Daniel Ross braves high waters to experience the brevity of Mark E. Smith, the joy of drawing a long-eared owl, a new Natasha Khan side-project and some intense Brecon clouds.
Pitching up on the Thursday afternoon means you get a little extra at Green Man, in the shape of patriarchy-slamming Welsh-language disco-native Gwenno, folk soundscaper and winsome crooner Peter Broderick, dance-off instigator Dan Deacon, and Leftfield. Which is quite a good start, really. Unsurprisingly it's Deacon who fits the celebratory mood best and, after a grumpy beginning where he berates the sound crew for not making his magic sound boxes work in time for a prompt start, it's a cavalcade of wide-eyed positivity. It only takes about 10 minutes for him to pit two hapless but game revelers against each other in a beautifully uninhibited dance-off, and coupled with renditions of his hyperactive, relentlessly joyous recent work, it is a true happening for pissed people with their out-of-office correctly set up.
As Dan Deacon correctly pointed out during his set, the weather changes every 45 seconds in the Glanusk Estate. This seems to be the story for much of the weekend, where foolishly leaving one's kag-in-a-bag in your tent because "look, it's really nice now, don't tell me I couldn't eat an ice cream," can spell disaster and hypothermia. There's a spell on Friday, during Natalie Prass' gorgeous set of dallying heartbreak hymns, when the sun beats down through the clouds and it truly feels like a festival that you could put on mainstream telly. To counter that, the final 45 minutes of Super Furry Animals' Saturday night is a gradual, soggy process of having one's positivity steadily removed as thoughts turn to the levels of the nearby River Usk, and if it might fork its way directly into your tent.
It was often said of Women, the band that imploded and then became Viet Cong (short version), that they were a surf band at heart. Thanks to drummer Mike Wallace it's an influence remains in Viet Cong, but judging by their performance on the Far Out stage it's one that Dennis Wilson would find absolutely unrecognisable. For Wallace and the rest of the band, the impish rhythms of surf are a gateway to something far more monstrous. Their hugely extended take on recent album-closer 'Death' is a relentless battery, a mulch-like ensemble sound that Wallace seems to control with an always-surprising offbeat smash. After about ten minutes, he's a wreck but still trucking – and there's just enough left in the tank to power through the song's final gear change. File alongside John Stanier and Greg Saunier as one of rock's most entertaining drummers.
Allen is the current leader of Sun Ra Arkestra and, under his subtle, supportive leadership, his band are a burbling, tense mass of not-quite melodies and exploded half-songs. The delicate 5/4 of 'Angels and Demons' is sustained by one of history's most perfect basslines, but it's the only true anchor in a set that veers beautifully and dangerously through various levels of control and freefall. Clearly, it's a formula that still delivers - Allen's flute and EWI are so beloved by the audience at the Far Out stage that the techies begin dismantling the stage set-up around him while he toots wildly into the air. He only contemplates leaving the stage when he is the only person remaining on it.
Thanks to their heavy involvement in the superb Atomic Bomb! project that brings the music of Nigerian psychedelic funk godhead William Onyeabor to life, Hot Chip are the lasting impression of Friday night. It's almost incidental that they headline right after the Atomic Bomb! band leave the stage, but both sets are muscular fun – especially when one of the Mahotella Queens falls flat on her arse during a misjudged dance move to a particularly rampant Onyeabor number, only to stand up immediately, overcome with laughter. Also, Alexis Taylor spends much of the evening in an ostentatious white hat and coat that make him look like Jon Ronson dressed as Boy George.
Absolutely the sunniest moment of the weekend, though, is when the sexagenarian filth-monger Charles Bradley takes the Mountain Stage, romping around like an impetuous toddler (albeit with a graphic and detailed knowledge of sexual mimes) and enlivening a heat-drowsy crowd of thousands with his bullet-point funk set. It's a lesson in the value of the nonsense-free stagecraft so beloved of the Daptone stable and, down to every last left-together/right-together foot stomp from the horn section, it's tight, tight, tight.
The Mountain Stage at Green Man is one of festival-land's greatest gems of appointment, flanked on all sides by mountains and bottomed out by a very convenient hill for families who bagsy their spots like German tourists and settle in for the entire day. But beyond that, there's a jacket of wet cloud around the edge of the whole festival site that might not literally serve as a sound barrier, but it certainly brings a feeling of remoteness and separation, perfect and essential for any festival. If there is a world outside of the clouds, something further than Abergavenny, then it's invisible and unimportant while you're here.
We're very late along to catch Mark E. Smith in interview at the Talking Shop tent, but as it happens the final minute and a half was as much entertainment as you could ever need. Seeming bored and incensed by a question submitted by Stewart Lee, Smith declares the comedian a liar and rises from his chair, saying that he has a soundcheck to do and if there was any 'audience thing' planned, then he's not doing it. Brilliantly, doing so leaves his interviewer trapped in a beautiful space between bafflement and panic, while trying to make it all appear completely expected and acceptable. A highlight.
The first live appearance from Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan, Dan Carey and the members of TOY, otherwise known as Sexwitch, is listed in Green Man schedules as a secret, special guest. It's also wanging it down with rain at 7pm on Saturday, so the tent-sheltered audience is perhaps bigger than expected. Still, once the word 'Sexwitch' is uttered by the compere, that's it. From where we're standing, relatively near the back, the exiting stream of terrified-looking kids and worried parents rapidly clamping ear defenders on them means we're mid-tent within a minute. It's a shame that a lot of people didn't seem to get past the name and the unrelentingly doomy strains on display, because there are signs of something worthy within all the elaborate posturing.
That posturing comes mostly from Khan, who drops to her knees with alarming frequency and bellowing seemingly improvised, wordless fragments of melodic interest over TOY and Carey's rigid Kraut-influenced backings. Those less structured offerings are by far the weakest parts as Khan clamours for direction, perhaps overcompensating for its absence with histrionics. But when the whole sound, vocals included, is as controlled and taut as the rather smart backing, there are one or two moments that approach a small majesty. All of these songs are, surprisingly, covers – translated renditions of Moroccan, Thai and Iranian psych songs put through a quite inimitable filter. It's unquestionably the harshest sound that Khan's ever produced, but the sheer shock of it alone doesn't always equate to a satisfying listen.
With remarkable simplicity, self-styled psychedelic ornithologist Matt Sewell is able to render a menagerie of different garden birds, and we're all encouraged to draw them along with him. Want to draw a long-eared owl? Start with a square. Want to turn a blackbird into a songthrush? Add some dots to the chest. And did you know that the red of the robin's breast extends over his face? Sewell is a quiet master and gentle tutor: we leave with our jotters full of more-or-less passable imitations of wrens, chaffinches, tawny owls and kingfishers. We leave with the sense that this kind of activity is as much a part of Green Man's mission as any amount of folk twanging or psych riffing – a rare separator between this festival and its similarly orientated cousins like End of the Road and Latitude.
This article originally used the words "hysterical" when referring to Natasha Khan's performance. The Quietus sincerely apologises for this editorial oversight.


Designed for the entry-level student. The Stentor Student Standard violin outfit is full size and carved from solid tonewoods, with inlaid purfling and blackened hardwood pegs and fingerboard. An ideal choice for beginners, this violin is fitted with integral adjusters for fine tuning.
All components have been built to a high standard, right down to the strings and the bridge. This is unlike many other economy instruments that either use composite woods or laminate tops for the violin bodies. Offering great value, this violin outfit comes complete with a lightweight case and wooden bow with ebony frog for optimum portability.
A top choice for new beginners and schools, the Student Standard is listed at a great price whilst still offering a great sounding instrument. With hardwood pegs and fingerboard and a carved solid body, this violin produces a sound and timbre that you would expect of a more expensive instrument. All components have been built to a high standard, right down to the strings and the bridge. The integral tuners allow fine tuning, making the whole process of getting into tune a lot easier and faster.


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WASKO S.A. (WAS) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
WASKO S.A. (Wasko) is an information technology company. The company designs and produces software, and offers IT services. Its products include GazTel, OpenEye SCADA, IntraIDreader, CallMax, SWD, SANT, PECet, elektra, emulator and CENTRUM. Wasko provides services such as technical and economic analyses, design and construction of IT systems, maintenance of…
CMC Limited (CMC) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
CMC Limited (CMC) is an information technology company. The company provides designing, development, testing services and solutions for mission critical systems. Its products include optus, genisys broker, genisys configurator life, genisys configurator non life, genisys mobile, genisys portal, and genisys re, among others. CMC offers services such as big data…
NorCom Information Technology AG (NC5A) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
NorCom Information Technology AG (NorCom) is an information technology service provider. The company provides IT consulting and software solutions to its clients. It offers products such as NCPower, NCSignage and Eagle. NorCom offers services such as business consultation and IT consultation. The company offers its solution to industries such as…
Asseco Central Europe as (ACS) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
Asseco Central Europe as (Asseco CE) is a software company. The company provides IT products and services for banking, insurance, health service, public administration, public institutions, ERP and utilities. Its products include StarBANK, eStarBANK, StarCARD, StarSTAT, StarTREASURY, StarINS, TOMS, LIDS, AMES, AG PORTAL, HELIOS Green and MPI 4R. Asseco CE's…
Empower Technologies Corporation (EPT) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
Empower Technologies Corporation (Empower) is a software developer. The company develops Linux-based embedded operating software. It offers general purpose embedded technology, digital signage and interactive kiosk, and video technology. Empower provides services that include design and manufacturing, OEM and ODM services, turnkey product development, contract manufacturing, engineering and consulting, system…
Cognex Corporation (CGNX) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
Cognex Corporation (Cognex) is a provider of vision systems. The company operates through modular vision system division (MVSD) and surface inspection systems division (SISD). It manufactures and markets vision systems, vision software, fixed-mount barcode readers, handheld barcode readers, AE2 image engines, VisionPro vision software, vision sensors and surface inspection systems.…
Realtech A.G. (RTC) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
REALTECH AG (REALTECH) is an information technology company. The company offers SAP products and services. Its products include theGuard! CMDB, service desk, business service manager, impact monitor and its modules. REALTECH provides solutions such as business service management, service operations management, configuration management and CMDB, IT infrastructure management, and change…
Digimarc Corporation (DMRC) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
Digimarc Corporation (Digimarc) is a software solution provider. The company develops solutions, license intellectual property and provides development services to businesses and government. Its products include Digimarc Discover, online image safeguards and Digimarc Guardian. Digimarc's Discover is a platform that transforms print media and audio campaigns into interactive opportunities. The…
National Agricultural Holdings Limited (1236) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
National Agricultural Holdings Ltd. (National Agricultural Holdings) is a holding company. The company offers finance and high-tech IT products and services. Its IT products include real-time market data, entrusted trading platforms, real-time securities analysis terminals, financial databases, web-based financial service platform and financial education system. National Agricultural Holdings provides financial…
Compania Anonima Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (TDV.D) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
Compania Anonima Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (Cantv) is an integrated telecommunications service provider. Its telecom solutions include fixed telephony, mobile telephony, data, Internet access and directory services. The company also provides wireless communications, internet access, data transfer, television service over internet and others. It classifies its business into two reportable…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
[/vc_row]
E: paul@beetledriveuk.co.uk
Wedding cars in Hemel Hempstead, Luton, Berkhamsted, Tring, Watford and St Albans
Seating: strictly limited to a maximum of 8 passengers, depending on passenger size and bride's wedding dress (if applicable).
The VW van was first launched in 1949 at the Geneva Motor Show. The first generation of Volkswagen buses were built from 1949 to 1967, and are known as splitwindow buses or 'splitties' such as our example, 'Casper'. Buses built after 1967 are known as 'bay window models'. After 1979 the revised range became known as 'wedges'.
Over time the cosy camper had become a bungalow on wheels! 50 years on, early VW buses are as popular as ever, and are enjoying a revival among the surfing community. These must-haves in the V Dub community have now become an interesting and memorable form of wedding day transport! 'Casper' is right hand drive and can cater for up to 6 (average size) passengers per journey. He is actually a passenger bus rather than a camper van!
Casper' has been restored and has received a coat of candy white paint that matches the colour schemes of 'Mark' and 'Lola', our limousine and convertible Beetles respectively.
Casper's interior is finished in light beige and his 21 windows includes 8 roof windows that allow for a bright and airy interior. He has all of the usual Beetle Drive trimmings including leather seats, matching door panels, flowers, Champagne area and a top of the range speaker system. He's a stunning bus and never fails to win the hearts of his passengers!
Use our wedding car enquiry form to send us a message online or, if you prefer to speak with us directly, call Beetle Drive UK on 07802 808 238.
Hemel Hempstead | Luton | Berkhamsted | Tring | Watford | St Albans


For the past 3 years, I have heard lot of buzz about docker containers. I wanted to figure out about this technology could help more productive developer or data scientist.
I tried to convey my findings through this blog so you don't need to parse all information out there. Let's get started.
Docker is an open-source project based on Linux containers. It uses Linux Kernel features like namespaces and control groups to create containers on top of an operating system. Docker is a tool designed to make easier to create, deploy and run applications by using containers.
We can think docker as lighweight virtual machines that contain everything you need to run an application. Even biggies like Google, Amazon, VMware have built services to support it. That's all you need to know about docker for now.
Containers are not new to tech world, Google has been using their own container technology for years.
A virtual machine like VMware provides hardware level virtualisation, container provides operating system level virtualisation. The big difference between the VM and container is that containers share the host machine's kernel with other co-hosted containers.
Docker is a tool that is designed to benefit both developers and system administrators, making it a part of many DevOps (developers + operations) toolchains. For developers, it means that they can focus on writing code without worrying about the system that it will ultimately be running on. For operations team , Docker gives flexibility and potentially reduces the number of systems needed because of its light weight and OS level virtualization.
Why should you need docker ?
Docker containers running on a single machine share that machine's operating system kernel, they start instantly and use less compute and RAM. Images are constructed from filesystem layers and share common files. This minimizes disk usage and image downloads are much faster.
It based on open standards and run on all major Linux distributions, Microsoft Windows, and on any infrastructure including VMs, bare-metal and in the cloud.
Docker containers isolate applications from another and from the underlying infrastructure. Docker provides the strongest default isolation to limit issues to a single container instead of the entire machine.
Image: Is a blue print for what you want to build. Ex: Ubuntu + Spark + Python and a running jupyter server.
Container: It is a instantiation of image that you have brought to running state. You can also have multiple copies of same image running. There might be some confusion between image and container for new comers.
Dockerfile: Cookbook for creating an image, A Dockerfile is a text document that contains all the commands a user could call on the command line to assemble an image.
DockerHub/Image Registry: A place where user can share their images publicly or privately. Users can pull the existing images and use it locally for creating the containers.
Commit: Like git, Docker containers offer version control. Dockers generally stateless unless you make a call to stateful. You can save the state of your container at anytime as a new image with versions by commiting the changes.
I will be using the above terminologies for the rest of the tutorial, please refer back if you lost somewhere.
Get ready to get your hands dirty by creating a first docker image file. Let's go through the below Dockerfile slowly. With the help of below Dockerfile you can create Pyspark cluster(Local Mode) with Notebook enabled. The same dockerfile works for most of the python for data science packages as well.
The from statement is first line of dockerfile. This specifies the base image for your application. Here we are using ubuntu:16.04 as a base image. This image is minimal installation which means it doesn't have all the packages that general ubuntu contains.
As soon as it executes the statement the docker looks for the image locally(in your system), if it is not present locally then docker looks into the DockerHub/Image registry to pull the ubuntu official image locally. You can also build a container on top of pre-built application image such as Anaconda image. You can also push your own image to DockerHub.
Worth mention the versions of images are defined after the colon(:) for each image. In our ubuntu:16.04 image 16.04 is version tag, even you can set your tag while building your own image like :latest.
Important note about the docker images, while you pulling images from DockerHub need to be cautious as some random images from random people could potentially damage your system. For best practice use official images from respective products.
This statement adds metadata to your image, and is completely optional. I add this such that others know who to contact about the image and also so I can search for my docker containers, especially when there are many of them running concurrently on a server.
Run command is used to install any packages required to the image. Like you can run apt-get update and install wget, git and so.
As I mentioned before the base image has minimal packages so we need to install the regular packages which a user required like vim, wget, git are required in further steps of Dockerfile.
ENV PYSPARK_DRIVER_PYTHON_OPTS "notebook --no-browser --port=8888 -- allow-root --ip='0.0.0.0'"
As most of the linux users aware of the environment variables. ENV is used to set the environment variables inside the container.
The WORKDIR statement is used to make the directory as present working directory. This comes handy when you want issue a command from the application directory.
ADD statement exports your local files to docker container. You can even export the folders as well.
ADD instruction copies the files, folders from <src> to <dest> location.
CMD statement issues executable command at the end of the Dockerfile.
There can only be one CMD instruction in a Dockerfile. If you list more than one CMD then only the last CMD will take effect.
The main purpose of a CMD is to provide defaults for an executing container. These defaults can include an executable, or they can omit the executable, in which case you must specify an ENTRYPOINT instruction as well.
We are good to build a image using the recipe of Dockerfile. You can accomplish through the below command.
docker build -t pyspark:ver1 .
Finally we are ready to run our first and shiny new container.The below command 8888 port exposes to the outside world so that we can have access to the jupyter notebooks.
After the command execution the jupyter notebook is up and running. Copy the URL and paste it in your browser to open the jupyter notebook.
When you decided to share your work publicly or with your colleagues, just push this image to Dockerhub. It is a public repository for images.
Before push command you need to setup the credentials for your Dockerhub. This is useful to people who wants to reproduce and extend your research.
If you want run 1000's of containers in production with scale-in and scale out feature, manage deployment in declarative style, service discovery, load balancing, automated roll-outs and roll-backs.


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NYTimes Picks
Medicaid Work Requirements Are Yet Another Burden for Trans Workers (20180205)
https://nyti.ms/2EmXIY8
Work is not a place known for authenticity. Most every last one of us hides who we are among friends and family from our employers and even from our co-workers. This is America, so at work we pretend to be authentic: smiling and glad-handing is the American way. But of course we are not. Authenticity has a huge price tag most of us quite reasonably are unwilling to pay: myself and my ego versus food, shelter, medical care, a vacation now and then. We swallow our pride, lie and deceive, and take the money on the table. While I sympathize with the distinctive circumstances of the transgender, they are, all in all, really not so exceptional in this respect.
States deciding differently how to allocate, for example, water resources, is a good thing, for water resources and needs vary with geography, business sectors, and demography. States deciding to restrict the rights of American citizens differently, not so good a thing. It rapidly runs afoul of the notion that "all men are created equal." One would be hard-pressed to justify that citizens of one state should, by law, have less access to health care than citizens of another; or that gender-identity should be a liability in some states and not in others.
The Jell-O President and the Shutdown (20180122)
https://nyti.ms/2F6VtEO
"There's good reason to worry that this will be no different in three weeks..."
True enough, but there will be one big difference. CHIP won't be a bargaining chip. It just got funded. That's safely off the table.
Republicans used CHIP as bait to set a trap. But Schumer, at whom "progressives" are childishly screaming, showed he was willing and capable of holding Democrats together for a shutdown, extracted a promise it will be hard for McConnell to break without focusing the nation's ire exactly where it belongs, and he got CHIP funded. And he prevented his red-state and red-district Democrats from taking too much heat. Basically Schumer approached the trap, calmly ate the cheese, and got away to fight again for DACA in just a few short weeks.
Politics in a democracy is not like business, where one can fire employees and never see them again. Politics in a democracy is not like politics in an authoritarian state, where one can jail or execute one's enemies and never see them again. In a democracy, win or lose, the same players keep returning to the game. Though adversaries on issues, they are also one's fellow citizens. It's good that we have such old trap-wise rats around like Schumer and McConnell when everyone else is yelling "Off with their heads" as if we weren't all doomed to go on living together.
Trump Administration Says States May Impose Work Requirements for Medicaid (20180111)
https://nyti.ms/2Ft9ygS
The assumption is that work opportunities exist for those who are not already working. That assumption is false.
Employment varies greatly by state, region, city and locale, with the state of the economy. And it is contingent upon market demand for the labor Medicaid recipients can offer, not solely upon their willingness to work. The greatest demand for Medicaid comes precisely in times of economic downturn when there are the fewest jobs available.
There is no law requiring employers to create flexible and accommodating jobs for those partially disabled, physically, mentally or emotionally, nor requiring employers to hire those they simply find unqualified. Ask yourself, would you hire from the bottom of the barrel at any price? Many "able-bodied" Medicaid recipients are just that: they are unemployed because unemployable for a variety of reasons, among them that many are just too dense and confused and broken to follow even simple workplace rules and procedures reliably. It's a population distribution, not a moral distribution: for all those supremely capable at the top, there is some proportion at the bottom for whom no practical remediation is possible.
Absent readily available and accommodating paid employment, the "community service" option becomes a prescription for indentured servitude, the equivalent of debtors prison and the work house, without even the quasi-benefit of food and shelter, the chain-gang without the visible chains. Health insurance slavery.
Trump Administration Takes Step That Could Threaten Marijuana Legalization Movement (20180104)
https://nyti.ms/2E562aU
What makes this move a particularly noxious ideological gesture, if carried through, primarily destructive of the rule of law and an affront to the will of voters, is that there already exists a well-established, highly efficient black market in marijuana everywhere. Raids on dispensaries will not significantly reduce marijuana consumption, only restore levels of underground, untaxed, unregulated, unsafe, organized crime feeding commerce, which does not entirely disappear in any event.
Al Franken Issues Apology After Accusation of Forcible Kissing and Groping (20171116)
https://nyti.ms/2hF3ue3
To those who think Senator Franken should step down or offer a fuller apology, in what world are you living? At the rate this is going, indiscriminately jumbling together stupid male jokes (yes, they are funny only to men) and gross presumption (taking advantage of a scripted kiss) with child molestation and bragging about grabbing women by their genitals, any competent PR professional would tell Franken to sit tight on his apology, because 20 other prominent men are going to be in the spotlight for their past misdeeds within the next 30 days. We are even dragging out Bill Clinton for another round of the same thrashing he's had many times before. If there is no sense of proportion in coverage and outrage, just a leaping from one sensational headline to the next, this laudable change in our "national conversation" will just get dissipated whenever, eventually, the press and public get tired out from hyperventilating. And nothing will change. The wolves will slip away as we run in every direction chasing dogs.
Trump's Tax Plan Cuts Rates for Individuals and Corporations and Eliminates Many Deductions (20170927)
https://nyti.ms/2k2P5Jm
If you are self-employed, beware! A 25% tax rate on "pass through" income represents a huge tax cut for higher earners, taxed in upper brackets. But for lower income, self-employed people operating as sole proprietorships, reporting income on Schedule C -- the so-called "gig economy" -- a flat 25% rate represents a huge 67% tax hike for those currently taxed in the 15% tax bracket, which extends up to $75,900 for married couples. Talk about reverse Robin Hood, this is literally stealing from the poor to pay to the rich.
(The published "framework" made available after I posted this comment refers to a maximum rate on pass through income of 25%, not a flat rate, but without specifying what rates might be under this cap, if it proves a cap in any final legislation. I remain concerned and convinced a careful eye must be kept on this area of the framework as it wends its way through a GOP-controlled Congress. The central problem the GOP confronts, and the reason the "framework" is deliberately vague, is that Republicans no longer have available the Obamacare and Medicaid pot of gold they intended to grab and divvy up among their wealthy constituencies. Instead, the GOP must raise elsewhere the revenue necessary at least to dampen the massive deficit balloon this tax giveaway to the wealthy will bring on. The GOP's inclination to flatten tax rates to advantage the wealthy is well established; indeed, exemplified in this proposal in spades. Where the majority of small businesses using pass throughs are paying less than 25% now, the temptation to nip at them to fund the giveaway to those comparatively few paying more will be great. An issue to watch.)
Russian-American Lobbyist Attended Meeting Organized by Trump's Son (20170714)
https://nyti.ms/2ujalhA
Liars who, when caught lying, simply lie some more. And when those lies are found out, lie some more and lie to blame someone else. Why do we keep granting the Trumps the benefit of the doubt we would not grant the most mendacious child? And since when did immature, compulsive moral depravity become exculpatory? If they are lying it is not because they can't help it; they are lying because they did something, perhaps many things, they know very well will get them in big, big trouble.
The North Korea-Trump Nightmare (20170421)
https://nyti.ms/2pJJINX
I'm unsure how younger Americans feel, who have not lived through this before, but I distinctly don't appreciate waking up every morning wondering if my country's leaders are mad enough or sufficiently belligerent and incompetent to precipitate a nuclear war or. short of that, simultaneous conventional wars on the top of ones we are already fighting without Constitutional authorization.
Neither do I appreciate having to wonder whether the President, Vice President, U.N. Ambassador, the Cabinet, and the U.S. military and military command are all on the same page, in the face of evidence that they decidedly are not. It is very disturbing that Captain Wrongway Peachfuzz seems in command of Trump's "armada" or that Trump himself is the orange-haired reincarnation of that Rocky & Bullwinkle Show Cold War cartoon character.
One did not have to agree with President Obama to rest assured that, at least, someone was in control who was appropriately cognizant of the risks in foreign policy and military action. Neither did one have to agree with President Bush to rest assured that someone (Vice President Cheney; Secretaries Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell) was in control who was appropriately cognizant of the risks in foreign policy and military action. If American citizens must worry, our allies must be worried. And that is even more worrisome.
Agree or not - and we can't know with whom or with what we are agreeing or not - this administration is failing in fundamental, dangerous respects.
Manhood in the Age of Trump (20170402)
https://nyti.ms/2nLWgng
Good column, though the usual focus on Hollywood misses the mark. You are a bit unfair to the male stars you cite, all of whom have made efforts to play less cliched macho roles. Just to mention two: Dwayne Johnson is at root a comedian, a thoroughly ironic muscleman; and Ryan Gosling is where he is today for an on-point performance in "Crazy, Stupid, Love" as a pick-up artist in full emotional meltdown in bed with a woman he can't just take as another conquest. Hollywood contributes but fairly cravenly serves a market for extreme gendered roles that preexists.
Your memories of high school, particularly physical education and athletics, are more on target. High school is the crucible in which the Man Box (and girls' adulation for its walls) is forged. There we take adolescents at their most sexually insecure and rigorously separate them for "education" specific to their physicality, while turning on the full power of peer on peer pressure. One doesn't have to be a gay man to remember that the P.E. locker room was the most humiliating and dangerous place to be "less than a manly man." High school football and high school dances are often apiece, organized and scheduled as a concerted effort to make "young men and young women."
This is where the current transgender bathroom issue is a very good thing, despite the grotesque cliches the transgendered typically take for the gender they are. It forces on schools a nut they cannot crack with the same old pernicious machinery.
House Republicans Unveil Plan to Replace Health Law (20170306)
https://nyti.ms/2n8OAdf
The provision that creates a 30% barrier to reentry into the health insurance market virtually guarantees that, over time, with vicissitudes of employment and unexpected expenses, fewer and fewer people will have insurance and that those who do will be sicker and sicker. In other words, it legislates a death spiral in the individual market, at the same time that eliminating the requirement that large employers offer coverage to full-time employees forces more people on to it. It would be hard to devise anything more certain to reduce coverage and still call it a national health care plan. It will be interesting to see if major insurers remain silent or speak up against this planned rapid, destructive contraction of their industry.
First, Sex Ed. Then Death Ed. (20170219)
https://nyti.ms/2lwXJik
Before adding Death Ed. to Sex Ed., how about reviving Civics Ed., before we lose both and Science Ed. in the bargain.
To the left is VANITY...
And her name is MARGARITA.
She's the reason I have very few pictures from a recent camping trip to Baja California, to San Quintin, except that she's in them. I planned to photograph the place, the people, the wildlife, the incredible Baja sea and landscape. But every time I went for the camera, there she was. She pleaded. She insisted. She demanded. She jumped up and ran to get in the way. She stamped her feet and got very, very angry. It's just that, from her perspective, any use of film other than on herself seemed an outrageous waste of time, money, and opportunity--her time, her money, her opportunity. She's working on a set of photo albums for when she's 80. So she can't stand the idea of missing a chance, any chance, to see then what she looked like right now, and right now, and right now, and right now. Beauty fades with each passing minute....
Margarita is my wife, so I'm in no position to argue. Besides, there's no arguing with Russian women once they're set. "No" is meaningless, just an empty sign of some vast, vague and entirely irrelevant male conspiracy against all things that really matter, especially personal vanity, its endless accoutrements and attendant privileges. And since she's also my venture capitalist, supporting me in whybother.org and other web adventures, who am I to say she can't have a page or two of flattering photos of herself? Believe me, just starting to post these photos is already making my life much easier.
Three of us took a week off and drove down to San Quintin on a whim...Margarita's whim, needless to say. Our friend Lucio (more recently "One must imagine Sisyphus happy" at My12Steps.com) had been traveling back and forth to Baja for some time, staying in various places and basically enjoying solitude, meditation, his books, and his writing. But as he was about to start another hermit stint, he made the mistake of hinting that Margarita might want to come along. She leapt for it, or maybe it was her hint in the first place. In any event, it would be a chance to realize her favorite English phrase since arriving in America nine years ago. "Let's go... let's go... let's go." Somehow I suspect that's her favorite phrase in any language.
Of course, there were complications. Lucio confessed he had second thoughts, half-wishing he hadn't offered to take Margarita, assuming he ever really did. There was simply no way that going down to Baja with Ms. Letsgo was going to be either simple or peaceful. But there was no backing out. And so I had to go, too, for full measure and to serve as a buffer between Lucio's dream of solitude and Margarita's urge to go on and on and on. Nice solution all around, but before we came up with it we made the mistake of trying to talk her out of going, telling her there'd be absolutely nothing to do where we were going, that Lucio just wanted to play hermit, that she'd be bored. Of course, she didn't believe any of it and got furious and hurt and furious again.
Continue reading Baja, San Quintin
GOP Healthcare and the Social Contract
Republican harping on God and Freedom, representing Government as a fairly unabashed evil, would have us forget the fundamental analysis of the Social Contract theorists that undergirded our founding generation's political understanding.
The fault of perfect Liberty is that it is unenjoyable, incommensurate with Life and the pursuit of Happiness, in the State of Nature. God may endow these unalienable Rights, but it is men who must secure them by banding together, consenting to renounce perfect Liberty to institute Governments.
This understanding is inscribed right in the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Republicans would have us remember the first part and forget the dash-bound second part. The absolute Freedom for each to choose and tailor their own healthcare is incommensurate with Life and the pursuit Happiness for all. Such a heedless absolute Freedom is nothing to which all would consent as a legitimating end of government. Republican healthcare would cast us back toward the State of Nature, which Thomas Hobbes represented as a "war of every man against every man,' wherein human life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
(Comment on Paul Krugman, "Death and Tax Cuts" https://nyti.ms/2mfD97f)
Fellow Travelers: Trump and Putin
3 Beach Monkeys, 1997
Ocean Beach Dog Wrangling
Far Right Republican Family Values
Crazy Cock, Germaine, Mademoiselle Claude
Miller's use of anecdote to construct and defend a twentieth-century reality reduced to "spots of time" is followed easiest through one of the fragments cannibalized from his earlier work and "sandwiched" into the third, untitled "chapter" (pages 34 to....
from Henry Miller
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text:
Ford recalls 1.3M vehicles for suspension, transmission woes
FILE- In this Nov. 19, 2015, photo, a row of new Ford Fusions are for sale on the lot at Butler County Ford in Butler, Pa. Ford is adding 270,000 vehicles to a recall in North America to fix a gearshift problem that could cause them roll away unexpectedly. The addition covers certain 2013 through […]
Ford is recalling over 1.3 million vehicles mainly in North America to fix rear suspension and transmission control software problems.
This is the largest recall that covers over 1.2 million Explorer SUVs from 2011 through 2017. Ford says a rear suspension toe link can break if the suspension moves a lot. That can limit steering control. One customer reported running into a curb when a link broke, but Ford says it's not aware of any injuries.
Dealers will replace the left and right toe links, which keep weight on the tires.
The Explorer recall will cost Ford an estimated $180 million that will show up in the company's second-quarter results, Ford said in a filing with U.S. securities regulators.
Ford also is recalling 123,000 2013 F-150 pickups for a second time to stop transmissions from unintentionally downshifting into first gear. The recall covers pickups with 5-liter and 6.2-liter gas engines. A previous software update didn't work.
Dealers will update it again.


The Matra Rule of Law Training Programme is designed to strengthen institutional capacity in the field of rule of law within government organisations in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, , Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine. To this end seven training programmes are offered per year, each introducing the participants to best practices in a wide range of rule of law themes. Through interactive sessions combining theory, practical skills and study visits, policy advisors, members of the judiciary and other civil servants working in the government and justice sectors acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to drive reforms in their home countries. In addition, by taking part in the training programme, participants become part of a large transnational network of alumni, lecturers and relevant government departments in the Netherlands and in the target countries. This network offers a platform for learning, exchange and collaboration. As members of this network, all trainees are invited to participate in an Alumni Day, organised in one of the participating countries, between six to ten months after the training programme.
The Matra Rule of Law Training Programme is designed and delivered by the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Leiden Law School, and The Hague Academy for Local Governance. It is financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, for a period of four years (2017- 2020). For questions relating to the Matra Rule of Law Training Programme or application process please email: Matrarolt (AT) nhc (DOT) nl.
Extended application deadline is April 21, 2019.
Application deadline is April 21, 2019.
The training programme aims to increase understanding of the international and EU framework for integrity policy and the national context of the participants´ countries. The course provides insight in the roles and responsibilities of the different actors in promoting integrity of civil servants. The seven building blocks of integrity will be discussed, as well as coherence of integrity policies with the overall financial and HR-policy. Examples from The Netherlands will be discussed and European organisations such as OLAF will present their work in the field of anti-corruption. In addition, knowledge and skills to develop a sustainable policy for the promotion of integrity of civil servants at different government levels will be enhanced. Special attention will be paid to obstacles and dilemma´s in the implementation process and how to overcome them.
The training programme aims to increase understanding of the European standards relating to the right to a fair trial, more in particular in the area of criminal law, and of factors that determine the legitimacy, integrity and transparency of the administration of justice. Presentations on the Dutch approach in dealing with these standards will encourage the participants to reflect on the situation in their own country and to identify areas for reform. In addition, knowledge and skills to develop a sustainable policy for the improvement of the administration of justice will be enhanced. Special attention will be paid to obstacles and dilemmas in the implementation process and how to overcome them.
The promotion and protection of human rights is inextricably linked to the rule of law. However, despite existing legislation, the protection of vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTI, and women remains problematic. This requires continuous reflection on the importance of human rights in a wide range of policy areas, on the relationship of countries with the European Court of Human Rights, and on the necessity to take EU guidelines and international human rights treaties into account when drawing up policies and legislation.
Decentralisation brings decision-making processes closer to citizens. Thus, it can contribute to more participatory, transparent and responsive governance. However, it raises a number of questions that should be addressed. How should inter-administrative relations be managed in a decentralised system? How can sub-national governments be established that have the capacity to effectively provide services in an inclusive manner? How does one balance fiscal, political and administrative decentralisation?
A healthy state of public finance requires careful management of government spending, revenues, loans and debts. Deficits and debts should remin within the limits set by international and domestic standards. Key values should be legal certainty and predictability, transparency, integrity, effective policies to prevent corruption and fraud, and also decentralisation.
A free press is crucial for democracy. As a public watchdog the press can provide a platform for public debate; where necessary it can denounce instances of maladministration. But the freedom of expression carries with it duties and responsibilities. How does one deal with situations where the press is used for propaganda purposes or for the distribution of 'fake news'? What is the role of social media?
In the EU government spending on goods and services amounts to approximately 20% of the GDP. Because of the huge financial stakes and the need for close interaction between the public and the private sectors, it is crucial to set clear rules for public procurement. This requires continuous reflection on fair and appropriate procedures that guarantee equal opportunities among competitors.
A rising rate of incarceration, including pre-trial detention, causes a financial burden on national governments and impacts social cohesion. This raises a number of questions that should be addressed: how can prison conditions be improved? What increased risks do youth in detention face? What are possible alternatives to detention and how can these, and improved re-integration strategies, have a positive effect on perpetrators, victims and society as a whole?


Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon offers a mochi surprise, Dan likes a messy Venom, and Kevin would rather eat a topping sandwich. Also food truck burgers, the bun should offer stability, less than one dimensional, mainland travel times, and does Gregg rock? All that, the news, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast.
Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon gets down with the sickness, Dan haggles for toys, and Kevin is a prude. Also all candy comes from Pennsylvania, the allergy kryptonite, it's a big commitment, gatekeeping, school activities, and you will lose all unsaved progress if you continue. All that, the news, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast. Vaccinate your kids!
Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon can't be inactivated, Dan is making funny, and Kevin has a French ending. Also it's not a debate (it's ridiculous), five different hands, "expert physicist", he's still a narc, goose proctology, and we're all ninjas underneath. All that, the news, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast.
Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon caught the toy bug, Dan discovers magic, and Kevin doesn't want a dumpling. Also bad guys are not your child, you can't use those words together, it might be a bad game, it's not worth $500, and stop using "reviews" and start using "new reviews". All that, the news, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast.
Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon sees the seams, Dan is tired of logistics, and Kevin is a crazy cartoon. Also inexact shipping, the old robo song and dance, toy news, the garbage hole, and it makes you give up on your dreams. All that, the news, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast.
Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon gives it up to his boy, Dan wont exploit the rat, and Kevin doesn't want a third go. Also an abomination, Steve was there, a taste of the Philippines, the secret menu, consume after eating, Canadian Justice, and it's bigger and better than what? All that, the News, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast.
Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon heard it's entertaining to watch, Dan can't tell who's joking, and Kevin doesn't have the stomach for it. Also it's out there, kind of like The Quiet Man, being contrarian, the aftermath, one hit kill gerbils, and we use it to study "magic". All that, the news, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast.
Tonight on the Infinite Lives Podcast Jon has the heart of the cards, Dan has true facts, and Kevin has food poisoning. Also points docked for looking that way, revisiting plot holes, she really doesn't care, vertical ice skating, he knows how to crime, and have you considered quinoa? All that, the news, and more on the Infinite Lives Podcast.


text:
Q: Git: Get all changed files since the last push I am writing a Gitlab CI pipeline and I am trying to find all files that have changed since the last push to the remote git repository.
I know how to get all files that were changed in the last commit but if more than one commit was pushed at the same time I can still only find the changes of the last one.

A: The best way to ensure you're covering all commits in a push would be to write a pre-receive hook, which will have access to all commits in every push. This is especially important if you must consider that it's possible for history
rewrites to happen.
But if you must use a pipeline job to do this, one way would be to cache (or otherwise store/retrieve) the last seen commit ref and use that as your reference.
This approach will not be as robust (but could be made to be robust) as a pre-receive hook because, among other issues:

*

*Pipelines can be rerun on old commit hashes

*The clone depth may not be large enough to retrieve the necessary commits (you can fix this with GIT_DEPTH, but it's a consideration)

*History can be rewritten

*commits with older timestamps can be pushed after commits with newer timestamps (timestamps are also somewhat arbitrary since they can be set by the committer)

*Different branches may have different/diverged histories

*Pipelines can be skipped in a variety of circumstances

But an implementation of this general idea may look something like this:
my_job:
  cache:
    key: last-push  # or consider keying on `CI_COMMIT_BRANCH` or similar
    paths:
      - "last-push.txt"
  rules:
    - if: "$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH"
  script:
    - |
      if [[ -f "last-push.txt" ]]; then
          source last-push.txt
      else
          echo "LAST_CI_COMMIT_SHA=${CI_COMMIT_SHA}" > last-push.txt
          echo "LAST_CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP=${CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP}" >> last-push.txt
          exit 0  # there is no cache, so this is the first pipeline to populate the cache
          # nothing to do. Alternatively, consider entire history/all files
      fi
      last_date=$(date -d "$LAST_CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP" +%s)
      this_date=$(date -d "$CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP" +%s)
      if [[ this_date <= last_date ]]; then
          exit 0  # current HEAD is older than last known HEAD. Someone may have re-run a pipeline on an older commit; exit to avoid giving the cache a bad value... there's probably a better way to handle this
      fi
      # show all commit SHAs since last push
      # hope the clone depth was large enough to get this!
      git log --since="$LAST_CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP" --pretty=%H
      # get files that have changed since then
      # hope the clone depth was large enough to get this!
      git diff --name-only HEAD "${LAST_CI_COMMIT_SHA}"
      # finally, store the current HEAD into the cache:
      echo "LAST_CI_COMMIT_SHA=${CI_COMMIT_SHA} > last-push.txt
      echo "LAST_CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP=${CI_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP}" >> last-push.txt

This is untested, so there may be minor bugs, but the general idea is there.
To resolve the issue in fact that git does not itself track push events, an alternative option may be to rely on the GitLab Project Events API to find the last push before the push that triggered the pipeline, but you would have to potentially sort out a lot of data, including pushes to other branches.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The construction / flexlay diving vessel Seven Eagle shown departing the fuel dock in St. John's Dec 14, 2012.. The ship built in 1997, 138 meter's long, 9,556 GT, and is flying the flag of Liberia. The ship has been working on the oil fields off Newfoundland and comes to St. John's for fuel and supplies.


Mahabis has appointed Iain Martin to take on the role of chief executive.
According to Press Association, Martin – a former managing director of online retailer Moonnpig – will take over from interim boss James Cox.
Cox stepped into the role when the online footwear retailer was acquired out of administration in January by YYX Capital, the investment boutique he co-leads.
Martin was Moonpig managing director for nine years from 2006, during which time he oversaw its £120 million sale to PhotoBox Group.
Mahabis, which was launched in 2014 by Ankur Shah and is known for its premium slippers that can be worn outside, had initially called in the administrators on December 27.
It was thought to be valued at as much as £100 million, but for the 12 months to 2017 Mahabis reportedly owed £2.6 million to creditors – a stark increase from £927,000 in the previous year.
However, Cox said that in the 2016/17 year, Mahabis achieved around £25 million in sales and recorded operating earnings of £2.5 million.
Cox, who is also the co-founder of Simba Sleep, but will hand over the day-to-day reins to Martin as of Monday.
"Iain has a wealth of experience gathered from more than 20 years in senior commercial, marketing, operational and technical roles, spanning large and small scale businesses," Cox said.


Stone, who hosted the episode, portrayed Grace, an actress who is challenged with the task of playing a woman whose husband cheats on her with her godson. The role of the husband is played by MEN.com performer Ty Mitchell.
Grace takes the role very seriously and names her character Deirdre. While the director says the character doesn't have a backstory and exists only to be cheated on, Grace digs deep in the moment when she catches her husband and godson in the act.
"I saw the rich and beautiful backstory of this woman: her childhood, her first job, the night she met Jared, the promises she was told, her godson's 18th birthday, and all the other times she was blindsided by life. I felt the bruises and scars of her past; I saw what led her here, and I saw her in the present, walking in on the love of her life with her godson. And then Deirdre took over and said, 'Jared, I forgive you,'" Grace says in the voice-over.


text:
Monarch's rise and fall charts British holiday trends
By Lucy Hooker Business reporter, BBC News
Monarch Airlines collapse
Image copyright Globus
Image caption Monarch was originally part of Globus - which pioneered package holiday tours
Monarch, which has just gone into bankruptcy, was part of a travel group whose origins reach back 90 years, long before the days of mass air travel.
Through the heady 1970s and 80s, when foreign package holidays were the height of fashion, to the new era of relentless competition from budget airlines, Monarch still plied the skies.
But by 2017 fierce competition had made the business untenable.
And on 2 October it ceased operating.
A history of Monarch
In 1928 an enterprising young Swiss Italian, Antonio Mantegazza, spotted a gap in the market.
He realised tourists visiting his idyllic corner of Europe might pay to be ferried across Lake Lugano. So he bought a gondola and launched a tourism business that would eventually become travel giant Globus.
Forty years later in 1968 the Mantegazza family spotted a new way to ferry tourists their way. They decided to back a new airline being founded by British businessmen, Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock, that would bring British holidaymakers to Europe's beauty spots.
Monarch was launched with just two planes operating from a hangar at Luton Airport, and a new era of package holidays took off.
Bill Hodgson's daughter, Mary-Anne Hardie, remembers the airline in those days as "one big happy family". While her father was managing director, her mother designed the first uniforms for cabin crew, in canary yellow. The family tested the in-flight meals at dinner time at home.
Image copyright MOnarch
Image caption Monarch introduced the British public to the affordable package holiday
By the 1970s package holidays had really taken off. Brits embraced the chance to take an exotic continental break instead of shivering with a thermos flask in Skegness.
Monarch was aimed, not at the wealthy, but at ordinary families: "The man who came home on a Friday and put money in a jam jar to save for a summer holiday," says Ms Hardie.
In those days flying felt like a luxury, with coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon and free drinks on the menu.
But times were anything but easy. The oil price spike of the early seventies sent another big name in package holidays, Court Line, into administration.
Monarch might have gone under too; Miss Hardie remembers her father being "very stressed".
But the attitude in the industry was of mutual support says Ms Hardie, "not as cut-throat as it is now" and Monarch survived. It even took on some of Court Line's redundant staff.
Image caption Package holidays to the Med have become a summer staple for many British families
In the 1980s, while package holidays remained popular, there was a growing market for independent travel, with holiday-makers opting to mix and match their own flights and hotels.
Monarch responded by offering its first scheduled flights from Luton to Minorca in 1985. From then on it was competing directly with other carriers, not just as part of a tour operator.
Mr Hodgson had retired by then, one of his few regrets being that he'd bought the BAC 1-11 aircraft, that were so much noisier than the Boeing 720 "whispering giants" he'd bought before, says his daughter.
Image caption Benidorm became one of Spain's most popular resorts for British visitors
In 1995 newly founded low-cost airline easyJet set up its own base alongside Monarch in Luton and the budget airline industry grew rapidly, taking couples on weekend citybreaks, stag and hen parties to ever more exotic destinations, to ski resorts in winter, the beach in summer.
"With the low cost airlines it was easier to book direct; that's when Monarch started to struggle really," says Ms Hardie.
The focus moved away from customer service towards those who offered the cheapest fare.
For a while there was room for everyone. And by the time of the financial crisis in 2008 Monarch had 32 aircraft flying to over 100 destinations in India, Africa, Caribbean, United States and Europe.
But it couldn't last.
"The competition was relentless. It was expanding. It had very deep pockets even back when I was running Monarch seven or eight years ago," recalls Tim Jeans, the firm's former managing director.
"There were warning signs then and I think subsequently the market has only got more difficult.
"Competition is all fair and normally very, very good for consumers, but ultimately competition can be unsustainable. And the demise of Monarch is a direct result of that," Mr Jeans says.
Image copyright Gareth Cattermole
Image caption In 2007 Monarch teamed up with record label Hed Kandi to offer less family-oriented holidays to Ibiza
Image caption Monarch's Managing Director at the time was Tim Jeans (L)
In 2011 the Arab Spring pushed up oil prices once again. Over several years the Mantegazza family poured money in to patch up Monarch's balance sheet.
But finally with a gaping deficit in the company's pension plan, in 2014, the family had had enough. They put a final £50m into the company they had owned for half a century, and sold it on to turnaround specialists Greybull Capital.
The company abandoned long haul routes and 700 jobs were cut. It turned out to be only a temporary reprieve. Even a hefty investment from Greybull wasn't enough to bring Monarch up to fighting weight to take on the budget carriers.
Terrorist attacks in Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia, the migrant crisis in southern Europe and more recently the weakness of the pound following the EU referendum vote have all kept UK holiday-makers away from some of Monarch's most popular destinations.
On 2 October 2017 the airline's accountants KPMG announced the business would close and authorities launched the biggest peacetime repatriation of Brits to bring Monarch's last 110,000 passengers home.
But the airline itself has run out of runway.
Monarch: Four reasons behind its failure
Video Monarch employee: I still can't believe it
'Shock and anger' over Monarch Airlines collapse


Connor David Plank was born on August 4, 2004.
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text:
Links/Media
Meet The Feldmans
Street Medicine Lehigh Valleyss
A Journey of Walking with the Homeless
Nursing Notes: Them.
The Mission Forward
They Just Don't Want Help
The Silents
The Core of Street Medicine: Peeling Back Social Justice and the Business Plan
Ann Catlett on The Mission Forward
Dawn Fabian on The Mission Forward
Dawn Fabian on The Silents
John Culich on The Silents
Kathy Ehrhardt on The Silents
Follow Street Medicine Lehigh Valleyss on WordPress.com
Teeter Totter Tip
Posted: March 12, 2015 in Uncategorized
When I was a kid, the teeter totter both terrified me and excited me. We had an old school teeter totter at our playground which meant you could not only 'bump' someone sending their butt high in the air while they held on for dear life, but you could also 'tip' them by twisting your side of the teeter totter just enough that the torque tipped the other kid off into an unassuming pile of woodchips (which, by the way, who ever came up with that to be universally placed on children's playgrounds?!?!).
Some time ago, I was sitting in my office at my University when there was a knock at my door. A well kept man was standing in the doorway. He had gotten my name from the Allentown Rescue Mission and came to me seeking my help. He was enrolled in classes at my University and found himself living in the Emergency Shelter at the Allentown Rescue Mission. He went on to tell me that he had been injured while working at a moving company several months ago. While he was receiving workman's compensation, he was struggling to keep his car in good repair. It needed a $500 transmission and he had been overdrafting his bank account each month to try to put money toward the repair. Determined not to miss class, he had been driving to school going 15mph down a major highway with his flashers on several times per week. As we talked, I learned that he had been homeless for the last two years. Sometimes living in his car, sometimes living on a friends couch and recently, living in a shelter. He would save up enough money to rent a hotel room for the weekend when he had his children but he worried that he would not be able to come up with the money this month to do that. He seemed to be a man in on the verge of desperation.
As we talked, he told me of his attempts at getting help with housing, insurance and jobs. It always seemed that people wanted to pass you along to the next department, never really taking the time to listen. I offered to make some phone calls on his behalf to help him secure a bed in the shelter for a little while longer. He also seemed like a good candidate for some local rental assistance programs and I volunteered to call the local agency on his behalf. He looked genuinely greatful. As I racked my brain for any other resources and connections to help him, I inquired if he had told his professors or his academic advisor about his housing situation. He glanced at me and sheepishly admitted that he doesn't tell anyone because he is embarrassed. As I wrote down some instructions on a business card, I couldn't help but to comment that there is nothing wrong with him and that this situation does not have to define the rest of his life. I was saying it more as a statement than as a pep talk but as I looked up, I noticed he was crying. He went on to tell me that the last time someone said something like that to him was 2 years ago just before he lost both his mother and his father in the same year. The downward spiral had begun shortly after their deaths.
Hope. We think it is amorphous and invisible but it really isn't. After meeting with him, you could see some optimism be restored because someone was willing to put themselves out there on his behalf. I made no promises of housing or prosperity, something I have learned to be quite clear about. But I could see that he wanted to be better than what he saw his life becoming.
It reminded me of a study commonly referred to as the Rat Park study performed by psychologist Bruce Alexander. The study looked at addiction behavior and how the environment affects addiction. The traditional rat experiment on addiction has a rat (or rats) in a metal cage with access to regular water and access to cocaine infused water. The rats inevitably chose the cocaine water and usually ended up gorked or dead from overdose. Alexander wondered what happened when you gave rats the same access to the drug but placed them in a supportive environment with all the wonderful things that rats would love to enjoy, including other happy rats. What he found is that most of the rats wanted nothing to do with the cocaine water. Though readily available, they chose the regular water and to have 'fun' in Rat Park.
So many of us are like my student and many others who wind up in the shelters and soup kitchens. Teetering. He had a job and a family. A house and a sense of belonging. But as things started to unravel, so did his supportive environment. I am not saying he was or is perfect- a concept that I find moot and boring- but I am suggesting that we live in a world where Rat Park is directly connected to the bare metal cage. Individuals end up feeling alone, embarrased, unsure of where to turn or how to get out. They forget that the two worlds are connected by a two-way street. For some, hard times represent a 'bump' but are lucky enough to keep their seat when family, friends and community support guide them to safety. The alternative?
Teeter. Totter. Tip.


text:
Airbus confirms plans for ultra-long range A350
18 Aug 2015 by Clement Huang
Just months after Singapore Airlines' (SIA) chief executive Goh Choon Poon revealed his plans to re-launch non-stop flights to the US (see here), Airbus has confirmed that it is working with the airline to develop a long-range variant of the A350-900.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Kiran Rao, Airbus' executive vice president for strategy and marketing said that changes to the A350's cabin layout would reduce its weight, thereby extending the range of the aircraft and allowing SIA to fly direct between Singapore and New York while burning 25 per cent less fuel.
The trade-off here is that proposed changes to the cabin's layout would result in a reduction of the A350's maximum capacity, which is currently listed by Airbus as 314 passengers in a three-class configuration.
However, Rao revealed that SIA was looking at different cabin layouts.
"I can't go into details on the type of layouts they're looking at but it would be a premium service," said the Airbus executive.
SIA previously operated an all-business class non-stop service to Newark with the A340-500, however, the service was not commercially viable, and the airline was forced to cut Newark from its network.
Part of the reason was due to high fuel requirements of the four-engine aircraft, so a fuel-efficient A350 variant could make this option more viable.
Another reason was that previously only the A340 and B777-200LR had the legs to operate the route, but SIA has since retired the former from its fleet, and does not operate the latter at all. With 63 A350's on order, and the option for a further 20, it's fair to say a few of these may well be of the long-range variant.
This latest development reiterates comments previously made by Nicholas Ionides, SIA's vice president of public affairs, about the A350 offering a solution to the airline's long-haul profitability (see here).
For more information, visit singaporeair.com
Tags: A350-900, A350XWB, Airbus, Singapore Airlines
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Everton are 13/5 with Wayne Rooney is at 6/1 to score first.
Everton face Arsenal at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon, in an action-packed Super Sunday schedule.
The Toffees come into this match in poor form after losing another home fixture, this time a 2-1 defeat against Lyon.
Everton's defence was exposed early again, with Nabil Fekir converting from the penalty spot after a poor challenge from Mason Holgate (6).
Ashley Williams equalised for the Toffees (69) with Koeman's side handed a lifeline.
It was an eventful match for the former Swansea man, who escaped serious punishment despite being involved in a huge fracas with the Lyon players.
Bertrand Traore scored the winner for the visitors (75), with the pressure mounting on Koeman after another poor home performance.
It has been a productive off season for Everton, with manager Ronald Koeman recruiting heavily.
His side continue to suffer heavily though, with the squad suffering some embarrassing performances and results.
This latest result is another setback for Koeman, they are struggling to progress in the Europa League as a result.
Everton come into this match in 16th place in the Premier League, with no wins in their last four matches.
Everton come into this match as the underdogs, with their poor recent form and home results informing the bookies.
Ronald Koeman will be looking to win this fixture and secure some much-needed momentum.
Everton will be looking for a second win in three games against Arsenal.
Arsenal come into this match on the back of a 1-0 win away against Red Star Belgrade, an excellent response from Wenger's men.
Olivier Giroud scored the only goal of the game (85), with the Frenchman scoring a late winner for the Gunners.
Red Star Belgrade did have a player sent off, with Rodic giving his marching orders with ten minutes remaining (80).
It was a dominant performance from the Gunners who had 61% of the ball, with 11 shots and five on target.
It is a great result for the Gunners, who have responded well to criticism from the Watford loss.
Despite the poor Watford result, Arsenal have had an excellent record in their last six matches.
They have had a tough season so far, with the Gunners adrift of leaders Manchester City to the tune of nine points.
Arsenal are currently in 6th place in the Premier League, that's a poor position for Arsenal to be in at this stage.
They face a Toffees side who have struggled in their last four matches, Arsenal should be targeting a strong performance and win.
Arsene Wenger's side come into this match as the favourites, despite losing their last match against Watford.
This will be a tough match for Arsenal, they will be wary of Everton as they will have been wounded by all the recent criticism.
Arsenal will be looking for their 98th win in 195 matches against the Toffees.
Arsenal are 1/1 with Alexandre Lacazette at 7/2 to open the scoring.


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Chuck Stone, Pioneering Black Journalist And Professor, Dies At 89
By Karen Grigsby Bates
Published April 7, 2014 at 4:22 PM PDT
Chuck Stone poses in the newsroom of the Philadelphia Daily News on Feb. 15, 1984.
When Chuck Stone worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, staffers for the newspaper got used to calls from reception telling them a person the police were pursuing as violent and criminal was waiting to talk to Stone. The suspects trusted Stone but feared police brutality. The veteran newsman would talk to the accused, take the accused's photo to show he was intact and then call the police.
Elmer Smith, who inherited Stone's column after he retired, wrote that this was a prudent, even lifesaving measure: "If their features somehow got rearranged on the way to prison," Smith wrote in his appreciation on Monday, "a Daily News photo would be evidence of what had happened to them."
A total of 75 people would turn themselves over to Stone in the 19 years that he wrote one of Philadelphia's most closely read columns. All were black, and all feared being battered or even killed by Philadelphia's finest, which had a reputation for institutional brutality in the city's communities of color. Especially its black ones.
Stone's reputation for fighting racism and police brutality had such cred that when a group of heavily armed inmates attempted to escape from Philadelphia's notorious Graterford prison in 1981, they told police negotiators they wanted one thing: Chuck Stone. After two days, he negotiated their surrender, and the six hostages the prisoners had taken emerged alive and unharmed.
Believing In America — And Challenging It
Charles Sumner Stone Jr. was born in St. Louis in 1924 and raised in Hartford, Conn. After serving in the Army as a flight navigator (he was a Tuskegee Airman), Stone turned down a Harvard University acceptance letter to go to nearby Wesleyan University, where he graduated with honors in English. He earned a master's degree at the University of Chicago, then worked in India and Egypt for CARE, a nonprofit aid organization.
When he returned to the States, a journalist friend tried to persuade Stone to come work for his newspaper. Despite promising his mother that he would not work for the black press — "she believed in integration and the mainstream in all things," he remembered — he promptly did exactly that, first for the New York Age. Then the Washington Afro-American, where he covered the White House. And finally as editor-in-chief of the Chicago Daily Defender (it's now just the Chicago Defender and runs weekly), where he was ultimately canned for writing articles that made the city's then-mayor, Richard Daley, angry.
Next, instead of writing about politics and ticking off politicians, he went to work for one. Stone became a special assistant to the flamboyant, outrageous and unapologetic Harlem Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., at a time when race was America's dangerously bubbling caldron. Along the way, he became friends with Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael. When Powell lost his seat to Charles Rangel in 1970, Stone wrote books and consulted.
Needed: Newsrooms That Look Like America
It's probably not much of an exaggeration to say that when Stone arrived in the newsroom of the Philadelphia Daily News in 1972, the only other black things there were the desk phones. He was definitely one of the first black newsmen to work in the mainstream press, and it didn't faze him one bit. You couldn't miss him in the newsroom or out in the world: In an era where it felt like everyone was wearing big hair, jeans and clogs, Stone was in his signature blue blazer, hand-knotted silk bow tie and tortoise-shell glasses. He might have been the only prominent black man outside the military to wear a crew cut — a marked contrast to the Afros that were blossoming elsewhere in the country.
From the first, he pushed newsroom managers to make their workplaces look more like America. He co-founded the National Association of Black Journalists as an affinity group that supported the goals and aspirations of black journalists while pressing to increase their numbers nationwide.
Richard Prince, a columnist at the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, says Stone was pleasantly surprised at how NABJ grew and thrived. "He really didn't expect NABJ to be more than about 300 members," Prince recalls. But the organization now has more than 10 times that number — and has been the inspiration for several similar affinity groups serving journalists who are Asian-American, Hispanic, Native American and LGBT.
More black journalists, as far as Stone was concerned, was a good thing — but, says Prince, he insisted that "excellent black journalist" not be considered an oxymoron. "He was a man for all journalists, and the principles he espoused — he called them FEAT: fairness, excellence, accuracy and thoroughness — are universal."
Stone retired from the News in 1991 and moved south to teach journalism at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was hugely popular and much honored during his time there. He retired in 2005, and soon after, the university created the Chuck Stone Program for Diversity in Education and Media to say "thank you."
Each summer, the program takes a dozen of the brightest high school seniors from around the country, brings them to Chapel Hill and gives them an intensive course in several aspects of journalism. Many have described it as life-changing, and several of the program fellows studied journalism when they went on to college. It's a fitting tribute, combining Stone's love of journalism, joy in teaching and passion for diversity.
If you go to the program website, you'll see that it's turning out exactly like Stone insisted on throughout his long career: a profession that looks like the country it serves, with reporters striving for excellence.
Stone's friends, colleagues and former students are united in mourning this passing of what might eventually be known as the "Stone Age" in contemporary journalism. Politicians who had a track record of corruption and discrimination, or both? Not so much. As Maria Gallagher, a former Daily News writer, explained in Stone's News obituary: "If he liked you, he loved you. If he didn't like you, he'd write about you."
Reason enough to stay on his good side. RIP.
Karen Grigsby Bates
Karen Grigsby Bates is the Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity. A veteran NPR reporter, Bates covered race for the network for several years before becoming a founding member of the Code Switch team. She is especially interested in stories about the hidden history of race in America—and in the intersection of race and culture. She oversees much of Code Switch's coverage of books by and about people of color, as well as issues of race in the publishing industry. Bates is the co-author of a best-selling etiquette book (Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times) and two mystery novels; she is also a contributor to several anthologies of essays. She lives in Los Angeles and reports from NPR West.
See stories by Karen Grigsby Bates


People have doubt for person, relation or negative thinking. Doubt mainly seen in marital life or love relationship. A person's mental condition can be seen by fourth, fifth, seventh and twelfth house from the horoscope. Moon, Mercury and Venus creates doubt. Saturn and Rahu increase it. If Rahu is behind the doubt then person cannot escape from it.
A person doubt when his sign is Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, Gemini, Libra or Aquarius. A person doubt if Moon or Mercury is weak. A person doubt when fingers are thin and long. A person doubt if the palms color is light black. A person doubt when his birth reddish is 2, 4, 6 or 7.
A person doubt but his Jupiter is strong then he can come out from it. A person can forget about doubt if Mercury or Moon is strong. If a person's reddish is 1, 5 or 9 then he can come out from doubt. One cannot maintain a relation if a person has habit of doubt and his main planet is Rahu or Saturn. If Mars is weak or thumb is small then person may does crime in doubt.
One can get rid from doubt by discussion or understanding other people. Never wear coral or ruby. You should avoid wearing red color clothes. You should chant Gayatri mantra 108 times every morning. You can keep fast on full moon day and offer water to Moon mixing white flower. You should worship before going bed.
Remedy: People who are emotionally week they should use less glass utensils. They should use steel or metal utensils.


text:
Aaron Judge takes rehab to next level — with encouraging results
By George A. King III
September 7, 2018 | 5:33pm | Updated September 8, 2018 | 6:08am
Aaron Judge Corey Sipkin
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SEATTLE — Aaron Judge took a big step toward returning from the disabled list Friday afternoon when he participated in hitting drills outdoors at Safeco Field.
Working outside for the first time since going on the DL in late July with a fractured right wrist, Judge graduated from hitting off a tee and tosses indoors to the field, where he took hacks at balls off a tee and participated in a toss session that consisted of three rounds with hitting coach Marcus Thames flipping balls from behind a net about 25 feet away.
Judge drove balls with authority to all fields and reached the seats in center field. It didn't appear swinging bothered his right wrist in either activity, which were watched by trainer Steve Donohue.
"Pretty much,'' manager Aaron Boone said of the pain not being an issue for Judge. "He wouldn't be doing this and bouncing back the way he has.''
After three rounds of flips, a group of Yankees consisting of Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Austin Romine and Gary Sanchez took early batting practice, but Judge moved to the outfield and didn't participate in the BP session.
"Another good day for him, a good step forward,'' Boone said before the Yankees' 4-0 win over the Mariners. "He continues to build momentum. We will continue to see [Saturday], but [he] has bounced back pretty well.''
Watching Judge drive balls was considered significant progress to Boone, who said the next step is taking batting practice indoors and then outside.
"This is kind of what we have been waiting for — for the pain to get out of there, for him to be able to really swing,'' Boone said. "I think he is starting to get a little bit of excitement about how he is feeling when he is swinging the bat. Again, positive steps for Aaron.''
Filed under aaron judge , new york yankees
Next GM can't be seduced by Mets' own delusions


text:
Wednesday 20th January 2021 - 10:47
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PETE SWEETMORE
What can we say about Pete? The man is a community radio legend and, to many, THE Voice of the Valley. He can be found back on the Rossendale Radio airwaves weekdays, joining you for breakfast (he'll have a tea, 2 sugars please) with Valley Breakfast.
One of the defining things about Pete as a human is his dedication to the Tor View Specialist Learning Community. After 25 wonderful years with them Pete stepped down as Chair of Governors but proudly stayed on until 2020 as Chairman of the Members of the Sea View Multi Academy Trust to, in the Academy's words, "oversee and act as guardian to the vision and values of the Trust".
If you cut Pete in half (please don't, he's lovely) he would have the word community written through his core like a stick of rock. Whether it's his Directorship of Dansworks Dance Acadmey of Performing Arts, being Chairman of the Rossendale 60's Festival Group or being Secretary of the Rossendale Community Support Network, if there's a community event or group, it's a safe bet to say Pete will have been involved at some point along the way.
We're not sure how he finds the time to bring his talents to our station, but we are very lucky that he does.
My Musical Moment:
Glady Knight - Midnight Train To Georgia - LISTEN
My favourite track of all time, simply loved it from the day it was released and it will be played at my funeral, or I'll haunt them what don't play it!!
The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun - LISTEN
Always a great track to make people feel better
Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World - LISTEN
When it was released it was 'different' to others in the charts at the time and I've always loved it, then I had the great opportunity to meet Lisa and I've been a huge fan ever since. (& she's from Rochdale!!)
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