text:
The Launching of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM). Offensive Operations in Cyberspace By Tom Burghardt
1 July, 2009 – Global Research – Antifascist Calling
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed a memorandum on June 23 that announced the launch of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM). A scheme by securocrats in the works for several years, the order specifies that the new office will be a "subordinate unified command" under U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM).
According to the memorandum, CYBERCOM "will reach initial operating capability (IOC) not later than October 2009 and full operating capability (FOC) not later than October 2010."
Gates has recommended that this new Pentagon domain be led by Lt. General Keith Alexander, the current Director of the ultra-spooky National Security Agency (NSA).
Under the proposal, Alexander would receive a fourth star and the new agency would be based at Ft. Meade, Maryland, NSA's headquarters.
Gates' memorandum specifies that CYBERCOM "must be capable of synchronizing warfighting effects across the global security environment as well as providing support to civil authorities and international partners."
Ostensibly launched to protect military networks against malicious cyberattacks, the command's offensive nature is underlined by its role as STRATCOM's operational cyber wing. In addition to a defensive brief to "harden" the "dot-mil" domain, the Pentagon plan calls for an offensive capacity, one that will deploy cyber weapons against imperialism's adversaries.
One of ten Unified Combatant Commands, STRATCOM is the successor organization to Strategic Air Command (SAC). Charged with space operations (military satellites), information warfare, missile defense, global command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), as well as global strike and strategic deterrence (America's first-strike nuclear arsenal), it should be apparent that designating CYBERCOM a STRATCOM branch all but guarantees an aggressive posture.
As Antifascist Calling reported in May, the Pentagon's geek squad, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is currently building a National Cyber Range (NCR), a test bed for developing, testing and fielding cyber weapons.
In conjunction with "private-sector partners," the agency averred in a January 2009 press release that NCR promises to deliver "'leap ahead' concepts and capabilities."
The Armed Forces Press Service reported June 24, that Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told journalists that CYBERCOM is "not some sort of new and necessarily different authorities that have been granted." Obfuscating the offensive role envisaged for the command, Morrell told reporters: "This is about trying to figure out how we, within this department, within the United States military, can better coordinate the day-to-day defense, protection and operation of the department's computer networks."
Others within the defense bureaucracy are far more enthusiastic, and forthright, when it comes to recommending that cyber armaments be fielded as offensive weapons of war. Indeed, Armed Forces Journal featured a lengthy analysis advocating precisely that.
The world has abandoned a fortress mentality in the real world, and we need to move beyond it in cyberspace. America needs a network that can project power by building an af.mil robot network (botnet) that can direct such massive amounts of traffic to target computers that they can no longer communicate and become no more useful to our adversaries than hunks of metal and plastic. America needs the ability to carpet bomb in cyberspace to create the deterrent we lack. (Col. Charles W. Williamson III, "Carpet Bombing in Cyberspace," Armed Forces Journal, May 2008)
We have heard these Orwellian arguments before; one can take it for granted that when militarists pontificate on the need for a "deterrent," the bombers are preparing for take off.
As with other Pentagon schemes, the technological quick fix may prove as deadly as the alleged threat, particularly where botnets are concerned.
A botnet is a collection of widely dispersed computers controlled from one or more central nodes. Often built by cyber criminals to implant malicious programs or code, steal passwords and other encrypted data from targeted systems, botnets are the bane of the Internet.
In these endeavors, sophisticated hackers are aided and abetted by the miserable security code or lax practices of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) more concerned with facilitating commerce–and the bottom line–than in providing adequate protection against criminals.
Indeed in March, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) urged the Federal Trade Commission "to shut down Google's so-called cloud computing services, including Gmail and Google Docs, if the web giant can't ensure the safety of user data stored by these online apps," The Register reported.
EPIC's petition in part, was sparked "by a Google snafu that saw the company inadvertently share certain Google Docs files with users unauthorized to view them. Google estimates that the breach hit about 0.05 per cent of the documents stored by the service," according to The Register.
Infected computers are referred to as "zombies" that can be controlled remotely from any point on the planet by "master" machines. Unwary users are often "spoofed" by hackers through counterfeit e-mails replete with embedded hyperlinks into "cooperating" with the installation of malicious code.
While criminals employ botnets to generate spam or commit fraudulent transactions, draining a savings account or running-up credit card debt through multiple purchases for example, botnets also have the capacity to launch devastating distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks against inadequately defended computers or indeed, entire networks.
As many commentators have warned, the best defense is to write better security programs and exercise a modicum of common sense when using the Internet. The Pentagon however, has something else in mind.
Col. Williamson proposes to transform the Air Force's high-speed intrusion-detection systems into an offensive botnet by enabling "the thousands of computers the Air Force would normally discard every year for technology refresh, removing the power-hungry and heat-inducing hard drives, replacing them with low-power flash drives, then installing them in any available space every Air Force base can find." In other words, creating thousands of zombie machines.
"After that," Col. Williamson avers, "the Air Force could add botnet code to all its desktop computers attached to the Nonsecret Internet Protocol Network (NIPRNet). Once the system reaches a level of maturity, it can add other .mil computers, then .gov machines."
Underscoring the risks posed by out-of-control military hackers to hold America's, or any other nations' communications infrastructure hostage to a militarized state, Williamson suggests that in order to "generate the right amount of power for offense, all the available computers must be under the control of a single commander, even if he provides the capability for multiple theaters. While it cannot be segmented like an orange for individual theater commanders, it can certainly be placed under their tactical control." (emphasis added)
In other words, should an "individual theatre commander" desire to suddenly darken a city or wreck havoc on a nation's electrical infrastructure at the behest of his political masters then by all means, go right ahead! A proposal such as this, should it ever be implemented, would in essence, be a first-strike weapon.
Other plans for "defending" Pentagon computer networks are even more extreme.
STRATCOM commander Gen. Kevin Chilton has even suggested that "the White House retains the option to respond with physical force–potentially even using nuclear weapons–if a foreign entity conducts a disabling cyber attack against U.S. computer networks," according to a disturbing report published by Global Security Newswire. During a Defense Writers Group breakfast in May, Chilton told journalists:
"I think you don't take any response options off the table from an attack on the United States of America. Why would we constrain ourselves on how we respond?" …
Should the breaches evolve into more serious computer attacks against the United States, Chilton said he could not rule out the possibility of a military salvo against a nation like China, even though Beijing has nuclear arms. He rejected the idea that such a conflict would necessarily risk going nuclear.
"I don't think that's true," Chilton said.
At the same time, the general insisted that all strike options, including nuclear, would remain available to the commander in chief in defending the nation from cyber strikes.
"I think that's been our policy on any attack on the United States of America," Chilton said. "And I don't see any reason to treat cyber any differently. I mean, why would we tie the president's hands? I can't. It's up to the president to decide." (Elaine M. Grossman, "U.S. General Reserves Right to Use Force, Even Nuclear, in Response to Cyber Attack," Global Security Newswire, May 12, 2009)
While Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told The New York Times that CYBERCOM's launch "is not about the militarization of cyber," how else can it be characterized?
Indeed, Whitman went on to say that CYBERCOM "is focused only on military networks to better consolidate and streamline Department of Defense capabilities into a single command."
How then, should one interpret moves by the Pentagon to "consolidate and streamline" DoD "capabilities" under the purview of STRATCOM? Obviously, an entity defined as a "Unified Combatant Command" as clearly stated by General Chilton's avowal to "leave all options on the table," would combine cyber "defense" with STRATCOM's global strike mission.
Antifascist Calling revealed last year, citing a U.S. Air Force planning document, that preparations are already underway to transform cyberspace into an offensive military domain. Indeed, Air Force theorists averred:
"Cyberspace favors offensive operations. These operations will deny, degrade, disrupt, destroy, or deceive an adversary. Cyberspace offensive operations ensure friendly freedom of action in cyberspace while denying that same freedom to our adversaries. We will enhance our capabilities to conduct electronic systems attack, electromagnetic systems interdiction and attack, network attack, and infrastructure attack operations. Targets include the adversary's terrestrial, airborne, and space networks, electronic attack and network attack systems, and the adversary itself. As an adversary becomes more dependent on cyberspace, cyberspace offensive operations have the potential to produce greater effects. (Air Force Cyber Command, "Strategic Vision," no date)
Echoing Air Force strategy, SecDef Gates memo clearly states, since "cyberspace and its associated technologies … are vital to our nation's security," the United States will "secure freedom of action in cyberspace" by standing-up a unified command "that possesses the required technical capability and remains focused on the integration of cyberspace operations."
Simply put, the Pentagon intends to build an infrastructure fully-capable of committing high-tech war crimes.
Under NSA's Operational Control
Meanwhile in the heimat, CYBERCOM will effectively be under the day-to-day control of the National Security Agency. This is hardly good news when it comes to civil liberties.
Leaving aside considerations of bureaucratic trench warfare with the Department of Homeland Security, charged with defending the state's .gov and .com domains, the unprecedented power of CYBERCOM to conduct offensive military and surveillance operations within the United States itself is underlined by the preeminent role NSA will assume.
Authorized by the criminal Bush regime to carry out massive electronic surveillance of Americans' private communications in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, various driftnet spying operations continue under Obama's purported "change" administration. As Antifascist Calling has averred many times, the only "change" that's come to the White House has been the color of the drapes hanging in the Oval Office.
The New York Times revealed June 17, that the "National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged." According to the Times, "The agency's monitoring of domestic e-mail messages, in particular, has posed longstanding legal and logistical difficulties, the officials said."
I take issue with the Times' characterization that such a breach of constitutional norms merely represent "logistical difficulties." As with a Times' report in April which alleged that NSA's driftnet spying under Obama was simply a problem of "overcollection," far from being mere technical issues, first and foremost, these violations represent political decisions made at the highest levels of the national security state itself.
Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns in Congress about the agency's ability to collect and read domestic e-mail messages of Americans on a widespread basis, officials said. Supporting that conclusion is the account of a former N.S.A. analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program in which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans' e-mail messages without court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation. (James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, "E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress," The New York Times, June 17, 2009)
Last year, congressional Democrats, including Senator now President, Obama, handed the NSA virtually unchecked power to spy on the private communications of Americans. In addition to granting retroactive immunity to telecom grifters who profited from their conspiracy to illegally spy on citizens for the state, the despicable FISA Amendments Act (FIA) gave NSA the legal cover to intercept Americans' communications "so long as it was done only as the incidental byproduct of investigating individuals 'reasonably believed' to be overseas," as the Times delicately put it.
CYBERCOM's brief, and its deployment inside NSA with full access to the agency's powerful computing assets, and with a mission to conduct global Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) at the behest of their STRATCOM masters, mean that despite bromides about "privacy concerns," the Pentagon will most assuredly be interested in developing an attack matrix that can just as easily be turned inward. After all as General Chilton asserts, "it's up to the president to decide."
"One thing that is pretty clear," Wired reports, "NSA will be leading this emerging command." Indeed, NSA "may also come to dominate the wider government cyber defense effort, as well." As The Wall Street Journal revealed, the Defense Department's 2010 budget "envisions training and graduating more than 200 cyber-security officers annually." In contradistinction to DoD, "the Department of Homeland Security has 100 employees dedicated to civilian cyber security, with plans to reach 260 next year," the Journal reports.
In other words, right from the get-go NSA will be assuming operational control of CYBERCOM. This is driven home by the fact that the Pentagon is already receiving the vast majority of appropriations for state cybersecurity initiatives and have thousands of cyberwarriors across all branches of the military, including outsourced private contractors who labor for DoD, ready, willing and able to staff the new command.
As Antifascist Calling revealed in April, with billions of dollars already spent on a score of top secret cyber initiatives, including those hidden within Pentagon Special Access or black programs, the issue of oversight is already a moot point.
Defense analyst William M. Arkin in his essential book, Code Names, described some three dozen cyberwar programs and/or exercises, currently being pursued by the Pentagon. Since the book's 2005 publication, many others undoubtedly have come on-line.
While NSA Director Alexander has explicitly stated that he does "not want [NSA] to run cybersecurity for the United States government," CYBERCOM's stand-up, and Alexander's near certain appointment as commander, all but guarantees that the agency will be a ubiquitous and silent gatekeeper answerable to no one.
Tom Burghardt is a researcher and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to publishing in Covert Action Quarterly and Global Research, his articles can be read on Dissident Voice, The Intelligence Daily, Pacific Free Press and the whistleblowing website Wikileaks. He is the editor of Police State America: U.S. Military "Civil Disturbance" Planning, distributed by AK Press.
The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author's copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor@yahoo.com
http://www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.
For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com
© Copyright Tom Burghardt, Antifascist Calling…, 2009
© Copyright 2005-2007 GlobalResearch.ca
Posted in: National Security State, USA | Tagged: CYBERCOM, Cyberspace, NSA, Robert Gates
Video: Angel Palacios, "Honduras Resists"
Western Exceptionalism and the Iran Election Fraud Stunt BY NOTSILVIA NIGHT


Not only do you get voice control but high quality sound. Listen to all your favourite music from Amazon music by simply asking. A full range speaker with phone connectivity. Imagine you wake up and simply ask your speaker to play your favourite music and it plays for you.
Bluedio is a manufacturer of quality high-end speakers and headphones. Their products are built to the highest industry standards. They also offer full warranty on all their products.
As a reseller for Bluedio we will honor the terms and conditions of Bluedio warranties. In the unlikely event you have a problem with your Bluedio equipment, just contact us and we will arrange everything for you. We will do this at no cost to you.
Very fast shipping. Column super for your money. Good store. Recommended.
I took a set with headphones, it turned out cheaper)) before peter the parcel was 4 days, but ordered from moscow, delivered by courier. Speaker loud speaker and sound is also pleases, plus is that fits and charging from phone, communication none отваливается, their 10 m hold. Purchase satisfied. Goods store recommend.
Truly awesome little speaker packed with great sound and good bass ideal for travellers who want a light weight compact speaker with big sound! I'm a big fan of Bluedio products they are excellent value for money.
Delivery with the speed of light, for 4 days to lenoblast'. The column is normal, to dress from it the sound of a home theater of course is not worth it, but it plays quite normally, for youtube it will come down. Included is a usb type c wire, which pleased.
Excellent product, am very satisfied with the sound quality and product, first line!
fast shipping, i give the store 5 stars but the product only 3. sound quality is fair, poor bass.
All compatible with description super.
The column is good, the delivery is very long 2 months.
Came in 5 days, brought the courier, packed so-so, in a cardboard branded box, the packing box was not damaged, so the norms. The column itself is a bomb, plays loudly, does not score the speakers on the maximals (paired with the iphone 6), the only minus is not visible the charge of the column on the phone, the bottom of the backlight. I took it for the kitchen and for work, it copes perfectly with it!
Perfect packaging, nice quality product!
great packaging and great voice on speaker.
Plays. Slightly louder iphone :) carried of course oooochen for a long time-almost 2 months to tyumen. Already arrived parcels, which in late november ordered.
Emballasjen var skadet. Vanskelig aring; selge. Åpner and disput P & aring; disse 2.
The order arrived in less than a month. The product came well packed and in perfect condition.
All right, recommend, excellent quality products.


text:
Die Evangelische Kirche Lauterbach befindet sich an der Fohrenbühlstraße in Lauterbach im Schwarzwald und wurde 1948 und 1949 erbaut. Die Kirche ist das Zentrum der Evangelischen Kirchengemeinde Lauterbach (Landkreis Rottweil), welche zur Gesamtkirchengemeinde Schramberg-Lauterbach und die wiederum zum Kirchenbezirk Sulz am Neckar der Evangelischen Landeskirche in Württemberg gehört.

Geschichte
Ab 1904 wurde der erste evangelische Gottesdienst in Lauterbach gefeiert. Die Gemeinde versammelte sich in einem angemieteten Saal des Hotels Waldeck. Im Jahr 1938 war eine von dem Architekten Werner Klatte entworfene evangelische Kirche genehmigt, aber nicht gebaut worden. 1948 wurden Pläne für eine Kirche mit Pfarrhaus zur Genehmigung eingereicht und dann auch verwirklicht. Am 1. Advent 1949 weihte Pfarrer Theophil Elwert die Kirche mit Pfarrhaus in der Fohrenbühlstraße ein.

Von der Evangelischen Stadtkirche Schramberg wurden ihr drei Stahl-Glocken des Bochumer Vereins geschenkt. An das Kirchenschiff ist direkt das Pfarrhaus angebaut.2008 erhielt die Gemeinde für ihre Kirche den "Grünen Gockel", die Auszeichnung der Landeskirche für umweltgerechten Betrieb. 2012 wurde auf dem Kirchendach in Zusammenarbeit mit der Bürgerenergie Schwarzwald e. G. eine Photovoltaikanlage mit einer Nennleistung von 24,18 kWp installiert.

Kirchengemeinde
In dem überwiegend katholischen Ort gehören gut 400 Menschen zur evangelischen Kirchengemeinde. Mit dem Bau der Kirche und des Pfarrhauses wurde ein fester Ortspfarrer in Lauterbach eingeführt. Bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg existierten zwei Grundschulen: eine evangelische und eine katholische auf demselben Gelände mit getrennten Schulhöfen. 1972 wurde Lauterbach Teil der Gesamtkirchengemeinde Schramberg-Lauterbach. Das Pfarramt "Schramberg II" ist seither für Lauterbach, Sulzbach und den Südwesten Schrambergs zuständig.

Weblinks
100 Jahre evangelisches Lauterbach im Internetauftritt der Kirchengemeinde Schramberg und Lauterbach.

Einzelnachweise

Lauterbach (Schwarzwald)
Lauterbach
Lauterbach
Kirchengebäude in Europa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: Stretch and move normal distribution while keeping the sum 1 I'm currently trying to distribute 100% (1) over 20 points.
So far the standardized gaussian normal distribution did some good work with a standard deviation of 2 and a mean of 10, which distributes roughly 1 (0.999..) over my 20 points: Looks like this.
Now, I can just increase the deviation a lot but that doesn't add up to 1 anymore and stops being an equal distribution: 1 is bigger than 20 and the sum is 0.9~.
Is there a way to stretch and move the normal distribution while keeping the sum at 1?

A: *

*Translation of mean location does nothing to the sum.

*For the variance we need to scale as follows $\sigma^2 \mathcal{N}(0,t) =\mathcal{N}(0,\sigma^2 t)$

What does the last statement mean? Well, the normal distribution if multiplied by a scalar will automatically adjust the variance to yield a normal distribution so the sum is maintained (this is pretty nice property of a normal distribution)
From the comments it seems you want a truncated normal distribution
So if you want a normal distribution that sums to 1 between a predefined interval then you can use
$$
f(x; \mu, \sigma, a, b) = \frac{\frac{1}{\sigma}N\left(\frac{x-\mu}{\sigma}\right)}{\Phi\left(\frac{b-\mu}{\sigma}\right) - \Phi\left(\frac{a-\mu}{\sigma}\right)}
$$
where the interval is $-\infty \leq a < b \leq \infty$ and $\Phi(x)$ is the cumulative normal distribution.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Your purchasing staff is spending an average $19.5 Million per year, so why are they not certified in supply chain management.
I came across this graphic by CAPS Research and found the information very interesting in regards to how much money procurement professionals manage.
A warning will be shown on your screen saying that the unknown sources file may harm your device play store for android ignore the warning and accepting the file by clicking OK.
On average $19.5 Million per day!
directly responsible for your profits.
but they must be certified in their profession or else we don't trust them.
the financial industry requires they have certification in order to give advice.
responsible for getting profit from revenue generate by sales.
people directly responsible for your profits?
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demand your procurment staff meet a professional standard.
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Wayland Middle School is happy to provide every 6th grade student with a Chromebook for the 2018-2019 school year.
Students will receive an HP G5 Education Edition Chromebook at the August orientation session.
Each family should follow the steps below to complete the registration process before school starts.
However, we are providing an opportunity for parents to order a very sturdy, protective case for $20 through the school. The deadline for ordering a case is August 1st.
If you don't order through the school your family must provide a protective case and have it with you when you pick up the device.
tl;dr – pay the $40 maintenance fee, buy a Chromebook case, sign the agreement form, and attend an Orientation session.
Each session is one hour long. The first 30 min. is to complete the registration process. The second 30 min. will be spent in the theater learning more about the Chromebook 1:1 program and the expectations for use. You only need to reserve one spot per family, not for each family member.
The school is requesting $40 per student for the Chromebook maintenance fee. Although this fee is voluntary, we are strongly encouraging payment to support the Securly home filtering software and to pay for the purchase of parts to repair accidental damage. Neglectful damage will not be covered.
If a family elects not to pay the fee, they must sign a liability waiver form to cover all accidental or neglectful damage to the Chromebook.
We prefer that families use the online payment method before attending the Chromebook Orientation session. However, we do accept checks made out to Wayland Public Schools. Sorry, we do not accept cash.
Financial Assistance – If your family requires financial assistance with the fee, please fill out an application with the District's Business Office and bring the paperwork with you to the orientation session.
Please read the entire Agreement form and go over the information with your child. The school requires a parent/guardian signature on the last page. Please bring it with you to the orientation session. We will also have copies on hand for you to sign if you have difficulty printing.
4. A Chromebook Case – Every student must supply a case for the Chromebook and bring it with them to the Orientation Session.
Order one through the school by August 1st to take advantage of bulk pricing – $20 for an always-on case with many protective features. You can pay for this at the same time as paying for the maintenance fee. As of August 8th, this option is no longer available. If you ordered a case through the school they will be provided to you at the orientation session.
We respectfully ask that you not use a simple neoprene case as they do not provide enough padding. Links to other case vendors are provided here.
A vast majority of students will take home the Chromebook each day. However, if students have adequate access to a device at home, some families may elect to have their child's Chromebook locked in a cart at the end of each day. It is the child's responsibility to return the Chromebook to the cart (by 3:30) and plugin the device so it's ready for the next school day. Fill out the form only if you want your child to keep the Chromebook at school.
A family agreement helps to establish rules and guidelines on internet and device use. It is a great way to start a conversation about internet safety, and to decide on and communicate expectations from the start so there are no misunderstandings. We provide this contract for your family to use together and there is no need to return it to the school.


text:
Los Huracanes del Norte
You are here: Home / Los Huracanes del Norte
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM MST
Doors Open: 7PM | Show: 8PM
Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino
287 Carrizo Canyon Mescalero NM 88340
https://innofthemountaingods.com/event/los-huracanes-del-norte/
For over 40 years, Los Huracanes del Norte has been known as one of the most influential norteño groups. Now, you can see them live at Inn of the Mountain Gods on Saturday, January 11.
The band started in 1969 in the state of Michoacán by three brothers, Heraclio, Jesús and Francisco García. They were later joined by Asunción Rubalcava and called themselves Los Cuatro del Norte. In 1972, a fourth García brother, Guadalupe, joined the band and wrote the band's first hit single "Corrido de Daniel Treviño." However, their big breakthrough came in 1978 with the release of the album "La Musiquera," which became their first gold record.
Throughout the mid-90s, the popularity of regional Mexican music began to expand, and Los Huracanes del Norte found themselves regularly playing for audiences of 10,000 to 30,000 fans. Every one of their original releases from the late 90s to 2006 earned a spot on the Billboard's regional Mexican category's Top Ten or Latin Albums charts.
Since then, Los Huracanes del Norte has continued to release hit songs and sell out transcontinental tours. Their 2010 album "En Vivo Desde Monterrey" landed them the #8 spot on the Mexican Regional chart and their following album, "Soy Mexicana," earned a #11 spot. Their 2012 album "Como Un Huracan" peaked the charts at #7 and in 2015 their self-titled album made #16 on the Latin Albums charts. Get your tickets now to see Los Huracanes del Norte.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


User adoption with your enterprise legal software got you stumped? In the world of enterprise legal software, many companies evaluate metrics like ROI, process automation and optimization, and reporting capability when making a vendor/software selection. With all of that to consider, the ease of user adoption often takes a backseat during the software evaluation process, but this might be a major oversight.
Not understanding organizational readiness for change and how it works with your ELM project may be a recipe for disaster. You've probably heard about how frequently IT and process improvement projects fail. The staggering theme all around is the human resistance to change.
In the last two-plus decades, I have spoken to clients who struggle with end-user adoption; in many cases, they miss an optimization opportunity with their software as well. A recurring theme of requesting a stronger partnership with the consulting team and their legal department has surfaced as well. They envision a more strategic and long-term relationship with these vendor resources in a way that can be gained on an ad-hoc basis.
Choose a top-down and bottom-up approach. Change-champions can be found in the executive and individual contributor levels of an organization. Choose them abundantly and include individuals in all areas of the hierarchy. Having change agents throughout the organization significantly increases the success of your initiative.
Take a lesson from the Organizational Change Management experts. Over-communication of the what, who, how, where, when, and why message of your change initiative is key to your success. Using the top-down and bottom-up approach from above, your communication strategy should apply the same principles. Be prepared for the message to change depending on the user perspective. These messaging strategies should take these varying perspectives into account when building the communication plan.
Training, training, training. In the face of new systems and ever-changing processes, change-champion and end-user training is critical. Choose a vendor that offers training with delivery methods that include both virtual and instructor-led sessions with delivery options that are remote or on-site. Look for opportunities to show end-users how to get maximum utilization out of your enterprise legal software.
Use your vendor to supply strength. Professional service plans or managed service plans from your legal software vendor provide your legal department with guidance, allowing consulting services to get to industry best. These service plans are designed to tie back to the original needs of the software purchaser but look through the lens of the end-user and their adoption rate.
At LexisNexis, with the CounselLink®'s Professional Services Plan, those desires are met with an annual plan that takes these needs into account.
Your technology purchase allows for your team to begin the transformation of change but this is truly just the beginning.
Advancing your company to be the best it can be is tricky, so a professional services plan with a highly skilled consulting and training team to help you roll out and manage your enterprise legal software is crucial.


text:
Bumper crop of new cars set for 2022, but Covid threatens production
Are you sitting comfortably for another fluctuating year for motoring? The challenges will be enormous as we — hopefully — turn the corner on this grisly pandemic.
The good news is that we can look forward to a bumper crop of highly anticipated cars reaching the UK market — although we may face a wait before they roll out of showrooms.
Car-makers are already warning of longer than normal delivery times continuing into 2022.
All new: Citroen's premium C5X will be available as a plug-in hybrid costing about £38,000 with petrol variants to follow from about £30,000. No diesels
This is in part down to staff absences hitting production, but also the impact the virus has had in creating a shortage of vital electronic computer chips needed for modern cars.
This shortage of new car stock has, however, seen prices of second-hand vehicles soar as demand has outstripped supply. Used car prices rose by 28 per cent in the first 11 months of 2021, according to Motor Trader magazine.
Vauxhall's Corsa looks on course to be the biggest new car seller of 2021 and to end arch-rival Ford's 50-year run at the top.
Up to November the Corsa had racked up 38,306 sales, with the final tally to be announced in the first week of January.
Although some 1.54 million new cars have been registered up to November — compared with 1.50 million in the same period of 2020 — this is still around a third down on the five-year 'pre-Covid' average.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) warned of more disruption into the New Year noting: 'Covid is impacting supply chains massively, causing global shortages — especially of semiconductors — which is likely to affect the sector throughout next year.'
He also warned that carmakers themselves could suffer from delays at borders when full customs checks between Britain and the EU kick in.
UK car production has also been hit. In the 11 months to November 2021, UK car plants built 797,261 vehicles, some 432,794 fewer compared to 2019 and a whopping 667,441 off the five-year 'pre-Covid' average.
Last month alone, new car production in the UK fell by 28.7 per cent to its lowest November since 1984 as a total of 75,756 cars rolled off British production lines.
It marked five consecutive months of declines and followed the lowest October output since 1956. Industry chiefs said the drop reflected global supply problems and Honda's decision to permanently close its Swindon factory in late July.
In 2021, we also said goodbye to broadcasting legend Murray Walker OBE (who also commanded a Sherman tank during World War II), who died in March aged 97, and whose infectious enthusiasm as an F1 commentator gained him fans far beyond the sport.
His beloved F1 itself became deeply divided when Max Verstappen was awarded the 2021 Championship after pipping Britain's Sir Lewis Hamilton in the last lap of the highly controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale.
But looking on the brighter side, what are some of the automotive highlights with which to ring out the old and ring in the new in 2022?
One of the longest and most eagerly awaited vehicles is the Volkswagen ID.Buzz, a 21st century take on the original classic VW T1 campervan, which I first saw as a prototype at the Detroit Motor Show in 2017, seemingly a lifetime ago.
Heritage: Volkswagen's ID.Buzz is a 21st century take on the original classic VW T1 campervan (pictured together)
Versatile: The ID.Buzz will be available as an eight-seater people carrier or a commercial van
Key numbers: The ID Buzz range is expected to be 350 miles and it will come at a price of around £60,000
Retro but with a modern twist, electric power and sliding rear doors, the ID.Buzz will be available as an eight-seater people carrier or a commercial van, with single or dual motors and four-wheel drive. Expect a range of 350 miles, but a price of around £60,000.
Britain's svelte new 5th generation Range Rover may leave you in seventh heaven. Available in standard and long-wheelbase it offers four, five and for the first time seven seats.
As well as 3.0-litre petrol and diesel variants (and a range-topping P530 Twin Turbo 4.4-litre V8 petrol), it is available as a plug-in hybrid P440e and more powerful P510e 3.0-litre 6-cylinder with battery-electric motor, with the first fully electric zero emissions battery version to follow from 2024.
Seven up: The 5th generation Range Rover will be available in standard and long-wheelbase it offers four, five and for the first time seven seats
Prices start from £94,400 for an entry-level diesel D300 short-wheelbase in base SE trim, up to £137,800 for a five-seater long-wheelbase First Edition model.
Also due for launch this year is billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe's back-to-basics Land Rover rival INEOS Grenadier off-roader with 3.0-litre BMW petrol and diesel engines, priced from about £40,000.
German car giant BMW has already been making waves with its all-electric flagship iX SUV, priced from £69,905.
But brace yourself for the outrageous 740 bhp XM luxury performance petrol-electric plug-in hybrid expected in late 2022, powered by a turbo-charged V8 engine and an electric motor, from the firm's M motorsport division.
Bonkers: BMW's 740 bhp XM luxury performance petrol-electric plug-in hybrid is powered by a turbo-charged V8 engine and an electric motor, from the firm's M motorsport division
Citroen's tiny electric AMI costing under £6,000 may have been the headline grabber for the French car-maker, but it's the elegant C5X crossover which aims to captivate families.
Part estate, part SUV, part coupe, it will be available as a plug-in hybrid costing about £38,000 with petrol variants to follow from about £30,000. No diesels.
It's a big and curvy new flagship car that is fit for a French president, but has a practical boot (extending from 545 litres to 1,645 litres with rear seats down) designed and tested to be big enough to carry a washing machine.
Vauxhall's new eighth generation Astra family hatchback and estate hit showrooms in 2022, priced from £23,275.
For the first time in its more than 40-year history, it comes available as a plug-in hybrid in two performance levels.
Vauxhall's new eighth generation Astra family hatchback and estate hit showrooms in 2022, priced from £23,275
Audi fans await the new electric Q6 e-tron priced from about £55,000 and with a high-powered 600 hp RS version managing rest to 62 mph in less than four seconds.
Keep an eye out, too, for the ORA Cat from Chinese car-maker Great Wall Motors. With a claimed range of 250 miles, expect prices of about £25,000 to £30,000 and UK delivery in mid 2022.
Genesis has had an astonishing 2021, launching not only their new upmarket Korean brand in the UK, but a smart five-strong range of new saloons, SUVs and the GV70 Shooting Brake estate created for the European market and priced from £35,250.
Families will be spoiled for choice with options from the budget priced Dacia Jogger with up to seven seats, Nissan's electric Ariya, and Kia's second generation Niro.
Supercar stars
Spring sees the launch of the new Lotus Emira, described as an everyday 'junior supercar' and 'last hurrah' for the Norfolk firm's 70-years of petrol-engined sports cars, with prices starting from £75,995.
The new Lotus Emira, described as an everyday 'junior supercar' and 'last hurrah' for the Norfolk firm's 70-years of petrol-engined sports cars, with prices starting from £75,995
A base level version from under £60,000 follows in spring 2023. Also in the pipeline is a streamlined coupe version of Aston Martin's DBX SUV with a price-tag nudging £180,000
Mercedes-Benz will be launching its new electric EQE limousine, with a range expected to exceed 400 miles, as well as its SL convertible from about £90,000.
Whatever you get to drive — or ride — in 2022, may you do so safely. A Happy New Year to all.
Now motorists must give way to undertaking bikes
Keep double-checking your mirrors and watching those blind-spots.
Motorists face new rules in the New Year, including changes to the Highway Code which some safety experts say could put more lives at risk.
The revised Code introduces a new 'hierarchy of road users' in which those capable of doing greatest harm have greater responsibility to reduce the danger they pose to more vulnerable road-users.
Give way: The amended Highway Code says: 'You should not cut across cyclists going ahead when turning into or out of a junction'
That now means motorists turning left must give way to cyclists on the inside who are continuing straight ahead or even 'undertaking' from behind.
The amended Highway Code says: 'You should not cut across cyclists going ahead when turning into or out of a junction or changing direction or lane, just as you would not turn across the path of another motor vehicle.' It adds: You should stop and wait for a safe gap in the flow of cyclists if necessary.'
But Neil Greig, policy director at IAM RoadSmart, fears the change may put cyclists at even greater danger if they feel safe to 'undertake'. He said: 'Getting the communications right will be critical when some cyclists start exercising their new rights to undertake traffic and put themselves at risk.'
Vehicles and cyclists must also give way to pedestrians at junctions. An AA survey of 13,500 drivers found that only a third knew about the changes.
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to the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein.
Welcome to the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, the only maximum care provider in Schleswig-Holstein and the only medical center in Germany with two long-established medical faculties, the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel and the University of Lübeck. Both these medical faculties are known for their top international standards in research and education, as exemplified by the success of the Center of Excellence for Inflammatory Diseases.


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About Inspirery
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Anant Jain
Co-Founder, CommonLounge March 14, 2019
Anant Jain is a co-founder of CommonLounge.com, an educational platform with wiki-based bite-sized courses on advanced topics like Machine Learning, Data Science, Web Development etc. Anant is originally from New Delhi and he did his Bachelors from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi — one of the most premier institutions in India. As part of his undergrad studies, he had a short stint at Microsoft Research, Bangalore where he worked on improving Bing Image Search results.
After graduation, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to help co-found a startup called EagerPanda which aimed to organize all of the world's knowledge by building better creation and curation tools. The company went on to raise over $4 million from some of the top angels and VC firms in Silicon Valley. In 2016, seeing a more realizable opportunity in the education space, the team decided to focus on CommonLounge.
Cost is a huge barrier in online quality education — CommonLounge wants to bring it down to almost nothing. They are cheaper than any other alternative for the quality of content and support they provide. Their unique Wiki-powered tutorials format encourages contributions from users, thereby reducing content creation costs while keeping the content up-to-date.
Anant strongly believes that higher education should be fully democratized and CommonLounge is his effort in that direction. He currently lives in San Francisco and loves reading and long-distance running.
How did you get started in this business? What inspired you to start this business?
The first iteration of CommonLounge was a place for people to form online communities — much like Reddit, but only a modern, cleaner and mobile-friendly version of it. However, we learned the hard way that the network effects were just too strong — we were not able to retain users in most of our general-purpose communities. However, we noticed that learning communities on topics like Competitive Programming, Algorithms, Web Development, etc. were doing really well. We talked to our most loyal users in these communities, and not surprisingly, we found that the primary reason they loved us was a list of tutorials and problems that my co-founder Keshav (an ex-competitive programmer) had compiled. These students loved going through the list and marking items as complete. So, we decided to double down on this "list of tutorials and problems" idea and that became the genesis of the new CommonLounge. In hindsight, this should've been obvious to us. When I look at how I learn anything online, it's mostly by following simple, text tutorials or how-to guides on personal blogs, Medium and other places. CommonLounge wants to become the best place to publish this type of content.
We want to build something that feels like a lightweight education product that primarily consists of bite-sized tutorials, code exercises, quizzes, visualizations, etc.
While every Tutorial on CommonLounge is free, our students pay us for access to Quizzes, Exercises, Projects and Certificates of Course Completion as part of our "CommonLounge Pro" subscription plan. We've tried to build the most affordable high-quality online learning solution available to the students today — at just $9 a month, it costs less than a Netflix subscription, and is arguably a much better investment of your money (and time!).
In addition, we offer a text and video based mentorship marketplace for students who're looking for a high-touch mentor and willing to spend more. It currently ranges from $49/month to $199/month.
How long did it take for you to become profitable?
Operationally, we aren't profitable yet. We have been lucky to have had amazing angel investors with us through our journey — this has given us an opportunity to invest more in our core product experience and expanding our content creation teams. Having said that, we're a very frugal team and understand the value of being self-reliant. We're on track to hit profitability by end of 2019.
When you were starting out, was there ever a time you doubted it would work? If so, how did you handle that?
All the time. I don't think the self-doubt ever goes away. There was plenty in the start, and even today we're constantly questioning everything — from product features to marketing/growth efforts. Entrepreneurs, by their very nature, are highly optimistic people. I believe that including a small dose of skepticism/self-doubt in your daily working isn't that bad — it helps you clearly chart out every way something won't work and doing that sets you up better for success.
How did you get your first customer?
My co-founder, Keshav, is one of the top competitive programmers to come from India. We first built up an audience by creating the most comprehensive Competitive Programming course available on the web. We put it up for free and that got us a lot of word-of-mouth and organic link sharing across the Competitive Programming community. (Even today, we rank #1 for "Competitive Programming Tutorials" search term on Google!) Later, when we launched our Pro and Plus subscription plans, most of our first customers came from this community of highly smart, curious folks who are also interested in learning advanced technical topics like Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Data Science and so on.
What is one marketing strategy (other than referrals) that you're using that works really well to generate new business?
I feel almost a little uncomfortable revealing this, but Quora ads have worked out really well for us — especially in the start. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, the audience alignment is near perfect — a lot of curious, smart people who're trying to learn new things spend a significant amount of time on Quora. Second, Quora ads are relatively new and any new paid marketing channel is not yet saturated in the very start, leading to better return for every dollar spent. This is generally a great piece of marketing advice itself — always be on a lookout for new, unsaturated channels for growth.
What is the toughest decision you've had to make in the last few months?
Earlier this year, we explored getting into selling group subscriptions to businesses via a new Enterprise plan. We realized that while our content works really great for individual consumers, we don't have a comprehensive offering in areas that businesses need the most. So, while we could've pursued that space and still made some sales, we decided to put our efforts in that direction on hold for now and focus just on our Pro and Plus plans for consumers.
What do you think it is that makes you successful?
Taking time to improve yourself is probably my #1 advice for everyone, and in my opinion, it is one of the biggest contributing factors for anyone who seems to be doing well. There are so many second and third order gains that you'll get from becoming a better execution machine. Improving yourself could mean reading books, finding and talking to mentors, learning new skills, or whatever else works best for you. Have a growth mindset.
Another thing that I learned from Paul Graham's essays, and that I try to bring to life every day is to be "relentlessly resourceful". For me, it means impacting everyone around me in the most positive way that I can.
What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Being in the education space is an extremely satisfying and fulfilling opportunity for me and my team— everyday, we get so many testimonials thanking us for providing this learning platform and making it so accessible by bringing down the cost. We even have a Twitter hashtag #CommonLoungeWallofLove where we collect some of our favorite messages. The impact our work is having is very real — as they say, teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime — we get a chance to do just that everyday through CommonLounge.
What does the future hold for your business? What are you most excited about?
First and foremost, I'm extremely excited about all the new courses that are currently being produced. Over the next two quarters, we should be able to roll out a couple of very high-demand topics like Java, Android App Development, etc. Next, we have a few experimental innovations that we've been working on. First, we are building a tool that aims to make production of educational videos 10x easier. Second, we're working on ways to integrate small widgets/apps within our tutorials to explain concepts better by manipulatable animations, very similar to Explorable Explanations (https://explorabl.es). The web as a medium has so much power and so much to offer, and yet we're stuck with recording instructors on traditional videos which is not only limiting, but also extremely expensive.
What business books have inspired you?
I'll give you three. First, "Hard Things about Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz is my absolute favorite business book. Straight to the point, hard-hitting advice that comes from one of the most successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalist in the Silicon Valley.
Second, I really love "Founders at Work" by Jessica Livingston, who is a co-founder of YCombinator. It's a collection of interviews with startup founders — the interviews themselves might seem a bit dated today (the book was published in 2001), but the lessons are still golden and the stories are extremely inspirational.
Last, I'd add "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman to this list. It's not really a business book, but a deep dive into behavioral science and human psychology. It's shocking, entertaining, and introduces you to the fallibility of your own brain in quite a delightful way.
If you want more suggestions, I like to document some of my learnings from the books I read here: https://index.anantja.in — there are about 50 book reviews on the site.
What is a recent purchase you have made that's helped with your business?
I recently got a "Time Timer" for myself. It's an amazing productivity tool for time-boxing tasks and meetings. It's like a table clock, but you can visually see how much of the time you allocated has passed. So, if you allocate 30 minutes for a conversation, everyone in the room can visually see the passage of that half hour from a half-full (for 30 mins) red circle to nothing. It's so simple, yet so effective!
What's your advice for entrepreneurs who are just starting out?
Have a clarity of purpose in what you're doing. Ideally, you want to be serving painkillers to rich customers in large markets. Always think about distribution first, i.e. if I build this, how will I get it to the customers.
It's almost always cheaper and easier to seek out a few (say 5) potential users and just spend 30 mins on a call with them before you write any code. The rise of no-code startups is very encouraging, and a lot of developers are already using these tools to quickly prototype and experiment with their ideas.
Last, and I know this is almost a cliché, but it cannot be said enough: Persevere. Obstacle is the way. Don't get demotivated and give up because your original plan isn't working out. Willing something real into existence is hard work. You may have been a top student, a top employee, a top whatever-you-may so far in your life, but all your usual tricks will stop working when it comes down to building a real business with a real profit & loss line.
Finally, good luck and don't forget to enjoy the journey 🙂
Connect With Anant Jain:
Company Website: https://www.commonlounge.com
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Mathematics: The Winton Gallery
Permanent event at the Science Museum in London, United Kingdom
Le Corbusier chair, Designed by Charlotte Perriand, 1930. Courtesy of Science Museum
How has mathematics shaped our world?
Our bold and thought-provoking new gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, examines the fundamental role mathematicians, their tools and ideas have played in building the world we live in.
From war and peace to life, death, money, trade and beauty, the objects in Mathematics: The Winton Gallery reveal how mathematics connects to every aspect of our lives.
Mathematics: The Winton Gallery tells powerful stories about the work of mathematicians in the broadest sense, from salespeople to sailors, aircraft engineers to bankers, and gamblers to garden designers.
These stories span 400 years of human ingenuity from the renaissance to the present day, with objects ranging from intriguing hand-held mathematical instruments to a 1929 experimental aircraft.
Striving to be the best place in the world for people to enjoy science, the Science Museum's world-class collection forms an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical achievements from across the globe.
Globtik Tokyo (detail), Scale model of the 'Globtik Tokyo' oil tanker, 1973. Courtesy of Science Museum
Cabinet of foreign weights, 1919-20 (detail) © Jody Kingzett. Courtesy of Science Museum
More from Science Museum
10 Jul 2019 — 23 Feb 2020
12 Jun 2019 — 1 Oct 2020
James Watt and our World
More in London, United Kingdom
20 Jul — 27 Oct 2019 at Royal Academy of Arts
Calling / Richard Walker
28 Jul — 3 Aug 2019 at The Coningsby Gallery
Miss Bugs
4 — 29 Sep 2019 at Jealous Gallery
11 Sep 2019 — 2 Feb 2020 at Tate Britain
More in United Kingdom
Fighting for our Heritage
25 Aug — 1 Feb 2019 at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in Birmingham
Antony Gormley
21 Sep — 3 Dec 2019 at Royal Academy of Arts in London
Turner Prize 2019
28 Sep 2019 — 12 Jan 2020 at Turner Contemporary in Margate
Day Craving Night
28 Sep — 8 Dec 2019 at Spike Island Gallery in Bristol


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3D Tactics and Information Deception
Information deception is a core component of three dimensional tactics (3D tactics). 3D tactics is a relatively new concept which seeks to develop spherical security, or 'look-around' tactical thinking in three dimensions. However, the connection between information deception and 3D tactics is not well understood. In both the 2005 London Underground attacks, and the 2007 Haymarket attempted attack factors such as information deception played a key operational frame of reference in the development of the attack methodology.
Christopher Flaherty
Terrorism Research Centre, Washington DC
Christopher Flaherty is a Senior Research Associate at the Terrorism Research Center in Washington, D.C. He has a PhD in Economic Relations from the University of Melbourne with a focus on networking. Following this, he pursued a career in defence and security research in the Australian Department of Defence. Dr. Flaherty has been based in London since 2008. A Senior Research Associate of the Terrorism Research Center (TRC), he regularly contributes to its current publications. He is also the co-primary author of Body Cavity Bombers: The New Martyrs (iUniverse 2013). Two essays of his from 2003 and 2010 were reprinted in the TRC book: Fifth Dimensional Operations (iUniverse 2014). He is also the author of Australian Manoeuvrist Strategy (Seaview Press 1996). He has been an active contributor on security, terrorism early warning, and related international intelligence issues, including tactics, techniques, and procedures analysis, published in the TRC report 'Dangerous Minds' (2012). He also has a long-term involvement in the microsimulation and risk modelling group.


Quartermaster General is also one of the very few games I've played that runs smoother with more players than fewer.. For example, while it can hold anywhere from two to six players, trying it out with only two is a challenge as the number of hidden cards and independent hands involved actually slows down a game considerably due to paralysis by analysis.
So I'd say 6 players is optimum in this game and even with that number the game should take no more than 1 or 1 ½ hours. Imagine that, a complete World War II game in 90 minutes.
Now, obviously, this isn't on the scale of Campaign for North Africa, but it is a rendition of World War II.
Although, if I was involved, I'd have suggested (besides a name change) that a few of the more prominent geographical land features be included, such as the Sahara or the Himalayas.
I suppose the best short description of Quartermaster General that one could make is that it's a "waro". That is half Euro, half wargame. It's a Euro in that no one is ever knocked out of a game, even if all their armies are destroyed and their Capital is captured. But it's a wargame because it is, after all, a depiction of World War II.
Basically, in this game each country has its own deck of card. And these decks, by the way, are composed of a different number of cards for each country, so that the USA, with 40 cards, is in a much better "economic" position than Japan with only 32. This is due to the fact that each country-player must play one card, no matter whether it helps them or not each turn under the penalty of losing a Victory Point. Therefore, there is a real chance the Japanese or Italian "economy" will collapse long before the 20th turn of the game ends the war.
While a player can lose a VP by failing to play a card, he can also gain Victory Points by controlling supply centers. But as this is a team game, the alliance with the most Victory Points after 20 turns wins. So alliance members either all win or all lose in this game.
Quartermaster General is also a hand management game, and with only 8 different types of cards, it doesn't take that long to decide what a player should do when his turn comes around. So play flies along in almost all cases. Think about it, a 6-player game, 20 turn long that ends in less then 90 minute.
But perhaps more surprisingly, though play speeds along, the game has depth. First, as mentioned, you have to watch how fast you run through your deck so as not to run out of cards before the war ends. This is only possible because some powerful cards result in you or your enemy discarding some un-played cards from your decks. So pressing you opponent might adversely effect his "economy" and/or your own country's war effort.
Second, you may only play one card a turn. So you are always wondering "what should I do with all these powerful long-term cards in my hand that I might not get to use? Should I dump them and get better cards? If I do, will I run out of cards? If I don't, realistically, how many of them will I ever be able to play profitably?" (So if, say, you have a card that can eliminate an opponent's fleet in a sea area and you opponent doesn't presently have a navy should you dump the card? He may have a navy in the future and that card you just threw away will probably never get back into your hand as there is no re-shuffling in the game. But on the other hand, you need cards that can help you NOW. It can be a conundrum, believe me.
Build an Army: You can build an army in a space next to one of your forces. But only one army per country can be yours, so allies are important in order to defend critical positions, such as west Europe.
Land Battle: You take off one enemy army adjacent to your forces. You always win a battle. But winning doesn't automatically give you control of an area. It simply removes an enemy army. There could have been two enemy armies controlled by two different enemy countries in the area or the area you attacked could now be empty. Empty areas are not controlled by either side, no matter where they are located.
Event: These are random events that instantly help you.
Status: These are long-term advantages that can help you throughout the game. They are placed face-up in front of you and may accumulate as the game goes one. Combinations of powerful "Status" cards can create a devastating effect late in the game. But they costs time and resources (in unplayed cards having to be discarded) to establish.
Build Navy: Builds a fleet next to one of your armies or navies. But a chain of navies also needs an adjacent land area to be under friendly control in order to be refueled. So, for example, the USA has to island hop across the Pacific.
Sea Battle: Wins a battle at sea and removes one enemy navy. Like chess, the attacker always wins. But also like chess there is more to the struggle than the results of one battle.
Response: Are cards that are played face down in front of a player and are trigger as needed. Once again, these are powerful long-term effects that have short–term costs, in that playing a response card in one turn means you are not pressuring your opponent in that turn.
Economic Warfare: Results in your opponent losing some cards from his un-played deck. There are conditions involved with the play of these cards, but if a few of them can be directly at one of the weaker economies, such as the Japanese, they can be devastating late in the game as once Japan runs out of cards, it can't response to attacks and the Axis loses one Victory point a player-turn.
But remember, you can only play one card in a player-turn. So do you play a long-term status card or a short term Event card? Do you attack now or hold off in order to build a powerful combination?
This is especially true of the German position. Once the Germans can combine three, four or five long-term advantages their blitzkrieg style attacks become unstoppable. But in order to generate 5 long-term advantages the German player had to forgo playing 5 short-term cards. But giving the Allies 5 turn to build their defenses without pressure from Germany places the Axis in an untenable position. What to do? And remember it's your turn already.
So Quartermaster General is not only an elegant design but it possesses a surprising depth of play and endlessly replayabity.


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About Us	/ Our Environmental Policy
Just like you, we're conscious of the impact modern life is having on the planet. We also know that our operations result in emissions to air and water, and the generation of waste. That's why we're committed to reducing the impact of our business on the earth, while ensuring our operations are conducted in an environmentally responsible way.
We believe that by building a strong environmental reputation, we'll deliver the best quality products and services and achieve our goal of becoming a truly sustainable business.
Fortoak is committed to:
Considering the environmental impact for every decision we make.
Encouraging our people to work in an environmentally responsible way.
Training and educating our people about environmental issues that affect their work.
Reducing waste through reuse and recycling, and choosing recycled products and materials wherever we can.
Driving efficient use of water, electricity and other non-renewable materials and resources.
Avoid hazardous materials and products wherever possible, making sure we protect our people and the environment in use, storage and disposal.
Choosing environmentally responsible products wherever possible.
Keeping our programmes and policies up to date, in line with legislation, health and safety and environmental hazards.
Telling our suppliers, customers, clients and the public about our environmental commitment.
Always improving our environmental performance in whatever we do.
Alex Vergopoulos, Group CEO
Today's world expects leadership through change. By making environmentally sustainable choices wherever we can, we're proud to be able to inspire others to do the same.


Print cost can make up a substantial part of any budget. Whether you are printing at home or at work managing your print cost can help dramatically reduce your over all print expenses. Here are a few simple things you can do to help significantly reduce your print expenses.
Instead of buying direct from the manufacturer or your local office supply store you can take advantage of a remanufactured printer cartridge. With Rite Technology's remanufactured print cartridges you can match the print quality and volume for a fraction of the cost of a original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridge. You could use a kit to refill your toner yourself but the cost of ruining your machine could easily outweigh the savings. Make sure that the replacement cartridges that you do use come with a guarantee to clean repair or replace any damage that they might cause to any print equipment.
Paper is a large part of your total print cost. Most modern copiers and printers have an automatic duplex mode that will allow you to easily print on both sides of the paper in a single pass. If your printer does not have a automatic duplexing setting then you can do this manually by flipping the paper after the first side is printed. It's pretty basic math at this point. Print on both sides of the paper and you use half of the paper you would typically use.
Most printers let you select from a number of print quality settings. The draft, or economy (eco) mode, allows you to print documents using less ink than a higher print quality setting might use. You will see a small decrease in print quality but this is something that could be used for internal memos, printing emails and other non-essential print jobs. You can change this setting in the Properties section of your print settings window. Some printers even have a button right on the control panel to toggle this function on/off.
Many companies talk about going paperless but few actually do. Somethings just have to be printed out but many times it is just as easy and considerably less expensive to leave them in a digital format. Using a complete document management solution can help you eliminate faxes by sending them to your email and signing documents digitaly can reduce the overall number of copies needed for a number of applications.
Understanding your total print volume and needs can help you pick the right type of printer. Inkjet printers are less expensive up front but have lower print yields and typically cost more per page than a comprable laser printer. inkjet printers are great for home offices and low volume printing. Laser Printers are more expensive to buy outright but dramatically reduce your overall cost per page. Additionally a managed print solution can offset the cost of buying your own printers.
These are just a few ways you can reduce your overall print expenses. To fully realize your cost savings you should consider a complete document management solution. Rite Technology can help you understand and manage your print expenses with our complimentary print audit.
11 Reasons Why You Should Lease Your Next Copy Machine Having Laser Printer Problems? These Tips Might Help!


John Marquis and Niall McManus were on target as a Millwall XI shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw with Canvey Island on Monday night.
Millwall included a familiar face in their starting line-up in the shape of goalkeeper Andy Marshall.
Marshall, who played for The Lions in the 2004 FA Cup Final against Manchester United, has been training with his former club to keep his fitness levels up after being released by Aston Villa in the summer.
Following an even start Canvey broke the deadlock on 12 minutes when a long forward punt by keeper Dale Brightly was misjudged by Tom Bender allowing Jay Curran to send a crisp 25-yarder beyond Marshall's reach.
However Canvey's lead didn't last long and within just three minutes Marquis was on hand to stab the ball home after Josh Siafa's deep cross had been parried by the keeper.
Millwall took the lead on 18 minutes courtesy of McManus' finish from close range after good work by Marquis.
Canvey had had a goal chalked off earlier for a foul and now it was Millwall's turn to be denied by the officials when Aiden O'Brien's effort was ruled out for offside.
O'Brien had a good opportunity to extend Millwall's lead only to shoot high and wide of the target when well placed.
Both teams made changes at the break and The Lions' substitute goalkeeper Denzel Gerrar's first real action after coming on for Marshall was to pick the ball out of the back of the net after a cracking free-kick from Ty Smith had levelled the score on 54 minutes.
A plethora of changes were made by Canvey and Millwall, and although it didn't affect the flow of the game, neither team were able to grab a third and winning goal.
Charlie Penny came closest for Millwall right at the death only for the youngster to fire narrowly wide after working an opening with some deft footwork.
Canvey Island: Dale Brightly, Billy Hawes, Ashley Dumas, Sheldon Sellears, Rob Bartley, Ellis Sands, Jay Curran, Tyrone Smith, Simon Thomas, Bradley Woods-Garness, Spencer Bellotti. Used subs: Michael Alaile, Ben Hawes, Jay Nash, Soloman Henry, Tommy Glanville, Tyler Hubbard, Danny Joyce, John-Jo Slater.
Millwall XI: Andy Marshall, Josh Siafa, Tom Bender, Niall McManus, Will de Havilland, Jake Goodman, Callum Webb, Fred Onyedinma, John Marquis, Charlie Penney, Sid Nelson. Used subs: Denzel Gerrar, Ben Thompson, Alfie Pavey, Richie Danqwah.


text:
Q: Get only the numeric values in a console output I'm working with the fractal package and using the DFA function which gives me a very complete output in the console :
 DFA(log(price_1m[1:1024]),detrend="poly2",overlap=0,scale.max=512)

Console output :
Detrended fluctuation analysis for log(price_1m[1:1024])
--------------------------------------------------------
H estimate             : 0.452347
Domain                 : Time
Statistic              : RMSE
Length of series       : 1024
Block detrending model : x ~ 1 + t + I(t^2)
Block overlap fraction : 0
Scale ratio            : 2

Scale 6.00000000 1.2000e+01 2.4000e+01 4.8000e+01 96.0000000 1.920e+02 3.8400e+02
RMSE  0.00029362 4.2002e-04 5.2302e-04 8.5258e-04  0.0011629 1.403e-03 1.7068e-03
Message d'avis :
In if (cls == "signalSeries") { :
  la condition a une longueur > 1 et seul le premier élément est utilisé

the fact is thah I only want and need the Hurst exponent estimate. So I would like to get rid of all the rest.
So I've tried to get the attributes of the DFA function (the DFA function give a fractalBlock object) and here is what I get in the console :
Call:
lm(formula = y ~ 1 + x, data = data.frame(x = xx, y = yy, w = ww),
    weights = w)

Coefficients:
(Intercept)            x
    -8.9269       0.4523

Message d'avis :
In if (cls == "signalSeries") { :
  la condition a une longueur > 1 et seul le premier élément est utilisé

Ok, I've got a lm object from which I can extract the slope parameter estimate with :
attr(DFA(log(price_1m[1:1024]),detrend="poly2",overlap=0,scale.max=512),which="logfit")$coef[2]

and here is what it's printed in the console :
       x
0.452347
Message d'avis :
In if (cls == "signalSeries") { :
  la condition a une longueur > 1 et seul le premier élément est utilisé

and here is the point : I only want to get the numeric value that is 0.452347. I've tried to convert my data using the as.numeric() function but it does not work.
Thanks for your help.

A: This would give you an unnamed Double as a result:
attr(DFA(log(price_1m[1:1024]),detrend="poly2",overlap=0,scale.max=512),which="logfit")$coef[[2]]

But would maybe still include the warning. What if you first assign to a variable and then print?
x <- attr(DFA(log(price_1m[1:1024]),detrend="poly2",overlap=0,scale.max=512),which="logfit")$coef[[2]]
x

If you still receive this warning you can perhaps suppress it with try:
try( x <- attr(DFA(log(price_1m[1:1024]),detrend="poly2",overlap=0,scale.max=512),which="logfit")$coef[[2]], silent = TRUE)
x

A: You only need to do :
H_values <- DFA(log(price_1m[1:1024]),detrend="poly2",overlap=0,scale.max=512)
H_values["H"]

It's work for fake data. If the warning is still there :
options(warn=-1)


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Railroads have always been known by their heralds. The Baltimore & Ohio's legendary "Capitol Dome" herald represents the Railroad that served our nation's Capitol and evokes names like the Capitol Limited, a fine Passenger train still operated today by Amtrak. In 1973 the C&O and B&O united to form Chessie system, creating a new logo and ending usage of the time-honored B&O classic. In 1987, the B&O, oldest American railroad at the ripe old age of 160 years, merged into CSX Transportation, and ceased to exist.
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Vinyl edition is limited to 108 hand numbered copies.
In his solo work The Art of Slowness Medeles explores these mental landscapes, a patchwork of moments lived and those that have not yet been experienced, weaving enchanting notes that string together the tapestry of your mind. Unlike the driving sound of 1939 Ensemble, The Art of Slowness offers ambience and restraint, hints of dreamscapes past, elements of Jean-Michel Jarre's seminal "Oxygène", Apex Twin's "Stone in Focus", and Vangelis' "Tears in The Rain" helping to form the needle by which this humble offering stitches its sonic palate. Unconfined by the soundscape genre, Medeles forges ahead, utilizing his instrument in uncommon and strikingly meaningful fashion.
Through a sparse and thoughtful performance, Medeles' vibraphone asks you not to hang on each chord or phrase, but to experience the infinity in between, and those fleeting moments of familiarity as your mind, with the assistance of his etherial soundtrack, sews those little memories together to form a path into your dreams.


text:
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;

namespace OfficeDevPnP.Core.Framework.Provisioning.ObjectHandlers.TokenDefinitions
{
	internal class SiteOwnerToken : TokenDefinition
	{
		public SiteOwnerToken(Web web)
			: base(web, "~siteowner", "{siteowner}")
		{
		}

		public override string GetReplaceValue()
		{
			if (CacheValue == null)
			{
                this.Web.EnsureProperty(w => w.Url);
                using (ClientContext context = this.Web.Context.Clone(this.Web.Url))
                {
                    var site = context.Site;
                    context.Load(site, s => s.Owner);
                    context.ExecuteQueryRetry();
                    CacheValue = site.Owner.LoginName;
                }
			}
			return CacheValue;
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Qelich Qeshlaqi (, also Romanized as Qelīch Qeshlāqī; also known as Qelenj Qeshlāq (Persian: ), Qelench Qeshlāq, and Qelīch Qeshlāq) is a village in Gerdeh Rural District, in the Central District of Namin County, Ardabil Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 69, in 13 families.

Geo-coordinates

Latitude = 38.2875, Longitude = 48.3810
Lat    = 38 degrees,   17.3 minutes   North
Long = 48 degrees,   22.9 minutes   East

References

Towns and villages in Namin County