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Song Review: W Project 4 – 1′ 1″
Posted on September 2, 2019 by Nick	12 Comments
Woollim Entertainment is my favorite K-pop agency, and one of the things I like most about them is that they carve out a signature sound for their artists. This sound usually counters trends, opting for a more classic pop approach. But now that the agency has been sucked into the Produce 101 orbit, I fear that their new generation of artists is starting to lose that idiosyncratic appeal. New girl group Rocket Punch's debut album was as generic as generic gets, and the agency's just-released W Project 4 follows suit.
W Project was initially used to introduce members of Golden Child, and that group ended up having a very different sound than their pre-debut material. Perhaps that will be the case here. 1' 1" (1분1초) cobbles together most of Woollim's Produce X 101 trainees — along with "hidden" trainee Lee Sungjun — for a showcase before their presumed debut. I really hope Woollim doesn't feel like they need to move too fast with this. They just debuted Rocket Punch and still need to solidify Golden Child (who have been on an unforgivable ten-month hiatus…).
For its first minute, 1' 1" shows promise. Opening with a warped vocal effect, the track presents a steady, moody build that really gets going as percussion and guitar join the fray. Unfortunately, this is all undercut by an ugly instrumental drop that takes the place of a chorus. The song is described as a "future" dance track, and I guess this momentum-killing synth riff is what makes it "future." If so, I think we all need to take a step back into the past. I get that 1' 1" is designed to showcase choreography as much as vocals, but the song comes across as being half-formed — like an early draft in need of major revision. That would be my advice to Woollim. Give these guys some time to gel as a group, and invest in a composer with a distinctive voice to give them material that stands out.
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12 thoughts on "Song Review: W Project 4 – 1′ 1″"
Miles Johnson says:
Oh hmm, I agree that the drop is pretty loud and unsubtle, but for me the pre-chorus at :56 is almost robust enough to act as chorus, with the drop as a post-chorus. There was a good amount of melody, and nice harmonies, to carry the song to the end.
But yes, the first verse is the strongest and most original, and it gets generic in the second verse for sure.
Well, this track perfectly matches (and perfectly proves) what you wrote about the "Produce 101 Industry". And it's so depressing it comes from Woollim, marking the latest step beyond in its continuous path of decay started from Hoya's departure and no more fixed ever after.
With YG involved in so many issues and scandals, SM forced to create a "supergroup" to event try to deal with BTS' overpower and other big brands coming and going in terms of sales and popularity, Woollim could really have the chance to bring its awareness back to the golden years of INFINITE, but – uhm – what it have been doing for the last year IMHO is really annoying.
Not to mention Golden Child's hiatus, Rocket Punch project is definitely nonsense, Lovelyz are no longer either meat nor fish, L himself didn't renew his contract and left the agency, and now what? A discount clone of Wanna One playing a discount clone of the worst Wanna One's b-sides.
If it won't work, it's going to be a serious problem for Woollim.
If it will, it's going to be a more serious problem for K-Pop.
spectrales says:
Can't argue with your other points much but how do you consider Lovelyz "neither meat nor fish"? I think they've found a pretty solid niche for themselves with their own identity and "slot" in the industry and seem to be doing well enough in it. If anything they could stand to experiment with their sound a little more/take some risks, but for now they have both a stable sound and a stable fandom.
mymagoogle says:
I thought very much the same. Builds builds builds to the chorus and then … typical kpop boy band song.
Whoever sings second, I love his timbre, but I dont seem to hear him again. Did they bury him in the rap line?
There is a lot of seventeen styling here in both the dance and the vocal styling, which makes sense because these boys would be coming of age under the seventeen influences. Seventeen just do both a lot better.
Speaking of produce 101, kyuhyun just did a cover of Energetic on king of masked singer (as "Jinie").
thekors says:
You're absolutely right. The guy is Yunseong, and he raps at 0:35
Darko Barbarejski says:
wow this is fucking shit. you're being too nice.
Don't have much to say with regards to this song but,, Woollim pls grant us the gift of a Golden Child comeback (preferably with the same concept they've had thus far, thank you) because I don't need this grayscale moodiness in my life.
You have no idea how hard it was not to just make this entire review a screed against Woollim's lack of Golden Child promotion.
So… I'll do it here in the comments! Haha
They're now in their 313th day without a comeback (but who's counting, right?), which is longer than Lovelyz' infamous 2016-17 hiatus and any of Infinite's pre-2016 hiatuses. Plus, this is happening way earlier in Golcha's career, at the exact time they should be building their fan base.
I don't know… I'm so invested in this group — probably more than any other of this "new" K-pop generation. Yeah, I'm pissed that we haven't gotten new music for almost a year, but I'm more worried about what this is doing to their momentum. To make a "same debut year" comparison, The Boyz have had three (!) promoted comebacks in the time that Golcha has been on hiatus. Even Lovelyz has had two! It's just so frustrating. And communication from Woollim is nonexistent.
Rant over. If you want more, go to my twitter account. I post about this way too often. I probably sound insane.
I was thinking of your Twitter when I wrote that comment! Honestly if no one else is willing to scream about The Golcha Injustice, I appreciate you doing it. It's worth screaming about, even if nothing happens.
I will Third the motion that Golden Child is missed. I had Lady Damdida Let Me and Genie on repeat for a long while earlier this year.
There aren't too many other bands in that lite FM pop niche in kpop these years, so they do fill a need.
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Q: C# .NET UserControl Retain Child Control Properties on Cut-And-Paste so I managed to build my own simple user control. Basically it is a custom Button containing a child Label control on top of it. The button works as how it should be during runtime.
However during design time I got an issue whenever I cut-and-paste that button (let's say I want to move it from Panel1 to Panel2 by cut-and-paste).
The button itself retains its properties such as background color, etc, but the child Label inside it is reinitialized everytime we paste it, so the text and color inside that label changed back to its default value.
The value of the labels text is set by "Text" property which overrides Text property of the UserControl such as follows :
private String _text = "Button";
    [Browsable(true), Description("Sets the text displayed on the button"), Category("Display Settings")]
    public override String Text {
        get => _text;
        set {
            _text = value;
            lb_Text.Text = _text;
        }
    }

Is there a way to retain child control properties during cut-and-paste in the Designer view?
Below is the code generated for InitializeComponent() section of the UserControl, which will be called whenever it is added to a form. Details aside, I acknowledged that default text and color values is re-initialized there, so I'm not sure how we replace those during cut-and-paste.
private void InitializeComponent()
    {
        this.lb_Text = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
        this.SuspendLayout();
        //
        // lb_Text
        //
        this.lb_Text.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(((int)(((byte)(127)))), ((int)(((byte)(127)))), ((int)(((byte)(127)))), ((int)(((byte)(127)))));
        this.lb_Text.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
        this.lb_Text.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 10F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold);
        this.lb_Text.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Black;
        this.lb_Text.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 0);
        this.lb_Text.Name = "lb_Text";
        this.lb_Text.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(200, 50);
        this.lb_Text.TabIndex = 1;
        this.lb_Text.Text = "Button";
        this.lb_Text.TextAlign = System.Drawing.ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter;
        //
        // MomentaryButton
        //
        this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(9F, 20F);
        this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
        this.BackgroundImage = global::HMIControls.Properties.Resources.Button_Normal;
        this.BackgroundImageLayout = System.Windows.Forms.ImageLayout.Stretch;
        this.Controls.Add(this.lb_Text);
        this.Name = "MomentaryButton";
        this.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(200, 50);
        this.ResumeLayout(false);

    }

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Corruption and Civil Society in Romania: Striving for an Answer, or at Least a Clear Picture
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Corruption and Civil Society in Romania: Striving for an Answer, or at Least a Clear Picture Andrei Tiut The author is a political science student, University of Bucharest, Romania. There is a widespread belief that the increasing number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) helps diminish corruption. In this article, I question the assumption that civil society organisations per se, by virtue of their existence, numbers, and social activities, can be sufficient to diminish corruption and its causes. Many believe that civil society is a positive force, growing in a "natural," "spontaneous" way, and covering various aspects of social life in its activities. They say that NGOs compete among themselves for the same (limited) resources, and that often they also compete with the state for influence and prestige. [1] As a result, citizens have more options, a more open society, more freedom from the discretionary power of bureaucrats, civil or public. Moreover, NGOs are believed to have a direct interest in bringing to light and eliminating any malfunctioning in the system that interferes with their activities. This is a plausible theory. However, there are at least two problems with it. First, there is little empirical evidence supporting it. Second, it appears that this theory applies more to larger and stronger NGOs with sufficient resources that can sustain themselves; small NGOs may often fall prey to corruption, rather than succeed in containing it.
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Corruption and Civil Society in Romania: Striving for an Answer, or at Least a Clear Picture Andrei Tiut The author is a political science student, University of Bucharest, Romania. There is a widespread belief that the increasing number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) helps diminish corruption. In this article, I question the assumption that civil society organisationsper se, by virtue of their existence, numbers, and social activities, can be sufficient to diminish corruption and its causes. Many believe that civil society is a positive force, growing in a "natural," "spontaneous" way, and covering various aspects of social life in its activities. They say that NGOs compete among themselves for the same (limited) resources, and that often they also compete with the state for influence and prestige.[1]As a result, citizens have more options, a more open society, more freedom from the discretionary power of bureaucrats, civil or public. Moreover, NGOs are believed to have a direct interest in bringing to light and eliminating any malfunctioning in the system that interferes with their activities. This is a plausible theory. However, there are at least two problems with it. First, there is little empirical evidence supporting it. Second, it appears that this theory applies more to larger and stronger NGOs with sufficient resources that can sustain themselves; small NGOs may often fall prey to corruption, rather than succeed in containing it. Indeed, sociological studies as to what extent NGOs have impact on the issues for which they stand are still scarce. Information comes primarily from the news, as NGOs are under relatively constant scrutiny from the media. One would then expect a continuous flow of data showing the impact of NGOs on,inter alia, combating corruption. But this is not the case; on the contrary, the role and impact of NGOs (and in general "civil society") has not yet become widely acknowledged. The defenders of civil society may answer that, though empirical data (news) are available, there are reasons to question the quality of such data. Indeed, media sources do not seem to have a clear picture of what civil society is or should be. Rather, in the media there is a sum of recurrent images, almost myths. There is a positive image (or myth) of the "lone fighter" – a small NGO fighting the bad system and challenging the indifferent bureaucracy in the name of citizens. There is a negative image (myth) of the "deceiver" – a bad NGO obtaining undeserved gains using gaps in the system. Finally, there is a modern image or myth of the "embodiment" – NGOs are as a symbol and piece of "Western life," with its mysterious, seductive and "contagious" affluence. What is distinctive about these images is that they are uncritical. Until not very long ago, it was difficult even to see different media sources on the same issue. Now different perspectives are offered on most conflicts involving civil society. Still, there is rarely any follow up on issues in the news in order for the public to draw an informed conclusion. This does not mean that available data are plainly unreliable. Rather, available information ought to be treated with caution. This brings us to the second problem: does this theory of "the more NGOs -- the less corruption" apply to all and any NGOs? Or are some NGOs better equipped to fulfil their role as a counter-force to corruption than others? What would be the factors distinguishing civil society organisations that work for the public good, combating corruption, from those that only perpetuate the evil or are simply irrelevant? Since the theory of spontaneous growth of civil society tends to see all NGOs as similar, I will try to refer to those who fail to meet this criterion, although not necessarily out of bad intentions. NGOs?) Here I would like to use an example of an NGO that was "bad." The NGO pursued ostensibly good aims and even obtained recognition for its efforts. It aimed at helping people with specific problems, and indeed it was a considerable service to its target group, even though its actual activities diverged somewhat from what was stated in its reports. The NGO was partly sponsored by the local authorities and was in close cooperation with at least two highly respected international NGOs, and so it had no lack of financial resources to expand its activities. However, instead of expanding its operations in proportion to growing resources, substantial amounts of the resources allegedly landed in the pockets of the staff, and many resources were simply wasted. Yet the authorities never called this NGO to account; as to the international partners, at least one suspected mismanagement (if not fraud) but still continued cooperation, for the lack of another eligible associate. As to the media, the NGO has managed to maintain positive image. I do not claim this example has statistical relevance, but through it we can see what can happen whenever proper conditions (that is, proper people) appear. It shows, first of all, how power – in this case money, on the one hand,
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and lack of public accountability on the other, can corrupt even well-meaning NGOs. It also shows that complicity of the government and fellow NGOs allow corruption to go uninterrupted and unpunished. Finally, it shows that merely multiplying NGOs in the corruption-generating system, capable of "infiltrating," assimilating and subduing them, seeing them not as a danger but as an opportunity to expand and reproduce itself, leads to more corruption, not less. What is worse, civil society loses confidence – if not legitimacy – in the public eye. Corruption and bureaucracy anger and frustrate the public – NGOs should provide a framework for the public to manifest their dissatisfaction and promote change. Yet, this is not happening. Another eloquent example of a "insufficient" civil society in Romania was the reaction to the new law on free access to public information. The law suggests a strategy for greater transparency -- public interest litigation.[2]The more lawsuits are brought, challenging the denial of public access to information, the more judicial decisions are handed down, ordering access, the greater would be transparency. However, there have been only a few cases against public authorities that deny access to information.[3]In this instance, it is not "bad" NGOs that actively perpetuate corruption, but civil society that is passive and indifferent to corruption that is the problem. And, as in the previous case of an openly corrupt NGO, it appears that any sheer number of "clean" but useless NGOs does nothing to diminish corruption. In conclusionI tried to challenge in this article some assumptions that civil society isper sea safeguard against corruption, and that the greater quantity of NGOs automatically diminishes the incidence of corruption. At least in Romania this is not the case. Corruption appears strong and dynamic. Civil society appears weaker and slower, regardless of numbers of registered NGOs, because it often shows itself unable to resist the pressures of the corruption-generating system. This may be well worth a thought for those who measure democracy or transparency by a number of registered, albeit shady or useless NGOs, and prescribe more NGOs as a remedy to cure the malaise of corruption. It may also be well worth a thought for civil society actors themselves to start forming a strong and coherent "tissue": active, coordinated, open self-critical – and thus resistant to corruption. This should not be interpreted as proposal for simply creating an(other) ubrella association or league. There need be not only new structures but also an alliance between NGOs and public opinion. If this internal strengthening does not happen – and I believe in Romania it is not yet happening – many of the NGOs would have to face a crucial dilemma: to adapt and be absorbed into the corrupt system, or perish. Footnotes [1]"The Civil Society Index" (issued in Romania by FDSC -Foundation for the Development of Civil Society), which is a study made on a sample containing mostly representatives of NGOs documents that (a) they believe that there is not enough cooperation between NGOs but rather competition, which they perceive as negative and sometimes unfair and (b) the opinion on whether NGOs cooperates or not with the public and private sectors are quite split, though most of them agree that the reverse (the cooperation of the public and private sector with the NGOs) is not satisfactory. The attitude towards cooperation/competition is favourises rather the latter, unlike in the type of discourse that I criticise; we can explain this both by the fact that I refer to apologetic discourse and by the structure of the questions. Still, in the comments the authors have quoted (which need not be representative), the statements I have mentioned were argued by various persons. For a simplistic, but in its own way relevant, account of the state vs. civil society competition, see here:http://www.geocities.com/muntealb/SocietateaCivila.htm. [2]Law 544/ 2001 of October 2001. [3]Romanian NGOs seem to have focused on "show" trials that can be "important steps" and "signals [my underlining] given by the judicial power" (official press release, APADOR-CH, 20 April 2003) or on monitoring the way in which the law is applied, without judicial follow-up. 
Euthanasie définition
Vincent Humbert
Avis sur Fin de vie, arrêt de vie, euthanasie
Face à une demande d'euthanasie
La loi LEONETTI : Quoi de neuf depuis avril 2005 ?

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The first Nobel Prizes were awarded. The will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, whose last will specified that his fortune be used to create a series of to recognize those who made discoveries that brought "the greatest benefit on mankind", the first prizes were awarded in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine in 1901. Shortly after his death, the Nobel Foundation was established to manage the finances and administration of the prizes and shortly after the first prizes were awarded.
And 115 years later, the prizes that are widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics, are still being awarded and the benefits yet to be found are still blowin' in the wind.
LOLCat and SI congratulate Bob Dylan. After all, we're still only bleeding.
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates.
This entry was posted in History, Miscellaneous on December 10, 2016 by thedoctor.


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Jason Jimenez: What Type of 'EQUITY' Should Christians Support?
by Stand Up For The Truth | Jul 21, 2021 | American Church, Discipleship, Moral Relativism, Podcast
TODAY'S GUEST – Jason Jimenez, founder of STAND STRONG Ministries and faculty member at Summit Ministries. He is a pastor, apologist, and national speaker who has ministered to families for over twenty years. As a Pastor, Jason has invested in marriages, families, and churches to help them have a greater impact in their communities. Jason is a worldview expert that specializes in cultural, theological, and religious issues.
Jason has authored several books: The Raging War of Ideas: How to Take Back Our Faith, Family, and Country, co-authored The Official Study Guide to I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, and The Bible's Answers to 100 of Life's Biggest Questions with Dr. Norman Geisler (Baker Books), and co-authored Stand Strong America: Courage, Freedom & Hope for Tomorrow, Abandoned Faith: Why Millennials Are Walking Away and How You Can Lead Them Home (Focus on the Family and Tyndale), and Stand Strong in Your Faith.
WE DISCUSS the impact on Christian youth ministries like Summit are having, and tackle the hijacking of words such as "equity." How should true believers respond to the increasing darkness and moral relativism? Silence can no longer be an option.
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Romans 13:11
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons; 1 Timothy 4:1
"Christians need to understand the good and the bad of equity. Before I address my concerns with "equity" in our society and how it is being dangerously used, I think it's important to say first that let's not overlook the need to meet people where they are at.
In the whole debate over diversity, inclusivity, and equity, there are those who genuinely are trying to help others and attempt to unite one another. That's a good thing. But let's not be fooled into believing to do that we must embrace the Left's dangerous views of equity hook line and sinker." Jason Jimenez
Challenging Conversations: A Practical Guide to Discuss Controversial Topics in the Church
Video: The Dangers of 'Equity'
Our previous podcast with Jason Jimenez
200 Resources You Can Trust!
5 Minute video on David's new book, 'Canceling Christianity'


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Filozofija matematike postavlja temeljna pitanja: što je to matematika i kako se matematika treba koristiti. Postoji veliki broj filozofskih škola koje su pokušale dati odgovor na ova pitanja, a glavne su predstavljene ispod.

Platonizam ili matematički realizam
Platonizam ili realizam uči da matematika postoji u svom vlastitom svijetu, paralelnom s našim. Lako je zamjetiti da se matematika pojavljuje u skoro svim znanostima. Osnovna misao je da je matematika nešto što već postoji i što matematičari istražuju. To se može usporediti s Platonovim svijetom ideja u kojem je naš vlastiti svijet samo sjena očitog. Aksiom unutar realizma je analogan fizičkom svijetu prirodnih zakona.
Problem s ovakvim pristupom je da se mora objasniti u kojem svijetu se matematika nalazi, i kako je ona povezna s našim fizičkim svijetom.

Poznati platonisti ili realisti su Pitagora, Roger Penrose i Kurt Gödel.

Formalizam

Formalizam uči da matematika u osnovi govori o manipulacijama nizovima informacija, tj. koristi se različitim pravilima kod kojih se mijenjaju simboli prema temeljnim pretpostavkama. Ove temeljne pretpostavke su aksiomi koji se manipulacijom u skladu s određenim pravilima pretvaraju u teorem. Na taj način se matematika može usporediti s igrom, npr. šahom, gdje se figure pomiču u skladu sa strogo određenim pravilima. Formalizam ne postavlja iste zahtjeve kao platonizam: mogu se odbaciti aksiomi i pravila, jer nisu "prirodni zakoni", i ne postoji  "perfektna" aksiomska struktura. Unutar formalizma ne postoji dakle čvrsta veza između znanosti i matematike, to je samo slučajnost da ove strukture liče jedna na drugu, i ne postoji nikakav platonski svijet ideja  "iza" fizičkog svijeta.

Problemi koje formalizam teško objašnjiva su su Gödelovi teoremi nepotpunosti.

Poznati formalisti bili su David Hilbert i Haskell Curry.

Logicizam ili logistika

Logicizam ili logistika uči da je matematika isto što i logika i da se može izvesti iz nje. Takvo stajalište podržavali su Bertrand Russell i Alfred North Whitehead u Principia Mathematica čiji je krajnji cilj bio ujedinjenje filozofske logike i matematike. Ovakve ideje su danas uglavnom odbačene.

Spoznajne teorije

Spoznajne teorije vide matematiku kao unutarnju funkciju ljudske svijesti, što je prirodan slijed naše perceptivne sposobnosti. Može se npr. vidjeti da mozak jako reagira na geometrijske predmete stvorenih ravnim linijama, dok bezoblični predmeti ne daju iste jake reakcije kao što je to bilo u prvom slučaju. Dakle u ovom slučaju spoznajne teorije vide matematiku kao bitno podređenu biologiji. Matematika bi znači tako bila elektrokemijski fenomen u ljudskom mozgu.

Socijalni konstruktivizam

Socijalni konstruktivizam smatra da se matematika mora promatrati kao socijalni predmet, kao dio društva, i njena unutarnja logika treba slijediti isti obrazac kao i drugi znanstveni procesi.

Filozofija
Matematika

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Is it Over Already?
By Jack J. Pelton, EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board
Jack J. Pelton, EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board
July 28, 2019 - First of all, let's talk about the numbers that I can talk about already. We had a rough start to the week, but when you look at the number of people camping and the people coming in through the gate, we believe we're on track for a record year. Airport airplane counts are down from the prior year, which is really attributed to airplane arrivals that were lost Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, those who could not come in because we didn't have available surface that was adequate. There was too much rain on the ground.
We do know those airplanes instead went to Fond du Lac and Appleton — they're packed. I've been getting comments from friends who have been texting me saying those airports have massive numbers of airplanes, so the people are here. That's good news. I really, really appreciate the patience of the members in light of us having to park and camp people in places all over Oshkosh's green acres, if you will. EAA members have been very, very supportive of what we had to do.
The Wednesday night air show again continued to be a fan favorite. The Michael Collins event in Theater in the Woods last night, probably other than the general Apollo astronaut one in 2017, was one of the most crowded ever. It was packed. There were probably 6,000 people who showed up to hear Michael Collins. They were all the way down the vintage flightline. We always find a way to bring something here that's of great interest and truly unique, as we say, only in Oshkosh.
The number of show airplanes and the quality of them have been phenomenal. You go down to the Warbirds area and you're seeing probably the largest lineup of P-51 Mustangs that we've had in many, many years. Same within the Vintage area. There are just some truly, truly unique and special airplanes.
It was a real pleasure to be able to greet Burt Rutan when he arrived. Burt is an icon to the homebuilding industry, and to have him show up and actually act apologetic for not being here the past couple of years was really a sign of how important EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is to the aviation industry, which is an honor we take very seriously.
The Monday night concert was another success. The Fray brought in a big crowd and it was great to see such a young audience here. In fact, I'm noticing more and more young families on the grounds, which is really encouraging for the future. I think we've at least been accommodating enough to where families want to come out and enjoy what's going on.
Finally, 50 years of Oshkosh doesn't happen without the volunteers, and it's been another banner year for volunteerism. I can't think of any other organization out there that pulls together as early as we do to pull off an event like this. And it's been generations of families who do this. I think the experience is one that they enjoy, so they keep coming back, but this cannot happen without the volunteers. So again, hats off to the loyal volunteers that we have. Thank you all for another unforgettable year.
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2020 to Highlight U.S. Air Force Special Operations
Canadian Forces Snowbirds Returning to AirVenture 2020
Wisconsin Native Wins 2019 Young Eagles Mustang Raffle
AirVenture 2019: Facts and Figures for a Record Year
Soggy Start Fails to Derail EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019


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Home Cruises Luxury Mekong from Ho chi Minh Scenic Spirit 2022-04-03
Luxury Mekong from Ho chi Minh - DVST030422.1 Scenic Spirit departing 3 Apr 2022
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Balcony from Call for fares
Suite from Call for fares
Location Phu My (Ho Chi Minh Ciity)
Ho Chi Minh City, commonly known by its previous name, Saigon, is the largest and most populous city in Vietnam. According to the 2019 census, Ho Chi Minh City has a population of over 8.9 million within the city proper and over 21 million within its metropolitan area.
Cái Bè is a river-land mixed town in Vietnam. It is a rural district of Tiền Giang Province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Along the river, there are docks that handle passengers and goods, and the floating market.
Location Sa Dec
Sa Đéc is a Provincial city in Đồng Tháp Province in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam. It is a river port and agricultural and industrial trading center. The Sa Đéc economic zone consists of Châu Thành, Lai Vung and Lấp Vò districts. As of January 2018, the city has a population of approximately 202,046.
Location Tan Chau
Tân Châu is a town of An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. As of 2009 the town had a population of 184,129. The town covers an area of 175.68 km². It is famous for Tân Châu silk with the famous product Lãnh Mỹ A, whose black colour comes from the Diospyros mollis's fruit.
Location Phnom Penh (Sihanoukville)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia's busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city's heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.
Oudong is a town in Cambodia, at the base of Phnom Udong Mountain, northwest of Phnom Penh. It was the site of the royal capital from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The mountain's 2 mounds are connected by a ridge and dotted with stupas and shrines dedicated to former kings. Chedi Mouk Pruhm is the burial site of King Monivong. The ruins of Arthross Temple house a large golden Buddha.
Location Angkor Ban
Angkor Ban is a khum of Sampov Loun District in Battambang Province in north-western Cambodia.
Location Wat Hanchey
Wat Hanchey
Location Siem Reap
Siem Reap, a resort town in northwestern Cambodia, is the gateway to the ruins of Angkor, the seat of the Khmer kingdom from the 9th–15th centuries. Angkor's vast complex of intricate stone buildings includes preserved Angkor Wat, the main temple, which is pictured on Cambodia's flag. Giant, mysterious faces are carved into the Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom.
Sun Deck Gem Deck Jewel Deck Sapphire Deck Diamond Deck Diamond Deck
Cabin Name / Grade Deluxe Suite – [CA]
Deck Diamond
Cabin Name / Grade Deluxe Suite – [C]
Cabin Name / Grade Deluxe Suite – [BB]
Cabin Name / Grade Deluxe Suite – [BA]
Cabin Name / Grade Deluxe Suite – [B]
Cabin Name / Grade Deluxe Suite – [A]
Cabin Name / Grade Grand Deluxe Suite – [RD]


text:
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Two bills introduced in the Nebraska Legislature are drawing fire from the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. He also introduced LB 306, otherwise known as the Livestock Animal Welfare Act. From the Lexington Clipper-Herald. click here for the full article. Newcomer to the Legislature Sen.
In December, the United States Department of Agriculture issued a warning letter to the primate center for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which regulates treatment of many commercial animals from pet kittens to laboratory guinea pigs. And the center added training and banned one researcher from animal contact in response. Tags: medical research PETA animal welfare us
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Kathy Bauck, owner of Pick of the Litter Kennels in New York Mills, MN, was recently found guilty of four misdemeanors: one count of animal cruelty, and 3 counts of animal torture. An officer of the ASPCA reported her to the USDA for violations of the Animal Welfare Act back in 1998 and no action was taken. Apparently animal TORTURE only ranks as a "misdemeanor&#. She is still allowed to keep her kennel and keep breeding animals. Kathy Bauck.
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We will increase our level of tactics as long as non-human primates and other animals are tortured to death at the hands of those driven by profit and as long as the University of California shows a complete disregard for the suffering of the non-human prisoners. From the website : Just after sunrise on Halloween, a sole trick or treater descended on the home of University of California-San Francisco primate vivisector Stephen Lisberger.
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After leading a mission to eliminate terrorist leader Sheik Ibrahim Bin-Khalid, Eric Carter, returns to the U.S. and finds out that he and his squad mates are targeted for assassination in retaliation for Bin-Khalid's death. With nowhere else to turn, Carter asks CTU to help him save his life while also stopping one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil.
The events will take place three years after the events in 24: Live Another Day and is set in Washington, D.C.


Just now being awarded with an Jazz Award in Germany for performing with virtuosity and combining different kinds of music styles from classical jazz to modern electronica pop, Thomas Siffling is to be one of the upcoming shooting stars of the German Jazz Scene.
The young Jazz trumpet player already looks back to as well world wide concerts (e.g. in South America Greece, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Lebanon or even Thailand) as colaborations with e.g. Frank Foster, Al Porcino, Karl Razer, Bobby Shew, or Pit Baumgartner (DePhazz).
His new album "Human Impressions", presented by Phazz-a-delic, conveys his jazz style to the audience: is it LoungeJazz, CoolJazz or kind of good old AcidJazz? Is it Jazz music at all or much more Modern Pop than a kind of Jazz?
Well, nevertheless how you name it: electronic ambient fragments and samples, the vocals of the famous German Chanteuse Barbara Lahr on "Breeze" or the song "L'Amour et la Mer" as an homage to love and the sea with distinctive french charm make an extra-ordinary travel through time and space out of "Human Impressions.


The name panna cotta is not mentioned in Italian cookbooks before the 1960s, yet it is often cited as a traditional dessert of the northern Italian region of Piedmont. One (undocumented) story says that it was invented by a Hungarian woman in the Langhe in the early 1900s. An 1879 dictionary mentions a dish called latte inglese 'English milk', made of cream cooked with gelatin and molded, though other sources say that latte inglese is made with egg yolks; perhaps the name covered any thickened custard-like preparation. Early 1890's reports on Alentejo cuisine mention a sweet dish made from honey and leftover goat cheese aromatized with rosemary that resembles modern panna cotta.


text:
From The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei, translated by Jeremy Tiang. Reprinted by kind permission of the author and translator.
Read in Chinese here.
This excerpt is from the second of the book's six novellas, set in 2003. Detective Sonny Lok and his mentor, Kwan Chun-dok, are working against the activities of rival Triad bosses Chor Hon-Keung and Yam Tak-Ngok.
'Commander, have you heard the rumour?' said Lok's subordinate Ah-gut, putting down his newspaper. It was eight in the morning on 16 January, and Lok had just walked into the office.
'What rumour?' Lok set down his briefcase.
'Eric Yeung Man-hoi was attacked last night, in a nightclub on Granville Road.' Ah-gut stood by the doorway.
'Eric Yeung Man-hoi? Who's that?' Lok couldn't connect this name to a case.
'Yeung Man-hoi, you know, that new movie star.'
Lok stared at Ah-gut, his expression plainly protesting, 'I'm not a tabloid reporter, how would I know this stuff?'
'Commander, even if you don't know who he is, we might have to take this case.'
'Sure, Granville Road is within our beat, and the victim's a public figure, we ought to… An actor getting beaten up. Will those entertainment journalists start bothering us? Those idiots don't even know what to ask…'
'No, Commander, Eric Yeung didn't file a police report, and this is just a rumour, I don't even know if it actually happened.'
Once again, Sonny Lok stared uncomprehendingly at Ah-gut.
'Just a rumour? Actors get drunk and make trouble all the time. If no one called the police, our unit has no reason to get involved.'
'This wasn't a bar brawl, he walked into an ambush. That's a Triad tactic.'
Lok now understood what Ah-gut was getting at. 'Boss Chor?'
'Probably,' Ah-gut grimaced. 'A fortnight ago, at a New Year's Eve party at Jay's Disco on Canton Road, Eric Yeung Man-hoi met Candy Ton – the singer, 17 years old, one of Boss Chor—'
'One of Boss Chor's Starry Night entertainers, I know.'
'Right, so Yeung probably had too much to drink, lunged at the girl, groped her and whatnot, and when she pushed him away, he started calling her a stinking whore, Boss Chor's plaything. Candy Ton left in a hurry after that. Then last week, Eight Day Week did an exclusive report with pictures, though with so many embellishments, who knows what really happened.' Eight Day Week was a gossip magazine that had skewed reporting down to an art form.
'So you think Candy Ton complained during their pillow talk, and Chor Hon-keung sent some thugs to teach the young pup a lesson?' The word was that Boss Chor had a fling with every actress and female model on his roster. If you wanted the boss to boost your career, you first had to offer him your body.
'That's my guess.'
'Why would Boss Chor wait so long to retaliate?'
'Yeung was in Shanghai to shoot a movie. Only got back two days ago.'
'Oh, I see.' Lok sat down, his hands intertwined before him. 'How bad are his injuries?'
'I heard not too bad, just some bruises on his pretty face, a few punches on his torso.'
'He didn't go to the hospital?'
'And he didn't call the police, so he probably knows who was behind it.'
'Seems likely.'
'Then there's nothing we can do.' Lok waved dismissively. 'He wasn't beaten to death, so we can't get involved. Even if public opinion forced us to do something, going by what's happened before, we'd just arrest some two-bit gangsters who'd say they came up with the whole idea, and Boss Chor keeps that innocent look plastered on his face, maybe even scares Eric Yeung into having a meal with him, so the papers have a picture of them being all buddy-buddy. Case closed.'
'This time it's different. There might be trouble ahead.' Ah-gut crinkled his brow.
'How's that?'
'There's no proof, and this only came out after the attack, but if it's true, this won't blow over as easily as before…' Ah-gut paused. 'Eric Yeung's biological dad is named Yam.'
Sonny Lok stared at Ah-gut, stunned. 'As in Yam Tak-ngok? Uncle Ngok?'
Ah-gut nodded.
Lok leaned back in his chair, tapping his forehead. This did put a wrinkle in it. Given the existing Chor-Yam rivalry, now that one had attacked the other's son, there might well be some payback to come.
'Any movement over at Hing-chung-wo?'
'Not at the moment, though I've spoken to Intelligence, and they'll let us know if anything crops up.' Ah-gut scratched at his cheek. 'Prevention is better than cure. If we can get both sides to hold their fire ahead of time, or we swoop in and arrest the lot at the first sign of violence, that'd be best.'
Lok nodded. Ah-gut was a veteran of many years on the Yau-Tsim Crime Unit, and his work was excellent. Having such a subordinate gave Lok a little relief from the hot potato he'd just caught.
'Actually,' said Ah-gut thoughtfully, 'Given Yam Tak-ngok's personality, it's unlikely he'll pick a fight directly with Boss Chor. He seems to be pulling back from the scene, and Hing-chung-wo has lost so many men that Hung-yi is sure to win anything they start.'
'But will he be able to stomach his own son being humiliated like that?'
'It's hard to say. Back when Boss Chor kicked Yam aside, the old guy just took it, for the sake of keeping the peace.' Ah-gut gestured at the photo of Uncle Ngok on Lok's notice board. 'This dude's an old school gangster, not some upstart like Chor.'
'Even if he can swallow it, his gang might feel the need to take revenge on behalf of their boss.' Lok jerked his thumb at the few photos below Yam's.
'Possible. Harder to prevent than street-fighting. And what if…'
'What if someone does attack Boss Chor, and innocent people get dragged in?'
'Yes,' Ah-gut nodded. 'No matter who wins, as soon as there's public violence, we're in trouble. Boss Chor swans around as the head of an entertainment company. If he gets blatantly assaulted and we're not seen doing anything about it, people will say the police must be useless against the Triads.'
'I'll formally notify Intelligence. Open a file for this case, and let Mary know that you two will be keeping tabs on Hung-yi and Hing-chung-wo, as well as verifying that rumour you were talking about. Hopefully this time we'll get a jump on them.'
'Yes, Commander.' Ah-gut stood a little straighter to accept the order. As he turned to go, he suddenly thought of something else. 'Even if we don't manage to stop them, and some Hing-chung-wo lowlife strikes first, that might still be good. We can't deal with Boss Chor anyway, why not fight evil with evil? We get a freebie, and everyone's happy.'
'Ah-gut, I'd love to see Boss Chor get torn limb from limb, but if we went down that route, what kind of police officers would we be? Besides, if it came to a gunfight here in the city, I don't think I'd ever forgive myself if some child got caught in the crossfire.'
'Yes, Commander, you're right.' Ah-gut stood at attention again and raised his hand in a salute before departing.
There was a thick layer of mud at the bottom of the lake; best not to stir it, to keep the water as pristine as possible. Scoop away this muck very carefully, a little at a time. Too large a disturbance and you'd foul the whole lake, destroying its ecology.
The following day, Intelligence confirmed that Eric Yeung had indeed harassed Candy Ton two weeks previously, and had also been ambushed the day before. The most important fact – his parentage – was also verified.
Lok got the detailed report from Ah-gut. Eric Yeung was twenty two years old, born to a nightclub mama-san named Yeung, when Yam Tak-ngok was forty three. Brought up by his mother, he seldom saw his dad, who never used his underworld connections to give his son a leg up in showbiz – so no one had known of their relationship. A year ago, Eric Yeung got a lot of public attention for playing the hero's sidekick in a film, and hadn't stopped working since. With only four movies under his belt, he was already considered a rising star.
After the attack, neither Hung-yi nor Hing-chung-wo acted any differently. The informants provided no unusual reports, apart from that Uncle Ngok had issued instructions that he would personally sort out the matter of his son and Boss Chor, and that his gang should stay out of it – it'd be disrespectful to him if they retaliated on their own. It was as Ah-gut said, Yam Tak-ngok was very patient, for a Triad leader.
Sonny Lok opened the next folder to read about Candy Ton. She'd joined Starry Night three years ago, and after a massive publicity boost in the middle of last year, her sweet voice and attractive looks propelled her into the limelight. The case file didn't mention her relationship with Boss Chor, but in Sonny Lok's eyes, she was no different to any low-ranking member of the underworld. The petty thugs worked themselves to the bone for the organization, smuggling drugs, starting fights, pimping, all in order to climb up the ranks, with no idea how they were being exploited. Candy Ton was offering her body and youth to Boss Chor in exchange for fame – but she was merely a money tree to him. She and the gangsters would end up in the same place by different paths.
Four days after the attack – 20 January – Intelligence had nothing new to report, while the gossip magazines murmured that Yeung Man-hoi had been beaten up, pointing the finger at Boss Chor. Of course, warned by the last incident, they didn't dare use his actual name, saying only that Yeung 'might' have offended 'someone' powerful in those circles, and he only had himself to blame. Lok breathed a sigh of relief that they all failed to mention the likeliest source of conflict – Eric Yeung's parentage.
Even with neither Triad making a move, Lok couldn't relax. He decided to give his mentor a call.
'Hi, Sonny, I'm surprised you have the time to chat,' came Kwan Chun-dok's voice.
'A little,' Lok kept his voice light. 'I was calling to ask how you were, and to see if you had time next week for a meal.'
'I'm tied up with this Wan Chai prostitution ring. They're connected to a group that trafficks young girls from the Mainland by making them believe there are proper jobs waiting for them. I won't have time next week…. but aren't you occupied with the case of Yam Tak-ngok's son?'
Lok was momentarily stunned, not having expected his mentor to cut straight to the chase like that. Since the subject had come up, he decided to ask his questions directly.
'That's right. Sifu, have you heard anything new? Like who was responsible?'
'Almost certainly Boss Chor,' said Kwan simply.
'I'd guess so too. And now there might be open conflict between them. I don't want assassinations or gang brawls happening on my turf.'
'You don't need to worry about that. It might have been different five years ago, but today Yam Tak-ngok won't attack just like that, and he's not going to send his men to their deaths just because of his son. If it came to the crunch, Hing-chung-wo would be outnumbered ten-to-one.'
'Sure he won't send anyone to confront Boss Chor?'
'He's in the same position as us: unless anyone can get rid of Chor's entire gang by the roots, how would any of us dare touch even a hair on his head?'
'Sifu, I've got a question. Could Boss Chor have known from the start that Eric Yeung was Uncle Ngak's bastard son?'
Can't be, Chor's never given two hoots about other people's families – I can't imagine he'd have noticed this detail. Besides, why pick on a rival's son?'
'Reduce the other side's power? Attack their reputation?'
'Eric Yeung Man-hoi isn't part of Hing-chung-wo, hurting him won't help Hung-yi. Besides, it was Yeung who started it by harassing Candy Ton – could that be why Yam Tak-ngok didn't do anything? This is just business as usual – someone insults a Starry Night singer, Boss Chor sends thugs to "teach them a lesson".'
Sunny Lok thought his mentor had a point, but still felt uneasy. 'Do you think we ought to leave things here?'
'As for that… Well, I won't lie to you, HQ Narcotics is investigating Yam Tak-ngok – they have lots of proof they can use directly against him—' An electronic beep cut in. 'Ah, call-waiting. Let's stop there, call me another time about dinner.'
'Sir—' But before Lok could say any more, his mentor had hung up.
Kwan's last words made Lok nervous. Was this drug bust supposed to deal with Yam? Was it taking advantage of Hing-chung-wo's state, weakened by Hung-yi and ripe for the picking? A quick strike might make the police look good. Yet if Hing-chung-wo were disbanded, wouldn't the main beneficiary still be Chor Hon-keung?
Sonny Lok shook his head and dismissed the thought. The Crime Unit wasn't Special Duties nor Anti-Triad, they were in charge of keeping law and order, tackling serious crime. Whether or not Hing-chung-wo was annihilated, his job was to prevent the crime situation from getting worse, to prevent further disruptions to the lives of ordinary people. As for getting rid of drugs and dealing with the swaggering Triad bosses. that was their colleagues' job. They had to trust their fellow officers.
But on 22 January, six days after the attack on Eric Yueng, Sonny Lok's premonition came true.
'Commander, we've had a suspicious message.' Ah-gut rapped on Lok's open door.
'What's it say?' Sonny looked up from the document he was studying.
'Um, I think it's best if you see it for yourself.'
In the main office, Lok's team were huddled around Ah-gut's desk, on which was a pile of letters. The topmost one was a manila envelope, about 8 inches long, with 'Inspector Lok, Yau-Tsim Crime Unit' scrawled on it in marker pen.
'No postmark – it didn't come in the mail,' noted Ah-gut.
No one here would treat an unknown item lightly, but the thinness and size of the envelope suggested it wasn't a bomb.
Lok gingerly lifted it. A quick feel suggested it held a CD, but he was still extremely careful as he slit the tape, in case razor blades or anthrax were in there too.
But no, there was nothing except a CD, encased in card.
On the card, in the same writing as the envelope, was a message seemingly scribbled in haste: 'I'm just a cowardly reporter, scared of getting into trouble.'
'An anonymous tip-off?' said Mary, squinting at the writing. Mary was the only woman on Lok's team; a staunch feminist, she more than held her own in the male-dominated environment.
'Looks like it.' Sonny Lok pulled out the disc and examined both sides. It was a regular writable CD like you could buy anywhere, unmarked, its surface wiped clean of fingerprints.
'Ah-gut, you're better with computer stuff.' Lok handed the CD over.
'There's just one file…' Ah-gut pointed at the folder on his screen, which showed only something called movie.avi, created that day at 6.32am.
'Open it,' said Lok.
Ah-gut started the player and dragged the file into it. The indicator showed the clip was 3 minutes 28 seconds long.
A pitch black screen, then after two seconds, a street. Nighttime. No one around, just boarded up worksites and streetlamps. Not even a single car, and just one pedestrian, seen from the back.
'Looks like Jordan Road, near Ferry Street,' Mary said, indicating a corner of the screen. West of Jordan Road was the Kowloon West reclamation project—a massive public works undertaking to create almost a thousand acres of new waterfront property—next to an underwater tunnel, Kowloon MTR station on the Tung Chung line, and so on. Numerous construction projects were underway at the moment, and it was predicted that when complete, these would turn Kowloon into a bustling district. In front of the reclamation project was Jordan Road Ferry Pier, once Kowloon's busiest transport hub.
'No sound, Ah-gut?' asked Lok.
'Image-only.' Ah-gut clicked on 'about this document' to show it had no sound files.
The cameraperson was following the walker, a woman in a voluminous jacket, shouldering an enormous bag. Long black hair flowed from underneath her woolen cap. She wasn't very tall, and walked slowly. Yellowish streetlamp light made it impossible to tell the actual color of her clothes.
'What is this, amateur porn?' joked Cheung, a young officer.
Lok was about to snap at him when the woman on the screen suddenly stopped and looked nervously to her left. She seemed startled by some sound.
Seeing her profile for the first time, Lok felt a rush of blood to his head. He had a sudden realization what he was about to see.
'That's Candy Ton!' Ah-gut had recognized her too.
Now everything started happening very fast. Candy Ton began running, disappearing off the right side of the screen. The cameraperson seemed agitated too, and the frame wobbled a few times before moving to the left, where four men in masks, baseball caps and worker's gloves were pursuing Candy, wielding metal pipes and cleavers. They sprinted across the screen from left to right. The camera paused a second, then jolted around as it tried to catch up with them.
Rounding a corner, the four men were closing on Candy. The shortest one was also the fastest, and got to her first, reaching out to grab her collar as if he wanted to drag her to the ground. Unexpectedly, Candy Ton lashed out and caught her attacker right in the face with her fist. The short man seemed taken by surprise, and slumped on the ground, clutching his nose with his left hand. Candy got away, but this had slowed her down, and now the other three were just a few meters away from her.
The camera showed that there was no one else around, and the sidewalk ahead stopped abruptly. A pedestrian bridge led up from the dead end, and Candy rushed towards it. The camera was some distance away, but happened to be at just the right angle to capture her expression perfectly. She clambered up the stairs, her face twisted in the fear and panic of someone facing death. She almost fell but managed to grab the handrail awkwardly and continue without slowing her pace. Her shoulder bag had disappeared – she must have dropped it while turning the corner, but there was no time to think of that, because in those few seconds, the men had arrived at the stairs too, and looked close to catching up.
The five people reached the bridge itself and disappeared behind its railings, so Lok and his team could only watch agitatedly until the cameraperson got there too – but the image stopped at the stairs, instead of climbing them.
'Why's he stopping?' cried Mary.
'I think… he got distracted by something?' Ah-gut didn't turn his eyes from the screen.
The camera now swerved to the side – and what came next terrified all of them.
Something lay on the sidewalk by the bridge. The watchers couldn't tell what it was at first, even though it was wrapped in a long coat, they didn't connect this thing to the idea of 'Candy Ton', because it was splayed at such an odd angle, arms clutching weirdly at the ground, one leg twisted up to the waist. The head, still in its woolen hat, hair straggling all over, was twisted to one side, and a dark liquid was oozing from it.
Most terrifyingly, that broken body spasmed a few times before finally growing still.
'Did… did she fall?' gasped Cheung.
'Maybe… she was pushed?' Ah-gut spoke slowly, trying to hide his unease.
The bridge was about three stories high, and to fall headfirst would probably cause as much damage as they saw, not to mention almost certain death from the impact to the skull.
So the reason the cameraperson had stopped chasing was that he'd heard a loud crash – of Candy Ton hitting the ground, thought Sonny Lok.
Now the camera turned upwards, and two figures emerged over the railings, one of them clutching a metal bat. And then – another surprise – one of them turned to look straight into the lens, before pulling back.
'That's done it,' muttered Ah-gut.
The image started shaking violently, jerking blearily sky, ground, streetlamp and bridge. The watcher was running for his life, not even stopping to turn off the camera. About half a minute later, the camera was inside a car – he'd made it.
And with that, the screen clicked back to dark. 3 minutes and 28 seconds.
'Candy Ton… killed?' Mary stammered.
'Ah-gut, notify the uniforms to seal off the overhead bridge at Jordan and Lin Cheung Road, and send a forensics team to the site. Mary, stay in the office, you'll be in charge of comms. Everyone else, come with me.' Lok had to suppress his rage to give these orders calmly. He hadn't felt so angry in a long time – although he couldn't stand celebrities like Candy Ton, no defenseless person deserved to be murdered by four thugs like that.
It wasn't far to the scene from Tsim Sha Tsui station, and they arrived a few minutes later. In the car, Lok tried to clear his mind and focus on the investigation.
'The cameraman was probably some entertainment rag paparazzo,' said Lok. 'Following her in the hopes of digging up more dirt about Yueng Man-hoi.'
'And he witnessed a murder instead, but didn't want to get involved, so just sent us the footage?' said Ah-gut.
'Probably.' Lok wrinkled his brow. 'No sound, so I'd guess print media. He'd have hoped a few freeze frames might be worth some cash.' Something along the lines of 'Eric Yeung gets beaten up, while sultry Candy Ton smirks' or 'Candy Ton and Boss Chor's secret rendezvous' would do wonders for sales.
'Mary says no one in the mail room remembers when this came in,' reported Cheung, coming off the phone.
'It might be one of those reporters who's always hanging out the precinct trying to get a scoop,' said Ah-gut. 'The entertainment reporter could have asked a crime journalist to drop it off, or maybe someone who recently transferred from crime to entertainment…'
'We can look into that later. IDing the cameraman isn't a priority,' said Lok.
'No one's phoned in a report – so did they move the body?'
'No idea. But if they've covered their tracks well, that'll make things harder for us…'
The look on Candy Ton's face in the video had given Lok a bad feeling. Yam Tak-ngok had given orders for his men not to do anything, because he'd take care of this on his own – was he thinking 'you've beaten up my son, so I'll take it out on your "daughter"?' Killing this singer meant Uncle Ngok could keep his dignity and settle the score without provoking a direct conflict with Boss Chor – the best way to end this standoff.
But murder was another matter.
Had the attack gone wrong? Maybe the intention had only been to scare her, but she'd panicked and leaped over the railing.
The team arrived at the deserted site. As the area was under development, there were no residents or shops nearby. An assault vehicle and eight uniforms had arrived and were securing the site, even though there was no one around. These officers looked a little bemused to be sealing off a perfectly ordinary bridge.
Sonny Lok glanced at his watch: 9.53am. according to the timestamp, the CD was burned at half past six, and if the incident had taken place in the small hours, that was at most nine hours ago. There might still be some evidence left.
He and Ah-gut walked to the spot where the corpse had been. No obvious traces of blood, but if someone had swabbed the area with water, it would have dried in a few hours with the windy weather they'd been having. He ordered forensics to investigate, then started climbing – nothing out of the ordinary on stairs or bridge. The two men walked to the spot they guessed Candy Ton had fallen from, looking for blood or other marks on the railing.
'The criminals were wearing gloves, so probably no fingerprints,' said Ah-gut.
'We still have to check.' Lok knelt to examine the underside of the railing. 'Candy wasn't wearing gloves, and if we can find her prints, we'll know if she jumped or was pushed – the difference between murder and manslaughter.'
Leaving an evidence marker, Lok continued to the other end of the bridge. He couldn't think of any reason for her to have jumped, unless her pursuers had caught up with her, or if she'd been surrounded. The sidewalk ended at the bridge, so they'd have known she'd go up – and if they'd set others in wait at the other end, she'd have been trapped.
'Commander! They've found something!' shouted one of the forensics from below.
When Ah-gut and Lok got back down, the officer was pointing at the ground. 'Blood traces – lots of them.'
They'd sprayed luminol across the ground, revealing a patch roughly 50 by 30 cm, just where you'd expect from the video.
'So much blood – she must be badly injured. If she fell from above, there's probably no hope of survival,' added the officer.
'See if you can find other bloodstains. I want to know where the victim was moved – whether she was alive or dead,' said Lok.
'Commander.' Cheung approached. 'We retraced her steps, and found something.'
Lok followed him to the first street corner the cameraman had tailed her to. There was a construction site to one side, and some roadworks surrounded by barriers and steel boards.
'Here.' Cheung pointed into a hole about a meter deep. Next to some water pipes and electric cables shrouded in canvas was a handbag the color of tea. It had landed in a corner of the pit, and looked exactly like the one in the video.
After photographing it in situ, they grabbed it by the strap and hauled it up. The bag contained make-up, snacks, a notebook, some clothes, a cellphone and a wallet. Lok opened the latter and found an ID card with Candy Ton's name and photo.
'I guess the roughs didn't notice she'd dropped her bag,' said Ah-gut. 'It was pretty dark, and this hole would have been in shadow. It probably slipped off her shoulder as she turned the corner, and she didn't have time to stop to get it back.'
'Or she may have thrown it off to run faster,' said Cheung.
'However it happened, at least we've confirmed the victim's identity.' Lok stuffed the wallet back into the bag, and looked at the phone next. Her last call had been at 10.20 p.m., from 'Office', lasting a minute and twelve seconds. Every call before that was either 'Agent' or 'Office' – the only two numbers in her address book. There were no saved texts.
'Ah-gut, check this call log with the provider.' Lok handed over the phone.
'Since the last call's from "Office", why not just go straight to Starry Night?'
'What if Candy deleted other call records?'
'Are you saying…'
'Just in case.'
What Sonny Lok couldn't understand why Candy Ton had been here in the first place, in the middle of the night. Jordan Road was undergoing development, and there were no nightclubs around here, nor even proper transport. As a public figure, she could have got anywhere she wanted by cab or having her agent drive her, yet here she was walking alone in this desolate landscape. Lok suspected this was some kind of secret meeting she'd been summoned to – which meant she might have got a call beforehand.
For there to be only two numbers in her phone, Candy must have been very isolated, or else in the habit of erasing her call log. Quite a few entertainment reporters often stole stars' phones to glean what they could from the calls and texts, so-and-so having an affair with so-and-so, so-and-so slamming so-and-so, all of these could be stir-fried into articles. It wasn't unusual for a cautious celebrity to make sure their phone didn't give anything away.
Who'd summoned Candy Ton to a midnight meeting? One that turned out to be a trap.
The answer flashed into Lok's mind: Yueng Man-hoi.
But if he'd asked her out, would she come? Surely she'd be more careful than that, especially knowing her boss was responsible for him being beaten up.
Unless she was being threatened, and had no choice.
Lok shook his head and stepped back from that line of thought. He'd gone too far into his own mind. There was limited information at his disposal, and he needed to analyze if more deeply before drawing any conclusions.
After a thorough search, the Crime Unit returned to the office. Some of them immediately began investigating everyone involved, as well as searching for eyewitnesses, starting with Jordan Road and working outwards. Sonny Lok personally visited Starry Night, where Candy Ton's agent said he hadn't heard from his client that day, and she was probably resting at home. After trying her home number and getting no response, and then identifying the bag Lok held as Candy's, he grew anxious. They headed to Candy's apartment in Kwun Tong, which was small enough that Lok could see at a glance nothing was out of place. The bed and trash can suggested she hadn't been home that night, though the agent said he'd driven her home around eleven.
'Did you actually see her enter the building?'
'Well, no… I dropped her off at the car park and left. I really didn't know…' He furrowed his brow, as if realizing what trouble he was in. Lok felt this man was probably more worried about explaining himself to his boss than about Candy's safety.
Lok went to the condo management office for security camera footage of the main entrance and elevator, but a quick scan showed no sign of Candy. If the agent was telling the truth, that meant she hadn't gone home after leaving his car, but had headed straight for her appointment on Jordan Road.
'So she didn't want him to know about this meeting?' thought Lok.
The agent said before her disappearance (Lok hadn't told him anything about the video) Candy had seemed perfectly normal. She was normally quite taciturn and didn't show much emotion – the sort of star who kept her head down and worked hard.
'She's down to earth, not like most girls her age, dreaming of stardom,' he added.
'And her family?'
'I don't think she has one,' said the agent vaguely.
'None at all?'
'Candy never talks about her personal life, only that her family's all gone.'
'Then who was her guardian? She joined Starry Night three years ago, when she was just 14. She'd have needed an adult's consent.'
'I… I don't know. Sir, I just work here. The boss asked me to be her agent, and I didn't ask too many questions.'
So that's how it was. Inspector Lok understood this man's predicament. Candy Ton might have been a runaway, and once he discovered her, Boss Chor didn't seem like the sort of chap who'd bother with red tape like a guardian's permission.
Having found no usable clues at Candy's apartment, Lok returned to the police station. The police hadn't let slip her name, only telling the press that someone had fallen from a bridge at Jordan Road the night before, Triads were involved, and investigations were underway. Forensics said Candy's fingerprints weren't on the railing, so she might have been thrown over by the toughs. And the blood traces stopped abruptly at the side of the road, suggesting the criminals had taken away the corpse – or the dying woman – in a car.
'Why move the body?' asked Mary. 'Triads murder in order to intimidate – they don't usually try to conceal their killings.'
'Which means they had a different motivation this time round,' said Cheung. 'Maybe the boss only told them to "send his regards" to Ms. Ton, but the ruffians got carried away and accidentally killed her?'
'Even if it was a mistake, why take away the corpse?' Mary was still confused.
'Because they knew they were in trouble,' answered Ah-gut right away. 'Think about it, Candy Ton was quite possibly Boss Chor's mistress. If Uncle Ngok wanted revenge, it'd be along the lines of kidnapping her and taking nude photos, that sort of thing. Murder is different – there's no coming back from that. In the underworld, if your men accidentally kill one of my people, then it has to be a life for a life. Those thugs would have feared getting killed in turn, but if they concealed the body, then she'd just be "missing", and there'd be no death to be revenged, and Hung-yi would have no reason to demand their heads from Hing-chung-wo.'
'But someone taped the whole thing…' mumbled Mary, still trying to think it through.
'In any case, this isn't going to be easy,' said Ah-gut.
Inspector Lok listened in silence to his team's discussion. Ah-gut's view was logical, but something about it felt wrong.
'Commander, big trouble,' said Ah-gut the next morning, striding agitatedly into the inner office, where Lok sat staring at the photographs and relationship webs on his noticeboard. He was pointing outside, towards the main office.
Once again, the entire team was gathered around Ah-gut's desk, animatedly discussing the video of Candy Ton's attack on the screen.
'What's up, did you find something new in the footage?'
'No,' said Ah-gut, gesturing at the image. 'This isn't the CD we got yesterday, it's the internet – someone's put the video on the web.'


text:
Joshua Ong
ESG: Sham or not?
By Joshua Ong:
With the increased frequency of economic, health and social issues showing up in the media, interest from investors and corporate stakeholders in "ESG" is at an all-time high. ESG stands for "environmental, social and governance", which essentially stands for the ways a company can be evaluated with respect to a range of socially desirable ends. ESG describes a set of factors used to measure the non-financial impacts of companies and investments, and companies with better ESG ratings often are seen as more socially responsible and sustainable, well-governed and diverse.
According to a Harvard study, in 2021, the estimated value of assets under management in ESG funds was around $330 billion, with more expected in 2022. In 2021, the assets under the management of investment firms that signed the United National Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) reached $103 trillion. The UN PRI is a United-Nations-supported international network of investors working together to implement its ESG-focused principles. There is definitely a growing awareness among investors, consumers and companies to consider their impact on other non-financial metrics. Recently, the S&P500 rated Exxon as top ten in the world for ESG, whilst Tesla, arguably an ESG-focused maker of electric cars, did not even make the list. The question then is: How is ESG measured? Does this shift actually benefit us as a whole?
Rise of ESG Activism
ESG activism levels have increased considerably in the past two years. Some proposals by activists include calls for reductions of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and greater gender, racial and ethnic diversity on boards. There has also been increased activist pressure against "Big Oil", such as Exxon Mobil and Shell, pushing for a more aggressive reduction of emissions and nudging companies to implement changes to improve gender parity and inclusiveness on their boards. The investment industry expects ESG activism to target "Big Tech" next, on issues related to fossil fuels and other ESG concerns. Although these technology companies have had a more progressive stance towards LGBTQ+ rights and sustainability, there have been rising concerns regarding data privacy and surveillance.
ESG in Asia
In 2012, there was essentially no market for sustainable investing in Asia, compared to Europe where it was relatively more developed. In Asia, a combination of regulations and investor pressures caused Asia to gain pace in its progress in ESG and sustainability. Regulatory developments include stewardship costs, ESG risk management guidelines, forming of steering committees and cross-collaborations among industry players. Additionally, pressure from international investors in the EU and US who have been increasing allocations to ESG assets has exerted influence in pushing for a greater focus on ESG in Asia. The Economic Intelligence Unit found that there has been a "significant change in the awareness, uptake and impact of ESG in Asia over the past three to five years".
In China, the Chinese Party's new five-year plan from 2021 to 2025 focuses on sustainable development. The Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) issued China's first systematic and comprehensive voluntary standard for China's AM industry which includes guides to green investing. China has also introduced the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road to embed principles of sustainable development in the new Belt and Road investment projects in 2018. In Hong Kong, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) released a list of verified ESG funds in 2020 to combat greenwashing, as well as launched the Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group (Steering Group) to coordinate the management of climate and environmental risks to the financial sector. In Southeast Asia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore released a paper on "Environment Risk Management Guidelines for Asset Managers", and started a Sustainable Bond Grant Scheme to encourage sustainable development.
How ESG is measured
Generally, ESG metrics are processed and weighted by companies that produce ESG ratings, to generate ESG scores. These companies, like Refinitiv, S&P Global, Sustainalytics and MSCI, use their proprietary methods to process data of different metrics collected for thousands of companies to generate ESG scores for each one. For example, Refinitiv has over 700 researchers to collect ESG data and over 630 ESG metrics that are processed manually for each company, for the information to be standardised and ensure its comparability. Prominent examples of metrics would be greenhouse gas emissions under the environmental column, workforce diversity and inclusion policies under social, and finally, business ethics and anti-corruption management would fall under governance.
Figure 1: Refinitiv's ESG data collection method
Figure 2: Examples of metrics used to measure ESG by Refinitiv
Arguably, ESG is a subjective topic that, although can be somewhat condensed into ones and zeroes, cannot be fully distilled into one quantitative metric. Not only does the exact methodology behind the metrics differ depending on the company issuing the ratings, it can also be argued that the everchanging list of topics under the 'ESG' umbrella and the myriad of ways any company can contribute to 'ESG' issues means that there rarely one 'best' way of calculating the ESG score of any company. In addition, knowing how these ESG scores are derived can lead to some companies attempting to be seen as more ESG-focused, also known as "greenwashing".
Greenwashing can be defined as the use of marketing and PR to overamplify ESG efforts to gain greater favour from investors, consumers and employees. A high-profile case that involved police raiding Deutsche Bank and its asset management unit in Frankfurt was linked to greenwashing accusations, with claims that "hundreds of billions of its assets under management were "ESG integrated" were misleading because the label didn't translate into meaningful action by relevant fund managers".
A more recent case is the SEC's probe into Goldman Sachs Asset Management's mutual-funds business on whether the investments in the funds breached ESG metrics promised in the marketing material. A study by a shareholder advocacy group also found that 60 of 94 ESG funds did not adhere to the principles of ESG investing, leading both ESG investors and regulators to exert pressure on companies to substantiate their claims with metrics.
ESG portfolios
With regards to ESG funds, ESG funds outperformed the S&P 500 in the first 12 months after the Covid-19 pandemic. S&P Global Market Intelligence analysed 26 ESG funds with more than $250 million AUM and found that in the year leading up to 5 March 2021, those funds outperformed the S&P500. However, at the start of 2022, in a turbulent investment climate, funds that incorporated ESG had it rough. Among the 170 funds with ESG mandates that focus on US equities, only 40 funds have outperformed the S&P500, and only two have generated positive returns as of February 2022.
It would be possible to rationalise that investors would sacrifice financial returns in exchange for better ESG performance. However, in the US, researchers from Columbia University and the London School of Economics compared the ESG record of 147 ESG fund portfolios against 2428 non-ESG portfolios and found out that companies in ESG portfolios had worse compliance records for labour and environmental rules. They also found that those companies did not improve compliance with those regulations subsequently. This is found to be consistent in Europe as well, as the European Corporate Governance Institute paper compared the ESG scores of companies invested in by 684 U.S. institutional investors that signed the United Nation's Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) and 6,481 institutional investors that did not sign the PRI during 2013–2017. They did not find any improvement in ESG scores for the companies that signed the PRI and instead found that their returns were lower and had higher risk ratings.
Why are ESG funds underperforming?
According to the Harvard Business Review, there are two main reasons for the underperformance of ESG funds. Firstly, ESG targets may distort decision-making, as corporate managers should focus on maximising shareholder value, not focus on ESG metrics. Putting too much focus on ESG and neglecting their core businesses could negatively affect shareholder value, and firms should instead pay attention to ESG interests of their own accord. The second reason would be that companies that publicly embrace ESG may be using it as a cover for poor business performance. A recent paper by Ryan Flugum of the University of Northern Iowa and Matthew Souther of the University of South Carolina showed that when managers underperformed earnings expectations, they often would shift the focus to ESG metrics, but when they outperformed earnings estimates, they made few or no statements related to ESG at all. Hence, when investors invest in companies publicly embracing ESG, they should be aware that those companies may have a higher chance of underperforming in traditional financial metrics.
So, in conclusion, was Elon Musk right in calling ESG a scam? To say that ESG is a scam simply because an eccentric tech billionaire calls it one would be an unfair statement. The ESG movement is inherently good for society and the environment, to place more emphasis on non-financial aspects that affect consumers and employees alike.
To quantify ESG is no easy task, and is one which the rating companies are striving to polish, due to its subjective nature and the fact that no two firms are identical. These companies also have to conduct very thorough analysis, as there is still much fraudulent activity in the ESG space. The focus should be on standardising ratings and ensuring that the companies' ESG ratings are accurate and reflect the true nature of those businesses. As for ESG portfolios, investors should still be wary of companies that boast of excellent ESG ratings, and remain focused on the success of their core business operations.
Joshua is a first-year Accounting and Finance undergraduate at the London School of Economics. After finishing his national service, he interned at an asset management firm in Singapore where he conducted research on trends in the Chinese stock market, with a focus on the clampdown on the Chinese technology sector in 2021. At LSE, he is also an analyst in the M&A Group and a member of the men's water polo team.
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