away for a week or two, I'm ready; I miss my kids, I miss my bed, I miss my life. This time I was torn between wanting to come home, to freeze, or stay there and stay warm! What settled it for me? I missed my Joy!
Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I missed both of them, but I've known them for 18 and 20 years respectively, and the new has kinda worn off. They just don't do anything cute anymore, ya know?
We spent most of the week spending time with Derek's Dad, with a few trips into Tucson. I went to Grandma's Spinning Wheel, Unique Designs by Kathy, and the Tucson Yarn Company. Derek paid visits to two cigar shops, and on the final trip to town, we went to see Harry Potter, the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1. Kinda wish we'd waited, its going to be a long year waiting for the second half. It is a very good movie!
Here are a few shots uploaded from my camera to Facebook while I was gone, the first is an area between Florance, Catalina and Picacho Peak that is all for sale. I'm sure it will all get developed soon, although it would be great to get a piece of land here to settle on. Derek and I have been thinking about where we're going to go after he retires, its a ways down the road but its fun to think about.
We went to the town of Tombstone, and to be honest (maybe it was the wrong time of year?), it wasn't all that. There are a lot of shops, more restaurants in two square blocks than seems necessary, a stage coach that sits in the middle of the road (those horses look so bored, don't they?) and goes for the occasional trip-d-trip around the block, a trolley car (I think it would have been fun but Derek didn't want to ride it), and the gun fight at the OK Corral every day at 2PM and every half hour after that. We didn't go to the OK Corral, they wanted $10 per person, and we decided we'd seen it enough times already in the movie.
We wandered around, then went and had lunch at Big Nose Kate's (Kate was Doc Holliday's 'girl friend'). Then we left.
But I'm bringing the cart before the horse as they say... Before you actually get to Tombstone, you have to drive past Boothill.
On the way home we stopped in Pahrump to visit and have dinner with my brother David and his wife Lisa. They met us at Ohjah's Japanese Steakhouse and Hibachi Grill. So fun!
After much good food and more good visiting, Derek and I set out for home, which at this point was about 5.5 hours away. I had been trying to talk Derek into staying over somewhere because I knew it had been snowing at home all day Sunday and half the night before. To get home we have to go over a pass (Austin Summit) that sits at about 7900 feet; thats about 3500 feet higher than Battle Mountain. This pass is always treacherous in the winter time so I was worried. But he was driving.
We got through the Smokey Valley OK, not very much snow there but as soon as we hit the pass things got dicey. From there Battle Mountain is about 110 miles north. Three hours later we drove into Battle Mountain. A very edge of your seat drive.
So glad you made it home safely! Yesterday I watched a program on Wyatt Earp, which of course included a lot about Tombstone. It was very educational!
I hear ya. I told Ian that I'm beginning to understand why so many New York Jews live in Miami. Our winter wasn't always like this so I can't help wonder if this won't just be another cycle. I hate to be hot more than I hate to be cold so I'm gambling on sitting tight.


How durable are 3cm granite countertops?
Granite is one of the hardest (and most beautiful, in our humble opinion) natural stones for the countertops available for the countertops in your home. While we offer a variety of styles and colors, our countertops typically come in thicknesses of 2-centimeters and 3-centimeters.
A regular Chicago granite countertop, regardless of thickness, will outlast most other traditional countertop materials. While a 3-centimeter thick countertop is much heavier than the 2-centimeter thickness, both offer the same surface burn, scratch, chip and stain resistance.
*While adding a laminated edge and overhang supports will make a 2-centimeter countertop as strong as a 3 centimeter, these additions will add cost in materials and labor.
To laminate the granite countertop edges of your granite countertop, an extra piece of stone is added underneath, along the parameter, to double the thickness. This 'double edge' is then finished to create the appearance of a thicker piece of stone. This procedure reinforces the areas of your countertop that get the most abuse.
If left unsealed, all granite will absorb stains, which typically show on the stone as darkened or discolored areas. This will not affect the structural integrity of your kitchen countertop, regardless of thickness, but it will affect its appearance. Once a granite countertop is coated with an impregnating sealer, though, as long as spills are wiped up as they occur, it's extremely difficult to stain your countertop.
Because granite has a crystalline structure, your countertop will have natural pitting, or tiny holes between the various minerals within the stone. Granite also has natural fissures or cracks. If the granite is properly installed (with regard to the thickness), it is not likely to crack under normal use, and these cracks and pitting's are not typically a sign that you need a new countertop.
It is possible, with additions, to make a 2-centimeter countertop as durable as a 3-centimeter counter. However, these additions will add time and cost to your project.


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Death's Bright Day – Snippet 44
by Drak Bibliophile | Jun 1, 2016 | DrakeSnippet, Snippets | 1 comment
"So you did," Daniel agreed. The door didn't have an external latch, but there was a large button on the right side of the console. Repeated use had worn the button's cream enamel finish through to the black base.
Daniel leaned over and pushed the button. The door opened outward.
"Hey!" said the clerk, loudly enough to alert the dozing guard. Daniel and Hogg sauntered through without anything more serious happening before the door closed behind them.
"Good afternoon, Minister," Daniel said as Robin looked up from the flat-screen display facing him at an angle on his desk. "I'm here as you directed."
Walters rose from his console, then sat back again. Robin made a sour face, but he gestured and said, "Yes, take a seat, Leary."
Walters eyed Hogg doubtfully, probably wondering what Hogg intended to do. Daniel wondered also as he took one of the chairs in front of the large desk, but Hogg remained at the back of the room.
"I've been very pleased with the progress the Nabis Contingent has been making, Minister," Daniel said, "and I hope you are too."
"Yes indeed, Leary," Robin said. He tapped his display repeatedly with a light pen. "Major Berners gave me a quick account of your recent training mission. It shows real initiative and an ability to work with material which must be well beneath the level you're accustomed to on Cinnabar."
"Actually, sir," Daniel said, leaning forward slightly, "the Nabies were solid personnel, very solid. All we cadre did was to show them what they were capable of doing. Ah, and working with the officers some to bring 'em up to speed."
"Well, you shouldn't be modest," Robin said, turning from his display to flash Daniel a bright, false smile. "President Menandros has decided to greatly increase your responsibilities. He's made you Governor of Nabis, reporting directly to him."
Are you out of your bloody mind?
For a moment Daniel thought the words had come out of his mouth. They hadn't, but Robin probably read them in his face.
"Your Excellency…" Daniel said. He closed his eyes for a moment to visualize his next words. Opening them he continued, "Sir, look. My father was the most powerful politician on Cinnabar; he's still pretty bloody important. My sister Deirdre gives every sign of following him into the Senate, and I've never known her to play a game that she didn't win at."
Daniel had straightened when Robin pronounced his exile to a backwater. Now he leaned forward again and said earnestly, "Sir, if I wanted to get into politics, I'd go home and join the family firm! But I didn't, I wanted to be a naval officer and I'm a bloody good one. Put me in charge of ships. Or better, put me in charge of your navy, and I'll show you what I can do!"
"Captain Leary, I'm sure you're a very important man in Cinnabar space," Robin said, his voice rising. "But here in the Tarbell Stars, we're under the rule of President Menandros, and it's his decision –"
"President Bloody Nonsense!" Daniel said, rising to his feet. "Look, everybody knows you call the shots. Menandros probably knows if he's got two brain cells to spare for any serious thinking! That's fine, but –"
"That's enough!" Robin said as he stood. He crossed his arms before him. Walters had gotten up also and was edging closer to Daniel from the side. If he tries to jump me, I'll break his face.
Hogg, glimpsed in the polished metal surface of the side of the desk, remained by the door; nothing in the present situation required him to intervene. Though Hogg acted the simple hayseed, he had a very sophisticated grasp of urban society. He wasn't going to precipitate a brawl which could not have a good result.
The door from the waiting room opened. The clerk outside was babbling something in a high-pitched voice. Walters turned to the disturbance, and Daniel glanced over his shoulder.
A heavy-set balding man in a blue servant's uniform had entered. A tall man and a short one, both in business suits, were behind him.
"Dumouret, what in bloody hell are you doing here?" Robin shouted.
"Minister," Dumouret said, "I'm very sorry to disturb you, but the President –"
The short civilian shot Hogg in the chest. Hogg flew into the wall behind him, thrown when his legs spasmed.
The shooter's tunic pocket was smoldering, ignited by the vaporized aluminum driving band of the slug fired from inside it. The taller civilian was taking a sub-machine gun out of his briefcase.
Daniel grabbed Dumouret by wrist and thigh. He pitched the butler into the tall man, who in turn bumped the shooter off balance. Walters had frozen for a moment with his mouth open, but now he lunged at the shooter.
The pistol was now clear of short man's burning pocket, and he shot Walters twice through the breastbone. He pivoted toward Daniel, who tripped over Dumouret's flailing legs.
The shooter sprawled forward though he continued to turn. There was a fleck of blood on his right temple and a long bloody crease at the top of his head where the second pellet had gone a little high.
The taller man had risen to a kneeling position. At the crackle of Tovera's sub-machine gun, he collapsed again over his own weapon.
The door to the rear entrance hit the wall and began to swing closed again behind Adele and her servant. Robin peeked up from behind the desk where he had dropped to shelter.
The air stank of ozone and feces and fear. Also of blood: Walters lay on his back. He had stopped bleeding, but the tunic of his white uniform was a crimson which would darken as it dried. His eyes were open and his lips drawn back in a grimace of horror.
Daniel tried to get to his feet, then fell onto all fours and crawled toward where Hogg lay. He felt icy inside. He wondered if he'd been physically injured.
"Do we need the butler?" Tovera said. Daniel heard all sounds through a thumping that seemed to be synchronized with his heartbeat.
"Not really," said Adele, "but he's no –"
The burst from Tovera's little sub-machine gun cut off the next words. It sounded like an electrical fault. Dumouret had been curled in a ball. He twitched, and all his muscles relaxed.
The man with the pistol had fallen over Hogg's body. Daniel felt his strength return. He stood up, hauling the dead shooter with him, and hurled him out of the way.
Hogg's lips were moving slightly. There were bubbles of spit on them. He wasn't bleeding, neither from mouth or chest, but something had blasted a hole in the left side of his tunic on a level with his heart.
Daniel reached into the outer right side-pocket of Hogg's tunic and brought out the knife that Hogg kept there. He snicked the blade open, then plucked the collar of Hogg's shirt away from the skin and ripped the garment down to the belt, baring his chest.
The skin was unbroken but there was a welt the size of Daniel's spread hand at the point the hole had been blown in the tunic. It was fiery red and already swelling.
Hogg's eyes focused on Daniel. "I hope somebody got the bastard who shot me," he said in a rusty whisper.
"Is there a Medicomp in this building?" Daniel bellowed into the noise and confusion. Hogg winced with every breath, but he was breathing. "Adele, alert the Sissie! I want a stretcher team here soonest!"
Leaning close to Hogg again, Daniel said, "Adele handled that problem. I think Tovera took care of his partner, but anyway it's taken care of."
Daniel slit the left side of Hogg's tunic and drew the pistol from the built-in holster concealed there. The slug had struck the receiver like a sledge hammer, almost severing the barrel from the butt and magazine.
"The bastard suckered me, played me for a right sap," Hogg said, tensing against the pain but getting the words out without gasping. "If the Mistress fixed him, he won't be doing it again, though."
He laughed, punctuated by spasms of pain.
"There's a Medicomp in the next room to the left," Adele said, squatting to put her head on a level with Daniel's.
"There's a stretcher there too," said Robin. "I thought, well, I'd as soon there was a facility close to my office."
"I can bloody walk," Hogg said, but he wasn't trying to get up.
"You'll do what your master bloody says, Hogg!" Daniel said. There might be internal bleeding; there were certainly cracked ribs.
Daryl Saal	on June 1, 2016 at 5:55 AM
I missed it the first time, but got it on the reread. When Adele and her pistol are in the same place as someone who needs to not be alive and functioning, there is no need to spell out the details.


From US 77/83, exit at Olmito, take FM 1732 and follow for 2.5 miles. Turn left at New Carmen Ave. and follow for 1.5 miles. At the end of the paved road, turn left to enter the park. Resaca de la Palma boasts the largest tract of native habitat in the World Birding Center network. The tract includes mature woodlands as productive as any in the Valley as well as former agricultural land that was revegetated in the 1980s and 1990s. Colorful migrants such as the Summer Tanager, American Redstart, and Yellow-breasted Chat have been noted here often and in high numbers. When resaca levels are controlled for the benefit of wildlife, species like the Least Grebe, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, and various herons, as well as migrating waterfowl in their seasons, should also congregate here. The property's dense ground-level vegetation is especially attractive to species like the Olive Sparrow, Long-billed Thrasher, and White-eyed Vireo, along with all the Valley specialties. Explore the extensive system of trails that wind through the resacas, lomas, and forests that make up the park. There are also four decks that overlook the four miles of resaca, and trails can be reached by a tram that runs several days a week.
Take FM 1732 west to US 281, and then continue west on US 281 to FM 1479. Go north 2.7 miles on FM 1479 to an unmarked gravel road and then head east to Las Palomas WMA - Ebony Unit. An observation platform adjacent to the resaca dominates this site and offers an excellent vantage point for studying the waterbirds that crowd these waters. Look for Least Grebe, several species of ducks including resident Ruddy Ducks and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, flycatchers such as Couch's and Tropical kingbirds, and Great Kiskadee on snags that border the shore. Walk along the resaca and enjoy the variety of dragonflies and damselflies.
Las Palomas WMA units were purchased with funds from hunters. The Ebony Unit continues to be hunted, so call TPWD at (956) 565-1223 or check the public information booth for access during hunting seasons.
Vieh's B&B is located on FM 675 (0.6 mile north on FM 1479) a short distance from the Ebony Unit. Vieh's offers birding in a 15-acre palm forest, and on a nature trail that borders a 10-acre lake (956) 425-465 (www.vieh.com).
Return to FM 1479, then go south to US 281. Go west on US 281 to Cannon Rd. (marked by a cannon). Travel north on Cannon Rd. (dirt and caliche for most of its distance). USFWS tracts border Cannon Rd. for much of its length and many Valley specialties may be seen along this drive. Toward the end of Cannon Rd. you will reach a power transfer station where Tropical Kingbirds have nested. Be sure to listen for the Tropical Kingbird's characteristic high-pitched trill, as the virtually identical Couch's Kingbirds are here, too.
Tropical Kingbirds have become widely established in Valley cities within the past decade. They can be found year-round (most difficult in winter) in urban areas, most commonly from the coast west to McAllen. Simply listen to all Tropical/Couch's kingbirds, and become familiar with the calls and songs of both. Continue past the power station to where the road ends at a levee and a large reservoir. This reservoir, in season, supports large numbers of puddle ducks, American White Pelicans, and both whistling-ducks. South Cannon Road is lined with large trees and runs along irrigation canals that lead to large reservoirs. Rarities such as Roadside Hawk and Dusky-capped Flycatcher have been seen along this road.
Return to US 281, and continue west approximately 0.7 mile to El Zacatal. El Zacatal is comprised of a series of resacas that are visible from US 281. These lakes are dependent upon wet season rains, so during long periods of drought they eventually become dry. When wet, look for Neotropic Cormorants, Common Moorhen, Purple Gallinule, Least Grebe, and a variety of waterfowl in these resacas. Kingfishers are often found perched on snags, and migrant shorebirds feed along the exposed shore as the water levels drop during late spring.
Continue west on US 281 to the TxDOT Relampago Rest Stop. This small rest stop contains a stand of impressively large mesquite trees that often attract spring and fall migrants. The thickets bordering the rest stop offer a chance to see Olive Sparrow, Long-billed Thrasher, and Green Jay. When most birders visit the Valley, they limit their trip to a few well-known spots; however, birds are not restricted by the habits of birders. They are limited only by the available habitats. These small remnants of Tamaulipan brush and riverine woodland may attract the next new species to wander to the U.S.


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Home > News > High Court gives the NHS the green light to use off-label drugs in preference to on-label prescribing
High Court gives the NHS the green light to use off-label drugs in preference to on-label prescribing
On Friday 21 September Whipple J dismissed an application for Judicial Review by pharmaceutical companies Bayer and Novartis which had attempted to challenge a policy adopted by 12 NHS clinical commissioning groups which recommended that NHS clinicians should offer patients a choice between 2 licensed medicines for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (marketed by Bayer and Novartis) and a much cheaper drug, Avastin, which had an EU marketing authorisation as a cancer drug.
The CCGs wanted to adopt the policy because, according to NICE, all 3 drugs had equal clinical effectiveness but their assessment was that if significant numbers of patients agreed to be treated with Avastin, millions of pounds would become available for the CCGs to fund NHS treatment for other patients. Accordingly, giving wet AMD patients the choice between drugs would be of considerable overall benefit to the NHS.
The pharmaceutical companies which marketed the licenced drugs mounted a wide-ranging challenge to the CCG policy, based on a variety of both European and domestic law arguments. However, in a 102 page judgment, all of the arguments raised by the pharmaceutical companies were comprehensively dismissed by the Judge.
The breadth of the issues that the Judge was required to address in order to reach a decision of this Judicial Review means the judgment will have far-reaching implications for the NHS. In summary, the Judge found as follows:
The Judge comprehensively rejected the Claimants' submission that the European Medicines Agency has exclusive competence to decide whether a drug or other medicinal product is safe, clinically effective or cost-effective. The Judge found that both CCGs and NICE were legally competent to make their own decisions about whether drugs were safe, clinically effective or cost-effective: see §140 to §147;
The Judge rejected the Claimants' argument that a clinician is not permitted to take account of the cost of the drug at the point of prescribing. The Judge found that doctors had a professional duty to make the most appropriate use of NHS resources: see §148 to §153;
The Judge decided that she did not need to consider whether Avastin was safe for ophthalmic use because that was a decision which the CCGs were entitled to make for themselves. She noted that there was no proper basis to challenge the CCGs decision that using Avastin for wet AMD patients was safe and clinically effective. In any event the Judge placed considerable weight on the fact that a 500 page report by NICE which had been published subsequent to the CCG decisions concluded that "Avastin is as safe as the licensed alternatives" (see §160). She therefore rejected the application by the Claimants to rely on the expert evidence which called into question the safety of using Avastin for ophthalmic use [§154 to §162];
The Judge decided that there was a well-established mature market in compounded Avastin (referred to in the judgment is compounded bevacizumab ("CB")) both in the UK and in parts of Europe for intravitreal use [see §163 to §177]. That finding has some relevance for the later parts of her judgment;
The Judge noted that the Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Products Authority ("MHRA") had described CB is an "unlicensed medicine". The Judge describes the present position as "highly unsatisfactory" on this point and expressly invited the MHRA to review their position. Whilst the Judge states that she accepts the MHRA's view as expressed in 2011 to the effect that CB is an unlicensed medicine, she decided that this conclusion was not relevant to determining whether the CCG policies were lawful or unlawful;
The next issue was the test that the Judge should apply to decide whether a policy is lawful. The Judge decides that a policy would be unlawful if the only lawful method or methods of implementation are unrealistic or would constitute only a tiny part of the anticipated supply: see §196;
The Judge then considered the four potential modes of supply which the CCGs had identified. She decided at §220 that original vial use would be lawful because it does not require a fresh marketing authorisation and would not be prohibited under EU law;
She next concluded that an NHS Trust which compounded bevacizumab in its own pharmacy would be acting lawfully and not require marketing authorisation to supply the resultant CB to the hospital his own clinicians [§221 to §235];
The Judge then considered whether it would be lawful for a commercial entity to compound Avastin. The Judge set out a number of ways in which this could be lawful but she refused to decide whether any such supply would be unlawful because, having decided that the established market exists for this supply, she was concerned that the commercial compounders were not before the court and thus she did not know what arguments they might wish to advance to persuade the court that their established practices were lawful. However in a crucial passage she said, at §232, that "In any event, even if that market is built on repeated breaches of EU law as the Claimants assert, I am not persuaded that an NHS trust would necessarily be in breach of EU law and taking advantage of it to purchase CB for ophthalmic use";
Finally, the Judge considered intra-NHS supply. She did not directly consider whether such a supply was outside EU law because of article 168(7) of the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union, as the CCGs had argued. She decided instead that there were a number of potential ways in which this supply could be lawfully provided and, in any event, explained that whether any particular supply would be lawful would be a fact-specific decision depending on the precise circumstances of the supply.
The Judge dismissed the Claimants' argument that the CCGs' policy undermined the NICE Technology Appraisal Guidance. That argument was summarily dismissed on the basis that NICE requires NHS patients to have options, and that the policy does not breach that duty [§247 to §250];
Finally the Judge dismissed the Claimants' complaints about the proposed Patient Information Leaflet. The Judge decided at §256 that "none of the points made by the Claimants about this document has any substance".
Hence, in summary, the Judge decided that all four modes of implementation of the policy are potentially lawful for the NHS Trusts and that the NHS Trusts would be acting entirely lawfully in implementing the choice policy.
It remains unclear at this point whether the pharmaceutical companies will be seeking permission to appeal this judgment to the Court of Appeal.
The judgment can be found here.
A BBC press report can be found here.
The CCGs were represented by David Lock QC and David Blundell, instructed by Dawn Brathwaite of Mills & Reeve. Charles Banner advised the Secretary of State for Health throughout, instructed by the Government Legal Department.


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Inept Biden has handed the Taliban all the cards
Dalia Al-Aqidi
President Joe Biden walks from the podium after speaking about Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021, in Washington. (AP)
https://arab.news/rcr2k
Every time US President Joe Biden gives a speech attempting to defend his strategy — or the lack of one — in Afghanistan, he digs himself and his administration deeper into a hole that it will take America a long time to climb out of.
Even though Biden described the Afghanistan evacuation operation as "one of the most difficult airlifts in history" and said that no country in the world other than the US would be capable of projecting this much power, he failed to explain how and why American citizens and US partners and friends are being held behind enemy lines.
A leaked letter from the US Department of State sent to American citizens in Afghanistan instructing them to go to Hamid Karzai International Airport made it clear that the government could not guarantee their safety as they made the trip.
All the roads that lead to the airport are controlled by Taliban militants, who have set up hundreds of checkpoints around the city to control the movement of the people. It is up to them who passes and who gets sent home, even if they have documents proving their eligibility to be on the airport's premises.
The fate of thousands of Americans and their Afghan partners and friends, who have helped them for almost 20 years, lies in the hands of hard-line militants.
"The Taliban have informed us that they are prepared to provide safe passage for civilians and we intend to hold them to that commitment," Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a White House briefing. How could anyone in their right mind trust a radical Islamist group?
What has happened in the past 20 years that might have led the Taliban to soften their ideology and change their approach? Other than the rise of a new English-speaking generation that uses iPhones and social media platforms and knows how to manipulate the West by saying what sounds like the right thing, nothing has changed at all.
It seems that every time the president gives a speech or a statement regarding the chaotic US withdrawal and the lack of an exit strategy from Afghanistan, other members of his administration hurry out to explain, whitewash and carefully correct his statements.
Consequently, a dangerous sentiment has emerged in some Arabic and Western media outlets, along with social media, that the version of the Taliban running the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan believes in human rights and tolerance. This narrative portrays the hard-line Islamist group as a movement that believes in moderation, liberty and freedom; therefore it will not be a threat to its neighbors or the wider international community.
The reality on the ground paints a totally different picture.
Reports coming out of Kabul indicate that the militants have been going door to door to find the Afghans who worked with the US, NATO and private foreign companies, threatening their families with interrogation, prosecution and punishment if the wanted individuals do not turn themselves in.
Not far from the airport, the group's fighters are using force to disperse the crowds of desperate people who are trying to reach their last hope of safety, knowing that the future holds nothing but misery and darkness under Taliban rule.
In his alternative reality, the commander in chief of the US Armed Forces denies that his own people are facing difficulties getting to the airport, as he mentioned during Friday's remarks. "To the best of our knowledge, the Taliban checkpoints — they are letting through people showing American passports," Biden said. Meanwhile, several US media outlets known for their support for the president and his Democratic Party reported severalincidents in which the Taliban had prevented American citizens from passing through checkpoints and sometimes even confiscated their passports. During a call with lawmakers also on Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that Americans had been beaten by the Taliban in Kabul.
Nearly 20 years after a brutal war against radicalism and terrorism began, the Taliban has declared victory over the US and its allies, while celebrating the fact they are holding nearly all the cards against Washington, which allows them to do whatever they want, whenever they feel like it, and wherever they choose.
So, Mr. President, for the sake of your nation, armed forces, allies and people, please stop talking.
Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view
Yasar Yakis
Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor
Faisal J. Abbas
Frank Kane
Yossi Mekelberg
Baria Alamuddin
Eyad Abu Shakra
Maria Hanif Al-Qassim
Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri
Cornelia Meyer
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
Zaid M. Belbagi
Ray Hanania
Osama Al-Sharif
Nathalie Goulet
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami
Richard N. Haass
Andrew Hammond
Michael Kugelman
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim
Chandrahas Choudhury
Ranvir Nayar
Kerry Boyd Anderson
Asma I. Abdulmalik
Talmiz Ahmad


text:
LiveOps at Behaviour: Optimizing Through Player Experience
MAKING GAMES
Germany's Making Games magazine recently profiled Live Operations at Behaviour Interactive and we are republishing that series here with permission. In this last article, Director of Player Experience, Tara J. Brannigan, says a solid Player Experience Strategy is essential to ensuring that players continue to enjoy your game well beyond launch day.
Tara J. Brannigan is the Director of Player Experience with Behaviour Interactive's Digital division. She is a passionate advocate for the role of player engagement in developing great game experiences. During her decade+ in the industry, Tara has worked across QA, Production, Sales, Player Support and Community Development in Seattle, New Zealand, the Netherlands and now Montreal. When she's not working, Tara can be found trying to get through her crushing Steam backlog, tinkering on jewellery projects, taking pictures of her cat, and spending far too much time on Twitter.
In the world of successful games as a service, building and launching your game is the first step in a very long marathon. Your Marketing and UA strategy may have gotten you millions of players, but how do you keep them around for the long haul?
One of the biggest mistakes too many games make is not investing early enough in a solid Player Experience Strategy. While most companies understand the value of a solid Marketing & Acquisition Strategy, the subject of retention through player experience is often slow to be given the same consideration and associated resources. This is a missed opportunity, as a great Player Experience Strategy will extend not just the lifecycle of your game but amplify the experience and joy that your game brings to players worldwide!
One all too common misstep of Community strategies is to focus only on the hyper-invested players, and the channels those players frequent (forums, Discord, Reddit). These players know the game inside and out and are extremely vocal when issues arise. However, catering your Player Experience Strategy towards just these players can lead to decisions that will negatively impact the experience of your broader audience. This becomes particularly dangerous when it comes to discussions of balance, or end-game level content. So how do you avoid going down this road?
For Dead by Daylight we are constantly improving on a Player Experience Strategy that looks at our players from a variety of perspectives. One example: We always have new players coming into the game, so what content should we be building to improve how quickly they feel confident in the game? What platforms does that content live on? Which format do we think will be the most effective? How do we measure the ROI of those efforts?
By building content for a diverse range of players, and by regularly engaging across platforms, it is easier to counter the blinkered effect. This approach to content strategy challenges the team to regularly look at the community from a variety of perspectives, and to understand the bigger picture. The forums may be in an uproar about a recent balancing change but reviewing other channels and in-game data shows that the broader audience is expressing mostly positive sentiment and playing more frequently. This doesn't mean you disregard the feedback from the hardcore audience, but it does mean the team has more information to work from when deciding not to revert changes, and when considering potential updates that address some of the heavily invested players' frustrations.
Building content for a diverse range of players and regularly engaging across platforms challenges development teams to look at the community from a variety of perspectives, and to understand the bigger picture.
The Power of Data
Traditionally one of the most overlooked areas of Player Experience is the power of data in guiding effective communications and in proving the ROI of those efforts. Community and Player Support can run the risk of being the "warm feels" department, and while sentiment is one metric that should absolutely be taken into consideration, having data to back up decisions is a game-changer and fundamental to creating an effective long-term Player Experience Strategy.
When developing your Player Experience strategies, you should be able to answer the following:
What does the player get out of this?
What do we want out of it as a business?
How do we measure success?
By understanding how you intend to measure ROI, you can develop the tools and processes needed to evaluate your effectiveness well ahead of launch. With Player Support, this may mean developing better data hooks that surface player information directly within your CRM platform, making agent responses quicker, mitigating player frustration and resulting in higher satisfaction ratings.
In Dead by Daylight, we have a redemption code system that we call Promo Codes. Through this system, we are also able to measure the impact of codes posted through our Community channels. By doing a high-level analysis of player groups that have redeemed any given code, we are better able to understand who is following us on each of our social channels. This gives us added insight when crafting our content and engagement strategies.
For example, if one channel has a large proportion of newer players following us, a content series of DbD 101 Tips might have a huge impact. Taking some of the trial and error out of the equation is invaluable!
We also run regular CSAT surveys to gain a better understanding of our players. One thing that we have learned from these surveys is that more than 40 per cent of responding players regularly look to Influencer streams to learn about new content and cosmetics. This makes the conversation around whether we should further invest in our streaming partner program an easy discussion internally.
If we had never built out the capability to display CSAT links within the game, or of the team to interpret our findings, we would have missed out on exceptionally valuable insight.
And, of course, building great Player Experiences means sharing the love. Everyone wants to feel the work they have put into the game is valued and appreciated. While it is easy to get pulled down by the negative comments, a solid Player Experience Strategy ensures that you have more visibility, both on the critical feedback and the magic moments that make it all worthwhile.
In the case of Dead by Daylight, by pushing the community team to engage more on our social channels, we've not just seen our average engagement rate on Twitter double over the past six months, we've also started to see more playful, positive comments come back out of the community. Where we used to have to go looking for great fan art, we now have people proactively posting it in the comments and tagging us in, and the overall tone has shifted towards a healthier balance.
At the end of the day you have built something great and now you get to share it with the world. So, do yourself a big favour and make sure your plans for supporting it extend well beyond launch day.
Tara J. Brannigan
Director of Player Experience


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NPR Blogs
Taliban Break Off Negotiations On U.S. Soldier Held Since 2009
By Scott Neuman
Published February 23, 2014 at 4:15 PM EST
A Taliban-affiliated website shows Bowe R. Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier captured by the Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan in June, 2009, sometime after his capture by Taliban militants.
The Afghan Taliban said it was cutting off talks with Washington to trade long-time captive U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five of the prisoners held at Guantanamo.
The Associated Press says it's received via email "a terse Pashto language statement" from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid blaming the "current complex political situation in the country" for suspending the discussions.
The AP says a U.S. official confirms that the talks have been suspended.
In January, the Taliban released a "proof of life" video of Bergdahl. Prior to that, he had not been seen since another such video was released in February 2011.
As we reported at the time of the latest video release:
"He was 23 when he was seized as he finished a guard shift at his outpost in southeastern Paktika province on June 30, 2009. Today, he would be 27. The AP says he's believed to be held in Pakistan."
"The Taliban have demanded the release of several of the group's senior operatives held at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for freeing Bergdahl."
Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
See stories by Scott Neuman


There are few improvements to the home or garden that can match a timber decking area for its natural beauty and usefulness. Indeed there are many uses for an outdoor wood decking area including being used as an outdoor living space for dining, entertaining friends and family or simply relaxing with your favorite drink in hand. Additionally they also provide kids with a safe area to play within the compound.
Abbey Timber has the largest range of decking available with over 20 different species, many grades to suit every budget and multiple sizes to get a decking board to suit every application.
Abbey Timber is your one stop Decking Shop with everything in stock to build your Deck to completely finishing it off with the best coatings available on the market.
This is the most popular grade and often will give you the least amount of natural features. Some hardwoods like Blackbutt and Yellow Stringybark have natural features like gum veins and pin holes so need to expect certain features that are common in that particular timber, where other timbers like Northern Box and Ironbark have very little features so you will get more boards free of natural features.
This is a fall down from Premium (Standard & Better) so you will get a lot more natural features like Gum Veins, Pin holes, Splits, Surface Checking as well as Miss-Milling and run off and shorter boards as short as .900mm. This grade is for those on a tight budget or is looking for a more rustic looking deck design. You will need to add a little more waste with this option. Rustic is a mix of Standard, Feature and utility grade boards.
The lowest grade of decking available and is suitable for a deck where the appearance is not so much of a concern. We recommend you allow an extra 10-15% waste when ordering feature grade as some boards may not be suitable to install and you will have to dock out excessive splits at times. We recommend you inspect the timber to know what you are purchasing with features grade.
When designing your deck you need to consider the correct width and thickness of the decking board to suit your application. Timber is a natural material and exposed to the outside elements can behave in ways we wish it didn't so it's important to choose wisely.
Decks built less than 1meter from the ground with no roof coverage we recommend choosing a narrow board like 65mm-90mm. installing a wide board increases the change of the boards cupping; the cause of this is due to the lack of air flow beneath the deck after rain and the bottom of the board will pick up moisture causing expansion where the top of the boards that are now exposed to the sun will drying out causing the boards to contract. With the two uneven moisture contents from the bottom of the board to the top it is possible for the boards to cup (concaved surface). Some believe that using a thicker board like 25mm will eliminate this but in fact it can make it worse as there is far more pressure in that board to pull and less structural strength in the screw fasteners to hold the board down. We find the thinner boards like 19mm and 22mm with have less chance cupping if installed in the wrong applications as there is less pressure in the board and the screws have more structural strength to hold the board in its place. This is also where the correct choice in screw size and type of coatings can help control the board's movement.
For more technical advice feel free to call our office to speak to a professional.