text:
Ahead of no-confidence motion, govt to deploy 1,000 FC personnel in Islamabad: sources
Federal government tightens security to maintain law and order situation.
Ministry of Interior decides to deploy Frontier Corps personnel.
FC personnel will work along with rangers at Parliament Lodges.
ISLAMABAD: With the increase in political temperature in the federal capital, the government has tightened the security to maintain the law and order situation.
After the announcement of PTI's public gathering in Islamabad on March 27, the Ministry of Interior has decided to deploy Frontier Corps personnel, sources told Geo News.
The sources further said that the Interior Ministry has sent a summary to the cabinet regarding the deployment of at least a 1,000 FC personnel in the federal capital.
Rangers have already been stationed in the capital and the FC personnel will work along with the paramilitary force in Islamabad.
'Govt to deploy Rangers, FC at Parliament Lodges'
After the recent fiasco at the Parliament Lodges, the federal government had decided to deploy Rangers and FC personnel in the Parliament House, MNA hostels and lodges, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad had announced on March 11.
"[We] will not spare anyone who comes in the guise of militia [in the Parliament]. First, they took over the Parliament Lodges gates and then set foot in there," he said while addressing a press conference.
The minister said that the Parliament House, Lodges and old MNA Hostels are being handed over to Rangers and FC to avoid any untoward incident which earned a bad name to the country.
Police launches operation inside Parliament Lodges
The deployment orders came after Islamabad Police conducted an operation inside the Parliament Lodges las week.
During the operation, the police arrested more than a dozen Ansar-ul-Islam workers — a uniformed volunteer force of the JUI-F.
The DIG instructed the officials to evacuate media personnel from the building as they made their way towards the lodge of Ansar-ul-Islam MNA — Salahuddin Ayubi — which was situated on the fourth floor of the building.
Shortly afterwards, Ayubi's staff and police personnel entered into a clash. Several parliamentarians of the PPP and PML-N were also present in the lodges at the time, while JUI's Maulana Fazlur Rehman also reached the venue.
During a scuffle between the police and Ayubi's staff at the lodges, PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique was injured when his foot hit the door.
Man punches girlfriend in the face, says 'you never buy me anything'
Lahore's Kinnaird College administration to file FIR after stampede at Hasan Raheem, Asim Azhar concert
Hearses queue at Beijing crematorium, even as China reports no new COVID deaths
Queue of hearses seen outside Beijing crematorium.
China reports no new deaths; some criticise its accounting.
Beijing faces surge in severe COVID in next 2 weeks: expert.
BEIJING: Dozens of hearses queued outside a Beijing crematorium on Wednesday, even as China reported no new COVID-19 deaths in its growing outbreak, sparking criticism of its virus accounting as the capital braces for a surge of severe cases.
Following widespread protests, the country of 1.4 billion people this month began dismantling its "zero-COVID" regime of lockdowns and testing that had largely kept the virus away for three years — at great economic and psychological costs.
The abrupt change of policy has caught the country's fragile health system unprepared, with hospitals scrambling for beds and blood, pharmacies for drugs, and authorities racing to build special clinics. Experts now predict China could face more than a million COVID deaths next year.
At a crematorium in Beijing's Tongzhou district on Wednesday, a Reuters witness saw a queue of around 40 hearses waiting to enter, while the parking lot was full.
Inside, family and friends, many wearing white clothing and headbands as is tradition, were gathered around roughly 20 coffins awaiting cremation. Staff wore hazmat suits. Smoke rose from five of the 15 furnaces.
There was a heavy police presence outside the crematorium.
Reuters could not verify whether the deaths were caused by COVID.
Narrow definition
People wearing face masks commute in a subway station during morning rush hour, following the coronavirus disease ( COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China January 20, 2021.— Reuters
China uses a narrow definition of COVID deaths, reporting no new fatalities for Tuesday and even crossing one off its overall tally since the pandemic began, now amounting to 5,241 — a fraction of what much less populous countries faced.
The National Health Commission said on Tuesday only people whose death is caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure after contracting the virus are classified as COVID deaths.
Benjamin Mazer, an assistant professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University, said that classification would miss "a lot of cases," especially as people who are vaccinated, including with the Chinese shots, are less likely to die of pneumonia.
Blood clots, heart problems and sepsis — an extreme body response to infection – have caused countless deaths among COVID patients around the world.
"It doesn't make sense to apply this sort of March 2020 mindset where it's only COVID pneumonia that can kill you, when we know that in the post-vaccine era, there's all sorts of medical complications," Mazer said.
Looming surge
The death toll might rise sharply in the near future, with state-run Global Times citing a leading Chinese respiratory expert predicting a spike in severe cases in Beijing over the coming weeks.
People line up at a makeshift fever clinic set up inside a stadium, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China December 19, 2022.— Reuters
"We must act quickly and prepare fever clinics, emergency and severe treatment resources," Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert from Peking University First Hospital, told the newspaper.
Severe cases rose by 53 across China on Tuesday, versus an increase of 23 the previous day. China does not provide absolute figures of severe cases.
Wang expects the COVID wave to peak in late January, with life likely to return to normal by end-February or early March.
The NHC also played down concerns raised by the United States and some epidemiologists over the potential for the virus to mutate, saying the possibility of new strains that are more pathogenic is low.
Paul Tambyah, President of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, supported that view.
"I do not think that this is a threat to the world," he said. "The chances are that the virus will behave like every other human virus and adapt to the environment in which it circulates by becoming more transmissible and less virulent."
Several leading scientists and World Health Organisation advisors told Reuters a potentially devastating wave to come in China means it may be too early to declare the end of the global COVID pandemic emergency phase.
The United States on Tuesday indicated it stands ready to assist China with its outbreak, warning an uncontrolled spread in the world's second-largest economy may hurt global growth.
A major near-term concern for economists is the impact a surge in infections might have on factory output and logistics as workers and truck drivers fall ill.
The World Bank on Tuesday cut its China growth outlook for this year and next, citing the abrupt loosening of COVID measures among other factors.
Some local governments continue to relax rules.
Staff at the Communist Party and government institutions or enterprises in the southwestern city of Chongqing who have mild COVID symptoms can go to work if they wear a mask, state-run China Daily reported.
Other Chinese media reported similar moves in several cities.
Blast hits seminary in north Afghanistan, killing 15
Religious seminary attacked in Samangan province.
At least 20 people are also wounded.
Unclear who's behind attack.
KABUL: A blast tore through a religious seminary in the northern Afghan province of Samangan on Wednesday, killing 15 people, a provincial spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Samangan's provincial government Emdadullah Muhajir, added that at least 20 people were also wounded in the explosion.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast.
The Taliban say they are focused on securing the war-torn nation since taking over the country last year, however, several attacks have taken place in recent months, some of which have been claimed by Daesh.
Indonesia quake kills more than 50, injures hundreds and destroys homes
Quake strikes Cianjur town.
Some residents trapped in rubble.
Twenty-five aftershocks recorded.
JAKARTA: A 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 50 people and injured hundreds in Indonesia's West Java province on Monday, with rescuers trying to reach survivors trapped under the rubble amid a series of aftershocks as night fell.
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil confirmed 56 deaths from the quake, whose epicentre was the town of Cianjur, about 75 km (45 miles) southeast of the capital, Jakarta, where some buildings shook and some offices were evacuated.
"So many buildings crumbled and shattered," Ridwan told reporters.
"There are residents trapped in isolated places … so we are under the assumption that the number of injured and deaths will rise with time."
Indonesia straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the Earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
The national disaster agency (BNPB) said 23 people were likely still trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. More than 1,770 houses were damaged and nearly 3,900 people had been displaced in Cianjur, spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.
Electricity was down and disrupting communications efforts, Herman Suherman, head of Cianjur's government, said, adding that people in the area of Cugenang were unable to be evacuated because of a landslide blocking access.
Footage from news channel Metro TV showed what appeared to be hundreds of victims being treated in a hospital parking lot and some buildings in Cianjur reduced almost entirely to rubble as worried residents huddled outside.
Other TV channels showed victims hooked up to intravenous drips and being treated on the sidewalk.
Officials were still working to determine the full extent of the damage caused by the quake, which struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km, according to the weather and geophysics agency (BMKG).
Muchlis, who was in Cianjur when the quake hit, said he felt "a huge tremor" and his office walls and ceiling were damaged.
"I was very shocked. I worried there would be another quake," Muchlis told Metro TV, adding that people ran out of their houses, some fainting and vomiting in response.
Less than two hours after the quake, 25 aftershocks had been recorded, BMKG said, adding there were concerns about the potential for more landslides in the event of heavy rain.
In Jakarta, some people evacuated offices in the central business district, while others reported buildings shaking and furniture moving, Reuters witnesses said.
In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Indonesia.


This lovely oddity arrived in the mail yesterday – Bob Neill's Book of Typewriter Art (with special computer program) from 1982. It's so difficult to capture its lovely oddness is just a few sentences or images so I decided to scan the entirety of the book and make it available here (pdf). Inside you'll find line-by-line instructions for creating charming portraits of everything from the British royal family to siamese cats and even Kojak.
I've long been interested in the way writers in the 1960s and 1970s were – once the typewriter had thoroughly become commonplace – finding ways to play with the limits and possibilities of this machine as a writing medium. I've also thought that we can look back on typestracts such as Steve McCaffery's Carnival and see it as informed by a D.I.Y. and hacking sensibility. While this book of typewriter art is clearly invested in representationality and not particularly experimental, its content is entirely a D.I.Y. guide to creating typewriter art and is very much like computer magazines from the early 1980s such as Byte that would include BASIC programs. Here, instead of computer code, we're given typewritten letters as code. And in fact, the book includes an appendix with a Microsoft BASIC program for creating a "Prince Charles Portrait", programmed for the Commodore PET. And since the second appendix is a chart showing "sizes of paper required for each picture on different kinds of typewriter," I can't help thinking this book is a unique artifact in that it's entirely framed by the appearance of the personal computer – a book on a soon-to-be-outdated technology framed by its impending replacement by a new technology.


Accommodation to suit all types of holidays, whether you want a romantic weekend away, an active family holiday or just a relaxing quiet get away.
A unique opportunity to stay in a delightful former fisherman's cottage, located in a very convenient position in the charming, pretty coastal village of St. Abbs.
Immaculate and spacious accommodation throughout for a very enjoyable holiday.
Cafes, Art Gallery, Crafts, Village Shop and Post Office with Cash Machine.
Scottish borders Eyemouth, Holy Island, Northumberland's Castles and coastline on hand.


text:
Q: Compatible RSA padding encryption between objective c and Java I read a lot of references ( 1 ,2, etc... ) but without any result:
The process works as below:
1- Server (web-service) generates AES key.
2- Then Server encrypts this key with RSA as the below Java code.
3- Client side (iOS and/or Android) decrypts AES key in RSA using below objective-c code.
4- Client side encrypts this AES key again with RSA as below objective-c code, and send to server.
The problem:

This code works fine a lot of times, and sometimes give me (after server receives data from client) invalid AES key size (different numbers)

My Java code: (Server)
public static byte[] encryptWithRSA(byte[] data,PublicKey clientKey) throws Exception {
    byte[] cipherText = null;
    try {
        System.out.println("Start encryptWithRSA ");
        Cipher encrypt = Cipher.getInstance("RSA/ECB/NoPadding", "BC");
        encrypt.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, clientKey);
        cipherText = encrypt.doFinal(data);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        System.err.println(ex.getMessage);
        throw ex;
    }
    return cipherText;
}

public static byte[] decryptWithRSA(byte[] encryptedMessage,PrivateKey serverKey) throws Exception {
    byte[] decryptedMessage = null;
    try {
        System.out.println("Start decryptWithRSA ");
        Cipher decrypt = Cipher.getInstance("RSA/ECB/NoPadding", "BC");
        decrypt.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, serverKey);
        decryptedMessage = decrypt.doFinal(encryptedMessage);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        System.err.println(ex.getMessage);
        throw ex;
    }
    return decryptedMessage;
}

My iOS code, (client side):
(I'm using this RSA implementation )
// Encrypt with RSA

- (NSData *)encryptData:(NSData *)data withKeyRef:(SecKeyRef) keyRef{
const uint8_t *srcbuf = (const uint8_t *)[data bytes];
size_t srclen = (size_t)data.length;

size_t block_size = SecKeyGetBlockSize(keyRef) * sizeof(uint8_t);
void *outbuf = malloc(block_size);
size_t src_block_size = block_size - 11;

NSMutableData *ret = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
for(int idx=0; idx<srclen; idx+=src_block_size){
    //NSLog(@"%d/%d block_size: %d", idx, (int)srclen, (int)block_size);
    size_t data_len = srclen - idx;
    if(data_len > src_block_size){
        data_len = src_block_size;
    }

    size_t outlen = block_size;
    OSStatus status = noErr;
    status = SecKeyEncrypt(keyRef,
                           kSecPaddingNone, //kSecPaddingPKCS1  "I updated the padding to be none"
                           srcbuf + idx,
                           data_len,
                           outbuf,
                           &outlen
                           );
    if (status != 0) {
        NSLog(@"SecKeyEncrypt fail. Error Code: %d", status);
        ret = nil;
        break;
    }else{
        [ret appendBytes:outbuf length:outlen];
    }
}

free(outbuf);
CFRelease(keyRef);
return ret;
}

// Decrypt with RSA

- (NSData *)decryptData:(NSData *)data withKeyRef:(SecKeyRef) keyRef{
const uint8_t *srcbuf = (const uint8_t *)[data bytes];
size_t srclen = (size_t)data.length;

size_t block_size = SecKeyGetBlockSize(keyRef) * sizeof(uint8_t);
UInt8 *outbuf = malloc(block_size);
size_t src_block_size = block_size;

NSMutableData *ret = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
for(int idx=0; idx<srclen; idx+=src_block_size){
    //NSLog(@"%d/%d block_size: %d", idx, (int)srclen, (int)block_size);
    size_t data_len = srclen - idx;
    if(data_len > src_block_size){
        data_len = src_block_size;
    }

    size_t outlen = block_size;
    OSStatus status = noErr;
    status = SecKeyDecrypt(keyRef,
                           kSecPaddingNone ,
                           srcbuf + idx,
                           data_len,
                           outbuf,
                           &outlen
                           );
    if (status != 0) {
        NSLog(@"SecKeyEncrypt fail. Error Code: %d", status);
        ret = nil;
        break;
    }else{
        //the actual decrypted data is in the middle, locate it!
        int idxFirstZero = -1;
        int idxNextZero = (int)outlen;
        for ( int i = 0; i < outlen; i++ ) {
            if ( outbuf[i] == 0 ) {
                if ( idxFirstZero < 0 ) {
                    idxFirstZero = i;
                } else {
                    idxNextZero = i;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }

        [ret appendBytes:&outbuf[idxFirstZero+1] length:idxNextZero-idxFirstZero-1];
    }
}

free(outbuf);
CFRelease(keyRef);
return ret;
}

Thanks for paying attention ...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Christine Landry President and General Manager, Class Action and Mass Tort Solutions
christine.landry@epiqglobal.com
Christine Landry is president and general manager of class action and mass tort solutions at Epiq. Previously, Christine led transformation and operations for Epiq, directing business-wide transformation efforts and cultivating innovative approaches to how work gets done. Prior to joining Epiq, she was the senior vice president and executive at Genpact, where she had full oversight for global operations, transformation, and customer responsibilities. Prior to Genpact Christine was Group CEO of a $1.6B consumer business at Conduent. She has held numerous leadership roles for businesses such as Xerox and ACS. Christine has been a nominated partner in Fortune's Most Powerful Women for seven years and is a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S.
If you're ready to transform your organization's operations for greater efficiency and productivity while maintaining high quality and compliance standards...
It's Time to Partner with

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Production of enviromentally friendly gasoline, meeting more and more stringent standards, causes necessity to invest more money in reconstruction of operating isomerization units and construction of new units for motor gasoline components production.
Relevance of gasolines isomerization units. Enviromentally friendly gasoline. Ecological fuel.
The light gasoline fractions isomerization process has become the most popular process among all other processes for motor gasoline components production. It is conditioned by several factors (table 1).
CAPEX and OPEX should be optimized.
Table 1. Investment attractiveness factors of gasolines isomerization process.
In Russia and former Soviet union countries, isomerization of gasolines was begun using in petroleum refining much later. As at the end of 2013, ten light gasoline fractions isomerization units Isomalk-2 are under operation. The start-up dynamics of gasolines isomerization units in Russia is shown on the diagram below.
Can motor gasoline fuel be environmentally friendly?
This question is becoming more relevant in the modern society.
Automobile transport causes irreparable damage to the environment. In Russia different motor vehicles produce 35 million tons of polluting emissions: 89% is accounted for automobiles, 8% - for railways, 2% - for aircraft transport, and 1% - for water transport.
Nowadays national average share of motor vehicles emissions of total volume of atmospheric air pollution is 43%, but in Moscow – two times higher. Ecologically unfavorable areas occupy about 15 percents of country territory, where about 70% of population lives. Nitrogen and carbon oxides and other hazardous substances concentration level is 10-18 times higher than maximum allowable concentration in the streets of major Russian cities.
Main part of harmful substances emissions into the atmosphere is generated by exhaust gases of combustion engines. So, every year only one motor vehicle adsorbs at the average more than 4 tons of oxygen from atmosphere, releasing about 800 kg of carbon oxides, about 40 kg of nitrogen oxides, and almost 200 kg of different hydrocarbons with exhaust gases. Engine exhaust gases contain complex mixture of more than two hundred components, there are a lot of carcinogens, for example, lead oxides, tetraethyl lead, etc.
To ecological problems solving, the measures have been taken to control harmful substances emissions of automobile exhaust gases into the atmosphere practically in all advanced nations of the world, and ecological properties of the transport on the engineering stage rank with its consumer performances and safety. Thus, at this time, Euro-4 standards that have significantly tightened regulations to maximum allowable concentrations of hazardous substances in vehicle exhaust gases over the past 10 years have been put into effect in the USA and the European Union.
Gasolines meeting Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards are characterized not only by high ecological parameters, but improved consumer properties, which include knocking, motor power, motor wear rate, carbonization, corrosion effect on engine, etc.
Introduction of EURO-4 standard on the way towards the creation of environmentally friendly fuel has fully proven its environmental protection effectiveness (Fig. 1). According to the European Commission data over a period from 1995 to 2010, the average content of CO, nitrogen oxide (NOx), and lead compounds in the exhausts of vehicles, used on the territory of EU, is decreased by more than 4 times, and the content of hydrocarbonates and volatile organic compounds (VOC), sulfur gas and benzene – more than 5 times (Fig. 2).
Russia is significantly behind in the ecologically clean fuel problem solving, it is demonstrated in Table 1a.
Requirements to ecological purity of motor fuel in Russia are controlled by special technical regulations "On requirements for automobile and aviation gasolines, diesel and marine fuels, jet fuel and fuel oil", which were approved by Russian Government Regulation No. 11 dated February 27, 2008.
Regulations set mandatory requirements for environmentally friendly fuel, complying with the Directives of the European Parliament and of the Council 2003/17/EC and 98/70EC (the so-called Euro-2, 3, 4, and 5 standards). Technical Regulations establish minimum allowable chemical and physical parameters of motor gasoline and diesel fuel (see Table 2), as well as terminal date of fuel production of one environmental class or another.
Forthcoming entering into force of the technical regulations requirements, meeting Euro-4 and Euro-5 specifications, objectively and seriously has motivated to increase the volume of investment for main processes revamping on Russian refineries.
Transition of Russian petroleum refining industry to production of ecologically clean motor gasoline fuel requires profound changes in production technologies and heavy financial expenses.
using of oxygenates (alcohols and ethers), detergent and multifunctional additives in motor gasoline composition.
Currently, compliance with European standards for motor fuel, presented on the Russian market, is ensured due to special antiknock component, used by manufacturers, i.e. methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Also this additive is widely used in the EU countries and has a positive effect on engine: oxygen, contained in MTBE, ensures complete fuel combustion and thus reduces CO and CH emissions. However, enhanced MTBE content leads to power reduction, growth of nitrogen oxides emissions and accelerates corrosion process, therefore, according to European standards, MTBE share should not exceed 15%. Furthermore, MTBE is a very expensive component, and its application has an adverse effect on price characteristics of gasoline, produced under European standards. It leads to increase of cost in comparison with that of conventional high-octane gasoline by 10%.
One of the most up-to-date ways to achieve fuel quality according to the European quality standards Euro 4 and Euro-5 is the construction of isomerization units. Application of isomerization technologies allows to reduce MTBE consumption during gasoline production that in turn allows to decrease the prime cost and consequently gasoline prices for end fuel consumers.
The target product of isomerization unit is isomerate that is free of benzene and other aromatic hydrocarbons, olefins, sulfur, nitrogen, and heavy metals, and that has the octane number from 83 to 92 RON depending on the process flow diagrams (PFDs).
Thus, currently, isomerization of light gasoline fractions is one of the most in-demand processes, ensuring the production of environmentally clean motor gasolines. The extensive industrial experience in application of different technologies and PFDs has been gained, but the improvement of catalysts and technologies is constantly being proceeded.
In the XXI century, the isomerization technology based on sulfated oxide catalysts is becoming more popular.


What are the 10 Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning that should be top of mind for everyone involved in education, from lawmakers to administrators to teachers and parents? How can your district or school harness these elements to develop an affordable, high-quality digital learning environment that engages students, parents and teachers? What have your peers learned from their own experiences with digital learning – and how can you use their insights to drive your success?
Join Tom Vander Ark, architect of Digital Learning Now's 10 Elements of Digital Learning; Mickey Revenaugh, executive vice-president of Connections Learning; and Dr. William R. Hite, Jr., superintendent of Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland, as they share their vision for the future of education and provide you with a practical guide for developing the best digital learning experience for your district and school.
* Tom Vander Ark is a partner in Vander Ark/Ratcliff, an education public affairs firm, and a partner in a private equity fund focused on innovative learning tools and formats. He was the first business executive to serve as a public school superintendent and was the first executive director for education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Mr. Vander Ark is chairman of the Board of Directors for iNACOL, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. You can see his daily blog at www.EdReformer.com.
* Mickey Revenaugh is one of the co-founders of Connections Academy, a nationally recognized leader in online learning. Prior to that, she helped launch the E-rate program, designed to wire every school and library in America to the Internet. Ms. Revenaugh spent almost a dozen years at Scholastic Inc., serving as editor-in-chief of Instructor, Electronic Learning, Teaching and Computers, Middle Years, and America's Agenda magazines. She continues to publish and speak extensively on education and technology issues. She is vice chair of the Board of Directors of iNACOL and the private sector chair of the Education Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council.
* Dr. William R. Hite, Jr. is Superintendent of Prince George's County Public School (PGCPS). Among his many leadership responsibilities, Dr. Hite has led major efforts resulting in increased student achievement, significant improvements in teaching and learning, and school improvement status. This included work on the Intensive Support and Intervention Schools (ISIS) that provided significant support to schools most in need based on student and school performance indicators, as well as work in partnership with the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, which focused on improving the capacity of teachers and administrators to strengthen the teaching and learning process. Most recently, he oversaw a major reorganization of the district's regions into zones to reduce cost and provide greater support to schools. He developed systems that measure central leadership effectiveness against student and school performance. Prince George's County Public Schools has been recognized nationally during Dr. William Hite's tenure.


text:
'Poms' is too embarrassed of itself to be empowering
Big-name cast unable to save film from weak script, thinly drawn characters
'Poms' is too embarrassed of itself to be empowering Big-name cast unable to save film from weak script, thinly drawn characters Check out this story on Freep.com: https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/05/09/poms-movie-review/39465947/
Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press Published 5:27 p.m. ET May 9, 2019 | Updated 8:16 p.m. ET May 9, 2019
There's something irreconcilable about "Poms ," a movie about women in a retirement community who start a cheerleading club. The film wants us to laugh at the idea of older women trying to be cheerleaders, but also be inspired and empowered by their determination.
There may have been a way to let it be both, but "Poms" evidently wasn't interested in digging that deep. Perhaps that's because it's too busy being embarrassed of itself, as though director Zara Hayes and screenwriter Shane Atkinson realized too late that they'd assembled a cast of rock star actresses like Diane Keaton, Pam Grier, Jacki Weaver and Rhea Perlman and forgot to write a real movie, or characters, for them.
Keaton's character, Martha, is the most perplexing and underwritten of all. We meet her as she's selling all her things in a sidewalk sale to prepare to move to a retirement village in Georgia. In voiceover she says that when you get old, you think that your children will have to deal with your stuff. "Well, I never had any children," she concludes, as you think, OK, fine, but why would she have started that sentence out the way she did?
More: 18 summer movies to watch for: How to pick the perfect flick
We don't learn much about the mysterious life of Martha. She was a teacher (of what and for whom is neither answered nor asked), her mother was very sick when she was in high school, she once wanted to be a cheerleader, she lived in the same apartment for 46 years and now she has cancer, doesn't want to continue treatment and wants to die. She is also very grumpy and unhappy to be living in what honestly seems like a paradise retirement community full of big houses, active, happy seniors and lush grounds with pools and tennis courts and golf carts to get around, despite some Stepford Wives-y rules and regulations, including the stipulation that she has to join a club or start her own.
Spoiler, with the help of her new friend Sheryl (Weaver) she starts a cheerleading club to fulfill the only unfulfilled desire in her life that we get to know about. It gives her something to live for even if everyone else in the world is irrationally angry about the idea.
But six women (Grier, Perlman, Phyllis Somerville, Patricia French, Carol Sutton and Ginny MacColl) decide to go against the grain and try out. None are very good and they all have ailments making any sort of standard choreography difficult, but nary a rehearsal montage later and they're performing at a high school pep rally where they are met with jeers and laughter. No, it's not a dream sequence, and yes, it makes no sense.
But that's the operating mode of "Poms." Why do something rooted in reality when you can just go for the biggest, silliest, most irrational thing in the name of comedy?
"Poms" really wants to be a sweet movie with a sweet message, but it's hard to buy into it when none of the squad gets significant backstories, inner lives or even enough dialogue to give them distinct personalities. They're just there to be punching bags for other characters and the movie.
Sheryl's grandson (Charlie Tahan), a random local high school student (Alisha Boe) and the retirement village security guard (Bruce McGill) get more significant arcs than any of the main women. Both they and the audience deserve something better.
It's fine to make a film that's just supposed to make an audience smile (hello, "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again") but this film doesn't even get close to that level of joy. Even the climactic routine, a supposed moment of triumph, is shot like someone reluctantly watching through their fingers.
'Poms'
Jacki Weaver, left, Diane Keaton and Pam Grier in "Poms." (Photo: STXfilms)
out of four stars
Rated PG-13; language, sexual references
Opens with screenings Thursday
Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/05/09/poms-movie-review/39465947/
'Baby Shark Live!' heading to Detroit doo doo doo doo doo doo
Jack White, Brendan Benson to play at Third Man
Restaurants keep getting louder. It's not hard to see why.
Stevie Wonder will have kidney transplant surgery
Jennifer Lopez gets festive in debut Detroit show
Twitter unleashes on Trump for 'airport' flub


text:
Teacher of the Year enjoys mentoring children
by Scott Bandle in St. Lousi, Missouri, USA
For this school year, Duane West has carried a lot of expectations. It's the price he pays for being the Riverview Gardens School District's 2006-2007 Teacher of the Year.
West hears comments and questions from parents, administrators and other teachers. Some ask about his teaching style, while others offer advice on his job.
"Once you're given the title, there's a sort of expectation," he said. "I'm asked a number of questions about my teaching style. I don't think it's pressure, exactly. It would be pressure if I didn't keep teaching the way I've always taught."West is the second-grade teacher at Lewis and Clark Elementary School. A 10-year veteran, he enjoys teaching at the elementary ranks, helping youngsters get a toehold on their education.
"I once thought about teaching at the high school, but I made a decision a long time ago to remain at the elementary level," he said. "I love teaching, especially reading and literacy."
West's work attracted the attention of his colleagues at Lewis and Clark. At the end of last year, they chose him to represent the school as the Teacher of the Year.
"His excitement and enthusiasm is apparent in his classroom," said Principal Jason Brown. "His classes are orderly and organized. He establishes a routine from the first day of the year. One of his best strengths is he doesn't hesitate to look for help when he needs it."
West was surprised when he was chosen for the honor. The process calls for candidates to write four to five essays discussing their beliefs in education. A panel of teachers and administrators makes the decision.
"I wrote about what made me get into education," he said. "It was the education I got from my teachers. I've stayed in touch with many of them for years now."
West is a proud product of the St. Louis Public Schools. He graduated from Beaumont High School and then went to what is now Harris-Stowe State University.
"My whole education was in the St. Louis schools," he said.
West also competed for the Missouri Teacher of the Year honor, but he was not chosen.
"It was disappointing that I did not win the state title, but you put on your hat and you soldier on," West said.
His second-grade students enjoy his classes.
"The best part is math," said Lastarza Shaw, 7. "I also like doing the work. He's a good teacher, but he gets mad if we talk too much."
Davian Swinney, 8, likes to read. West is his first male teacher.
It's important, especially to the boys, that a man teaches them, West said.
"So many of these kids have real issues," he said. "There are young men who need some kind of balance."
Brown agreed, adding that it was important for more men to become teachers.
"We need to find a way to attract more men into education," he said.
West keeps in touch with his former students, following their progress.
"Teaching is a moral activity," he said. "You just don't come to teach. You want to be a mentor to these kids."


text:
"Stay" é uma canção da cantora barbadense Rihanna, gravada para o seu sétimo álbum de estúdio Unapologetic. Conta com a participação do músico Mikky Ekko, sendo composta e produzida pelo próprio, com auxílio de Justin Parker e Elof Loelv. A sua gravação decorreu em 2012 nos estúdios Nightbird Studios e Westlake Recording Studios, em Los Angeles, na Califórnia. O seu lançamento como single foi confirmado a 30 de novembro e concretizado a 6 de janeiro de 2013.

A canção deriva de origens estilísticas do R&B, sendo considerada uma balada com arranjo musical composto por piano e guitarra. Em termos de letra, o tema aborda a tentação e o fracasso de resistir ao verdadeiro amor.

Antecedentes e lançamento
Quatro meses depois da edição do seu sexto disco de originais, Rihanna afirmou que tinha começado a trabalhar num novo projecto. Numa entrevista em Março de 2012, a cantora afirmou que "estava a trabalhar em novos sons" mas que "ainda não tinha começado a gravar". Após atuar com as músicas "Cockiness (Love It)" e "We Found Love" na edição de 2012 dos MTV Video Music Awards, a artista confirmou que em março de 2013 iria começar a sua digressão mundial Diamonds World Tour. Cinco dias após a noite da cerimónia dos VMAs, a Def Jam France anunciou na sua conta no Twitter que seria lançado um novo single de Rihanna na segunda-feira seguinte, dia 17 de setembro de 2012. No mesmo comunicado, a editora comentou o lançamento do sétimo disco de originais da cantora para novembro do mesmo ano.

"Stay" sucede a "Diamonds" como segundo single de Unapologetic, com lançamento a 6 de Janeiro de 2013 no Reino Unido. A cantora Jessie J fez sua própria versão do tema durante interpretação no The Voice.

Composição e letra
"Stay" é uma balada R&B, com uma duração de quatro minutos. O seu instrumental foi trabalhado através de piano e guitarra.

Vídeo musical
O vídeo musical, dirigido por Sophie Muller, estreou na página oficial do canal E! a 11 de Fevereiro de 2013.

Apresentações ao vivo
Rihanna apresentou "Stay", sem Mikky Ekko, no Saturday Night Live, em novembro de 2012. Em dezembro desse mesmo ano, foi a vez de "Stay" ser apresentada na final da 9ª temporada do The X Factor britânico.

Já com Mikky Ekko, em fevereiro de 2013 Rihanna interpretou o segundo single de Unapologetic na 55ª edição dos Grammys. Nos MTV Video Music Awards de 2016, e novamente a solo, Rihanna cantou também "Stay", num segmento em que a cantora apresentou baladas da sua carreira.

Quanto a digressões, na sua mini-digressão 777 Tour, realizada em novembro de 2012, a cantora barbadense interpretou o single em todas as datas do tour, menos na primeira (na Cidade do México), e também na Diamonds World Tour (2013) e na Anti World Tour (2016).

Uso na comunicação social
A canção apareceu, numa versão cantada não por Rihanna, mas por uma intérprete desconhecida, num anúncio televisivo da operador portuguesa MEO, estreado em abril de 2017. No anúncio, aparece Cristiano Ronaldo recordando vários momentos marcantes da sua vida e carreira, através do uso de smartphones e redes sociais. No anúncio, também aparece a mãe e o irmão do jogador, respetivamente Dolores e Hugo Aveiro.

Galardões

Desempenho nas tabelas musicais
Após o lançamento de Unapologetic, devido ao desempenho positivo das vendas digitais através de descargas, a canção conseguiu debutar na 58.ª posição da tabela musical Canadian Hot 100 do Canadá e ainda na UK R&B Singles Chart do Reino Unido em 16.º lugar.

Posições

Certificações

Créditos
Todo o processo de elaboração da canção atribui os seguintes créditos pessoais:

Rihanna – vocalista principal;
Mikky Ekko - vocalista convidado, composição, produção;
Justin Parker - composição, produção, piano;
Elof Loelv - composição, produção;
Mike Gaydusek - gravação e engenharia de vocais;
Blake Mares, Robert Cohen - assistente de engenharia acústica;
Kuk Harrell -  produção vocal, gravação vocal;
Marcos Tovar - gravação vocal;
Phil Tan - mistura;
Daniela Rivera - assistente adicional de engenharia acústica.

Histórico de lançamento

Canções gravadas por Rihanna
Singles de 2013
Canções de 2012
Canções de R&B
Baladas de música pop
Canções sobre solidão
Canções em dueto
Singles lançados pela Def Jam Recordings
Vídeos musicais dirigidos por Sophie Muller
Canções compostas por Justin Parker
Canções gravadas por Mikky Ekko

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Hexagon's PPM division, the world's leading provider of asset lifecycle solutions for design, construction and operation of industrial facilities, announced today its acquisition of PipingDesignOnline.com. The website offers self-paced, in-depth training for CADWorx plant design software, CAESAR II pipe stress analysis software, and PV Elite pressure vessel analysis software. Users from around the world can benefit from refresher training or quickly ramp up their skills at a low monthly fee.
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This is for all the Virgos and Libras born this month! Sapphire, the September birthstone is so beautiful, check out our top 10 picks to buy.
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"We have made a successful start. When the [nuclear] tests are completed, as they soon will be, we shall be in the same position as the United States or Soviet Russia. We shall have made and tested the massive weapons. It will be possible then to discuss on equal terms." – U.K. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, 1957.
"At the end of the countdown, there was a blinding electric blue light, of such an intensity I had not seen before or ever since. I pressed my hands hard to my eyes, then, realised my hands were covering my eyes. This terrific light power, or rays, were actually passing through the tarpaulin, through the towel, and through my head and body, for what seemed ten to twelve seconds, it may have been longer. After that, the pressure wave, which gave a feeling such as when one is deep underwater. This was then followed by a sort of vacuum suction wave, to give a feeling of one's whole body billowing out like a balloon." – Observer, Mosaic [email protected] Bello, 16 May 1956.
In August 1945, the new Labor government in Britain organized a secret Cabinet committee to establish nuclear policy. On 8 January 1947 this committee of six Ministers (headed by P.M. Attlee) decided to proceed with development and acquisition of atomic weapons, a fact that was not disclosed at all until 12 May 1948, when an oblique reference was made to atomic weapon development in parliamentary discussions.
The "Oppenheimer" of Britain was physicist William G. Penney. He was part of the "British Mission" sent to Los Alamos during the war to assist in the development of the first atomic bomb. After the war he returned to the UK and was eventually asked to set up Britain's own nuclear weapon program. The picture to the right shows him as he was at Los Alamos. He did not learn of the British decision to build an atomic bomb until May 1947 when he was asked to lead the development effort. The following month he began assembling a team to work on it.
The first plutonium production reactor went critical at Wind scale (now Sellafield) in October 1950. The plutonium plant began operation on 25 February 1952, and produced the first plutonium metal 35 days later. Due to the small size and high population density of Britain no suitable sites for atmospheric weapons tests existed. Britain thus sought sites in other countries to test its weapons, finally settling on the Monte Bello Islands in Australia. On 15 September 1952 the plutonium pit for the first British nuclear device, code named Hurricane, left England.
This was the first British nuclear test. The device tested was a plutonium implosion bomb similar to the Fat Man, but improved by using a levitated pit. The bomb used plutonium produced at Windscale (now Sellafield) with a low Pu-240 content since hurried production led to short irradiation times. In fact Windscale could not quite meet the August 1 deadline for manufacturing the core and the device also used some Canadian-supplied plutonium.
To test the effects of a ship-smuggled bomb (a threat of great concern to the British at the time), Hurricane was exploded inside the hull of the HMS Plym (1450 ton frigate) which was anchored in 40 feet of water 400 yards off shore. The explosion occured 2.7 m below the water line, and left a saucer-shaped crater on the seabed 20 feet deep and 1,000 feet across.
This crater can still be seen today on the echo sounder when the boat is driven over the exact spot!!
The primary purpose of this test series was to conduct research to support thermonuclear weapons development.
First British test using fusion fuel (as a physics experiment, not a weapon test). Fusion yield was negligible.
This was the highest yield test ever conducted in Australia. Since the test yield broke an assurance made personally by PM Anthony Eden of the UK to PM Robert Menzies of Australia that the yield would not exceed 2.5 time that of Hurricane (thus about 62 Kt), the true yield was concealed until 1984.
Mosaic G2 was a test of fusion-boosted weapon system, perhaps similar to the Soviet Sloika ("Layer Cake") or American Alarm Clock designs. It incorporated lithium-6 deuteride, and had a uranium tamper. The yield was larger than expected.
AWE – AWE is the company responsible for the design, manufacture, in-service support and eventual retirement of the warheads for the United Kingdom.
Port Chicago – Was it an atomic explosion? – An article examining the possibilty of a huge blast aboard a munitions ship at Port Chicago in 1944 being a nuclear blast or not with comparisons made to Montebello testing by the british.


text:
OpinionNews
A battle of the right to life and the will to die
OPINION: Dahlia MessihaThe West Australian
Fri, 26 August 2016 11:08AM
or a society that values life and the right to life so greatly that our personal instincts and our laws are structured around the protection of life, we seem to be overly sympathetic to the idea of euthanasia — that if someone is truly suffering they should be given the opportunity to allow a medical practitioner to end their life. But what is the threshold to receive this "right"?
Some would argue that euthanasia should only be legal or available where the patient is suffering from a terminal illness. But this is not always the case.
Controversial campaigning doctor Philip Nitschke was criticised for his views as he advocated for the "right" to assisted suicide by individuals who were not physically ill.
There is something unsettling about the idea of a human being strapped to a computer that can inject a lethal syringe after the person types the words "go ahead", without any counselling or consultancy.
How can we value life and yet as a society agree that it can be taken away based on an individual's will? What we are left with is a battle of the rights — the will to die versus the right to life.
Which will prevail will depend on what is valued.
Do we value life, or our sense of autonomy, and not needing to be accountable to anyone else other than the self?
In Belgium last year, an 85-year-old woman was approved for assisted suicide because she was so distressed after learning about her daughter's death.
She was physically healthy, and on hearing this we find ourselves asking whether she would have pursued assisted suicide once a few months had passed and the initial shock had worn off.
Unfortunately, we will never know.
More than 8000 people have been euthanised in Belgium, where assisted suicide has been legal for 13 years.
There, patients don't have to be terminally ill, just found by a medical doctor to be suffering "incurable, unbearable pain".
Is this the route we want Australia to pursue? It may begin that it is available only for terminally ill patients, but history and the rest of the world tell us that it's only a matter of time before the scope is widened.
So what is that threshold then? Could severe depression suffice?
Our moral instinct tells us that it shouldn't.
We live in a society where so many organisations are actively seeking to reduce suicide and improve mental health, and yet others are campaigning for the right to take their own life.
For an individual with a terminal illness, a sympathetic view is commonly shared that the person will die anyway, and what euthanasia does is alleviate the pain and suffering of that individual by simply "speeding" up the process.
But one needs to consider, what type of society we are creating for ourselves when we allow doctors — whose purpose is to protect and save life — to now be able to take it away.
No one should be left to die in pain, and perhaps what "dying with dignity" really looks like is having the best palliative care and pain treatments available, rather than ending a life.
We should be lobbying our governments to invest in better health care, and the newest technology available for terminally ill patients, rather than for the right of medically trained professionals to take away the life of another.
Putting universities on the right pathPremium
What the 'offenderati' get wrong about Australia DayPremium


If atheism is a religion, NOT collecting stamps is a hobby, NOT playing baseball is a sport, and bald is a hair color.
You may all start referring to me as "Not Reuben Eisenstock," and my favorite color is 2.07.
How Much Should I Spend on Cyber Security?
This is the personal website of Dan Sanders, IT Security Officer-blogger-game designer. I created the World of Atkelem fantasy setting (see WorldOfAtkelem.com). Feel free to send me a note if you have questions, and thanks for visiting.


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The real name of Anguri Bhabhi in the show is Subhangi Atre. Subbhangi was born on April 11, 1981 in Bhopal Sehore. Shubhangi, which looks promising in the show, is very bold in the real life. Today we are going to show you some of their pictures in which they are very hot. Seeing these pictures, you will also become crazy about them.
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Like,Watch and Subscribe.. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.


Yesterday I participated in two conferences, the "No One is Illegal/No Borders" conference on asylum and the Socialist Youth Network's annual conference. What struck me was the atmosphere of both conferences. The people who turned up to both were obviously committed activists but neither conference was the usual rally-type event. Instead of rhetoric both conferences were really open and hard nosed in their honest assessments of the current political situation and both concentrated on serious discussions of the potential strategies available to the Labour, trade union and progressive movement.
These conferences demonstrated the virtual irrelevance of the current debates being waged in the pages of the Guardian between the likes of Charles Clarke, Hazell Blears, Polly Toynbee and what's left of the Compass initiative in the form of Neal Lawson and Jon Trickett.
The young people that turned out for the SYN conference demonstrated an astute appreciation of the total disconnect between New Labour and the real world facing the current generation. They displayed a practical idealism which is lost on the remnants of New Labour. The politics they want to pursue aren't the boring and nauseatingly obvious public relations exercises rolled out by the Brown machine or the self serving academicised sophistry of Compass. It came across very clearly that the politics of today and tomorrow for these young people are based upon mobilising for direct action, linking up with a wide variety of social movements, maximising creativity in protest but also engendering undstanding by discussion, study and theory. The word praxis, the combination of theory and practice, was revisited and revitalised in our discussion at the SYN conference.
Literally a hundred yards away at the "No Borders/No One is Illegal" conference the representatives of one of those social movements were coming to the same conclusions. Discussions were focussing on the best methods for linking trade unions with asylum campaigns and bringing trade unions together in support of a high profile nationwide campaign to expose the brutality of the Government's asylum policies.
No matter how depressing traditional politics may be at present there is clear evidence of new stirrings of a new, committed, idealistic, action based but also thought based mobilisation taking shape.


The internet is a mind-boggling place with so many different sites that writers can use to connect with their readers, 'meet' other writers, write about their topic, share their ideas, and find new channels to market. At a recent writer's workshop hosted by crime author Jen Hilborne here in Swindon I noted down the URLs of at least 12 different author networking sites. Even for someone fairly technically 'connected' this was bordering on the brain-numbing – I dread to think what it was like for those who'd just got their email account up and running.
blogging, Facebook, Linked-in, e-mailing and tweeting to get the word out about The Journal Writer's Handbook.
Fact is I don't want to spread myself so thinly, plus I don't have the time nor the inclination to keep up with so many different sites. It's grand that WordPress has got a sharing function which automatically ripples new content through the main social network sites. So as soon as I push the button on my blog I know the update will be visible elsewhere. This way we're able to focus on the quality of our posts rather than making them ubiquitous.
I've started to check out other people's blogs and leave comments, but again this takes time and it pays to be discerning. Last week I commented on the blog of Moodscope – a fantastic on-line service to monitor and record your daily mood, and perhaps alert a friend when your mood plummets. It's of great help to people who have a depressive illness, but it's also useful for anyone just wanting to raise their own conscious awareness about their state of mind.
Moodscope is one of the recommended resources I refer to in the index of The Journal Writer's Handbook, and provided me with some of the inspiration for my book's Mood Index. So last week when Jon Cousins at Moodscope wrote a blog post talking about the value of keeping a gratitude journal to enhance our mood, I couldn't resist getting in touch to tell him about my book. It was a very useful connection to make, and resulted in a couple of on-line sales of my book.
Similarly Gabrielle Lichterman's Hormonology website gets a mention in my book – so when I wrote to her last week to tell her she very kindly included a link to The Journal Writer's Handbook on her page.
And just this week I've started to make use of Facebook ads – Yeay – that could be why you're here reading this, and if that's so you get an extra special welcome to these pages!
Again, using the logic of following your nose, promoting your book on the internet needn't be daunting or exhausting. Use the social media sites you're already familiar with, or choose one and make an effort to get to know it in detail and how it might help you in your marketing. One thing's certain, whether you're publishing entirely independently or with a partnership publisher, your online platform is an important part of your life as a self-published author.
Yesterday my hubby, who's doing all the techie side of getting the Handbook published, pushed the button on blurb.co.uk to order the first proof of my book. Yeayyy!
I'd written the manuscript in Word, he'd converted it to pdf (though a very specific format of pdf), then uploaded it to blurb's 'pdf to book' service. All this nitty gritty left me cold. "I'm a writer," I declared. "I need to be doing the writing and I need someone else to do the content uploading and formatting for me." I'm lucky to have my own technical monkey to help!
Yesterday afternoon I spent in the company of local writers as we listened to crime fiction author Jen Hilborne give us the benefit of her experience getting published both the traditional way and the self-publishing way. It was a very rich workshop, packed with hints and tips about how to use Amazon and social media to promote our books, and how to decide which publishing route to take. I learned the distinctions between self-publishing, independent publishing, vanity publishing and traditional publishing, and it was useful to know that self-publishing is becoming an increasingly respected channel to market.
It also goes to show how quickly things are changing in the publishing world since I started thinking seriously about writing in 2007. Back then self- and indie-publishing were invariably tarred with the same stigmatising brush as vanity publishing. The advances in digital technology, and the determination of the writing community to exploit as much of it as we can manage to get our words out into the world have completely changed the picture. Now, thankfully, blogs, e-books, and print on demand have begun to steal the market from the vanity sharks, who prey on the delicate egos and vulnerable wallets of new writers through their gushing letters of flattery and boiler-plate promises of authorial greatness.
If you're a writer local to Swindon and you'd like to learn a bit more about publishing and book promotion online, Jen has offered to run another workshop at Basepoint, West Swindon, in the New Year 2013. Drop me a line at juliet@treetopscommunications.co.uk if you're interested in attending.
If you're struggling to upload your content into blurb using pdf to book, check out my hubby's extensive blog on the subject: Blurb publishing.
And if you're into crime fiction check out Jen Hilborne's books No Alibi, Madness and Murder, and Hide and Seek via her website.


text:
Q: Wrong grouping with facet_wrap and geom_bar I have a dataset that looks like:
Pair,Total readNUM,Uniquely mapped readNUM,Batch
CP3027_merged_trimmed,83750278,75237898,P160411
CP3028_merged_trimmed,94621036,86736510,P160411
CP3029_merged_trimmed,89051500,80999978,P160411
CP3030_merged_trimmed,100399436,89787060,P160411
CP3032_merged_trimmed,91591620,83432242,P160411
CP3036_merged_trimmed,81272998,73541686,P160411
CP3037_merged_trimmed,85289630,77513350,P160411
CP3058_merged_trimmed,85092730,78269348,P160411
CP3059_merged_trimmed,81696100,74981834,P160411
CP3060_merged_trimmed,88098518,79513000,P160411
CP3065_merged_trimmed,75924870,68052566,P160411
CP3066_merged_trimmed,89746438,79933004,P160411
CP3068_merged_trimmed,82041060,73183314,P160411
CP3074_merged_trimmed,82162078,74321554,P160411
CP3078_merged_trimmed,77500516,70835090,P160411
CP3185_merged_trimmed,99023950,90729150,P160411
CP3081_trimmed,88044290,76494036,P160475
CP3084_trimmed,88741718,79056712,P160475
CP3085_trimmed,81212190,71851198,P160475
CP3091_trimmed,82675822,72460250,P160475
CP3092_trimmed,96965168,86268756,P160475
CP3093_trimmed,68717952,60125000,P160475
CTL001_trimmed,74160410,63648530,P160475
CTL004_trimmed,100474172,85822840,P160475
CP1950_trimmed,162963640,136601638,SO41314
CP2160_trimmed,77991138,65584038,SO41314
CP2171_trimmed,89296686,75887918,SO41314
CP2204_trimmed,71691448,60311650,SO41314
CP2325_trimmed,95803886,80002310,SO41314
CP3133_trimmed,76307744,64964436,SO41314
CP3249_trimmed,78904062,67382812,SO41314
CP3541_trimmed,67020194,56703314,SO41314
CP0678_trimmed,19986550,18575050,SBSQ8092_1
CP2032_trimmed,21722580,20138926,SBSQ8092_1
CP2164_trimmed,23275750,21359668,SBSQ8092_1
CP2544_trimmed,22376982,20652410,SBSQ8092_1
CP2695_trimmed,22264402,20631472,SBSQ8092_1
CP3127_trimmed,33050232,29990758,SBSQ8092_2
CP3141_trimmed,24164170,21655048,SBSQ8092_2
CP2997_trimmed,96381034,91772686,NG-10002
L0218_001_trimmed,257181636,81639268,x
L0218_002_trimmed,263258410,31357342,x
L0218_003_trimmed,183642720,30657224,x

For every sample (Pair = col 1), I plotted the total number of reads (col 2) over the mapped reads (col 3) and coloured the bars by experiment (col 4).
The result is shown in Figure 1:

The samples are not ordered,making difficult to compare samples belonging to the same experiment (batch).
To make the plot more readable, I grouped them by experiment using facet_wrap.

The resulting plot (Figure 2) has the correct colouring, but the samples are not placed in the right groups by facet_wrap (or facet_grid).
In a different post ("r facet_wrap not grouping properly with geom_point"stackover link) it was suggested to avoid using the $ to refer to the variables inside aes().
I then modify the code (BamSummaryRaw$Pair -> Pair and BamSummaryRaw$Batch -> Batch), but the issue persists.
This is the code I used:
library(ggplot2);library(cowplot);library(grid)
library(gridExtra);library(reshape2)

BamSummaryRaw <- read.table('BamSummary_B38.csv',header=T,sep=',',quote='',check.names=F,stringsAsFactors=FALSE)

# convert # in millions
totReadsMill <- BamSummaryRaw$`Total readNUM`/1000000
totMappedMill <- BamSummaryRaw$`Uniquely mapped paired readNUM`/1000000

experiments <- BamSummaryRaw$Batch

# plots
gg.MAIN <- ggplot(BamSummaryRaw,aes(x=Pair,fill=experiments))

gg.reads <- gg.MAIN + geom_bar(aes(y=totReadsMill),fill='white',colour='black',stat='identity',width = 0.5,show.legend = T) +
   geom_bar(aes(y=totMappedMill),colour='black',stat='identity',width = 0.5,show.legend = T) +
   theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 20, hjust = 1,size=5)) +
   labs(x='samples',y='# of reads [10^6]') +
   ylim(0,200)

#prova <- gg.reads + facet_grid(~BamSummaryRaw$Batch,scales='free_x', labeller = label_wrap_gen(multi_line=FALSE))
prova <- gg.reads + facet_wrap(~Batch,scales='free_x',nrow=1)

A: If I understand correctly all you need is to order x-axis. You can do this with scale_x_discrete(). Just pass vector of samples to function and x-axis will be sorted according it.
# Using OPs data
# Rename for easier manipulation
colnames(BamSummaryRaw) <- c("pair", "total", "mapped", "batch")

# Plot
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(BamSummaryRaw, aes(pair, fill = batch)) +
    # Number of total reads (M)
    geom_bar(aes(y = total / 1e6), fill = "white", color = "black",
             stat = "identity", position = "dodge", width = 0.5) +
    # Number of mapped reads (M)
    geom_bar(aes(y = mapped / 1e6), color = "black", stat = "identity", position = "dodge", width = 0.5) +
    # Order x-axis
    scale_x_discrete(limits = BamSummaryRaw$pair) +
    # Add labels
    labs(title = "Number of reads",
         subtile = "Total and Mapped / Grouped per batch",
         x = NULL,
         y = "Number of reads, M",
         fill = "Batch") +
    # Nicer theme
    theme_classic() +
    theme(axis.text.x = element_blank(),
          axis.ticks.x = element_blank(),
          legend.position = "bottom")

Another way to represent NGS stats would be to plot percentage of mapped reads with:
ggplot(BamSummaryRaw, aes(pair, fill = batch)) +
    geom_bar(aes(y = mapped * 100 / total), color = "black", stat = "identity", position = "dodge", width = 0.5) +
    scale_x_discrete(limits = BamSummaryRaw$pair) +
    labs(title = "Percentage of mapped reads",
         subtile = "Total and Mapped / Grouped per batch",
         x = NULL,
         y = "Mapped, %",
         fill = "Batch") +
    theme_minimal() +
    scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0, 100)) +
    theme(axis.text.x = element_blank(),
          axis.ticks.x = element_blank(),
          legend.position = "bottom")


text:
Home/Entertainment/Entertainment and Games – Production Process Explained
Entertainment and Games – Production Process Explained
JokarMay 3, 2021
Whenever we think about entertainment and games, we mostly focus on the fun part – playing the game. However, we rarely stop to think about all the things that go into the game production and development process. And one may assume that this process isn't lacking fun either.
But the reality is that, although quite interesting and engaging, designing any type of game is hard work that usually doesn't always go according to plan. That being said, here are 7 stages of creating a game explained, from the initial concept down to the finished product.
Before any team that works on developing a game begins their work, there needs to be a general idea about the type of game that's being created. Here, some of the most common questions that need to be answered include the type of video game that's going to be made; the type of technology that's going to be used; who will be the target audience; who are the main characters and what's the story about. This process usually involves a lot of brainstorming and playing around with different ideas. Although it may not seem like it at first glance, this is arguably the most difficult part of creating a video game.
In this next stage of game production various teams and departments get together to come up with ways to bring everything from the previous step in life. So, writers, engineers, various artists, game developers and project leader all get together to discuss the next steps. Here, they all work together to come up with the most optimal ways to bring the entire project to fruition. During this process, studios usually create prototypes of characters, environments and interfaces. This is also usually the time that the team is getting entirely familiar with the project they'll be working on.
The production stage is arguably the costliest part of this entire process, money, time and effort-wise. During this process, character models are being designed and rendered. The audio part is being developed to fit the entire setting of the game. Developers choose various software solutions that will assist them in this process. And this is not only applied to video games that fit the genre of MMOs, RPGs and similar style-games. Instead, even the casino industry is going through the similar process. In the world of iGaming, developers choose the best type of casino software to base their games on. Knowing all of this, it becomes quite obvious why this part of the process is probably the most important one.
After the production process, it's time to test the game before it ever reaches the audience. Some gaming companies run the testing phase alongside production phase, while others do these two things separately. Either way, during the testing phase, game developers need to ensure that everything's running smoothly and that there are no game-breaking bugs. Of course, it's quite normal to come across various issues during this phase, which is the whole point – so that they can be easily eliminated in a timely manner.
The pre-launch part takes place after the game designers and developers feel like they've created a functional product. Usually, many game companies offer exclusive access to the game to interested players, even before the game is officially launched. No matter how smoothly the testing phase went, chances are that there will be a plethora of new issues and bugs the testing team simply didn't mange to catch. On top of that, this pre-launch phase enables the team to see what are the general thoughts and perception about the game they've created. That's one of the reasons why most game developers and other people working on creating a game find this phase to be the most nerve-wracking.
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Now we're finally nearing the end – but we're still not quite there yet. The launch date is most commonly pre-determined way in advance. So, as the launch date is drawing near, the team spends the rest of their time perfecting the game and dealing with any potential bugs left. When it happens – and it happens more often than you think – that the game has more bugs than can be dealt with in the time-frame leading to the launch, the studio will create sort of a hierarchy of bugs. What this means is that bigger issues and game-breaking bugs will be the top priority but there will also be some bugs left that the studio will deal with later on, even after the launch date. It's also important to mention that a good practice is to give your audience a heads-up about any potential bugs if you know you're launching a game that's still not perfect.
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Post-launch
And now we've finally reached the end of your journey! Now that the game is finally out there and the audience is (hopefully) responding well, you can finally see the fruit of your hard labor. But for the entire team working on the said title, it's still not the end of the road. As mentioned earlier, games are quite commonly launched with some (hopefully) minor bugs that still need to be fixed. On top of that, the studio will need to ensure that they provide their audience with regular software update, stellar customer support and anything else their audience may need. Finally, it's time to start working on new content – in form of DLCs – that will continue to make the game fun and engaging.
Of course, it's also important to note that not all games are created equal. Depending on the type of the game that's being created, some will require either more or less work and engagement. But these are just the top 7 phases of game development almost every single title goes through
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text:
These Archaeologists Found 22 Different Shipwrecks In Area Around Greece
Possum Tails Have Been Scattered Throughout New Zealand And Nobody Knows Why
Benny Lau
Archaic Period,
Medieval,
Roman Period,
At a Greek archipelago, archaeologists have discovered 22 different shipwrecks, leading some to call it the "shipwreck capital of the world".
The discovery was made by a joint archaeological expedition featuring both American and Greek explorers. They were searching in the small Fourni Archipelago, which has an area of just 17 square miles. The archipelago contains a total of 13 islands and islets located between the eastern Aegean islands, Icaria and Samos.
In just a time period of 13 days, the team located 22 individual shipwrecks.
The Fourni Archipelago is located directly in the center of both a major east-west crossing route and a north-south route that connects the Aegean islands to the Levant.
The result is that countless ships had to pass through the area. Some of which apparently did not complete their journeys.
The recent expedition marked the first time that underwater archaeologists embarked on a major search throughout the area. Those involved say that they are extremely pleased with their findings.
Greek archaeologist George Koutsouflakis said, "In a typical survey we locate four or five shipwrecks per season in the best cases. We expected a successful season, but no one was prepared for this. Shipwrecks were found literally everywhere."
More than half of the shipwrecks that were found have been traced back to the Late Roman Period of 300 to 600 A.D. Some date back even further to the Archaic Period of 700 to 480 B.C. Others were as recent as the Late Medieval Period of the 16th century.
According to Koutsouflakis, the differing aspects of the shipwrecks is particularly amazing.
"What is astonishing is not only the number of the shipwrecks but also the diversity of the cargoes, some of which have been found for first time," he said.
Based on the findings, the archaeologists have determined that many of the ships traveled very far distances for trading purposes. Areas such as the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, Cyprus, the Levant and Egypt were all either originating locations, passing points or intended final destinations for the doomed ships.
For now, the archaeologists are working on mapping out each shipwreck in order to create 3D models of their travels before they sank.
Additionally, many of the artifacts that have been recovered may eventually be displayed in Museums.
According to the archaeologists, the area was perfectly safe for travel. The reason why so many shipwrecks were found here is due to the fact that an extraordinarily large number of vessels passed through the area.
American archaeologist Peter Campbell said, "Given the 22 wrecks and the date spread of the finds, it equals about one wreck per century: a pretty safe bet for sailors. These wrecks were likely caught by a sudden storm or equipment failure, such as a broken rudder that prevented to control the ship."
Still, the archaeologists say that they expect to discover more wrecks in the future. At the present time, they have only examined roughly 5% of the area. According to Campbell, the group plans to return to the area next year to make more amazing discoveries.
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Book Cover- Need ongoing freelancer.
I need an ongoing Book Cover Designer. If satisfactory, this will be a continuous role.
To be successful, you need to have a good understanding of the English language and book market. This is a great position for someone who is just starting out and wants to build their portfolio. Doing some research on popular book covers will help you greatly.
All design rights will be given to Purple Birch Publishing Ltd.
To see if we are a good match, in your proposal please show that you understand the terms here and would agree to them. Include the link to any previous examples of book cover designs you have done. If you have not done them before, please be willing to do a mock up as an example- I will message you with more detail.
There will be about 2 of these projects this month, with more expected in March.
Hi, I can help you out with this project. Please see my website: [login to view URL] There is a book on Amazon that I have with good cover. Please consider me for this project. Thanks.


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text:
[Insert Clever Blog Title]
The Bloggings of Mike Dicillo
About Me - Click Here!
My Demo Reel - What I Do
Get heard…
With the exception of P. Diddy's (or whatever he's called nowadays) ridiculous "Vote or Die" campaign aimed at faddy apparel and threatening billboard ads, really only doing harm to the entire cause, the movement to vote has become a prolific element in my young adult life. My father was an enormous history enthusiast and teacher and if he taught me anything about democracy in history, it has been that the power of the people is an incredibly daunting capacity to withhold. But it's still ours. We have yet to make ourselves heard. We tolerate these ridiculous lies and blatant twistings of truths, and why? Because we as Americans don't truly feel we're being lied to. We're so wrapped up in all the other distractions and all the other vices that are available to us, we forget that our President is the most inept, unjust, uneducated and unworthy person to ever hold that position. But, alas. He'll be gone soon and whoever steps up to the plate will truly be batting "clean-up". There is going to be such a mess left over, that the next incumbent will do very little to seal his or her own legacy in American history and will probably only be known as "The President after Bush". I never think it's too late to change. I think America will recover, but it will require many years, many honest and prolific people and many well-placed and monumental events. So, what can we do? What little part can we play? Let's face it, not a lot of people have the passion, let alone the time to be revolutionaries. But we can vote. For the normal, everyday, non-Superhero-esque personnel of America, it's our most available option. So, do it with pride. It's our wonderful privilege as Americans to do so. Often, people of other countries wait in lines for hours at the risk of being shot just so they can say "Yay" or "Nay". I would hope that America wouldn't have to come to that point to bring our poll visits up to a decent number. I challenge my generation to take a severe interest in our future and the future of our children. It's time for radical change. It's time for our own Bastille Day of sorts. It's time to start asking the questions that matter and asking them of the people in charge. Where are our answers Mr. Bush? You have yet to apologize for what you've done to this country and the world as a whole. By instilling the idea of being conquered by terrorists, you sir, have been ruling by terror. And what a terrible President you are. I ask wholeheartedly as an American and as a human that we stand together and make ourselves heard. Voting is one of the most important things you will ever do as an American citizen. Be proud, be wise and above all, be heard.
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Categories : Blogroll, Social
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text:
John's Blog
A venture in creativity and connectivity
A Candidate Of and For the People
July 26, 2018 / johnjbayerl
Caption: Marc Elrich (center, in blue shirt) celebrates Montgomery County Council's passage of a $15/hour minimum wage plan.
We've just completed a very full and complex primary election season here in Maryland. The Democratic party races included those for U.S. House and Senate, Governor, and the entire state legislature. I live in Montgomery County, a large, populous, relatively affluent, and 65% Democratic county northwest of Washington, DC. This election cycle included Democratic primary races for our County Executive, the nine-member County Council, the school board, circuit court judges, and sundry other county offices, as well as the Central Committees of both parties.
Newly retired, I had decided to re-commit myself to the political process as the fateful 2016 presidential race unfolded. I was an early backer of Bernie Sanders' bid, but shifted my efforts to Hillary after she garnered the Democratic nomination. I volunteered to fill the empty precinct-leadership job for our local Democratic party and spent the presidential election day manning a Democratic candidate information table at our local polling place.
Hillary's defeat was devastating for us Democrats, but after emerging from the trauma of it, I decided to re-double my commitment. After the historic Women's March of January 2017, my wife and I formed a small Indivisible group and committed ourselves to meeting regularly with a group of similarly minded friends to take up specific political projects. We enlisted our efforts in support of the "Fight for 15" minimum wage campaign in our county and were gratified that our efforts paid off in a victory after a year-long battle within our County Council. We attended rallies and meetings, testified at public hearings, and met privately with Council members who were on the fence. This process acquainted us with many of the local political leaders who would emerge as candidates in our recent primary election.
I spent a lot of time this spring reading and getting to know many of the candidates via numerous public debates. The candidate who I ended up focusing the most energy on was Marc Elrich, who I had known from our days living in Takoma Park, MD in the 1980s and '90s. Marc is a three-term Councilman-at-Large in Montgomery county, and was running for the County Executive slot the in the Democratic primary. I had known him personally during his multi-term service on the Takoma Park City Council. Marc was also a community organizer, best known for his indefatigable work in getting the Takoma Park Food Co-op started (the Co-op is still flourishing some thirty years later). I reconnected with Marc during the year-long "Fight for 15" which he single-mindedly shepherded through to its final Council approval last fall. Seven other Democratic candidates were also running campaigns in the County Executive primary, two of them fellow Council members who we had witnessed during numerous open Council meetings.
At first, I wasn't convinced that Marc would make the best Executive. His two rivals from the Council, George Leventhal and Roger Berliner, both seemed more polished in their mastery of the Council's complex political machinations. In addition, George was another Takoma Park political activist who I'd known and admired, and Roger was the father of one of our son's friends in grade school.
One of the highlights of this year's county elections was the implementation of a long-awaited public-private funding mechanism for candidates who meet the criteria in terms of number of donors and amount raised. To receive the public subsidy, candidates had to limit total individual donations to $150 and refuse financial help from other entities. The entire process is carefully regulated and stands as a major advance in the democratization of our county's election process, long plagued by large-scale property developer donations to candidates who may then be beholden. Participation in the "public option" is entirely voluntarily. For the County Executive race, three of the candidates opted for it, and another four pursued purely private funding.
Both Marc and George were early participants and I actually gave preliminary $50 donations to both of their campaigns. The public option rewards the first $50 from a donor with three times that much in county funding. So my initial $50 to each candidate netted $150 from the county as well.
Around New Years, my wife and I decided to unequivocally back Marc. The reason was that Marc was consistently prioritizing the well-being of the county's middle and lower-income families. Montgomery county had become prohibitively expensive for many working people, such that even county teachers and police often had to live in less expensive areas outside the county. Marc's championing of the $15 minimum wage had been an attempt to ameliorate the large income gap. He had also been in the forefront to guarantee that a percentage of all new housing units in the county contain affordable units for lower income families. And he was also insisting that new housing constructed around new Metro extensions not obliterate existing low-income housing units.
A newcomer to county politics, the wealthy businessman David Blair soon became the lead contender in the Democratic County Executive primary. Blair didn't participate in the public funding system, opting instead to take unlimited private donations as well as spending some $3 million of his own on his campaign. Blair garnered the endorsement of the Washington Post, which was long opposed to Marc Elrich's brand of citizen activism, and more comfortable with Blair's carefully centrist and business-oriented focus.
By the spring, I'd maxed out with my $150 contribution to the Elrich campaign. I put up a yard sign and began talking Marc up with friends and relatives. Marc had a fiery pre-election pep-rally attended by the wide spectrum of his political base: labor union members, immigration rights activists, Bernie Sanders' "Our Revolution" members and supporters, Hispanic and African American civics groups, community-based environmentalists, and an eloquent spokesperson for the burgeoning movement of young people for gun control. I was inspired to volunteer in passing out campaign literature at busy Metro stops. I got a "Marc Elrich for County Executive" tee shirt and started wearing it regularly.
By election day, local polling was reporting a close race between Blair and Elrich. I worked the polls for the Democratic party but had to maintain neutrality there for all Democratic primary races. I was encouraged that other groups were out in force advocating for Marc at my polling place, including the Jews United for Justice organization and a polite, articulate young man from the Democratic Socialists of America.
The election returns yielded a virtual tie between Blair and Elrich, each with about 30% of the count. Marc was ahead by 80 votes, but the absentee and provisional ballots remained to be hand-counted. This labor-intensive process took over a week to complete and Marc maintained his slim lead. Blair lodged a challenge and a selective re-count was performed. Marc's victory held for the re-count and Blair finally conceded in late July.
But Marc's victory in the Democratic primary, which usually guarantees success in November against the outnumbered Republicans, had still one more storm cloud on the horizon. A few days after the election, another longtime Democratic Council member, Nancy Floreen, announced her intention to run an independent campaign for County Executive in the fall election. Floreen had spoken out against what she claimed was Marc's "socialist agenda", and hoped to garner support from the more centrist, business-oriented elements of the Democratic party. She'll need to garner some 4,000 signatures before August 6 in order to get on the ballot.
This primary election has only confirmed my belief that it is not the time for Democrats to play business-as-usual in the 2018 elections. We need candidates who have a proven track record of working for the 90% of Americans who aren't sharing in the current economic expansion. Marc Elrich is one of the few politicians I know who has remained committed to improving the lot of the 90% of our citizens who struggle every day to make ends meet. Like Bernie Sanders, he articulates a clear and convincing message of working for the greatest good of the greatest number. He is neither anti-business nor anti-development, but wants to make sure that businesses and developers pay their fare share from the prosperity they continue to enjoy in our wealthy county.
John Bayerl, 7/26/2018
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On St. Patrick's Day, we typically think of leprechauns, shamrocks, four leaf clovers, and luck. Here at CRA, you can call us "treasure hunters," as we have a knack for finding things. As surveyors, our clients usually have one goal in mind whether it's locating a pipeline, checking the depth of a dock, or finding an abstract object or a depression on the seafloor. We are used to unusual requests, and we have had our fair share of interesting projects such as surveying over 100 miles of the Yellowstone River in Montana as well as conducting sedimentation studies at the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.
There are times when salvage and investigations are crucial in ports and harbors, such as the recent ship collision that happened on the Houston Ship Channel last week (a chemical tanker colliding into a bulk carrier causing a gas leak) and after major storms. Depending on the location and size of the object, it is possible to rupture or puncture the hull of a vessel or barge. The most important things to consider on the waterway regarding a potentially dangerous object is structural integrity, environment, and safety. The real first responders in these types of situations in navigable waters are the U.S. Coast Guard. Last week wasn't the luckiest for the maritime industry of Houston due to the vessel collision, but overall the safety record is very good, especially considering that the Port of Houston is the second busiest port in the nation!


The beaches are uninhabited. The activities are plentiful. The dining is as delicious as ever in Anguilla's fine restaurants or conveniently available in your fully-equipped kitchen. The crowds are down and so is the cost of a luxurious villa. A quiet time for couples. A perfect time for families. Come and have the summertime of your life.
Double occupancy, includes 10% Government Tax, 10% Service Charge and US $3.00 Marketing Levy per person/night. Please also see our new deposit and cancellation policy as of May 1, 2018. Click here.
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How to migrate Service Plan to another Plesk server?
How to migrate Service Plan from one Plesk server to another?
The Service Plan migration is carried out only together with assigned to it Subscription.
Open Subscriptions > Add Subscription. Choose required Service Plan for this subscription and fill all required fields.
Open Tools & Settings > Migration & Transfer Manager, migrate the newly created Subscription. When Subscription is migrated, corresponding Service Plan will be migrated as well.
Remove empty Subscriptions from both source and destination servers.


text:
"use strict";
var sinon = require("sinon")

/**
 * Activate fake clock where every real millisecond is `speed`
 */
module.exports = function (speed) {
  var timeout = global.setTimeout
  var clock = sinon.useFakeTimers()

  var speedup = function () {
    timeout(function () {
      clock.tick(speed)
      speedup()
    }, 1)
  }
  speedup()
  return clock
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub