London's Georgina Brett is part of a generation of solo artists who use layered loops to build trascendental, rotating textures from repetition. Hardware loopers and effects pedals remain the preferred tool here for Brett as for many such artists. But Brett's work is worth a particular mention for its ghostly, ethereal quality and thoughtful, delicate compositions.
There is for me a continuum connecting to the Minimalists, of course – as a soloist, she's doing some of the things that the Meredith Monk Ensemble did (minus the loopers), and there's a feeling of the "discovered folk music" that Monk used in her work. Other moments have the quasi-Medieval sounds of Philip Glass — one track recalling the "Knee Plays," other moments perhaps channeling Hildegard, in flourishes of modal monophony that underlie the writing. But this voice seems personal and intimate, centering on folk song round-style directness.
Watching her build up a track, even after many years of watching looping performances, is a pleasure, beginning fragile or even uncertain like an echo, but gently growing to a calmly rolling sea of sound.
Georgina Brett live at Cologne Livelooping Festival April 2011 from Georgina Brett on Vimeo.
Lyrics are the Pythagorean 10 opposites and the Pythagorean categories….. 'Musica Instrumentalis – music of sound, Musica Humana – music of the body and Musica Mundana – music of the Heavens.
This was recorded live at the Cologne live-looping Festival 2011. A wonderful, well organized, enjoyable event hosted by Michael Peters (Veloopity), including 9 other artists: Darkroom, Reyn Owehand, Per Boysen, David Cooper Orton, Premonition Factory, Pattysplanet, Uwe Schumacher, Twilight Worldz and Michael Peters. Thanks to Michael for the beautiful video projection of Jellyfish, which i didn't get to see until I received the recording of the event!
While sometimes working with words, turning over them as much as sound or mantra as narrative, much of her work is entirely in sounds.
In particular, listen to the otherworldly "Burrows," an improvised recording in a swimming pool.
Chris Dooks, Darkroom, David Cooper Orton, Dennis Moser, Fabio Anile, Fragments, Gaetano Fontanazza, Georgina Brett, James Bailey, Jeff Duke, Juan Dahmen, Kavstik Kurva, Lindsey Walker, Luca Formentini and Stephan Castagna, Marco Lucchi, Massimo Liverani, Michael Peters, Nick Robinson, Petri Lahtinen, Rick Walker, Roger Sundström, Simeon Harris, Stephen Briggs, Steve Moyes, Sylvain Poitras, Todd Madson, Tuna Pase and Illi Adato.
Hat-tip to the SoundCloud Tumblr for spotting her work; that site is essential for helping separate signal from noise.
On the technology side, I would love to see computer-based hardware reach the level of accessibility and reliability that hardware now offers. It seems experiments with devices like the Raspberry Pi might be ideal. With software behind the scenes, loopers' musical range could become far more flexible.
But this beautiful music is a wonderful way to begin focusing this week.
Brett's music is available on Bandcamp – another DIYer – but she's also working the festival circuit, particularly around Europe. In case you didn't guess, yes, she comes from a classical training, but is also remixer and "remixee" in various turns.


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A recent review of research about the take up and integration of digital technologies and media in education reveals two common gaps in the literature. It argues from evidence that there has not been a corresponding level of educational use of technology in schools as there has been outside of schools, and secondly, that student learning outcomes have not improved as expected. The research indicates that there is clear evidence that the appropriate use of digital technologies in education can improve student learning outcomes. However, there are some conditions that emerge from the literature and research which underpin successful integration of digital technologies in schools.


text:
Casey Anthony Appears In Online 'Video Diary' Posted To YouTube
Filed Under:Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, YouTube
ORLANDO, FL - JULY 17: Casey Anthony (L) leaves from the Booking and Release Center at the Orange County Jail after she was acquitted of murdering her daughter Caylee Anthony on July 17, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. It was unknown where Casey Anthony was going after the release. (Photo by Red Huber-Pool/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — After months of hiding, the world is now hearing from Casey Anthony, the woman acquitted last summer of killing her daughter Caylee.
The video, uploaded on YouTube after apparently being recorded last October, shows a transformed Anthony. She wears new glasses and a short, blonde hairdo.
"I'm extremely excited to Skype and keep pictures and video," she said. "Something I can finally call mine."
1010 WINS' Eileen Lehpamer reports https://newyork.cbslocal.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14578484/2012/01/anthony-1new-web-tag-41-soc-elehpamer.mp3
Anthony is at an undisclosed location in Florida serving a one-year probation sentence for check fraud.
In the video, she says recording the video makes her feel less lonely.
"Now I have someone to talk to, so I'm not by myself," she said.
Anthony doesn't talk about Caylee nor her estranged parents, who testified in the trial.
She was found guilty of lying to police about her daughter disappearing, but on the new video, she only briefly mentions the ordeal.
"It's just surreal how things have changed since July," she said. "And how many things haven't changed."
She says she's looking forward to starting a new life later this year.
What do you think of Casey Anthony's video diary? Share your thoughts below.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


LYNN HAVEN -- City Commissioners voted for an operational assistance and voluntary mutual aid agreement with Panama City Beach Police Department during Tuesday�s meeting.
The city has agreements with other cities and Bay County.
Also, after a request from an audience member, the commission instructed Lynch to take initiative in acquiring designs for a pedestrian bridge connecting Petty Drive and the Publix parking lot.
�Right now you have to go out to the intersection and you can get killed over there,� said Michael Anthony Smith, resident of the neighborhood.
Commissioners also reappointed Jim Slonina, Sally Stanley, Dell Mortenson, Bill Aycock and removed Mike Byers from the Lynn Haven Main Street Board.


Theatres all across the Washington DC and Baltimore metropolitan area are popping up like daisies in the spring time. Musical theatre companies, companies devoted to the classics, new edgy fringe-based companies; every city has a few dozen devoted to each if not more. But Silver Spring, a cozy suburb on the outskirts of the nation's capitol proper, has a company that is truly unique. It's almost 13 years old and was founded by Artistic Director Kevin Kearney, who is only 24 years old. TheatreBloom takes an exclusive look at this fascinating theatre company by interviewing Kevin, and his Marketing Director Sarah Scott, to find out just what The Highwood Theatre is all about.
Thank you both for your time. We're very excited to be here with you to learn all about Highwood Theatre. If you could tell the readers a little bit about yourselves as a starting point, we'll go from there.
Sarah Scott: Everything. He does everything.
Kevin: In addition to everything, I do a lot of work with our Student Theatre program. I direct a lot of the student theatre productions. I work a lot with the student involvement for the organization in general, which is one of our big things. We have students who do all the tech for our student shows and for our professional shows, so I coordinate all of that. I also oversee everything else, from the student program to our professional shows. And like you said, I am 24.
Sarah: I'm not going to tell you how old I am, but my name is Sarah Scott and I am the Marketing Coordinator as well as a teaching artist here at The Highwood Theatre. I do advertising, media relations, and I love it. I'm also a teaching artist so I get to go into schools every now and then. I'm working with Oyster Adams Middle School right now to help them with their musical Willy Wonka Jr. So I get a lot of that fun stuff, and it is so great. It helps break up the business side monotony.
Tell us a little bit about Highwood Theatre. Where it got its start, and how it came to be.
Kevin: So this is our 12th season. We first started in 2004 when I was in 8th grade. It really just started out as the place where kids who didn't get into the school productions could come and do theatre. I was at one of the private schools in the area, and it was very, very competitive, audition based and just tons of kids trying to get in. I really loved theatre and I had been doing little shows for my parents at my house ever since I was really little. I had been involved in theatre forever so when I got to middle school and noticed this whole group of kids who loved theatre but couldn't get involved with it, we started doing these shows in my parents' basement.
That's how the theatre got its name too. My parents' house is— was— well is, I don't live there anymore, so it is still on Highwood Drive. That's where it started. It slowly grew through my 8th grade year and through high school. It grew to the point where we were no longer just getting the kids who couldn't get into the school productions but we were getting kids from all over the place. Kids from my school, kids from other schools and it just took off. By the last show we did in my parents' basement, we had about 30 kids in the show, tech, or band and about 40 people in the audience for each performance. My parents' house is not humungous. So it was time to move out!
That was in 2011 when I incorporated it as a non-profit organization. It was specifically dedicated to student-produced theatre. We spent two years in residence at a private school in Rockville. We built a black-box theatre space there and we put on a full season. Students were doing everything from directing and producing to doing all of the tech and designing to acting in the shows. We continued to grow and outgrew that space.
We ended up here in Silver Spring. We were looking at a variety of different spaces and we found this retail space. We have the upstairs for storage and rehearsal space, and down here we have a black box in this store front. Of course, moving out we had previously had heavily subsidized rent at the school, so our expenses sky-rocketed. So we expanded from just student theatre to including adults. We did our first professional productions last year. We started doing school programs to really expand where we were going.
When you say you started doing "school programs" what does that mean? What all does that entail?
Kevin: Ok, so that's our "Highwood at School" program. We do everything from offering one-time workshops, to after school classes, to full-scale production assistance. Sarah is sort of doing that now, basically producing their show at Oyster, we have a musical director out at another school helping with their shows. Right now we have schools in Montgomery County and in DC. It's a nice mix and it's slowly growing. We started by working with one school last year and now we're up to six or seven schools this year. It's really broadening from just student produced theatre to community produced theatre.
We have students everywhere and we try to get them involved as much as possible. And like I said, now we're introducing the adult actors and using a lot more professional coaches and trainers. It's a really nice mixed atmosphere for artists to collaborate in.
How would you summarize the mission statement of The Highwood Theatre and what that means for the community?
Kevin: Ok so this is not really in our mission statement but our guiding principle has always been "Anyone can do theatre." We firmly believe that. Students or adults; anyone with any interest and any background can get involved somehow in theatre. Whether you're a science kid who wants to get involved with lighting and colors and all that sciency stuff, or an arts person who wants to paint scenery, or someone with an imagination who wants to help create special effects; whatever your draw is, we'll give anyone a chance to do theatre.
On top of that it's about involving everyone, growing this theatre community, and giving people responsibility. We want people to take ownership of their work. We're really pushing people to step outside of their comfort zones. It's so important to get people, especially younger students interested in theatre, working outside of their comfort zone. That's why we strongly believe in— especially with the students— giving them actual responsibility in these shows. Then they have no choice but to complete it, they have a whole cast depending on them. It pushes them a lot, but we do it in a nice, supportive way.
Sarah: It ends up still being really high quality. A lot of times people think with students building a set that you're going to get some cardboard boxes or something. But the quality does not lack in the least. Some of the things these students come up with are incredible.
How do you guys make the decision as to what goes into your season?
Kevin: It's a little bit different year to year, and the past few years have been very different even from each other just because we've experienced so much growth. We're still experimenting with the best formula for a season makeup given all the different things we have moving around. But the past two years we have picked a loose season theme that we have tried to fit all of our shows around. This year's theme is "The Human Network" so our relationships, our stories and how we interact and connect with each other. All of our shows are more than loosely, they're actually pretty well, tied to that this season.
Beyond that it's really getting a nice mix of the student shows, the professional shows, and a schedule that works well for our small space. Obviously we are limited with our space and our rehearsal space so that does affect what we select to some degree.
We do in fact do musicals. Actually most of our shows are musicals.
Sarah: Well, most shows at least have some musical element to them, even if it's not a traditional musical per say. Like Owls, we had our group of home school students adapt the Carl Hiaasen book Hoot, and they added music.
You guys reach out to home school students as well? How does that work?
Kevin: Yeah we do! We started it last year by just offering a production for them. It was very well received and of course we learned a lot by having the experience. The home schoolers do things a certain way, they're used to things being a certain way. We had to do a lot of adapting with our production process. We started that last year with the show You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. And they did that and it was wonderful. But this year we sort of flipped that around. We said, "Ok, this year, you guys create the show." And they decided on the book Hoot, and adapted it and there it was.
We're coming up on our third home-school production, now this time we're back to a pre-written production, they're doing a shortened version of Much Ado About Nothing, and we have about 19 kids in that. We've made edits to keep it in an appropriate running time for students, but they're still using the Shakespearean language and original text. Now they're setting it in the 1920's, but doesn't everyone who mounts that show have a setting for it these days? It will be very interesting because it's young guys, this production is second through seventh graders. Again it's shortened, so it's only about an hour, but it's ages roughly seven to twelve doing Shakespeare. The home school kids are really great and they're really ambitious. Their parents are really supportive.
Sarah: It's a great social opportunity for them. I think the fact that it was a classic really drew people in. I had parents calling wanting to sign-up and it filled up so quickly. We had to put a cap on it because so many people took an interest. That was one of the big draws, they're learning a lot about Shakespeare and the classics in addition to these theatrical skills that we're teaching them, so that's a huge drawing factor for involvement.
Kevin: We try to do that a lot with our student shows. We try to bring in a different angle with everything we do. Like our current production of August: Osage County, which is a student production 8th through 12th graders. That show, for example, we're doing in conjunction with four local chapters of the Active Minds Organization. They are a national organization that has chapters at local colleges and they are all about raising awareness and reducing the stigma around mental illness. So for this production members of the Johns Hopkins University Active Minds chapter, and other colleges, are coming in and talking to the kids about how to more accurately portray the mental illnesses, how to deal with situations in that vein that might arise— like what to do if you ever find someone who is suicidal and all the things like that.
We're also collaborating with the National Association of Mental Illness in Montgomery County to start the conversation about these topics. It's really important to start these conversations with the students so that they can see theatre goes beyond just putting on a show.
Sarah: When we started talking about August: Osage, I thought it was very topical, especially given everything that's being circulated in the media right now.
Kevin: It's especially topical with the students. A lot of people's first reactions when they hear that we're doing this show with the students are "Wow, really? Can they relate to all that?" But actually students at that age group really can. They experience a lot of things that relate to all these topics covered in this show and it's so important to have that element of bridging the gap, which is why we work to bring these organizations into it. This isn't "subject-heavy" this is reality.
Sarah: It's less about it being heavy and more about de-stigmatizing it now. Everyone deals with some sort of issue. Either you're dealing with it, or you know someone who is dealing with it, or you have someone in the family going through it. Exposing these students to it at an early age prepares them to handle it better. It helps them learn from it, and learn how to handle the situation when it arises in the future and in their adult lives. They will be more equipped going into adulthood with these experiences.
Ok, so you have August: Osage and Much Ado About Nothing in the student line-up. The rest of the season?
Kevin: So actually we have The Importance of Being Earnest, which runs March 20-22, 2015. And that's our younger kids who are not in August, so 4th through 8th graders. That one is student directed and student acted. It's being done in its good old fashioned British Farce element. We've cut a page or two for time, but it's the original, not the musical, not some funky adaptation, just the classic.
Following that a week later is August: Osage County, which I mentioned is the older students. And that runs March 27-29. All of our student productions currently only run one weekend. We're actually trying to figure out a way to see if we can somehow extend the run of August just because there are so many people involved and there are so many people who want to see it, and we know it's already going to sell out. But generally the student performances are just five showings across one weekend. Friday, two Saturdays, and two Sundays.
Sarah: We burn them fast. They go hard and heavy straight out the gate.
Kevin: After that is Much Ado but there's a month between those two shows. That one runs April 24-26. Following that is Company, which is going to be done with an all student cast. We got some funding from Montgomery County for that, but we're using five or six professional coaches in addition to a director to come in and work through that one with the students. That will be in May.
Do you guys take a break for the summer?
Sarah: Who takes breaks for the summer?
Kevin: We have more! Summer is when we have one of our professional productions. This will be our second annual Open Source Theatre Project. Very simply, this project strives to make people reimagine and rethink their concepts of what a night at the theatre is. Last year, for example, it was an audience immersive murder mystery. We developed it at Flashpoint Theatre Lab. The audience was completely immersed in solving the mystery. They were going all around the theatre, picking up clues, etc.
This year it's still in development but it's going to take a little bit of a different spin as it has to be focused on the human network. It's going to involve some improv and some stage combat. Again another audience immersive experience, but very different from the murder mystery experience from last year. So that will open our summer and then we have two student musicals. One is our musical theatre intensive, which is a three week day camp which results in a production of…I can't say what show yet because we haven't signed the contract yet, but know that it will result in the production of a musical.
Then we also have our summer musical, which is our regular after-school summer musical. And that will be…well, I'm still deciding. I am thinking it's going to be somewhat of a smaller musical but I'm still exploring a lot of options. That concludes the season. Things start rolling again in September but our first show of the new season will not be until October.
Have you thought about your theme for the 2015/1016 season?
Kevin: Vaguely. Very generally? Our current thinking is that it is going to have something to do with Cabarets and exploring the artistic expression that happens in Cabarets and more underground performance venues. It is in fact possible that we may try to do a show with a similar name in that season. Who knows. We're not there yet. But it'll be about exploring the themes of the underground art scene and what it's like for those artists and performers who are off the beaten track.
How do people who want to get involved with Highwood Theatre go about doing so?
Kevin: You go to our website. And if you are a student, or someone who is under the age of 18, the first step is contacting us. A lot of parents will just call us or reach out through the website, and we will help you find the best place for your kid. Really the best thing I suggest for students is to go about getting involved with one of our productions. It's a crazy fun experience, you get to meet a lot of new people, and it very quickly immerses you into the world of theatre whether you've done it before or not. That is my biggest suggestion for students.
For professionals, we are slowly developing more opportunities for professionals to get involved besides doing productions with us. We have tried doing some free workshops and stuff like that. We're building those areas. Right now the best option for adults is to just come out and audition. We're not in a place to do huge shows for our professionals yet, thank you finances, but audition anyhow. Or just reach out and get in touch and see if you can become involved in other ways. We're always open to suggestions and ideas.
Is there anything else that I did not cover that you guys wanted to talk about in regards to the theatre?
Sarah: I feel like you covered everything, so I think we're in good shape.
Kevin: Come check us out. Please come visit the theatre. See the shows. Find a way to get involved.
For more information on The Highwood Theatre and their upcoming productions, events, classes, and workshops, please visit their website.


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Disrupt Alum Edyn, Maker of a Smart Garden Sensor, Scores Distribution Through Home Depot
Kim-Mai Cutler	6 years
Edyn, which debuted on-stage at TechCrunch Disrupt a year ago with a slightly jankier cubical prototype of a Internet-connected garden sensor, is back with sleeker model and a partnership to sell them in Home Depot next spring.
The startup's system, which comes with a soil sensor that can tell you pH, humidity, temperature, soil nutrition and moisture and an automated water valve, helps gardeners figure out how to precisely care for their plants. A paired app lets users see recommendations on which plants to use given their garden's conditions.
They launched on-stage at Disrupt last fall, then unveiled a full-fledged Kickstarter campaign over the summer that raised $384,000. That made it the most successful agricultural tech product on Kickstarter to date, with 5,000 units of sales. You can still pre-order product for $159 here.
Because of Disrupt last year, Edyn's prototype (then called SoilIQ) piqued the interest of some reps from Home Depot. They sent a cold e-mail to the company and CEO Jason Aramburu.
"They saw it as Disrupt and really liked it," said Aramburu, who previously worked on sustainable agricultural techniques in East Africa before starting Edyn. "A deal like this has always been the plan, but we were never able to announce it."


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Home AMP News Researchers Find Public Has Limited Knowledge of Ballot Measures
AMP NewsPolitics
Researchers Find Public Has Limited Knowledge of Ballot Measures
by AMP Staff February 27, 2019
Political science researchers used a new approach to gauge the public's knowledge of ballot measures and found that overall, fewer people have general knowledge of ballot measures than previously thought.
The survey also found that some people misrepresent their knowledge of issues on the ballot. The researchers' results were published in Political Behavior.
Janine Parry, professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, worked with Jay Barth of Hendrix College and Craig Burnett of Hofstra University to analyze data through the Arkansas Poll, an annual poll of more than 800 Arkansans conducted by U of A researchers. Seventy-five percent of respondents identified themselves as "very likely" to participate in upcoming elections.
"Our measurement approach — which we contend is a more valid gauge of voters' knowledge about such proposals — asked voters themselves to identify the measures purportedly motivating them," the researchers explained. "Most failed. We suspect that when asked by past researchers if they had 'read or heard about Proposition X,' most voters said 'yes' not because a robust policy discussion brought the matter to their attention, but because affectively 'yes' is the correct answer."
The researchers found that around half of the people surveyed in 2014 and 2016 expected to see issues on upcoming ballots, and even fewer could recall one or more specific measures. The researchers also found that respondents with higher levels of education, political interest and knowledge of national politics were the most likely to claim they knew of ballot measures without being able to name any specific measures.
Similar polls have found that between 64 and 75 percent of respondents were familiar with ballot measures. However, in those polls, respondents were simply asked to answer yes or no to questions about specific ballot measures. In the Arkansas Poll, respondents were first asked whether they were aware of any ballot measures in the upcoming election. If they answered yes to that question, they were then asked which measures were of particular interest to them.
These questions allowed the researchers to measure how many respondents had actual knowledge of ballot measures, and it gave insight into the number of respondents who misrepresented their amount of knowledge — answering yes to the first question, and then being unable to come up with a specific ballot measure.
In 2014, 46 percent of respondents claimed to know of initiatives or referendums on the upcoming ballot, but only 30 percent of the respondents could name one of the five measures. In 2016, 49.2 percent claimed knowledge of ballot measures, but only 23 percent of all respondents could name at least one. In both years, the number of respondents who were familiar with all the measures on the ballot was less than 1 percent.
The poll also included measures of education, political knowledge and interest in politics. When researchers took these into account, they found that people with lower levels of education and political knowledge and interest were more likely to report that they were not aware of any ballot measures. Respondents with higher levels in these areas were more likely to demonstrate knowledge of ballot measures, but they were also more likely to claim they knew of ballot measures without being able to name any specific measures.
READ MORE: Polling Arkansas: An Interview with Dr. Janine Parry
This article originally appeared in the University of Arkansas newswire. Click here to see the original article.
Arkansas Pollballot measureCraig BurnettelectionsHendrix CollegeHofstra UniversityJanine ParryJay BarthresearchersUniversity of Arkansas
AMP Staff
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"Our Goal is to offer You the Freshest, Creamiest, Tastiest Ice Cream On Earth!"
"To see the ice cream made is an Awesome Experience, But wait until You taste it...Yummy!"
In early 2014, Les and Jess had just sold one of their major businesses and were seeking exciting and new frontiers to explore. One day they came across a video of a street vendor in Northern Thailand that made ice cream from a cold plate that was made entirely from scratch and fresh ingredients, then scraped into rolls and placed in a cup. Les and Jess immediately knew this was an instant future trend and started seeking the equipment and knowledge to bring this to Texas and the United States. It took almost a year to acquire the correct machines and to develop the ice cream ingredients. They knew that the show of making the ice cream in front of each customer would be an instantly huge success, but after they finished developing the Ice Scraper ice cream formula they then knew that they had developed one of the freshest and incredibly delicious ice creams they had ever tasted. Ice Scrapers "Little Red Trailer" opened up in April of 2015, and in March of 2016, they moved to their newest location on University of Texas West Campus, behind the University Co-Op.
Today, Ice Scrapers is one of the most popular dessert spots in Austin. Featured in numorous newspaper articles, blogs, and social media listings, our Little Red Trailer is making quite a name for itself.
Ice Scrapers specializes in making Thai inspired ice cream rolls. We start with a liquid base that you choose (vanilla, chocolate, and coffee) and offer all of those in Coconut Milk or Dairy Milk). We then pour it onto our "large anti-griddle" (Cold Plate), and chop in the mix-in's of your choice. The liquid quickly turns into ice cream that is custom made the way you ordered it. We scrape the ice cream into rolls, and then apply the toppings you choose. We also make New Orleans Style SnoBalls and Hawaiian Ice Cream SnoBalls, with almost 40+ flavors that you can mix and match as you please, as well as other great Scraper Xtras..
Ice Scrapers is a family owned business. Owned by Husband and Wife, Jenny and Les, and by Jenny's brother, Jess. Together, they combine their talents and expertise, to provide for you the best service and best experience anyone could offer, and of course the best darn ice cream on Earth.
Jess and Les have worked as a team for over 20 years, starting many successful businesses. Their entrepreneurial spirit is what led them into opening Ice Scrapers. They became enthused by the Food trailer industry, as well as different street vendors from around the world. The Thai inspired production of ice cream we offer was first seen by them from a street vendor in Northern Thailand.
Jenny has experience in managing a large Corporation, to include day to day operations, employment management, book keeping, etc.
Les's extensive background in the food industry, Jess's marketing skills and creative skills, and Jenny's Office Management portfolio, combine to present to you a great product, and all around spectacular experience.


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Congress loses votes when I give speeches: Former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh
In a video that went viral on social media, Singh is seen telling party workers that he is skipping election campaigning as his speeches make Congress lose votes.
Former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh (File | PTI)
BHOPAL: At a time when Congress national president Rahul Gandhi is travelling across Madhya Pradesh, visiting religious places and launching scathing attacks on PM Narendra Modi and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan at public rallies, a video of former chief minister Digvijaya Singh is proving an embarrassment for the party eyeing a return to power after 15 years in the state.
A 24-second video showing Digvijaya Singh with other party leaders, including the working president of the state Congress unit, Jeetu Patwari, has gone viral on social media.
In the video, Singh is seen telling party workers that he is skipping election campaigning as his speeches make Congress lose votes.
"You'll end up becoming mere dreamers if you don't work hard for success. The party's government won't be formed in the state if you just keep on dreaming instead of working hard for the party's collective electoral triumph. Whoever gets the ticket, even if it's an enemy, just work for the candidate's victory," Singh is seen exhorting party leaders.
In the video, perhaps captured at the residence of Congress MLA Jeetu Patwari in Bhopal, Singh goes on to add, "I don't go for campaigning and neither do I deliver speeches, as my speeches make the Congress lose votes."
The video has triggered a controversy, and senior state party leaders, including MP Congress chief Kamal Nath and the state election campaign committee chief, Jyotiraditya Scindia, are evading a direct reply to questions about it.
On September 17, the two-time ex-CM was in the news owing to a campaign over social media to name him as the party's CM candidate. Singh, however, made it clear that he was not in the race to be the next CM.
Digvijaya Singh Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Elections Madhya Pradesh Polls


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St Louis News
3 federal Death Row prisoners to be executed ahead of Trump exit
By Jay Jackson, Missouri State News.Net
WASHINGTON, DC - The Trump administration is to execute three more prisoners on Death Row, prior to Mr Trump leaving office.
One of the inmates will be executed next month, while the other two will be put to death in the week that Mr Trump leaves office.
All three executions will be of men charged with murder. In one case the victim was the man's daughter. She was just two-and-a half years old and was tortured, physically abused and bashed to death. The other two are convicted of killing multiple victims.
U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr On Friday directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions.
Alfred Bourgeois will be the first prisoner to die. He abused, tortured, and beat to death his young daughter. After a paternity test identified Bourgeois as the father of the two-and-a-half-year-old girl and a court ordered that he pay child support to the mother, Bourgeois took temporary custody of her and took her with him on a trucking route. While on the trip, Bourgeois systematically abused and tortured her, including by punching her in the face, whipping her with an electrical cord, and burning the bottom of her foot with a cigarette lighter.
In July 2002, Bourgeois arrived at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station for a delivery. While backing his truck up to a loading dock, his daughter tipped over her training potty. Bourgeois became enraged and repeatedly slammed the back of her head into the truck's window and dashboard, killing her.
On March 16, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found Bourgeois guilty of murder and unanimously recommended a death sentence, which the court imposed. His conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal, and his requests for collateral relief were ultimately rejected by federal courts. In July last year, his execution was scheduled for Jan. 13, 2020, but legal impediments prevented the government from proceeding at that time. Bourgeois is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 11, 2020, at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana.
Cory Johnson murdered seven people - Peyton Johnson, Louis Johnson, Bobby Long, Dorothy Armstrong, Anthony Carter, Linwood Chiles, and Curtis Thorne - in furtherance of his drug-trafficking activities. Between 1989 and July 1992, Johnson and several co-conspirators, including federal death-row inmates Richard Tipton and James Roane, were partners in a large drug-trafficking conspiracy based in Richmond, Virginia. In early 1992, Johnson went on a killing spree, shooting and killing each of the seven victims for perceived slights or rivalry in the drug trade. Johnson shot one victim at close range after ordering him to place his head on a car steering wheel. Johnson shot and killed another victim at the victim's home when he failed to pay for crack cocaine - and Johnson also murdered the victim's sister and a male acquaintance.
In February 1993, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found Johnson guilty of numerous federal offenses, including seven counts of capital murder, and unanimously recommended seven death sentences, which the court imposed. Johnson's convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal more than 24 years ago, and his initial round of collateral challenges failed 15 years ago. Johnson's execution initially was scheduled to occur in May 2006, but a preliminary injunction prevented the government from proceeding until it was vacated this September. Johnson is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Jan. 14, 2021, at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana.
Dustin John Higgs kidnapped and murdered three women - Tamika Black, 19; Tanji Jackson, 21; and Mishann Chinn, 23. One evening in January 1996, Higgs and two friends drove to Washington, DC, to pick up Black, Jackson, and Chinn, whom Higgs had invited to his apartment in Laurel, Maryland. At the apartment, Jackson rebuffed an advance by Higgs and the women left. Higgs offered the women a ride back to Washington, DC, but instead drove to a secluded area in the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge, ordered the women out of the vehicle, gave a gun to one of the friends, and said, "better make sure they're dead." The other man shot Black and Jackson in the chest and back, and shot Chinn in the back of the head, killing all three women.
On Oct.11, 2000, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland found Higgs guilty of numerous federal offenses, including three counts of first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of first-degree felony murder, and three counts of kidnapping resulting in death, and unanimously recommended nine death sentences, which the court imposed. Higgs' convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal nearly 17 years ago, and his initial round of collateral challenges failed nearly eight years ago. Higgs is scheduled to be executed on Jan. 15, 2021.
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text:
Alexander Hacke has produced the new album of
Dutch Noise Band Glice
and their beautiful record "Cielo" is now out and to be had here: https://glice.bandcamp.com/
Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto will be touring the US with their albums "Perseverantia" and "Menetekel"(release dec 1.)
Tourdates will be announced at LIVE section
Blixa Bargeld Interview
Deutschlandradio Kultur
Blixa Bargeld hat einige Alben von Leonard Cohen in seiner Plattensammlung. Und erinnert sich noch gut, wie er den Song "Lover, lover, lover" vom elterlichen Frühstückstisch mit auf den Weg zur Schule nahm.....
UNITY Meditation Soundtrack
Alexander Hacke & Danielle de Picciotto
After being asked by many fans worldwide if they would compose a soundtrack suitable for meditation or yoga practice Alexander Hacke & Danielle de Picciotto have now finished an album with this intent.
The special edition "Unity" (CD and Downoad) will be released on the 20th of November and is obtainable at neubauten.org and http://hackedepicciotto.bandcamp.com
This album contains three pieces of music specifically composed for mediation or yoga practice. It can also just be listened to for relaxation.
NEW ALBUM "OSTWEST"
From Detroit techno and hip-hop's early sampling experiments to Terre Thaemlitz, electronic music has long proven its political potential, even in instrumental form. With "OstWest", Berlin-based electronic-kraut-dub trio Automat complete their LP trilogy with a deep and entrancing take on the failures of neoliberalism.
NEW ALBUM "OSTWEST". CD / LP (incl. CD) / DL on Nov 11, 2016.
AUTOMAT is Arbeit | Färber | Zeitblom
Die Stadt Als Beute
Soundtrack by Rudolf Moser
Rudolf Moser has composed the soundtrack for Andreas Wick's Documentary "Die Stadt all Beute" currently showing in German Cinemas
diestadtalsbeute.com
Einstuerzende Neubauten: Greatest Hits
We are pleased to announce EN´s first compilation release called "Greatest Hits" end of the year. Expected release date is November 25th, 2016.
Album will reflect a section through 35 years of band work and includes your - and our - favourite tracks. Some of them have been given a new mix.
The Album will be released on Vinyl as a limited "Special Edition" and in a standard version, and on CD.
All versions will be available in the band webshop.
Currently we are in the process of developing some new exciting merchandise, which will be included in our webshop this year before start of our "Greatest Hits" tour in January.
AIR - Artist In Residence Foundation
After performing at the Centre Pompidou Malaga in July 2016 Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto have now been invited by the prestigious "AIR - Artist In Residence Foundation" to do a sound art residency in Krems, Austria for one month in September 2016.
Extra Concert
Our concert on 21.01.2017 in a very special location, the @Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, was sold out shortly after being on sale and the box office system unfortunatly was temporary unavailable. We feel honoured that so many of you want to see us play but we are also very much aware that a lot of you did not succeed to buy tickets and are now displeased about the situation.
As we want to give ALL of you the opportunity to join us at this exceptional venue, we are happy to announce that we agreed with promoter upon playing one more show on same day. The additional show will take place at 5 pm and the box office sale will start on 12 July 2016 at 11a.m.
We hope you can live with this solution and we see you ALL there!


Brewing is an art and this is our studio. Our brewery at Bankhead is a stainless steel totem to modernity. With good old-fashioned care, time and creativity thrown in, you've got an exciting combination.
Our brewery shop is open to the public, so come in for a nosy and a sample of brewery-fresh beer. We're open Monday-Friday 10am-6pm and Saturdays 11am-5pm.
You'll find us just 15 minutes from Edinburgh city centre by tram. In fact, we're right by a tram stop (Bankhead), bus stop, train station (Edinburgh Park) and cycle path.
If it's the full experience you're after, book a brewery tour here.


text:
using namespace MSXML2;
#include "atlstr.h"
using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
#import "..\FB2EPubConverter.tlb" raw_interfaces_only, raw_native_types, no_namespace, named_guids, auto_search

// CFbePluginImplementation

HRESULT CFbePluginImplementation::Export(long hWnd,BSTR filename,IDispatch *doc)
{
	HRESULT hr(S_OK);
	int maxSize = MAX_PATH*10;
	MSXML2::IXMLDOMDocument2Ptr	    source(doc);
	OPENFILENAME saveObject;
	::ZeroMemory(&saveObject,sizeof(OPENFILENAME));
	saveObject.lStructSize = sizeof(OPENFILENAME);
	saveObject.hwndOwner = (HWND)hWnd;
	saveObject.lpstrFilter = L"ePub file\0*.ePub\0\0";
	saveObject.nMaxFile = maxSize;
	saveObject.Flags = OFN_EXPLORER;
	saveObject.lpstrDefExt = L"ePub";
	USES_CONVERSION;
	CString strName(filename);
	saveObject.lpstrFile = strName.GetBuffer(maxSize);
	if(!GetSaveFileName(&saveObject))
	{
		return S_FALSE;
	}
	strName.ReleaseBuffer();

	WCHAR Buffer[MAX_PATH+1];
	::ZeroMemory(&Buffer,(MAX_PATH+1)*sizeof(WCHAR));
	DWORD dwResult = GetTempPath(MAX_PATH,(LPWSTR)&Buffer);
	if ( dwResult == 0 )
	{
		MessageBox((HWND)hWnd,L"Error getting temporary path",L"Error",MB_OK);
		return E_FAIL;
	}
	if ( dwResult > MAX_PATH -14 )
	{
		MessageBox((HWND)hWnd,L"Error temporary path variable is too long",L"Error",MB_OK);
		return E_FAIL;
	}
	WCHAR FileNameBuffer[MAX_PATH+1];
	::ZeroMemory(&FileNameBuffer,(MAX_PATH+1)*sizeof(WCHAR));
	dwResult	=	GetTempFileName(Buffer,L"FB2",0,(LPWSTR)&FileNameBuffer);
	if ( dwResult == 0 )
	{
		MessageBox((HWND)hWnd,L"Error creating temporary file name",L"Error",MB_OK);
		return E_FAIL;
	}

	// "fake" FB2 extension to "fool" the file type detection
	wcscat_s(FileNameBuffer,MAX_PATH,L".FB2");
	CComVariant bstrTempFileName(FileNameBuffer);

  	hr = source->save(bstrTempFileName);
	if ( FAILED(hr) )
	{
		MessageBox((HWND)hWnd,L"Error saving temporary file",L"Error",MB_OK);
		return hr;
	}

	IEPubConverterInterfacePtr converter;
	hr = converter.CreateInstance(CLSID_ConvertProcessor);
	if ( FAILED(hr) )
	{
		MessageBox((HWND)hWnd,L"Error creating converter object",L"Error",MB_OK);
		DeleteFile(FileNameBuffer);
		return hr;
	}

	CComBSTR bstrOutName(strName);
	hr = converter->ConvertSingleFile(bstrTempFileName.bstrVal,bstrOutName,NULL);
	if ( FAILED(hr) )
	{
		MessageBox((HWND)hWnd,L"Error cconverting",L"Error",MB_OK);
		DeleteFile(FileNameBuffer);
		return hr;
	}
	DeleteFile(FileNameBuffer);
	MessageBox((HWND)hWnd,L"File was exported successfully",L"Conversion result",MB_OK);
	return hr;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home » Cosmic Evolution » Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs May Stay Wet Enough for Life
Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs May Stay Wet Enough for Life
Categories: Cosmic Evolution Feature Stories
By Charles Q. Choi, Astrobiology Magazine Contributor - Feb 9, 2015
Oceans currents would transport heat to the dark side of tidally-locked exoplanets. Image Credit: Lynette Cook
Small, cold stars known as red dwarfs are the most common type of star in the Universe, and the sheer number of planets that may exist around them potentially make them valuable places to hunt for signs of extraterrestrial life.
However, previous research into planets around red dwarfs suggested that while they may be warm enough to host life, they might also completely dry out, with any water they possess locked away permanently as ice. New research published on the topic finds that these planets may stay wet enough for life after all. The scientists detailed their findings online on November 12 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Red dwarfs, also known as M stars, are roughly one-fifth as massive as the Sun and up to 50 times fainter. These stars comprise up to 70 percent of the stars in the cosmos, and NASA's Kepler space observatory has discovered that at least half of these stars host rocky planets that are one-half to four times the mass of Earth.
Red dwarf planets are potentially key places to search for life as we know it, not just because there are so many of them, but also because of their incredible longevity. Unlike our Sun, which will die in a few billion years, red dwarfs will take trillions of years to burn through their fuel, significantly longer than the age of the Universe, which is less than 14 billion years old. This longevity potentially gives red dwarfs a great deal more time for life to evolve around them.
Research into whether a distant world might host life as we know it usually focuses on whether or not it has liquid water, since there is life virtually everywhere there is liquid water on Earth, even miles underground. Scientists typically concentrate on habitable zones, the area around a star where it is neither too hot for all its surface water to boil away, nor too cold enough for all its surface water to freeze.
Recent findings suggest that planets in the habitable zones of red dwarf stars could accumulate significant amounts of water. In fact, each planet could possess about 25 times more water than Earth.
The habitable zones of red dwarfs are close to these stars because of how dim they are, often closer than the distance Mercury orbits the Sun. This closeness makes them appealing to astrobiologists, since planets near their stars cross in front of them more often, making them easier to detect than planets that orbit farther away.
However, when a planet orbits very near a star, the star's gravitational pull can force the world to become "tidally locked" to it. When a planet is tidally locked to its star, it will always show the same side to its star, just as the Moon always shows the same side to Earth. This causes the planet to have one permanent day side and one permanent night side.
The extremes of heat and cold that tidally locked planets experience could make them profoundly different from Earth. For example, prior research speculated the dark sides of tidally locked planets would become so cold that any water there would freeze. Sunlight would make water on the sunlit side evaporate, and this water vapor could get carried by air currents to the night sides, eventually leading to sheets of ice miles thick on the night sides and removing all water from the sunlit sides. Life as we know it probably could not develop on the day sides of such planets. Although they would have sunlight for photosynthesis, they would have no water to serve as the primordial soup for life to swim in.
To see how habitable tidally-locked planets really are, scientists devised a 3D global climate model of planets that simulated interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and land, as well as a 3-D model of ice sheets large enough to cover entire continents. They also simulated a red dwarf with a temperature of about 5,660 degrees Fahrenheit (3,125 degrees Celsius), and investigated whether all the water on these planets would indeed get trapped on their night sides.
"I've been interested in trying to make calculations relevant for M-star planet habitability since being convinced by astronomers that these types of planets will likely be closest (in proximity) to Earth," said study co-author Dorian Abbot, a geoscientist at the University of Chicago.
For instance, the nearest known star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, is a red dwarf, and it remains uncertain whether or not it has a planet. The possibility that red dwarf planets might be relatively near to Earth "means that anything geoscientists can tell astronomers about habitability of these planets will be essential for planning future missions."
The researchers simulated planets of Earth's size and gravity that experienced between 63 percent and 77 percent as much sunlight as Earth. They also modeled a super-Earth planet 50 percent wider than Earth with 38 percent stronger gravity, because astronomers have discovered super-Earth worlds around red dwarfs. For instance, Gliese 667Cb, a super-Earth at least 4.5 times the mass of Earth, orbits Gliese 667C, a red dwarf about 22 light years from Earth. They set this super-Earth on an orbit where it received about two-thirds as much as sunlight as Earth.
The researchers modeled three different arrangements of continents for all these planets. One was a water world with no continents and global oceans of varying depths. Another involved a supercontinent covering the night side and an ocean covering the day side. The last mimicked Earth's configuration of continents. The planets also had atmospheres similar to Earth's, but the researchers also tested lower levels of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, which traps heat and helps keep planets warm.
When it came to super-Earths covered entirely in water, and super-Earths with continental arrangements like Earth's, the researchers found it was unlikely that all their water would get trapped on their night sides.
"This is because surface winds transport sea ice to the day side where it is melted easily," said lead study author Jun Yang at the University of Chicago.
Moreover, ocean currents transport heat from the day side to the night side on these planets.
"Ocean heat transport strongly influences the climate and sea ice thickness on our Earth," Yang said. "We found this may also work on exoplanets."
If a super-Earth has very large continents covering most of its night side, the scientists discovered ice sheets of at least 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) thick could grow on its night side. However, the day sides of these super-Earths would dry out completely only if they received less geothermal heat from volcanic activity than Earth, and had 10 percent of the amount of water on Earth's surface or less. Similar results were seen with Earth-sized planets.
"The important implication is that it may be easier than previously thought to keep liquid water on the dayside of a tidally locked planet, where photosynthesis is possible," Abbot said. "There are many issues that will affect the habitability of M-star planets, but our results suggest at least that water-trapping on the night side will only be a problem for relatively dry planets with large continents on their nightside and relatively low geothermal heat flux."
Based on present and near-future technology, Yang said it would be very difficult for astronomers to gauge how thick the sea ice or the ice sheets are on the night sides of red dwarf planets and test whether their models are correct. Still, using current and upcoming technology "it may be possible to know whether the day sides are dry or not," Yang said.
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Stellar winds, the source material for the universe, are clumpy
TAGS: M stars red dwarfs tidal lock
Astrobiology Roadmap Goal 1: Habitable planets


text:
Golfers and distance running
Michael Whitehead
This article isn't about "should golfers do cardio?". The answer to that is an unequivocal yes. Cardiovascular fitness is, to simplify, the way in which the body supplies oxygen to working muscles for the energy you need to move (for all you science folks out there, send me a message and we can get deeper into it). The more efficiently and easily this happens, the easier every active activity will be. Even golf. This article is more about how to get good cardio and why longer, slower, distance running is not what I'd choose for high performing golfers almost ever.
Firstly, there are two categories that activities/exercises fall into: anaerobic and aerobic. Anaerobic means that the oxygen supplied to the muscles isn't sufficient enough to sustain the work for a long period of time (think sprinting, or a max speed driver swing; as much as you might want to you, the intensity will have to lower to perform longer). Aerobic means that the supply is plentiful enough for long sustained activity (think jogging or walking a round of golf).
Obviously, golf has both, leading to the crux of this article. In my experience, golfers tend to focus on the 4+ hours that a round takes, decide that this requires significant stamina (they are absolutely correct), and then go run 3 miles in about 20-30 min.
Here's my problem with this philosophy: the level of cardio necessary to play a competitive round of golf is low. In other words, no one shoots 90 because they can't get enough air.
The level needed to play a majority of professional golf is even less because of caddies or carts (mini-tours/senior tour). I liken golf to a mixture of shooting free-throws, kicking field goals, and pitching a baseball. All outrageously pressurized, all highly demanding in skill and the ability to control oneself, but not completely necessary to be in primo shape to do. Therefore, what is truly needed is to be cardiovascularly fit, but only so that the body recovers more quickly and operates more efficiently, to then be an explosive athlete for longer.
In a study conducted by Potteiger et al. (1992), (thanks Eric Cressey and Rob Rabena for finding this one), it was found during simulated baseball games that the Vo2 levels (measured in ml.kg.min) reached ? the levels associated with endurance athletes. Meaning cardiovascular endurance isn't really a factor in pitching late into a game.
While a real game probably elevates the consumption and expenditure, it obviously doesn't raise the levels to that of the Tour de France. And while I do not have any reliable data on VO2 for golfers during a round of golf, I have seen data indicating that VO2 max reaches about 35-46 ml.kg.min during a round of golf, indicating that cardio isn't a major player in finishing a round of golf as strongly as started, or rather, that whatever your cardiovascular fitness level, that the endurance of it will have a major effect on your round.
So yes, cardio is important, because it will make your round easier, and because it will make everything easier. But far more important is your anaerobic system, and your strength and flexibility, for these, are what are responsible for hitting the golf ball, and particularly hitting the golf ball far. There were correlations found in elite player's ball speeds and even in their proximity to the hole on chip shots based on something as simple as their anterior core endurance. (Wells et al. (2009)). Chip proximity! Due to ab strength! Do your planks and chip it closer, easy right?
Everyone is probably nodding their head right now, "Yep, we get it, being stronger makes the ball go further, and will give me better stability, and help my golf game." But the original point of the article was to train differently. Because golfers are anaerobic power athletes.
There's a saying, "What you do is who you become." Same thing with training, if you train slow, you'll be slow, and I don't care if you run 7 minute miles, it's not that fast. Golf is explosive and should be trained as such. So if you want to be fast, train fast. Train for strength, and explosion. (As a side note, I have seen most of my athlete's heart rates peak in the 140-160 range or higher during an hour's strength session, which is around the peak of a pretty solid run anyways.)
So, instead of distance running, I would prefer intervals and explosiveness. Run fast for 20 seconds. Rest for 20 seconds. Run a 50-yard sprint, rest, recover, and then do it again. Bike sprints. Assault Bike sprints. 10 seconds on, 20 seconds rest, etc. The more stuff we can do where we fire every muscle in our body quickly, or at least faster than we did before, the better off we'll be. Explosively lift weights, perform low rep-high explosion box jumps. There is no limit to how we can get moving faster, and not have our muscles relax into an aerobic 30 minute "slow" workout.
You still will gain cardio, just by working out, and as we've seen, it's not like golfers need to have marathon levels of cardiovascular fitness anyways. But, if you prefer to be that sort of athlete, you can get there with shorter faster runs/bikes, learning to lift weights properly, and using a few circuits to gain some explosiveness with a high heart rate.
In summary, I argue against distance running and would have my golfers get their cardio from strength sessions, or faster interval type training. In-season sprints have been shown to increase lower body strength while long slow distance running has shown to lessen it in baseball players. (Rhea et al. (2008)) If we want to be fast, and I believe that all of us golfers want our swings to be fast, then we have to get serious about training the system that produces that, and spending most of our time in this way.
So spend some time doing some box jumps, or sprints (if you have the form and capability to do so), and definitely some strength building if you actually want to hit the ball further, and even chip it closer.
1. Potteiger, J., Blessing, D., & Wilson, G. D. (1992). The Physiological Responses to a Single Game of Baseball Pitching. Journal of Applied Sport Science Research, 6, 11-18.
2. Wells GD, Elmi M., Thomas S. (2009) Physiological Correlates of Golf Performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 May;23(3):741-50.
3. Rhea, M., Oliverson, J., Marshall, G., Peterson, M., Kenn, J., & Ayllon, F. (2008). Noncompatibilty of Power and Endurance Training Among College Baseball Players. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 230-234.
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Tiger directly said that if he never ran as often as he did, he could have extended his peak for a lot longer than he has. Cycling and/or swimming is much more low-impact on the back than running. Also, if you want to induce golf specific conditioning, why would you run when literally no one runs during a 4 day 72 hole golf tournament; they're always walking?
The conclusion to last week's Dubai Desert Classic was almost perfection.
The scant amount of viewers on a Monday morning would have been treated to a surely scripted play-off between world number one Rory McIlroy and his LIV nemesis Patrick Reed, bar that damned 13-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole. It was, of course, a fitting start to the year for the world number one, and an ending that the week deserved after 'Tee Gate to Tree Gate,'.
With our main man, Lucas Herbert, playing some sublime golf in behind and finishing strongly in third despite the absence of luck on the Saturday greens, it showed the DP World Tour in a cracking light.
It's a shame this week doesn't.
We move from the quality of Dubai to a standard DPWT field and, while favourite Adrian Meronk is improving fast and now up to 52nd in the rankings, the long,wide, forgiving nature of Al Hamra makes this nothing more than a bosh-it, find it, hit it, putt it, competition. Links-like it may be, but with no wind forecast, this won't hit anywhere near the heights of the previous two weeks.
Previous DPWT winners here – Ryan Fox and Nicolai Hojgaard – suggest length is the one factor that separates the medalists from the also-rans and is the key factor behind high-level tee-to-green numbers, certainly rather than accuracy.
There isn't really any option but to look at the handful of true links players at the top and it's only narrowly that Victor Perez gets the vote.
Splitting last year's winners (for there were two Al Hamra events in 2022) Ryan Fox and Nicolai Hojgaard is tough but I've always felt the Frenchman is capable of a higher level of play and he is the selection in front of favourite Meronk, even if they both have similar course and recent form.
I rarely get him right – backing him twice over the last six months – even if he has won two titles in the space of seven months.
Still, this is another day for the Frenchman (and me) and for a winner of the Dunhill Links, the Dutch Open and three weeks ago in Abu Dhabi, he may actually be overpriced at 16/1.
It's tough to find any better 'standard level' links form lines than beating the likes of Matt Southgate, Joakim Lagergren, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Lewis and pals in Scotland, and beating Fox in a play-off at Bernadus Golf. However, he was at it again at Yas Links, leaving behind the names Min Woo Lee, Francesco Molinari, Alex Noren and Tyrrell Hatton – all synonymous with the test he faces this week, on the same paspalum greens and with opposition of higher class than three-quarters of this week's field.
Perez looks to have produced evidence that a golfer is at their peak at 30-years of age producing an outstanding bunker shot to win his latest trophy, with a sound coming off the club reminiscent of his play at Wentworth in 2020, when splitting Hatton and Patrick Reed.
Watch Perez trophy-winning shot here!
Although this is his first outing here on the DPWT, he has a seventh and second place from two outings on the Challenge Tour and he is in the right form to take those figures one better.
Third for total driving over the last six months, Perez ranks in the top-10 for ball-striking over the same period (11th over three months) and arrives here in confident mood, telling reporters:
"I'm looking forward to playing at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship for the first time. I got the season off to a great start at the Hero Cup followed by my first Rolex Series win in Abu Dhabi, so this is a great chance to keep the momentum going and secure more Race to Dubai and Ryder Cup points," before adding:
"I'm playing great golf at the moment, and I'm hoping it continues in Ras Al Khaimah."
Perez is a confident selection, but back him up with another proven rip-it merchant in Callum Shinkwin, who has come in a few points since the market opened but justifies the move after an excellent top five in Dubai.
First thing we know about the three-time winner is he hits it a mile, ranking in the top-10 for off-the-tee ten times since the start of the 2022 season, including being in the top three in the two events 12 months ago. That itself is worth noting, as are his best efforts away from the victories- at Fairmont, the Dunhill Links and last week in Dubai, all with pointers to this week's test.
There was nothing wrong with mid-20 finishes here last year, the first just a couple of days after destroying the course in a fun Texas Scramble pairs, and he will surely take comfort in lying up there with Rory McIlroy last Monday, matching those final two birdies.
Another around that 'magic' age, this is a course that will give Shinks every opportunity to play shorter irons into the targets and, with last week's top-10 ranking for putting, this may be the time to go with the Moor Park magician.
I can't see a shock result here this week – the top lot have perfect conditions in which to show their class – but I'll be looking at the top-10/20 markets for the following:
Tapio Pulkkanen – Trilby-wearing Finn that hits the ball a country mile. Trouble is, half the time he does not know in which direction it's travelling. Here, with accuracy not a factor, he can take inspiration from last season's seventh place in the first of the back-to-back events, when a three-over back-nine cost him a place in the medals.
20th just seven days later shows he can play the track, whilst best efforts over the last 12 months include a third place at the Czech Masters, 10th at the Dunhill Links and third in Portugal, again all events with a leaning to the type he'll take part in this week. Given his tied-second in Prague a year earlier, we can surmise he repeats form at tracks that suit.
It isn't impossible he suddenly finds his form on tour, and with an inkling he'll 'do a JB Hansen' and go crackers for a spell. This would seem the perfect place to start.
Julien Guerrier – Third at Hillside and Celtic Manor last season show the former winner of The Amateur Championship (at Royal St. George's) still has what it takes to compete at this slightly lower level. Add top-15 finishes at Denmark, Spain, Germany and Mauritius – all with front-rank putting stats – and it's easy to see the two-time Challenge Tour winner having some effect in the top-20 market.
A sixth and eighth-placed finish at the Rocco Forte in Sicily behind Lagergren and Alvaro Quiros (both who turn up when they sniff links from a mile away) reads well, and his repeat performances at his home country, Portugal, Spain and Prague show he performs where he has good memories.
With four outings here, split between the Challenge Tour and the DPWT, the Frenchman can continue an improving course record of 19/13/9.
Jack Senior – I'm convinced that 34-year-old Senior is a better player than his current ranking outside of the top-500 in the world, and although it has been a while since his win at Galgorm Castle in 2019, he has racked up top-10 finishes at Gran Canaria, the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club (behind Min Woo Lee, Thomas Detry and Matt Fitzpatrick), Mallorca and on the Spanish mainland.
Back at Galgorm, he was tied-13th last year, a repeat result that sits nicely with his 23rd in Mallorca, and top-20s in Prague and Denmark, courses already highlighted as associates to Al Hamra.
I'm happy to ignore last week's missed cut as it was his first outing since October, and he's of enough interest back on a course on which he has a sixth, 11th and 19th place finish in three tries at the lower level.
I'm expecting one of the top eight or 10 to prove too good, but these events often throw up names on a surprise leaderboard, and it will take just one hotter-than-normal week with the putter for that to happen.
Recommended Bets:
Victor Perez – WIN
Callum Shinkwin – WIN/TOP-5
Julien Guerrier – TOP-10 TOP-20
Tapio Pulkkanen – TOP-10 TOP-20
Jack Senior – TOP-10 TOP-20
2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Betting Tips & Selections
After the multi-course American Express and the two-track Farmers, the PGA Tour arrives at the legendary Pebble Beach for this week's AT&T.
Shorter than the average tour event, the coastline course/s deliver a reasonably simple test for the high-level celebrities and their professional playing partners, but this changes dramatically should any of the famed coastal weather arrive.
Bad enough for those paid to hit a dimpled ball, it can turn an amateur's enjoyable (and expensive) round into something horrendous like this.
Three players clearly stand head-and-shoulders above the rest, both in terms of quality and world ranking, and they do have figures that justify that – in spades.
Favourite Jordan Spieth is the King of Pebble. His record here is unsurpassed, and he relishes the challenges of this seaside terrain.
However, with no serious turn in conditions, I'm not sure his current game is much to go on. The 29-year-old has missed the cut in two of his last six starts, the best results coming in limited field events at two of the FedEx play-off events and the Tournament of Champions.Not as if Spieth needs to be in form – he won the RBC Heritage last year after a run of mc/35/35/mc, but even a win, runner-up, third , fourth, seventh and ninth, it always feels as if you take your life in your own hands when backing him at 10/1 and less.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland make up the elite trio, all residing in the top-16 of the world rankings.
Both justify being alongside the Texan at the top of the market, although until last season's closing sixth place finish, only Fitz's 12th at the 2019 U.S Open was worth noting from an event formline of missed-cut and 60th.
Interestingly, the Norwegian matched that finish three years ago, becoming low amateur for the second major in a row, and both are hard to argue against.
With combined wins in Mayakoba, Puerto Rico and Dubai, as well as top finishes at various Open championships, conditions suit both equally well. Choosing between them is tough enough, but with home players winning 27 of the last 30 events held here (17 of the last 18) and with doubts about the motivation for playing this week, they can all be left alone at combined odds of around 9/4.
The draw is probably as crucial here as any other event, with Pebble Beach having some of the smallest greens on tour and Spyglass Hill being affected occasionally by similar winds. Make the score at Monterey Peninsula, if at all possible.
Despite the quality up front, the section that includes defending champion Tom Hoge, Maverick McNealey, Andrew Putnam and Seamus Power has equally strong credentials for the title.
Hoge aims to become only the second player to defend this title since 2000 and, whilst playing as well as ever, is no Dustin Johnson, whilst it's hard to put McNealey in front of the Irishman given the latter's 2-0 lead in PGA Tour wins, and 3-zip if you count the KFT.
Power ranks in the top echelons of players with form at short courses and is easy to make a case for in an event at which he opened up a five shot lead at one point last year, before finishing in ninth.
The 35-year-old has never been better, now ranked inside the top-30 after a season that included that top-10 here and again at Southern Hills, a top-12 behind Fitz at Brookline, third at Mayakoba and fifth at the RSM. The highlight, of course, was the victory in Bermuda, sitting nicely with his first victory at the Barbasol, that Kentucky event showing links to proven coastal/short course player Kelly Kraft (runner-up here to Spieth in 2019) and Aaron Baddeley and Kevin Streelman, with six top-10 finishes between them at the AT&T.
Rather like the player he beat in that Barbasol play-off (J.T Poston) Power is fairly easy to read, and although the very nature of pro-ams doesn't suit everyone, the course make-up suits perfectly.
Usually consistent and in the top echelons for tee-to-green, greens-in regulation, and for up-and-down, Power comes here looking to recover from an unusually poor performance on the large Abu Dhabi putting floors. Certainly the figures look awry compared with his 10 strokes gained for tee-to-green and 12th for around-the-green, and it's easy to see improvement in California, where in 2022 he lay in fourth place into Sunday at the pro-am at La Quinta, as well as a previous ninth place finish at the Barracuda (fifth into Sunday).
He's the best of the week but I'm also including:
Alex Smalley – We were on 26-year-old Smalley for the American Express a few weeks ago and he was going well until the PGA West (Nicklaus) caught him out, causing a drop into 62nd from 21st place, and close to two of the other three selections this week, as well as Garrick Higgo, who just missed out due to lack of experience here.
The recovery into a place just outside the top-20 was impressive, though, with a final round 63 comprising 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation, as well as making all his putts under 10 feet.
Those sorts of figures have been expected from the outstanding Duke graduate, who made his PGA Tour debut as an amateur at the 2017 U.S Open. Since then, it hasn't been plain sailing, indeed he has yet to win an event despite an excellent return to this level in 2022.
Starting with a best-of-Sunday 65 to finish tied runner-up at Corales, he then finished in the top six behind Jon Rahm and co in Mexico, 10th at the Scottish Open and 13th at Sedgefield.
Since October, Smalley has made seven of nine cuts, highlights being 11th at Bermuda and a pair of top-five finishes at the RSM and Houston, all contributors to the tee-to-green stats that see him rank 1/2/6/11/13 for his ball-striking and significant given the test this week..
He couldn't get it going at Waialae for the Sony but followed up the La Quinta effort with a top-40 at Torrey Pines, when his tee-to-green game was again perfectly respectably ranked in 33rd given the strength of the field.
Runner-up in the Dominican Republic, fourth and 15th in Houston, and with form at Colonial and Bermuda, this looks the prefect test for a player that at least had a look last year, and that the bookmakers simply cannot make their mind up about.
Robby Shelton – Makes his event debut here this week in his second time at the top level, but the former Walker Cup player has enough relevant form to make him of interest, particularly after a sixth place at the multi-course American Express a few weeks ago, his best finish in California so far.
Shelton included Scottie Scheffler and Ben Griffin as play-off victims when winning two of a total of four KFT events in 2019 and 2022, coming here after making eight out of ten cats (yeah, I know) since arriving back on tour in September.
Best efforts are 15th at the Shriners and a top-10 at the RSM, but let's also throw in a sixth at Mayakoba, 11th at the Honda and a top-20 in Texas.
This is a drop in class, and significantly in distance, from Torrey Pines and I'd expect to see more advantage taken here.
Harrison Endycott – One of the Player To Follow for this season, it's hard to work out exactly what the 26-year-old Aussie wants in terms of course set-up, but given his heritage and junior career, it's fairly certain he can play well in the wind.
Having made his way through the grades including a win, two top-10s and two top-20s on the KFT, he wasted little time making his mark at the highest level, finishing tied-12th at the Fortinet in California, a joint best-of-the-day 65 launching him up the board on day three.A month later, Endycott started the Bermuda Championship with a pair of double-bogeys before signing for an opening nine-under 62, the catalyst for another career top-10, and in November he overcame a poor opening round at his home PGA Championship (111th) before flying through the field as the event progressed, finishing a never-nearer 18th behind Cam Smith.
Even the missed-cut at the Australian Open was not devoid of promise, an opening 68 seeing him start the second round in 7th place.
With a pedigree in Australia and a residence in Scottsdale, I'll take the chance he will find something back in California, scene of the best of three events in 2023 – 22nd at the American Express – when his game showed the all-round prowess it did in Scottsdale – top-11 in approach and top-15 tee-to-green.
Seamus Power – WIN
Alex Smalley – WIN/TOP-5
Robby Shelton – WIN-TOP-10
Harrison Endycott – WIN/TOP-20
2023 Farmers Insurance Open: Betting Tips & Selections
Get your bets on earlier than usual this week as the Farmers Insurance Open runs Wednesday to Saturday, the advancement of a day avoiding a clash with the NFL Conference Championship games.
We raise the bar a notch as the tour reaches Torrey Pines, a course used for this (and related) events since 1968, although the current set-up on the South Course now measures almost 1000 yards than the one seen 55 years ago.
Now utilising the easier North Course for one round, players will still need to have their grinding game as the weekend progresses over a course re-configured for the 2021 U.S Open – won by this week's hot favourite Jon Rahm – and one that has seen the last three winners score no better than 15-under.
As my learned GolfWRX colleague says:
The real 2023 PGA Tour season begins today. Let's go!
— Matt Vincenzi (@MattVincenziPGA) January 23, 2023
While last year's winner Luke List was a shock, beaten play-off rival Will Zalatoris certainly fits the bill in becoming the last of a long line of contenders at Torrey that have challenged at the majors.
Patrick Reed, Marc Leishman, Justin Rose and, of course, seven times Torrey winner Tiger Woods, would all be seen as elite in their time, and you can confidently add the likes of runners-up Tony Finau, Adam Scott and Xander Schauffele to those.
Greens change to Poa Anna this week, and with the home course possessing suitably tough greens, players need solid tee-to-green games to remain with a chance down the back-stretch on Saturday afternoon. Forget the pitch and putt of La Quinta and friends, this week is far from a repeat.
You would be forgiven for thinking this is the Woods era, a solid 4/1 shot heading the market.
Tiger he is not, but having won four of his last five events and winning the Farmers here in 2017 and the U.S Open four years later, Jon Rahm carries almost unbeatable status into this week. However, much depends on getting the right draw over the first two days – at the price he can be left alone.
With the trophy likely to go to one of the better fancied players, here's a chance to select two or three from the next half-dozen and still look at a better return than backing the favourite – and, for me, Tony Finau and Jason Day fit the bill.
Unlike someone like J.T Poston, I can't seem to call Tony Finau right, but if he is ever going to repay the faith, it is here.
Having raised his game to another level in winning back-to-back at Minnesota and Detroit, the 33-year-old was fancied to go well in Mayakoba. Naturally, he missed his first cut since the US Open in June, subsequently gagging up in Houston, making it three wins in seven starts – not Rahm (or Scheffler of early '22) but not far behind.
Fancied to do another back-to-back special, Finau then withdrew from the RSM Classic before probably needing the run-out when 7th at the Hero World Challenge. – extremely frustrating but, on face value, continuing a career-best run.
2023 has seen encouragement in both starts, with eight rounds in the 60s leading to a seventh place at Kapalua and a most recent 16th at last week's pro-am jolly, where he came from outside the top 60 on Thursday and from 34th at the cut mark.
Finau's tee-to-green game remains of the highest class, ranking ninth in ball-striking over three months and third over six, but it's now matched by a putting prowess that takes advantage of his constant green finding.
Events may be limited, but over the last 14 rounds or so, Big Tone leads the tour in putting average, beating even the likes of flying Jon Rahm. Sure, you can regard that as a skewed stat, so take it over another 12 weeks and he is in third – remarkable for someone that just a year ago was known for missing the vital ones.
Take the 2021 U.S Open away and Finau has four top-six finishes and a pair of top-20s here, and ignore last year's missed weekend too – he was in the top-10 after the first round and was simply not at the races on day two.
Finau's record on poa greens reads well enough – he won the Rocket Mortgage, and has top-10s at Riviera, Winged Foot and Olympia Fields, the latter pair giving credence to the Torrey/majors connection, whilst connecting Memorial form sees him record two top-10s and two top-15 finishes.
Being unconvinced that either Zalatoris' or Justin Thomas' games are pitch perfect, TF looks the best challenge to the favourite.
The favourite's record in California is almost too good to be true, with four wins, seven top-5s and three top-10s but if anyone can challenge that, it's surely Jason Day, who looks as if he is now fully recovered from injury and personal tragedy.
Winner here in 2015 and 2018, the Aussie also boasts a runner-up, third and fifth place around tough Torrey and an average position of 15th from 14 Pebble Beach outings. He loves California.
Having dropped from world number one to outside of the top-100 in five seasons, the 35-year-old has fought back from adversity to make his way back up the rankings, helped by a pair of top-10 finishes at, no surprise, Pebble and Torrey.
In order to protect what has been a fragile back, the 16-time major top-10 star reached out to swing coach Chris Como, formally an aide of Tiger Woods.
"Going into this year I did some swing changes with my coach, and I feel like those are slowly cementing themselves in there," Day said on Golf Channel.
"I'm shallowing it out," Day continued. "The swing has changed dramatically. It took me about a year and half to get the body correct, and the body movement correct until I could actually get into shallowing it out correctly."
Judged on the latest figures, it seems to be coming together nicely.
Day ended 2022 with four cuts from five, including 8th at Shriners, 11th at the CJ Cup, 21st at Mayakoba and 16t in Houston, and last weekend finished in the top 20 at La Quinta having been third after two rounds.
16th for ball-striking over the last three months, slightly better over six, his top-30 for driving accuracy has led to a similar ranking for greens found. Take that, and any improvement, into an event he enjoys more than most, and we have a winning formula.
Away from the top, it's hard to get excited about the chances of many.
Having nabbed a big-priced second last week with one of the 12 Players-to-Watch 2023, it is tempting to go back in again on Davis Thompson on a course that may suit even better. However, hitting 14 out of 18 greens at the Stadium Course is a far cry from a debut at Torrey Pines and he may just need the sighter.
Taylor Montgomery calls himself after his fourth top-five in just nine full-time starts on the PGA, particularly after a debut 11th as a sponsor's invite last year. Prices in the 20s don't appeal at all against proven and regular winners though, so take a chance on another top finish from the defending champion Luke List.
For someone that believes List is Dye-positive, his first win on the poa greens of Torrey Pines was a bit of a shocker.
I put the 38-year-old up as a lively top-10 bet last week, when the thought process was that this long driver should only need to drive and flip to the greens, but sadly his game was all over the place. However, I'll take another chance in conditions that clearly suit last year's play-off victor, a win that came off four straight cuts here that included a 10th and 12th placed finish.
Since the start of the 2022 season, List has 11 top-25 rankings for driving, five for approaches and seven for tee-to-green, whilst it was only a couple of starts ago that he matched the best at Kapalua.
As for the fabled short stick, it's a case of being with him when he just works better than field average – 6th at Bethpage Black, in two of his four completions at Riviera and in three of five outings at Silverado, all of a similar grass type.
Players constantly repeat form here at Torrey, so whilst he may not do a 1-2 or, indeed, a 2-1 on the lines of Mickelson, Day, Snedeker and Leishman to name a few, List is very capable of pulling out a finish on the first two pages of the board.
Tony Finau Win
Jason Day Win-Top-5
Luke List Top-10


There are several perks to working in event planning, one of them being the possibility of working alongside innovators and people with a vision, the very men and women that shape and change the world we live in by opening up new possibilities for all. If you are wondering why event planners should have better chances than other professionals to meet the movers and shakers of our global economy, just think of the process of coming up with something new. What do you do after you have tested your idea and proved that it works or when you need to develop a new project? You tell others about it, starting with those who are closer to you. And the best way of doing that is planning an event in which to present your brand new product, prototype or vision to a chosen crowd. This was the case with the Equity Startup project that our client Ascomfidi launched in June 2016. Ascomfidi is a well-established provider of financial solutions and in 2016 it branched out in the booming field of equity crowdfunding – a funding practice that opens the possibility for small investors to fund startups through a controlled platform, taking on a role that would usually be reserved for angel investors. This is a potential game-changer for the startup economy and we were thrilled to be able to offer our contribution to a successful launch.
When you attend an event, the first thing you get a sense of, even before your arrival, is the chosen location. Where is it? Is it in the city centre or the countryside? Is it easy to reach by public transport or does it require driving? Is it grand and formal or cosy and laid back? What's its style? Is it a historic mansion or a hip tech hub? Every single one of these aspects and many more come into play when you consider the right venue for an event. The physical place in which the event itself will take place is loaded with layer upon layer of meaning and constitutes a message in its own right. Quality event planning requires awareness of such layers and the ability to use them, in order to communicate. In this instance, we knew that we were dealing with a distinguished client, with an impressive history and that, while the project itself was tuned into the latest developments in financial products, the client's identity was built on concepts of reliability and professionality. We shortlisted some of the most exclusive and elegant venues in Milan and eventually chose Palazzo Visconti, a magnificent historic mansion in the city centre, in the area known as San Babila. Picking a venue in this part of Milan gives out a clear message: it says that you want to place your project at the very heart of the national and global economy, that you want to be where the real action is, where it matters, with the great and the good, and that you are not settling for anything less than the absolute best.
Palazzo Visconti is one of our favourite venues to work with in Milan. It has all the gravitas that a corporate event of this significance requires, without being impersonal or cold. Its long and distinguished history has shaped its identity and infused its elegant halls with a subtly romantic atmosphere, that tempers the solemnity of an official presentation or a serious conference. While walking through its richly decorated rooms, with their gilded mirrors, period furnishings and stunning frescoes, you will feel the building's four centuries of tumultuous history vibrating around you. You can almost hear the whispered secrets and the intricate plots of generations of noblemen, as the Palace changed hands from the imperial ambassador Carlo Bolangos to the Visconti di Mordone family. If you are planning an event in Milan and want to leave your guests utterly speechless, this is the venue you need to hire.
Are you looking for a unique venue for your event in Milan? Find it here!
Arranging a catering service for such an event is not an easy task. In fact, a significant part of event planning revolves around catering. Venues such as Palazzo Visconti do not usually have kitchens or restaurants, which means the catering has to be hired separately. In this instance, we had to provide for one hundred guests, who would be engaged in an intensive conference. A buffet, of course, is not the same as a seated meal. Your guests will eat standing up and more often than not this choice is intentional: it is meant to allow them to mingle and network over the ultimate socialising element – food – without the constraints of seating at a table. This does not mean, however, that the actual menu should be discounted in favour of the networking potential of the event: a hundred people that have just absorbed a certain amount of complex and interesting information are likely to be properly hungry and you will not get away with snacks and crudités. We planned the catering to be suitably rich and sumptuous, but also practical and easily manageable and, above all, delicious. The company we selected is known for matching exquisite cuisine to superb presentation and for only using top-quality and fresh ingredients, as well as providing an excellent selection of fine wines. The outcome was, as we had anticipated, entirely positive.


Member of Legislative Assembly from Inderwal, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori today chaired a meeting of the officers in the Dak Bungalow Thathri and took sector wise development review of various works being executed in sub-division Thathri. SDM Thathri Abdul Qayoom Mir, Executive Engineers R&B and PHE, flood & control, Tehsildar Thathri, Phagsoo and Kahara, BDO Thathri and Kahara, HOD Agriculture, Horticulture, BMO Thathri, ZEO Thathri and Drabshalla, AEE PMGSY and R&B, Naib Tehsildars, TSO Thathri and Kahara, storekeepers besides all other staffs from other departments attended the meeting.
Saroori reviewed the working of all developmental sectors and flagship programmes in the area. Special focus was given to the performance of different departments under the schemes, viz., IAY, MGNREGA, DRDA, RMSA, SSA, NRLM, R&B, town sanitation, agriculture, horticulture and PMGSY schemes. He also reviewed implementation of other public welfare schemes/programme like PHE schemes, electrification of left out habitations, monthly ration supply to the public in remote areas, construction work of departmental buildings of Education, Health, under NABARD funds in the sub-division Thathri. The MLA, however, highlighted the need for improvement in their performance and asked the Officers to enhance their performance.
Saroori called upon the implementing agencies to accelerate complete the ongoing schemes in a time bound manner considering the limited working season in the area with special attention on PMGSY, roads rural sanitation programme, MGNREGA, works BRGF plan for the blocks, IAY beneficiaries coverage made in the Thathri and Kahara blocks, Swatch bharat and repairment of khuls and water supply schemes. He also underscored the need for judicious use of funds with schedule time of completion for ensuring early benefit to the targeted habitations.