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Good News Archive: January 10, 2021
More vaccines arrive; Prize for human tissue printer; Educating children about AI; and much more!
by: Michael Ordman
ISRAEL'S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
More vaccines arrive
The first 120,000 doses of the 6 million coronavirus vaccines ordered from Moderna have arrived in Israel. These are to be primarily used to vaccinate homebound citizens. Over 1.5 million Israelis have now received their first vaccination and millions more Pfizer vaccines are arriving this coming week.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/120000-moderna-coronavirus-vaccinations-land-at-ben-gurion-654610
https://worldisraelnews.com/moderna-vaccine-warmly-welcomed-to-israels-shores/
Race for the vaccine
Technion UK hosted a webinar featuring Professor Yotam Bar-Or of Israel's Technion, who explained everything you need to know about the vaccines to protect against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. He also gave many excellent answers at the end, to great questions raised by attendees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn83-1RFjvs
Why Israel is a Covid-19 vaccination leader
The reasons for Israel's high vaccination rate include universal healthcare, loyalty to health funds, focus on prevention, experience with emergencies and flu vaccines, secure access to patient medical records, hi-tech systems, publicity about vaccine availability and a willing public.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/nine-reasons-why-israel-leads-the-world-in-vaccine-distribution-654160
Green passports for vaccinated citizens
Israel's Health Ministry is to issue "green passport" for Israelis who have been inoculated against the coronavirus. The app or printout will enable access to cultural and sporting events, museums, conferences, and possibly restaurants, cafes, malls, hotels, gyms and swimming pools.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/health-ministry-says-vaccinated-recovered-to-get-green-passport-for-6-months/
Safe removal of blood clots
Israel's Ceretrieve has designed and developed CathTrap, a unique catheter for neuro-thrombectomy – the fast and safe removal of blood clots from the brain that are the common cause of strokes. The CathTrap device has an expandable soft tip that enlarges its diameter to encompass the whole clot.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3886030,00.html https://www.ceretrieve.com/
Minimally invasive lung biopsies
Analysis of suspicious lesions in the lungs used to involve surgery. But the new bronchoscopic navigation system at Haifa's Rambam Medical Center, now enables Israeli doctors to take biopsies even from the more distant peripheral regions of the lungs – all without having to make an incision.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/lung_navigation.aspx
Robot-guided knee surgery
Surgeons at Israel's Galilee Medical Center successfully replaced the knee joints of two Israeli women. They used robots to adapt the implants to the precise anatomical structure of the patients. In addition, the surgeons were able to simulate the surgery in advance and in real time.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/doctors-at-galilee-hospital-perform-first-surgery-by-robot-in-north-654302
Radiology scans can save European lives
Israel's IMedis (reported here previously) has received European CE approval for its AI-based quality control system for radiology departments. The IMedis system can identify anomalies that may be missed by the radiologist in an initial reading, that may otherwise lead to cancer.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3885413,00.html
Spray-on skin rolls out to Europe
The breakthrough SpinCare wound protection system from Israel's Nanomedic (reported here previously) is now being used in hospitals in the UK, Germany and Switzerland. The news was reported in the normally anti-Israel UK Guardian.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-spray-on-skin-tech-has-burns-in-europe-india-covered-report/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/04/spider-man-style-medical-gun-spins-out-skin-substitute-for-burns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJlSm9sjM64 https://nanomedic.com/
Prize for human tissue printer
Israel's Matricelf has won Calcalist's StartUp+ competition for its platform that enables 3D printing of tissues and organs. Matricelf developed the technology that Tel Aviv University scientists used to 3D print the first heart produced from human tissue (as reported here previously).
Fifteen uses for Hyperbaric Oxygen
There are three HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) centers in Israel. Citizens can get treatment for 15 conditions including decompression sickness, wound healing, and strokes. But it can potentially also treat PTSD, cerebral palsy, complex pain, fibromyalgia, cognitive decline and even aging.
https://www.israel21c.org/from-aging-to-chronic-wounds-can-hyperbaric-oxygen-cure-everything/
https://www.shamir.org/en/unique-pages-default-aspx/the-sagol-center-for-hyperbaric-medicine-and-research/ministryofhealthapprovedtreatments/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Vaccinating the disabled
Israeli charity Shalva has launched a mass vaccination campaign for the disabled. In one day, 1,200 men and women with disabilities from across Israel, along with caregivers, therapists and medical staff, were inoculated at the Shalva National Center in Jerusalem.
Vaccine for Arabs & Jews in remote areas
Leumit, one of Israel's four healthcare organizations, has dispatched mobile units to boost the inoculation program for citizens in remote communities. They vaccinated several hundred at Ofakim in the south and at the Arab town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye in the northern Sharon.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-vaccinates-jews-and-arabs-in-remote-communities-with-mobile-units/
Druze chief of Israeli education programs
Muhana Fares from Israel's Druze community has been Head of the Bureau for National Programs at Israel's Ministry of Education since 2014. His task is to double the number of students studying the top level of math and now he also manages Science and Technology Administration.
https://socialimpactil.com/muhana-fares/
Israeli-Arab startups graduate
Israel's Hybrid Accelerator (reported here previously) was set-up by IDF veterans to help budding Israeli-Arab entrepreneurs develop their startups and their products. Its latest graduates include Petwork (ecosystem for pets), GemSight (jewelry & watches try on) and Flare (videogame streaming).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/pets-jewelry-streamers-meet-the-arab-israeli-grads-of-the-hybrid-accelerator/
https://www.petworkeco.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX2TEXCs8Z4 https://www.gemsight.io/
Record number of Israel-Arabs join IDF
1,000+ Israeli Arabs volunteered to serve in the IDF as conscripts or reservists in 2020, twice that in 2019. Most joined after the coronavirus crisis began in March. They include Muslims from Jerusalem and PA controlled areas, Galilee Bedouin and Christian Arabs from northern Israel.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rJVoNmyCP
First female head of Intelligence
In another first for Israeli women, deputy commander of the IDF's 9900th Unit, Lt. Col. R., has been appointed head of the Military Intelligence unit monitoring Iran, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/01/03/in-first-female-officer-to-head-intelligence-efforts-against-iran/
Protecting UK buses from Covid-19
Israel's Aura Smart Air (reported here previously) is being widely used to protect UK buses, including the transport of key workers to their places of employment. The system kills the virus and replaces the air on the bus five times an hour. Sensors also monitor air quality and can alert the driver.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-tech-defends-buses-in-uk-against-covid-19/
https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/business/social-enterprise-fareham-office-adjutor-champions-air-filtration-system-aura-air-covid-19-fight-3003298 https://www.aurasmartair.co.uk/transport.html#/
https://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/alfa-travel-deploys-aura-air-after-successful-trial/
Israel delivers 2nd Iron Dome system to US
Israel has delivered a second Iron Dome defense system to the United States. The first was delivered in September (see here previously). Both were delivered on time. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the system would help defend American soldiers against ballistic and air threats.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/01/03/israel-delivers-2nd-iron-dome-battery-to-us/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ships-2nd-of-two-iron-dome-batteries-to-us-hopes-to-sell-more/
Computers for Indian children
The consulate-general of Israel to South India, in Bengaluru, donated tablet computers to 100 underprivileged children in rural Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The tablets included educational software to help children study at home during the pandemic.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/bengaluru-israeli-consulate-hands-out-tablets-to-pupils/articleshow/80107454.cms
UAE broadcasts Israeli TV news channel
The UAE's leading telecom group Etisalat has included the Israel-based network i24NEWS in the basic packages of its eLife and Switch TV services at no extra cost. This means that i24NEWS is the first channel broadcast from Israel to be officially available in the United Arab Emirates.
Good stuff happened in 2020
Besides everything reported in this newsletter, this article lists some highlights from last year. The relevant Israeli ones are: – new Middle East peace agreements, fast vaccine development, telemedicine (remote treatment), computers for underprivileged children and progress with solar energy plans.
Sudan signs Abraham Accords
The office of Sudan's prime minister has confirmed that Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed the "Abraham Accords" with visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
https://worldisraelnews.com/historical-leap-sudan-officially-joins-abraham-accords-with-us-signing/
Garbage to electricity
Jerusalem municipality has authorized the building of a new facility for the sorting and processing of garbage. Located in the Mishor Adumim area between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, it will convert waste residues into energy, for generating electricity.
The next Israeli mission to the Moon
Israel's SpaceIL has published a video describing its plan to land two spacecraft on the surface of the Moon in 2024. The mothership will orbit the Moon for more than two years while students, scientists and engineers globally will be able to communicate with it and perform experiments.
https://www.spaceil.com/home-page
(the new mission)
(background to the original mission)
AI to help athletes with nutrition
Israel's Newt has developed an Artificial Intelligent platform which tracks a user's daily habits to keep their diet in check. Newt initially focused on helping amateur athletes achieve their personalized nutrition goals, but anyone can apply its clinical and behavioral elements to their day-to-day life.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/01/02/israels-startup-newt-uses-ai-to-help-athletes-with-nutrition/
https://www.newtfit.com/
Educating children about AI
Israel's Edgify has authored a book to teach children (and many adults) about Artificial Intelligence. "Edgify – A New School of Thinking in AI Training" follows Goldie the fish as she and her friends try to cross the ocean to a coral paradise by shared learning. See also video about Edgify in Retail.
https://www.edgify.ai/
Developing the car of the future
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance Innovation Lab in Tel Aviv aims is to advance state-of-the-art mobility. Its 30 projects with Israeli startups focus on vision sensors, cybersecurity, data, and AI. Israel is one only three Alliance innovation hubs. The others are in the USA and China.
Face recognition for e-scooters
E-scooter provider Bird is to implement face recognition technology from Israel's AU10TIX. It will help deny access to underage riders and prevent fraud on its platform. An 8-second ID scan upon initial registration confirms the identity of the user. Subsequent rental requests are then checked.
https://www.au10tix.com/news/bird-levels-up-micromobility-id-verification-with-au10tix-to-prevent-underage-riding/
Recycling used facemasks
Most of the 52 billion disposable facemasks produced in 2020 will eventually be thrown away. Israel's UBQ Materials (reported here previously) now includes Personal Protection Equipment in its recycling process without adversely affecting the reusable thermoplastic material produced.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/cleantech-startup-ubq-converts-used-face-masks-into-ecofriendly-material/
Where to recharge my electric car?
Israel's Cellopark Technologies will develop and operate a government-run app for electric vehicle drivers to locate the closest charging stations to their location. Station operators in Israel include EVI-Sonol, EV-EDGE, Gingergy and Afcon, but their apps only locate their own charge stations.
www.cellopark.com/
Five Hebrew U alumni in top 10 of their field
Stanford University's world rankings (see last week) included five previous Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professors in the world top 10 of AI, nanotechnology, sociology / anthropology and chemistry. Steve Weiner (now at Weizmann) is No. 1 in the field of historical sciences.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/01/05/5-hebrew-u-alumni-listed-top-10-in-their-fields/
Government fund for early-stage startups
The Israel Innovation Authority has set up a new NIS 80 million fund to encourage investments in early-stage companies. Grants will be given to startups that team up with veteran investors. The aim is to help seed-stage startups developing tech solutions in high-risk fields.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-earmarks-nis-80-million-to-help-early-stage-startups-take-first-steps/
New record for foreign currency reserves
The Bank of Israel has used the strengthening of the Shekel to purchase more foreign currency. The reserves leaped by over $6 billion in the last month of 2020 to a new record of more than $173 billion.
https://www.boi.org.il/en/NewsAndPublications/PressReleases/Pages/7-1-21.aspx
Surge in available tech jobs
The Secret Tel Aviv Job Board, a popular platform used by Anglos and Israelis in Tel Aviv, primarily in the tech sector, has seen a bounce-back to pre-pandemic demand levels, despite Israel entering its fourth lockdown. The board now has over 2,300 jobs available – more than ever before.
Upgrading Greek air force
Israel's Elbit has won a $1.68 billion contract to build a training center for the Greek air force, in the largest defense deal ever between the two countries. It includes a flight training school, planes, simulators and Israeli trainers. The historic contract's 20-year duration signifies long-term cooperation.
Investing in lifesaving
The Israeli incubator InNegev is dedicated to fostering Israeli innovation in the Negev. It has just made its first major investment in Israel's SightBit (reported here previously). Sightbit uses AI and computer vision technology to detect and prevent swimmers from drowning off Israeli beaches.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-israeli-incubator-invests-in-startup-saving-lives-on-beaches/
Helping startups make contacts
Israel's Lusha helps small, medium and large businesses establish a fast and trusted connection with their leads, contacts, and candidates. Lusha is used daily by over 250,000 sales representatives, recruitment managers, and marketers. Clients including Google, Amazon, and Apple.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/01/04/israels-lusha-is-a-b2b-startup-helping-companies-grow/
https://www.lusha.com/
Bringing cultured meat to Japan
Israel's Aleph Farms (reported here previously) is partnering with Mitsubishi Corporation's Food Industry Group to bring cultivated (slaughter-free) meat to the Japanese table. It will help reduce Japan's reliance on imported food, and to reach its goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-startup-aleph-farms-mitsubishi-team-up-to-bring-cultured-steak-to-japan/
Transport for elderly Japanese
Japanese insurance giant Sompo and Israeli ridesharing company Via have launched NORAZA – a new app that enables elderly Japanese to share rides, paying with virtual local currency. Japan is trying to reduce car accidents involving the elderly and to reduce traffic congestion.
Buy and sell without cash
Israel's Shareitt has developed a social trading platform that facilitates the buying and selling of second-hand goods in exchange for Shareitt coins. The platform will trade books, toys, and sports goods, among others. Shareitt has around 10,000 active users who have sold more than 61,000 items.
https://www.shareitt.com/ (Hebrew)
Smart vertical farms for Ukraine
Israel's Vertical Field (reported here and here previously) is to set up vertical farming installations at Ukrainian supermarket chain Varus.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/vertical-field-to-deploy-green-wall-farms-in-ukraine-supermarkets/
https://nocamels.com/2021/01/israel-vertical-field-smart-farms-ukraine/
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`
Brewing beer at ancient beer-making site
Beer was made on the Golan Heights over 6,000 years ago. Bazelet brewery has started up the industry again using the high-quality water of the region.
Beautifying underserved communities
The Hebrew Wallpaper Project (HWP) is an initiative of The Israel Innovation Fund, to beautify underprivileged areas around Israel. Young artists will be painting large public wall murals in places with limited access to public art, to inspire, uplift and dignify the next generation.
https://tiif.org/projects/
Israeli model on cover of UAE magazine
Israeli model Yael Shelbia (reported here previously) is the first Israeli to appear on the cover of a magazine published in the United Arab Emirates. The Sabbath-observant, IDF soldier will appear in February's issue of Dubai-based fashion and lifestyle magazine L'Official Arabia.
https://worldisraelnews.com/israeli-model-yael-shelbia-hopes-to-extend-peace-in-the-middle-east-after-her-uae-magazine-cover-shoot/
Israeli NBA star's birthday gift
Israel's Deni Avdija scored 11 points to help his team Washington Wizards win their first NBA win of the season. Deni also celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-wizard-gets-big-birthday-present-first-nba-victory/
The happiest cities
A recent survey conducted by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics illustrates the adage that "money can't buy happiness." Even though residents of central Israel are more affluent and had a higher standard of living, those in the periphery reported much lower levels of loneliness and depression.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/12/30/central-israel-might-be-wealthier-but-periphery-residents-are-happier/
EMT talks man down from mosque roof
Avraham – a United Hatzalah volunteer EMT – managed to persuade a young man from committing suicide in the mixed Jewish-Arab Israeli city of Ramle. The story is worth reading for the amazing sequence of coincidences in this real-life drama.
https://israelrescue.org/blog/talking-a-former-student-down-off-a-ledge/
Jews & Arabs fly the Israeli flag in bobsleigh
Israel's bobsled teams of Jewish AJ Edelman and his Israeli Druze teammates do not expect a medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics. "We have no relevance other than the fact that we wear the Israeli flag…and so because of that, it's an honor unparalleled that you can never repay."
https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/01/07/i-still-owe-israel-my-entire-existence-jewish-olympian-aj-edelman-on-representing-country-arab-teammates-giving-back/
Israel cares for Muslim Covid-19 patient
Rabbi Mike Schultz is spiritual care chief at Haifa's Rambam Medical Center. With so many Israeli Muslim Arab coronavirus patients, he and his team of 19 Jews, Muslims and Christians helps them with non-health issues, including hopes, dreams, family, community and religion.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-haifa-coronavirus-ward-a-us-trained-rabbi-helps-muslims-keep-the-faith/
Another benefit of vaccination – positiveness
This article highlights the relief felt by many of the 1.2 million Israelis that have been recently inoculated against Covid-19 with the Pfizer vaccine. They are now looking forward to their second doses after 3 weeks.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/coronavirus-vaccines-in-israel-a-big-hit-a-year-of-emotion-in-one-vial-653920
I found a very interesting article on Americans United with Israel! Click to read this: --> https://americaunitedwithisrael.org/good-news-archive-january-10-2021/


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"The Waldensian Faculty of Theology, Library and Boarding House"
The Waldensian Faculty of Theology, the oldest institute in Italy for university studies in evangelical theology, originated in Torre Pellice in 1855.
Having moved to Florence in 1861, with the aim of fully integrating into Italian life and culture, it continued training future pastors until 1922, the year in which the new headquarters in Rome was inaugurated in the Prati district not far from Casa Valdese di Roma.
The Waldensian Faculty not only serves the Waldensian, Methodist and Baptist churches, but all Italian Protestantism and ecumenical and interreligious bodies interested in learning about Protestant theology.
The Faculty is a place for meeting and dialogue, thanks to the coexistence of two elements: the awareness of its Protestant and reformed origins and the ecumenical sensibility that allows it to welcome both students from Protestant churches in Italy and abroad, and evangelical or Catholic students or those interested in the themes of biblical and theological sciences, but who are not members of any church.
The Faculty has a library where the historical sources of Italian and European Protestantism are available to scholars, and a Magna Aula available for national and international study conferences.
Finally, it has a boarding house that also offers hospitality to students from other faculties and institutes based in Rome. In particular, it hosts students from the Erasmus program and the Melantone ecumenical center that the Waldensian Faculty of Theology manages together with the Lutheran church in Italy (CELI).
For more information about the Boarding House (Convitto) and the services offered, you can contact the reception of Casa Valdese in Rome.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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EU-funded project to combat gender-based violence launches in Somalia
Trócaire 6 Feb 2021 2 Min Read
Trócaire, the European Union and our local partner SEDHURO have marked International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation by launching a new project to combat Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the Belet Hawa and Luuq districts of the Gedo region in Somalia.
The two-year project (2021-2022) aims at creating a safe environment for women and girls, free from SGBV, while promoting access to their rights. It has two main components: behaviour change interventions to abandon Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and empowerment of community actors and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for sustainable change.
The Government of Somalia has committed to zero tolerance for female genital mutilation in its national development plan. The Somali Women's Charter also calls for laws to end FGM.
"The EU has always been a steadfast supporter of women's rights, and more specifically when it comes to combatting Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Female Genital Mutilation practices, said the EU Ambassador to Somalia, Nicolás Berlanga Martinez. It conflicts with the most fundamental human rights. We will continue to support Somalia in its efforts to adopt zero tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation."
"Trócaire has been present in Gedo Region since 1992 when the civil war broke out, providing health services to the community. As community leaders, we affirm our support to this intervention in partnership with Trócaire and all stakeholders", said Hussein Awil, the Luuq District Health Board chairman.
"A Women Empowerment Programme such as this is unprecedented in the Gedo region. Sustainable change in social norms must be rooted in community-led actions, which this project will place emphasis on. This community-led approach has been Trócaire's way of working in Somalia for decades", said Paul Healy, Trócaire Country Director in Somalia.
"The Luuq Women Group is committed to working with Trócaire throughout the project, and we will aim to strengthen the women group's advocacy capacity by participating actively in capacity building sessions and by taking advantage of other opportunities provided within this project", said Shamsa Maalim, Luuq District Women Group Chairwoman.
The project, called 'Facilitating Inclusive Rights Movements' Actions in Communities to combat Sexual and Gender Based Violence (FIRM ACTS Project), is one of several initiatives that address the widespread issues of SGBV and FGM in Somalia funded by the EU through the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights. It will adopt a human rights and community based approach to address the root causes of SGBV, and aims to combat harmful norms while promoting women's agency to claim their rights. It will support CSOs, communities and authorities to harmonize their approaches and support national policies and action plans to combat SGBV.
Somalia Women's Empowerment


Singer-songwriter Carter Winter recently found himself in a prestigious place for a rising artist, as the only country artist on the performer lineup as part of JAY-Z's Made In America festival in Philadelphia.
Winter recently signed on with JAY-Z's Roc Nation. The deal includes both publishing and an album.
Winter recently visited MusicRow to offer a live performance of several tracks, including some he is considering for his next project. He offered takes of "Lipstick On My Bottle," and "Skylines," as well as "Chaser," which includes writers Sarah Butler and Chad Carlson.
In 2016, he released his sophomore album The Whiskey In Me, which was produced by Mark Bright and Chad Carlson. The album hit No. 4 on iTunes and No. 34 on Billboard's country albums chart. He is working on a follow up album now.
Winter is also the face of Durango Boots, with his own line of boots coming soon.
Carter Winter with MusicRow staffers.


The Chandler Limited Germanium Compressor features discrete transistor circuitry and extensive options for compression curve. "Germanium Drive", feedback, and "dirty compressor" controls allow the color of the compressor to be dramatically altered. A wet/dry blend knob sits alongside standard compression controls and a switchable sidechain high-pass filter.


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If the instability of the freelance photographer's way of life isn't for you, you can always find a day job that involves traveling. Then you can go to lots of places, be paid for it through your job, and do travel photography in your spare time. Jobs like flight attendant, global salesperson, English teacher (or a spy!) are just several of many professions that let you visit your dream locations, without being too risky on the financial side.
There's much more to becoming a travel photographer than exploring exotic destinations and clicking your shutter. Getting up at stupid-o-clock to catch the perfect sunrise, carrying a camera that's heavier than four backpacks, skipping meals in the quest for perfect light, and missing out on the travel experience because you're too busy taking photos, are just a few of the downsides.
Another place to capture expressions are the subways; either on the platforms or in the cars themselves. My favorite images are the one of a young woman avidly watching a movie on her smartphone, while wearing a single hair roller to tame her fringe....and of the young girl who appears to be viewing a smart phone screen on an ad on a subway platform while her mother is busy texting on her real phone.
For micro-stock, I have portfolios on a dozen different sites. However, I really only publish images on a regular basis to ShutterStock and iStock. Between my micro-stock sales, I have averaged about $250 a month on average. The best part of micro-stock for me is that it's fairly residual and passive. I spend very little time on it, and it keeps coming month after month even if I stop working at it.
Similar to geishas, the "sing-song" girls (also known as 'flower girls' were trained from childhood to entertain wealthy male clients through companionship, singing and dancing in special sing-song houses. While the practice of concubinage was officially made illegal, it has recently been popular amongst the wealthy in China as a result of the country's prosperity.
Oh gosh, that's 36 hours in the air, Hans? Ouch!! I'm counting total transit time -- for example, a flight I almost booked from Amsterdam to Cape Town had a 2 hour hop to Vienna with an 11 hour layover, followed by a 6.5 hour flight to Ethiopia with a 17 hour layover, followed by a 9 hour flight to Cape Town. Total transit = 45+ hours. Pretty rough!
Zackham got fascinated with manatees while he was writing a screenplay about dolphins. He learned it's quite easy to swim with the so-called sea cows, and took his family to this spot north of Tampa, where manatees congregate during winter. "To be able to jump in the water with something that big with your 5-year-old? It's amazing," he says. discovercrystalriverfl.com
However, now only about 10 professional street opera troupes are left in Singapore, drawing an ever-smaller audience of elderly people. The decline of street opera in Singapore was caused by its government's policy to replace dialects (such as Hakka, Hokkien et al) with Mandarin, and the slow erosion of its audience. The spread of television, movies and social media platforms exacerbated the disinterest of the younger generation in this ancient art form.
In comparison, the religious self-mutilations performed by the devotees during the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket are considered to be extreme and shocking. The entranced devotees who perform these acts of religious self-mutilation are called mah song. They wear elaborate costumes, enter into trances and ask the gods to enter their bodies. Men or women (they are usually celibate) puncture their faces with hooks, spears and knives amongst other sharp implements.
Chinese opera has a long, rich history that dates back to 200 A.D. Over the centuries, a handful of styles of opera emerged — each with its own distinct makeup, music, and acting traditions — reflecting the eras and tastes of the changing dynasties. Sichuan opera is the youngest style, emerging around 1700 in Chengdu, Sichuan province, where it is still performed today by a dwindling roster of troupes.
All the photographs in this gallery were made using the Fuji X-Pro2 and the Fujinon 18mm 2.0 pancake lens. Since I keep camera dangling from my neck as I click the shutter, the lens aperture ring occasionally slips, so I have a small piece of gaffer tape keeping it at 2.8 or 4.0 at all times. I also keep the iso at 640 most of the time. The photographs were processed with Silver Efex; my favorite monochrome software.


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Arras – Grand'Place
Arras is one of the great gems of urban northern France, and the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department of France. It is the historic centre of the Artois region, and known for its architecture, culture, and history. The city dates its history to the Gauls.
Arras – Beffroi
Arras – Place des Héros
Arras – Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Vaast d'Arras
Arras – Musée des Beaux-Arts
In the 4th century, Nemetacum (the precursor of Arras) was renowned for its arts and crafts as well as textiles trade throughout the Roman empire. In 428, the Salian Franks led by Clodion le Chevelu took control of the region, and following a truce with the Romans, the town became affiliated with Rome. The city converted to Christianity in the late 4th century. In 499, after the conversion of Clovis I to Catholicism, the Roman Catholic Diocese of was created and given to Saint Vaast, who remains the town's patron saint.
In 667 the bishop of Cambrai found the Abbey of Saint Vaast, which developed during the Carolingian period into an immensely wealthy Benedictine abbey. The modern town of Arras initially spread around the abbey as a grain market. During the 9th century, both town and abbey suffered from the attacks of the Vikings, who later settled to the west in Normandy. The abbey revived its strength in the 11th century and played an important role in the development of medieval painting, successfully synthesizing the artistic styles of Carolingian, Ottonian and English art.
Arras – Saint-Jean-Baptiste
Arras – Place Victor Hugo
Arras – Saint-Géry
The town was granted a commercial charter by the French crown in 1180 and became an internationally important location for banking and trade. The wool industry of Arras, established in the 4th century, became of great importance during the Middle Ages. Already in the third century, Romans had lauded about the quality of wool from Tournai and Arras. By the eleventh century Arras was the leading city and trading hub of the wool industry. The town was well known for its production of fine tapestries, leading the English and Italian to adopt the word Arras to refer to tapestries in general.
The patronage of wealthy cloth merchants ensured that the town became an important cultural center, with major figures such as the poet Jean Bodel and the trouvère Adam de la Halle making their homes in Arras. In the 11th century, Arras became an important cultural center, especially for the group of poets who came to be known as trouvères. One particular society of such poets was later called the Puy d'Arras.
The ownership of the town was repeatedly disputed along with the rest of Artois. During the Middle Ages, possession of Arras passed to a variety of feudal rulers and fiefs, including the County of Flanders, the Duchy of Burgundy, the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg and the French crown. In 1430, Joan of Arc was imprisoned in the region of Arras. In the late 15th century, Louis XI besieged Arras, a city loyal to the Burgundians, then had the town's walls razed and its inhabitants replaced by more loyal subjects from other parts of France. In 1482, the Peace of Arras was signed in the town to end a war between Louis XI and Maximilian I of Austria, then was bequeathed to the Spanish Habsburgs as part of the Spanish Netherlands.
Arras remained under Habsburg rule from 1493 until 1640 when it was recaptured by the French. The Spanish ceded it by the peace treaty in 1659 and it has since remained French. The Union of Arras was signed here in January 1579 by the Catholic principalities of the Low Countries that remained loyal to King Philip II of Habsburg, which provoked the declaration of the Union of Utrecht later the same month.
Maximilien de Robespierre, a French lawyer and politician from Arras, was one of the best-known and influential figures of the French Revolution. He was elected fifth deputy of the third estate of Artois to the Estates-General in 1789, and helped draft to Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
The centre of Arras is marked by two large squares, La Grand' Place and La Place des Héros, also called La Petite Place. The two squares are surrounded by a unique architectural ensemble of 155 Flemish-Baroque-style townhouses, built in the 17th and 18th century, and initially made of wood. The Gothic town hall and its belfry were constructed between 1463 and 1554, the belfry 75 meters high. The Cathedral of Arras was constructed between 1030 and 1396, and was one of the most beautiful Gothic structures in Northern France. It was destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 19th century.
The Boves are an underground network of tunnels built 10 metres beneath the city in the 10th century for the purpose of making city inhabitants' cellars interconnect by means of tunnels. The Art District is renowned for its Italian-style theatre hall built in 1785 and the Hôtel de Guînes. Many of Arras's most remarkable structures, including the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Arras and several government buildings, occupy the site of the old Abbey of St. Vaast. The abbey's church was demolished and rebuilt in fashionable classical style in 1833, and now serves as the town's cathedral.
(Narrative excerpted from Wikipedia)


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Don't swallow this
Ties that bind: Penguins can become entangled in fishing line, which cuts deep wounds into growing animals.
The incidence of litter swallowing among southern African seabirds is among the highest in the world.
To counter this alarming statistic, Avian Demography Unit's Dr Marienne de Villiers is coordinating an underwater clean-up at Harbour Island, Gordon's Bay, part of the September 12 to 17 International Coastal Cleanup Week. At the same time, her colleague Silvia Kirkman is orchestrating a cleanup of Strand Beach.
The week has been organised nationally by Marine and Coastal Management and KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife. Altogether 123 countries are involved in the initiative.
This entire week will be devoted to removing man-made debris from coastal and marine environments.
Marine litter is bad news for the human and animals users of our coastlines and seas.
"Plastic litter is the biggest problem as it hardly degrades at all once at sea," De Villiers explained. "It can drift for years over vast distances."
Marine creatures such as whales, seabirds, dolphins and seals become entangled in fishing line, rope, plastic bags and strapping, debris that finds its way into the world's oceans. As this material cuts into the animals and birds and restricts movement and growth, they die a slow and painful death.
Off South Africa, entanglements have been reported for at least five mammal species, two turtle species, six fish species and 13 seabird species.
The African Penguin, which breeds at Boulders and Stony Point, and which relies on False Bay waters for survival, is one of the species most at risk.
Swallowing marine litter is the biggest danger as this blocks the digestive tract.
Sometimes the amount of rubbish in an animal's stomach becomes so great that it loses the urge to eat and gradually starves. Either way, illness or death is the result. Swallowed plastic also contain poisonous chemicals.
Off South Africa, at least seven species have been recorded to be "swallowers of marine litter", a huge problem for animal visitors from the sub-Antarctic, such as albatrosses and petrels, which mistake floating plastic junk for food.
Almost every Great Shearwater and Blue petrel that visits South African waters contains plastic in its stomach.
And keeping South Africa's coastline clean is also an expensive business. In 1995, for example, more than R8-million was spent cleaning our beaches.
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Spacemon: Frontier - Chapter 17: The Wandering Craftsman
Original image source could not be found. The original image used to create this header was uploaded to hundreds of wallpaper sites
Welcome to another exciting installment of Spacemon, the tale of a Pokemon TRPG campaign! This is a spinoff of the sci-fi space epic played using the Pokemon Tabletop United (PTU) system, this time GMed by yours truly. You can get caught up the entire Spacemon saga here!
"This news is most saddening. A monk's life cut short before he could complete the most important journey of his life."
"Indeed," Taraka said, nodding his head in agreement at the elderly monk displayed on the holoscreen of the Maverick's comms terminal.
"And what of Brother Shareef's Pokemon?" the older monk asked.
"They are unharmed," Taraka answered. "I intend to release them back into the wild. I know a planet that is well suited to fighting types."
"I am am sure he would approve."
The old monk then fell silent, as if in deep thought. "Tell me, Brother Taraka," he eventually said. "Were you able to recover Brother Shareef's scroll?"
Taraka bowed his head. "I am afraid not," he answered. "It was not on his person, nor amongst his possessions aboard his meditation sphere."
"I see," the older monk on the other end of the call said.
"I believe that it was taken by the killer," Taraka continued.
The old monk stroked his long white beard. "Hmm. Most disturbing. Let us hope the Federation authorities apprehend this killer swiftly."
"If it is alright, I would like to continue looking into this as well," Taraka said.
"Your business while on your pilgrimage is your own, Brother Taraka. You are free to follow the path you choose, but be careful."
"I intend to."
"Good. Good. I wish you well, Brother Taraka."
Taraka bowed in respect. "Thank you." The screen then went black as the call ended. Taraka took in a deep breath, then turned away from the comms terminal.
Once the Federation investigators had arrived on the scene and begun their investigation, Taraka had contacted the Congregate to inform them of Shareef Patil's death, as well as his own plan to investigate the mysterious shadowy figure. The Congregate seemed content to wait for the Federation authorities to carry out their investigation, but something about that figure deeply bothered Taraka. He knew he wouldn't feel right if he didn't look into this matter for himself.
As soon as possible, Taraka wished to begin searching for clues as to the identity of the mysterious figure, but first there was business to attend to. The monk looked down at the Pokeballs in his hands; they contained Shareef Patil's Pokemon, a Lucario and a Medicham. He wanted to take them to Meridian, a planet he knew was home to many fighting type Pokemon, so that he could release them into the wild. Taraka knew they would be happy there.
Taraka placed the Pokeballs into his pocket, then departed from the room. He needed to find the captain and inform him of his plan.
"Go and be free," Taraka said as he looked into the eyes of the two Pokemon that formerly belonged to Shareef Patil. Through his own psionic abilities, as well as the unique capabilities of Lucario and Medicham, the monk could sense the two Pokemon could understand his desire for them to go free and find peace on this world.
After this brief shared moment, the Pokemon turned away from the lake shore and headed for the treeline of the jungle. A somber smile appeared on Taraka's face as he watched the Lucario and Medicham disappear into the foliage. Even though their trainer had passed on, the monk knew they would be able to thrive on this world amongst the Machamps, Pangoros, and other fighting type Pokemon he knew to dwell in the jungles of Meridian.
Once they had gone, Taraka began the trek back to the Fortuna spaceport. The jungle lake where the monk had released the Pokemon back into the wild was a ways away from the settlement, at the end of a winding path leading down the cliffs into the dense jungle and along the banks of the river. It had seemed a good place to release them, and Taraka certainly didn't mind the peaceful walk through nature.
A good hour or so later, Taraka walked into the spaceport. After the long hike down to the lake and back, he was eager to return to the Maverick and rest. As he crossed the spaceport's atrium, headed in the direction of the landing platforms, Taraka's attention was captured by a well-dressed man manning a curio table nearby other merchants selling their wares. This tall, bearded, dark-haired man seemed particularly out of place amongst the usual Outer Rim merchants and traders one expected to find in a colony spaceport.
As Taraka passed, the man seemed to catch his gaze. "Right this way, good sir!" he exclaimed, a posh Genevan accent quite apparent. "See for yourself what I have to offer!" he continued, waving the monk over.
Image Credit - BarelynormalActivity
More curious than anything, Taraka approached the man and his curio table. The man, who did not appear to be that much older than Taraka himself, looked expectantly at him as the monk stepped up to the table. Examining the goods on display, Taraka noted what seemed to be brightly colored gemstones and what he could only assume were Pokemon accessories. Again, Taraka noted how out of place this man and his wares seemed to be in this spaceport. Intrigued, Taraka looked up from the table. "Is there any reason someone such as yourself is out here selling his wares all by himself?" he asked.
"Well, that is an interesting story," the man replied, chuckling slightly. "You see, the ship I originally purchased passage on left before I was done selling my wares on this world, and I have been trying to scrounge up money to continue my peddler's journey. I've been here for about a week and no ships have been able to take me anywhere."
Having been in similar situations himself before he found his way onto the Maverick, Taraka felt for this man. He knew he had to do what he could to help him. "I don't have a ship, but I am part of a crew," the monk explained. "We might have room for another passenger, but I am not sure; I will need to check with my captain and see if he is open to taking you to where you need to go."
The man's eyes lit up at Taraka's words. "That would be splendid, sir! Absolutely splendid! Thank you!"
Taraka smiled. "I am happy to assist," he said. "Our ship is docked just over there," the monk continued, motioning towards the landing platforms.
"Wonderful," the man said cheerfully. "Allow me a moment to gather my things."
"Of course," Taraka said, nodding.
A few short minutes later, the man had his curio table and wares packed away. "That should do it," he said. "Lead the way my new friend!"
"Tell me, stranger," Taraka said as they began making their way toward the ship. "What is your name?"
The man smiled and extended his hand. "Roland Mercette, at your service."
Captain Cyrus Drake lay on his bed in his quarters aboard the UAS Maverick as he awaited Taraka's return. He was eager to depart for Khalimuck to unload the salvage his crew had gathered on their last stop and get paid, but he was making use of the downtime on Meridian to get in some relaxation. As much as he was used to squeezing his rest in where he could between jobs, the Maverick's captain appreciated the peace and quiet of a ship docked at port, its normally droning engines silent. This was a rare occurrence aboard his ship, so he was certainly going to make the most of it.
"Captain!" Cyrus suddenly heard Taraka call out. "Are you here?"
Cyrus sat up and got to his feet, then exited the room. "Right here," he said as he stepped out into the ship's main corridor. The monk was standing near the airlock, accompanied by a tall man with a neatly trimmed and combed beard. "Who's your friend here?"
"This is Roland," Taraka introduced the man to Cyrus. "He's looking for passage off this planet. Roland, this is Cyrus Drake, the captain of this ship."
"A pleasure to meet you, sir," Roland said, offering his hand.
Cyrus nodded and shook the man's hand. He seemed to be quite friendly. "Where ya headed?" Cyrus asked.
"Nowhere in particular," Roland said. "I have been traveling from world to world, selling my wares."
"Oh, so you're a merchant?"
"Among other things, yes. I am also an archaeologist and a craftsman. I collect artifacts and such and craft my own goods to sell and pay my way across the stars. Unfortunately, the last ship I booked passage on left without me and I do not have the funds to afford another." Roland then turned to Taraka. "Your friend here tells me that you offered him passage in exchange for his services."
Cyrus nodded. "That I did. Let me guess, you were hoping for a similar arrangement?"
"If it is not too much trouble," Roland said.
"Let's say I'm interested," Cyrus said. "What services would I be getting in return?"
"I can offer my skills as a craftsman free of charge," Roland replied. "I can make items to aid your Pokemon in combat, or simply make them look stylish. Or perhaps, if I can find customers on the planets we visit, I can split my profits with you."
Cyrus smiled and offered his hand. "Alright, Roland, you've got yourself a deal."
Roland gladly accepted and gave the captain's hand a firm shake. "Thank you kindly, sir!"
"Don't mention it," Cyrus said. "We've got an extra room, anyway," he added, motioning to the empty room between Taraka's and the med bay. He walked over and tapped the console, then waved Roland inside as the door slid open. "It's all yours."
"Splendid!" Roland exclaimed, stepping into the room. He set his bags down, then took a seat on the bed. "At last, a bed of my own again. It will be good to no longer be sleeping on the streets, under my curio table."
"I would imagine so," Cyrus said, letting out a chuckle. "Go ahead and get yourself settled in. I'll give you a tour later and introduce you to the rest of the crew if you like."
"That would be most enjoyable!"
As the UAS Maverick flew through warp space en route to its next destination, Roland walked through the corridors of his new means of transport accompanied by the ship's captain. Cyrus led the way as they stepped out of the cargo bay, which had been the first stop on the tour pointing out the rooms as they passed them by.
Original source image could not be found
"Med bay's here next to your room," the captain said. "And Taraka's room on the other side of yours." He then approached the room directly across the corridor from Taraka's. "And this is Axel's room," he said before knocking on the door. "Hmm, guess he's still asleep," the captain said after a few moments. "The guy sleeps like a log, so no point trying to wake him. You'll meet him later."
"I'm sure I will," Roland commented.
"Watch out for him, though," Cyrus added with a laugh. "He's got a short fuse and likes to burn things."
"Noted," Roland replied with a chuckle of his own. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
"This room belongs to Erik, our engineer," Cyrus continued, pointing out the next one over. "He's usually in his workshop," he said, leading Roland into the room across from the med bay.
Entering the room, Roland saw a man with a thick mustache, who he could only assume was Erik, giving a humanoid-looking robot a tune-up. Both the man and the robot looked up at him and the captain as they entered.
"Who's this guy?" the robot asked. Its voice was surprisingly realistic, which caught Roland by surprise.
"Oh shit," Cyrus cursed. "Guess the cat's out of the bag here. This is Roland; he's going to be traveling with us for a while. Roland, meet Erik Virtanen, the Maverick's engineer."
"How do you do, sir?" Roland asked, nodding at Erik.
"And this is Ace," the captain continued, nodding over at the robot. "An android we discovered in some ancient ruins." His tone then became quite serious. "This is a secret that is not to leave this ship. He's a sentient being and our friend, and we don't want him to become the subject of unethical experiments."
"Of course. Of course!" Roland replied in his typical jolly tone. "It is a pleasure to meet you both and you have my word that my lips are sealed on this matter."
"Then I think we're going to get along just fine, Roland," Erik said, offering his hand.
"I'm sure we are, sir," Roland agreed, giving the engineer's hand a firm shake.
"I'm glad that all worked out," Cyrus said. "Now, come on, I'll show you the rest of the ship."
"Lead on, sir!"
Over the next few minutes, the Maverick's captain led Roland through the rest of the ship, pointing out his own quarters and those of the ship's pilot, showing him around the living quarters, and finally bringing him to the front of the ship to meet the pilot herself.
"This is our pilot, Anya," Cyrus said, introducing Roland to the young Romanov woman who was responsible for flying the Maverick.
"Roland Mercette, at your service."
"Hello," Anya replied.
"I must say, I did not expect to find someone so young piloting a ship such as this," Roland commented.
A slight smirk appeared on the pilot's face. "I get that a lot," she said. "But don't you worry. I've been piloting since I was a teenager; I know what I'm doing."
Roland let out a jolly laugh. "Most excellent."
"Definitely," Cyrus said. "I couldn't ask for a better pilot."
"So, if I may ask, where are we headed to next?" Roland asked after a few moments.
"Khalimuck," Cyrus answered.
"Fantastic!" Roland exclaimed. "I am sure I will have more success selling my wares there than Meridian."
"Oh, I have no doubt," Cyrus said. "We already have a buyer there lined up for the salvage we pulled out of the ruins we visited a few days back."
"Salvage, you say?" Roland said. "What kind of salvage?"
"Oh, you know, ancient tech and that sort of this," Cyrus explained. "We even found a piece that still seems functional, not that we know what it does," he added, letting out a laugh.
"I see," Roland said. "As an archaeologist, I might be able to tell you more about it if I could get a look at it."
"Sure," the Maverick's captain replied. "You can take a look if you want. Follow me."
"Here it is," Cyrus Drake said as he pulled a rectangular object out of a crate full of salvage in the Maverick's cargo hold. The captain handed it to Roland, who began to examine it. "The boys here can probably tell you more about it," he continued, looking over at Ace and Taraka, who had accompanied them. "I wasn't there when they found it."
"Hmm," Roland said as he looked the object in his hands over. There was not much of note about the thing except for some kind of panel with what looked like four buttons arranged in a grid pattern. "Well, it's certainly technological in nature," he observed. "But I'm afraid I cannot say more. What else can you tell me about this item?"
"We found it in some ruins that appear to be related to some sites we have visited in the past," Taraka said. "Including the location where we found Ace."
"So then you might know more about this?" Roland asked, looking over at Ace.
"I don't remember anything from before these guys reactivated me," the android explained.
"Most unfortunate," Roland said. "Most unfortunate. Well, my intriguing new friend, perhaps this artifact might trigger a memory or something."
Roland handed the object to Ace, who looked at it for a few moments before shaking his head. "I don't think that's how it works," the android said, passing the object back to Roland.
"Hmm," Roland said, looking Ace over. "Perhaps you have a port or something to insert it into?"
"Watch where you go inserting things," Ace warned, eyeing Roland cautiously.
Roland let out a laugh. "Oh, believe me, my friend, I wouldn't insert anything into a sentient being without consent. This does seem to be a bust, however. Perhaps the merchant you are selling it to knows what it is."
"I believe that to be unlikely," Taraka said. "We should just sell it and be done with it."
"Isn't that a dangerous idea?" Roland asked the monk. "We should test this thing first. We should try pressing these buttons and see what they do."
"We might want to get off the ship before we try that," Taraka pointed out.
Roland laughed again. "Right you are my friend. That's probably a good idea. We wouldn't want to release a plague or something of that sort on a contained spaceship."
"Definitely not," Cyrus chimed in. "No destroying my ship."
"I wouldn't dream of it, sir," Roland said. "We should find a barren world to test this object on."
"Good idea," the captain said. "There's an uninhabited planet in the same system as Khalimuck. I'll tell Anya to divert us there before we make our delivery."
"Most excellent!" Roland exclaimed. "A fine plan indeed."
Notes: And so the revolving door of players has begun. This session was the first after IR dropped out of the campaign and the first to feature our new player in the role of Roland. I was glad to have a relatively seamless transition. Axel was unable to make it to this session so it was just Novi and the new guy. I quickly wrapped things up on the planet from the previous session and got the ship back to a civilized planet to bring in the new player so he wasn't sitting around for too long. Unfortunately, I forgot to start recording again, so everything that happened before Taraka and Roland met was lost. Over a year later when I sat down to write this, I had completely forgotten what had happened, so I had to make it up. I'm happy with how it turned out. There is still more to the session, but it made sense to break the chapters up here, leaving this one to focus on Roland's introduction to the Maverick crew.
Spacemon: Frontier - Chapter 16: The Shadow
Spacemon: Frontier - Chapter 18: A Grassy Encounter


Regular readers, please excuse this content digression.
I switched to Thingamablog when Blogger stopped supporting ftp.
"Thingamablog is a cross-platform, standalone blogging application. Unlike other blogging solutions, Thingamablog does not require a third-party blogging host, a cgi/php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. Static web pages are created by entry, by category and/or by date and are published by FTP, SFTP, or network access to a web server."
The key here is that Thingamablog produces flat ascii files that can be easily moved around and edited. Give me an ftp client and a rudimentary text editor and I can update this website from just about anywhere using free software available on virtually all operating systems and platforms.
I also don't have to worry about the web hosting company having the right version of MySQL or Wordpress or whatever installed. All I need is http and ftp protocol support, and I'm in business.
The downside is that Thingamablog now appears to be an orphaned application. All the interactive elements of the Thingamablog website- user forums, e-mail, bug reports- are now dead.
So when problems develop, you're pretty much on your own.
A few days ago, Thingamablog suddenly lost the ability to transfer files to my web site. Upon connecting to the host, the Java ftp client would immediately throw an error and report that the connection was closed by the host.
There was no way to determine the nature of the problem. It could have been something as simple as a minor change in a text string the web host's ftp server returned for status reporting. Whatever. The point was, I could no longer publish my website.
Now go to "Configure", "Publishing", and change the Transport type to Local.
Next time you publish, instead of ftping the files to your web host, Thingamablog will write them to your hard drive.
You can now use an external ftp client to upload the new files to your web host. I use FileZilla, which allows me to specify the transfer of files based on various parameters, including whether the local file was created later and/or has a different size than the file stored on my web host. A few mouse clicks, and the entire website is updated, with only changed files transferred to the host.
FileZilla has robust error handling and retry capability, so if something craps out, you don't have to republish; just re-initiate the upload.
I actually prefer this approach. It's faster and automatically creates a local mirror of my website structure.
Thingamablog users, e-mail me if you have any questions.
We now return to our regularly scheduled inanity.


« Searching for the Waldecks . . . Yoo Hoo!
Happy Birthday Aunt Ruthann! Great photo, too!!
Thanks, Sheila! I hope she enjoys seeing these greetings!
Have a Wonderful Birthday, Aunt Ruthann!
Sheryl, I am hoping she gets a kick out of seeing people wishing her happy birthday :)!
I pray your Aunt enjoys many more in good health and with all her loved ones to share it with.
EmilyAnn, thank you so much. She's a sweetheart. Thank you for offering your good wishes for her!
What a wonderful celebration. Wishing your Aunt a very happy birthday!
Thanks, Linda!!! Hope your weekend is great!


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Americus Officers: How YOU Can Help – UPDATE!
UPDATE: the YouCare fund is at $7000 of a $10000 goal! Please donate what you can!
The killing of Officer Nick Smarr and shooting of Officer Jody Smith has rocked the city of Americus and the state of Georgia. Both officers were shot in the head. This sort of thing simply doesn't happen in Americus. For so many of us who either have direct ties to the city, Georgia Southwestern, or are simply wishing to help out, it may feel like there's nothing we can do.
Finally some good news: we can help!
Below is a link to a YouCaring page set up to accept donations for the families of these the heroes. Please, give what you can. Both of these families need our help.


text:
Q: NSURLConnection Authorization Header not Working I am trying to send an OAuth access token in an HTTP header via NSURLConnection but it doesn't seem to be sending the header because the API keeps giving me an error saying that "must provide authorization token".
This is the code that I am using:
NSURL *aUrl = [NSURL URLWithString: @"http://generericfakeapi.com/user/profile"];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:aUrl
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:30.0];

[request addValue:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"OAuth %@", token] forHTTPHeaderField:@"Authorization"];

[request setHTTPMethod:@"GET"];

NSError *error = nil;
NSData *returnData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:nil error: &error];

NSDictionary *JSONDictionary = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:returnData options:kNilOptions error:&error];
NSLog(@"Response : %@", JSONDictionary);

And this is an example of the cURL command for the API:
curl 'http://generericfakeapi.com/user/profile' -H 'Authorization: OAuth YourAuthToken'

Is this not what I am essentially doing through NSURLConnection?
Any help would be appreciated.

A: Change this line:
NSURL *aUrl = [NSURL URLWithString: @"http://generericfakeapi.com/user/profile"];

To:
NSURL *aUrl = [NSURL URLWithString: @"http://generericfakeapi.com/user/profile/"];

Apparently iOS drops the Authorization header if there isn't a slash at the end of a URL. This problem literally cost me my sleep for two days.

A: @isair's answer is truly a lifesaver.
Just to add on the root cause if you're interested:
NSURLRequest defines a set of reserved HTTP headers. And surprisingly, Authrorization is part of it.

The URL Loading System handles various aspects of the HTTP protocol for you (HTTP 1.1 persistent connections, proxies, authentication, and so on). As part of this support, the URL Loading System takes responsibility for certain HTTP headers:

*

*Content-Length

*Authorization

*Connection

*Host

*Proxy-Authenticate

*Proxy-Authorization

*WWW-Authenticate
If you set a value for one of these reserved headers, the system may ignore the value you set, or overwrite it with its own value, or simply not send it. Moreover, the exact behavior may change over time. To avoid confusing problems like this, do not set these headers directly.

In @isair's case, it's highly likely that URLs without a trailing slash had triggered such "filtering" behaviour. This maybe an inconsistency in the implementation but we don't have access to the source code to verify that.
In my case, I was writing a React webapp that uses Authorization header to authenticate with the backend Django server. The app behaved perfectly on desktop Chrome but always failed to access login-required APIs on the iPhone (both Safari and Chrome), due to the missing Authorization header.
The ideal solution is to avoid using Authorization at all. But if you're communicating with a backend framework that specifically requires it (e.g. Django Rest Framework's token authentication). @isair's answer can be a good workaround.

A: For me it look fine. Are you sure you gave a valid token?
Try catch the error like this
if (error) {
    NSLog(@"error : %@", error.description);
}

My code work well :
NSURL *jsonURL = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://....ID=%i", cellID]];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:jsonURL cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy timeoutInterval:120.0];
[request setValue:@"Basic ...." forHTTPHeaderField:@"Authorization"];
NSURLResponse *response;
NSError * error  = nil;
NSData *POSTReply = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:&response error:&error];

hope it helps

A: I had same problem. In my case I changed "http" to "https" and everything works fine

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Vietnam began developing eco industrial zones (Izs) four years years ago but no true eco zone exists today.
Tran Duy Dong from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said at a recent workshop on eco IZs in HCM City that Vietnam now has 326 IZs, but most of them operate under the traditional model.
Only some newly developed IZs are integrated with urban areas, but there is no real eco IZ.
Traditional IZs are causing big problems to human health and the environment. About 13 percent of IZs lack waste treatment plants, 20 percent produce hazardous industrial waste, and most of them use resources ineffectively.
Eco IZ is a model of a circular economy in which the output can be used as input material. As such, the materials can be exploited fully to generate products, while the volume of waste can be reduced to a minimum level.
The eco IZ model has been implemented on a trial basis at three IZs in Ninh Binh, Da Nang and Can Tho. Specialists have found that enterprises can save 5-10 percent of energy, 3-5 percent of water volume, and reduce 510 tons of CO2 emission volume, 95 kilogram of COD, and 51.1 µg of Teq PCDD/F.
The initial encouraging results led MPI to apply the model in IZs throughout the country.
To be recognized as eco IZ, an IZ needs to have greenery area accounting for at least 25 percent of total area.
In the IZs, service infrastructure items are shared. At least 90 percent of enterprises in eco IZs must have awareness of RCEP (Renewable Energy Cooperation Program) and at least 20 percent of enterprises should apply RCEP solutions.
In addition, at least 10 percent of enterprises in the IZ have to join industrial symbiosis links. Industrial symbiosis means cooperation among enterprises in the same IZs to fully exploit and optimize the use of materials, energy, water and scrap waste.
With the cooperation, enterprises exchange production elements, share infrastructure items and services for production, improve technological processes, and upgrade production efficiency.
However, experts warn that it will be challenging to convert a traditional IZ into an ecological one. There is no consistent concept about 'waste'. Waste management in Vietnam still doesn't fit the demand for waste reuse.
With the successful launch of MicroDragon satellite on January 18, Vietnam is in the top 4 ASEAN in satellite technology.
The Ca Tam oilfield, offshore southern Vietnam, is expected to enrich state coffers with revenues of $1 billion.


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You will receive a status with a specified number of miles you have earned within a year and so with 30 000 miles, you are going to become a bronze member. You will be surprised such exquisite experience can be enjoyed thousands of miles off the ground. Step 2: Go through the m checkout process. Allow for plenty of time at the airport, just to be safe. No Coupon Code Needed, your discount will be automatically applied at checkout! Then, with 50 000 miles within one year, a platinum membership is waiting for you. Check in online to save time and money later. Copy and paste the Singapore Airlines coupon code in the box next to the product and click "Apply" or "Submit". As much as 25 Off Your Stay 1,500 Miles And More on Your Next Escape With Anantara, Avani Or Tivoli for Krisflyer Member. Top, staff Picks to help you save even more at AirAsia. However, knowing you can save even just a little bit, will make your journey even more enjoyable.
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Quiring, Courtney, et al. "Kanamycin." Davis's Drug Guide, 16th ed., F.A. Davis Company, 2019. Nursing Central, nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Davis-Drug-Guide/109063/all/kanamycin.
Quiring C, Sanoski CA, Vallerand AH. Kanamycin. Davis's Drug Guide. 16th ed. F.A. Davis Company; 2019. https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Davis-Drug-Guide/109063/all/kanamycin. Accessed April 20, 2019.
Quiring C, Sanoski CA, Vallerand AH. Kanamycin [Internet]. In: Davis's Drug Guide. F.A. Davis Company; 2019. [cited 2019 April 20]. Available from: https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Davis-Drug-Guide/109063/all/kanamycin.


text:
ND Science Dep't, 1906
A boa constrictor was presented to the department...
by Mr. George Senrich of South Bend, who got it from a car of bananas shipped from South America. The reptile is two feet long; it is about two years of age, and feeds upon creatures, such as mice and frogs, which it kills by crushing. "Dock" McCarty captured a live mouse Thursday and planned on giving the newcomer a square meal, and thereby live up to Notre Dame's reputation for hospitality. The mouse, however, died, evidently from fright, before the snake had an opportunity to strike it.
Scholastic, 1908
U.S. Ambassador John Phillips


Manor House is commited to achieving and maintaining the highest standards of health and safety and welfare.
Provide the resources necessary to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of it's own employees and all people affected by it's operations.
Provide and maintain safe vehicles, plant, equipment and systems of work.
Make arrangements for the safe use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances.
Provide and maintain a healthy and safe working environment for all employees.
Provide and maintain safe places of work and means of entry to and from them, which are free from risk.
Comply with health, safety and walfare legislation, regulations and other applicable requirements.
Provide information, instruction, training and supervision to all employees to ensure that they properly discharge their responsibilities and duties.
Continually improve upon health and safety performance and systems.
It is the responsibility of each and every employee within his or her specific area of responsibility to implement this policy.
The director give their full support to this policy and shall ensure it is communicated, implemented and reviewed at least once a year.


Check out the new release below. Conforming loan limits will increase from $417,000 to $424,100 in 2017. This is the first increase in almost 10 years.
In areas where 115 percent of the local median home value exceeds the baseline loan limit, the maximum area loan limit will be higher. HERA sets the maximum loan limit as a function of the area median home value, while setting a "ceiling" on that limit of 150 percent of the baseline loan limit.
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Data on financial instruments is key to risk management, tax optimization, unbundling of products, life-cycle management and capital requirements.
Faced with the ever-increasing difficulty of finding adequate information, derilab's founders set out to ease that pain and leverage on the value of precise and complete financial data.
4. advises in the structuring of products on behalf of clients.
At its core lies a simple yet powerful search engine allowing for fast and efficient searches, and a subscription-based alerting system.
Accurate data is key to understanding the risks involved in holding a financial instrument. Financial products' complexity and, in some cases, relatively short life-span make it a challenge for Operations departments. derilab's data management team has nearly 10 years experience in analyzing factsheets and classifying certain products like for example structured products, FoHF, etc. derilab collects the factsheets, classifies the financial instruments according to their risk/reward profile, enhances the data and sends a regular data feed with all relevant information on the product as well as timely alerts.
derilab offers a comprehensive directory to the derivative & structured products market. The zero-install, web 2.0 application offers an easy-to-use interface linked to a comprehensive product database. With its search engine covering more than 30 combinable search criteria, any securitised derivative & structured product, listed or not, is only a few clicks away. Clearly defined product categories (SSPA & ESPA classification) help keep an overview of the current product jungle. For each product, a complete standardized product sheet is available, as well as the original termsheet.
derilab offers structuring capabilities as advisor. Its banks' and brokers' independent position allows derilab to structure tailor-made products and to negotiate price and execution on behalf of its clients. In 2006 it launched the first Social Impact Note in Switzerland.
Active since January 2006, derilab is a privately owned Swiss company headquartered in Signy, near Geneva.
The founders of derilab combine many years experience in their respective field of expertise: banking, structuring, financial derivative & structured products and financial IT. The company is fully independent from issuing banks.


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I came with the intent to post a more detailed blog, however I got wrapped up in checking emails and sending messages that the time I allotted for myself has passed. Midnight is here, and I need to get up early to go for a walk. I would really love to catch another sunrise over the bay... and I should get myself into the habit before it's mandatory. Starting next week we have physical training at 5:15 am eastern time... that's 3:30 am Utah time. Please make note that if you consider calling me sometime I will probably be in bed around 10 pm ET, 8 M(ountain)T.
We are life changing individuals.


Asceneuron today announced the appointment of Dr. J. Donald deBethizy to its board of directors.
Asceneuron SA, a company that develops small molecule therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative diseases today announced the appointment of Dr. J. Donald deBethizy to its board of directors.
Dr. deBethizy will serve as an independent director and will further strengthen the Board's capabilities by providing operational experience for leveraging an innovative platform for the discovery and development of novel compounds to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. deBethizy also brings 12 years of strategic experience for corporate development following the spinout of valuable assets from a larger company.
Prior to joining Asceneuron, Dr. deBethizy served as Co-founder, CEO and Director of Targacept, Inc., a public biotech company discovering and developing novel small molecules targeting the neuronal nicotinic receptors for CNS, pain, inflammatory, GI/GU indications which has been successful in generating approximately 250 million Euro in non-dilutive capital over a 12 year period primarily through pharma licensing deals. In addition, Dr. deBethizy served on the LigoCyte board of directors for six years until its sale to Takeda last year.
"We are very pleased to welcome Don deBethizy to the board of Asceneuron", said Dirk Beher, Chief Scientific Officer of Asceneuron SA. "Given his long standing experience as a senior executive and director of a CNS focused biotech he is a perfect match for our ambition to become a leading small molecule biotech with a strong focus on neurodegeneration. In particular we appreciate his broad insight into moving preclinical pipeline assets into clinical testing whilst building a strong biotech company".
Asceneuron is a spin-off of Merck Serono, the pharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The company was co-founded in October 2012 by Dirk Beher, Christoph Wiessner and Frank Armstrong, three former Merck Serono's executives, and currently employs 8 people. About Asceneuron SA Asceneuron SA researches and develops therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative diseases such as tauopathies. Asceneuron SA aspires to become a leading biotech company specialized in small molecule drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases, a therapeutic area with high unmet medical need. Due to increasing life expectancy, Alzheimer's disease is viewed as one of the largest healthcare issues of this century, imposing a major economic burden on societies worldwide. Asceneuron is based at the Science Park of the EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland. The company was formed in October 2012 through the spin-out of the Alzheimer's disease drug discovery portfolio and research group of Merck Serono, the pharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.


text:
Evart coach Eichelberger also an avid hunter
John Raffel
EVART — Andy Eichelberger seems to have an enormous interest in runners. That's maybe not surprising considering he's the cross country coach at Evart.
But when it comes to hunting, Eichelberger also has an active interest in watching his dogs run.
In fact, Eichelberger has set up his own facility for training dogs.
"In the summer, I like to shoot skeet, clay pigeons, to get fine tuned," he said. "In the fall, I like to bird hunt, hunt partridge and woodcock, predominately in Osceola County. I do some in other counties. We have a decent number of birds right here. I figure, "why waste the gas money?"
It's plenty of fun, as far as Eichelberger is concerned.
"You have to follow the food source," he said. "Partridge likes berries and stuff so you have to find different types of berries that are ready. Usually, you're going to find partridge if you can find the berries. There's a variety of things that have berries."
Eichelberger at one time was a foot hunter who didn't use dogs.
"I finally broke down and got myself a Brittany," he said. "I love that dog. I've had it for two years. I've always had beagles. I still have mostly beagles. I haven't hunted with a bird dog in a lot of years.
"A Brittany wants to please whereas a beagle hunts to hunt. With a Brittany, I feel a bond when I'm out there, I really do. We work as a team. The beagles are on my love. I have 10 beagles and one Brittany."
The rural Hersey resident has a 30-acre fenced-in training area.
"I raise pups, I train pups," Eichelberger. "I train adults. It's just a hobby, something I enjoy."
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He has other dog owners drop their animals off at his training area. He's trained beagles since 1992.
"I've been training other peoples' dogs since 2000," Eichelberger said.
He's a Grand Ledge native and has been hunting birds since he was 12.
"My dad was big in getting my brother and I out for small-game hunting," Eichelberger recalled. "I hunt deer with a rifle. I think the bird hunting is really good, the rabbit hunting is decent and the deer hunting is decent. Rabbit is my favorite but I like working with the dogs."
He does a small-amount of area fishing.
"It's hard to juggle all my interests," Eichelberger said. "Fishing takes a backburner."
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FiveThirtyEight predicts NFL playoffs and Super Bowl LVI odds
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text:
Q: Pipeline workflow and variables I have Facebook authentication working on my site, but I need the user to fill a profile form during his authentication. I have used an authentication pipeline to do so but whithout success. The pipeline is being called like it should, but the result is an error.
Let's say I need his mobile number - consider it does not come from Facebook.
Please consider:
models.py
from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class Profile(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User)
    mobile = models.IntegerField()

settings.py
SOCIAL_AUTH_PIPELINE = (
    'social.pipeline.social_auth.social_details',
    'social.pipeline.social_auth.social_uid',
    'social.pipeline.social_auth.auth_allowed',
    'social.pipeline.social_auth.social_user',
    'social.pipeline.user.get_username',
    'social.pipeline.mail.mail_validation',
    'social.pipeline.user.create_user',
    'social.pipeline.social_auth.associate_user',
    'social.pipeline.social_auth.load_extra_data',
    'social.pipeline.user.user_details',
    'myapp.pipeline.fill_profile',
)

pipeline.py
from myapp.models import Profile
from social.pipeline.partial import partial

@partial
def fill_profile(strategy, details, user=None, is_new=False, *args, **kwargs):
    try:
        if user and user.profile:
            return
        except:
            return redirect('myapp.views.profile')

myapp/views.py
from django.shortcuts import render, redirect
from myapp.models import Perfil

def profile(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        profile = Perfil(user=request.user,mobile=request.POST.get('mobile'))
        profile.save()
        backend = request.session['partial_pipeline']['backend']
        redirect('social:complete', backend=)
    return render(request,'profile.html')

The profile.html is just a form with an input text box named 'mobile' and a submit button.
Then I get this error:
Cannot assign "<SimpleLazyObject: <django.contrib.auth.models.AnonymousUser object at 0x03C2FB10>>": "Profile.user" must be a "User" instance.
Why can't I access the User instance since the user in auth_user table is already there (I suppose)?
Please, what's wrong with this?

A: You can't access the user in request.user because it's not logged in yet, the user will be logged in social complete view after the pipeline executed. Usually partial pipeline views will save the form data into the session and then the pipeline will pick it and save it. Also you can set the user id in the session in your pipeline and then pick that value in your view. For example:
@partial
def fill_profile(strategy, user, *args, **kwargs):
    ...
    strategy.session_set('user_id', user.id)
    return redirect(...)


The beds and lounge chairs were very comfortable. Only having a hand shower was not too good, even though it was specified in the booking information so we were expecting it. However, we found that the dishwasher was poor quality since it did not wash items sufficiently well so many of them had to be redone by hand. In addition, the internet speed of 0.46Mbps was absolutely appalling such that it was sometimes impossible to display web pages (I was able to get 3 times the internet speed on my mobile broadband) and in the evenings the TV would regularly pixelate such that occasionally we could not watch or hear the current program, thus spoiling our viewing and enjoyment.
we would not have booked this if it had not said king. we feel we have been misled and missold.
Naturally, the views are spectacular. Lovely and quiet, which suited us. Tiny negative; the beds were too soft for us. We did read the comments in the visitors' book and note that this has been discussed before, and that these beds were perfect for some folks. It wouldn't stop us coming again, which is highly likely!
Susanna's Apartment, on the first floor, is named after the wife of Acton Castle's eccentric creator.
Stunning sea views along the coast to St Michael's Mount, slate-floors and a huge open plan living area with mullioned windows looking out to sea await.
Everything here has been well thought out, there is a well-equipped kitchen as well as two bedrooms – a king size double and a twin bedded room, these share a family bathroom.
Outside, you can wander the formal castle gardens and terraces.
The very pretty hamlet of Rosudgeon is ideally placed for exploring the area.
Nearby, you can spend the day exploring St Michael's Mount or Penzance, both within a short drive, or for those seeking a day at the seaside the sandy beaches at Perran Sands, Marazion and Praa Sands are some of the best in the South West.
Pub less than 1 mile from property, Note: There is an unfenced pond in the castle gardens.
Porthleven 6 miles; Penzance 6.5 miles.
Located inland between Penzance and Praa Sands, Rosudgeon is a small, semirural village set close to the coast of this charming corner of Cornwall.
Situated one mile from the popular South West Coast Path, Rosudgeon is an ideal base for walkers, beach lovers, and those wishing to uncover the wealth of Cornwall's historic and artistic heritage.
Rosudgeon has a convenient village store and a pub, which is well known for its locally-sourced food, whilst just two miles away is the beautiful St Michael's Mount, standing proud in the bay.
Nearby Penzance is known as the gateway to some of the most spectacular scenery that West Cornwall has to offer, including the famous Minack Theatre, Land's End and sea and air links to the Scilly Isles.
The harbour and beaches offer a beautiful place to relax whilst the seafront is sure to impress, with its promenade and open-air, seawater Jubilee Bathing Pool, one of the oldest surviving Art Deco swimming baths in the country.
Rosudgeon provides a well-placed holiday location for your next Cornish getaway..
Note: There is an unfenced pond in the castle gardens.