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How An Unsuspecting American Became An "Accidental" Korean Soldier
Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua/ZUMA
blogSourcesSocietyKBRCountriesUnited States
Jason Strother
SEOUL — Young Chun is hardly the only U.S. citizen working as an English language teacher in South Korea. But he may the only one who landed the job after being forcibly recruited by the South Korean armed forces — and then shipped off to Afghanistan.
Chun, 36, was born in the United States and grew up in Seattle, Washington. As one of the only Asian-Americans in his school, he remembers being bullied and discriminated against. "When I was in the States, I thought if I go to Korea, I'll fit in," he recalls. "But once I got to Korea, I realized I don't fit in at all."
Chun first came here in 2002 — mostly for economic reasons, but also in search of identity. Because he didn't really speak the language or know the customs, he felt even more of an outsider than he had back in Seattle.
And yet much to his surprise, Chun also discovered — while filling out paperwork at a local government office — that he was as much South Korean, legally speaking, as he was American. "I went up to the counter and the officer said, "You can't get a visa. You're Korean." It was a shock to me. It was news to my mom as well," he says. "It was the first time I ever heard that I had Korean citizenship as well."
"Life was miserable"
Chun still isn't sure who in his family registered his birth in South Korea. What he did find out is that South Korean citizenship comes with a price for men. Due to North Korea's ongoing military threat, all South Korean males must put their lives on hold for about two years to serve in the military.
At first he was in denial about the prospect. But then some ominous notices showed up in the mail. "One was the draft paper and the other was a notice from the Ministry of Justice saying that I couldn't leave the country," he says. "I was just really confused. Going to the army was never really a possibility in my mind until that point when I saw that paper. I started calling people and they were like, "Well there's nothing you can do about it now.""
Chun says the US Embassy in Seoul was no help. He fantasized about sailing to Japan under the cover of darkness. Then a friend gave him some advice — join the U.S. Army instead. Chun enlisted and was about to get on a plane back home to start training. But then South Korean authorities pulled him out of line at the airport on a U.S. base here. Turned out Uncle Sam couldn't save him either.
Chun was then dropped off at the South Korean army's boot camp and later sent to a base in the city of Daegu. "Life was miserable in Daegu, I was so frustrated," he says. "People were picking on me, teasing me, making fun of me, yelling at me." Chun says that what really made him stand out was the difficulty he had speaking Korean. "My pronunciation, my pronunciation was awful," he says. "And I couldn't really speak a whole sentence."
Dropped in a war zone
In order to get away from the torment, even though his language skills weren't very good, he signed up to be a Korean-to-English interpreter and was sent to what was then one of the most hostile battlefields in the world: Afghanistan.
Chun deployed to the U.S. Air Force's Bigram Airfield, where South Korean troops fought as a part of the coalition against the Taliban. Upon arrival, he was given a bulletproof vest and an ammo-less rifle. A fellow interpreter had recently been killed and alarms signaling incoming fire were an almost daily occurrence.
Chun got used to the strange environment. But he says his Korean comrades never got used to him. He remembers once when an Korean soldier introduced him to a visiting U.S. soldier. "This is Young, he's almost American," the Korean said. "And the U.S. soldier was like, "What does he mean by almost American?"" Chun recalls.
"Later in the deployment, I was working in the office and another officer came up and said, "Oh wow. You're almost Korean now." I thought that's really weird: I'm not American, I'm not Korean. In their eyes I am not sure how they saw me," he says.
Free at last, and no regrets
Chun returned to South Korea after his six-month stint in Afghanistan. And in 2006, his conscription finally came to an end. "First of all, just stepping outside of that gate was amazing," he recalls. "Just knowing that was the last time that I would never have to go back again. One thing they told me the day I was getting discharged is that I would have to give up one of my citizenships, because I finished my military service, I'd have to give up one."
The choice was a no brainer. So after going through the quintessential experience of being a South Korean man, Chun renounced his South Korean citizenship. He left Korea to travel and see his family back home.
And yet a year later, Chun came back to Seoul and enrolled in grad school here. He now teaches English at one of the top universities to get by while he focuses on his true passion: fiction writing. He also wrote a non-fiction account of his experiences, a recently self-published book called The Accidental Citizen Soldier.
Looking back he says he doesn't regret his two-year stint in South Korea's military — in part because it helps him better understand what his male students go through, but also because the experience gave him time to ponder the issue of identity.
"Really I've gotten to a point where I just don't care about identity anymore," he says. "I came to the conclusion that maybe there is no one place, and I am fine with that."
Nastassia Dobremez
A pan-Asian news operation with correspondents across the region, KBR Asia Calling publishes TV, radio, and digital content in multiple languages.
"Splendid" Colonialism? Time To Change How We Talk About Fashion And Culture
A lavish book to celebrate Cartagena, Colombia's most prized travel destination, will perpetuate clichéd views of a city inextricably linked with European exploitation.
At a market iIn Cartagena, Colombia
Ricardo Gomez Angel
SocietyEL ESPECTADORSourcesfeatured-postColombiaCountries
Vanessa Rosales
BOGOTÁ — The Colombian designer Johanna Ortiz is celebrating the historic port of Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia, in a new book, Cartagena Grace, published by Assouline. The European publisher specializes in luxury art and travel books, or those weighty, costly coffee table books filled with dreamy pictures. If you never opened the book, you could still admire it as a beautiful object in a lobby or on a center table.
Ortiz produced the book in collaboration with Lauren Santo Domingo, an American model (née Davis, in Connecticut) who married into one of Colombia's wealthiest families. Assouline is promoting it as a celebration of the city's "colonial splendor, Caribbean soul and unfaltering pride," while the Bogotá weekly Semana has welcomed an international publisher's focus on one of the country's emblematic cities and tourist spots.
And yet, use of terms like colonial "splendor" is not just inappropriate, but unacceptable.
I was born and raised in Cartagena de Indias, once a thriving entrepot of goods and slaves, and carry it inside me even if I no longer live there. On a recent visit, I could see a city that is both intact and injured, if not battered, by "development."
The enduring legacy of colonialism
Even from a distance, I have never ceased to observe Cartagena with critical intensity. And no observer could miss an intrinsic ugliness behind its surface beauty, which, for me, relates specifically to the colonial legacy.
The splendor is that of human resilience.
Its signs are everywhere. The churches are a vestige of a process in which a faith imposed itself on a territory, robbing millions of people of their most intimate beliefs and private freedom. The cross was bloody from the start, and the city's very name indicates the grandest of colonial ventures.
Colonialism is etched on the coast's ethnicity and physiognomies — or the "pretty faces of my black people" celebrated in Ismael Rivera song Las caras lindas. The statue of the city's founder (the conquistador Pedro de Heredia) is testimony to Spain's resolve to conquer and impose its ways.
Cartagena's colonial trail cannot be separated from the physicality of the millions of Africans enslaved over two hundred years. Their specter hovers over the city and constitutes its spine. The colonized territory is a land of redefinitions, but also of compromise and resistance. In the mixing of populations, hybridity and the disobedience it supposed, there is splendor: that of human resilience.
Johanna Ortiz's new book, "Cartagena Grace"
The regime of the visible
But what about colonial splendor? I like the word, which describes a splendid, shining quality. It sounds beautiful, and playful. The sociologist and critic Edward Salazar has observed that the processes around clothes making are also an interplay of historical wounds and aesthetic construction. You could say the same of other arts and see Latin America's aesthetic and artistic output as precisely a vast process of negotiation between the pain suffered and the splendor that emerged in spite of it.
Is there anything splendid in the achievements of colonialism? Its arts and architecture convey abundant prosperity, but inevitably, at the expense of hidden elements. The colonial order — which endures in the modern socio-economic system — is the "regime of the visible," says the academic Rolando Vásquez. The colonial period meant exploitation, pain and indignity for millions of subjects, and let us not deceive ourselves into considering it past history.
Exploitation, an essential part of the colonial order, endures in modern and far less aesthetic manifestations than 18th century architecture. In Cartagena, it has duly reinvented itself.
The city is a playground for the rich in this country and the gringos and Europeans who come seeking the beach, the sea and, why not, some "exotic" females. A more-than-favorable exchange rate makes this exercise of power possible.
Splendor for whom?
Where is the splendor today? In the city's ring road or the shantytown districts removed from the old quarter, where all the "fantastic" stuff happens? If the regime of the visible in Cartagena consists of colonial homes in pastel colors, flowered balconies, opulent parks and dreamy beaches, what is the splendor hiding?
What are the city's services like, and how are they linked to its geography? Are there links between services and skin color? Who rakes in the millions of dollars glamorous tourism pours into the city every year? Is it good for the city and its residents that people should see it as a place where you can 'let your hair down' and do as you please? "Splendor, for whom?" local activist Teresa Asprilla recently asked online.
Exoticism is crucial to the colonial mindset.
I would consider two issues here: one, that the idea of splendor is not the right word for the city and its heritage, and two, that design and production of clothes cannot be restricted to the fashion concept defined in Europe and the United States.
I studied fashion in New York, where I realized as a Latin American woman, that the fashion paradigm constituted, like so many areas, a way of seeing and understanding other contexts.
It can foment its own "orientalism," to cite the academic Edward Said's term regarding Western literature and written analyses. It broadly means the subjective "fixing" of others.
This subjectivity will, inevitably and thankfully, prompt reactions, which has led myself and others to consider what fashion and clothing can mean in a regional cultural context. Exoticism is crucial to the colonial mindset. Like the orientalist outlook, it likes to see "the other" as exotic.
Colonialism is also patriarchal: the colonial world may be a place of freedom and adventure, but only for some (white males?). Indeed, the subjection of "exotic" or "peripheral" regions is partly undertaken through the definitions and redefinitions that abound as part of the West's "epistemic arrogance." The "center" and "periphery" debate in politics and developmental studies can thus encompass fashion, tourism and culture, as components of the global economy.
The trap of self-exoticization
It is interesting to see how and why Latin American and even African designers willingly adopt Western exoticism as a sales strategy and to validate themselves inside the "centrist" narrative, which here means the international fashion circuit.
In fact, fashion, cloth-making or couture, if we prefer the French term's tailoring nuance, can choose to transcend the ephemeral and disposable, the branding imperative, exercise of power, and the exploitation and waste production that mark the fashion industry. The modernizing discourse is both arrogant and forcefully binary, with contrasts like history/tradition, fashion/folk styles, center/periphery etc.
In it, fashion is perforce modern and innovative, idolizing desirability and fueling it with constant change and a belief that its only valid source is the West. Anything outside is "ancestral," local' or, well, old-fashioned. It relates to the "unfashionable" world of arts and crafts..
Anthropologist Angela Jansen has identified "self-exoticization" as a powerful marketing tool working both at national and international levels. Nationally, she says, it provides the "local flavor" absent in foreign brands, and abroad, an exotic flavor to catch the foreign eye.
But she also sees its trap, as marketing the local style is tied to cultural differentiation, which is precisely an obstacle to entry into the community of international designers. These usually seek freedom from all restrictions, including cultural ones, on design.
Saul Mercado
Fashion can be political
A decade ago, I myself proposed a critique of local styles sometimes termed Caribbean chic. Dresses worn in the city's dancing festivals are beautifully ornate, even reminiscent of the extravagant outfits of such festive figures as Carmen Miranda. But who are they for? What kind of women should don such elaborate outfits?
Fashion can be political, for the imagery it projects.
Social class is a constant tension in Colombian fashion, and Caribbean chic is certainly not without its class (and race) overtones.
Yet, I believe that a critical view of fashion means accepting the uncomfortable reality of its simultaneous aspects. Johanna Ortiz has enjoyed a decade of global success and shown us that fashion can be political, for the imagery it projects. Her political contribution is to have helped change the image of Colombia as a land of drug lords and violence. With her, Colombian fashion began to enjoy global visibility.
This shows the cultural strength of fashion, which can help entire communities revise their self-image. In a cultural departure, Colombians began to dress in such a way as to honor their identity. And celebrations of the Caribbean style may have contributed to this, but at a cost.
With projects like Cartagena Grace, who is admiring the city if not the élites of Colombia and wealthy travelers? And that is when culture and fashion help perpetuate the colonial perspective — the view from the five-star balcony! Is that what brands like Johanna Ortiz wish to fix with the word "splendor"?
Redefining splendor
The debate is far from concluded, but fashion should know it can break the rules. It needn't equate clothing and stylization solely with the fashion world we know. We can always redefine splendor. There is an abundance of splendor in Latin America, utterly alien to the dictates of Western fashionability.
Our splendor is in our resistance, even if certain labels remain wedded to beauty as a big-business product rooted in Western modernity. Fashion can be more than a fad: it can be a posture in life, critical attitudes, culture, politics and meaning.
There is splendor when design, art and heritage become an opportunity to picture another world, beyond the one that has reached its point of exhaustion.
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Chinese Democracy és el nom del sisè àlbum de la banda de hard rock Guns N' Roses. Va ser llançat al mercat el 23 de novembre de 2008 als Estats Units. És el primer àlbum amb temes originals de la banda després dels llançaments simultanis de Use Your Illusion I i Use Your Illusion II el 1991, i el primer àlbum d'estudi després del llançament el 1993 de The Spaghetti Incident?. Fins al moment ha venut 7 milions de còpies a tot el món.

Membres
 Axl Rose - Veu
 Bumblefoot - Guitarra
 Richard Fortus - Guitarra
 Buckethead - Guitarra
 Paul Tobias - Guitarra
 Robin Finck - Guitarra
 Tommy Stinson - Baix
 Dizzy Reed - Teclat
 Chris Pitman- Teclat
 Frank Ferrer - Bateria

Discs de Guns N' Roses
Discs del 2008

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Small and proud team of marijuana outdoor horticulturalists from St. Mary's, excited to share our award-winning, out-door organic product. We grow "Dream Machine", in pots in soil. A pungent indica strain bred from its Purple Thai and Afghani parents. It will take the edge off, while allowing you to continue working away on any task at hand!


Since the policy will be implemented in the coming year, here are a few methods to avoid a GDPR audit and perform and initiate complete compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act of 1998, which was enacted following the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive.
Your audit certificate requires you to show how your company stores, manages and, in some cases, manipulates the personal data that is collected. Therefore, ensure that the clerks put in charge of entering, logging and managing the data are well-trained, well-educated and aware of consequences of any breaches.
The clerks should be briefed about a consistent manner of inputting and sharing of data that should be followed across the company and its branches. The auditor in charge should also be made aware of the system and practices followed by the company.
Keeping physical copies of the data and accounting records can prove to be very risky – both from the perspective of safety and auditing. Clerks and accountants can make errors or omissions, and the paperwork is exposed to dangers and hazards at all times. Therefore, companies should use apps or software designed for the purpose. Not only does software automate the process, it also ensures complete transparency and less time consumption.
The only problem with software is that it can sometimes go wrong. Therefore, conduct regular comparisons and tests.
To meet GDPR's 72-hour breach notification rule, organizations need threat-detection controls and processes in place to alert them to incidents, but they also need a data-breach response plan that allows them to quickly and accurately determine the scope of impact.


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ERIC Number: ED138540
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1977-Apr
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
Population Profile of the United States: 1976. Current Population Reports, Population Characteristics, Series P-20, No. 307.
Bureau of the Census (DOC), Suitland, MD. Population Div.
This booklet summarizes population characteristics of the United States for 1976. A preliminary section of highlights reviews trends in five areas: population growth, social characteristics, population distribution, employment and income, and ethnic groups. The birth rate has declined, and the rate of childlessness has risen. This probably is due to changing attitudes about early childbearing and the pursuit of educational and occupational opportunities outside the home. More young adults are postponing marriage, and more married couples are becoming divorced. Elementary school enrollments have dropped, but college enrollment of women 25 to 34 years of age has more than doubled. Growth in metropolitan areas is slower than in nonmetropolitan areas. The black population in the suburbs is increasing faster than the white population. Employment increases are most significant in the professional service industries. Although the median family income was $13,720 in 1975, 12% of the population was below the poverty level. Eleven percent of the population is black, and five percent is of Spanish origin. (Author/AV)
Descriptors: Adult Education, Demography, Elementary Secondary Education, Employment Patterns, Ethnic Groups, Higher Education, Income, Population Distribution, Population Growth, Population Trends, Social Characteristics, Tables (Data)
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 ($1.05 paperbound)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Authoring Institution: Bureau of the Census (DOC), Suitland, MD. Population Div.
Identifiers - Location: United States

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


How many reviews has the individual performed?
The members of the GSS Peer Review Service Team have collectively performed over 600 peer reviews since the inception of AICPA sponsored peer review programs.
How much experience does the reviewer have in the industries in which my firm performs?
We have experience in a very wide range of industries with concentrations in not-for-profit, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, construction and real estate.
Will the reviewer be able to complete the review on time, allowing me enough time to submit the report and letter of response, if any, to the administering entity by my firm's review due date?
Because of the number of reviews we perform and our involvement with peer reviews for many years, we have developed a strong working relationship with the peer review staff of the AICPA and the FICPA. Our approach and experience in performing peer reviews allows us to complete the review and issue our reports typically within a few days after completion of field work.
Ask the reviewer for a list of firms for which he or she has conducted peer reviews.
We are pleased to provide references upon request.
Are there any other value-added services that the reviewer can provide me during the peer review?
As part of our peer review approach, we are pleased to share best practices used by other firms and audit efficiency recommendations.
What type of Government and/or ERISA audits do you perform?
GSS is a member of both the AICPA Government Audit Quality Center and the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center. We are experienced in performing audits under Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book) and Federal and State Single Audits (A-133). Our experience covers most types of nonprofit and governmental entities and ERISA entities.
Does the reviewer meet all of the qualifications to be a peer reviewer?
All shareholders and managers assigned to our Peer Review Services Team have considerable public accounting experience. Dan Hevia has been an instructor of the AICPA advanced peer reviewer training courses and has made numerous technical presentations at AICPA national conferences on the topics of peer review and quality control systems.
Has the ability to be a reviewer been limited or restricted or has the reviewer received notifications of limitations/restrictions on its ability to practice public accounting by regulatory, monitoring or enforcement bodies?
GSS has never had its ability to perform peer reviews suspended or restricted by any peer review body, ethics or regulatory body. We are members of the AICPA and have undergone peer reviews without ever having received any comments on our performance. We are also registered with the PCAOB and have undergone all inspections without comment – a significant accomplishment.
Firms are required to perform annual internal monitoring of their quality control systems. Many firms find it more beneficial to outsource aspects of their internal monitoring/inspection process, such as the engagement review component. This allows for an objective fresh look at the firm's engagement performance and its quality control policies and procedures. We have assisted a number of firms in the performance and development of internal monitoring and inspection procedures and are available to assist you in this area.
Quality Control Standards now require firms to establish criteria, policies and procedures for the performance of Engagement Quality Control Reviews. Many firms, especially smaller firms, may find they need to go outside their firm to meet this new requirement. Firms may also find it useful to have an outside pre-issuance review performed of other engagements, such as those in high-risk or specialized industries where the firm does not have the internal capability of effectively performing a concurring review of these engagements. We are experienced in working with many firms in a collaborative and timely manner to perform EQCR and pre-issuance reviews.


In the August 1928 report The Locomotive 1 said "Following King Amanullah's visit to Europe, agents of American, French and German firms were invited to Kabul to make surveys for the construction of roads and railways. It is now announced that the Lenz company of Berlin, has secured an option on all public railway construction and operations in Afghanistan."
King Amanullah was overthrown, abdicating on 14 January 1929. He left Afghanistan, travelling via Chaman on 23 May bound for Bombay.
In February 1929 Michel Clemenceau returned to Kabul to continue working on the French scheme.
Questions were raised about this contract in the House of Commons.5 Mr Freeman asked the Secretary of State for India whether the government had been officially advised or consulted with regard to the contract with a German firm for a railway between Kabul and Torkham, the last Afghan post on the Indian frontier; if the proposal contemplated the connection of the main line from Kabul with Kushk and Termez; and whether the government of India had communicated to him their observations on the proposal. Mr Wedgewood Benn replied "I have no official information of the existence of any such contract, though I have seen the newspaper report to which my honourable friend no doubt refers."
In November 1930 the Reuters Tehran correspondent reported that King Nadir Shah had endorsed the German contract.6 In July 1932 The Western Mail reported that an ambitious scheme current since 1928 proposed a Kabul to Jalalabad line, then a link to Torkham on the Indian border.7 A line of about 523 km would link Kabul with Kandahar via Ghazni, and a further line would be built between Kandahar and Herat. The line from Kabul would eventually be extended to meet the Russian railhead at Kushk and Termez, providing a through rail route between Europe and India.
In January 1932 Northern News Services Ltd reported that King Nadir Shah had approved a new railway scheme.9 This would run from the Khyber Pass, through Jalalabad to Kabul, and then to Kandahar and Chaman, with a subsidiary line from Chaman to Herat. The total length would be 1 440 km, and heavy engineering works would be needed. The line was planned as metre gauge, but the Indian 1 676 mm would be considered "if it is found not to be very much more expensive". The government hoped to use motor transport to provides links with important centres not on the rail network. According to Railway Gazette , "the only railway in Afghanistan at the present time is a line about two miles long at Kabul, but this is little more than a tramway and service is intermittent". This suggests the Amanullah's tramway was still operational, though perhaps truncated.
Later the same month it was reported that an agreement had been signed between representatives of Russia, Persia and Afghanistan, and Japanese financiers for a line linking Russia with India.10 "The report gives strength to the opinion that the Soviet government has given Japan a free hand in Manchuria in return for Japanese financial support of Russian enterprises in the East."
None of these lines were built.


Can I Reuse My Old PC's Power Supply In A New Computer?
One of the best ways to reduce the cost of upgrading your PC is to simply re-use the components which don't need to be upgraded. Yeah, you'll have to replace the graphics card or processor. But other parts can be salvaged.
An old power supply is often on the list of potentially reusable components. Many geeks worry, however, about the reliability of the old unit. Will it have the power required? Can it be trusted to last? Here's how to find out.
A power supply is often a mystery. It's not hard to download a tool like PC Wizard Get Detailed Info About Your OS & Hardware with PC Wizard Get Detailed Info About Your OS & Hardware with PC Wizard Read More and learn all about your motherboard, RAM, graphics card, and more. The power supply, on the other hand, is mysterious. Software won't tell you much about it.
That's why they're labeled! Turn off your computer, unplug it from the power and take a look at the supply. It should have a label that looks like this.
These labels don't all work in the same way but there should be a section that describes maximum load or output. That is the total amount of power that the supply can handle overall. You can use that figure and compare it to what's recommended for the new hardware you'd like to purchase.
Also of interest is the section that describes output for each specific type of voltage. That's the list +5V, +3.3V, +12V and etc. Each of those values will be shown alongside an amp rating. Pay close attention to the 12V value (aka rail). The video card, which is often among the most power-hungry components in a system, draws power from it. I recommend about 30A on the 12V rail if you would like to run a moderately powerful video card.
If the maximum wattage and 12V rail are sufficient for the components you're installing you should have no problem.
Once you've figured out the capability of your old power supply you need to take a look at what it offers. There are a few connections commonly missing on old power supplies.
Modern motherboards accept a 24-pin primary power connection, but some old supplies will only have a 20-pin plug available. The 20-pin plug should work but it can become a problem if the power limits of the connection are exceeded (the 4 additional pins are used to provide additional power). This is most likely to occur if you use a large number of components that draw power from the motherboard, such as PCI cards.
You may also find that your motherboard asks for an 8-pin (4-pin + 4-pin) secondary connection rather than a single 4-pin. A motherboard will often run without with just a 4-pin connection but it may be unstable in certain situations, such as overclocking. A Molex to 8-pin ATX adapter (shown above) usually resolves the problem.
Video cards are another source of trouble. They once were content drawing power straight from a motherboard. Today, however, even inexpensive cards usually need a dedicated 6-pin PCI Express power connection. Some even need two 6-pins or an 8-pin. You'll often be able to power the card using multiple Molex connections with an adapter (shown above). Some video cards even come with these adapters in the box. However, the most powerful cards may not work with this solution.
If your power supply is very old it may be lacking modern SATA power. All new hard drives and optical drives require SATA power from the power supply to function. Once again a Molex to SATA adapter (shown above) can be used instead.
"Should" is the key word. Power supplies list rating, but there is no industry standard. Manufactures can claim what they want.
Some manufacturers are reliable and make power supplies that perform up to or even beyond their specifications. Others, well, not so much. If your power supply's brand is listed on the label take a look at its reputation online.
Bad things can happen to power supplies that are not properly made. One reviewer testing a claimed 750 watt supply from Coolmax, a budget brand, found that it failed when only 500 watts were asked of it. Some supplies will even smoke and burn when they fail!
Similar things can happen to no-name power supplies. These are built on a budget for desktop manufacturers like Dell and HP and are expected to power only basic home and office computers.
A power supply like this might work. Or it might not. A supply that fails can, in the worst case, take out other components in your PC or even catch fire. Upgrading to a reliable drive from a company like Antec, Corsair or Cooler Master is often the better choice.
Hopefully you'll find that you can use your old power supply and save yourself a few bucks. If you can't, head over to our power supply guide Power Supplies Explained: How To Pick The Perfect PSU For Your Computer Power Supplies Explained: How To Pick The Perfect PSU For Your Computer Most geeks interested in buying new hardware or building a new system think first of the processor, graphics card and perhaps the hard drive. These components have the most impact on performance, so they are... Read More . You'll find even more information including the truth about efficiency ratings and details on how to buy the right unit for your PC.
We had a batch of computers at work with sources that seemed programed to crash. Within 6 months al were broken.
I've used an old one to revive a friend's computer more than once. Great re-use technique.
Informative article. Thanks for it. I always prefer new one in new PC.
It won't be a "new" computer any longer if it has used parts.
This is about as silly as asking: "Can I use my old refrigerator shelves in my new refrigerator?"
A new PC comes with a new power supply. If you're foolish enough to build your own, then you should be able to afford an extra $49 for a new power supply. If not; wait until you can afford it.
What is the problem with re-using parts? I can see how an old power supply may cause a problem, but generally re-using things that are perfectly fine should be systematically encouraged. It should be easy and beneficial for the user. Less money spent, less stuff to worry about, less trash.
Building your own PC is foolish from cost to warranty to incompatibility issues. Buy a whole, new PC from a trusted, local dealership that uses quality parts. Wipe the drive in the old PC and sell it as a whole, used PC. Less hassle all the way around.
You sound like you run a trusted local dealership. Just saying.
Yes....one who has fielded dozens of calls from individuals who assembled computers that ultimately won't boot an OS.
I've never had a computer place make good on their warranty. It was always not covered, or your fault.
I suppose it depends on why someone's building their own PC. If the intent is for it to be modular so when something needs fixing or upgrading, you can simply change out a part rather than the whole thing, then it makes sense. If the intent is to have a custom build, because what you want isn't off-the-shelf, then it also makes sense.
Thanks for the article.I think I will be buying a new one and upgrading rather than using the old one.
I change the older pc's power supplier for security.
Yes, most likely. Wouldn't recommend it because an old power supply unit is going to run louder, hotter and with lower power output. Invest in a new one--they are relatively inexpensive.
I have a four-year old Antec EarthWatts and Corsair 750 Watt that are still going strong and cause no problems. But bother were relatively expensive for their wattage when I bought them. I think they're paying off over time.
Well I found your article very valuable and advised my friend about this who was being fooled by the vendor . Thanks.


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The district plans to open escrow with a $150,000 deposit. Escrow is expected to close about Nov. 10, when officials intend to start renovations.
Officials plan to pay for the building by selling property the district owns near Camarillo Airport, The Ventura County Fire Department plans to buy that property, though the two sides have not yet agreed on terms, said board Chairman Larry Kennedy.
Officials had considered other options before buying the office in Camarillo, Kennedy said. The district was in escrow on another Camarillo office building but decided not to buy it when officials learned it once had an underground fuel tank, he said.
"We couldn't take that chance," Kennedy said. "There's a whole environmental cleanup involved with that."
The district also had considered moving to Oxnard College, but the move would have meant the college couldn't expand, Kennedy said.


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Honoring Mildred Loving this Valentine's Day
LGBTQ activists will keep their eyes on Bermuda as well as in this country.
For Black History Month on Valentine's Day 2018, I'm showing my love for Mildred Loving (1942-2008).
She's often overlooked in the pantheon of African American trailblazers celebrated in February.
However, in ruminating on this political era where African American civil rights are under constant assault, and the erosion of LGBTQ rights are contested under the guise of religious liberty, I give Mildred Loving a double shoutout for the catalyst she was in both interracial and same-sex marriages in this country. It's her shoulders I, and so many others, stand on when it comes to marriage equality.
But in this Trumped-up Supreme Court era there is aggressive talk among Christian evangelicals of walking "Obergefell v. Hodges" back without disrupting another precedent on marriage, Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza wrote in the article "The End of Gay Rights" in the June issue of Pacific Standard Magazine.
"The Supreme Court can significantly undermine LGBT rights even without reversing a single case. Right now, the federal prohibition against sex discrimination doesn't bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; the Equal Protection Clause affords no specific protections for LGBT people, as it does for members of groups defined by race or nationality. Buckwalter-Poza wrote. "The Court can strip the rights to intimacy and marriage of their meaning, carving away gradually and masking the magnitude of changes by phrasing them in arcane legal terms."
Bermuda, in the last week, has just recently stripped the rights for same-sex intimacy and marriage with domestic partnership. It is the first national territory to repeal it. And, it has been done in less than a year. LGBTQ Bermudans on the island and around the world celebrated the legalization of marriage equality in May 2017.
While we are not denizens on this British island, it will, however, embolden our opponents, especially religious conservatives here and abroad to push for the same. "Conservatives have been intent on pushing the domestic partnership law in order to keep the term "marriage" nearly exclusive to heterosexual couples," Metro Weekly reported.
LGBTQ activists will keep their eyes on Bermuda as well as here. In this country "Loving v. Virginia" decision affirmed the freedom to marry as a "basic civil right" of every American.
On June 12, 1967, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote for the court stating the following:
"Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival. … Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state."
Loving understood the interconnection of struggles, and while not an activist who belonged to an organization she passionately realized through her own experience of not being joined in matrimony to the love of your life. Lending her support to our same-sex marriage fight, Mrs. Mildred Loving wrote the following:
"When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn't to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married. Not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry," Loving wrote.
"I am proud that Richard's and my name are on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about."
Since the beheading of St. Valentine in Rome in the year 270 A.D., marriage has been controlled by church heads and heads of states and not by the hearts of lovers. When Emperor Claudius II issued an edict abolishing marriage because married men hated to leave their families for battle, Valentine, known then as the "friend to lovers," secretly joined them in holy matrimony. While awaiting his execution, Valentine fell in love with the jailer's daughter and in his farewell message to his lover, he penned "From your Valentine!"
May the "Loving -spirit" of Mildred and the justice acts of St. Valentine be with us on this day.
Published in San Diego Gay and Lesbian News on 2/14/2018.
lisantiadmin 2018-04-04T18:58:14+00:00 February 14th, 2018|


BOOKIES' favourite Carwyn Jones has been named as successor to Rhodri Morgan as Welsh Labour leader.
The Bridgend AM was revealed as the new first minister in the Welsh Assembly Government at the Wales Millennium Centre today (Tuesday).
He beat Health Minister Edwina Hart and backbench AM Huw Lewis. Mr Morgan will officially step down next week after nearly 10 years.
Mr Jones, 42, is currently counsel general – the assembly government's chief legal adviser – in the Labour coalition assembly government with Plaid Cymru.
Alyn and Deeside representatives Carl Sargeant AM and Mark Tami MP backed Mr Jones, as did with Delyn MP David Hanson.


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Q: Unstable bundles on curves. "The maximally unstable ones correspond to Schwarzian differential equation on Riemann surfaces" ?  What is known about unstable bundles on curves ?
What is "maximally unstable bundle" and what means it corresponds to Schwarzian differential equation ?
Consider the P^1 with pairs of points glued p1=q1, p2=q2, ...,
what can be said for such curves ?
Let me mention that for such curves bundles can be described just by the set of matrices M1, M2, ....
which correspond to "gluing the fibers".
This can be made precise algebraically as follows: functions on "glued curve"
are function on P^1 which satisfy conditions f(p1)=f(q1), f(p2)=f(q2),...
then modules can be described as vector functions on P1, such that  s(p1)=M1 s(q1) , s(p2)=M2 s(q2) ,... clearly this is a module over the algebra above.
It has been further studied in Serre's "Algebraic groups and class fields".
Let me also mention our papers: http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0303069 Hitchin system on singular curves I, http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0309059  Hitchin systems on singular curves II. Gluing subschemes
PS
Questions are inspired by discussion with Misha Kapovich after his answer on the following MO question What is the number field analogue of the Narasimhan-Seshadri theorem ?

A: Vector bundles on curves come equipped with a canonical filtration, the Harder Narasimhan filtration, defined (iteratively) maximal destabilizing subbundles. Maximally unstable just means that the HN filtration is a filtration by line bundles, ie is as refined as possible (so bundle is as far from stable as possible). There's a canonical example of such a bundle (up to the choice of spin structure/theta characteristic in the even rank case, if we're fixing the determinant to be trivial) which is an iterated extension of half-integral powers of the canonical bundle (with step of size one: there's a unique nontrivial extension of $\Omega^{k-1/2}$ by $\Omega^{k+1/2}$ up to isomorphism, represented by the fundamental class of the surface) -- these are called "indigenous bundles" in Gunning's books eg (or the work of S.Mochizuki). Connections on such a bundle are the same as so-called $sl_n$-opers - in the case of $n=2$, such connections are in bijection with projective structures on the Riemann surface, whose relation to Schwarzian derivatives (or the Virasoro central extension) is well documented in many places, eg Gunning again or the paper of Beilinson-Schechtman. This connection is elementary - you take the corresponding projective bundle, it carries a canonical section from the filtration and a connection which is everywhere transverse to this section, so integrating it defines a projective atlas on the curve.

A: Here are few more details for David's answer.
In the case of rank 2 holomorphic vector bundles over a compact Riemann surface $X$, a maximally unstable bundle is a bundle $V$ where the slope (in this case, the degree) of a destabilizing line subbundle $L$ in $V$ is maximal possible. In the case when $V$ is flat this just means that $L$ is a square root of the canonical bundle $K$ of $X$. The details were worked out by Robert Gunning in "Special  Coordinate Coverings of Riemann Surfaces"  Math.  Annalen   170, p. 67 - 86  (1967). Faltings in "Real projective structures on Riemann surfaces", Compositio Math. 48 (1983), no. 2, 223–269, looked at the case of punctured Riemann surfaces. I did not see any detailed analysis in the case when $X$ is replaced by a singular stable curve, but it is probably not too hard.
To relate (in the compact case) maximally unstable bundles to monodromy, suppose that $\rho: \pi=\pi_1(X)\to PSL(2, {\mathbb C})$ is a representation equivariant with respect to a (locally injective) holomorphic function $f: \tilde{X}\to CP^1$ defined on the universal cover of $X$. One should think of $f$ as a holomorphic section (again denoted  $f$) of the $CP^1$-bundle $P\to X$ associated to $\rho$. Local injectivity of $f$ translated to the fact that $f$, as a section, is transversal to the leaves of the flat connection on $P$.
A representation $\rho$ as above is known to lift (nonuniquely) to a representation $\tilde\rho: \pi\to SL(2, {\mathbb C})$. Let $V\to X$ be the associated (to $\tilde\rho$) flat rank 2 holomorphic vector bundle. The section $f$ lifts to a holomorphic line subbundle $L\subset V$. Then one does a computation and shows that $L$ is destabilizing and half-canonical, i.e., $L^2\cong K$. This procedure can be reversed, namely, a maximally destabilizing line subbundle in a rank 2 vector bundle projects to a section of a $CP^1$ bundle over $X$, etc.
To relate to Schwarzian, note that the function $f:\tilde{X}\to CP^1$ has a well-defined Schwarzian derivative $S(f)$ which projects to a holomorphic quadratic differential $q$ on $X$. (Holomorphicity of $q$ is equivalent to local conformality of $f$.) Then $\rho$ is the monodromy of the Schwarzian differential equation $S(f)=q$ where we now think of $f$ as a  multivalued function on $X$. Conversely, given a holomorphic quadratic differential $q$, one recovers $f$ (uniquely up to postcomposition with elements of $PSL(2, {\mathbb C})$), representation $\rho$ etc.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The shop will be open Sunday now on from 9-1:30. Please check here or on social media for holiday hours or closures.
The shop will be closed on Christmas day 12/25/1 and New years day 1/1/18. Please plan ahead!
© 2019 Prodigy Barbershop LLC. All rights reserved.


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«Театр абсурда» — фильм 2011 года режиссёра и сценариста Максима Апрятина. Продюсер и исполнитель главной роли — популярный российский певец Дима Билан.

Премьера фильма должна была состояться в декабре 2010 года на крупнейшем видеохостинге YouTube. Однако премьера мини-фильма состоялась только 1 февраля 2011 года..

Фильм снимался летом 2010 года в Москве и Московской области. Сцена в пустыне снималась в Калининградской области.

В результате долгой работы во время аномальной жары получился короткометражный фильм в стиле артхаус. Фильм состоит из монологов, которые читает Дима Билан, по мотивам одноимённой новеллы Максима Апрятина, цитат из Экклезиаста и отрывков записей Джима Моррисона. Так же в фильме звучит новая песня Димы Билана «Он хотел», которая войдёт в новый альбом певца под названием «Мечтатель».

Продолжение

Летом 2011 года начнутся съёмки 2 части фильма. Второй фильм будет носить название «Театр Абсурда 2. Хранитель океана грёз». Премьера намечена на 2012 год.

В ролях

Главные роли
 Дима Билан
 Татьяна Дробышева

Роли второго плана
 Оля Кровь — Блуд № 1
 Ken Vegan — Блуд № 2
 Андрей Сандалов — Зависть
 Сергей — Серебролюбие
 Андрей Чёрный — Уныние
 Артур К. — Гордость
 Аркадий Логунов — Чревоугодие
 Роман Энзимов — Гнев № 1
 Майло — Гнев № 2
 Максим Апрятин — Горожанин в пустыне

Ссылки
 Театр абсурда на сайте YouTube

Примечания

Дима Билан


Tech Access Blog: Traits by Tech - What's your match?
Well, I know it is tough to decode this post's title. Don't think about it too much because this post is about something new that technology has to offer and I'd wanted to share this stuff to my avid readers. "Traits" by sunsigns. People, with their birth date are categorized into sun-signed people and I am not sure which sunsign comes first and which last, but I do know that each sunsigned folk has his/her own "traits" and all this is study categorization is called as Astrology!
I was wondering if there is a very good website out there which comprehensively has information about every sunsign and which other sunsign is compatible to one another. Yes, I found one that lists every single information out there and all the information is gathered from the experts and reliable sources from all over the web! My friend came around my place that time and we together read the Gemini page because he is of sunsign Gemini and what are his compatibilities. He sure noted that the traits listed there were very true for his character and attitude - very positive indeed. A sure techwin scenario!


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Mido Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961 Limited Edition
MIDO OCEAN STAR
DECOMPRESSION TIMER 1961 LIMITED EDITION
Reedition of the historical Ocean Star dating back from 1961.
One of the most researched and desired model among the vintage fans.
Limited to 1961 pieces, this edition is available in a special box including two additional straps.
Only limited pieces available
Pre-order yours now!
The Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961 reproduces the irresistible vintage charm of the Ocean Star Skin Diver Watch, a popular 1960s MIDO model that remains one of the brand's most sought-after original timepieces to date. Dedicated to the underwater world, this watch also served as a precious diving tool thanks to the multicoloured display of decompression stops on the dial. It uses the best of current technology to revive the striking codes of the time, namely a rotating bezel with countdown timer and a coloured table beneath a 'glassbox'-style sapphire crystal. This watch is equipped with the Caliber 80, which offers a power reserve of up to 80 hours. Each model comes with three easily interchangeable strap options.
CALIBER 80
The Caliber 80 from Mido is a next-generation automatic watch movement which offers up to 80 hours of power reserve, twice as much as a regular calibre. It is also available as a chronometer that has been officially certified by the COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) for its superior accuracy.
Mido exclusively uses high-grade 316L stainless steel for its steel components to ensure complete and continued compatibility with the skin. This material resists corrosion, is unaffected by magnetic fields and demonstrates excellent durability, making Mido's stainless steel watches enduring creations that can stand the test of time and weather the elements. The metal's many technical properties are complemented by its sleek, extremely pleasing aesthetics, enabling a wide range of uses.
WATCH GLASS
Mido's sapphire crystal glass reveals its spectacular dials in sharp relief. They afford excellent readability in a range of conditions while perfectly complementing the watches' elegant design. Strong and shock-resistant, they are made to last, maintaining their exceptional transparency for many years.
WHAT IS A DECOMPRESSION STOP?
Due to the water pressure, gas bubbles may appear in the blood of divers. In order to evacuate these gases before leaving the water, and to avoid health problems, the diver must perform decompression stops. The stopping time will depend on the diving time and depth. On the original Mido Decompression Timer, and following the calculation methods valid in 1961, the stop takes place at 6 meters underwater.
The dial on your Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961, in addition to the usual information (hour graduation and minute track), has a decompression time indicator for diving. This is represented by 4 concentric coloured rings, from the centre: Yellow, Green, Pink and Blue. Each ring corresponds to a dive depth.
A vertical scale at 2 o'clock is used to select the ring corresponding to the dive depth. The depths are indicated in metres 25/30/35/40, with the corresponding depth in feet 80/95/110/130.
The ring is selected as follows:
Yellow ring "25 meters/ 80 feet": must be used if the diver has reached a depth of 25 to 29 metres (80 to 94 feet)
Green ring "30 meters/ 95 feet": must be used if the diver has reached a depth of 30 to 34 metres (95 to 109 feet)
Pink ring "35 meters/ 110 feet": must be used if the diver has reached a depth of 35 to 39 metres (110 to 129 feet)
Blue ring "40 meters/ 130 feet": must be used if the diver has reached a depth of 40 to 44 metres (130 to 144 feet)
The various decompression times are indicated in a circle around each ring.
Learn more on the specifications
Rado Captain Cook Automatic – All Watches Exclusive
Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic
Mido Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961 Limited Edition (2021 Edition)
Longines Avigation Big Eye
Omega Seamaster 300


NuttX is a real-time operating system that is closely tied with the ANSI and POSIX standards that operating systems like Linux are based from.
It is designed to be run on embedded targets such as 8 to 32-bit microcontrollers. It supports commons microcontrollers such as the ARM Cortex M0, M3, M4 and M7.
NuttX is one of the operating systems supported by the PX4 MAV/drone auto-pilot flight stack.


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Confessions of a 30-Year-Old Gamer
By Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates Friday, Jan. 12, 2007
The author's avatar in the online video game World of Warcraft
Last spring I took the measure of my life, and decided that my favorite video game, World of Warcraft, had to go.
I was 30, and by most objective standards, was doing pretty well. I lived in an old building in majestic Harlem, with a lovely son and partner, and made a show of wearing a suit and fedora to a job that merely requested jeans and a collar. I had a joint bank account and dental insurance. Yet, on any given day, if you'd asked me about my greatest accomplishment, it invariably began with my second life—the one in which I was a seven-foot blue elf whose hobbies included firing crossbows, trapping wild boars and reenacting the video for Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." In May I quit because I didn't want any illusions about which of my two lives were more important.
Like most of my generation, I was raised on video games. Like most of my generation, I assumed that this obsession would pass at the proper time—say when I turned 30. But like most of my generation, I was wrong. Our assumptions were based on the idea that video games would never grow up. But no genre has worked harder to disprove that maxim than MMOGs—Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Unlike with normal video games, where you interact with just a computer, MMOGs allow millions of people to play with each other in sprawling online virtual worlds. Most MMOGs target people like me who, as kids, took 20-sided dice and J.R.R.Tolkien a little too seriously, and none do it better than World of Warcraft. At last count there were 8 million people journeying through its fantasy world known as Azeroth. On Tuesday that number will increase, when the game's creator, Blizzard Entertainment, releases its sequel to WoW, The Burning Crusade, a game that will likely smash all previous records for games made for the PC.
All those trips to Azeroth add up to a lot of money. WoW subsists on a monthly subscription fee of $14.95, which means Blizzard rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars monthly. Their clientele are mostly young men like myself—the same young men who've been giving studio executives headaches as we abandon the box office and TV.
It doesn't take much to see why. This summer I could have paid 10 bucks to watch Superman Returns for three hours. Or I could have paid 15 bucks to be Superman whenever I wanted. It isn't just the thrill of playing dress-up either; Superman Returns is static, always saddled with the same ending. But WoW, like the real world, changes with every choice I make. Fighting with two swords instead of one gives me a better shot at beating down an opposing mage, while spending hours wending through a haunted manse might win me a coveted staff. Also, unlike with old media, my choices affect people around me. I can form guilds, essentially virtual clubhouses, band together to quest for rare breastplate, recite the assorted lore of Vin Diesel or Chuck Norris, or simply hang out in front of the local inn doing the electric slide.
WoW wasn't the first MMOG I'd ever played, but it is the best. The interface is clean and easy to master. The world feels mammoth and its geography runs the gamut from painted deserts and sprawling savannahs to snow-covered mountains and swamps teeming with gators and fish men. Despite its size, players easily navigate the world via roads, ships, zeppelins, giant bats and mythological creatures like hippogriffs. Players in Azeroth choose to be members of races like humans, orcs, trolls or night elves, and then pledge allegiance to one of two factions. But unlike in other fantasy games, neither side is wholly good or evil, and both factions are under siege from a plague that turns its victims into mindless undead.
Its biggest draw, without a doubt, is its human factor, and WoW's fans have quickly shaped Azeroth into a second Earth. Players hunt for gold, and epic items, then put them up for sale on eBay, thus turning a hobby into a livelihood. They have cyber-sex, date, and get married. They hang out with old friends who may live hundreds of miles away.


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For example, one of our tenants, who is serving in the military, wanted to store his large four-wheeler in one of the indoor units, but he was concerned that he wouldn't be able to fit it through the hallways. So, we had him bring it down and try for himself. It worked perfectly, and he doesn't have to worry about it while he's overseas because of our advanced security features.
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There is a gated entry with a unique special access code for each tenant. Our units are individually alarmed, and they use a special cylinder lock, for your protection. Secure fencing surrounds the entire property, 24-hour digital video recorders are in place, and after-hours motion detecting perimeter beams are additional features of our secure storage facility.
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Smaller teams produce more innovative research, study finds
A new analysis of more than 65 million papers, patents and software projects found that smaller teams produce much more disruptive and innovative research than larger teams, which more often develop and consolidate existing knowledge.
University of Chicago researchers examined 60 years of publications and found that smaller teams were far more likely to introduce new ideas to science and technology, while larger teams more often developed and consolidated existing knowledge. Their findings have been published in Nature.
While both large and small teams are essential for scientific progress, the findings suggest that recent trends in research policy and funding towards big teams should be reassessed.
"Big teams are almost always more conservative. The work they produce is like blockbuster sequels; very reactive and low-risk," said study co-author James Evans, a professor of sociology and director of the Knowledge Lab at the University of Chicago.
"Bigger teams are always searching the immediate past, always building on yesterday's hits. Whereas the small teams, they do weird stuff — they're reaching further into the past, and it takes longer for others to understand and appreciate the potential of what they are doing."
Knowledge Lab is a research centre that combines 'science of science' approaches from sociology with the explosion of digital information now available on the history of research and discovery. By using advanced computational techniques and developing new tools, Knowledge Lab researchers reconstruct and examine how knowledge over time grows and influences our world, generating insights that can fuel future innovation.
The Nature study collected 44 million articles and more than 600 million citations from the Web of Science database, 5 million patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office, and 16 million software projects from the Github platform. Each individual work in this massive dataset was then computationally assessed for how much it disrupted versus developed its field of science or technology.
"Intuitively, a disruptive paper is like the moon during the lunar eclipse; it overshadows the sun — the idea it builds upon — and redirects all future attention to itself," said study co-author Lingfei Wu, a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Chicago and Knowledge Lab. "The fact that most of the future works only cite the focal paper and not its references is evidence for the 'novelty' of the focal paper. Therefore, we can use this measure, originally proposed by Funk and Owen-Smith, as a proxy for the creation of new directions in the history of science and technology."
The analysis shows that both small and large teams play important roles in the research ecosystem, with the former generating new, promising insights that are rapidly developed and refined by larger teams. Some experiments are so expensive, like the Large Hadron Collider or the search for dark energy, that they can only be answered by a single, massive collaboration. But other complex scientific questions may be more effectively pursued by an ensemble of independent, risk-taking small teams rather than a large consortium, the authors argue.
"In the context of science, funders around the world are funding bigger and bigger teams," said Evans. "What our research proposes is that you really want to fund a greater diversity of approaches. It suggests that if you really want to build science and technology, you need to act like a venture capitalist rather than a big bank — you want to fund a bunch of smaller and largely disconnected efforts to improve the likelihood of major, path-breaking success.
"Most things are going to fail, or are not going to push the needle within a field. As a result it's really about optimising failure," Evans added. "If you want to do discovery, you have to gamble."
Across papers, patents and software products, disruption dramatically declined with the addition of each additional team member. The same relationship appeared when the authors controlled for publication year, topic or author, or tested subsets of data, such as Nobel Prize-winning articles. Even review articles, which simply aggregate the findings of previous publications, are more disruptive when authored by fewer individuals, the study found.
The main driver of the difference in disruption between large and small teams appeared to be how each treat the history of their field. Larger teams were more likely to cite more recent, highly cited research in their work, building upon past successes and acknowledging problems already in their field's zeitgeist. By contrast, smaller teams more often cited older, less popular ideas, a deeper and wider information search that creates new directions in science and technology.
"Small teams and large teams are different in nature," Wu said. "Small teams remember forgotten ideas, ask questions and create new directions, whereas large teams chase hotspots and forget less popular ideas, answer questions and stabilise established paradigms."
Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Gajus
Dr Karl wins UN prize for science communication
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Category Archives: U.S. Foreign Policy
Responding to the top 10 anti-Israel lies
anti-Semitism, U.S. Israel RelationsBy The Jerusalem Connection May 3, 2010 2 Comments
By Rabbi Marvin Hier, JewishJournal.com It's no secret to anyone that relations between the United States and Israel reflect a new reality and are not what they once were. The last few months have seen a worldwide frenzy of intimidation and threats directed against Israel that has backed its supporters into a corner. Very few…
US Targets Israel as Anti-Nuke Conference Begins
Iran, U.S. Israel RelationsBy The Jerusalem Connection May 3, 2010 Leave a comment
By Hillel Fendel, Israelnationalnews.com The United States is working with both Egypt and Russia to rid Israel of its nuclear weapons, as part of a comprehensive plan to neutralize Iran's nuclear power. Reports of this nature are being reported in various news media. The Guardian (London) reports that the US and Russia have drafted an…
JINSA Flag & General Officers Ad
U.S. Israel RelationsBy The Jerusalem Connection May 3, 2010 2 Comments
JINSA Report #: 976 Editor's Note: When U.S.-Israel relations hit a rough patch, there are those who quickly blame Israel for America's difficulties abroad. Israel has outrageously been blamed for endangering American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, and erroneously been blamed for preventing the formation of an Arab coalition to work with the US to…
Does Jerusalem get it?
U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Israel RelationsBy The Jerusalem Connection May 3, 2010 Leave a comment
By Yoram Ettinger, Ynetnews.com Congress has power to produce change in Obama's Mideast policy The assumption that Israel is facing an imperial and an omnipotent American president, who supposedly benefits from a health reform-driven political tailwind, is refuted by the April 21-22, 2010 Quinnipiac University Polling Institute findings. The Institute is quoted often by the…
Barreling on, regardless
U.S. Foreign PolicyBy The Jerusalem Connection April 27, 2010 Leave a comment
By Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post If safeguarding international security is the chief aim of US President Barack Obama's foreign policy, then at some point he can be expected to change course in the Middle East. For today, Obama faces the wreckage of every aspect of his Middle East policies. And largely as a consequence of…
The Source of Obama's Anti-Israel Policy
U.S. Israel RelationsBy The Jerusalem Connection April 26, 2010 5 Comments
By E.W. Jackson Sr. , Writing the Wrongs Like Obama, I am a graduate of Harvard Law School. I too have Muslims in my family. I am black, and I was once a leftist Democrat. Since our backgrounds are somewhat similar, I perceive something in Obama's policy toward Israel which people without that background may…
Israel and Liberal Appeasement
Peace Process, U.S. Foreign PolicyBy The Jerusalem Connection April 26, 2010 Leave a comment
By Chuck Morse, World Net Daily Israel is in the crosshairs as Syria prepares to move Scud missiles beyond the protective barrier of the Golan Heights and into southern Lebanon where their proxy, Hezbollah, would be in a position to fire upon Jewish population centers. Meanwhile, the nuclear threat from Iran is continuing to develop…
Foundations of the US-Israel Alliance
U.S. Israel RelationsBy The Jerusalem Connection April 24, 2010 Leave a comment
By Caroline Glick, JPost.com Israel's status as the US's most vital ally in the Middle East has been so widely recognized for so long that over the years, Israeli and American leaders alike have felt it unnecessary to explain what it is about the alliance that makes it so important for the US. Today, as…
Rahm Emanuel: Now is not the time for a new Mideast plan
Peace Process, U.S. Foreign PolicyBy The Jerusalem Connection April 21, 2010 1 Comment
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said in an interview on Monday that the time has not come yet for a new U.S. Mideast peace proposal. In an interview with Charlie Rose on Bloomberg Television, Emanuel emphasized that a new U.S. plan isn't the correct move at this time. "A number of people have…
The Jews of Silence
Peace Process, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Israel RelationsBy The Jerusalem Connection April 19, 2010 Leave a comment
By Richard Baehr, American Thinker The New York Times, in a front page article, described how President Obama appears to be reconsidering, if not turning away from, the historic strategic alliance between the U.S. and Israel. In remarks made at the end of the multinational nuclear security talks, Obama reinforced this message, saying the following:…


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Study connects climate hazards to 58% of infectious diseases
By Seth Borenstein — Associated PressAug. 8, 2022
A man walks past a house abandoned after it was inundated by water due to the rising sea level in Sidogemah, Central Java, Indonesia, in November 2021. Climate hazards such as flooding, heat waves, and drought have worsened more than half of the hundreds of known infectious diseases in people, according to a new study. Dita Alangkara/AP
Climate hazards such as flooding, heat waves, and drought have worsened more than half of the hundreds of known infectious diseases in people, including malaria, hantavirus, cholera, and anthrax, a study says.
Researchers looked through the medical literature of established cases of illnesses and found that 218 out of the known 375 human infectious diseases, or 58%, seemed to be made worse by one of 10 types of extreme weather connected to climate change, according to a study in Monday's journal Nature Climate Change.
Doctors, going back to Hippocrates, have long connected disease to weather, but this study shows how widespread the influence of climate is on human health.
"If climate is changing, the risk of these diseases are changing," said study co-author Dr. Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Related: It's not just heat stroke. Extreme temperatures pose special risk to people with chronic illness (and that's a lot of us)
Doctors, such as Patz, said they need to think of the diseases as symptoms of a sick Earth.
"The findings of this study are terrifying and illustrate well the enormous consequences of climate change on human pathogens," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an Emory University infectious disease specialist, who was not part of the study. "Those of us in infectious diseases and microbiology need to make climate change one of our priorities, and we need to all work together to prevent what will be without doubt a catastrophe as a result of climate change."
In addition to looking at infectious diseases, the researchers expanded their search to look at all type of human illnesses, including non-infectious sicknesses such as asthma, allergies, and even animal bites to see how many maladies they could connect to climate hazards in some way, including infectious diseases. They found a total of 286 unique sicknesses and of those 223 of them seemed to be worsened by climate hazards, nine were diminished by climate hazards and 54 had cases of both aggravated and minimized, the study found.
The new study doesn't do the calculations to attribute specific disease changes, odds, or magnitude to climate change, but finds cases where extreme weather was a likely factor among many. The study did map out the 1,006 connections from climate hazard to illness.
Study lead author Camilo Mora, a climate data analyst at the University of Hawaii, said what is important to note is that the study isn't about predicting future cases.
"There is no speculation here whatsoever," Mora said. "These are things that have already happened."
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One example Mora knows firsthand. About five years ago, Mora's home in rural Colombia was flooded — for the first time in his memory water was in his living room, creating an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes — and Mora contracted chikungunya, a nasty virus spread by mosquito bites. And even though he survived, he still feels joint pain years later.
Sometimes climate change acts in odd ways. Mora includes the 2016 case in Siberia when a decades-old reindeer carcass, dead from anthrax, was unearthed when the permafrost thawed from warming. A child touched it, got anthrax and started an outbreak.
Mora originally wanted to search medical cases to see how Covid-19 intersected with climate hazards, if at all. He found cases where extreme weather both exacerbated and diminished chances of Covid-19. In some cases, extreme heat in poor areas had people congregate together to cool off and get exposed to the disease, but in other situations, heavy downpours reduced Covid spread because people stayed home and indoors, away from others.
Related: Viruses that were on hiatus during Covid are back — and behaving in unexpected ways
Longtime climate and public health expert Kristie Ebi at the University of Washington cautioned that she had concerns with how the conclusions were drawn and some of the methods in the study. It is an established fact that the burning of coal, oil and natural gas have led to more frequent and intense extreme weather, and research has shown that weather patterns are associated with many health issues, she said.
"However, correlation is not causation," Ebi said in an email. "The authors did not discuss the extent to which the climate hazards reviewed changed over the time period of the study and the extent to which any changes have been attributed to climate change."
But Dr. Aaron Bernstein, interim director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard School of Public Health, Emory's del Rio, and three other outside experts said the study is a good warning about climate and health for now and the future. Especially as global warming and habitat loss push animals and their diseases closer to humans, Bernstein said.
"This study underscores how climate change may load the dice to favor unwelcome infectious surprises," Bernstein said in an email. "But of course it only reports on what we already know and what's yet unknown about pathogens may be yet more compelling about how preventing further climate change may prevent future disasters like COVID-19."
Seth Borenstein — Associated Press
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The I Am. That one.
Despite my theological disagreement, I spent long years in the same place. I admire your convictions and find myself moved by their poignant expression.
Your rebellious pen has written its infernal beauty of words in the pages of our time while you stare on into the face of the deepest, timeless mystery. I am awed and humbled by your skill.
That is beautiful. I am so humbled by your words.
This poem gave me goosebumps! Beautifully written. Engaging.
I really appreciate this comment very much. Thank you!
Reading this I found myself tagged by two things, the obvious ending question, but prior to that, the idea that "I beg you for mercy, only because I know what you are capable of". Poetry this scintillating, emotionally and intellectually should be slightly illegal 🙂 Too much in here to praise, besides, I might get exuberant 🙂 Take care.
Haha, I adore your exuberance. Without it, what is life for? Thank you so much for your sweet comments.
Now THAT is an interesting poem! Wow!
Yep…without a doubt, that has my vote for the most interesting blog I've seem in a long time. Thank you.
Thank you so much! I'm so glad to have you read it.
Well…when it comes down to it…we created all of our gods in our own image or for our own purposes. It's a drop in the bucket time wise. Every civilization suffers short memory. There is a whole lot more than "god" worth knowing and it's obvious once we get over our own separation and the reasons for it. I've hissed and railed similar sentiments since birth without being struck by lightening… All said… you really know how to make the words sound pretty. Love the poem.
Haha, well, that's what I do!
I love how you've expressed yourself, and the delivery is outright punchy!
I think we humans invented most of our own misery and suffering though. But then I guess only some of this (A/H-Bombs etc.) comes close to that of our tales of "Biblical" destruction.
lol – I guess we took over from where GoD left off.
Your poems are amazing. Just amazing. So, I nominated you for a very inspirational blogger award. See http://unkilleddarlings.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/the-very-inspirational-blogger-award-very-appreciated/ for more info. Thanks!
There is of course endless debate on the topic of theodicy – and there shall ever be, up to the Heavens or down to the Monad, or in between in this place where the mind shall "Make a Heaven of Hell/Hell of Heaven." – John Milton.
Ultimately the vicissitude of man's nature is an unusual quality. Being as I am not a believer in an emanate creator ( that is a god that is constituent of the reality of which it was contrived. Your normal chicken and egg debate and the question that plagues. ), but rather an impartial, transcendent one I don't necessarily buy into the accounts of the media Christianity. As such, i'm also a huge opponent of the subjectivity that most religions represent and yet espouse to detest. To me it is the lesser t of truth. Really, like a monad, it defies those five things by which our interactions with life are defined by. ( The senses) The greater T of Truth really absolves itself of all suppositions or arguments that might be espoused.
Necessarily, Truth is too big to put int 1,684 pages of the KJV or the Qu'ran, or Mandala, or Tao, or the dozen other 'scriptured' religions.
When quid est veritas was asked, what was really asked was: "Quid est Veritas?" and, as supposed, the answer to the second was an anagram of the question: "Est vir qui adest." The answer to the first was man's proposition of Heaven and Hell and all the subsequent condemnation of other men based off the fallacy of human perception.
We can go into all sorts of Infinitesimal Calculations based on Physics: about hyperreals, integrals, differentials – what have you. Alternatively we can accept man's fallibility as such, without proving it mathematically, and seek to improve the fault of our natural state.
As a general rule I should question anyone who embrace anything openly without questioning it. I should question all the same someone who embraces denial as though they were Diogenes of Sinope. Really, I should not condemn anyone who questions, bur rather anyone who condemns those that question.
But to the main point, Biblically we have very many different facets of the same truth. Yehovah or Adonay? There are clearly not the same deity, and yet chicken and egg, they are said to be refractions of one another. Once more, perfect circle back to theodicy.
Ultimately 888 is as interesting a product as 666. Both are derived by man.
Interesting piece, keep at it.
Wow, thank you. I agree that condemning questioners is the worst sort of sin.
This is like Annie Dillard on pentothal. Love it.
Haha, that is the best. I'm glad!
Why mention "salvation" at the end of a poem that deals only with judgement?
Because that was sort of the point.
That was the point for me. Where is the salvation in all of this?
Yes, I get the point, and I get what you're asking. But why would you call divine judgments and human evils God's "salvation"? Why assign that word?
Just ask yourself the question and give yourself an answer. Poetry is what it makes you feel.
You're absolutely right. I apologize for misunderstanding.
No apologies necessary whatsoever. Thank you for reading.
I'm tired of worshipping obscurities other than my muse.
A prayer that we all silently pray…wondering why is "this or that" happening? Hurt abounds.
I believe it's my gift to spread along the love and understanding (or lack thereof, in this case).
I adore this comment, thank you!
Nice job on a tough subject.
This is a great exploration on the edge of a very difficult subject.
I do like to stay on the edges of difficult things.
Stunning. The penultimate and antepenultimate lines hit you like [insert tired metaphor for heavy object here].


In 2017, Michael Hobbes wrote an article entitled "The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness" examining theories behind high rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide among gay men and members of the LGBT+ community.
Our Posture Shift seminar addresses key factors that impact mental health, including family rejection, church exclusion, and bullying. Rejection, isolation, and lack of support can map the brain of an LGBT+ individual to fear or anticipate threat or harm.
Gay men are, as [Alex Keuroghlian, a psychiatrist at the Fenway Institute's Center for Population Research in LGBT Health,] puts it, "primed to expect rejection." We're constantly scanning social situations for ways we may not fit into them. We struggle to assert ourselves. We replay our social failures on a loop.
This heightened stress has been found among LGBT+ people who have been bullied or rejected. One's "flight-or-fight" switch has been triggered so many times that it is always on.
Yet Hobbes notes that this same stress exists in gay men who have not been bullied or rejected.
John Pachankis, a stress researcher at Yale, notes that the real impact of minority stress on LGBT+ individuals happens in the four or five years between self-awareness and disclosure (coming out) to others.
For example, 12-year-old Thomas has just realized he is gay. As he stands in a locker room of other boys, even with no prior bullying, his mind experiences the stress of feeling different and the risk of potential mistreatment.
LGBT+ youth deal with such fears most of the time yet they cannot always describe this internal experience. It is a hidden battle that can have long-term effects on mental health. Sadly, many LGBT+ youth suffer with an internal stress that few of us can see.
An obvious answer is to work toward mitigating visible stressors. Hobbes explains, "any discussion of gay mental health has to start with what happens in schools." Despite meaningful efforts to protect LGBT+ youth, GLSEN found that from 2005 to 2015 the percentage of teens bullied in connection to their sexual orientation stayed the same. Only 30 percent of schools in America have anti-bullying policies that specifically mention LGBT+ students.
We must also ensure that home life is secure and loving. We know from researchers like Dr. Caitlin Ryan that family rejection, stacked on top of bullying, is a leading risk factor for LGBT+ teen suicide. We also know that family disconnection—silence or withholding of support after youth come out—can have similar effects on suicidality.
Even if Thomas is not being bullied or rejected, he still processes complex questions about his safety, self-worth, and future. LGBT+ youth need someone with whom they can talk openly about their questions and fears.
We — as parents, pastors and friends — can help LGBT+ youth in our family, church, and circle of influence. We can be the safe person with whom such youth can openly share.
Lead Them Home seeks to eliminate family rejection in this generation. When LGBT+ young people feel safe and secure in their homes, churches, and schools, we can lower depression, suicide, and youth homelessness.
Our Guiding Families resource seeks to increase family acceptance, enhance church inclusion, and nourish faith identity for LGBT+ youth. Our care plan will save young lives by lowering the stressors they experience. We cannot eliminate every stress, but we certainly can make our homes and churches safe for our LGBT+ children.
To learn more, obtain your copy of Guiding Families.


Madcap mariachis and aromas of sizzling fajitas attract tourists and locals alike.
: Located just to the west of popular Market Square and Produce Row, Pico de Gallo bridges the gap between aunt Maude from Moline and savvy locals in tune with traditional Tex-Mex. It can rebound with the blare of mariachi trumpeters and is often bedecked with balloons celebrating a quiceañera---all part of its raffish charm. Plunge into the party with an order of chicken and bean nachos with guacamole and the namesake pico de gallo just to whet the whistle. Then contemplate sharing a parrillada platter that groans under the weight. Consisting of charbroiled and baked ribs, chicken, fajitas, stuffed chilies and much more, this is a feast fit for the record books. Lesser appetites might appreciate the baked kid goat with frijoles a la charra or the flautas de camaron with the inevitable Spanish rice and refried beans. Among the enchiladas, we admit to preferring the verde version with chicken and a tart tomatillo sauce.


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Straining to look relaxed, ANC cools talk of division
03 July 2017 - 19:31 By Reuters
President Jacob Zuma at the ANC conference in Nasrec.
Image: Masi Losi
The conference of the ruling party is going so smoothly, it seems, that President Jacob Zuma had time on Monday to wander among statues of past party icons, joke with the public and even try out a virtual reality headset.
The carefully choreographed media event was supposed to send a clear message that rifts in the African National Congress (ANC) have been mended and that party members are focused on policy rather than a looming leadership battle.
But behind the scenes, the party remains deeply divided over who should succeed Zuma at a conference in December. One faction backs Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and another Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former African Union chair and Zuma's ex-wife.
Challenges at policy conference but ANC will rise above them' says Zuma
President Jacob Zuma says a strategic review of ANC policies across a broad range of areas' including pressing issues' and recommendations on new ...
Dlamini-Zuma's camp says it wants to radically address racial inequality by increasing black ownership of land and businesses, while Ramaphosa's supporters pledge to end the corruption and scandals that have plagued the ANC under Zuma.
In the build-up to the six-day meeting, held once every five years, there have been public spats between the two camps and ANC sources said it was likely the leadership question would dominate what is ostensibly a policy conference.
But the president was keen to put aside any talk of backroom jostling.
"It is going absolutely very well. The results are going to be wonderful," Zuma, dressed in an ANC leather jacket and baseball cap, told reporters, who were marshalled by dozens of security staff and not allowed to ask questions.
Accompanying Zuma and nodding in agreement was ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa, who chose an unusually casual outfit for a party conference - trainers, sweatpants and sunglasses.
We won't be bullied' says ANC stalwart Frank Chikane
ANC stalwart Frank Chikane says the party's 101 veterans will not be bullied into silence about the poor state of the governing party.
"If things weren't going well, would I be dressed like this?" Kodwa told Reuters, before briefly running on the spot.
"I'm so relaxed because things are going so well."
At a sprawling venue in the shadow of Soccer City stadium in Soweto, journalists are separated from the thousands of party delegates by a high metal fence and only allowed out for stage-managed events under the watchful eye of security.
"You're not allowed to wander around alone in case you don't know where to go," one security guard told Reuters.
"WHITE MONOPOLY CAPITAL"
Ramaphosa and Dlamini-Zuma both talk of "radical socio-economic transformation", a vague ANC plan to tackle the glaring racial inequality that exists 23 years after the end of apartheid.
In reality, the two factions in the ANC have major ideological differences.
Dlamini-Zuma, who has the support of Zuma and his powerful grassroots Zulu ANC support base, has accused her opponents of being "anti-transformation" and too cosy with rich whites.
Move to appoint second ANC deputy president hits stumbling block
Moves to have two deputy presidents in the ANC and to expand the party's top leadership structure to nine were dealt a blow at the policy conference ...
She has called for the defeat of the "enemy" of "white monopoly capital". White South Africans, who make up 9 percent of the population, still control much of the economy.
These messages play well with many poorer, rural ANC delegates who believe rich people in the ANC, like Ramaphosa, have not done enough to redistribute wealth since the end of white minority rule.
Ramaphosa has also pledged to tackle inequality but is viewed as more moderate and investor-friendly.
A trade unionist-turned-business tycoon, he has been a vocal critic of corruption. Some of his supporters say Dlamini-Zuma would do little to clean up an atmosphere of sleaze in public life that grew under her husband's presidency.
Critics charge that under Zuma, the idealism epitomised by former president Nelson Mandela has been replaced by a scramble for power and patronage, dividing the party and tarnishing the reputation of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation". Popular support for the ANC has slumped.
Though few major policy changes are expected to be agreed at this week's meeting, the agenda will be watched for clues to whose voice - Ramaphosa's or Dlamini-Zuma's - seems the dominant one.


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2 July 2020 - 00:25
Jul 2, 2020, 12:25 AM
British diplomat condoles with victims of deadly explosion in Tehran
London, July 2, IRNA – UK deputy foreign minister James Cleverly in a message extended condolences over recent deadly blast in a clinic in northern Tehran.
"I wish to express my condolences for the tragic loss of life in the explosion yesterday at the Sina Athar Medical Centre in Tehran, which was reportedly caused by a gas leak," Cleverly wrote on his Twitter account on Wednesday.
"The UK's thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all those affected," he added.
Meanwhile, British Ambassador to Tehran Rob Macaire in a message said: We at the British Embassy in Tehran express our condolences over the fire at Sina Athar Medical Center and offer our condolences on the tragic loss of life.
We also express our condolences to the families and loved ones of all those killed in the fire, he noted.
The heavy explosion in 'Sina Athar' clinic in northern Tehran on Tuesday resulted in death of 19 people and injury of 14 others.


Watch senior psychoanalysts look back on their professional careers.
The Encounters Through Generations Project was set up to create dialogue between old and new generations of psychoanalysts.
You can rent all of the interviews here.
Encounters Through Generations - Trailer from Institute of Psychoanalysis on Vimeo.
Meeting Betty Joseph from Institute of Psychoanalysis on Vimeo.
Encounters Through the Generations – Elizabeth Spillius – Trailer from Institute of Psychoanalysis on Vimeo.
Encounters through Generations: a conversation with Eric Brenman from Institute of Psychoanalysis on Vimeo.
Encounters through Generations: a conversation with Dr Leslie Sohn from Institute of Psychoanalysis on Vimeo.


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Home » News and Information » Fact Sheets » Development of Regional Energy Markets Project
Development of Regional Energy Markets Project
The Government of Republic of North Macedonia and the Energy Regulatory Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will facilitate technical assistance by USAID to harmonize Macedonian energy legislation with the European Union's energy regulations
USAID North Macedonia
WHAT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL ENERGY MARKETS PROJECT?
USAID's Development of Regional Energy Markets (DREM) Project is a three-year activity launched in December 2017 that works with the Government of North Macedonia (GONM) to comply with European Union (EU) energy policies, regulations and translate relevant EU legislation into national legislation. The overall goal of the project is to enhance the regulatory environment of the energy sector and establish the legal framework for an open, transparent and vibrant energy market while improving energy services to households and industry, thus strengthening the energy security of the country.
The project provides technical support to the GONM to fully comply and align national legislation with the third EU Energy Package and Energy Community (EC) requirements, and the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). It also helps streamline the investment process for renewables and introduces new incentive schemes in transparent, non-discriminatory and market-based approaches.
In May 2018, the Parliament of the North Macedonia adopted a new Energy Law that is fully compliant with the Third Energy Package.
The Energy Community Secretariat discontinued two cases against North Macedonia and withdrew a reasoned opinion submitted to the Ministerial Council following the adoption of a new Energy Law.
Drafted a set of secondary legislation on renewable energy that introduces a new incentive scheme to boost investment in renewable energy projects.
Supported the GONM to draft the rules and organize a competitive tender for the selection of a universal electricity supplier, making North Macedonia the f country in the European Energy Community to do so.
Drafted national regulations on certification of electricity and gas transmission system operators.
Drafted national regulations on compensation for damages to producers and consumers caused by interruptions in the transmission and distribution systems..
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