text:
Hospital boss accused of sexist bullying after he allegedly told staff he wanted them 'pole dancing'
[Kit Sproson | Mirror]
The former director of a mental health centre near Preston could be struck off over claims he made lewd comments about lesbianism and pole dancing
A hospital director told female members of staff he wanted to see them pole-dancing and performing lesbian sex acts, a tribunal was told.
Adrian Needham said he only employed women with "big breasts" and referred to maternity leave as "f****** off," the Nursing and Midwifery Council was told.
Needham made a string of racist and sexually inappropriate comments in his dual role as director and manager of The Hamptons and Brookhaven, Bamber Bridge, Preston, it is said.
He allegedly told a colleague at the mental health hospital: "I'm not looking at you, I'm looking at your t**s."
Henry Vallance, for the NMC, described Needham's behaviour at the hospital towards members of staff as "bullying, intimidating and inappropriate".
The hospital is described online as a two-phased, locked and open rehabilitation service for adults with mental health problems.
Mr Vallance said: "This included being heard by members of staff saying that he 'wanted a blow job,' that he had a 'penis down to my knee,' and describing how he was playing with his balls.
"It is alleged that he would talk to female members of staff about pole dancing, and say 'it would be nice to see you doing lesbian acts,' and saying that he only employed girls with 'big t**s'."
Hearing: The Nursing and Midwifery council
Mr Vallance described Needham as "undervaluing" colleagues, and failing to treat them with dignity and respect.
Needham referred to one employee's maternity leave as "f****** off," leaving her feeling "undervalued".
Mr Vallance said Needham directed his inappropriate behaviour "particularly" towards one employee, referred to as Colleague E – a young, female member of staff.
Needham allegedly shouted at her and threatened to deduct money from her wages.
When she challenged him Needham is accused of saying: "I can do it and I will do it."
"The registrant would stare at her from across the staff room and make sexually inappropriate comments to her," Mr Vallance said.
"He is recorded as asking her to put on some cowboy boots and that he would need some baby oil or chip fat to help put them on them.
"He would say to her, 'I'm not looking at you, I'm looking at your t**s."
An investigation was launched into Needham's conduct after a co-worker at Brookhavens, who was in a relationship with Colleague E, sent a letter of complaint.
During a disciplinary meeting Needham allegedly threatened Colleague E in an "intimidating" manner: "You had better get this sorted, get him to withdraw the letter."
The letter was subsequently withdrawn, but an external investigation commenced and Needham suspended in March 2013.
Needham then resigned and took up a new post, but failed to inform his new employers that he had been referred to the NMC.
He resigned from this role in August 2014.
Needham, who is not present or represented, denies charges of inappropriate, sexually inappropriate, and racist behaviour.
He further denies failing to inform his employer at Atos Healthcare about his referral to the NMC.
If his fitness to practise is found to be impaired he could be struck off.
The hearing continues.
international pole News
Kenneth 'Pole Ninja' Kao on Sport360
International Pole Championship Winners!
Celebrity Pole Dancing
Pole dancing puts a writer's ego in check


text:
/*
 * EVE Swagger Interface
 *
 * An OpenAPI for EVE Online
 *
 * OpenAPI spec version: 0.5.5
 *
 * Generated by: https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-codegen.git
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package esi

/* A list of GetUniverseRaces200Ok. */
//easyjson:json
type GetUniverseRaces200OkList []GetUniverseRaces200Ok

/* 200 ok object */
//easyjson:json
type GetUniverseRaces200Ok struct {
	AllianceId  int32  `json:"alliance_id,omitempty"` /* The alliance generally associated with this race */
	Description string `json:"description,omitempty"` /* description string */
	Name        string `json:"name,omitempty"`        /* name string */
	RaceId      int32  `json:"race_id,omitempty"`     /* race_id integer */
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Enbridge's economic impact on Mississippi
Read or download our fact sheet detailing Enbridge's economic impact on Mississippi.
Enbridge's capital expenditures in Mississippi, on such items as pipe steel, equipment purchases and replacement, system integrity-related investments, and capital leases, totaled $2.2 million.
Enbridge's operating and administrative expenditures in Mississippi, on such items as maintenance costs, equipment leases, power consumption, and field personnel salaries and wages, totaled $8.2 million.
Enbridge's workforce included 50 Mississippi-based permanent and temporary employees, and provisioned contractors, at year's end;
Enbridge paid more than $4 million in total wages to our Mississippi-based permanent and temporary employees—much of that injected directly into the state economy; and
Enbridge paid $29 million in property tax across Mississippi for our pipelines and related facilities, such as terminals, storage facilities and pump/compressor stations;
Enbridge paid $1.1 million in franchise tax, $1 million in corporate income tax and $458,000 in sales-and-use taxes across Mississippi; and
See our infrastructure, projects, and community investment activity in Mississippi
In 2020, Enbridge invested $50,360 in community-strengthening initiatives across Mississippi—and supported numerous not-for-profit agencies in the state—aligned to our three focus areas of health and safety, environment, and community.
In 2020, we paid
million in base salary to 46 people who live and work in Mississippi
Offshore pipelines
Enbridge is a major player in the Gulf of Mexico, handling more than 40% of total offshore gas production and more than 50% of deepwater gas production in the Gulf.
Natural gas transmission and midstream
Enbridge's natural gas pipelines connect North America's most prolific natural gas supply areas to major demand centers in the U.S. and Canada.
An interactive experience: Our North American assets map
Check out our interactive map encompassing the full scope of Enbridge's North American energy infrastructure—oil and gas pipelines, wind farms, solar projects, distribution systems, and more.
See the map Plus Symbol A vertical and horizontal line forming a cross

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I remember as a student in writing class this directive was drilled into my head: Show don't tell. Over and over I'd get papers handed back to me with red marks screaming it at me. I hated that teacher with the keen passion that only a young student can express. But those words held far more wisdom beyond writing in junior high school.
Those words have become a life lesson for me. They have taught me that I could tell you all day long about the me I want you to see. I could wave my fancy feathered fan in front of my naked body teasing you with glimpses of who I really am. I could rip off my spiritual bindings, groaning with effort and continued fear that I'll not be perceived as blameless as I wish.


All too often, our church members don't feel comfortable asking someone if they would like to have a Bible study. One of the main reasons for this, is because they are afraid they won't have all of the answers to all of the questions that the person may ask about the Bible. Many people today want to teach Bible studies to their friends and families, but oftentimes, don't know how to teach a Bible study,what teaching materials to use or lack the experience to feel confident enough to teach one.
One idea to overcome this, is to use the mid-week service to teach your church how to teach a Bible study. In most cases, the people that show up for the mid-week service are the core of the church. They are usually the more "spiritually mature" of your saints. Also, when teaching on how to teach a Bible study, let them know which Bible studies you recommend for them to teach. This will give them confidence to teach a Bible study and when they find one that they feel comfortable sharing with someone, they will be more apt and better prepared to teach.
Psalm 119:89 "Forever O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven."
Psalm 119:161:162 "..but my heart standeth in awe of thy word….as one that findeth great spoil (treasure)"
· Establish at the beginning of the study the importance of the "whole" Bible.
2) The Word of God is true! From cover to cover!
· Breath mints are good!


THE SECURITIES REPRESENTED BY THIS CERTIFICATE HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE "ACT"), OR THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY STATE AND MAY NOT BE SOLD OR TRANSFERRED IN THE ABSENCE OF AN EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER APPLICABLE FEDERAL AND STATE SECURITIES LAWS OR PURSUANT TO AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM, OR IN A TRANSACTION NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE ACT AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS AS EVIDENCED BY A LEGAL OPINION OF COUNSEL TO THE TRANSFEROR TO SUCH EFFECT, WHICH OPINION SHALL BE REASONABLY ACCEPTABLE TO THE COMPANY.
THIS CERTIFIES THAT, for value received, [NAME], or his/her/our registered assigns (the "Purchaser"), is entitled to subscribe for and purchase from Bionik Laboratories Corp., a Delaware corporation (the "Company"), at any time commencing on February 26, 2015 and expiring on February 26, 2019 (the "Warrant Exercise Term"), the Shares at the Exercise Price (each as defined in Section 1 below).
This Warrant is issued in connection with the Company's private offering solely to accredited investors of Units in accordance with, and subject to, the terms and conditions described in the Subscription Agreement, dated as of even date herewith (the "Subscription Agreement").
1. Shares. The Purchaser has, subject to the terms set forth herein, the right to purchase, at any time during the Warrant Exercise Term, up to [_NUMBER OF SHARES_] shares (the "Shares") of the Company's common stock, par value $0.001 ("Common Stock"), at a per share exercise price of $1.40 (the "Exercise Price"). The Exercise Price is subject to adjustment as provided in Section 3 hereof.
(a) Exercise. This Warrant may be exercised by the Purchaser at any time during the Warrant Exercise Term, in whole or in part, by delivering the notice of exercise attached as Exhibit A hereto (the "Notice of Exercise"), duly executed by the Purchaser to the Company at its principal office, or at such other office as the Company may designate, accompanied by payment, in cash or by wire transfer of immediately available funds or by check payable to the order of the Company, or via cashless exercise (if permitted) of the amount obtained by multiplying the number of Shares designated in the Notice of Exercise by the Exercise Price (the "Purchase Price"). For purposes hereof, "Exercise Date" shall mean the date on which all deliveries required to be made to the Company upon exercise of this Warrant pursuant to this Section 2(a) shall have been made.
Solely for the purposes of this paragraph 2(b), "fair value" per share of Common Stock shall mean (A) the average of the closing sales prices, as quoted on the primary national or regional stock exchange on which the Common Stock is listed, or, if not listed, on the Nasdaq Market if quoted thereon, or, if not listed or quoted, the OTC Bulletin Board (or any tier of the OTC Markets) if quoted thereon, on the twenty (20) consecutive Trading Days (as defined below) immediately preceding the date on which the Notice of Exercise is deemed to have been sent to the Company, or (B) if the Common Stock is not publicly traded as set forth above, as reasonably and in good faith determined by the Board of Directors of the Company as of the date which the Notice of Exercise is deemed to have been sent to the Company.
For purposes of Rule 144 promulgated under the Securities Act, it is intended, understood and acknowledged that the Warrant Shares issued in a cashless exercise transaction shall be deemed to have been acquired by the Purchaser, and the holding period for such shares shall be deemed to have commenced, on the date this Warrant was originally issued.
(c) Redemption. (i) All of the outstanding Warrants (but not less than all) may be redeemed, at the option of the Company, at any time while they are exercisable and prior to their expiration upon notice to the Purchaser at the price of $0.001 per Warrant (the "Redemption Price"), provided that the VWAP (as defined below) of the Common Stock is 200% of the exercise price or more for 20 consecutive Trading Days prior to the date on which notice of the redemption is given and provided that there is an effective registration statement covering the Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants, available throughout the 30-day period after the Redemption Date (as defined below)(unless the Company requires a cashless exercise as provided below). "VWAP" means, for any date, the price determined by the first of the following clauses that applies: (a) if the Common Stock is then listed or quoted on a Trading Market (as defined below), the daily volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on the Trading Market on which the Common Stock is then listed or quoted as reported by Bloomberg L.P. (based on a Trading Day from 9:30 a.m. (New York City time) to 4:02 p.m. (New York City time)), (b) if the Common Stock is then quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board, the volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on the OTC Bulletin Board, (c) if the Common Stock is not then listed or quoted for trading on the OTC Bulletin Board and if prices for the Common Stock are then reported on OTC Markets, Inc. (or a similar organization or agency succeeding to its functions of reporting prices), the most recent bid price per share of the Common Stock so reported, or (d) in all other cases, the fair market value of a share of Common Stock as determined by an independent appraiser selected in good faith by the Purchasers of a majority in interest of the Warrants then outstanding and reasonably acceptable to the Company, the fees and expenses of which shall be paid by the Company. "Trading Day" means a day on which the principal Trading Market is open for trading. "Trading Market" means any of the following markets or exchanges on which the Common Stock is listed or quoted for trading on the date in question: the NYSE MKT, the Nasdaq Capital Market, the Nasdaq Global Market, the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the New York Stock Exchange (or any successors to any of the foregoing), the OTC Bulletin Board or OTC Markets, Inc. (ii) In the event that the Company elects to redeem all of the Warrants, the Company's board of directors has the right to require the Purchaser to exercise the Warrants on a "cashless basis," by surrendering the Warrants for that number of shares of Common Stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Common Stock underlying the Warrants, multiplied by the difference between the Exercise Price and the average VWAP for 20 consecutive Trading Days prior to the date on which the notice of the redemption is sent to Purchaser ("Average VWAP") by (y) the Average VWAP. (iii) The Company shall fix a date for the redemption (the "Redemption Date"). Notice of redemption shall be mailed by first class mail, postage prepaid, by the Company not less than thirty (30) days prior to the Redemption Date to the Purchasers to be redeemed at their last addresses as they shall appear on the registration books. Any notice mailed in the manner herein provided shall be conclusively presumed to have been duly given whether or not the Purchaser received such notice. (iv) The notice of redemption shall contain the information necessary to calculate the number of shares of Common Stock to be received upon exercise of the Warrants, including the VWAP and Average VWAP calculations. On and after the Redemption Date, the record holder of the Warrants shall have no further rights except to receive, upon surrender of the Warrants, the Redemption Price.
(d) Issuance of Certificates. As soon as practicable after the exercise of this Warrant, in whole or in part, in accordance with Section 2(a) or 2(b) hereof, the Company, at its expense, shall cause to be issued in the name of and delivered to the Purchaser (i) a certificate or certificates for the number of validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable Shares to which the Purchaser shall be entitled upon such exercise and, if applicable, (ii) a new warrant of like tenor to purchase all of the Shares that may be purchased pursuant to the portion, if any, of this Warrant not exercised by the Purchaser. The Purchaser shall for all purposes hereof be deemed to have become the Purchaser of record of such Shares on the date on which the Notice of Exercise and payment of the Purchase Price in accordance with Section 2(a) or 2(b) hereof were delivered and made, respectively, irrespective of the date of delivery of such certificate or certificates, except that if the date of such delivery, notice and payment is a date when the stock transfer books of the Company are closed, such person shall be deemed to have become the holder of record of such Shares at the close of business on the next succeeding date on which the stock transfer books are open. Warrant Shares purchased hereunder shall be transmitted by the transfer agent to the Holder by crediting the account of the Holder's prime broker with The Depository Trust Company through its Deposit or Withdrawal at Custodian system ("DWAC") if the Company is then a participant in such system and either (A) there is an effective registration statement permitting the issuance of the Warrant Shares to or resale of the Warrant Shares by the Holder or (B) the shares are eligible for resale by the Holder without volume or manner-of-sale limitations pursuant to Rule 144, and otherwise by physical delivery to the address specified by the Holder in the Notice of Exercise by the date that is three (3) Trading Days after the latest of (A) the delivery to the Company of the Notice of Exercise and (B) surrender of this Warrant (if required).
(e) Taxes. The issuance of the Shares upon the exercise of this Warrant, and the delivery of certificates or other instruments representing such Shares, shall be made without charge to the Purchaser for any tax or other charge of whatever nature in respect of such issuance and the Company shall bear any such taxes in respect of such issuance.
3. Adjustment of Exercise Price and Number of Shares.
(a) Adjustment for Reclassification, Consolidation or Merger. If while this Warrant, or any portion hereof, remains outstanding and unexpired there shall be (i) a reorganization or recapitalization (other than a combination, reclassification, exchange or subdivision of shares otherwise provided for herein), (ii) a merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another corporation or other entity in which the Company shall not be the surviving entity, or a reverse merger (other than the reverse merger described in the PPM, in which case this Warrant will represent a warrant in such public entity on the terms hereof) in which the Company shall be the surviving entity but the shares of the Company's capital stock outstanding immediately prior to the merger are converted by virtue of the merger into other property, whether in the form of securities, cash or otherwise, or (iii) a sale or transfer of the Company's properties and assets as, or substantially as, an entirety to any other corporation or other entity in one transaction or a series of related transactions, then, as a part of such reorganization, recapitalization, merger, consolidation, sale or transfer, unless otherwise directed by the Purchaser, all necessary or appropriate lawful provisions shall be made so that the Purchaser shall thereafter be entitled to receive upon exercise of this Warrant, during the period specified herein and upon payment of the Exercise Price then in effect, the greatest number of shares of capital stock or other securities or property that a holder of the Shares deliverable upon exercise of this Warrant would have been entitled to receive in such reorganization, recapitalization, merger, consolidation, sale or transfer if this Warrant had been exercised immediately prior to such reorganization, recapitalization, merger, consolidation, sale or transfer, all subject to further adjustment as provided in this Section 3. If the per share consideration payable to the Purchaser for Shares in connection with any such transaction is in a form other than cash or marketable securities, then the value of such consideration shall be determined in good faith by the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board of Directors"). The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall similarly apply to successive reorganizations, recapitalizations, mergers, consolidations, sales and transfers and to the capital stock or securities of any other corporation that are at the time receivable upon the exercise of this Warrant. In all events, appropriate adjustment shall be made in the application of the provisions of this Warrant with respect to the rights and interests of the Purchaser after the transaction, to the end that the provisions of this Warrant shall be applicable after that event, as near as reasonably may be, in relation to any shares or other property deliverable or issuable after such reorganization, recapitalization, merger, consolidation, sale or transfer upon exercise of this Warrant.
(b) Adjustments for Split, Subdivision or Combination of Shares. If the Company shall at any time subdivide (by any stock split, stock dividend, recapitalization, reorganization, reclassification or otherwise) the shares of Common Stock subject to acquisition hereunder, then, after the date of record for effecting such subdivision, the Exercise Price in effect immediately prior to such subdivision will be proportionately reduced and the number of shares of Common Stock subject to acquisition upon exercise of the Warrant will be proportionately increased. If the Company at any time combines (by reverse stock split, recapitalization, reorganization, reclassification or otherwise) the shares of Common Stock subject to acquisition hereunder, then, after the record date for effecting such combination, the Exercise Price in effect immediately prior to such combination will be proportionately increased and the number of shares of Common Stock subject to acquisition upon exercise of the Warrant will be proportionately decreased.
(c) Adjustments for Dividends in Stock or Other Securities or Property. If while this Warrant, or any portion hereof, remains outstanding and unexpired, the holders of any class of securities as to which purchase rights under this Warrant exist at the time shall have received or, on or after the record date fixed for the determination of eligible stockholders, shall have become entitled to receive, without payment therefor, other or additional stock or other securities or property (other than cash) of the Company by way of dividend, then and in each case, this Warrant shall represent the right to acquire, in addition to the number of shares of such class of security receivable upon exercise of this Warrant, and without payment of any additional consideration therefor, the amount of such other or additional stock or other securities or property (other than cash) of the Company that such holder would hold on the date of such exercise had it been the holder of record of the class of security receivable upon exercise of this Warrant on the date hereof and had thereafter, during the period from the date hereof to and including the date of such exercise, retained such shares and/or all other additional stock available to it as aforesaid during said period, giving effect to all adjustments called for during such period by the provisions of this Section 3.
(d) Adjustment of Exercise Price Upon Issuance of Additional Shares of Common Stock. If while this Warrant, or any portion hereof, remains outstanding and unexpired, the Company shall issue Additional Shares of Common Stock (as hereinafter defined) without consideration or for a consideration per share less than the then-applicable Exercise Price, then and in such event, such Exercise Price shall be reduced, concurrently with such issue, to a price (calculated to the nearest cent) determined by multiplying the then-applicable Exercise Price by a fraction, (i) the numerator of which shall be the number of shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to such issuance plus the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the aggregate consideration received by the Company for the total number of Additional Common Stock so issued by (y) the Exercise Price, and (ii) the denominator of which shall be the number of shares of the Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to such issuance plus the number of Additional Shares of Common Stock so issued.
(ii) upon the completion of the Reverse Merger in connection with the Offering.
(vii) in connection with the Company's acquisition, joint-venture, licensing or business transaction of intellectual property assets from any individuals or entities approved by the Board of Directors.
Upon each adjustment of the Exercise Price pursuant to the provisions of this Section 3(d), the number of Shares issuable upon exercise of this Warrant shall be adjusted by multiplying a number equal to the Exercise Price in effect immediately prior to such adjustment by the number of Shares issuable upon exercise of this Warrant immediately prior to such adjustment and dividing the product so obtained by the adjusted Exercise Price.
(e) Notice of Adjustments. Upon any adjustment of the Exercise Price and any increase or decrease in the number of Shares purchasable upon the exercise of this Warrant, then, and in each such case, the Company, within 30 days thereafter, shall give written notice thereof to the Purchaser at the address of such Purchaser as shown on the books of the Company, which notice shall state the Exercise Price as adjusted and, if applicable, the increased or decreased number of Shares purchasable upon the exercise of this Warrant, setting forth in reasonable detail the method of calculation of each.
If to the Purchaser at its address as furnished in the Subscription Agreement.
Either party may give any notice, request, consent or other communication under this Warrant using any other means (including personal delivery, messenger service, facsimile transmission, first class mail or electronic mail), but no such notice, request, consent or other communication shall be deemed to have been duly given unless and until it is actually received by the party for whom it is intended. Either party may change the address to which notices, requests, consents or other communications hereunder are to be delivered by giving the other party notice in the manner set forth in this Section 4.
6. Removal of Legend. Upon request of a holder of a certificate with the legends required by Section 5 hereof and subject to Section 3(f) of the Registration Rights Agreement, the Company shall issue to such holder a new certificate therefor free of any transfer legend, if, with such request, the Company shall have received an opinion of counsel satisfactory to the Company in form and substance to the effect that any transfer by such holder of the Shares evidenced by such certificate will not violate the Act or any applicable state securities laws.
7. Fractional Shares. No fractional Shares will be issued in connection with any exercise hereunder. Instead, the Company shall round up, as nearly as practicable to the nearest whole Share, the number of Shares to be issued.
8. Rights of Stockholders. Except as expressly provided in Section 3(c) hereof, the Purchaser, as such, shall not be entitled to vote or receive dividends or be deemed the holder of the Shares or any other securities of the Company that may at any time be issuable on the exercise hereof for any purpose, nor shall anything contained herein be construed to confer upon the Purchaser, as such, any of the rights of a stockholder of the Company or any right to vote for the election of directors or upon any matter submitted to stockholders at any meeting thereof, or to give or withhold consent to any corporate action (whether upon any recapitalization, issuance of stock, reclassification of stock, change of par value, consolidation, merger, conveyance, or otherwise) or to receive notice of meetings, or otherwise until this Warrant shall have been exercised and the Shares purchasable upon the exercise hereof shall have been issued, as provided herein.
(a) This Warrant and disputes arising hereunder shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware applicable to agreements made and to be performed wholly within such State, without regard to its conflict of law rules.
(b) The headings in this Warrant are for purposes of reference only, and shall not limit or otherwise affect any of the terms hereof.
(c) The covenants of the respective parties contained herein shall survive the execution and delivery of this Warrant.
(d) The terms of this Warrant shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of any successors or permitted assigns of the Company and of the Purchaser and of the Shares issued or issuable upon the exercise hereof.
(e) This Warrant and the other documents delivered pursuant hereto constitute the full and entire understanding and agreement between the parties with regard to the subject hereof.
(f) The Company shall not, by amendment of the Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, or through any other means, directly or indirectly, avoid or seek to avoid the observance or performance of any of the terms of this Warrant and shall at all times in good faith assist in the carrying out of all such terms and in the taking of all such action as may be necessary or appropriate in order to protect the rights of the Purchaser contained herein against impairment.
(g) Upon receipt of evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Company of the loss, theft, destruction or mutilation of this Warrant and, in the case of any such loss, theft or destruction, upon delivery of an indemnity agreement reasonably satisfactory in form and amount to the Company, or, in the case of any such mutilation, upon surrender and cancellation of such Warrant, the Company, at its expense, will execute and deliver to the Purchaser, in lieu thereof, a new Warrant of like date and tenor.
(h) This Warrant and any provision hereof may be amended, waived or terminated only by an instrument in writing signed by the Company and the Purchaser.


In order to stay competitive in a dynamic market, companies need to develop more intelligent and agile IT. Find out how automation and analytics can help.
Regularly maintained IT assets are key component of all organizations, but implementing an effective Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) methodology can be challenging. Learn about the best practices necessary for successful ALM.
Intelligent automation enables businesses to scale rapidly and efficiently but only when implemented with proper IT fundamentals.
Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) is the process for managing and maintaining IT assets, and should be a key part of every business' IT strategy.
Intelligent Automation will profoundly change IT operations, but how can businesses deploy it successfully? Learn how the right MSP can make all the difference.


text:
David Weild IV
David Weild is a noted expert on capital markets and capital formation who has testified before the U.S. Congress at the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, the SEC, and in front of the 34-member nations and the European Commission for the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Mr. Weild has served as Vice Chairman of The NASDAQ Stock Market in charge of the Corporate Client Division with line responsibility for NASDAQ's 4,000 listed companies. He created NASDAQ's Market Intelligence Desk, Corporate Services Network and dual listings strategy which ultimately resulted in listing Charles Schwab and Hewlett Packard. While at NASDAQ, Mr. Weild had the privilege of working with such luminaries as Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Tom Stemberg (Staples), Craig Barrett (Intel), Michael Dell (Dell Computer), Steve Jobs (Apple, Pixar, NeXT Computer) and others.
Mr. Weild headed equity capital markets and corporate finance at a top-ten underwriter of IPOs and follow-on equity offerings. During his career, he has participated in managing more than 1,000 public equity offering transactions.
Mr. Weild holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business and a B.A. degree from Wesleyan University. He also studied on exchange at The Sorbonne, Ecole des Haute Etudes Commerciales, and The Stockholm School of Economics. Mr. Weild is former Treasurer of The Bond Club of New York. David holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 63, 79, 82 and 99 licenses.
Meet More of Our Team
Corporate TeamAdvisory BoardBoard of Directors


NIBC is pleased to announce the successful completion of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of pharmaceutical company Advicenne on Euronext Paris. Advicenne raised EUR 28.1 million which will enable the commercial launch of its lead drug, ADV7103 in Europe for the treatment of distal Renal Tubular Acidosis (dRTA), a pediatric kidney disease, including the finalization of phase III clinical trials in the United States.
NIBC acted as joint global coordinator, joint lead manager and joint bookrunner in this landmark transaction. With this transaction, our Life Sciences sector team achieved an important milestone and paves the way for many more capital market transactions to come. The success of this Equity and Capital Markets transaction reflects NIBC´s approach of serving its clients with inventive tailor made advisory and financing solutions and contributes to our growth ambitions.
Advicenne is a late-stage pharmaceutical company focusing on the development of pediatric-friendly therapeutics for the treatment of orphan renal and neurological diseases. The Company's most advanced product is ADV7103 which has shown positive results in a pivotal phase III study in children and adults with distal Renal Tubular Acidosis (dRTA). ADV7103 is also being developed in a second indication for the treatment of Cystinuria, an inherited renal tubulopathy and is expected to begin a pivotal phase III clinical trial in this indication in Europe in 2018.


text:
All posts for the day May 27th, 2019
"Most Destructive Breach in History": Hackers Use NSA Code to Grind Baltimore to a Halt
Posted in: Crime, Criminology, Cyber crime, Cyber wars /attacks, Hacking, NSA.	Leave a comment
themindunleashed.com/ Zero Hedge
The United States is no longer supplying its enemies only with conventional weapons – that list now also includes cyberweapons. While Baltimore has been struggling with an aggressive cyber-attack over the last three weeks, previously profiled here , it has now been revealed that a key component of the malware used by cyber-criminals was actually developed just a short drive from Baltimore – at the NSA, according to the New York Times.
The tool used – called EternalBlue – has been used by hackers in North Korea, Russia and China to "cut a path of destruction around the world", and resulted in billions of dollars in damages.
Now, it has come full circle and is back in the US, wreaking havoc just miles from Washington. In fact, security experts say that attacks using EternalBlue have soared and cyber-criminals are honing in on vulnerable towns and cities, using it to paralyze governments. The NSA's connection to the attacks had previously not been reported and the NSA hasn't commented about it since an unidentified group leaked the weapon online in April 2017.
The NSA and the FBI still don't know whether or not it was leaked by foreign spies or US insiders.
The leak has been referred to as "the most destructive and costly N.S.A. breach in history," by Thomas Rid, a cybersecurity expert at Johns Hopkins University. He continued: "The government has refused to take responsibility, or even to answer the most basic questions. Congressional oversight appears to be failing. The American people deserve an answer."
An answer that we're sure they won't get.
Commenting on the leak in April 2017, Edward Snowden said that the "NSA just lost control of its Top Secret arsenal of digital weapons; hackers leaked it."
✔@Snowden
NSA just lost control of its Top Secret arsenal of digital weapons; hackers leaked it.
1) https://github.com/x0rz/EQGRP
2) https://medium.com/@shadowbrokerss/dont-forget-your-base-867d304a94b1 …
10:44 AM – Apr 8, 2017
Don't Forget Your Base
Dear President Trump,
8,261 people are talking about this
Since the April 2017 leak, foreign intelligence agencies and hackers have used the software to paralyze places like hospitals, airports, rail and shipping operators, ATMs and factories. In the United States, hackers are using the software to hit local governments with outdated infrastructure and few resources to defend themselves.
The software used to be one of the most useful exploits in the NSA's arsenal. Former NSA analysts spent almost a year finding a flaw in Microsoft's software and writing the code to target it. The tool was initially called "EternalBlueScreen" because it had a penchant for crashing computers. In fact, it was so valuable that the agency never even alerted Microsoft to the security flaw and instead, held onto the tool for five years before the breach in 2017 forced them to talk about it.
The May 7 Baltimore attack saw city workers' screens suddenly lock up and a message in broken English demanding $100,000 in Bitcoin ransom. And, as Baltimore has not yet paid the ransom, the city's computers remain handicapped. Without the former NSA tool, the damage wouldn't of been as bad.
North Korea was the first to allegedly use the tool in 2017 when they attacked the British healthcare system, German railroads and 200,000 additional organizations around the world. Then, Russia reportedly used the tool on Ukraine and companies that did business in the country. The assault cost FedEx more than $400 million and Merck $670 million. Over the past year, Russian hackers have also used it to compromise hotel Wi-Fi networks, while Iranian hackers have used it to hack airlines in the Middle East. Of course, there is no evidence that any of these actors were behind the reported hacks.
Vikram Thakur, Symantec's director of security response said: "It's incredible that a tool which was used by intelligence services is now publicly available and so widely used."
When the tool was leaked in 2017, the NSA finally reached out to Microsoft, who developed a patch – but by then, it was too late and many systems still remained unprotected.
Meanwhile, hackers continue to target areas like Baltimore, San Antonio and Allentown, Pennsylvania – governments that use out of date software. This prompted the Department of Homeland Security last July to issue a warning about the software, urging municipalities to update their infrastructure.
The Allentown attack cost about $1 million to fix, in addition to $420,000 per year in new spending. Matthew Leibert, the city's chief information officer called the attack "commodity malware" and said: "There are warehouses of kids overseas firing off phishing emails, like thugs shooting military-grade weapons at random targets."
San Antonio was also hit with an attack last September when a computer inside the sheriff's office tried to spread EternalBlue across the government's network. And now, researchers at Palo Alto Networks discovered just last week that a Chinese state group had hacked into Middle Eastern governments using the tool.
Jen Miller-Osborn, a deputy director of threat intelligence at Palo Alto Networks said: "You can't hope that once the initial wave of attacks is over, it will go away. We expect EternalBlue will be used almost forever, because if attackers find a system that isn't patched, it is so useful."
Until about a decade ago, these tools belonged to the NSA only. In fact, they had coined the term "NOBUS", which stood for "nobody but us" – meaning the NSA thought the vulnerabilities were theirs alone to exploit. But that advantage wore off due to the leaks and because of the fact that anyone can grab the code to a cyber-weapon once it's posted online.
FBI and Homeland security officials told the New York Times that more accountability at the NSA was needed. A former FBI official said that the leak was akin to the government failing to lock it up "a warehouse of automatic weapons".
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be accountability at the NSA. Adm. Michael S. Rogers, who was director of the N.S.A. during the leak said: "If Toyota makes pickup trucks and someone takes a pickup truck, welds an explosive device onto the front, crashes it through a perimeter and into a crowd of people, is that Toyota's responsibility? The N.S.A. wrote an exploit that was never designed to do what was done."
Microsoft views the situation very differently. Tom Burt, the corporate vice president of consumer trust said: "I disagree completely. These exploits are developed and kept secret by governments for the express purpose of using them as weapons or espionage tools. They're inherently dangerous. When someone takes that, they're not strapping a bomb to it. It's already a bomb."
France: French President Macron Suffers Huge Blow With Defeat to Le Pen
Posted in: Emmanuel Macron, Europe, European union, France, Ideology, Political science.	Leave a comment
themindunleashed.com/ Republished with permission / Zero Hedge
In what may be the biggest shock from today's European parliamentary elections, President Emmanuel Macron suffered a major blow with French voters set to hand a victory to Marine Le Pen's National Rally, picking the vocal Eurosceptic and nationalist over the former Rothschild banker.Macron's En Marche (Republic on The Move) will have just 22.5% of the vote compared with 24% for Le Pen, according to pollsters Ifop. With Macron and Le Pen neck and neck ahead of the elections, the outcome will be a humiliation for the liberal politician who said before the elections that everything less than 1st place would be a defeat.
Rounding out the The Greens were third with 13%, the conservative Republicans got 8%, while the implosion of the Socialists continues, coming in dead last with just 6.5% of the vote.
Macron's default took place even as turnout was up around 10% points from 2014, however the increase was particularly marked in regions where Le Pen's party has gained ground in the past years. In other words, as establishment apathy gets entrenched, the populist vote is increasingly demanding to be heard.
It gets worse: to the shock of globalists and statists everywhere, this is Le Pen's second straight victory in the EU vote. In 2014 she beat the conservatives by 4 percentage points with Macron's Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande trailing in third.
As Bloomberg notes, the result is a setback for the 41-year-old Macron who played a more prominent role in the campaign than any other European leader as he sought to mobilize voters.
The president is fighting for legitimacy as he tries to persuade the rest of the European Union to pursue tighter integration. Polls in Germany showed Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats came first, although with fewer seats than last time.
"For Macron this was a defining election and it's him who made it like that," said Bernard Sananes, president of Elabe polling institute. "Finishing second would mean a sense of isolation in Europe."
Today's vote followed months of relentless protests which have seen looting and vandalism in Paris. Macron responded with a raft of new spending plans and tax cuts to appease the Yellow Vest movement but the measures failed to convince voters.
Meanwhile, Eurosceptic, anti-establishment and hard-right parties were also expected to top polls in the UK, Italy, Poland, and Hungary. Nigel Farage's Brexit party was in contention to be the biggest single national party in the parliament, potentially beating both Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and Matteo Salvini's rightwing League.
Germany's left-right grand coalition faced a potentially significant electoral shock, with estimates indicating the Green party had made a historic breakthrough, taking 20.9 per cent of the vote. Philippe Lamberts, leader of the Green group, said: "To make a stable majority in this parliament the Greens are now indispensable."
This pushed the center-left Social Democratic party into third place for the first time in nationwide elections, raising pressure on party leaders to rethink their federal alliance with the centre-right CDU and the CSU, its Bavarian sister party.
While the EPP remains the biggest group in the parliament, its diminished size may hamper Manfred Weber, its lead candidate, in making a claim to the presidency of the European Commission.
EPP parties were in first place in Germany, but Merkel's CDU secured 28%, seven points down on its vote share in 2014. Finally, Austria's Sebastian Kurz said he was "speechless" after a crushing victory, securing a third of all votes in spite of a corruption scandal that has brought down his coalition government with the far-right Freedom party.
5G From Space: "Not One Inch of The Globe Will Be Free of Radiation"
Posted in: 5 G, Animals, Earth, Insects, Internet, Microwave weaponry, Space.	2 Comments
realfarmacy.com
By Children's Health Defense
In November of 2018, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorised the rocket company SpaceX, owned by the entrepreneur Elon Musk, to launch a fleet of 7,518 satellites to complete SpaceX's ambitious scheme to provide global satellite broadband services to every corner of the Earth.
The satellites will operate at a height of approximately 210 miles, and irradiate the Earth with extremely high frequencies between 37.5 GHz and 42 GHz. This fleet will be in addition to a smaller SpaceX fleet of 4,425 satellites, already authorized earlier in the year by the FCC, which will orbit the Earth at a height of approximately 750 miles and is set to bathe us in frequencies between 12 GHz and 30 GHz. The grand total of SpaceX satellites is thus projected to reach just under 12,000.
There are at present approximately two thousand fully functioning satellites orbiting the Earth. Some beam down commercial GPS (or "SatNav"), some provide TV, some provide mobile phone services, and some bounce radar back and forth to produce images for meteorologists and military surveillance. The Earth is thus already comprehensively irradiated from outer space.
But the new SpaceX fleets will constitute a massive increase in the number of satellites in the skies above us, and a correspondingly massive increase in the radiation reaching the Earth from them. The SpaceX satellite fleet is, however, just one of several that are due to be launched in the next few years, all serving the same purpose of providing global broadband services. Other companies, including Boeing, One Web and Spire Global are each launching their own smaller fleets, bringing the total number of projected new broadband satellites to around 20,000 – every one of them dedicated to irradiating the Earth at similar frequencies (fig. 1). 1
… what is really driving it is the creation of the conditions within which electronic or "artificial" intelligence will be able to assume an ever greater presence in our lives.
Why is there this sudden flurry of activity? The new satellite fleets are contributing to a concerted global effort to "upgrade" the electromagnetic environment of the Earth. The upgrade is commonly referred to as 5G, or fifth generation wireless network. It has become customary in tech circles to talk about the introduction of 5G as involving the creation of a new global "electronic ecosystem". It amounts to geo-engineering on a scale never before attempted. While this is being sold to the public as an enhancement of the quality of video streaming for media and entertainment, what is really driving it is the creation of the conditions within which electronic or "artificial" intelligence will be able to assume an ever greater presence in our lives.
In a previous article for New View, ("Radiation, Robot Bees and 5G", New View, 85, Autumn 2017), I described how the introduction of 5G will require hundreds of thousands of new mini mobile phone masts (also referred to as "base stations") in urban centres throughout the UK, and literally millions of new masts in cities throughout the rest of the world, all emitting radiation at frequencies and at power levels far higher than those to which we are presently subjected.
These new masts are much smaller than the masts we currently see beside our motorways and on top of buildings. They will be discreetly attached to the side of shops and offices or secured to lampposts. The 20,000 satellites are a necessary supplement to this land-based effort, for they will guarantee that rural areas, lakes, mountains, forests, oceans and wildernesses, where there are neither buildings nor lampposts, will all be incorporated into the new electronic infrastructure. Not one inch of the globe will be free of radiation.
Given the scale of the project, it is surprising how few people are aware of the enormity of what is now just beginning to unfold all around us. Very few people have even heard about the 20,000 new satellites that are due to transform the planet into a so-called "smart planet", irradiating us night and day. In the national media, we do not hear voices questioning the wisdom, let alone the ethics, of geo-engineering a new global electromagnetic environment.
But the question we should ask is whether we also want increasingly intense exposure of the natural environment and all living creatures, including ourselves, to more and more electromagnetic radiation.
Instead, there is a blithe acceptance that technology must continue to progress, and the presence in our lives of increasingly "smart" machines and gadgets that each year become cleverer and more capable is an inevitable part of this progress. And who doesn't want progress? Almost everyone loves their sleek and seductively designed phones, pads and virtual assistants, and regards them as an indispensible part of their lives.
But the question we should ask is whether we also want increasingly intense exposure of the natural environment and all living creatures, including ourselves, to more and more electromagnetic radiation. Is it likely that this does not entail any adverse health consequences, as both government and industry claim? If the electromagnetic waves that connect our smartphones to the Internet travel through brick, stone and cement, then what happens when these same waves encounter our bodies?
Be assured that they do not just bounce off us! They travel into the human body. The degree to which they are absorbed can be precisely measured in what is called the Specific Absorption Rate, expressed in Watts per kilogram of biological tissue. When we fill our houses with Wi Fi, we are irradiating our bodies continuously. When we hold a smartphone to our ear, electromagnetic waves irradiate our brains (fig.2). Do we really believe this could be completely harmless?
Waves and Frequencies
At present, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, most Wi Fi and so on all operate at under 3 GHz in what is called the "microwave" region of the electromagnetic spectrum. If you could see and measure their wavelengths, you would find that they are many centimetres (or inches) long. A smartphone operating at 800 MHz, for example, sends and receives signals with wavelengths of 37.5 centimetres (just under 15 inches). Operating at 1.9 GHz, the wavelengths are 16 centimetres (just over 6 inches). Wi Fi uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band with 12 centimetre wavelengths (just under 5 inches long).
The introduction of 5G will entail the use of considerably higher frequencies than these, with correspondingly shorter wavelengths. Above 30 GHz, wavelengths are just millimetres rather than centimetres long. The millimetre waveband (from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) is referred to as Extremely High Frequency, and its wavelengths are between 10 millimetres and 1 millimetre in length.3 Up to the present time, Extremely High Frequency electromagnetic radiation has not been widely propagated, and its introduction marks a significant step change in the kind of electromagnetic energy that will become present in the natural environment (fig.3).
The reason why millimetre waves are to be used for 5G is that much larger bands of spectrum are available in the Extremely High Frequencies than at lower frequencies. This means that there can be much broader "bandwidth". Broader bandwidth means that larger quantities of data can be transferred and the speed of transfer of the data will be significantly faster.
One of the effects of this is that it reduces what is called "latency", or time-lag, in the system, so it improves the quality of video streaming. But in so doing, it also enables a greater seamlessness between the data accessible from virtual sources and our perceptions of objects in the real world, as is required, for example, in Augmented Reality applications. Greater seamlessness means that we more effortlessly inhabit the natural and the electronic worlds as if they were a single reality.
A single 5G transmitter/receiver will have a large number of tiny antennas, grouped together in one unit.
One of the technical problems of using frequencies in the millimetre region of the spectrum is that, because the waves carrying the data are so tiny, being only millimetres long, they are less able to pass through physical barriers, like walls and trees, than are the longer waves of lower frequencies. This is why it is necessary to have so many more new phone masts or "base stations". They will need to be spaced at 100 metres apart in cities because beyond this distance their signals weaken and are therefore less able to penetrate buildings, and connect with the devices inside. As well as being more closely spaced, the 5G base stations will operate at much higher power than current phone masts, in order to ensure that the signals are sufficiently strong.
Because the wavelengths are so much smaller, the antennas transmitting and receiving them will also be much smaller than those of current phone masts and electronic devices. A single 5G transmitter/receiver will have a large number of tiny antennas, grouped together in one unit. An array of just over a thousand such antennas measures only four square inches, so will easily fit into a small base station on a lamppost, while the smartphone in your pocket will probably have sixteen (fig.4).
But it also means that any living creature that gets in the way of such a concentrated beam will be subjected to a powerful dose of extremely high frequency radiant electricity.
Both 5G satellites and 5G land-based masts will use a system called the "phased array". In the phased array, groups of antennas are co-ordinated to radiate pulses in a specific direction and in a specified time sequence. This allows a concentrated beam of radio waves to be exactly aimed at designated targets, to enable signals to be sent or received. Because the beams are concentrated in this way, this adds to their power, which means they are able more easily to penetrate buildings.
But it also means that any living creature that gets in the way of such a concentrated beam will be subjected to a powerful dose of extremely high frequency radiant electricity. A study published earlier this year demonstrated that certain insects, because of their small body-size, are particularly vulnerable to the millimetre waves of the higher frequencies to be utilised by 5G (fig. 5).5 Other studies have shown that bacteria and plants are also vulnerable, and so also (as one might expect) are the skin and the eyes of animals including, of course, human beings.6
As well as its ability to concentrate power in focused beams, phased array technology has a further complicating factor. Either side of the main beam, the time intervals between the pulses are different from the time intervals between those of the main beam, but they may overlap each other in such a way as to produce extremely rapid changes in the electromagnetic field. This can have a particularly detrimental effect on living organisms, because instead of the radiation decaying when it is absorbed into living tissue, it can be re-radiated within the body.
The moving charges streaming into the body effectively become antennas that re-radiate the electromagnetic field and send it deeper into the organism. These re-radiated waves are known as Brillouin precursors, named after the French physicist Leon Brillouin, who first described them in 1914. Research suggests that they can have a significant and highly detrimental impact on living cells.8
The Un-reassuring Assurances of Government and Industry
The Government body charged with protecting public health, Public Health England, advises us that there is no convincing evidence that Radio Frequency radiation (which radio, television, mobile phones, smartphones and 5G all use) has any adverse health effects on either adults or children.
It was like giving a blank cheque to the telecommunications industry to move on into the higher frequencies, without any heed for the consequences.
This advice is based on the recommendations of a supposedly independent body called AGNIR (Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation), which produced a report in 2012 on the safety of Radio Frequency radiation. The report stated that there was a lack of "convincing" and "conclusive" evidence for any adverse health effects.9 It was like giving a blank cheque to the telecommunications industry to move on into the higher frequencies, without any heed for the consequences.
It turns out that far from being independent, AGNIR has a high proportion of members with blatant conflicts of interests, and their report distorted or simply left out of account evidence that should have compelled them to reach the opposite conclusion to the one they arrived at. In a forensic analysis of the report, the environmental health researcher, Sarah Starkey, makes it clear that only a wilful disregard of the available scientific evidence could explain its internal contradictions and apparent incompetence.10
Health and safety simply do not feature in Government thinking, despite a veritable mountain of literally thousands of research papers demonstrating adverse health effects …
And yet it is the basis of current UK Government policy, allowing government to roll out 5G without so much as even a nod towards the need for prior health and safety assessment.11Health and safety simply do not feature in Government thinking, despite a veritable mountain of literally thousands of research papers demonstrating adverse health effects, which continues to grow at the rate of roughly 350 per year, on average practically one every day.12
One of the reasons for ignoring this evidence in the hell-for-leather dash to create the 5G electronic ecosystem is the conviction in government circles that, unless we introduce it immediately, we will be "left behind" and our economic growth and competitiveness will be put at risk. There is simply no time to consider the possible health consequences.
The National Infrastructure Commission, whose 2016 report, Connected Future, forms the basis of current Government policy, pushed this panicky vision of the UK falling behind other nations and urged the government to ensure that the new digital infrastructure is fully in place by 2025.13The NIC report repeatedly points out that the rewards of the "connected future" are to be measured in billions of pounds worth of revenue.
The irony that the "connected" future is one in which dizzying profits stand to be made from technologies that disconnect us more and more from the real world is entirely missed.
The mind-boggling amounts involved are well exemplified in a recent estimate that the global media industry alone stands to gain $1.3 trillion from 5G by 2025, not least because 5G will "unlock the potential of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)".14 The irony that the "connected" future is one in which dizzying profits stand to be made from technologies that disconnect us more and more from the real world is entirely missed.
The sums involved are sufficient to explain why the telecoms industry has for the last twenty-five years done its utmost to ensure that research into the health effects of wireless technologies produce negative or inconclusive results. Since 1993, the industry has financed a large number of studies, saving governments a great deal of expense and at the same time preserving the convenient illusion that the jury is still out on whether exposure to Radio Frequency radiation causes harm.
Earlier this year, The Guardian published an article citing research which showed that while 67% of independently funded studies found a biological effect of exposure to Radio Frequency radiation, only 28% of industry-funded studies did. Industry-funded studies are almost two and a half times less likely than independent studies to find health effects.15 The authors of the Guardian article explain that the telecoms industry doesn't need to win the scientific argument about safety, but simply keep the argument running indefinitely by producing studies with results that fail to verify, or even better contradict, the research that does find adverse health effects.
One of the most notorious is the mammoth, industry-funded "Interphone Study", which managed to conclude that holding a mobile phone to the head actually protects the user from brain tumours!
One of the most notorious is the mammoth, industry-funded "Interphone Study", which managed to conclude that holding a mobile phone to the head actually protects the user from brain tumours! This study, which is full of contradictions and suffers from grievous design flaws, is often quoted as the most authoritative to date, while it has in fact been thoroughly discredited.16
Nevertheless, the impression is maintained that there is no scientific consensus, and so there are not sufficient grounds for action to be taken. Needless to say, this suits Government just as much as it suits industry.
Beyond the health effects there is another level altogether of what the roll out of 5G actually entails. Read Dr. Naydler's full article.
1 One of the best sources for this information is the website of the Global Union Against Radiation Deployment from Space (GUARDS) at www.stopglobalwifi.org, and the related Cellular Phone Task Force website at www.cellphonetaskforce.org. Both organisations are informed and inspired by the tireless research and campaigning of Arthur Firstenberg, to whom this article is greatly indebted.
2 Source: ISEE/ISEA Conference: Environmental Epidemiology and Exposure. Paris, 5/9/2006.
3 The rule is: the higher the frequency at which the wave oscillates, the shorter the wavelength will be.
4 Source: Qualcomm. July, 2018.
5 Arno Thielens et al., "Exposure of Insects to Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields from 2 to 120 GHz", Nature, 8: 3924 (2018):
"The insects show a maximum in absorbed radio frequency power at wavelengths that are comparable to their body size… The studied insects that are smaller than 1cm show a peak in absorption at frequencies (above 6 GHz), which are currently not often used for telecommunication, but are planned to be used in the next generation of wireless communication systems."
6 Cindy Russell, "A 5G Wireless Future", The Bulletin (January/February, 2017, pp.20-23 reviews the research, and lists a large number of adverse health effects of millimetre wave electromagnetic radiation including arrythmia, antibiotic resistance, cataracts, compromised immune system, etc.
7 Source: Arno Thielens et al., "Exposure of Insects to Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields from 2 to 120 GHz", Nature, 8: 3924 (2018), fig.4.
8 Kurt Oughstun, interview on "Brillouin Precursors", Microwave News, 22, 2 (2002), p.10. According to Oughstun, a professor of electrical engineering and mathematics at the University of Vermont,
"A single Brillouin precursor can open small channels through the cell membrane because, as it passes through the membrane, it can induce a significant change in electrostatic potential across that membrane."
See also Arthur Firstenberg "5G – From Blankets to Bullets" January 17th, 2018), at www.cellphonetaskforce.org.
9 Report of the Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation, Health Effects from Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields (2012).
10 Sarah J. Starkey, "Inaccurate official assessment of radiofrequency safety by the Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation", Review of Environmental Health, 31:4 (2016), pp.493-503.
11 The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and H. M. Treasury, Next Generation Mobile Technologies: A 5G Strategy for the UK, March, 2017, which sets out the government's strategy for the roll out of 5G, does not mention health and safety precautions.
12 One of the best sources for this mountain of research is The BioInitiative Report (2012), which helpfully gathers it into manageable sections, and is regularly updated. It can be accessed online at http://www.bioinitiative.org. According to the Report, between 2007 and 2012, approximately 1800 new studies demonstrated adverse health effects, i.e. on average 350 per year.
13 National Infrastructure Report, Connected Future (December, 2016), p.11. The authors argue that only by so doing could the UK "take full advantage of technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality." The report is available at www. nic.org.
14 Ovum, "5G Economics of Entertainment Report" (October, 2018). The report was commissioned by Intel, and a summary is available at www.newsroom.intel.com.
15 Mark Hertsgaard and Mark Dowie, "The inconvenient truth about cancer and mobile phones", TheGuardian, 14th July, 2018. The blatant funding bias was first exposed in 2006 by Louis Slesin, "'Radiation Research' and the Cult of Negative Results", Microwave News, 26.4 (July, 2006), pp.1-5. A good summary of the problem is given in "Bias and Confounding in EMF Science", on the Powerwatch website: www.powerwatch.org.uk/science/bias.asp.
16 The Interphone Study is devastatingly critiqued in L. Lloyd Morgan et al., Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern (2009), available online at www. electromagnetichealth.org.
Source: Collective-evolution.com
Swarm of Bees Follows Car for Two Days to Rescue Queen Trapped in Back
Posted in: Animals, Life, Oddities.	Leave a comment
By Melissa Breyer
Devotion knows no bounds when it comes to bees and their leader.
When Carol Howarth parked her Mitsubishi in the town of Haverfordwest, Wales, to do some shopping, little did she know the mayhem that would ensue.
While she attended to her errands, a swarm of 20,000 bees was drawn to her car. A local man, Tom Moses, saw the buzzing hubbub and concerned that the bees might be poorly handled, called in a team of beekeepers. "It was spectacular.
I was driving through when I spotted the big brown splodge," he said. "A lot of people were really amazed by it, cars were slowing down and people were taking pictures of it."
"I was a little bit concerned, with it being in the middle of town outside a pub, that someone might do something stupid and get hurt or do something stupid and hurt the bees," he said.
With the beekeepers on the job, by the time Howarth returned the situation appeared to be resolved.
But, no. The swarm kept her in their sights and managed to track her down.
"The next day I realized that some of the bees had followed me home," she said. So she summoned the beekeepers, who arrived ready for rescue.
"We think the queen bee had been attracted to something in the car, perhaps something sweet, and had got into a gap on the boot's wiper blade or perhaps the hinge," says Roger Burns of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers. "The swarm of around 20,000 had followed her and were sat around on the boot of the car."
In the end, the adventurous queen and her subjects were reunited without harm.
Burns says that it was the strangest bee-thing he'd seen in three decades of beekeeping. "It is natural for them to follow the queen but it is a strange thing to see and quite surprising to have a car followed for two days. It was quite amusing."
Source: Treehugger.com
Rhythm of Breathing Affects Memory and Fear
Posted in: Breathing, Meditation, Memory, Mindfullness, Neuroscience, Psychology.	Leave a comment
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
Summary: A new study reports the rhythm of your breathing can influence neural activity that enhances memory recall and emotional judgement.
Source: Northwestern University.
Breathing is not just for oxygen; it's now linked to brain function and behavior.
Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered for the first time that the rhythm of breathing creates electrical activity in the human brain that enhances emotional judgments and memory recall.
These effects on behavior depend critically on whether you inhale or exhale and whether you breathe through the nose or mouth.
In the study, individuals were able to identify a fearful face more quickly if they encountered the face when breathing in compared to breathing out. Individuals also were more likely to remember an object if they encountered it on the inhaled breath than the exhaled one. The effect disappeared if breathing was through the mouth.
"One of the major findings in this study is that there is a dramatic difference in brain activity in the amygdala and hippocampus during inhalation compared with exhalation," said lead author Christina Zelano, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "When you breathe in, we discovered you are stimulating neurons in the olfactory cortex, amygdala and hippocampus, all across the limbic system."
The study was published Dec. 6 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The senior author is Jay Gottfried, professor of neurology at Feinberg.
Northwestern scientists first discovered these differences in brain activity while studying seven patients with epilepsy who were scheduled for brain surgery. A week prior to surgery, a surgeon implanted electrodes into the patients' brains in order to identify the origin of their seizures. This allowed scientists to acquire electro-physiological data directly from their brains. The recorded electrical signals showed brain activity fluctuated with breathing. The activity occurs in brain areas where emotions, memory and smells are processed.
This discovery led scientists to ask whether cognitive functions typically associated with these brain areas — in particular fear processing and memory — could also be affected by breathing.
The amygdala is strongly linked to emotional processing, in particular fear-related emotions. So scientists asked about 60 subjects to make rapid decisions on emotional expressions in the lab environment while recording their breathing. Presented with pictures of faces showing expressions of either fear or surprise, the subjects had to indicate, as quickly as they could, which emotion each face was expressing. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.
The amygdala is strongly linked to emotional processing, in particular, fear-related emotions. So scientists asked about 60 subjects to make rapid decisions on emotional expressions in the lab environment while recording their breathing. Presented with pictures of faces showing expressions of either fear or surprise, the subjects had to indicate, as quickly as they could, which emotion each face was expressing.
When faces were encountered during inhalation, subjects recognized them as fearful more quickly than when faces were encountered during exhalation. This was not true for faces expressing surprise. These effects diminished when subjects performed the same task while breathing through their mouths. Thus the effect was specific to fearful stimuli during nasal breathing only.
In an experiment aimed at assessing memory function — tied to the hippocampus — the same subjects were shown pictures of objects on a computer screen and told to remember them. Later, they were asked to recall those objects. Researchers found that recall was better if the images were encountered during inhalation.
The findings imply that rapid breathing may confer an advantage when someone is in a dangerous situation, Zelano said.
"If you are in a panic state, your breathing rhythm becomes faster," Zelano said. "As a result, you'll spend proportionally more time inhaling than when in a calm state. Thus, our body's innate response to fear with faster breathing could have a positive impact on brain function and result in faster response times to dangerous stimuli in the environment."
Another potential insight of the research is on the basic mechanisms of meditation or focused breathing. "When you inhale, you are in a sense synchronizing brain oscillations across the limbic network," Zelano noted.
Trump's Attack on Huawei Could Shatter US Monopoly on Operating Systems
Posted in: 5 G, China, Monopolies, Sanctions, Trade wars, USA.	Leave a comment
http://www.strategic-culture.org
Tim Kirby
Everyone loves the Free Market until it starts working against them. In a globalized world said economic philosophy stands in the way of "Making America Great Again" as a free market pits heavily taxed American firms using expensive labour against the cost-cutting Chinese. However, the results of Protectionist moves especially Trump's attack on Huawei could backfire.
So in this battle between Free Market principles and American Greatness, US President Donald Trump has chosen the latter putting Chinese telecommunications/consumer electronics giant Huawei on a black list of "of foreign firms barred from receiving components from US exporters without a license". This has caused Google to cut off Huawei from their Android mobile device operating system (OS), which is surely to be a killing blow to their climb towards being the #1 cellphone producer in the world.
On the surface this makes it seem as though this is a clear victory for Trump and American business due to the "natural" monopoly that is generated by the need for operating systems to have high usage/compatibility. Naturally any new system will have low usage/compatibility making entrance onto this market by a new OS nearly impossible. Furthermore, producing an operating system itself for computers or mobile devices is no easy task and can only be done by a truly massive organization.
Regarding desktop operating systems' market sharesWindows is #1 at almost 80%, Mac OS has about 15% and the biggest star of the little guys is Google's Chrome OS at barely over 1% usage. For mobile devices Android has roughly 70% of the market, Apple's iOS has nearly 29% and the abandoned Windows Phone has less than 1%. Excluding some very tiny operating systems for niche users, both these markets look the same – one giant system used by a strong majority of consumers followed by Apple's firm elite second place with everything else in a distant irrelevant third. It is important to note that since Apple only allows its OS to be used on its own products, this effectively this means that Microsoft has a monopoly on the desktop and Google has a monopoly on the mobile device market. Additionally, since every company mentioned above is American, this means that in the OS game the US has complete and total domination.
If you want to make a cellphone in China, Russia or elsewhere, then you MUST use Android or else you will have a miniscule amount of apps and content for your users rendering your device unsellable. This situation is very good for America and Americans should be proud of their massive national successes in this industry that affects all our lives today. But the question is, was it such a great idea for Trump to stick his nose in to all this? What sort of results will this attack on Huawei actually yield?
A company producing cell phones without an OS is about as good as a dairy farm with no cows. If Trump's desire was to break the will of Huawei and keep them from getting too big then it is "mission accomplished" and a win for the President. Huawei has already been accused of numerous crimes and working too closely with the Chinese government to influence beyond their borders. Part of MAGA does mean making sure that foreign powers have their influence over America restricted. So in the sense of getting rid of the Red Menace by black listing of Huawei, Trump is serving the desires of those who voted him into office.
However, this move could have a large amount of blowback. At this point the only companies to make serious attempts at developing operating systems in the 21st century are Microsoft, Google and Apple. All these gigantic corporations use much-praised Chinese and Russian programmers, who in theory have the talents to try to make a competing OS back home if given the money and leadership to do so.
As of a few days ago the entire world seemed happy to just pay Google good money to use Android. Trying to compete with that titanic platform would be silly, it is much cheaper to just buy the rights to use it. But now, thanks to Trump slapping Huawei in the face and putting the fear of God into other non-Western manufacturers, there has arisen a need for a new OS that won't be bound to Washington's whims.
Tim Kirby is an independent journalist, TV and radio host.
The US Army Asked Twitter How Service Has Impacted People. The Answers Were Gut-Wrenching
Posted in: Military, Psychology, Suicide, USA, War.	Leave a comment
After posting a video of a young recruit talking to the camera about how service allows him to better himself "as a man and a warrior", the US Army tweeted, "How has serving impacted you?"
As of this writing, the post has over 5,300 responses. Most of them are heartbreaking.
"My daughter was raped while in the army," said one responder. "They took her to the hospital where an all male staff tried to convince her to give the guy a break because it would ruin his life. She persisted. Wouldn't back down. Did a tour in Iraq. Now suffers from PTSD."
"I've had the same nightmare almost every night for the past 15 years,"said another.
Tweet after tweet after tweet, people used the opportunity that the Army had inadvertently given them to describe how they or their loved one had been chewed up and spit out by a war machine that never cared about them. This article exists solely to document a few of the things that have been posted in that space, partly to help spread public awareness and partly in case the thread gets deleted in the interests of "national security". Here's a sampling in no particular order:
"Someone I loved joined right out of high school even though I begged him not to. Few months after his deployment ended, we reconnected. One night, he told me he loved me and then shot himself in the head. If you're gonna prey on kids for imperialism, at least treat their PTSD."
"After I came back from overseas I couldn't go into large crowds without a few beers in me. I have nerve damage in my right ear that since I didn't want to look weak after I came back I lied to the VA rep. My dad was exposed to agent orange which destroyed his lungs, heart, liver and pancreas and eventually killing him five years ago. He was 49, exposed at a post not Vietnam, and will never meet my daughter my nephew. I still drink to much and I crowds are ok most days but I have to grocery shop at night and can't work days because there is to many ppl."
"The dad of my best friend when I was in high school had served in the army. He struggled with untreated PTSD & severe depression for 30 years, never told his family. Christmas eve of 2010, he went to their shed to grab the presents & shot himself in the head. That was the first funeral I attended where I was actually told the cause of death & the reasons surrounding it. I went home from the service, did some asking around, & found that most of the funerals I've attended before have been caused by untreated health issues from serving."
"My dad was drafted into war and was exposed to agent orange. I was born w multiple physical/neurological disabilities that are linked back to that chemical. And my dad became an alcoholic with ptsd and a side of bipolar disorder."
"i met this guy named christian who served in iraq. he was cool, had his own place with a pole in the living room. always had lit parties. my best friend at the time started dating him so we spent a weekend at his crib. after a party, 6am, he took out his laptop. he started showing us some pics of his time in the army. pics with a bunch of dudes. smiling, laughing. it was cool. i was drunk and didn't care. he started showing us pics of some little kids. after a while, his eyes went completely fucking dark. i was like man, dude's high af. he very calmly explained to us that all of those kids were dead 'but that's what war was. dead kids and nothing to show for it but a military discount'. christian killed himself 2 months later."
"I didn't serve but my dad did. In Vietnam. It eventually killed him, slowly, over a couple of decades. When the doctors were trying to put in a pacemaker to maybe extend his life a couple of years, his organs were so fucked from the Agent Orange, they disintegrated to the touch. He died when I was ten. He never saw me graduate high school. He never saw me get my first job or buy my first car. He wasn't there. But hey! Y'all finally paid out 30k after another vet took the VA to the Supreme Court, so. You know. It was cool for him."
"Chronic pain with a 0% disability rating (despite medical discharge) so no benefits, and anger issues that I cope with by picking fistfights with strangers."
"My parents both served in the US Army and what they got was PTSD for both of them along with anxiety issues. Whenever we go out in public and sit down somewhere my dad has to have his back up against the wall just to feel a measure of comfort that no one is going to sneak up on him and kill him and and walking up behind either of them without announcing that you're there is most likely going to either get you punch in the face or choked out."
"Many of my friends served. All are on heavy antidepressant/anxiety meds, can't make it through 4th of July or NYE, and have all dealt with heavy substance abuse problems before and after discharge. And that's on top of one crippled left hand, crushed vertebra, and GSWs."
"Left my talented and young brother a broken and disabled man who barely leaves the house. Left my mother hypervigilant & terrified due to the amount of sexual assault & rape covered up and looked over by COs. Friend joined right out if HS, bullet left him paralyzed neck down."
"My cousin went to war twice and came back with a drug addiction that killed him. My other cousin could never get paid on time and when he left they tried to withhold his pay."
"It's given me a fractured spine, TBI, combat PTSD, burn pit exposure, and a broken body with no hope of getting better. Not even medically retired for a fractured spine. WTF."
"Y'all killed my father by failing to provide proper treatments after multiple tours."
"Everyone I know got free PTSD and chemical exposure and a long engagement in their efforts to have the US pay up for college tuition. Several lives ruined. No one came out better. Thank god my recruiter got a DUI on his way to get me or I would be dead or worse right now."
"I have ptsd and still wake up crying at night. Also have a messed up leg that I probably will have to deal with the rest of my life. Depression. Anger issues."
"My grandfather came back from Vietnam with severe PTSD, tried to drown it in alcohol, beat my father so badly and so often he still flinches when touched 50 years later. And I grew up with an emotionally scarred father with PTSD issues of his own because of it. Good times."
"Hmmm. Let's see. I lost friends, have 38 inches of scars, PTSD and a janky arm and hand that don't work."
"my grandpa served in vietnam from when he was 18–25. he's 70 now and every night he still has nightmares where he stands up tugging at the curtains or banging on the walls screaming at the top of his lungs for someone to help him. he refuses to talk about his time and when you mention anything about the war to him his face goes white and he has a panic attack. he cries almost every day and night and had to spend 10 years in a psychiatric facility for suicidal ideations from what he saw there."
"My best friend joined the Army straight out of high school because his family was poor & he wanted a college education. He served his time & then some. Just as he was ready to retire he was sent to Iraq. You guys sent him back in a box. It destroyed his children."
"Well, my father got deployed to Iraq and came back a completely different person. Couldn't even work the same job he had been working 20 years before that because of his anxiety and PTSD. He had nightmares, got easily violent and has terrible depression. But the army just handed him pills, now he is 100% disabled and is on a shit ton of medication. He has nightmares every night, paces the house barely sleeping, checking every room just to make sure everyone's safe. He's had multiple friends commit suicide."
"Father's a disabled Vietnam veteran who came home with severe PTSD and raging alcoholism. VA has continuously ignored him throughout the years and his medical needs and he receives very little compensation for all he's gone through. Thanks so much!!"
"I was #USNavy, my husband was #USArmy, he served in Bosnia and Iraq and that nice, shy, funny guy was gone, replaced with a withdrawn, angry man…he committed suicide a few years later…when I'm thanked for my service, I just nod."
"I'm permanently disabled because I trained through severe pain after being rejected from the clinic for 'malingering.' Turns out my pelvis was cracked and I ended up having to have hip surgery when I was 20 years old."
"My brother went into the Army a fairly normal person, became a Ranger (Ft. Ord) & came out a sociopath. He spent the 1st 3 wks home in his room in the dark, only coming out at night when he thought we were asleep. He started doing crazy stuff. Haven't seen him since 1993."
"Recently attended the funeral for a west point grad with a 4yr old and a 7yr old daughter because he blew his face off to escape his ptsd but thats nothing new."
"I don't know anyone in my family who doesn't suffer from ptsd due to serving. One is signed off sick due to it & thinks violence is ok. Another (navy) turned into a psycho & thought domestic violence was the answer to his wife disobeying his orders."
"My dad served during vietnam, but after losing close friends and witnessing the killing of innocents by the U.S., he refused to redeploy. He has suffered from PTSD ever since. The bravest thing he did in the army was refuse to fight any longer, and I'm so proud of him for that."
"My best friend from high school was denied his mental health treatment and forced to return to a third tour in Iraq, despite having such deep trauma that he could barely function. He took a handful of sleeping pills and shot himself in the head two weeks before deploying."
"Bad back, hips, and knees. Lack of trust, especially when coming forward about sexual harassment. Detachment, out of fear of losing friends. Missed birthdays, weddings, graduations, and funerals. I get a special license plate tho."
"My son died 10 months ago. He did 3 overseas tours. He came back with severe mental illness."
"I'm still in and I'm in constant pain and they recommended a spinal fusion when I was 19. Y'all also won't update my ERB so I can't use the education benefits I messed myself up for."
"My dad served two tours in middle east and his personality changes have affected my family forever. VA 'counseling' has a session limit and doesn't send you to actual psychologists. Military service creates a mental health epidemic it is then woefully unequipped to deal with."
"My best childhood friend lost his mind after his time in the marines and now he lives in a closet in his mons house and can barely hold a conversation with anyone. He only smokes weed and drinks cough syrup that he steals since he can't hold a job."
"After coming back from Afghanistan…..Matter fact I don't even want to talk about it. Just knw that my PTSD, bad back, headaches, chronic pain, knee pain, and other things wishes I would have NEVER signed that contract. It was NOT worth the pain I'll endure for the rest of life."
"My cousin served and came back only to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and ptsd. There were nights that he would lock himself in the bathroom and stay in the corner because he saw bodies in the bathtub. While driving down the highway, he had another episode and drove himself into a cement barrier, engulfing his Jeep in flames and burning alive. My father served as well and would never once speak of what he witnessed and had to do. He said it's not something that any one person should ever be proud of."
"I was sexually assaulted by a service member at 17 when I visited my sister on her base, then again at 18. My friend got hooked on k2 and died after the va turned him away for mental health help. Another friend serving was exploited sexually by her co and she was blamed for it."
"I spent ten years in the military. I worked 15 hour days to make sure my troops were taken care of. In return for my hard work I was rewarded with three military members raping me. I was never promoted to a rank that made a difference. And I have an attempt at suicide. Fuck you!"
"I actually didn't get around to serving because I was sexually assaulted by three of my classmates during a military academy prep program. They went to the academies and are still active duty officers. I flamed out of the program and have PTSD."
"My father's successful military career taught him that he's allowed to use violence to make people do what he wants because America gave him that power."
"While I was busy framing 'soliders and families first' (lol) propaganda posters, my best friend went to 'Iraqistan' but he didn't come back. He returned alive, to be sure, but he was no longer the fun, carefree, upbeat person he'd previously been."
"My husband is a paraplegic and can't control 3/4 of his body now. Me, I've got PTSD, an anxiety disorder, two messed up knees, depression, a bad back, tinnitus, and chronic insomnia. I wish both had never served."
"This is one of the most heartbreaking threads I've ever read."
"I am so sorry. The way we fail our service members hurts my heart. My grandfather served in the Korean War and had nightmares until his death at 91 years old. We must do better."
"My Army story is that when I was in high school, recruiters were there ALL the time- at lunch, clubs, etc.- targeting the poor kids at school. I didn't understand it until now. You chew people who have nothing at home up and spit them out."
"I was thinking about enlisting until I saw this thread. Hard pass."
"I hope to god that the Army has enough guts to read these and realize how badly our servicepeople are being treated. Thank you and god bless you to all of you in this thread, and your loved ones who are suffering too."
There are many, many more.
This is a poem I wrote a while back called "Naughty Little Boys":
That little boy's mum is going to be so upset.
He hasn't combed his hair,
and his clothes are filthy.
And what's he gone and done with his legs?
Where are your legs, little boy?
Better go and find them before your mum sees you.
Those legs are very important to her.
They sent the little boys up into the sky
and over the ocean to go play soldiers.
They gave them toy guns
full of toy bullets,
and they screamed toy screams,
and bled toy blood,
and cried toy tears,
and had toy nightmares,
and called out for their mums
in the desert.
The man on the TV keeps calling them heroes.
Don't call them that, TV man,
you'll only encourage them.
These are little boys,
and they're being very naughty.
They are worrying their mums sick
and it's time for them to go home.
Find your legs, little boy,
and go be with your mum.
Find your hands and your face too;
she'll miss those as well.
Find your mind and bring it back
from that dark, scary place.
You're not there anymore.
You are home.
Stop screaming toy screams
and crying toy tears
and go tell your mum that you've had
a bad dream.
Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerrilla poet. Utopia prepper.


Arrival in Israel - all set to GO!
NOTE TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF THESE PILGRIMS — please messages below in Comments and I'll read them on the bus. Humor is always appreciated.
Homily at Church of Transfiguration here.
Enjoy today's video from Boat Ride on Galilee, Mass at Capernaum to Discovering Mary at Visitation to Jerusalem.
Great Body and Blood homily right where Jesus gave that teaching.
Great day. Homily here. Enjoy!
I must tell you dear Elizabeth, Steve Ray's Holy Land trip was even better than I could have imagined. It could not have been done better!
First, let's start with the preparation. All the materials sent in advance, the preparations — all functioned flawlessly. I wrote to you about this in a previous email. From the start, we were treated like royalty and it never stopped.
From my experience, Amer was the man-on-the-ground whose job it was to make sure everything happened, and it happened on time without a hitch. If that man or any member of his family showed up in the LA area, I'd take off work if necessary, travel to wherever he was and take him and his travel companions out to a great dinner at a fancy restaurant in an attempt to return the favor for his unbridled hospitality. Wow was he great! A storehouse of knowledge with an intimate connection to the land.
And Stephen and Janet Ray. Where do I start? Steve's done this so often and so well, he makes the complex seem effortless. Janet made sure we didn't get lost or separated from the pack. With all the contacts that he and Amer have, we were able to do things that few could do. How many of the pilgrims get to celebrate Latin High Chant Mass at the Tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for 50. Breathtaking. The experience of a lifetime.
And the people from the Food Donation Connection. They were so friendly and pious.
My wife Merle and I will never be the same. I've told all my friends about this trip and told them explicitly "You should go".
So thank you Elizabeth. Thank you Amer and your family, Thank you Steve and Janet Ray. Thank you Bill and Sue for all that you've done for Merle and I.
I hear there are plans for a Part II trip in February of 2020. I told Bill — count Merle and I in.
Watch the entire 90 Minute Pilgrimage Video below, or download it to a flash drive to watch on your HD television.
April 2017 Holy Land Pilgrimage from Steve Ray on Vimeo.
It was an exclusive one-bus trip for the members of the Food Donation Connection.
This Holy Land Pilgrimage is like all other Signature Footprints of God trips, known for excellent organization, leadership and teaching from pilgrimage experts, Steve and Janet Ray. For a more personal experience we limit the group to one bus to foster the closeness and intimacy you would expect of a top tier pilgrimage.
We do not put you through dinner buffet lines everyday but on three days we will take you to some of the finest restaurants with lots of local flavor and cuisine with wine and drinks provided during all dinners. We also make every effort to support the local Christians which make up only 1.5% of the population.
Bill and Sue Reighard founded Food Donation Connection in 1992 in response to the challenge of Jesus in John 6:12 to "Let Nothing be Wasted". With this statement as its vision for the past 24 years, FDC has developed systems and technology enabling thousands of donors with surplus food to donate this food to thousands of hunger relief organizations in the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland and the UK. This trip will allow FDC to celebrate 25 years of service by visiting the site where Jesus made this request.


text:
Gemalto CFO stepping down
Oct 2, 2017 | Stephen Mayhew
Categories Biometrics News | Trade Notes
Gemalto announced that Chief Financial Officer Jacques Tierny is leaving the company to pursue other activities.
"Jacques has been a key contributor to Gemalto over the last 10 years, overseeing the development and the diversification of the company," commented CEO Philippe Vallee. "His remarkable expertise in finance, his professionalism as well as his team spirit were instrumental during all these years of intense activity."
Virginie Duperat-Vergne will undergo an induction program and transition period with Tierny before joining the company as CFO on January 1, 2018.
"Virginie Duperat-Vergne, 42, is a seasoned finance executive and was group deputy chief financial officer and a member of the senior leadership team at TechnipFMC," said Vallee.
Just last month it was revealed that Gemalto biometric ePassport technologies are currently being used in over 30 different countries, including Algeria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the United States.
biometrics | Gemalto | identity management
Explainer: Iris Recognition
Explainer: Facial Recognition
What is Fingerprint Identification?
Explainer: What is Biometric Identification?