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(2016-04-07) There's Always More Monkeys
There's Always More Monkeys
Summary: A group of students go out on detail with Lady Fascinate and The Enigma; Bev, Tabitha, Lynzee, Stefanie
Date: 2016.04.07
Related: Warnings
NPCs: The Azure Enigma and Lady Fascinate.
Scene Runner: Poseidon
It was a curious gathering, various individuals rounded by either Spellbinder or Azure Enigma. It came after some incident involving a couch. The topic implied in ways that didn't directly imply said couch. More that due to circumstance, they where needed. They were given a time, in the evening after any team training, come suited up in team garb and be ready. When the time came, Spellbinder met the group at the training grounds. She simply exlains, "We need you to help." That Spanish accent leaves one to think she purposefully inflicts it the way she does, it shouldn't be so thick as long as she's been out of country. "Azure and myself have riddled away at the imp some of you may have heard about." Word gets around sometimes, they know the word has been spread a little. She doesn't explain further on the imp though. "We will go to one of the deserted islands, we need you to patrol the island while we examine the creature."
Sounds fabulous, patrols and such. "Now, gather round, join hands in a circle." When they do so, Engima joins in opposite Spellbinder and she speaks arcane words. With him, a cage holding a monkey like bat winged imp, it exudes black droplets as if rich in darkfire magics. Enigma rotates his hands even while holding when she speaks, they join powers. Her arts, his bending of probability. Its an effort to teleport the group to an island miles away, so that all arrive safely and not part of the landscape itself. Its not quite rollercoaster, but it feels like some big drops, but only seconds away. They are on the rocky shore of another island, "I don't care how you organize this, but keep an eye around our area." She points to an inland clearing about 50 meters away, "Give us 20 yards outside of that, try to make sure no one or thing enters to disturb what we have to do." They leave the teens to their devices, taking the imp with them to that mentioned clearing.
Stefanie looks to the group gathered. "Ok. So we should set up a perimeter." She looks to the other three girls. She's not taking charge, just stating common strategy. She taps her. "Comms check. Am I clear?" Once the comms are checked and cleared, she scans the landscape. "Basically, if one of us has an issue, the rest come a'runnin'." She looks to Bev. "You can teleport, right? That will help. I can only travel on my own two feet." She looks to Tabitha and Lynzee, not really knowing if they have transportation aspects to their powers.
Bev stands clad in white and red, a mask in place over her eyes. Training uniform. She turns to her friends and realizes… she's got the most school seniority among them. Okay. Let's not let this be a disaster. Disasters are bad. She's about to speak when Stefanie says pretty much exactly the same thing she was thinking. Good enough. Cooms checked. "I can only teleport in daylight," she reminds Stef. "So no, not right now. Still, we're not going to be that far from each other. We should probably try to keep each other in sight, set ourselves up at compass points?"
Lynzee nods solemnly to the larger figures looming much taller than she and she looks around the island once they have transported. She doesn't question how they got there, there's too much magic in the world to question things so much. Over her sickness at least, she looks between the others, hearing the voice on the comm but not really operating her own at the moment, nor does she test it. "I can be invisible, but I can't teleport. But I can fly." She is already distracted by some of the area surrounding the monkey dripping the black magic balls, but she doesn't head over towards those in authority. Instead, she spins around in a complete circle, "I don't think there's anyone here. Want me to be a cat and smell for other people?"
Tabitha hadn't put on the team activity uniform before tonight. She's can't say she's a fan of the body hugging outfit, given that she doesn't have much body to hug. She nods to Stephanie and makes sure her comms set is secure over her ear. "Comms clear. Expect mine to waver if I have to use my aura. And yes, I can fly." Her aura has come back to close to full strength after her burn-out incident just before the Spring Fling. She extends it out from her body a few feet and allows it to carry her aloft. She takes her lead from the others as they seem much more confident in what to do. "I'll take north."
As the girls establish what the will be doing. Its not too far away, that clearing, giving the area suggested by their teacher. But there are some trees in the vicinity of this New England island. That and its getting later as Bev noted regarding her power the darkness and shadows growing make it hard to make out exact details. What the faculty do in there involves Lady Fascinate casting some sort of perimeter in there drawing from ley lines to form new wards. They are augmented by manipulation of Enigma, folding of some space to conceal the lines or strengthen them even with more contact to foci of the earth itself. That's all well and good. Its quick, they mean business, but then she draws, an implement maybe, something glowing, and the cage is opened by Enigma. The imp seems to sense whats going on, and it makes something like a wailing noise. Not loud, but more felt in ripples, the edges of Spellbinders wards crackle with that noise. It seems difussed a little, but the wave of whatever it was goes out. She strengthens the wards and continues in there while they decide on points, and figure out what sort of travel they can do to quickly get around that perimeter.
Stefanie nods to Bev and smiles, as if the pair share more than just a room. "Agreed." She says about the compass points. She looks to Lynzee. "I don't think the threat is here just yet. We need to be more concerned with what.. or who… may show up to interupt." She smiles to Tabitha and agrees. "I'll take south." She walks up to Bev, taking her hand briefly, sending some power along the way to give Bev a boost as the sun's gone down. "Time to Glow, Sister." She smiles and winks before running to take up her position.
"Wait, Stef, I think you and I should take east and west," she says as she squeezes Stefanie's hand in return, her own glow brightening as she takes in her roommate's light. "If we glow on either side, it'll give Lynzee and Tabitha more light to see by — and Lynzee, if you can sense things better as a cat, then that might be the best way to go. But will you need to switch back to human form to tell us if you see something?"
Lynzee just gives Stefanie a confused look as she repeats what Lynzee had just said about not thinking there was anyone else there. When Stefanie just leaves it at that, she gives a bit of a shrug and watches as the girl goes running to her position. Left to her own devices, she looks towards wherever she was supposed to go, which she's not exactly sure. Bev, being much more helpful, gets a look of relief. "I can change back and forth easy, but I can run faster when I am a cat. The black one."
Tabitha stays well clear of the energies that are raised. She has no idea what they are and doesn't want to cause problems by absorbing them by accident. "Bev's right. Flyers and blasters opposite each other makes the most sense." When Stef and Bev fire up their powers, she takes the opportunity to soak in some of their castoff to juice herself up a bit more. She shrugs when Stef runs off to the southern arc then nods to Bev and Lynzee, "I'll be in my zone." Then into her comms as she directs her flight to the north. "Sound off when you spot anything, ladies. I doubt we'll be alone for long." She allows her aura to bellow out to its maximum radius so that the sensory expansion it provides can cover as much area as possible.
The wailing continues towards something like a gibbering howl. Then it is silenced as the girls get to positions, or work at it at least. As they get perimeter covered, it seems to simply go silent. A nice night, in the 50s, a wind blowing up from the south with hints of warmth as the night cools over the Atlantic. After that mystic cry went out, it seems a regular night. All the girls feel a shift in the wind. To each one the direction changes from blowing in from south west, to blowing directly at them and towards the circle. Not a big breeze, enough to turn some hair, hints of coolness unlike the first breezes of the evening that hinted at that warmth.
Stefanie nods, listening to both Tabitha and Bev. "Alright. That does make more sense." She says, taking up the position opposite Bev. She notices the change in the noise, glad for the silence as she tries to focus on anything external trying to make their way in. When the wind changes, Steafanie comes over the com. "Popstar, do you feel that? Is it coming along your back? It's hitting me in the front." The logic is that if the wind is coming from the front of her, it should be coming from the back of Bev. "Do you other girls feel that?"
"Okay," Bev tells Lynzee. "Cat form, then — but check in regularly. Even if it's just a meow." She moves to take up her own position, lighting up the area around her — not too bright, because daylight level would drain her power rapidly, but bright enough to see, and, in some cases, to create deeper shadows, but she moves back and forth to light up the areas that the shadows hide every few moments.
"It's coming from my front too, Stef," she replies over the comms. "But it's magic. It could just be whatever Spellbinder and the Enigma are doing. Still, keep your eyes and ears open." Pause. "And your nose, Lynzee, I imagine."
"I feel it." Lynzee says matter of factly. She does walk a short distance away and instead of a black cat, her form twists and bends, the sound mildly horrifying, as she slowly grows larger and.. oranger. With black spots. A Cheetah, because they are much faster than Lynzee's are. There's a stretch of her mouth then her tongue lolls out making her look a bit more friendly. She does feel the cooler breeze and she looks back to acknowledge it before darting off a short distance.
"I've got the wind coming directly at me from the north. It's all heading inward." Tabitha focuses on the communications from her fellow students, using it to distract her from the fear gnawing at her insides on this first actual outing as a hero-in-training. But as they're wondering about the wind, there is something about the sky that draws her attention. She looks up at the moon, and her eyes widen at the darkness that starts to creep across it. And then the figures that seem to be coming down out of that darkness. "Look to the sky ladies! Got maybe four, maybe six incoming from above. They're coming in on our arc, Bev." She lifts herself a bit higher into the sky, not leaving her northern zone but putting herself more directly into the path of the incoming… whatevers.
The stretch of a dark finger tries to cover the moon, and out of that shadow, the shapes do descend. Between Tabitha and Bev indeed a small group seems to be coming down and towards the islad. Currently over the sea, but it will be soon they are over the land. It is clear, once noted, that the island is their destination. That the are black with the darkfire makes them hard to notice but once pointed out, the girls are all alert enough to make out the shape. There is a push of that wind upon the ward of Spellbinder, it crackles, but inside she continues to work that glowing implement at the imp in there. What the girls do notice in seeing the shape, as the twitter and twist in the sky, is that two seem to collide and join into a bigger shape Where one was a monkey in size, this one closer to a cat, or a gargoyle as compared to an imp.
Stefanie nods. "Ok, well…" She stops, interupted once she sees the forms. "Here we go, Ladies. We need to keep them away from the group." She turns and heads for the group. Once she gets there, she sends a blast of energy at the first dark figure she sees.
Bev turns her eyes to the sky at Tabitha's warning. A moment later her glow shifts from a general brightness, illuminating everything, to a spotlight turned on the incoming targets. "Man, I wish I could fly," she mumbles to herself. Still, once she has them in her sights she plants her feet and calls out, "This is Popstar. This area is off limits! Turn around, or announce yourself and your intentions!" She doesn't state the threat, but she does murmur into the comms, "Lynzee, hold back — stay in the shadows. And circle around. They'll have seen me and Stef already — but you might surprise them if we need the surprise."
She strongly dislikes the shadow trying to cover the moon. It's only a waning crescent, but it's the only decent source of light she's got tonight — aside from the light that Stef is casting off across the circle. She's loathe to attack first, though. These people need not necessarily be enemies.
"Well, they probably are now," she sighs as Stefanie releases a blast of energy. Still she holds off, just a few moments longer. Waiting until the time is right.
One of these days, Tabitha will likely end up with a codename of some sort. But that's a worry for later. Right now there's a bunch of flying monkies from Oz inbound. And then Bev shouts her warning, and Stef fires her solar energy at them. And then two of the incoming merge somehow and become a bigger… whatever they are. "I've got the big one." Her aura is brought in tighter to her body, its outer surface hardening into an armored skin. She flies out to meet the incoming creatures, aiming straight at the larger one.
Lynzee hears the command, to stay in the shadows, and she does, but she quickly changes forms again, back to a person. "I have other magic," she confesses, but she does watch the inbound monkeys. "But.. it's not little. It does big things." Certainly mass effect, definitely not a single target thing. "I don't want to hurt anyone." And that's a very real possibility.
The energy from Stefanie flies true to the first dark shape, striking at the darkness of the shape. It gives a yelp into the night air, seems to disperse from the hit, like a cloud of shadow, but the darkfire pulls together. Smaller, less of its former size, the energy damaged it. This new form adjusted for what seems to have burned away, perhaps the volume of its prior arm, scorched away. Then it stretches it jowls, showing fangs and takes off like a dart towards the source that is Stephanie. It trails like a mist wraith, the darkfire a contrail behind it. If Bev is holding, this may be a good time to release. Her spot light illuminates, it was five, turned four with the two joined to become larger. One injured leading the charge, the others join its display of fangs to wisp and turn to give towards the ground nearest Bev. Tabitha rises to meet hers, quick and strong, her auro protects her to impact and it disperses in a cloud. Pulling together, that one doesn't go to land. Instead it reforms, two smaller imps. One tosses its arm, overhead with fingers curled down, as one might hold a log on its shoulder. It sends a spread of darkness witih a spear tip towards her. It comes more as a mystical wave of confusion to disorient the strong attacker.
Stefanie cheers as she seems to be successful, only to watch the creature re-form and chase after her. "Uh oh… It doesn't look like we can't physically damage them!" She shouts as she backs away, shooting light and heat at the shadow form as it chases after her.
"I know," Bev murmurs. "None of us do. I don't think these are alive, though." Which means, she tells herself, that somebody is controlling these figures of dark fire. Maybe here. Maybe elsewhere. "Can you see, is there somebody behind these figures, Lynzee? Somebody controlling them?"
But she's being charged by the darkfire figures. Stefanie's energy seemed to hurt them. Hopefully her light will do the same. "Stefanie, with me! You hurt them — your light cancelled their darkness! Aura, flank them!" The spotlight beam she's been using to illuminate what is more or less living shadow condenses into a red beam no more than a few inches in diameter — a powerful beam of laser light that will, she hopes, burn away large parts of the incoming horde.
Never mind that her brain is screaming 'DARKDARKDARKDARKDARKGONNAKILLMEDARKDARKDARK!'
Inside her aura, Tabitha had braced herself to feel… something when she impacted the larger gargoyle. When there isn't any kind of impact, a combination of how the gargoyle disperses and her aura's protection, she gets a relieved smile on her face. "Alright, then," she mutters to herself while listening to the others on comms. While the now two imps she's facing reform and one gathers for its attack against her, she responds to Lynzee. "If you can aim your magic, Lynz, try to center it on me. I can try to absorb anything before it can backlash."
And then one of the imps sends its lance of darkness towards her. Guess she's about to find out if magic energy is something her aura can absorb. Before the attack hits her she extends her aura towards her two opponents in what are basically whips of solid force, trying to take away any of their energy that she can. Maybe take them out entirely if they're made of energy, and at least leech away their kinetic energy if they're physical.
And then the imp's attack hits her and at least some of it makes it through directly into her mind. Her senses start to send her conflicting input and she tries to clear it out by grinding her palms against her eyes. "Dammit…!"
Lynzee doesn't fight things. Or people. It's as the thing nears the others, or was it things, several of them, that she realizes that she could maybe help? "I can throw some magic at it, but you could maybe get away from it!" The words are called out. "I can't tell if someone else is controlling them." Tabitha's words help her focus, help center her, and she nods. She doesn't exactly focus on Tabitha, not wanting to hurt her, she's seen what it can do, but she focuses on the things nearest her friend.
Their force a mix of physical need, the need to exist, and some raw, primal mystical energy. The energy shields that can absorb do block the physical thrust of attacks, its the tendrils of magic that simply slip right through. Stefanie moves and fires, moves and fires as it chases, each blast knocking away physical shadow, taking the anchor of the magic away. It is falling away, darkfire landing on the earth. Tabitha turns her ability on those heading to the ground and Bev meets halfway. The combined attack on those two, scatter them agian. The mystical darkfire having a hard time climing to its corporal shadow in the confusion. Much the same, the chaos manifestation that Lynzee summons near the flying imps close to Tabitha has a similar effect. A moment of chaos seems turned as their abilities work to keep focus on the imps. It would take Stefanie a last shot or two to burn hers away.
The aftermath of the moment, the once five imps are reduced in scope. What the girls can see with the turn, is that shadow still moves where the imps where, darkfire seeks to find form again. The chaos lasts about Tabitha, but subsides slowly with the originating imp confused itself. What is left forms into a gargoyle, now only one figure. Which send eldritch shadow towards Bev, not to counter her beam but to try and hit her with a bolt of mystical energy. Stefanie focused on the solo one that disperses to join the group in the gargoyle, may see darkfire rising around the ground, where they fell apart. Raw mystical energy there left uncontrolled.
Stefanie takes the moment to catch her breath, wishing this was during the day as she feels her 'battery' running low. She notices the energy flowing from the ground. Instead of backing off, she charges, this time sending energy to the ground. "I might be wrong, but i think the energy feeding that thing is coming from the ground!" She continues sending light and heat to the ground in pulses instead of long beams, trying to conserve as much of the energy as she can.
Bev is momentarily distracted. She's got the most experience here, and she's trying to guide her friends with the skills she's picked up in her year and a half at Coral Springs. She's trying to track where Lynzee is now, to give suggestions as to what should be done next, when the gargoyle fires off its bolt of mystic shadow. For most, this would be bad. For Bev, this is devastating.
Without a sound, the girl falls to the ground, her body producing no light whatsoever.
As the magic tears away at her senses, Tabitha manages to find her balance by focusing on the one thing that always keeps her mind even; music. In this case, the refrain of a song she's written but not put to music yet. The tune finds itself as her mind clears and she can see the battle clearly again. Just in time to see the remaining imps form into a single big gargoyle that blasts Bev with its darkfire. Her aura has been drinking in whatever it could drain from the imps, their magics, and any dangerous overspill from Lynzee's magic. She can feel herself start to get that heady, half-drunk feeling that comes when her tank is nearly full and she puts all of that power to work. "Stef, get over to Bev! I've got this asshole."
Flying in close to the big one that's just blasted Bev, she lets out a wordless shout to get its attention and then sends her aura rotating around herself like a pair of stacked helicopter blades. All of her strength is focused into this manifestation of her aura, and when or if the gargoyle is broken apart by the impact she tries to absorb as much of the darkfire energy as she can before it can reform into any more imps. And she keeps this manifestation going, sending attacks at any imps or gargoyles that manage to reform somehow.
Lynzee doesn't want to hurt anyone but her friends are getting hurt! She closes her eyes for the briefest of moments as a momentum gathers around her and she rises from the ground so she can be more at point blank range to the monkey monster. Holding out her hand, she chants something in an ancient Egyptian language, and a ball of white shoots towards the gargoyle as she tries to disassemble it..
As Bev falls, its Tabitha that makes an impact through a less direct attack. The magical parts of the darkfire are elusive, but the physicality of the shadow that binds them to physicla form she can absorb. And she does, the gargoyle starts to turn vapor, tendrils drawn to Tabitha, leaving the magical darkfire in its wake. What Stefanie sees is the magic left in the wake of the ones they killed, looking to find form and be whole again. That mystical veins of energy that are left of the gargoyle absorbed by Tabitha seems a good host, its when the mystical chaos ball shoots for the gargoyle that the last pull of its will is scattered instead. Stefanie was burning away at it as she attacked that mist on the ground, but it begins to disperse, leaving her the hole she needs to go to Bev if she wants.
With impeccable timing, Enigma is upon the group, as if stepping down from a hidden passage floating somewhere. To assess the situation. "Perfect … perfect." They seem to have done everything to allow Spellbinder to do her work. He may have been ready to fold space itself if needed but now there is now need. Unaware of the shadow that came over the moon as the imps attacked, he doesn't see it withdraw into the darkness of the night either. "We've isolated the anchor that binds these things." Which is quite a bit of information in and of itself, but he divulges no more.
Stefanie nods to Tabitha. "On it, Aura." She says as she runs over to Bev. "Popstar, get up." She says, sending pulses of energy into the girl. "C'mon, Sister. Don't fall asleep on me now." Seeing as the threat has dissipated for now, her primary focus is on getting Bev up and moving.
Bev is unconscious. Deeply unconscious.
Tabitha lets out a relieved breath as the last of the imps/gargoyles are destroyed from the group's combined attacks. Then Enigma is there among them again and she quickly draws her aura back closer to her own body. She has no real idea how Enigma does what he does, so she can't be sure she won't accidentally suck down or disrupt some vital energies. Because that would be a bad thing and almost certainly earn her some detention.
She shifts the focus of her sight up behind her through her aura, seeing the darkness retreat from over the moon. She points up to it and says to Enigma, "That sounds great, sir. But I'm thinking this is just the end of round one." Then she's back on the ground next to Bev and Stefanie. "Here. I'll carry her." And that's just what she does… the waif picking Bev up in her arms bridal style as if the older girl weighed less than a lunch tray.
Once Lynzee has cast her magic she looks towards the others, they were the main priority. Bev was down on the ground and she panics, her breath catching as she starts to land. "Ohno!" She manages, looking towards the others. "Can you help her? Can someone?" She is worried. Proud of Tabitha though, she looks at her still worried about Bev. "You killed them. You did good."
Moving amongst them, letting them carry their teammate, seems Enigma's last worry is the girl. Instead he looks up where Tabitha pointed. "Ah, curious." His hand comes down and twitching, his body shifts a little without moving. As if he might move closer through his curious ways of travel but then thinks the better of it. Even as he ponders that, he turns back, "We should move back. The round over, no need to start a second. Tey cannot follow us." He nods up near Spellbinder, "We can form the circle and return. We're safe to pass through the wards, it was put up against the magic that drives the imps." Then a look at Bev, "We'll get her to medbay." Not so much, is she allright, perhaps he sensed life in some way.
Stefanie nods and sighs as Tabitha carries Bev. "She'll be alright once she gets some sunlight. I can't give off enough to help her, my tank is oretty much empty." She begins to walk with the group back to the circle to head home. She rolls her eyes when Enigma mentions the Medbay. "We just got *out* of there…" She says, looking to Bev. "Don't worry.. We'll get you fixed up in no time." She says to her roommate.. who can't hear her right now.
Tabitha takes Enigma at his word that the imp things won't be following them. She gives Lynzee a quick grin, "No, /we/ got them. Together." She shifts her hold on Bev a bit to better cradle her neighbor's head and croons a soft wordless tune as if Bev were one of her sick younger 'sibs' from the orphanage. At the back of her mind is the tought that while she did enjoy feeling normal again when her powers were burned out, she can't deny that being able to do things like this is pretty damn nice, too. She doesn't say anything about med bay since she, too just managed to get out of the damn place. She just stays near the others, waiting for the teachers to do whatever it was they did to bring the group here, only in reverse. Or something.
Lynzee doesn't like it that Bev is out, it concerns her deeply and she studiously watches her, waiting for any sign or movement the girl was okay. "We did it," she echoes Tabitha, meaning the whole of the group. She waits with the others, with the teachers, realizing there were likely more monkeys. There were always more monkeys. "I hope no more come."
Coming from the circle, no imp, but something in a cedar box with some sort of knotwork on it, Spellbinder comes to join the group. "More will come, lets not be here when they arrive." She moves to one end, Enigma to the other, so hands can be joined. Bev included in being held. "A debref quickly when we get back too." Before full release of the students back to their dorms and the like. Its more twisting this time, less magic in the movement across space. A few flashes of locations that Enigma twists the group through in walking the folds of space. Then they are in the school once more. Enigma starts to lead the way to med bay, but Spellbinder offers over, "I'm proud of you all, well done." In their defense of the perimeter while she obtained whatever it is she has in that box. She doesn't join, but moves to her room and area post haste.
Fade …
bevdarkfireloglynzeestefanietabitha


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Bloody Sunday Inquiry
Jun 18, 2010 | Northern Ireland |
For decent, humanitarian, human-rights aware British people, this week has been both extremely affirming and incredibly painful.
The affirmation is hard to express adequately, but it comes from the transcendent sense that we did the right thing this week. The publication of Lord Saville's report of his inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday is the fruit of a real national commitment to the rule of law. David Cameron's statement to the Commons, followed by his response to Mark Durkan's comments summed up the sense in which the UK genuinely is a contrite, even in retrospect, for the dreadful mistakes of her military on that day.
That begins to state the pain of this week. Many Unionists are conditioned to believe that our armed forces could do no wrong, or that, if they err, it must be explicable in some way. To a community threatened every day by the brutal threat of republican terrorism, the army seemed like guardian angels to us, and in most cases they were exceptionally good. This, however, bred a dangerous 'us and them' where we felt we could excuse everything they did as in our name. But in some cases, they erred unjustifiably. In some cases, some of our men in uniform made mistakes and did dishonour to their uniform and to their country. We don't have to excuse that, indeed we must not – and David Cameron made that point in his speech to the commons.
We have to hold ourselves, it seems to me, to a higher standard, if we're to support the proposition (as I do) that there's something 'irreducibly magnificent' about our nation. If we can't be ethically and morally better than the terrorists, then for what reason do we challenge them? The job of the IRA for many years was to kill innocent civilians and justify it for some political cause; the job of our armed forces is to support the British government with its role of running the UK in accordance with the rule of law. Where they fall short of that mission, they fail us all.
There is no doubt that Bloody Sunday and Widgery did immense damage to the UK's profile and the profile of the justice system in the nation. There is no doubt that the conflict in Northern Ireland was fuelled by the terrible events and the subsequent failure to hold those responsible to account. With the prospect of justice for the victims at the time, the driver for young catholics to join the ranks of the IRA for decades afterwards might simply have been weaker, and political progress might well have been made sooner than the mid nineties.
Plenty of people are trying even as we speak to revise and rewrite history; it's the curse of our whole troubles that the history of our many injustices against others is rarely a shared one – hence Cromwell was either a hero destroyer of tryanny in Britain or the hated oppressor of Ireland, and many more contested histories atop that. But the publication of the Saville Inquiry and its acceptance by the British Prime Minister offers us an opportunity to share our understanding of one awful day, and perhaps grasp the possibility of a shared future.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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New arrival: OPPO R15 and OPPO R15 Pro Android smartphones
The OPPO R15 (S$749) and OPPO R15 Pro (S$899) will be available online and in Singapore stores from 26 May.
The OPPO R15 (center & right) will be available in Nebula Purple and Rouge Red in Singapore while the OPPO R15 Pro (left) will be available in Cosmic Purple and Ruby Red.
OPPO Singapore announced the launch of the OPPO R15 and R15 Pro yesterday at their launch event at Zouk Capital.
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More details below from the press release.
Designed around the concept of tapping into fashion and style that reflects limitless creative possibilities for users – both models will provide new gradient designs as well as advancements in camera, display and AI-enhanced features.
Artistic Approach to Design
Designed in collaboration with renowned industrial designer, Karim Rashid – the OPPO R15 series launches in Singapore with gradient trendy colors for each new model.
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Nebula Purple and Rouge Red for the OPPO R15 and Cosmic Purple and Ruby Red for the OPPO R15 Pro.
Built with a semi-transparent glass, this allows light and shadow to play off the colors in a mesmerizing dance, meant to evoke the creativity in users.
Super Full Screen
OPPO R15 series boasts a unique 6.28-inch bezel-less screen that features a resolution of 2280×1080 and an aspect ratio of 19:9 – a super-high screen-to-body ratio.
The OPPO "Super Full Screen" is not just a notch display but provides enhanced customized multitasking functions and deep system optimizations based on its ColorOS 5.0.
The narrow left and right frames provide convenient notifications shortcuts to multiple functions and third-party apps.
With gesture operations and full-screen multi-tasking, the OPPO R15 series offers an un-paralleled screen experience.
Outstanding Camera Performance
The OPPO R15 series is the first to adopt the SONY IMX519 sensor.
In addition to the upgraded scene recognition based on AI-enhanced technologies, the dual rear cameras (R15: 16MP+5MP; R15 Pro: 16MP+20MP) continues pushing the limits of photography.
Additional features of the R15 Pro
Equipped with NFC – For the ease of mobile transactions, the R15 Pro is now equipped with an NFC chip for hassle-free payment supporting Android devices.
Water resistant, (IP67) – The R15 Pro is water resistant and splash-proof in Singapore, allowing users to take calls even in light rain – perfectly designed for Singapore's weather conditions.
3D glass surface – The R15 Pro features a 3D glass surface that takes the iconic slim metal curve design of the R series and transforms it to a glass body that fits perfectly in to your hand.
The re-invented 'Sensor-HDR' technology dramatically improves backlight selfies and allows users to check high dynamic exposure live effects in real-time.
AI-enhanced technology
The OPPO R15 series introduces AI scene recognition that can identify 120 scenes and 16 tags – in essence-acting as your "photography technique consultant".
This makes capturing a subject at its best easier than ever before. With the Artistic Portrait Mode, OPPO R15 and R15 Pro features a 3D lighting technique for shooting improved artistic portraits.
Improved Hardware
The OPPO R15 series has focused on increasing memory and storage space with its 128 GB ROM with 6 GB RAM(DDR4) combo across both models – giving it the ability to store 20,000+ standard size photos.
Additionally, the R15 has battery capacity of 3,450 mAh (3,400 mAh for R15 Pro) and supports VOOC Flash Charging technology.
Tags: Android, launch, OPPO, prices, R15, R15 Pro, Singapore, smartphones
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2018 at 10:00 pm and is filed under events, Gadgets, gadgets, Launch, newArrivals, OPPO, Phones, Press Release, Prices, smartphones, Specifications.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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Titleist have some of the best known brand names in golf with Scotty Cameron putters, Vokey wedges and the number one ball in golf the Pro V1 amongst them. With these products alongside their widely played irons and wood ranges, Titleist have built a reputation of creating the highest quality of golf equipment, with the performance to match, which has lead to a high brand loyalty amongst golfers who use Titleist equipment.
The latest hybrid from Titleist, the 816 H1 uses superior technology for added performance on longer shots.
The latest hybrid from Titleist, the 816 H2 uses superior technology for added performance on longer shots.


text:
I: Government
II: Districts
III: Nacho Territory
IV: Current Treaties
V: Flag & Anthem
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Nachonnia – The reformed Nacho Empire & the final era of the Nacho Army
The Holy Nachonnian Empire is governed by the Emperor and the Council. Each member of the Council has an assigned job and task to be carried out.
The Emperor is the supreme leader of the Nachonnian Empire and is the main leader of the army. Along with the Chancellors, he makes sure everything is running smoothly. He has the sole power to declare war on anyone and banish people from the army. Anyone who disrespects him or the Empire will be banished.
Emperor: Verum
The Chancellor(s) are the leaders of the Nacho Army and second-in-command over the Empire. They lead battles, schedule events, and assist the Emperor in running the nation. They participate in high-level negotiations. They are in charge of overseeing the work of the other Secretaries.
Chancellors: Cookky2, Conno & Dan101
The Minister of State is in charge of handling Foreign Relations and will serve as an ambassador to other armies. He advises the Emperor on matters of foreign policy. He Participates in high-level negotiations e.g treaties. He is able to convict an individual of treason or revoke their conviction.
Minister of State: Dominus
The Minister of Recruitment and Rank Management is the Director of the Nachos Recruiting Force. They are in charge of seeking out new recruitment methods and updating recruiting lines. They are also in charge of monthly promotions and monitoring the work of troops to see if they deserve a promotion, or not. They make sure the Nachos brings in and enlists more recruits and updates the ranks daily.
Minister of Recruitment and Rank Management: Bluey
The Minister of Public Relations is in charge of updating the site on a regular basis. He is also in charge of making the site active and making posts about Club Penguin and army news. He makes sure the troops are informed of what's happening in the army and not feeling alienated.
Minister of Public Relations: Bubba
The Commandant of the Nacho SS is the Supreme Leader of the Nacho SS and the Director of the NSSA. His job is to manage and lead the Nachos Special Service.
Commandant of the Nacho SS: Fluffy 9404
The Foreign Policy Advisor(s) are the main advisors to the council on policy towards armies. Their job is to protect Nachonnian interests and recommend advice on certain topics.
Foreign Policy Advisors: Shiver and Kevin/B Batman3
District I – Most Valuable: These provinces are the heart of the Nacho Empire. These must be protected at all costs – if taken, retaliation is inevitable! These servers should be patrolled every day!
District II – Very Valuable: These servers are the sole property of the Nacho Empire. A good defense is required – if taken, retaliation will most likely occur. These servers should be patrolled every other day at least!
District III – Valuable: These are servers that are shared with other nations or servers that are under military administration. These servers should be patrolled once every three days.
SECURITY NOTICE: All Nachonnian Territory is currently under the administration and ownership of the Nacho SS.
-Fjord-
Information: Capital of The Nachonnian Empire
Status: Defended
-Aurora-
Information: Nachonnian US Division Headquarters
-Blizzard-
Information: Historic Capital & Birth Server || Nachonnian Recruitment Base
-White House-
Information: Home of Nacho Commanders; Conno, Verum and Dan
-Breeze-
Information: ACP's Historic capital, taken on the final day of Club Penguin 03/29/17
-Fiesta-
Information: Nachonnian Centre of Culture
-Shiver-
Information: Nacho SS Capital || Resting Place of Chancellor Shivertoe
-Chinook-
Information: Nachonnian UK Division Headquarters
-Tundra-
Information: Nachonnian Retirement Island
-Cold Front-
Information: Resting Place of Nachos Creator, Tom Wolf
-Mountain-
Information: Nacho Training Base
-Mullet-
-Ice Cube-
Information: Nacho Weapons Base
-Southern Lights-
Information: Annexed from AR, Great Nachonnian Province
-Snow Bound-
Information: Annexed from AR
-Ice Age-
-Dry Ice-
-Snow Cap-
-Snow Plow-
-Big Snow-
-Ice Rink-
-Crystal-
Status: Defended; Shared with AR
-Frozen-
Information: Received by Treaty from Cobras
-North Pole-
-Thermal-
SERVER COUNT: 25
IV: Current Pacts & Treaties
Ceasefire with The Rebel Penguin Federation
Expires: 15 February 2017
Peace Treaty with The Army Republic
V: Nacho Flag & Anthem
POPE OF THE CHURCH OF SHIVERISM: SHIVERTOE2
Flag Name: Flag of The Nachonnian Empire
Designers: Shiver and Fluffy 9404
Song Name: Watch On Fjord (Nacho Imperial Anthem)
Song Name: Proud to be a Nacho (Historic Nacho Anthem)
Song Name: Civilization V: Pedro II War Theme (Nacho Military March)
Song Name: Eminem feat. D12 – My Band (Nacho Veteran Anthem)
MisterPrawn, on June 7, 2015 at 2:26 AM said:
Really excited that my first battle is going to be a big one
sophia, on June 8, 2015 at 6:00 PM said:
hello i am mincraft184 and i
Anonymous, on June 23, 2016 at 3:15 PM said:
i am mincraft and i like to know if you do it here
flowery2003, on June 13, 2015 at 4:40 AM said:
Reply @ Join Page Please 🙂
TheNacho, on June 13, 2015 at 10:25 PM said:
JOIN THE NACHO ARMY TODAY
xXMoonfurXx, on June 14, 2015 at 8:36 PM said:
I checked the UMA website, and i also recently read the cp army news. UMA is wanting to declare world war II (repeat) UMA against all.
Im trying to figure out if this is a joke or not. If it isn't, i would be happy to let the leader(s) know if they want to battle against them. (I would also be happy if i could be a low-ranked agent)
skyhight1, on June 14, 2015 at 9:04 PM said:
lol nachos
How to Earn a Promotion | Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on June 16, 2015 at 2:53 AM said:
[…] Empire […]
hank, on June 16, 2015 at 3:40 PM said:
wheres the raffle?
hh, on June 18, 2015 at 1:47 PM said:
um how do u now if u are in the army from lily689
Edd64, on June 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM said:
once you are in the army you can either go to our chat xat.com/nachoshq and talk for fun, or play club penguin and go to our battles. you can find the times on the main page on nachoarmy.net. 😀
Brass Ass Dash, on June 18, 2015 at 2:28 PM said:
Hi Lily689,
You can know if you are in the army by checking for your name on the "Ranks" page. It looks like you are there, congratulations!
What is the difference between all of these groups?
Narwhal, on June 23, 2015 at 5:20 PM said:
1. post this on 5 different pages on this website
2. LOG ON TO CP
3. BEFORE U CHOOSE A SERVER PRESS F7 THEN F4
4. GO ONTO ANY SERVER
5.YOU SHOULD NOW HAVE 9,000,000 COINS, A LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP, 20 ITEMS
FROM THE TREAUSRE BOOK AND 1 OF EVERY PUFFLE! WORKS RLY WELL 15 PENGUINS
TRIED AND ARE SO HAPPY!
Kaylee, on June 29, 2015 at 1:37 AM said:
THIS DOESN'T WORK!
Epickitty102, on August 5, 2015 at 10:27 AM said:
Please don't post fake stuff like this here. It doesn't belong here.
Yehaw, on March 21, 2016 at 2:32 PM said:
This fake stuff sucks
Mittens2014, on November 8, 2015 at 8:28 AM said:
Hey narwal I don't think that's going to work I tried it just now and it didn't work.
New member of nachos Mittens2014.
Rare 18, on June 24, 2015 at 5:06 AM said:
y dont District 2 and District 3 show?
Anonymous, on June 29, 2015 at 5:44 AM said:
what do you do in narcho empire
drew, on July 2, 2015 at 4:42 AM said:
every one speaks spanish
flowery2003, on August 1, 2015 at 4:54 PM said:
No-One here speaks a lot of Spanish other than me! Aquí nadie habla otro español que yo!
Anonymous, on November 12, 2015 at 2:07 PM said:
hola nacho, como estas? me llamo Pinkly66229
Anonymous, on July 3, 2015 at 4:36 AM said:
Williamino, on July 3, 2015 at 7:27 AM said:
I'd like to join NACHO ARMY
Puffball992, on July 3, 2015 at 10:15 AM said:
Salwa12123, on July 3, 2015 at 1:16 PM said:
My penguin was born in Blizzard….
supillay, on July 5, 2015 at 1:07 PM said:
Epickitty102, on July 23, 2015 at 9:22 AM said:
Sad we lost Blizzard, but we still have a TON of ACP's servers, so all is well(ish)
We have 8 ACP territories and 9 Nacho servers with at least 17 servers in total as the other two districts don't show
Anonymous, on July 27, 2015 at 9:22 PM said:
Legofan Cy, on July 28, 2015 at 3:15 AM said:
Hey! Welcome to the Nachos 😀 . Come to our chat http://xat.com/nachoshq and talk with all the Nachos! 🙂
Anonymous, on August 4, 2015 at 4:51 PM said:
hey just wanted to say we (republic) are gonna take you down at tomorrow's battle!!!!
Ronnoc91, on August 10, 2015 at 1:15 PM said:
take fjord off
Epickitty102, on August 10, 2015 at 5:43 PM said:
Actually we think we won and you think you won so really there was no winner so Fjord stays (even though we crushed you :P)
Fʟᴜғғʏ-, on August 10, 2015 at 6:35 PM said:
Why would we take a server off that belongs to us?
zekandrekzek4ever, on August 30, 2015 at 10:33 AM said:
needs more allies
Legofan Cy, on September 6, 2015 at 10:17 AM said:
needs more zek destroyers
cenafan0123, on October 5, 2015 at 4:45 PM said:
http://dcpchronicles.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/down-with-dcp-sm-tournament/#more-63 Please comment your response to being invited prizes,etc. are listed.
Anonymous, on December 3, 2015 at 4:15 AM said:
When you battle starts?
⚡»Fʟᴜғғʏ«⚡»»Nᴀᴄʜᴏ Aʀᴍʏ 2ɪᴄ««⚡, on January 15, 2016 at 9:23 AM said:
First Comment in 2016! 😉
Alexander, on February 3, 2016 at 12:16 PM said:
Today I stopped to conquer Blizzard purple penguins
Kate, on February 17, 2016 at 2:31 AM said:
I would love to come to the battles but I cant because I have school HELP ME!!!!!
Click Here, on February 21, 2016 at 4:47 AM said:
Good article and right to the point. I don't know if this is really the best place to ask but do you folks have any thoughts on where to employ some professional writers?
Stone523, on February 21, 2016 at 12:24 PM said:
In my pants.
Anonymous, on April 8, 2016 at 9:47 PM said:
RED ALERT, NIGHT WARRIORS HAS CAPTURED Fijord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Fjord–
Information: Nacho Co-Capital/Former Capital Server
Status: Occupied by Night Warriors
(please fix by changing to this
Jammi Dodger, on April 12, 2016 at 9:39 AM said:
this page needs updating with the new flag
source, on May 9, 2016 at 7:47 AM said:
Valuable information. Fortunate me I discovered your website by chance, and I'm shocked why this twist of fate did not took place earlier! I bookmarked it.
buy followers, on May 14, 2016 at 5:33 AM said:
My brother suggested I might like this website. He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
kim pulley, on July 7, 2016 at 6:27 PM said:
pfft poo I hate poo btw I'm pooping with a laptop on my lap lol
Anonymous, on October 15, 2016 at 9:22 AM said:
is it going to take a few days to be a rank
hectoe, on December 14, 2016 at 10:33 PM said:
dear nachos have i been added to your ranks yet?
Ryan [Nachos], on December 16, 2016 at 10:16 AM said:
Yes, you have.
Anonymous, on December 19, 2016 at 4:14 PM said:
dear nachos
i was removed from the ranks because i was inactive.so i sent one of those requests that are on the bottom of the ranks page.And i did it 2 days ago and i was wondering if i will be added back soon
-your fellow nacho Nacho Girl5
john fred, on December 24, 2016 at 8:21 AM said:
AM I ADDED YET
Cookky2, on December 24, 2016 at 9:46 AM said:
Yes, you are. Welcome to the Nachos!
More, on January 27, 2017 at 12:43 AM said:
Good ¡V I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs as well as related information ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, website theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Excellent task..
website, on February 13, 2017 at 10:46 AM said:
get more info, on February 15, 2017 at 2:08 PM said:
Wow! Thank you! I constantly wanted to write on my site something like that. Can I take a portion of your post to my website?


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Ira J. Kurzban
Jed Kurzban
Helena Tetzeli
John Patrick Pratt
Edward Ramos
Lauren Olivia Gallagher
Kevin A. Gregg
Dominique Pando Bucci
David Calles Smith
Ryan Patterson
Elizabeth Montano
Martha Rodriguez
Business Corporate Law
Immigration Review Podcast
Immigration Review Case Summaries
Immigration Review Blog
Immigration Results
Kidney Disease Results
Civil Litigation Results
Appellate Decisions
Consult With An Attorney Today:
State immigration laws facing blocks in courts
On behalf of Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli and Pratt P.A. | Jun 29, 2011 | Deportation and Removal
The immigration battles continue in federal courts over state laws that have passed across the country. Florida immigration attorneys are aware that lawmakers were unable to come to agreement on anti-immigration legislation during the most recent session. As many as five other states followed Arizona's lead in enacting laws to provide state authority on immigration matters. Arizona's law providing local law enforcement with the authority to essentially enforce federal immigration law has been blocked in the federal court system while the issue rises through the federal courts.
A similar fate appears to be occurring in other states. Federal judges chambered in Indiana, Utah and in Florida's neighboring state of Georgia have blocked anti immigration laws enacted in each of those states. Alabama and South Carolina have recently passed laws regarding immigration issues and lawsuits reportedly are planned to challenge the constitutional authority of those laws as well.
Monday a federal judge sitting in Florida's neighboring state to the north blocked parts of Georgia's anti-immigration law. United States District Judge Thomas Thrash said at a hearing on the matter last week, "You are not going to have 50 systems of immigration regulation." Instead, the federal judge says "In Georgia, you are going to have 159. Every county, every municipality is going to decide what its immigration policy is going to be under this law."
Georgia departed from the standard used in the Arizona model for providing the standard law enforcement should rely upon when attempting to determine an individual's legal status in the U.S. The Georgia law reportedly allows state law enforcement officers to check an individual's immigration status if the person is unable to provide identification or other papers sufficient for law enforcement to determine identity.
Alabama Modeled a state law similar to Arizona's law. Lawmakers reportedly were aware of the federal court ruling blocking the Arizona law and hope for a challenge to the Alabama law. Michael Hethmon is with the Immigration Law Reform Institute. The group reportedly has been assisting lawmakers across the country draft anti-immigration laws similar to the one first passed in Arizona.
Hethmon says Alabama lawmakers want the matter to be placed before judges in the 11th federal circuit. The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit hears federal issues arising in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. In the absence of a national ruling made by the United States Supreme Court, federal appellate court decisions control in a given circuit.
Hethmon says Alabama lawmakers believe judges in the 11th circuit may interpret the law differently than the judge in Arizona who blocked that state's law. The matter is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Source: USA Today, "Georgia, other states tackle immigration piecemeal," Alan Gomez 28 Jun 2011
child citizenship
Fiancée Visas
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Federal judge gives reprieve to H-1B visas, overturns Trump rules
Unjust Florida law allows legal recoveries for some, but not for all
What are signs of acute renal failure?
Dealing with the aftermath of a car accident
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rules that noncitizens in immigration court are bound by the statements of their attorneys
Business/ Corporate Law
131 Madeira Ave.
© 2021 Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli and Pratt P.A.. All Rights Reserved.


This is such an emotional picture for me, it makes me both happy and sad, it is our last 'old life' photo where my son is gently sorting out my trapped hair. It is not a clear photo but it triggers a distinct memory.
It was my birthday weekend in Amsterdam 18 months ago, a bucket list adventure visiting my great grandparents home town. We were oblivious of what lay ahead and had an amazing, special memory making time.
Our son fell ill on the way home with glandular fever and he has not recovered properly since as the knock on has been CFS.
has been the hardest challenge emotionally, physically and financially where fear and what if thoughts has often stopped us in our tracks.
We have dug deep, taken control, re evaluated our lives and made the necessary changes to manage and ensure his needs are met.
Sometimes I still grieve for our old active life but mainly I feel calm and content because I know we have overcome this. Loads of good has bizarrely come out of our situation too and I hold onto this and remind myself how lucky we are and to be grateful for our family and our tenacity, I truly believe our lives are better for the experience.
My life is not perfect but with the right mindset I can make it a blimin good one and be happy!
Make the most of today, seize opportunities, create memories because you never know what's waiting around the corner.
© 2019 Gym For The Mind. All Rights Reserved.


"Ultralight shouldn't be a category, it should be the way people set up their backpacking kits." So says Mike St. Pierre, founder and CEO of Hyperlite Mountain Gear (HMG), as he sets out the gear for our next few days in Arizona's Superstition Wilderness. Ultralight as an accessible mainstay is one of the main concepts that drives HMG's design and development. Lightweight, durable gear is becoming more the norm than ever before, but HMG is working to make it more of a consistent mind-set in the backpacking community.
The Dirigo 2 is their latest foray into making ultralight kits more user-friendly and closely aligned with what people expect from a backpacking shelter: ie, sturdy and secure, easy to set up, fully enclosed, spacious, and lightweight.
Here's an overview of this badass new shelter and our thoughts after the test trip.
Shelter type: Two-person tarp tent. Requires two trekking poles and minimum four stakes. Sets up fully with eight stakes.
Materials: Dyneema Composite Fiber (DCF11 on the floor, DCF8 for the walls / vestibule). No-see-um mesh for the tent doors.
Two doors / vestibules: Simple, easy to pitch. I somehow haven't managed to snag the zipper yet, which is A) rare and B) nice. This is a single unit, which means the fly and tent body are one piece.
Bathtub floor: DCF floor material comes up about six inches for protection and waterproofing from the ground.
Reinforced trekking pole pocket: Sturdy plastic to ensure trekking poles don't bust through the top of the shelter after extended use. Pictured above.
Carbon-fiber ridge bar: Operates like the spreader bar across the top of a standard semi-freestanding tent, providing stability and increased head space.
Interior pocket: One, hanging from the ridge bar. I stick earplugs and my headlamp in there.
Sidewall guy-out: Both sidewalls can be tensioned out for more interior space.
Made in the US: All HMG products are built on location in Biddeford, ME.
With the Dirigo 2, HMG is looking to bridge the gap between hikers already initiated into the ultralight mind-set and those taking a first foray into a backpacking setup. With a sturdy, all-in-one piece of gear that doesn't require a steep learning curve, the Dirigo 2 could be that shelter. The Dirigo 2 sets up in just a few minutes, is built with ultralight, tough-as-nails Dyneema Composite Fabric (DCF), and has the obsessive details we expect from a company helmed by outdoorsmen actually getting out there and getting their shoes dirty.
The issues we typically run into with tarp tents are difficulty pitching, and lack of protection from the elements. With intuitive setup, deep bathtub floors, and spacious vestibules, the Dirigo 2's elegant design and solid construction seem to have found the sweet spot. And all for a weight penalty of 28 ounces. I haven't tested this shelter enough to speak to its durability, but I'm fairly confident this will be my primary shelter for the upcoming season, and the DCF11 and DCF8 are hardy ingredients. More on the technical stuff below.
Tarp tents are my kryptonite. I've long felt I'm not quite smart enough to understand them. But. The Dirigo 2 is ridiculously simple. If I can figure it out, anyone can. Setup time is fast (setup video at the bottom of this post)—it takes me around five minutes start to finish. Stake out the four corners, wedge your trekking poles under the reinforced pockets. Extend the poles, and stake out the vestibules and two guy lines if you feel like it. I slept with the doors open to see the desert sunrise because I'm basic like that. The doors roll all the way open for a full-on view…. highly recommend.
Al four walls are angled in, with a steeper pitch to the non-door sides. I mentioned how damn sturdy this thing is, and the fact that everything is slanted has a lot to do with it. The trekking poles will hold the shelter up at an angle, which increases the stability of the shelter, and doesn't affect headroom too much.
Dyneema Composite Fabric (formerly Cuben Fiber) is changing the way we see the material options and construction of durable, lightweight goods. Originally developed for sailing and military use, this is some of the lightest, strongest stuff on the market, and is currently utilized in a variety of products throughout the outdoor industry.
The Dirigo 2 is constructed primarily with Dyneema Composite Fabric—the floor of the shelter is DCF11, and the walls / vestibule are DCF8. Both of these weights promise long-term durability, and HMG says you won't need a footprint with the shelter. This shelter is entirely waterproof, arriving seam-sealed and ready to go. It doesn't absorb water, so won't carry extra weight or saturate in precipitation. We experienced a lot of condensation and dew at a lower campsite, and with a few shakes the shelter was entirely dry and ready to be crammed into my pack.
Want to nerd out? HMG does a good job explaining DCF technology and construction here.
Thru-hikers / long-distance backpackers looking to lower their base weight with a light, durable tarp tent. The footprint can be set up without a ton of space, 28 ounces is very light for a two person tent, and it goes up fast. This shelter will appeal to people who want the fully enclosed protection and a bathtub floor of a freestanding tent while still getting the low weight of a tarp tent.
After this first test, I'm a huge fan of the Dirigo 2. It's easier to set up than any tarp tent I've personally used, and sturdy as hell. The horizontal spreader bar provides more headspace than a pyramid shelter, and I love not having to crawl around a trekking pole in the middle of the shelter. As with any single-wall shelter, you'll have to strategize for condensation depending on conditions. We're predicting the price point will be a stopper for many hikers, as $795 is a steep price to pay for a shelter.
Overall, this is a smartly designed piece of gear from a company focused on intended use with lightweight, streamlined products for backcountry travel.
Here's the setup video from HMG. I'll film a full review in a few weeks when it's not -5 here in Montana.
I would love to own one of these. The usual reasons keep me from owning one… **opens wallet** Oh, well. *crawls back into single-person sil-nylon tent* 😂 For real, though – great review. Looks solid and lots of good features.
OK. So, is it going to get pin holes in it like Dixie's Duplex did? For 800$ US. Yikes.
It could, yes, but there are two main differences between this shelter and the Duplex: the Dirigo's floor is 1.3oz/yd^2, whereas the Duplex's floor is 1.0oz/yd^2, and HMG has fantastic customer support (the same cannot be said about ZPacks).
I would love to be able to afford a product like this! Maybe as more competition arises, the cost might come down to a reasonable level.
As the demonstrated setup shows,would'nt rain come in the sloping doors with the vestible doors rolled up?
Yes…. if it's raining, definitely close the fly.
Hi,Maggie.I guess I'm comparing this tent with my Zpacks Duplex.I don't have to close my doors in a light rain,minimizing condensation and letting the air flow through.


There is nothing funny about the real Donald Trump, a raisin company mascot channelling the spirit of an internet commenter. What is funny is the voice actor behind Futurama's Zapp Brannigan reading some of Trump's dumbest quotes in character. UPDATE, SEP 28: Now featuring snippets from the first Presidential debate.
Billy West—who also voices Fry, Prof. Farnsworth and Zoidberg—tweeted some of the clips earlier today.
Boy, it's time to go watch some Futurama again.


text:
Q: Is it possible to set a default zoom level that a website will be displayed in? When tested locally in chrome the page is displayed at 90% zoom, however on heroku it is displayed at 100%.
I have styled the page with the 90% in mind, is it possible to have the heroku page load in 90% as well?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
InnovationQ
InnovationQ Plus
Prior Art Database
Patentability Searches
Freedom to Operate
Patent Validity
Patent Landscape
How Defensive Publishing Strengthens Your Patent Portfolio
Defensive Publishing
Since the early 1980s, the number of patents granted on software-based inventions has increased by 1,900%, resulting in approximately 40,000 software-related patents issued annually. The frenzy behind this software patent glut needs to stop.
Part of the problem is that many software patents merely cover incremental improvements to core technologies, with varying degrees of value to the owner. Separate from the philosophical debate about whether patents that claim "abstract ideas" run counter to the spirit of our patent system (e.g., Alice v. CLS Bank), there's a much more tangible argument against securing patents for intellectual property: It requires a large capital investment and often provides little or no strategic value or return on that investment.
Consider that the average cost to apply for and maintain a worldwide patent over its lifetime – factoring in filing fees, examination and grant costs, and annuities – is around $150,000. Obtaining exclusionary rights across a portfolio of technologies that have questionable value to the business can quickly become cost-prohibitive.
Companies seeking a more cost-effective alternative should consider defensive publishing, an intellectual property strategy used to prevent another party from obtaining a patent. By disclosing an enabling description of an invention to the public, the document becomes "prior art," with a provable publication date and authenticity.
A defensive publication, therefore, can defeat the novelty of a subsequent patent application. For a few hundred dollars, a company can effectively secure freedom to operate, block a competitor's patents from issuing, reduce unnecessary prosecution and filing expenses, and mitigate the risk of devaluing their foundational patents.
More importantly, defensive publication of invention disclosures, back files, product manuals, and the abandonment of provisional applications provides patent examiners with the ammunition required to combat questionable patent applications from non-practicing entities (NPEs).
Broad-based adoption of defensive publishing would also increase the overall quality of patents and, perhaps most importantly, reduce the leverage that NPEs have on various industry segments. Business software developer SAS, which has aggressively fought patent trolls, recently announced that it would convert 38 years of user documentation and technical papers to electronic form and provide it to IP.com.
Deploying defensive publishing as part of a well-balanced IP portfolio management strategy not only serves the strategic interests of your company, but will also promote patent quality across your industry and the general economy.
Want to learn more about how defensive publishing can strengthen your patent portfolio? Drop us a message and we can help with your strategy.
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Scans of old BMX catalogs and adverts.
I'm scanning all of my old BMX catalogs and printed adverts from the 80's and 90's, and I will put them here on the website gradually. 🙂 First out is the 1984 catalog from MT-Racing.


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Is the welfare state growing or declining?
Yonatan Ben-Shalom, Robert Moffitt, John Karl Scholz 27 June 2011
What is happening to the US welfare state? According to this column, and contrary to the views of many, the US welfare state has not been going through a significant retrenchment over the last two decades but has in fact been growing. However, it adds that there has been a shift in who benefits over that period, with several types of families left behind.
The level of governmental expenditures on welfare state and safety-net programmes in the US is once again a subject of intense controversy. Conservative commentators and legislators argue that those expenditures have grown too much and need to be cut back in the face of growing deficits (Rector et al. 2009). Some continue to argue that the US has seen a growing rate of welfare dependency and a decline in work by the poor because of welfare programmes (see Mead 2000 for an older statement of this position), following up on original argument that welfare programmes may have actually increased poverty (Murray 1986). Liberals argue that the government has retrenched drastically over the last 15 years, leaving many poor without a safety net (Edelman 2003; Blank and Kovak 2009).
The facts about trends in welfare state expenditures
In recent research (Ben-Shalom et al. 2011), we show that US welfare state expenditures have been growing, even in the last two decades when many have assumed that there has been a retrenchment. Accounting for social insurance programmes and means-tested transfer programmes (including the Earned Income Tax Credit), real annual per-capita expenditure grew from $3,618 in 1990 to $5,584 in 2008 (2007 dollars), a growth rate of 54%. Considering only means-tested transfer programmes, which are more directly aimed at low-income families, expenditure grew even faster, at 78%, but this was largely because of the explosion of Medicaid expenditures. Excluding Medicaid, means-tested expenditure grew by 26%. Expenditure in every programme except two – the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programme and Workers Compensation – had positive growth from 1990 to 2008.
The growth of expenditures has been particularly strong among "in-kind" programmes, i.e. those that provide benefits for specific consumption expenditure, such as medical care, food, and housing. In fact, there are only two major means-tested cash transfer programmes left in the US. These are the Supplemental Security Income programme, which provides cash to poor people who are age 65 or older or have a disability, and the Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides cash tax credits to those with low or moderate earnings (up to approximately $44,000 for those with three or more children). The US provides few open-ended cash payments to the poor, but only benefits for specific, "deserving" categories of expenditure, and only to specific groups that have a favoured status (older people, people with disabilities, and workers).
In contrast to the view of Murray (1986) and others, these expenditures had a major effect in reducing poverty (Figure 1). The poverty rate among US families in 2004 based on their non-transfer, private income alone was 29%; the transfers reduced it to 13.5% (this excludes Medicaid and Medicare from the transfers). About 21% of families had pre-transfer incomes below half the poverty line; that number was reduced to 6.6% by transfer-programme expenditures. Many of the programmes paid benefits to families above the poverty line as well.
Figure 1. Percent of U.S. Families in Different Poverty Strata, Pre- and Post-Transfers, 2004
Disincentive effects are modest
An important issue is whether the programmes reduce work effort and increase the rate of single motherhood. There has been a large amount of research on these issues on most major social insurance and means-tested programmes (see Ben-Shalom et al. 2011). The research shows that most programmes do indeed reduce labour supply, hours of work, and/or employment rates. However, the overall, aggregate effects (i.e., taking all programmes together) are quite modest in magnitude, and the reduction in earnings is only a tiny fraction of the transfer programme benefits that individuals and households receive. As a consequence, the estimated effects on poverty mentioned above are virtually unchanged after adjusting for work disincentives. Effects on single-motherhood are even smaller. Indeed, several studies of the effects of the major US 1996 welfare reform, which greatly reduced the generosity of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programme, had essentially no detectable effect on family structure (Grogger and Karoly 2005).
Sharing the benefits
Whether the level of welfare state expenditures, and its concomitant major effect in reducing poverty among US families, is too large or too small is a question for the political process to resolve. However, a pattern that is hidden by the aggregate trends and their effects on poverty is how transfers have been distributed across different types of US families. Indeed, that distribution has markedly changed. Table 1 reveals the key patterns, showing average monthly expenditure from transfer programmes (2007 dollars) in 1984 and 2004 for different types of families (again excluding Medicare and Medicaid). For example, elderly families with pre-transfer income less than 50% of the poverty line received $1,106 per month in 1984 and $1,254 in 2004. Elderly families with pre-transfer incomes between 50% and 100% of the poverty line also saw increasing transfer expenditures over time. Families with a disabled member, likewise, received more support in 2004 than in 1984 regardless of their pre-transfer poverty status.
Table 1. Average Monthly Expenditure per Family by Pre-Transfer Income Level and Family Type, 1984 and 2004 (2007 dollars)
Under 50% of Poverty Line
50%-100% of Poverty Line
Elderly families and individuals
Disabled families and individuals
Nonelderly, nondisabled
Single-parent families
Two-parent families
Childless families and individuals
Employed families
Nonemployed families
However, this was not the case for families that did not have an elderly or a disabled member. Single-parent families with pre-transfer income less than 50% of the poverty line, for example, saw a reduction in transfer receipt, from $1,231 in 1984 to $766 in 2004; while those with pre-transfer income between 50% and 100% of the poverty line saw an increase ($448 to $832). Among non-elderly families who do not have a disabled member, similar patterns occur whether we examine two-parent families, those with an employed member, or those without an employed member, though the reduction in transfers for the poorest of these families are largest for families without an employed member.
Partly as a result of these expenditure reductions, the percentage of these non-elderly families without a disabled member who were in "deep" poverty rose from 1984 to 2004 – at the same time that the percentage of the population below the poverty line fell
Within the overall increase in transfers in the US, therefore, there have been two redistributions. First, transfers have shifted towards the elderly and the disabled, and away from the non-elderly and non-disabled, overall. Second, within the non-elderly, non-disabled groups, there has been redistribution from the lowest-income families to families with greater incomes.
Policy choices
The fact that benefits to "deserving" groups like older people and people with disabilities have increased, presumably reflects the support they generate from policymakers and voters, their political power, or both. Likewise, the desire to reward work by increasing transfers to workers both in traditional poverty programmes as well as by the Earned Income Tax Credit, is widely shared by many in the US It is not widely recognised, however, that the worst-off families, those with the lowest incomes and the lowest employment rates, have been left behind by trends in the system. Their receipt of benefits has fallen not only relative to better-off families, but in absolute terms as well. While there may be many "undeserving" families in this group, the vast majority have low skills, health problems, or other barriers to work which prevent them from having significant employment (Blank 2007). Policymakers need to develop mechanisms to assist these families.
The views expressed here are solely those of the authors.
Ben-Shalom, Yonatan, Robert Moffitt, and John Karl Scholz (2011), "An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Anti-Poverty Programs in the US", NBER Working Paper 17042.
Blank, Rebecca (2007), "Improving the Safety Net for Single Mothers Who Face Serious Barriers to Work", The Future of Children, 17:183-197.
Blank, Rebecca and Brian Kovak (2009), "The Growing Problem of Disconnected Single Mothers", in Carolyn Heinrich and John Karl Scholz (eds.), Making the Work-Based Safety Net Work Better, Russell Sage Foundation.
Edelman, Peter (2003), Searching for America's Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope, Georgetown University Press.
Grogger, Jeffrey and Lynn Karoly (2005), Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change, Harvard University Press.
Mead, Lawrence M (2000), The New Politics of Poverty: The Nonworking Poor in America, Basic Books.
Murray, Charles (1986), Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980, Basic Books.
Rector, Robert, Katherine Bradley, and Rachel Sheffield (2009), "Obama to Spend $10.3 Trillion on Welfare", Heritage Special Report SR-76, Heritage Foundation.
Topics: Welfare state and social Europe
Tags: US, welfare state
Yonatan Ben-Shalom
Researcher, Mathematica Policy Research
Robert Moffitt
Professor of Economics, Johns Hopkins University
John Karl Scholz
Professor of Economic Policy, University of Wisconsin-Madison


What a beautiful and private acreage tract for your dream home! 8.08 acres with 39 mature post oaks and 5 mature live oaks backing up to a large ranch on two sides. Central water system and underground utilities. Horses allowed. Gated community, common pavilion/pool/playscape/fishing pond/volleyball/basketball and walk/jog trail! Only 8 miles to Marble Falls, 22 miles to the Hill Country Galleria and a few short minutes to the Baylor Scott and White clinic and hospital.
East on Hwy 71, L@West Trail, go to end of road to culdesac, Lot 5 is on the left.


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11 Biggest Ways Trumpcare Will Change the U.S. Healthcare System
By Ilan Moscovitz – Jun 4, 2017 at 6:41AM
A look at what The American Health Care Act would do.
The American Healthcare Act of 2017 that recently passed the House of Representatives aims to dramatically reshape healthcare in the U.S.
What would the changes be? Last week, The Congressional Budget Office released the latest official forecast of what Trumpcare would do.
Here are the 11 biggest ways Trumpcare would change healthcare.
23 million fewer Americans would have health insurance
Under Trumpcare, the number of uninsured Americans would nearly double to 51 million from 26 million. The increase would be due to the higher cost of health insurance and elimination of the individual mandate.
Chart by author. Source: CBO.
It's especially middle-aged and middle-and-lower class Americans who would lose insurance
The bulk of the newly uninsured would be middle-aged people of moderate means.
Although the agencies expect that the legislation would increase the number of uninsured broadly, the increase would be disproportionately larger among older people with lower income -- particularly people between 50 and 64 years old with income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level [i.e. $56,000 for a family of four.]
Here are the increases in the uninsured rates broken down by age and income:
$834 billion in cuts to Medicaid
Since the passage of Obamacare, 14 million extra Americans have gotten access to health insurance through Medicaid, the health insurance program supports poor children and parents, low-income seniors, and the disabled. Obamacare gave states the option to cover more people by raising the qualifying income threshold. (The threshold for 2017 is an individual earning less than $16,400.)
Trumpcare reverses the Medicaid expansion. Beyond that, it makes big cuts to Medicaid by reducing the Federal matching rate and capping benefits below the rate at which healthcare costs grow.
$664 billion in tax cuts targeting wealthy Americans
Trumpcare eliminates capital gains and medicare taxes that apply to single filers earning more than $200,000 per year and couples earning for than $250,000 per year.
Insurers, medical device manufacturers, prescription drug makers, and indoor tanning salons would also get tax cuts.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center calculates that Trumpcare would cut taxes for the top 1% of earners by $37,000 a year; the top 0.1% would get a $207,000 tax cut.
Chart by author. Source: Tax Policy Center.
Higher premiums
On an apples-to-apples basis, average net premiums would be roughly 13% higher under Trumpcare as opposed to Obamacare. But premium changes would vary considerably.
They would rise much more for older, poorer, and middle-class Americans. For example, a 64-year old making $26,500 -- close to the U.S. median income -- would see his/her annual premiums rise from $1,700 to more than $13,000.
On the other hand, young, healthy, wealthy Americans could see their premiums decline.
Reduce the deficit by $119 billion over 10 years
Overall Trumpcare would save the Federal Government $119 billion over 10 years, or 1.2% of the 10-year deficit.
Insurers wouldn't have to cover essential services
Obamacare requires insurance companies to cover certain basic services like hospitalization, mental health, prescription drugs, and disease prevention. Under Trumpcare, states could decide that policies don't need to include those benefits.
Higher prices for some people with pre-existing conditions
Obamacare banned the practice of insurers denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions or charging them extra. Trumpcare would let states allow insurers to charge higher prices -- in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars -- to people with preexisting conditions if they have a gap in coverage.
Preexisting conditions include asthma, high-cholesterol, pregnancy, heart disease, obesity, cancer, acne, Alzheimer's, alcoholism, injuries, and others. Most American households have a member with a preexisting condition, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
Insurers would be allowed to charge older Americans five times as much as younger customers
Obamacare capped the amount insurers could charge older Americans at three times the amount they charge younger people for similar coverage.
A big part of the reason why premiums would increase so much for older Americans is Trumpcare's so-called "age tax," which allows insurers to charge older Americans five times as much as younger customers.
People who don't want insurance wouldn't have to buy it
Obamacare prevents insurance companies from discriminating against sicker customers by charging higher prices. It also requires everyone to either purchase insurance or pay a penalty. Otherwise, healthy people could opt out of insurance, and just wait until they got sick to buy insurance. If enough people pulled that trick, the pool of insurance customers would consist of mostly sick people, which would drive up premiums, thus driving away even more healthy people in a vicious cycle known in insurance circles as a "death spiral."
Trumpcare does away with this requirement. So people who don't want insurance -- mainly younger, healthier Americans -- wouldn't be penalized if they don't insure themselves.
Would destabilize some health insurance markets
One-sixth of Americans live in parts of the country where nongroup insurance markets would become unstable starting in 2020.
The CBO explains how it would happen:
Community-rated premiums would rise over time, and people who are less healthy (including those with preexisting or newly acquired medical conditions) would ultimately be unable to purchase comprehensive nongroup health insurance at premiums comparable to those under current law, if they could purchase it at all.
Trumpcare's fate is still uncertain. To become law, the bill still needs to pass the Senate, which is only beginning to write its own version. Full passage is made more difficult by the fact that the bill isn't very popular -- only 20% of Americans support it.
But with Trumpcare's vast potential to reshape the American healthcare market, healthcare consumers should keep an eye on it.


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El Castell d'Aspelt (en luxemburguès: Schlass Uespelt; en francès: Château d'Aspelt) situat a Aspelt al sud de Luxemburg, és un castell d'arquitectura barroca construït el 1590, sobre el lloc que ocupava un castell medieval del . Es troba en procés de renovació.

Història
Els orígens del Castell d'Aspelt semblen originar-se abans de 1100, quan un castell amb fossat va ser construït a l'indret, possiblement sobre ruïnes romanes. La primera referència escrita sobre el castell es troben a les cróniques d'Echternach de Theoderich von Wied de l'any 1132. Les bases rodones de les torres gòtiques pertanyen probablement al , mentre que l'edifici actual es va acabar el 1590 amb següents transformacions portades a terme per les famílies propietaries de Ruelle, Kempt i Burthé. El 1777, els Martinys van ampliar el palau i van instal·lar noves finestres barroques a les torres. L'any 1957, es va restaurar la planta baixa de la torre sud-oest.

Vegeu també
 Llista de castells de Luxemburg

Referències

Castells de Luxemburg

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We recently kicked off our School Wide Book Club. Families should have received a copy of the book "The Adventures of a South Pole Pig" by Chris Kurtz. We look forward to seeing students participation in the challenges. Please bring your responses to the special PINK BIN in the front entrance of the school. We do weekly draws for prizes. Be sure to put your name on the paper! The purpose of the Book Club is to get families reading and talking about reading together!


← Pick up your poo… everywhere!
This morning I opened the first window of my chocolate advent calendar and then opened door number 1 of Guinness' Wainwrights calendar.
I was surprised to see not just one treat but a little handful of small salmon treats. Perfect for doing a few little exercises with.
I love this trick and it's one of the first things I taught to Guinness.
In other news, this weekend I attended an agility workshop at Dig It run by Lou Cadman. We were specifically looking at course running skills and making handling decisions, as well as improving our overall agility training skills.
It was interesting to break down a small section and try it two different ways. There were three of us in the class and we all found that our first choice was the quickest for our dogs, despite one person doing it a different way to the other two. It was fascinating to see that there wasn't one route that was quicker than the other and instead it varied for each specific dog and handler.
Lou is a fantastic instructor and I always take something really useful from her sessions (and I'm not just saying that because she's a friend of mine).
This video shows our final run of the day. Despite the ducked jump and missed jump I'm really pleased. Our weave entries were especially awesome! Good job Guinness.
Thank you that's so great to hear! Perhaps you could have a go at some of the tricks that I'll be posting throughout Blogmas.
Rowan has always done both paws and still does but I should have introduced her to agility.


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June 18, 2013 / 1:11 PM / in 6 years
Russia starts delivering $1 billion arms package to Azerbaijan
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has begun delivering tanks, artillery cannons and rocket launchers worth $1 billion to Azerbaijan, a Moscow-based defense group said on Tuesday, as the former Soviet republic strengthens its military readiness in the volatile South Caucasus.
Oil- and gas-producing Azerbaijan, where President Ilham Aliyev faces re-election in October, has boosted arms spending and threatened to take back the disputed territory of Nagorno- Karabakh by force from neighboring Armenia.
Nestled between Iran, arch-rival Armenia and its former Soviet master Russia, Azerbaijan sits on a web of oil and gas pipelines that carry its offshore energy reserves to Europe via Turkey, its ally.
The arms package, signed in a series of contracts between 2011 and 2012, includes nearly 100 T-90C tanks, Smerch and TOS-1A multiple rocket launchers and Msta-A and Vena artillery cannons, said Ruslan Pukhov, director of defense think tank CAST.
A source at the Russian Defence Ministry said the order had been on hold for some time to avoid upsetting the military balance in the South Caucasus, where Russia has a military base in Armenia and an agreement to defend the country if it comes under attack. But the deal had been pushed through at the behest of Russia's powerful arms industry, he said.
A spokesman at Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport was unavailable for comment.
Russia has almost completed deliveries of a previous, larger package, estimated by CAST as worth $2-3 billion and including S-300 missile systems and attack helicopters. Azerbaijan has also announced a $1.6 billion arms deal with Israel.
Although political and defense analysts doubt Azerbaijan has any immediate appetite for war, it has increased its military spending in recent years. Aliyev has said spending on defense will reach $3.7 billion this year.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan said last year that Azerbaijan was accumulating a "horrendous quantity" of arms and was threatening Armenia with a new war.
Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians fought a war in the early 1990s in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh enclave which is inside Azerbaijan.
About 30,000 people were killed in the war, which ended in a truce in 1994, although no peace treaty has never been agreed.
Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Mark Trevelyan


Kek Cone Mills - KemutecKek Cone Mill for Gentle and Intermediate Grinding. "FULLY CUSTOM BUILT AND DESIGNED CONE MILLS". Kek Cone Mills are low energy and versatile mills for the gentle, intermediate grinding and deagglomeration of powders and granules. Milled Particle Size . Keeps installation costs to a minimum. Low Noise – No.price of kek cone mills,price of kek cone mills,Laboratory or pilot scale KEK Cone Mill - Process ComponentsProduct Details. The KEK Cone Mill provides a feature rich conical milling solution. Cone milling is a low energy size reduction process ideal for fatty, heat sensitive, sticky, moist or otherwise difficult to grind products. . Low Dust Levels - no need for air filtration helping to keep installation costs to a minimum. Low Noise - no.
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Feb 12, 2018 . The famous Cone Mills White Oak plant has closed – here are our picks to buy selvedge jeans made in America, while you still can.
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Buy your normal TS size. 13.5-oz. indigo warp & natural weft red cast denim. Milled on draped shuttle looms at Cone Mills White Oak in Greensboro, NC; Custom double tick indigo selvage ID. Cuffs, front and back panels with selvage detailing. Two rounded patch pockets. Left pocket with pen slot. Front welt hand-warmer.
Levis & Cone Mills. This assignment was great! Levi's asked me to design several parts of the celebration of the Golden Handshake between Levi Strauss & Co and Cone Mills. In 1915 the two made an agreement that Levi's got exclusive use of the Shrink-to-Fit Denim, made by the prominent fabric manufacturer Cone Mills.
Kemutec Kek CM340, Stainless Steel Cone Mill, 10 Hp, 230/460 V .
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Kek Cone Mill for Gentle and Intermediate Grinding. "FULLY CUSTOM BUILT AND DESIGNED CONE MILLS". Kek Cone Mills are low energy and versatile mills for the gentle, intermediate grinding and deagglomeration of powders and granules. Milled Particle Size . Keeps installation costs to a minimum. Low Noise – No.
Product Details. The KEK Cone Mill provides a feature rich conical milling solution. Cone milling is a low energy size reduction process ideal for fatty, heat sensitive, sticky, moist or otherwise difficult to grind products. . Low Dust Levels - no need for air filtration helping to keep installation costs to a minimum. Low Noise - no.
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This air-spring add-on functions by creating 2 separate positive air chambers - one high pressure chamber and one low pressure chamber. During the compression of the fork, the compression ratio measured by ShockWiz will change. This creates a variable compression ratio making it incompatible with ShockWiz.


The Guardian Monitor is our most advanced system and can be applied in some of the most demanding situations when supporting tonic/clonic seizures and SUDEP.
The Guardian Monitor is our most advanced epliepsy monitor. Like the Companion it can monitor Bed Movement, Sound, Incontinence, Vomiting and Bed Vacation. In this case the movement detection has the capability of supporting those with Tonic/Clonic and Tonic only (supporting those at risk of SUDEP) seizures. It is used by many in a professional care environment, respite and educational facilities because of its highly adaptable operation. It is equally perfect for domestic use where there are complex seizure patterns.
The Bed Movement detection uses a highly sensitive sensor under the mattress is used to analyse the size & frequency of movement. An alarm is raised if the movement indicates lack of normal movement or gross seizure movements. A learning mode allows the unit to record the normal movement activity overnight to establish the safe criteria.
The sound sensor is a special internal microphone to detect sharp gasps, clicks or groans. The device however is insensitive to background noise such as talking, tv?s, radio?s or vacuums.
The Enuresis Sensor* (vomit or urination) is a comfortable thin cotton sheet placed on a mattress or pillow with embedded silver wires to detect moisture from urination or vomit. The sheet does not induce sweating, like plastic, and hence reduces sores and false alarms. The monitor will detect if the sensor wires become broken after washing.