text:
Chris Flexen flops in big league debut, as Mets lose to Padres, 7-5
By Kristie Ackert
SAN DIEGO -- The switch was almost immediate. Hours after the Mets dealt away veteran first baseman Lucas Duda, signaling the beginning of the selling off of a disappointing 2017 team, they started looking at the future and talking about developing players again.
Chris Flexen, called up directly from Double-A to make the spot start on Thursday, got a rude welcome to the big leagues. The first batter Flexen faced in his major league debut, Manuel Margot, homered off of him and he lasted just three innings in the Mets' 7-5 loss to the Padres at Petco Park.
"I told myself in that moment, 'Welcome to the big leagues.' It was tough one to swallow there," the 23-year old said. "A real tough one to swallow."
The Mets (47-53) split the four-game series with the Padres (45-57) as they head to Seattle Friday to continue the three-city, 11-day, 10-game road trip. The Mets are 8-6 since the All-Star break and played like a team far out of contention Thursday night, making the front office's decision to start the selloff look smart.
Chris Flexen flopped in his MLB debut, lasting just three innings. (Gregory Bull/AP)
But asking a pitcher to skip right from the Eastern League to the big leagues is a lot and the Mets, perhaps still in a little bit of shock after watching the first of their teammates leave, didn't really back him up. They played sloppy behind him and the offense couldn't dig him out of the hole.
"He's got a good arm," Mets manager Terry Collins said of his rookie pitcher. "I told when I took him out, 'You're going to pitch here, going to pitch a long time in this league.' He just has to command the strike zone a little better."
On Margot's three-run double in the second, Michael Conforto got a bad read on the ball off the wall, letting it ricochet past him and Asdrubal Cabrera bobbled and dropped the relay throw allowing three runs to score.
Jay Bruce drove in three runs Thursday to improve his trade value. (Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
Tyler Pill, who the Mets passed over for the spot start when Zack Wheeler was placed on the disabled list, didn't do much better. He issued back-to-back, two-out walks and then gave up a home run to Dusty Coleman.
That proved costly as the Mets rallied.
Yoenis Cespedes, who'd cost the Mets a scoring opportunity with bad base running in the third, doubled in a run in the seventh. Padres lefty reliever Jose Torres balked in a run and then Bruce drove in two.
Tyler Pill reacts after giving up a three run home run to Dusty Coleman. (Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
The sloppy play wasn't limited to pitching and defense Thursday night.
After Cabrera led off the third with a double, Cespedes grounded into a fielder's choice, but as Cabrera was occupying the Padres with a run-down between second and third, the Cuban slugger inexplicably stood at first base. Cabrera waved wildly to Cespedes to follow and first base coach Tom Goodwin was waving him to second, but Cespedes stayed put at first.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Chris Flexen made a heads-up play on Cory Spangenberg's drag bunt, throwing out Carlos Asuaje out at home and helping limit the damage in the first inning.
San Diego Padres' Dusty Coleman (r.) is greeted by Jabari Blash (l.) after Coleman's three-run home run Thursday. (Gregory Bull/AP)
Dusty Coleman's three-run homer in the fifth inning put the game out of the Mets' reach.
STAR OF THE GAME
Manuel Margot homered and had a double that scored three runs in the second. He finished 3-for-4 with three RBI.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Mets have hit a home run in 41 of 47 road games this season.
Jay Bruce hit his 26th homer of the season in the Mets' three-run seventh inning, a two-run shot. He drove in three runs on the night.
Tyler Pill issued back-to-back, two-out walks before giving up a three-run homer to 30-year old Padre rookie Dusty Coleman.
Friday at Seattle, 10:10 p.m.; RHP Rafael Montero (1-7, 5.19) vs. LHP Ariel Miranda (7-4, 4.30).
Latest Mets


Littelfuse, Inc., introduced the PolySwitch setP Series Temperature Indicator, which protects the users of USB Type‑C and USB Power Delivery charging cables from dangerous overheating. The announcement was made in the Littelfuse booth (Hall 4, Booth ED45) at Electronica India, the International Trade Fair for Electronic Components, Systems and Applications, held September 26–28, 2018, at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India.
When dust, dirt or other debris becomes trapped in a USB Type-C cable connector, it creates a resistive fault from the power line to ground, which can cause a dangerous temperature rise without increasing the current. The power-independent setP senses the temperature increase, alerting the charging port to shut down the power flow. Once the user disconnects the cable and removes the debris, the cable can resume normal operation. The compact 0805 (mils) footprint of the setP Temperature Indicator makes it at least 50 percent smaller than other solutions that require placing a device on the power line. Placing a protective device on the power line also contributes to power loss. The same setP device can be used to protect cables designed for 15W, 60W or 100W operation.
"The setP offers the smallest, most energy-efficient solution available on the market, helping to provide protection against overheating," said Todd Phillips, Global Market Manager, Electronics Business Unit at Littelfuse. "USB Type-C can support high power levels, which makes this protection solution especially important", he added.
The compact size and sensitivity to temperature helps to simplify keeping the cable surface temperatures safe for users.
The rigid structure is compatible with conventional assembly and molding operations used in cable and connector manufacturing.
Being independent of USB power delivery allows for a smaller footprint and greater energy efficiency and simplifies part selection.
No disruption of the communication channel makes the setP an easy drop-in solution to existing designs.


A new twist for solitaire lovers!
Egypt Solitaire - Match 2 Cards isn't your typical solitaire card game. Enjoy 120 unique card deals in a mysterious Egyptian setting and encounter the mysterious Sphinx, the pyramids, and enter the tomb of an old king.
- Change your difficulty mode and complete 120 levels twice!
- Challenging achievements and trophies!


OLD PARKED CARS.: 1956 Studebaker President.
A big thanks to Dennis for showing me around this beauty!
The Studebaker "Cyclops-Eye" speedometer on top of the dash is cool!
I 2nd the 2 above comments. Great shots, great lighting too.


text:
(1833) Shmakova – planetoida z pasa głównego planetoid okrążająca Słońce w ciągu 4 lat i 102 dni w średniej odległości 2,63 au Została odkryta 11 sierpnia 1969 roku w Krymskim Obserwatorium Astrofizycznym w Naucznym na Półwyspie Krymskim przez Ludmiłę Czernych. Nazwa planetoidy pochodzi od Marii Szmakowej (1910–1971), radzieckiej astronom z Instytutu Astronomii Teoretycznej w Leningradzie. Przed jej nadaniem planetoida nosiła oznaczenie tymczasowe (1833) 1969 PN.

Zobacz też
 lista planetoid 1001–2000
 Lista ponumerowanych planetoid

Bibliografia

Linki zewnętrzne

Planetoidy pasa głównego
Nazwane planetoidy
Obiekty astronomiczne odkryte w 1969

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
A Cut Above
We provide industrial, commercial and residential concrete cutting & coring. We are committed to providing fast, efficient and safe concrete alterations using state of the art cutting tools and highly skilled technicians.
About Neskor
Neskor Cutting & Coring Services is committed to providing the very best service money can buy. Our client's are some of the most respectable businesses in construction sub-trades. We also provide services such as window cutting and control joint cutting to homeowners. We will provide knowledgeable, trained and professional technicians to help you get the job done. The equipment we use is state-of-the-art and can handle any projects requiring concrete cutting or coring. We have extensive experience in controlled concrete demolition, we have the tools and expertise to put to use on your project. Call or email us now to find out how we can help you on your project.
Neskor Cutting & Coring Services is a vendor on ISNetworld, member of the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association, and has a Certificate of Recognition (COR) from the Heavy Construction Safety Association of Saskatchewan.
Slab Sawing
Slab sawing is generally used in the cutting of expansion and control joints, cutting trenches for plumbing or electrical purposes and for cutting reinforced concrete floors. This can be accomplished using gas or electric saws up to 21" deep.
Core drilling employs a diamond tipped bit to bore as deep as required and up to a core diameter of 36" although larger diameter holes can be accommodated if required. Typical applications include holes for plumbing, electrical, HVAC, sewer and in conjunction with wire saw and wall sawing projects.
Robotic Demolition Services
Neskor offers robotic demolition & removal services using electric powered machines. Perfect for confined spaces and sensitive areas where fumes from fossil fuel powered equipment are a safety concern. Pound for pound, these are the strongest machines available, and the wireless remote control sallow operators to work a safe distance with excellent viewing angles of the work area.
Wall Sawing
Wall sawing is used to cut vertically, horizontally and at any required angle, up to 27" from one side. The saw is mounted on a rigid track that allows for excellent precision in applications requiring accuracy. These include residential, commercial and industrial projects from cutting doorways and windows to structure removal and modification. Neskor utilizes hi-cycle remote controlled electric wall saws as well as chain saws that are both gas and electric.
Wire Sawing
Wire sawing is the most versatile method of cutting reinforced concrete. It employs a diamond wire that is rotated with tension to cut through structures. It is often used in industrial applications that require cutting of reinforced concrete greater than 24" in thickness. Wire sawing can be employed in the cutting of foundations, bridge piers, steel and concrete pipes and most any section of concrete required. Neskor provides Circle Sawing services with the capability of cutting round holes up to 2.4 meters in diameter. This is a fast, efficient way to produce large diameter round holes.
Scanning and Utility Locating Services
Neskor provides a full range of services for concrete cutting, including concrete scanning and utility location. Before starting a concrete cutting project, the area is scanned to ensure important connections or utility conduits are not damaged.
Drilling hole
diamond drilling holes in concrete
Worker cutting asphalt or concrete with saw blade at construction site
stone cutting tool with fast roatating blade
Worker cutting concrete using a circular saw
Neskor
Cutting & Coring Services
2 – 3040 Miners Avenue
Saskatoon, SK S7K 5V1
cristy.labbie@neskor.ca
www.nescanscanning.ca
Copyright © 2021 Neskor Cutting & Coring Services

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Celina Escher est une réalisatrice suisse et salvadorienne.

Biographie
Celina Escher étudie l'art en Suisse, le film de fiction à Mexico et le film documentaire à l'EICTV, à San Antonio de los Baños. En 2021, elle réalise Nuestra libertad est son premier long métrage. Au Salvador, les femmes qui recours au service d'urgence obstétricale sont automatiquement suspectées d'avoir subi un avortement. Elles sont emprisonnées et condamnées pour meurtre. Le Salvador est un des pays où la législation est la plus dure. Les féminicides ne sont pas punis, la maternité précoce est ignorée et les fausses couches sont jugées comme si les femmes étaient des criminelles.

Teodora Vázquez, est l'une d'entre elles. Teodora Vázquez a passé dix ans en prison. Enceinte de neuf mois, elle est agressée dans un bus. Trois jours plus tard, elle accouche d'un bébé mort-né, sur son lieu de travail. La police l'arrête et l'emmène directement en prison. Elle est condamnée à 30 ans de prison pour homicide aggravé. En 2018, la cour suprême de justice commue sa peine. Elle est libérée .

Films

 Motriz, 13 min, 2016
 Verde olivo, 12 min, 2017
 Luz para ellas, 2018
 Nuestra libertad (Fly so far), 88min, 2021

Notes et références

Réalisatrice suisse
Réalisateur salvadorien


We'd like to feature your favorite Windows tips & tricks in one of our upcoming newsletters.
Now come on, we know every one of you has their favorite Windows tip or trick. No matter how simple it is, by sharing it with us so we can share it with all our readers is sure to help someone else.
We're all in this together – and we all need to help each other…so share your favorite tips & tricks with us. Just add your tips & tricks to the comment section.
If we get enough tips & tricks from you, we'll feature them in one of our InfoAve Premium newsletters. So come on! Share your favorite Windows tips & tricks.
A few weeks ago you had a tip about seeing your mouse pointer better,this is much the same but better still. 'Right' click your 'START' Button,slect 'Control Panel,'slect 'Ease of Access Centre',in the list slect,'Make the Mouse Easier to Use',then slect,in my case, i use 'Large Inverting',click 'apply',then check it out, this is so cool,it now changes to 'dark' on a white' or light background' or 'White' on a dark back ground,or anything in' between'.I am using windows 10,but should be the same in any version of windows, Enjoy.
One feature I use daily is the built in Snipping Tool. A great little tool for snipping just what you need from a web page. It is a must for those who do genealogy! It is much better than using print screen. Maybe you can feature this built in tool sometime since many folks are unaware it is part of Windows.
For the contents of the Windows Explorer – highlight a folder or file, then hold down the CTRL key while using the mouse scroll wheel to change the size of the contents. While it goes through all the options of the 'View' tab, it also gives many sizes in between that are not available in the 'View' tab.
Hey that tip for viewing files is awesome! I am constantly changing views due to what I am working on. This makes it easy to get to info on a file. My favorites are 1. Jump lists from taskbar. Right click on an icon and get different options depending on the app that you want to use. 2. click on the clock and get your calendar . I also set it up to see what time it is in my home town and local time. 3. CTRL +Z to undo a delete.
Thanks for all your help keeping us old guys up to date.
Here is my tip and I have shared this with lots of people who are getting on in years and their vision is not what it used to be. If you want to see everything a little larger, just hold the control key down and press the "+" key without the quotes and watch everything on your screen letters and all get larger. If you want them back to normal hold down the control key and press the "-" key again without the quotes.
My tip is to move your taskbar from the bottom of the screen to the right side (or left) where there is much more room on most short top to bottom screens. Do this by right clicking an empty space on the taskbar to unlock it, done by left clicking the check mark beside "Unlock the taskbar" that appears in the list. You can now drag and drop the taskbar from the bottom to the side. Re-lock the taskbar if you want but it's not necessary. You have now regained valuable real estate across the bottom.


Instead of heading straight for our law list when you need a collection attorney or law firm, why not request a personal recommendation? In fact, we… recommend it.
•	Do you use our printed directory? Call Jeremy Brown at 800-843-4000 so we can lead you to the best choice and make the marriage happen.
•	Do you prefer our online search feature? Visit www.alqlist.com. On the home page's top navigation bar click SEARCH THE LIST. Then log in. The option you want is at the very top of that page. Select I WOULD LIKE A PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION FROM AN ALQ STAFF MEMBER. Then simply tell us what your needs are and we'll come back with an excellent recommendation.
When you are unfamiliar with firms in an area, I believe that a personal recommendation is better than choosing from the list randomly. While the profiles in our printed and online lists are complete and informative, we know even more about our firms personally. The service department and I frequently interact with our listees, meet them at conferences, and speak with them on a regular basis. In short, we know them.
Thomas W. Hamilton will be recognized as the IACC Leadership and Distinguished Service Award winner for 2014.
Tom Hamilton of American Lawyers Quarterly in Cleveland, is the 2014 recipient of the IACC Leadership and Distinguished Service Award. This award is given annually to the IACC member who most embodies the work of the commercial collection industry.
The office holiday party: a chance to kick back, enjoy drinks with your colleagues and, perhaps, get sued. Sing along with these hits and you won't have any trouble.
Stacy West Clark writes, "Lately, I have been meeting with lots of lawyers who fall into two categories. First, those that have come out of senior legal positions within the government and therefore have no clients, and second, mid-level partners who have toiled for firm clients and have very little origination on their own."
Annette Waggoner, Executive Director of the Commercial Collection Agency Association of the Commercial Law League of America, reports that in the third quarter 2013, the number of commercial accounts placed with CCAA members increased by 14.49 percent when compared to the second quarter 2013. The dollars placed for collection slightly decreased by 1.7 percent for the same periods compared. Members report that their average sized account dropped by approximately 14 percent.
Given the prolonged sluggish economy, credit professionals have continued to look for ways to minimize payment default risks with B2B credit sales and boost cash flow through the use of credit cards. Since customers sometimes insist on using credit cards, even personal cards, to pay for B2B purchases, companies have been struggling with the level of transaction fees eating into gross profits.
The contrasting perspective of eastern and western cultures of the value of contracting explains many of the difficulties businesspeople are faced with when they enter an eastern market or western market. Understanding the differences allows for increased opportunities for a Chinese businessman in Europe or a European entrepreneur in China to become more successful at doing business.
Sweden's Investor AB and private equity firm Altor have picked banks for a stock market listing of Norway-based debt collector Lindorff, four sources familiar with the matter said.
When it comes to the CFPB and regulators in general the goal among debt collectors, debt buyers, collection lawyers, recovery managers and other collection professionals in the United States should be the same: To establish a unified front to address regulatory change impacting collection practices. In light of the CFPB's Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, having a powerful, unified voice on Capitol Hill has become even more paramount of a goal.
Yes, 97 percent of all business calls now go to voicemail, according to sales strategist Jill Konrath. "I yearn for the days in sales when I could actually talk on the phone with a person rather than with a machine," she said.


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Beacon is a small town in the north-east wheatbelt in the Shire of Mt Marshall. Beacon is approximately 320 km north-east of Perth, located 42 km north of Bencubbin and the M40-Wyalkatchem-Southern Cross Rd, 140 km north-east of Wongan Hills, 142 km north-west of Merredin. Beacon is approx 70 km south of the Emu Proof Fence. The district is made up of both pastoral and cropping country and has numerous granite outcrops and nature reserves that put on a magnificent wildflower display in season.
Beacon Contacts
Beacon Community Groups and Sporting Clubs - click here for a full list of Community Groups and Sporting Clubs that are currently active in the Beacon community.
Community Services - click here for a full list of services in the Shire of Mt Marshall including medical, fire, ambulance and police.
Beacon Mens Shed - click here to visit the Mens Shed website.
A Brief History of Beacon
Surveyors had been at work since 1921, dividing the country into 1000 acre blocks. A number of blocks were allocated after the paying of a fairly stiff survey fee. George Shemeld is acknowledged as being the earliest Beacon pioneer, taking up land in 1922. Interested settlers formed the North Bencubbin Railway League in 1924 to extend the railway line to the Beacon Rock area. Land at Beacon was not officially opened for selection until 1926 with further development of the area 25 km north of Beacon coming about after the railway line was laid from Kulja - Bonnie Rock in 1931. More land was opened for farming in the Tampu - North Beacon area out to the vermin fence in 1965.
In those early days the town was known as Beacon Rock, but was changed in 1931 to Beacon to avoid postal confusion with another siding. In those early days of settlement the Progress Association was formed, as the infrastructure needs of the growing community were many. It needed a railway, stores, school and all the services that make a community function. Initially folk traveled to Bencubbin, Mandiga, Gabbin or Kulja for bread and groceries until Frank Rowlands started a delivery service from his store in Bencubbin around 1929. He then opened a store and Post Office. Around this time other stores were opened such as a bakery, butcher and delicatessen.
Social life was hampered before the hall was built in the early 30's, but several homes in the district with wooden floors were thrown open for dances. Sport also played a big part in the community and clubs formed in the early 1930's. A school soon followed, and aside from a few years following the Great Depression where it was closed because of too few students, it has continued to serve the community with additions to the building along the way. Beacon remains a vibrant and well established town today and now serves the people from areas such as Cleary and Wialki, which have gradually declined as town sites.
For more information on Beacon please visit their community website www.beaconwa.com.au.


Fulcro are delighted to report that the prestigious Digital Construction Week (DCW) exhibition was an unmitigated success with a huge amount interest from attendees in its full selection of services and products.
The Fulcro team on the ground provided an engaging and thought provoking presence throughout the event, highlighting the wide range of innovative and revolutionary Fulcro services and solutions to a collection of distinguished attendees. Fulcro's core philosophy has always been based on innovation and that was evident in the presentations given at both the exhibition stand and by Fulcro Applied Technologies Director, Dr Max Mallia Parfitt on the event's main stage.
Dr Parfitt's talk was very well attended and the feedback received was excellent and overwhelmingly positive. The presentation covered how the use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) in construction is widely considered too expensive, but with an engaged client and the right technology platform, the potential return on investment and project improvement is unrivalled. The talk also lifted the lid on how using the FULmax 'BIM CAVE' on the Thames Tideway Tunnel project, which also recently featured in a BBC documentary, has improved the project delivery since it was installed.
Ben Haldin, Managing Director, Fulcro, said: "Our journey has always had the idea of innovation right at the forefront, so it's only natural for Digital Construction Week to be a really significant date in our calendar. I truly believe that DCW has once again been a successful platform for us to market ourselves and our technology and really highlight the worldwide potential that our services provide.
"We've already worked on numerous projects across the globe with our technology being implemented in various situations in several major cities and DCW was the perfect place to communicate our successes back to the market.
Dr Max Mallia Parfitt, Applied Technologies Director, Fulcro, said: "Digital Construction Week 2018 has once again been a fantastic experience for us. We've been able to successfully showcase a variety of our projects, including FulMAx, which has generated a large amount of interest both at the exhibition and across social media.


text:
Hyde Park heißt ein Musikclub in Osnabrück. 1976 in einem vormaligen Ausflugslokal an der Rheiner Landstraße eröffnet, befindet sich der jetzige Standort nach drei Umzügen in einem Industriegebiet am Fürstenauer Weg.

Die Anfänge
1976 pachtete die damals 24-jährige Conny Overbeck das 1907 erbaute Ausflugslokal "Schweizerhaus", um einen "progressiven Musikladen" daraus zu machen. Mit dem Konzert der ungarischen Rockgruppe "Omega" öffnete der "Hyde Park" am 18. Juni 1976 seine Pforten.
Die Diskothek wurde ein beliebter Anlaufpunkt für so genannte "nicht-konforme Jugendliche" unterschiedlichster Richtungen im gesamten nordwestdeutschen Raum. Bei vielen Erwachsenen allerdings hatte der "Hyde Park" den Ruf einer "Drogenhöhle".
Recht schnell formierte sich Protest von Anwohnern aufgrund erheblicher Lärmbelästigung, vor allem durch den an- und abfahrenden Verkehr. Mit dieser Begründung wollte die Stadtverwaltung die Schließung der Diskothek erwirken. Nach langjährigen juristischen Auseinandersetzungen einigte man sich in einem Vergleich, den "Hyde Park" an der Rheiner Landstraße am 31. Juli 1983 zu schließen und an geeigneter Stelle wiederzueröffnen.

Die "Hyde-Park-Krawalle"
Bis zum vereinbarten Termin wurde kein Alternativstandort gefunden. Diese Tatsache in Verbindung mit der durch Presseberichte geschürten Hoffnung, der Betrieb des "Parks" würde durch die Stadt Osnabrück stillschweigend geduldet werden, führte bei vielen Stammgästen zu Frustration. Anders als etwa bei der Schließung der "Scala" (Jaguar-Club) in Herford 1981 kam es 1983 in Osnabrück zu Krawallen. Nachdem die Abschlussveranstaltung des "Hyde Parks" am 31. Juli der Auflage gemäß um 24:00 Uhr beendet worden war, entlud sich die Enttäuschung zahlreicher Gäste in einer Straßenschlacht mit der Polizei, in deren Folge es sogar zur Stürmung des "Hyde Park" unter Einsatz von Tränengas-Granaten kam. Die "Bild"-Zeitung titelte damals: "Osnabrück: 1000 Punker – blutige Schlacht". Auch die Tagesschau berichtete.
In den folgenden Tagen kam es vereinzelt zu weiteren Auseinandersetzungen zwischen aus verschiedenen Teilen Niedersachsens herbeibeorderten Hundertschaften der Polizei und zahlreichen Jugendlichen.

Die verschiedenen Standorte des "Hyde Parks"
Nach einigen Übergangsveranstaltungen in der Halle Gartlage wurde als Provisorium ein Zirkuszelt im Urlager Esch am Fürstenauer Weg errichtet. Wie am früheren Standort machten auch hier viele internationale Rock- und Popgruppen Station. Aufgrund der schlechten Geräuschisolierung kam es aber auch hier zu Anwohnerprotesten. Da kein passendes bestehendes Objekt gefunden werden konnte, wurde an gleicher Stelle ein Holzbau errichtet, welcher der Form eines Zirkuszeltes nachempfunden wurde. Im Jahre 2000 wurde der Pachtvertrag mit der Stadt nicht verlängert, so dass der "Hyde Park" abermals umziehen musste, nun einige Meter weiter in eine achteckige Stahlbaukonstruktion auf der gegenüberliegenden Straßenseite.
An diesem am 30. November 2000 eröffneten Standort findet der Disco- und Konzertbetrieb bis heute statt.

Belege

Literatur
 Harald Keller, Reiner Wolf (Hrsg.): "Hyde Park"-Memories. Ein Osnabrücker Musikclub und seine Geschichte(n). Oktober Verlag, Münster 2011.
 Peter Schmerenbeck (Hrsg.): Break on through to the other side. Tanzschuppen, Musikclubs und Diskotheken in Weser-Ems. Katalog zur Sonderausstellung im Schlossmuseum Jever vom 1. September 2007 bis 27. April 2008, Oldenburg 2007.

Film

Weblinks

 http://www.hyde-park.de/

 Sendung im Deutschlandradio Kultur am 2. November 2013

Diskothek (Niedersachsen)
Unternehmen (Osnabrück)
Gegründet 1976
Kulturzentrum (Niedersachsen)
Veranstaltungsstätte in Osnabrück
Kultur (Osnabrück)


TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 5, 2009) - Pelangio Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:PX) ("Pelangio" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the optionor in respect of Pelangio's Kyereboso #2 and #3 concessions in Obuasi, Ghana (the "Kyereboso Concessions"), has agreed to the postponement until December 19, 2009 of the first payment and share issuance to acquire the 49% of the Kyereboso Concessions that the Company does not already own. The Kyereboso Concessions compose approximately 80% of Pelangio's exploration property in Obuasi, Ghana (the "Obuasi Property").
"This postponement is a positive development for the Company, and will give us greater flexibility to conduct exploration on the Kyereboso Concessions during the summer and fall," stated Ingrid Hibbard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pelangio. "The postponement is also emblematic of our excellent working relationship with the optionor of the Kyereboso Concessions and, more generally, the business environment in Ghana." Ms. Hibbard continued, "We commend, in particular, Joseph Kwaku Oduro-Yeboah, the Chief Executive Officer of Adansi Asaasi Mining Company Limited, for his continued foresight and cooperation regarding our exploration of the Kyereboso Concessions."
Pelangio's primary exploration focus has consistently been the 10 kilometre portion of the Main Obuasi Trend that extends through the Kyereboso #2 concession, which to date has shown the best exploration potential. The Company has planned drill targets for later this year along the Main Obuasi Trend in the Kyereboso #2 concession and in the northwest of the Kyereboso #3 concession.
The applicable option agreements had required aggregate payments and share issuances of US$600,000 and 4.8 million common shares of the Company on June 19, 2009. These payments and share issuances will now be made on or before December 19, 2009. The postponement does not affect the payment date in respect of the second and third payments, which are scheduled to be made on or before June 19, 2010 and June 19, 2011, respectively. Copies of the option agreements and amending agreement are available under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.
Pelangio, in participation with Imagemaker Advertising Inc., has developed an animation of the Obuasi Property and surrounding geography that approximates the relationship between the Obuasi Property and AngloGold Ashanti's adjacent Obuasi Mine and spatially references exploration results on the Obuasi Property. Investors are invited to view the animation by visiting the Company's website or by downloading the animation via the following link: http://www.pelangio.com/i/video/PLG_Obuasi_CompleteV04.wmv.
Pelangio is a gold exploration company active in the top-ranked mining jurisdictions in the world, Canada and Ghana. The Company's main focus is to advance its exploration programs on its premier land position in Ghana totaling 290 square kilometres, located on strike and adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti's Obuasi gold mine.
Certain statements herein may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements or information appear in a number of places and can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, we have made numerous assumptions. Forward-looking statements and information include statements regarding our exploration plans and exploration results with respect to our properties, and are subject to forward-looking risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Such risks include gold price volatility, changes in equity markets, political developments in Ghana, increases in costs, exchange rate fluctuations and other risks involved in the gold exploration industry. See our management information circular and our annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statement and information. There can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information referenced herein will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Also, many of the factors are beyond the control of the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. We undertake no obligation to reissue or update any forward looking statements or information except as required by law. All forward-looking statements and information herein are qualified by this cautionary statement.


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With Thanksgiving so close, it feels like we're officially in the "holiday season" now. My calendar is really starting to fill up, and I've been hearing Christmas music on the radio, too. I'm not ready to listen yet, but I know the time is coming soon!
I had the opportunity this week to go to a conference hosted by two local foundations focused on the intersection of nonprofits and disability inclusion, where the keynote address was given by the Ford Foundation. It makes me so excited every time I'm in a room full of people who are all passionate about disability inclusion and the concept that all issues are disability issues. I'm exhausted from the week plus the conference, but also invigorated! I am definitely looking forward to taking a break over Thanksgiving and relaxing a bit before the craze of December begins.
Now, on to this week's favorites...
ONE - Profile in The Pitt News
I was so honored to be interviewed and profiled in The Pitt News! The piece ended up being longer than I thought it would be, which was really exciting - I love being able to share my story and what's happened to bring me to where I am today.
TWO - Claire Saffitz Interview
I love every single video that Claire does for Bon Appetit's YouTube channel, so of course I also loved this interview. It's a fun "behind-the-scenes" glimpse into her life outside of the Gourmet Makes videos.
THREE - Bow Slingback Flats
I stumbled across these on Nordstrom's website, and couldn't resist when I saw that they were on sale. They're even MORE on sale now, and they're so cute and comfortable! It can be hard to find flats that still look dressy, but these definitely fit the bill.
FOUR - As Me with Sinéad
Sinéad Burke is a disability advocate with a passion for accessible fashion, which is of particular interest to me. As a little person, not many clothes are made with her in mind, and she's been working to help spur change in the fashion industry. She started a podcast recently where she talks with a diverse group of guests about what it's like to be them. It's SO good and really makes you think about other people's experiences!
Five - Crosswalk the Musical, Frozen Edition
I mean, I couldn't NOT share this. I have loved all the Crosswalk the Musical episodes, but this one has so many all-stars in it that it's extra good.
So glad to have had the chance to meet you at the conference! It really was an inspiring event, wasn't it?


Sharing time with someone is a sacrament. It says: I will never get this moment back, and it is precious, and you may have it. Which may say: you are the best thing in my life right now.
This is sacred. Understanding this leads to a better understanding of the tragically misunderstood concept of altruism. Sharing time is a sacred act.
Sacrificing time is the worst sin.
Say you are talking in a room full of people who have their own hopes and dreams. Think of that responsibility! Every moment you hold the floor you are stealing their time. If you aren't speaking, every moment you allow the room to suffer something less that enlightening or joyful or otherwise fulfilling to the room, is a moment you are letting these people die, just that little bit.
Said explicitly: remember that there isn't much difference between living a long life in a coma, or a short life fully lived. The value of a life is described by the area under the curve, regardless of how long. This is true in the major case (e.g. a person in a coma is alive but is at zero fulfillment every moment) and in the minor (e.g. a meeting that is fruitless is depressing people's fulfillment).
The importance of the large meeting is that if you are causing or allowing, say, 20 people to be living at 5% less than they otherwise would, you are, by Steve Jobs logic, putting a whole person in a coma for the length of that meeting. This is little bit of death.
But we do much worse than allow a stultifying meeting. Think of a relationship where one partner isn't committed but out of kindness or cowardice pretends that everything is ok. Years are spent hoping that the relationship is developing. Think of the sin of that!
Think of a manager putting up with an employee who is getting insufficient feedback that they are doing less than they could. The employee may live in ignorant bliss, not confronting their own dragons, but they are dying – a little bit – every day. Think about the compounding factor of self improvement that they are missing. Their arc on the curve is flat where they could be learning to soar.
Note: if you are inspired to treat time as precious, and suddenly you find yourself yelling at people because you are frustrated that they don't understand the value of time – as I did yesterday like a damn fool – then consider that while it's possible your anger and negativity might be waking the room up so they can soar, it is also possible and even likely that you are destroying trust. Trust that might have been used to take a chance on an opportunity to help each other soar. And negative emotions are rarely fun. So you have likely at least destroyed that moment of your expression for everyone present, and stolen time where they have to process that out through thought or other release. There is no right answer outside of the context of the moment. A sergeant must yell at a soldier. But do not think that just because you value time, that raving about it is a good strategy that will result in a higher curve. Be mindful of your impact around you, and attempt to conserve and elevate, not destroy, time.


If we do these things and get rid of the doubt, questions or suspicions then God can begin to use us. While we are full of doubt and negativity, God cannot use us or bring about His plan and purpose for our lives. But if we can deal with these things, then the way is open for God to work in our lives and to use us.
As we read on we see that God has even greater things in store. We can apply this story to our lives.


In this post, we follow up on our October 2, 2018, post, which covered arguments made by the Defendants in In re Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, 18-cv-02830 (In re MGB) to dismiss Plaintiffs' Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint (the "Complaint") concerning whether Plaintiffs made plausible allegations of an antitrust conspiracy and made adequate allegations for individual defendants. We now summarize the remaining arguments made in Defendants' motion, which concern whether plaintiffs have established antitrust standing, have failed to state a claim for unjust enrichment, and whether Plaintiffs' claims are time-barred and barred by the Foreign Trade and Antitrust Improvements Act.
As before, we commend your attention to our July 30, 2018, post, which summarizes the factual allegations in the Complaint.
In order to have standing to assert antitrust claims, it is required that a plaintiff allege that it has experienced an "antitrust injury" and that it be an efficient enforcer of antitrust laws. Defendants assert that Plaintiffs' antitrust standing is insufficient on both grounds.
Antitrust Injury: For purposes of antitrust standing, an "antitrust injury" must be 1) an injury-in-fact; 2) that has been caused by the violation; and 3) that is the type of injury contemplated by the statute. Defendants argue that Plaintiffs have failed to adequately plead that each of their various theories as to Defendants' collusion actually resulted in injury to Plaintiffs.
Auction Rigging Conspiracy: Plaintiffs allege that Defendants rigged the weekly auctions of Mexican Government Bonds (MGBs) conducted by the Mexican Government by sharing information with each other and coordinating bids to fix prices. Defendants argue that Plaintiffs have failed to show how the allegedly suppressed auction prices raised prices Plaintiffs paid on the secondary market such that injury was caused to them.
Post Auction Inflation: Plaintiffs alleged that prices were inflated by Defendants during the post-auction period of the day of the MGB auction by the Mexican Government, but according to Defendants, Plaintiffs do not allege that prices were inflated "on Non-Auction Days, when Defendants do not have new inventory of MGBs to sell." Defendants argue that since Plaintiffs do not plead that they bought the MGBs on the day they were auctioned, or, to the extent they bought MGBs on auction days, that they bought tenors that were actually auctioned that day, Plaintiffs have failed to show how this alleged inflation caused injury to Plaintiffs.
Spread-Widening Conspiracy: Plaintiffs allege that after the MGBs were initially offered on the secondary market, Defendants agreed to artificially widen the "bid-ask spread," the difference between the bid price that a Defendant would agree to buy a particular type of MGB from a consumer and what a Defendants would agree to sell that same type of MGB for, as listed in the "two-way quote." Plaintiffs further allege that because of this, they were "overcharged each time they purchased MGBs from Defendants and underpaid each time they sold MGBs to Defendants." Defendants argue that this is a conclusory assertion of injury, since the charts included in the Complaint only show "median" bid-ask spreads from 2006 through 2017, and do not therefore show that the bid-ask spread was widened for all transactions over the course of 11 years, or at least identify a single, particular transaction that was.
Bondes D: There are four types of MGBs, each of which differ from each other in how interest is paid to the holder. According to Defendants, Plaintiffs do not actually allege that they themselves bought one particular type of MGB, Bondes D. Therefore, Defendants argue, Plaintiffs could not have suffered any injury as to those bonds.
Efficient Enforcer. There are four factors which guide whether a plaintiff will be an efficient enforcer of antitrust laws: i) the directness of the plaintiff's injury, (ii) the existence of more direct victims of the anticompetitive conduct, (iii) the extent to which the plaintiff's alleged damages are "highly speculative," and (iv) the potential for duplicative recovery or complex questions regarding apportionment of damages.
According to Defendants, Plaintiffs seek to certify a class which would include all persons who have entered into a trade for MGBs. This would include what Defendants call "umbrella" claims, meaning claims arising out of trades with non-Defendants. Defendants attack Plaintiffs' ability to be an efficient enforcer of umbrella claims on several grounds.
Defendants assert that causation of injury by Defendants for umbrella claims is too attenuated for Plaintiffs to be efficient enforcers of such claims. Plaintiffs and non-defendants are independent actors; in such transactions, Plaintiffs were not required to transact at a given bid/ask price or even required to interact with non-defendants at all. The chain of causation between Defendants' alleged suppression of bid/ask prices and prices of non-defendant transactions are thus severed. Defendants rely on a string of cases which they contend hold that such attenuation prohibits plaintiffs from asserting antitrust standing for umbrella claims.
Defendants also argue that Plaintiffs cannot be efficient enforcers of umbrella claims because parties that traded directly with a Defendant are "more direct victims" of the alleged conspiracy. They additionally claim that it would be "exceptionally complex" to isolate impact of Defendants' conduct on umbrella claims, as one can only speculate as to what the umbrella claims would be, absent manipulation.
Finally, Defendants assert that allowing Plaintiffs antitrust standing for umbrella claims would impose liability on Defendants disproportionate to their gains, since Defendants would be liable to any non-party who traded with Plaintiffs, going beyond the scope of the Sherman Act's intent.
The Foreign Trade and Antitrust Improvements Act ("FTAI") excludes conduct involving trade or commerce with foreign nations from Sherman Act claims. The FTAI does not apply to i) import activity involving foreign commerce or ii) to conduct that has a "direct, substantial, reasonably foreseeable effect" on domestic or import commerce and gives rise to a claim under the Sherman Act (known as the ii.	"Domestic Effects Exception"). The Domestic Effects Exception requires that there be a "reasonably proximate causal nexus" between overseas conduct and alleged domestic effects.
Defendants argue that neither exception can apply to Plaintiffs' allegations that Defendants rigged the auctions in Mexican run by Mexican authorities at which the MGB were originally sold to Defendants. Those transactions only took place between Mexican market-maker entities and the Mexican government, making the auctions wholly foreign transactions to which the import exception cannot apply. Defendants also note that Plaintiffs have not even plead that the Domestic Effects Exception applies, but argue that even if they had, such alleged manipulation of the Mexican auctions would only have limited, indirect, effects on transactions in U.S., not "substantial" and "reasonably foreseeable" effects required for the exception to apply.
Defendants argue that Plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claims should be dismissed for several reasons: First, Plaintiffs' only basis that Defendants were "unjustly" enriched are based upon the conspiracy allegations, which are defective in and of themselves for being conclusory (as further explained in our previous post). Second, the unjust enrichment claims are duplicative of Plaintiffs' other claims. Third, the claims are based upon transactions between the parties which are governed by contracts, and unjust enrichment is only available where there is no actual agreement between the parties. Finally, unjust enrichments claims do not apply to any transactions with which the Plaintiffs did not deal directly with the Defendants.
Sherman Act claims are subject to a four-year statute of limitations, which runs from when the cause of action accrues, not from a plaintiff's discovery of the action. The cause of action would thus run, according to Defendants, when the MGB transaction between the parties occur and plaintiff pays an anticompetitive price. Since Plaintiffs filed their complaint on March 30, 2018, that would claims based on transactions before March 30, 2014 would be time-barred. The statute of limitations can be tolled if Defendants fraudulently concealed facts underlying Plaintiffs' claims, which Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants in fact did. However, fraudulent concealment can only be a basis for tolling the statute of limitations if it is done by affirmative acts of concealment or if it was done as part of a "self-concealing" conspiracy.
Plaintiffs' allegations of fraudulent concealment fail, according to Defendants, because they are not plead with particularity, as required by Rule 9(b), and, separately, they do no allege any acts of concealment separate from those that form the basis of their claim. Defendants not only contend that Plaintiffs have failed to show that the nature of the conspiracy is "self-concealing," but also assert that Plaintiffs' own allegations that Defendants' alleged collusion caused "dramatic" price changes on auction days that were absent on non-auction days show that the existence of the alleged conspiracy was apparent from publicly available information. Defendants also note that Plaintiffs rely on public reports from as early as October 2013. Defendants assert that these public reports should have been sufficient to put Plaintiffs on notice so as to cause the statute of limitations to run. Otherwise, Plaintiffs would have "it "both ways," asserting on one hand that there are public reports which evince Defendants' conspiracy, but on the other asserting that Defendants' conspiracy is self-concealing such that the statute of limitations should be tolled.
Under the current briefing schedule, Plaintiffs opposition is due on or by November 16, 2018. Stay tuned to this blog, as we will be sure to inform you as to any new developments from Plaintiffs' opposition.
This week we cover the Motion to Dismiss and affirming Appellate decisions decided in 2014 and 2016 in In re: Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation, 1:13-md-02481-KBF (SDNY), an action previously introduced in our September 24, 2018, post, where one can find a full account of the alleged collusion.
Plaintiffs allege a conspiracy by the London Metal Exchange ("LME"), Glencore, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase & Co., among others, to restrain aluminum output and increase storage costs, both leading to an increase in price for, and injury to, Plaintiffs.
In the summer of 2014, JudgeForrest of the Southern District granted defendant LME's motion to dismiss brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA") on the basis that LME was an organ of the United Kingdom ("UK") Government, and was not engaged in commercial activity so as to fall into the commercial activity exception to the FSIA. See In re Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litig., No. 13-MD-2481 KBF, 2014 WL 4211353 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 25, 2014). Judge Forrest found that LME was essentially a regulatory arm of the UK Government and was acting in an inherently regulatory capacity. LME's load out rules and arrangements with reference to warehouses were both implemented to serve a regulatory purpose, and were not negotiated at arms-length but were mandatory and compulsory, establishing LME's regulatory role. As such LME was a state organ and LME's activity did not fall within the commercial activity exception to the FSIA. See id. at *11-15.
At about the same time Judg eForrest issued a separate opinion dismissing the Plaintiffs' claims, on a number of grounds. See In re Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litig., No. 13-MD-2481 KBF, 2014 WL 4277510 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 29, 2014).
Among these included a lack of antitrust standing. Plaintiffs did not allege that they were competitors or consumers of the Defendants. Rather they alleged that Defendants' independent actions had an effect which increased the Midwest Premium, thereby impacting the sales price in Plaintiffs' independent trades. Because Plaintiffs' did not allege that they were consumers or competitors of Defendants, they were forced to plead facts sufficient to show that their injury was "inextricably intertwined" as required under Blue Shield of Virginia v. McCready, 457 U.S. 465 (1982), Crimpers Promotions Inc. v. Home Box Office, Inc., 724 F.2d 290 (2d Cir.1983) and Province v. Cleveland Press Publ'g Co., 787 F.2d 1047, 1052 (6th Cir.1986). Because Plaintiffs failed to allege that they were "manipulated or utilized by [d]efendant[s] as a fulcrum, conduit or market force to injure competitors or participants," that is to say they were manipulated "as a means to carry out the restraint of trade in the product market" within the language of Province, so as to support a claim that their injury was "inextricably intertwined" with that of consumers or competitors, the case was dismissed for lack of antitrust standing.
On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Forrest's reading under McCready, Crimpers and Province noting that because Defendants were not used as a "fulcrum, conduit or market force," and they thus could not assert a claim under the "inextricably intertwined standard." See In re Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litig., 833 F.3d 151, 161-163 (2d Cir. 2016).
Additionally, in In re Aluminum, 2014 WL 4277510 at *24-34, per Judge Forrest, Plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege facts supporting either an agreement among the warehouse defendants to restrain load-outs of aluminum, or an agreement between the trader defendants and warehouse defendants to effectuate that conspiratorial scheme. They drew this conclusion, based on the fact that, given the allegations as pled, the story was consistent with the defendants acting in accordance with the market forces of supply and demand, rather than a conspiracy. Defendants were holding a cheap good now, as it was anticipated to become more expensive later, which is consistent with lawful competitive behavior. The court also noted that Defendants, who made money by trading warrants and selling storage space, were not competitors and did not directly gain from an increase in the Midwest premium, and as such lacked financial motive to act. The plaintiffs did not even allege a plausible market in which defendants restrained trade. As such, there was no conspiracy under either a per se or a rule of reason analysis.
Additionally, the Plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege the details of any conspiracy. The generalized allegations of defendants being on LME committees especially without allegations of how decision-making changed when the trader defendants acquired the warehouses, was wholly insufficient. The same can be said of the mere affiliation between individuals employed by Goldman Sachs and the warehouse defendants, in the absence of more particularized allegations. In light of this all, especially given that defendants' conduct was self-interested, defendants alleged cancelling of warrants in parallel and delaying load-outs in parallel were not sufficient to satisfy the requirement that Plaintiffs plead parallel conduct to justify an inference of a conspiracy.
Further, per Judge Forrest, Plaintiffs failed to allege facts sufficient to support their monopolization claims because they failed to fully define a relevant market, or assert that any of the defendants had the power to unilaterally effect the Midwest premium. The attempts to rely on the acts of multiple different actors was improper as the law does not recognize a "shared monopoly." Metro's control of a large percentage of the warehouses was not sufficient on its own to satisfy the test as they did not unilaterally control the warrants and futures contracts that determined the ingress and egress of aluminum to and from warehouses. Id. at*34-37.
Finally, per Judge Forrest, the Plaintiffs various state law claims rely on the same antitrust, conspiracy, monopolization and unfair conduct allegations, and otherwise were not pled with particularity to allow the court to determine how the conduct violated each individual state statute. Id. at *37-38; In re Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litig., No. 13-MD-2481 KBF, 2014 WL 4743425 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 15, 2014). On appeal this was affirmed on the same grounds. See In re Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litig., 833 F.3d at 163.
Reuters and Yahoo News are reporting that the CFTC has ordered Bank of America N.A. to pay a fine of $30 million to settle charges that it "made false reports and attempted to manipulate the U.S. Dollar International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix (USD ISDAFIX), a leading global benchmark" between 2007 and 2012. The US Dollar ISDAFIX benchmark is referenced in a range of interest rate products.
Reuters reports that CBOE is working with FINRA "to develop machine learning techniques to tell whether market conditions surrounding the VIX settlement are potentially anomalous" in order to address concerns that traders could manipulate its VIX volatility index by strategically placing S&P options orders.
In this post, we cover a recently filed motion by the defendants in In re Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, 18-cv-02830, (In re MGB) to dismiss Plaintiffs' Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint (the "Complaint") for failure to state a claim. The motion to dismiss is available here. Certain of the defendants also have filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue, available here. This post, however, will only discuss the former motion.
Defendants' motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is made on several grounds, including failure to plead plausible allegations of an antitrust conspiracy, failure to plead allegations for individualized defendants, failure to establish antitrust standing, and failure to state a claim for unjust enrichment. Defendants also moved to dismiss Plaintiffs' claims as being time-barred and barred by the Foreign Trade and Antitrust Improvements Act. This post will summarize Defendants' arguments concerning whether Plaintiffs made plausible allegations of an antitrust conspiracy and adequately alleged allegations for individualized defendants. The remaining arguments will be summarized in a separate post.
Our July 30, 2018, post summarizes the factual allegations in the Complaint, and is worth reading first in order to fully understand defendants' arguments.
Auction-Rigging Conspiracy. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants rigged the weekly auctions of Mexican Government Bonds (MGBs) conducted by the Mexican Government by sharing information with each other and coordinating bids to fix prices. Defendants argue that Plaintiffs fail to plead underlying evidentiary facts that allow for a plausible inference of such an unlawful agreement. In order to meet the requirement under cases such as Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) to plead facts which allow for the plausible inference of a conspiracy, Defendants assert that Plaintiff must either show direct evidence (a "smoking gun" such as a recorded phone call) or show parallel conduct among defendants and certain "plus factors" indicating that the parallel conduct was the result of an agreement, not just coincidence or market forces.
Defendants state in their motion that the news reports cited in the Complaint do not show direct evidence. Plaintiffs cite the reports for the proposition that an unidentified defendant has been granted leniency in Mexico's cartel leniency program. Defendants dispute that the news reports stand for that proposition. They argue that all the reports say is that an institution has agreed to cooperate with authorities; the reports do not identify the scope of the Mexican authorities' investigation, if the cooperator is a defendant, or what the cooperator actually did.
Neither, according to the Defendants, have the Plaintiffs alleged any particular instances of parallel conduct, such as, for example, unprecedented changes in pricing structure. Defendants also walk through why each of the pieces of evidence relied upon by Plaintiffs are inadequate as plus factors, even though Defendants assert that such an analysis should be unnecessary given that no parallel conduct has been alleged.
News Reports: all reports say is that there is an investigation by Mexican authorities, and that an entity is cooperating with that investigation; that an investigation is taking place is, in and of itself, insufficient to raise the inference of a conspiracy.
Inter-firm Communications: Plaintiffs detail in their Complaint that there was a "revolving door" of employees between Defendants, such that many Mexican Government Bond traders previously worked together in the same bank, before moving on to work for another market maker. Defendants contend that a "revolving door" is inadequate as a plus factor because Plaintiffs do not detail specific communications around the time of the Mexican Government's auction.
Prior Cases in Other Markets: The Complaint also detailed admissions from the Defendants and findings from various regulatory authorities purporting to show that the same Defendant banks have colluded to fix prices in other markets. Defendants argue these 'if it happened there, it could have happened here' allegations do not substantiate a fraud claim.
Defendants also devote a significant part of their brief to attacking the sufficiency of the economic evidence represented by statistical charts appended to the Complaint. The statistical charts, Defendants argue, are insufficient to serve as "plus factors" for several reasons: 1) they show aggregated averages which lump together different auctions and maturity periods, obscuring trends and outliers and ignoring the effects of important events like the global financial crisis and the changes in Mexico's credit rating; they do not differentiate between defendants and non-defendants, or identify the activities of individual defendants; 3) they do not show statistically significant results; 4) they use cherry-picked data, as each chart compares a different "before" and "after" period than the other, and features a different set of bonds. Moreover, what each chart purports to show could just as easily be explained by non-anti-competitive behavior. For example, one charts purports to show that "average trading prices for auctioned MGBs tended to rise following the announcement of auction results." However, Defendants point to scholarship that suggests that this is not due to conspiratorial conduct, but rather due to the pricing information that an auction provides the market.
Spread-Widening Conspiracy. Plaintiffs also allege that after the MGBs were initially offered on the secondary market, Defendants agreed to artificially widen the "bid-ask spread," the difference between the bid price that a Defendant would agree to buy a particular type of MGB from a consumer and what a Defendants would agree to sell that same type of MGB for. Defendants similarly attack this allegation as conclusory, and lacking plausible evidentiary facts. Defendants point out that Plaintiffs do not even allege that the investigation by Mexican authorities pertains to the alleged spread-widening. These allegations are particularly implausible, Defendants argue, because the non-defendant suppliers of MGBs whom customers were free to buy from makes it unlikely that Defendants widened the spread on all transactions over an eleven year period.
Defendants also assert that the charts purporting to support Plaintiffs' economic evidence of spread-widening suffer from the same defects that the charts relating to auction-rigging do. Particularly, the charts use median figures that obscure variation of bid-ask spreads for more than a decade, do not show individual defendants' spreads, and do not claim to show statistically significant results.
Defendants attack the allegation made against "Defendants" as failing to allege the conspiratorial conduct engaged in by each individual defendant; Plaintiffs ". . . fail to identify a single collusive act or communication by any individual Defendant." Moreover, the charts purporting to support the economic evidence do not show the auction bids for each defendant, or each defendants' bid-ask spread or fill rate. The news reports cited by defendants are similarly defective to support these generalized allegations; one report cited by Plaintiffs states that all participants in the market were under investigation, but since an investigation in and of itself cannot be an inference of a conspiracy, Plaintiffs' allegations are insufficient.
Defendants also argue that the allegations against the Market Maker Defendants' affiliates are also insufficient, as Plaintiffs merely plead that these entities directed and controlled the Market-Makers that bid at the auctions or that traded with Plaintiffs. Merely alleging direction and control, or corporate affiliation is conclusory and not enough to state a claim, according to Defendants.
This week we cover the allegations in the multi-district litigation In re: Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation, 1:13-md-02481-KBF (SDNY) ("In re Aluminum Antitrust Litigation"). We will leave a discussion of the subsequent motion to dismiss briefing and decision, and the appeals to a later date. In short, the Plaintiffs in In re Aluminum Antitrust Litigation allege that Defendants created a monopolistic restraint on the supply of primary aluminum, first by using a minimum per-warehouse distribution rule to monopolize market share, and then converting that minimum warehouse distribution rule into a maximum, creating delays in the distribution of Aluminum and an increase in price, despite the existence of a high market supply of primary aluminum.
Aluminum, a very abundant metal, is used in a number of industrial products including airplanes and automobiles, packaging materials, construction materials, and consumer electronics. Primary aluminum refers to aluminum produced directly from mined ore. Large integrated producers create primary aluminum and sell to two broad categories of customers: manufacturers/processors/brokers in the physical market and traders/speculators in the resale market. After creation of primary aluminum, the supply is often warehoused.
According to Plaintiffs, demand for primary aluminum is relatively inelastic as aluminum is not readily replaceable with other metals in its various uses, regardless of price increases. Likewise, supply is also inelastic as the cost structures of smelters make it the case that they either produce at full capacity or not at all. The combination of these two market realities make it difficult for aluminum purchasers and manufacturers to fight back against price increases.
Nearly all industrial contracts for the physical delivery of primary aluminum express the price of aluminum using a formula with at least two standardized components: (1) the LME Settlement Price, the cash offered price at the end of the LME's second morning trading session, and (2) a regional premium (e.g. the Midwest Premium, the Benchmark in the United States), which is meant to cover the cost of delivery to a customer, and which is compiled based on a reporting of the preponderance of physical transactions between buyers and sellers of spot aluminum on a given day for delivery to relevant geographic points. These components are published by private companies, including Platts and Metal Bulletin. From 2008 to 2012, the relationship between global production and demand was relatively stable, with the market tending toward surplus. Directly before the start of the Class Period, the supply of aluminum in the Midwest United States greatly increased, which should have caused the Midwest premium to decrease.
According to Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs, a number of first level and direct purchasers of aluminum for physical delivery within the United States, purchased primary aluminum at a price that included the London Metal Exchange ("LME") Price, and the Midwest Premium or Midwest Transaction Price. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants, LME, Metro, Glencore, Pacorini, among others, and a number of financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, worked together to unlawfully restrain trade by lengthening the amount of time it takes to load-out aluminum from warehouses, prolonging queues and restraining load-out rates in the market for warehouse services of aluminum in LME registered warehouses in the U.S. and Canada, thus causing an increase in the Midwest Premium, and consequently an increase in the price of primary aluminum.
Plaintiffs allege that in 2003, LME created a minimum rate of load-outs, 1,500 metric tons per day per warehouse location. This favored large warehouses like those held by Metro and Glencore/Pacorini. As a consequence, Metro at the time of the change of the minimum load-out rule announced that it would increase rents to at least three times the competitive rental rates. Simultaneously, regardless of actual capacity and commercial reasonableness, Metro and the other defendants entered into agreements and made the minimum rate of load-outs into a maximum. LME was aware of these limits and complicit in the agreement to use the minimum load-out rule as the maximum rate. Through a web of agreements Metro shared its profits with its co-conspirators, including Burgess-Allen and Glencore. One mechanism used was the illusory cancellation of LME warrants. The Defendants also worked together to shift aluminum among their warehouses in order to concentrate the stock at key warehouse locations.
According to Plaintiffs, LME made increased profits through increased rental revenues. The Goldman Defendants had full knowledge of Metro's anti-competitive actions and helped facilitate them, especially through using their control of the LME's rulemaking process to make sure that the minimum rule remained in effect, and lobbying with LME to the same end. The bank defendants made a profit from taking advantage of prevailing market contango, selling short positions on futures and taking advantage of the long positions of the industrial Plaintiffs taken as a hedge against increases in the LME primary aluminum price. The Goldman Defendants also profited through the increased value of aluminum owned by its J. Aron subsidiary. The Goldman, JPMorgan and other Defendants benefited as at the time LME was sold to a Hong-Kong Exchanges & Clearing, and they made a profit off the sale of their shares for a combined $468 million.
Plaintiffs sought damages, injunctions and declaratory relief under Section 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, the Michigan Antitrust Reform Act, MCL §§ 445.773, the Donnelly Act of New York General Business Law § 340, et seq., among other state antitrust and unfair trade practices statutes, and claims for unjust enrichment.
This week, we follow last week's dismissal of In re SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:16-cv-03711-ER (SDNY) ("In re SSA"), an action first introduced in our June 27, 2018, post, where one can find a full account of the alleged collusion in the Amended Complaint. In this post, we focus on the Defendants' December 12, 2017, Joint Memorandum of Law in Support of the Motion to Dismiss, and Judge Ramos' August 24, 2018, Opinion and Order granting the Motion to Dismiss.
In brief, Plaintiffs are buy side funds, such as pension and retirement funds and asset management companies. They alleged that the Defendants, large dealer banks including but not limited to Bank of America, Barclays, and Credit Suisse, used their position as major players in the supranational, sub-Sovereign, and agency bonds ("SSA") market to manipulate the bid-ask spread on SSA bonds. Plaintiffs based their allegations primarily on about 150 chats, phone calls, and other correspondence among individuals employed at the dealer-banks regarding certain deals. These 150 communications were produced by Bank of America and Deutsche Bank. After the Plaintiffs filed their complaint, certain defendants settled the case. This included Bank of America and Deutsche Bank, who settled for a combined $65.5 million in August of 2017.
The Defendants moved to dismiss the case in late 2017, arguing that the Plaintiffs lacked antitrust standing, and otherwise failed to state a claim because the Plaintiffs, relying mostly on the 150 communications, were unable to point to a transaction with an artificially set price of which Defendants were a part. Defendants asserted that Plaintiffs' claim that they were injured because they transacted during a period when the entire SSA market was "rigged" were both implausible and unsubstantiated.
According to Defendants, Plaintiffs were not efficient enforcers because their claims were too remote and indirect, more efficient enforcers exist, and damages done to them were too speculative. Plaintiffs' argument that Defendants participated in a decade-long global conspiracy to manipulate the entire SSA bonds market was implausible. Plaintiffs were unable to allege that the Defendants participated in the conspiracy with any evidence besides the correspondence among a handful of individuals dealing with a handful of deals. The allegation that they set artificial prices for a few particular deals, even if proven true, could not substantiate the claim that the entire market was rigged or that the Defendants participated in any misconduct in connection with Plaintiffs' deals. Further, Plaintiffs did not allege a conspiracy because they failed to allege an industry-wide mechanism or benchmark that affected prices, or that every major bond dealer was involved in the alleged conspiracy. Additionally, Plaintiffs failed to allege that Defendants were participating in the conspiracy throughout the alleged class period.
Additionally, Defendants asserted that Plaintiffs abandoned attempts at providing sufficient allegations of SSA rigging using economic analysis, and that the economic literature provided by Plaintiffs was totally irrelevant. As a consequence, Plaintiffs did not plausibly allege an injury, and their complaint should be dismissed.
In late August of 2018, Judge Ramos granted Defendants' motion dismissing Plaintiffs' Consolidated Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim because Plaintiffs failed to allege injury-in-fact sufficient to establish antitrust standing, with leave to replead until October 23, 2018. Judge Ramos based his decision primarily on the fact that, as Plaintiffs had not purchased any of the deals in question, the 150 communications on which Plaintiffs relied were not sufficient to plausibly allege a widespread conspiracy which harmed Plaintiffs, and therefore Plaintiffs had not alleged injury-in-fact sufficient to establish standing.
Judge Ramos did note that Plaintiffs could however satisfy the pleading standard with statistical analyses which would show a comparison of bid-ask spreads paid by class members to spreads made on comparable instruments after the period of collusion ended. However, as Plaintiffs Amended Complaint lacked any allegations providing this statistical analyses Judge Ramos dismissed the Amended Complaint. Judge Ramos however made a finding that it was not yet futile for Plaintiffs to replead, and granted Plaintiffs the right to do so.


Srinagar: PDP chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Muti, who got a new lease of political life after dramatic dissolution of state assembly last week, called for making borders between India and Pakistan "irreverent" by facilitating trade and encouraging people to people contact.
National Conference which until recently was bête noire of PDP, called for opening historic routes Kartarpur Corridor Opening.
"Kartarpur can be a new beginning of reconciliation between the two neighbours.We cannot change our borders but let us make them irrelevant by facilitating trade & encouraging people to people contact. This will usher in peace & progress for both India & Pakistan," Mehbooba tweeted.
"It is quite amusing how some tv channels are trying to distort a gesture like Kartarpur into some kind of conspiracy to create Khalistan . One fails to understand why allowing people pilgrimage to Guru Nanak Dev ji's birth place would assume such undertones," she added.
Congratulations India, Pakistan and people of Punjab for the Kartarpur Corridor opening, National Conference leader Tanvir Sadiq implored two neighbors to listen to the people of Jammu and Kashmir historical routes.
"Now please listen to the people of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh & have Kargil-Skardu, Turtuk-Khapulu,Titwal -Chilhan,Jammu-Sialkot, Chhamb-Jourian-Mirpur,Gurez-Astoor-Gilgit & Jhanger-Mirpur opened," Tanvir tweeted.


text:
Q: Joining Multiple Images into one with a PHP script I have this test page http://thechozenfew.net/projects/write_font.php that generates the text in the input box as a font. Each letter is a different picture, How would i join all these pictures into one image with a php script?
This what i've tried so far but the images appear on top of each other.
Header ("Content-type: image/gif");

$image1Url = "../images/avatar.png";
$image2Url = "../images/key.png";
$image3Url = "../images/safari.png";
$image1 = imageCreateFromPNG($image1Url);
$image2 = imageCreateFromPNG($image2Url);
$image3 = imageCreateFromPNG($image3Url);

$colorTransparent = imagecolorat($image1, 0, 0);
imageColorTransparent ($image1, $colorTransparent);

$colorTransparent = imagecolorat($image2, 0, 0);
imageColorTransparent ($image2, $colorTransparent);

$colorTransparent = imagecolorat($image3, 0, 0);
imageColorTransparent ($image3, $colorTransparent);

imageCopyMerge($image1, $image2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 96, 96, 100);

imageCopyMerge($image1, $image3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 96, 96, 80);

ImagePng ($image1);

ImageDestroy ($image1);
ImageDestroy ($image2);

A: Your script is merging the images on top of each other (see the manual for imagecopymerge).  The parameters $dst_x and $dst_y control where to place the source image on the merged canvas.
You need to specify the offset from the previous image to merge them:
<?
    $offset2x = imagesx($image1);
    imageCopyMerge($image1, $image2, $offset2x, 0, 0, 0, 96, 96, 100);

    $offset3x = $offset2x + imagesx($image2);
    imageCopyMerge($image1, $image3, $offset3x, 0, 0, 0, 96, 96, 80);
?>

Note that you will have to increase the size of $image1 to hold all 3 images next to each other.

A: So here what i ended up with
<?php
header('Content-type: image/png');

function imageComposeAlpha( &$src, &$ovr, $ovr_x, $ovr_y, $ovr_w = false, $ovr_h = false, $opc = 127){
 imagecopy($src, $ovr, $ovr_x, $ovr_y, 0, 0, imagesx($ovr), imagesy($ovr) );
}

////////////////////////---////////-----------------------------------

$url = "../../images/socom_font/normal/Socom";

//Covert the String iinto an Array
 $letter = str_split(strtoupper ($_GET['name']));
//Populate Letters Image Path
 foreach($letter as $a){
   //exeptions
  if($a == "?"){ $a = "Question"; }
  if($a == "/"){ $a = "Slash"; }
  if($a == "%"){ $a = "Percent"; }
  if($a == " "){ $a = "Space"; }
  $image[] = $url.$a.".png";
 }unset($a);
//Create the Letters Image Objects
 foreach($image as $a){
  $image['obj'][] = imageCreateFromPNG($a);
 }unset($a);
//calculate Canvas Width
 foreach($image['obj'] as $a){
  if(!isset($canvasW)){ $canvasW = 0; }
  $canvasW = imagesx($a) + $canvasW;
 }unset($a);
//Create Canvas
 $photoImage = imagecreatetruecolor($canvasW,100);
 imagesavealpha($photoImage, true);
 $trans_color = imagecolorallocatealpha($photoImage, 0, 0, 0, 127);
 imagefill($photoImage, 0, 0, $trans_color);

//Merge Images
 foreach($image['obj'] as $a){
  $width = ceil(imagesx($a));
  if(!isset($offset)){ $offset = 1; }

  imageComposeAlpha($photoImage, $a, $offset, 0,$width,100);

  if($offset >= 1){
   $offset = $offset + $width;
  }
 }unset($a);
// Save it
 //Imagepng($photoImage, 'done.png');
// Output to browser
 Imagepng($photoImage);

//Destroy all Image Objects
 foreach($image['obj'] as $a){
  ImageDestroy($a);
 }
 ImageDestroy($photoImage);
?>

The Live Link http://thechozenfew.net/projects/font/ImageMerge.php?name=it%20works

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Vets' Demands
Court Rejects Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans' Demand for Better VA Care
Ten thousand new war veterans enter the severely overburdened VA system each month, writes Jamie Reno, but a federal appeals court tossed their claim for better treatment.
Jamie Reno
Sandy Huffaker / Corbis
The plaintiffs in the case of Veterans for Common Sense v. Eric K. Shinseki thought they had a sure winner on their hands. Filed by veterans' rights groups in 2007 against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the lawsuit, which demanded that the department fix its mental-health-care system, seemed to have public sentiment, the law, and the truth on its side.
But on Monday a federal appeals court in California voted 10–1 to dismiss the case, ruling that only Congress or the president has the authority to direct changes on how veterans are treated.
The decision overturns a 2–1 ruling last year by the same court, which said that the department's "unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough," and permitted the plaintiffs to ask a federal judge to order changes in the VA. The VA appealed that ruling to a larger panel.
Veterans' advocates expressed extreme disappointment with Monday's ruling. "It just shows that our veterans are not being served by the VA or by the courts," said Paul Sullivan, a Gulf War vet and former executive director of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) who currently works at Bergmann & Moore, a law firm that represents veterans. "There is a crisis at the VA—care is getting worse, not better, but they don't want you to know about it. And now our veterans know that not even the courts are here to help them."
Richard Eldridge, 64, who lives outside Toledo, Ohio, is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Air Force from 1968 to 1990. He was diagnosed with PTSD, but "I've been fighting the VA to get my claim processed for 22 years," he said. "It remains unresolved. I really believe they are incompetent. If I had a moment to talk with the secretary of the VA, I would tell him to please fix this claims process before we all die."
The sole dissenter in Monday's ruling, Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder, wrote that the dismissal "leaves millions of veterans without any available redress for claims…No one could think this is just or what Congress intended."
Documents the plaintiffs presented during the original two-week non-jury trial in 2008 showed that it took the VA an average of nearly four and a half years to review veterans' health-care claims, that more than 1,400 veterans who'd been denied coverage died in one six-month period while waiting for their claims to conclude, and that 18 veterans per day were committing suicide.
The plaintiffs—VCS, along with Veterans United for Truth—also submitted emails between VA executives that they said confirmed the agency's plan to suppress the number of attempted suicides by vets under VA care.
"Shhh!" began a Feb. 13, 2008, email from Dr. Ira Katz, a VA deputy chief. "Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?"
A year before that email, Newsweek reported on the VA's failure to properly treat ailing veterans because of a massive backlog of claims, lack of staff, and a bureaucracy that increased the stress many former troops already felt. Five years on, despite the VA's claims to the contrary, the situation for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans has apparently gotten worse in a number of vital areas.
According to the VA's own numbers, the backlog of compensation claims, which was about 500,000 in 2007, now stands at more than 1.1 million. Waiting times are longer, too, according to court documents. And 10,000 new patients come into the VA every month, half of whom are mental-health patients, according to Sullivan.
Despite the efforts by the VA secretary, Eric Shinseki, to address the department's problems—including hiring more staff and updating its computer system—and despite the fact that President Obama has increased the agency's budget by 10.5 percent, to $140 billion, critics say the VA's problems are not getting any better.
"Veterans now wait an average of seven months for an initial VA claim decision, and we're going to see as many as 500,000 to 600,000 more veterans enter the system in the next several years," Sullivan said. "We hear complaints from our clients every day, and it's happening across the country, from Tampa Bay to Houston to San Diego."
Shinseki, who rode into the VA on a wave of promised reforms, told Congress in March that the agency has seen a 48-percent increase in compensation claims filed since 2008, and that he expects the volume to increase in 2013 to 1.25 million claims. Shinseki said the VA has reached a "tipping point" as far as dealing with the claims backlog.
"In 2013, our goal is to ensure that no more than 40 percent of the compensation and pension claims in the pending inventory are more than 125 days old," Shinseki said in congressional testimony.
To help address the backlog, the VA announced last week that it was adding 1,900 mental-health clinicians and support staff to its existing staff of more than 20,000.
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction over veterans' issues, told the AP that the VA's plan looked like a knee-jerk reaction to the recent inspector general's investigation of the VA, which the plaintiffs submitted to the court last week. That investigation found that nearly half of the veterans seeking mental-health care for the first time waited about 50 days before getting a full evaluation. The VA had said that the majority of evaluations were being conducted within 14 days.
A spokesperson for the VA told The Daily Beast that the agency is doing its best with the resources it has. "The VA places the highest priority on providing veterans living with mental-health issues and posttraumatic stress disorder with timely, responsive, high-quality care," said Josh Taylor, press secretary for the VA. "While we have made progress, we fully recognize there is more work to be done."
The bottom line, Sullivan said, is that the VA remains unequipped to handle the onslaught of veterans leaving active duty and entering the system, and as a result America continues to fail our wounded.


Black River Kennel is located in Chehalis, Washington. Our goal is to produce the highest quality Brittany that are happy, healthy family companion's, but are also able to excel in the field or show ring. Each breeding is carefully selected to produce puppies with sound conformation and excellent temperaments. Our breeding dogs are health tested with all appropriate clearances and are AKC champions or have hunting titles. All of our puppies come with a health guarantee.
Brittanys are known for having a keen nose and a very biddable disposition. They bond and work closely with their human partners. This allows the Brittanys success in field trials, hunting tests, conformation shows, obedience trials, agility trials, tracking tests, and just about anything else they are given a chance to do. The Brittany is easily handled, but sensitive if treated harshly.
When not enjoying the showing or sporting life, the Brittany is content to be at home as a family pet and guardian. This is a fun-loving, energetic, friendly, gentle and affectionate breed known to be patient and trustworthy with children. Intelligent and eager to please, with daily exercise the Brittany makes an excellent family pet or companion.


text:
RIM Launches BlackBerry 10
by Stephen SchenckJanuary 30, 2013 10:25 am
It's been a long time coming, but after literally years of waiting, the time has finally arrived for BlackBerry 10, the next big chapter in RIM's smartphone story. The company coordinated an ambitious multinational launch event for the debut of its new OS, and beyond the main stage in Toronto, RIM has simultaneous events going on in London, New York, Johannesburg, Paris, and Dubai. With a global audience watching on, CEO Thorsten Heins took to the stage to formally announce the arrival of BlackBerry 10: "BlackBerry 10 is here!"
Heins began by discussing just what sort of users RIM designed BlackBerry 10 for, and makes it clear that this platform is looking far beyond the old BlackBerry stigma of smartphones for businessmen, highlighting the attention that social networking has been given on the new platform. Ultimately, the company is envisioning a user base that's just as personal as professional.
RIM seems to have caught a bit of the "everything's connected" vibe that was going around the CES this year, and has its own sights on BlackBerry 10 connecting with all the other electronic devices in our lives, from cars to smart houses.
In a bit of an unexpected turn, Heins announced that RIM is dropping its name in favor of simply becoming "BlackBerry", explaining, "it is one brand, it is one promise… From today on, we are BlackBerry everywhere in the world."
Instead of the Z10 and the X10, like we expected, we instead saw the debut of the Z10 and hardware-QWERTY Q10. The Z10 will be available as of tomorrow in some nations, while others will have well over a month to wait for its arrival. The Q10 is due out sometime in April.
As expected, we got to see a lot of the new software features BlackBerry 10 has to offer; check out the above link to our Z10 coverage for a look at the new software keyboard. BlackBerry Balance is the company's tool to help keep your work and private lives separate, and extends even into how you see apps in BlackBerry World. The camera software offers tons of gesture control, letting you tap-and-drag ro focus or tap anywhere on the screen to take a pic. For video, BlackBerry's including its Story Maker, with some basic editing and effect tools.
BlackBerry, Phones
Blackberry, BlackBerry 10, News, RIM


As I always say, Abstraction is a balance between intuitive and intellectual. As part of a 3 Part Series, Abstract Exploration is a way to approach the challenges of abstraction in painting, drawing and design. Using the Principles of Design and Elements of Art, participants will find a way to explore materials, discuss process, and to simply "know when you're done."
Even if you are a realist at heart, we will play with materials in a way that may push your usual art practice in a new direction. We will have fun, think hard, and create a lot in the short period together. This is great for those who are self taught, because I'll provide some context that may or may not be part of your art education. We'll see!
Only 4 spaces are available per session. Groups encouraged.


She had screamed the same warning several times by the time a third deputy arrived. She told the deputies she had tried suicide four times before and "would get it right this time," a deputy wrote in a Platte County Sheriff's Office incident report.
When a fourth deputy arrived with a transport van to take her to jail, Lewis tried to run in front of it. She fought deputies who held her down to secure a seat belt.
The drive to the Platte County Detention Center was short, just five minutes, according to the sheriff's office. When deputies opened the rear door, Lewis was no longer screaming.
She was not breathing and was covered in vomit. Her body was face down on the van floor with her hands still bound behind her and a seat belt wrapped around her neck. Deputies tried but failed to revive her.
The law leaves no question, experts say, that law enforcement officers must ensure the safety and well-being of those in custody — whether someone briefly detained, someone with a medical or mental health issue, or a longtime inmate.
"The bottom line is when (law enforcement) take someone into custody, the officers are responsible for arrestee's safety and welfare … period," said Michael Lyman, a professor of criminal justice at Columbia College and a former criminal investigator.
Lyman also testified for the prosecution in the Freddie Gray police misconduct case in Baltimore. Gray was arrested in April 2015 and thrown into a transport van but wasn't seat-belted in. He died of spinal injuries suffered during the ride.
The means that law enforcement use to keep detainees safe have rocked public conscience in recent years, as cases like Gray's expose breakdowns in transportation policy and sometimes lead to official probes. Last week the state of Maryland dropped criminal charges against three officers involved with Gray's transport. Three other officers had been acquitted in bench trials.
Whether Lewis' death could have been prevented or was caused by an unforeseen medical issue will be determined in an external investigation by the neighboring Clay County Sheriff's Office.
The investigation, which will likely include video footage from van cameras, should also reveal more details about the setup of the 2013 Ford E-350 van, whether Lewis was visible through a window in a barrier behind the driver and what kind of seat belt was used.
Sgt. Jeffrey Shanks, spokesman for the Platte County Sheriff's Office, said the department would not comment about the incident or how the agency transports inmates until the investigation is concluded. Shanks said the sheriff's office is waiting for the results of the medical examiner's toxicology examination.
Clay County Sheriff Paul Vescovo said his department would also decline to comment during the investigation.
National law enforcement agencies — such as the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. and the International Association of Chiefs of Police — show steps other agencies take to ensure those in their custody remain safe.
While guidelines differ in some ways, universal standards suggest that two major questions should be answered in the Platte County incident.
Should Lewis' threats of suicide have prompted a different course of action? And why didn't law enforcement know Lewis was in medical or mental distress until it was too late?
Born in Bakersfield, Calif., Lewis was the mother of two, as well as two stepchildren through her marriage to David Lewis in 2009, according to her obituary. Her obituary also suggests she spent time as a homemaker and volunteered for the Hillcrest Thrift Store and the Hillview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of Platte City.
Other accounts indicate a more troubled history.
In the petition for order of protection filed by Ingelse, Lewis' daughter, Ingelse suggests that before Lewis announced plans to divorce her husband and kicked him out of the house, her mother had been acting strangely and was prone to aggression.
A phone number for Ingelse at Lewis' address and her cellphone number did not appear to be in service during the reporting of this story.
On the day Lewis died, deputies noted that Lewis announced she was not taking prescribed medication for bipolar disorder and repeatedly yelled her intentions to end her life.
Documents completed by Ingelse and the sheriff's office indicate that the department was likely aware of Lewis' history of aggression.
Ingelse notes in her order for protection that Lewis had been removed from her home for violent behavior before. At least one deputy indicated in the sheriff's office report that he had been called to the Lewis residence on a previous occasion.
Documents also show that deputies were charged with delivering Ingelse's petition for the protection order to her mother, and that petition included Ingelse's descriptions of her mother's violent tendencies.
As for Platte County Detention Center's transportation policy, a manual provided to The Star states that deputies are expected to search prisoners and transport vans for contraband, make sure detainees are properly restrained and bring in an additional officer if an inmate has a history of violence or has refused to cooperate.
Across the country, many law enforcement policies require agencies to ensure medical treatment or psychiatric care when necessary or requested.
Calling an ambulance from the start is also an option if a detainee is physically distressed or mentally unstable.
Other standards suggest keeping a detainee safe until an individual can undergo an evaluation when he or she is booked into jail. The International Association of Chiefs of Police instructs officers to watch detainees closely and report suicidal signs to booking officers.
Platte County Detention Center policy suggests that, similarly, arrestees undergo mental health assessments, but not until processing at the jail. The standards indicate that Lewis' state of mind would likely have met criteria for close observation once she reached the detention center.
"All detainees will be screened for suicidal behavior and ideation during their medical assessment in the intake process," states the Platte County Detention Center policy.
The staff can then decide to transfer someone to a mental health facility.
Criteria for responding to a mentally distraught arrestee during transport are not as clear. The Platte County procedures don't appear to specifically state that deputies must keep detainees in their line of sight, for instance.
Many vans are equipped with cameras, and other agencies have policies about where a person is seated in the car so drivers or other officers can best view those in custody.
Riding in the back with a person in distress is also an option, said Lyman, the criminal justice professor from Columbia.
Platte County Detention Center procedures state that if an inmate is at high risk, two officers are assigned to the transport. One is supposed to watch the detainee.
A report shows that at least four deputies were eventually present when Lewis was loaded into the van.
But just one deputy drove the vehicle. Two others followed separately. It's not clear what a fourth deputy did from incident reports. It is not clear whether the driver could view Lewis through the barrier window.
The report indicates that Lewis was handcuffed behind her back and secured in a seat belt in the van — a universal transportation standard.
"If you've got someone who is combative, that's going to be a real chore to be able to do this," said Timothy Baysinger, the regional program manager for the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
When a detainee is violent or mentally disturbed, officers have more license to use additional restraints, such as leg restraints or straps.
The Platte County incident report does not indicate that Lewis was restrained in any additional way. She was found "laying face down in the middle of the floor of the jail van, with her head toward the cab" and a seat belt around her neck. Her hands were still handcuffed behind her, a deputy noted.
The CALEA regional manager, who is not involved in the case, disagrees.
Sarah's struggle: Will she break the cycle of so many people with mental illness in U.S. jails?