Today, Bill Rodgers and I traveled to 5 YMCA's in Upstate New York to sign autographs (Bill signed) and promote the 5k race series that is coming up. It was great. People loved seeing him, he was as gracious as ever, and everyone had fun. This 5k race series will be a huge success, no doubt.
While Bill was here, visiting from Boston, I'd hoped he could meet my dad, Will Maggs, who continues to work full time at the age of 84. Yes, Bill Rodgers is a legend in this country and has won Boston 4 times and New York 4 times, but I wanted Bill to meet my father more than I wanted my father to meet Bill.
Values, respect, discipline, caring. This is what my father has taught me. Bill, although successful by everyone's standards, has not yet reached the success level of my father. So, it didn't happen this time, but hopefully will happen next time. Bill will be a better person if he gets to know my dad.
And, I'm blessed to call Will my dad. May I do half as much good in my life as he has in his. But, Bill, thanks so much for coming. In time, you, too, will be the best. But, it's because of your love for your daughters in addition to your running. Once they reach a certain age, they, too, will realize what a great dad you've been.
And, once you turn 84, you'll have the priviledge of being the best dad in the world. I'm sure your daughters will agree.


text:
Now Reading: Gone Baby Gone
The shocking case of Otty Sanchez exposes the holes in Texas' mental health care system.
Dave Mann Jan 14, 2010, 12:00 am CST
The first police officers at the crime scene were so shocked they could barely speak. When they arrived at the white-paneled house on San Antonio's north side at 5 a.m. on July 26, officers found a bedroom doused in blood, the decapitated and mutilated body of a baby not even a month old, and his mother, 33-year-old Otty Sanchez, screaming that the devil made her do it.
Sanchez had left the baby's father after a fight and was staying with her mother and cousins. Around 4:30 a.m., while the rest of the family slept, she'd attacked her infant son with a large kitchen knife. Police officers would describe the crime as one of the most gruesome they had ever seen. Some of them later needed counseling.
It was hard to imagine that anyone in her right mind could do such a thing. And it turned out that Sanchez was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare but severe form of postpartum depression in which paranoid hallucinations prod new mothers to violence. (Postpartum psychosis and its potentially tragic consequences gained national notoriety after the trial of Andrea Yates, the Houston woman who killed her five children in 2001.) Sanchez had been enduring a mental-health crisis for at least a week before the killing. But when she reached out for help—like so many Texans with severe mental illness—she was left to fend for herself.
Just six days before she killed her son, on July 20, Sanchez had met with a counselor at the obstetrics-gynecology clinic that ushered her through pregnancy. The counselor, Luinda Combs, could tell right away that Sanchez wasn't well. Sanchez spoke of delusional, paranoid thoughts that other women were trying to breastfeed her baby. She was "hearing voices which have informed her others would like to take her baby away," according to Combs' notes from that session. "Client also reports visual images of other children's faces transposed on her baby's face." (The Observer was granted access to these medical records with Otty Sanchez's permission.)
Combs suspected right away that Sanchez had postpartum psychosis. She knew Sanchez had a history of depression and had been institutionalized a year earlier with paranoid schizophrenia. New mothers with severe mental illness are much more likely to suffer postpartum psychosis. Most alarming of all, Sanchez had stopped taking her anti-psychotic medication because of the side effects.
Combs told Sanchez she needed an immediate psychiatric evaluation and called an ambulance to rush her to the hospital. The counselor wanted to make sure Sanchez wasn't mindlessly shuffled through a busy emergency room, so she called ahead to let Metropolitan Methodist Hospital's psychiatric unit know that Sanchez would soon arrive with a likely diagnosis of postpartum psychosis. Combs wrote in her notes that the "hospital worker did not want to take information over the phone." So she also gave "specific details of client's delusions and hallucinations" to the EMS workers to pass along to the hospital personnel.
Combs' message about the severity of Sanchez's condition didn't quite get through. At the hospital, Sanchez would be diagnosed with visual hallucinations and audible voices, but nowhere in Sanchez's hospital records does the more alarming diagnosis Combs suspected—"postpartum psychosis"—appear.
The ambulance arrived at Metropolitan Methodist, a private hospital, at 11:39 a.m. Sanchez waited 20 minutes and was examined in the emergency room at 12:05, according to hospital records obtained by the Observer. Though Sanchez had been rushed to the hospital because of a mental-health crisis, for the next three hours, nurses gave her only physical tests and lab work and determined that her body was mostly healthy.
A little before 3 p.m., more than three hours after her arrival, Sanchez was finally examined by a member of the hospital's psychiatric team—not a psychiatrist, but a trained counselor. The evaluation lasted 44 minutes, and the records of that session show the seriousness of Sanchez's condition. She was experiencing "voices and hallucinations," according to hospital records, and "sees babies [sic] face change."
Sanchez asked to be admitted to the hospital's 31-bed inpatient psychiatric unit. "[Patient] states she needs to be admitted for voices," according to the records. Inpatient treatment had worked for Sanchez before. During a similar crisis in 2008, she had been hospitalized for more than two weeks until her mental condition stabilized. Now she was asking for similar treatment.
Sanchez was a good candidate for inpatient care. Here was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had been institutionalized a year before, who had recently given birth, who had stopped taking her meds, who was hearing voices and hallucinating, seeing her baby's face change into other faces. "She's got a big red light on her head saying 'I'm going to explode any minute,'" says her lawyer, Ed Camara. "You think they would at least talk to her doctor or ask her about her history. But they don't do anything like that."
Instead, the hospital employed another standard for admission to its psych unit. It mostly boiled down to a simple question: Did Sanchez feel suicidal or homicidal? New mothers will rarely answer this question honestly. Many will never admit to suicidal or infanticidal thoughts because—in addition to the societal stigma of saying they might harm their baby—they fear that, if they answer honestly, the government will try to take their child away. Sanchez was already having paranoid hallucinations about strangers lusting after her son.
It's hard to know exactly what was in Sanchez's mind at the time. (Because her case is pending, she couldn't be interviewed for this story.) But whatever she was thinking, Sanchez told the hospital counselor that she was "not suicidal, not homicidal, no command hallucinations," according to hospital records. (Command hallucinations are voices that instruct a person to take specific actions.) The counselor checked the "no" box on a form next to the line that reads, "Is the patient having suicidal or homicidal ideation and/or making threats?"
Asked about the hospital's standard for admission to the psych unit, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Methodist responded to the Observer by e-mail: "Qualified mental health professional perform [sic] a psych assessment, focusing on three things: whether patient is suicidal, homicidal or experiencing a deterioration such that, if we let them out of the hospital, they would be a danger to themselves or somebody else. The qualified mental health professional then gives assessment recommendation to ER doctor and doctor makes his own assessment on whether patient needs to be admitted. Doctors [sic] recommendation always stands. Doctor bears liability for decision."
Sanchez was sent home with the name of a clinic she could contact for outpatient services, though she was given no address or contact information. She never made an appointment. That's not uncommon. People in mental-health crises often can't care for themselves. Their mental state is too debilitated and agitated for basic outpatient care; they can't be relied upon to take medication or show up for appointments. They often need to be hospitalized for a short period until their minds stabilize to the point that they can function on their own.
The hospital also provided Sanchez with an information sheet—Camara calls it a "you're crazy" document—that lists general descriptions of "Hallucinations and Delusions" and of "Schizophrenia." The document instructed her to "Call your doctor or go to the emergency room right away if your symptoms get worse."
As Camara puts it, "They're telling a crazy person that 'you're crazy,' and to take care of yourself.'"
And that was that. Just 11 minutes after her psych evaluation ended, Sanchez was discharged from the hospital, at 3:53 p.m.
Six days later, she was back in an emergency room, this time at San Antonio's large public hospital. She was escorted by police officers. Her face was still smeared with blood from consuming parts of her son.
Texas may have the most beleaguered public mental-health system in the country. The state ranks 49th nationally in per-capita spending on mental health; only New Mexico is worse, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. State lawmakers have shorted the system for years. The result of this miserly approach is that hundreds of thousands of Texans with severe mental illnesses must fend for themselves.
For many people, the public system—such as it is—remains the only option. Private facilities are often prohibitively expensive, and most insurance plans offer minimal coverage for mental-health care. A few days' stay at a private treatment facility will usually exhaust the mental-health benefit offered by even the most decadent insurance plans.
Yet in Texas' public system, only the lucky ones receive services. Texas operates a dozen state hospitals, which are almost always near capacity and difficult to gain admittance to because of limited bed space. A network of 39 community mental-health authorities offers counseling, medication and other outpatient services. But with extreme funding shortages, the community centers can offer help to only a sliver of the people who need it. State officials have estimated that the centers can afford to treat only about one-third of the Texans with severe mental illnesses, leaving at least 400,000 largely without care.
The irony of the Otty Sanchez case is that, of all the places in Texas to suffer a mental-health crisis, San Antonio might be the best equipped to offer treatment.
"We have a success story to tell," says Leon Evans, who heads the Center for Health Care Services, the public mental-health clinic in San Antonio. The clinic, like many other community mental-health centers across Texas, is horribly underfunded by the state. But the center has forged alliances with the police, judges and other health-care providers in San Antonio to create some of the most innovative treatment programs in the country. Among other innovations, the center worked with San Antonio police on a program that trains officers how to spot and calmly subdue people who have severe mental illnesses without resorting to violence or arrests.
The Center for Health Care Services, which treated Sanchez for three months in 2008, has also created jail-diversion programs aimed at keeping nonviolent offenders with substance-abuse problems or mental illness out of prisons. In 2005, the center helped open a 10-bed inpatient mental-health crisis center, where people can stay for 23 hours if they have nowhere else to go. (The crisis center accepts referrals from hospitals when their psych units are full. Metropolitan Methodist could have sent Sanchez to the 23-hour crisis center if the hospital's psych unit had no room for her.) Combined, these programs are keeping nearly 1,000 people a month out of the county jail. That saves taxpayer money and, by providing people treatment instead of incarceration, greatly reduces the chances that they'll break the law again.
But despite those successes, the lack of funding minimizes what these programs can accomplish. "Money is very tight," says Gilbert Gonzales, who oversees the jail-diversion programs and also serves as spokesman for the Center for Health Care Services. "There's only so many people we can treat because we literally don't have enough money to meet the need."
State funding for mental-health services hasn't kept pace with demand. One main reason, Evans points out, is the way Texas doles out money to the community centers around the state. The funding is not based on the population of the area a clinic serves. Rural areas with shrinking populations receive far more money per capita than Houston, San Antonio and Dallas—cities with exploding populations and rising numbers of people with mental illness. There have been many attempts to change the way money is allocated. Most advocates realize that the level of mental-health funding should be based on population, but the Legislature has resisted this change; it's been blocked largely by rural lawmakers whose sparsely populated districts would lose money.
Evans and his staff stretch the meager funds as far as possible. The state provides enough money for the Center for Health Care Services to treat 4,240 people a month. But the center stretches it to treat about 6,000 adults and children (42 percent above the state's goal). Even so, the center can't meet the need. There is now a waiting list for services of several hundred people per month. "We're way under-funded," Evans says. "Our employees' heads are about to explode because they're so overworked."
It means that many people fall through the cracks. Otty Sanchez was one of them.
In Sanchez's family, hearing voices or seeing the occasional hallucination isn't unusual. Her mother, aunts and cousins have all had similar mental illness.
Sanchez was an only child and never knew her father. She grew up in a crowded household with seven other relatives, including her mother. The family moved often, living in at least three states during Otty's childhood. They returned to San Antonio from California when Otty entered high school. Sanchez's mother and two of her cousins turned down interview requests.
Although Sanchez would later be diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, her relatives had no idea she had mental illness until just last year, according to medical and court records (and to Camara, her lawyer, who has extensively interviewed the family). That's partly explained by other relatives' illnesses. But her symptoms were also easy to ignore; they didn't obviously disrupt her life until just last year. In fact, family friends often described Otty as one of the most level-headed people in the family.
She has been hearing voices since age 5, according to the report from a psychiatric evaluation recently conducted on her in the county jail. The voices are often "good voices telling her everything is going to be OK," according to the report by Brian Skop, a psychiatrist appointed by the court to evaluate Sanchez's competency to stand trial. But she also hears "bad voices. … One voice in particular named 'Lucy,' which is telling me to do bad things like eat my hand," she told Skop.
Sanchez was mostly able to live with these voices and mild paranoia for years. She finished high school and began taking pharmacy-technician classes. That's where, in 2003, she met Scott Buchholz, who also is schizophrenic. The two began a dysfunctional, on-again, off-again relationship.
Sanchez's mental illness worsened in the past five years. Her behavior became erratic. She had trouble staying employed, bouncing from one low-paying job to another. She worked at fast-food restaurants and briefly as a home health caretaker.
In late May 2008, Sanchez went to Austin with a friend. While her friend was getting an acupuncture treatment, Sanchez wandered off. She walked into a CVS and prowled the store for the next seven hours. Police arrived and took her to the Austin State Hospital, where she stayed for 16 days. It was the first time her family learned of the severity of her mental illness. After her mental state stabilized, Sanchez was released. The nurses at Austin State Hospital referred her to outpatient care at the Center for Health Care Services in San Antonio. They gave Sanchez the contact information, set up an appointment for her and later called to make sure she showed up.
Throughout the summer of 2008, Sanchez, who was uninsured at the time, received free outpatient treatment from the San Antonio clinic, including regular counseling sessions and anti-psychotic medication. She soon was feeling much better, according to her health records.
But in early September 2008, that all changed. The Center for Health Care Services—its budget strapped as ever—could no longer afford to provide Sanchez treatment. She would
ave to either p
y or qualify for a government benefit. Camara, her lawyer, says that Sanchez believed she could never afford the treatment. So when her next appointment rolled around, Sanchez didn't show. The clinic workers didn't have the time or resources to track her down. They moved on to the next client on the waiting list. A month later, the center classified Sanchez's file as closed. "They let her drop out, and they have to, because they don't have the money," Camara says.
At about the same time she stopped receiving treatment, Sanchez reunited with Buchholz. In late September 2008, she got pregnant. You needn't be a psychiatrist to see trouble looming for two schizophrenics, one off her medication, deciding to have a baby.
Yet Sanchez managed her pregnancy without incident. She gave birth to Scotty Buchholz on June 30, 2009. Her OB-GYN prescribed anti-psychotic medication—she had given up medication during pregnancy—but Sanchez said the drug made her too tired. She stopped taking it on July 17, nine days before she attacked her baby. Her doctor planned to offer her a different drug, but before that could happen, Sanchez had one of her frequent fights with Buchholz. On July 20, she left him and descended into crisis. Emotional stress often exacerbates postpartum depression. Sanchez soon found herself in the emergency room at Metropolitan Methodist, asking for help.
After the hospital ushered her out the door with little more than an information sheet, there was still one last opportunity to prevent the killing. On the afternoon of July 25, 12 hours before the attack, Sanchez visited Buchholz and his mother, Kathleen. Sanchez had been living with her relatives and wanted to retrieve from Buchholz the baby's diaper bag and her medication. She hadn't taken a pill in eight days.
Buchholz's mother noticed that Sanchez seemed erratic and paranoid. Neither Buchholz nor his mother would agree to an interview for this story. A relative who answered the phone at Buchholz's home said he's no longer speaking with reporters. This account comes from Camara, the attorney, who has interviewed everyone who was present that afternoon. At one point, Sanchez refused to let Kathleen Buchholz hold the baby because she feared Kathleen was trying to steal her son or breastfeed him.
The Buchholzes told Sanchez that she needed to seek help. At that, Sanchez abruptly got up and fled the house. Kathleen Buchholz called law enforcement and told officers that Sanchez had run off with the child and was an unstable schizophrenic. The officers—members of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department—took no action.
In the weeks after the attack, prosecutors confronted a difficult decision: Should Otty Sanchez face criminal charges or be sent to a state hospital for treatment? Despite the evidence that Sanchez was insane at the time of the killing, some in San Antonio openly called for the death penalty. They included Scott Buchholz, who told a San Antonio television reporter in late July that "I think she should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. … She killed my son. She should burn in hell."
Prosecutors eventually decided to pursue a criminal case. In September, a grand jury indicted Sanchez for capital murder.
In jail, Sanchez has received the counseling and medication to which she had such spotty access on the outside. Her mental condition has stabilized, for the moment. As a result, she's been found competent to stand trial after examinations by experts appointed by both the court and her defense attorney. Examiners concluded that she understood the legal process and the charges against her.
If she remains stable, Sanchez will likely stand trial this summer. Camara plans to have Sanchez plead not guilty by reason of insanity—just as Andrea Yates did. He thinks he has a strong case, but jury trials are unpredictable. Take the Yates case: At her first trial for killing her five children in 2002, she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. That conviction was later overturned on appeal, and in 2006, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty for Sanchez. If they do, the very state that for years offered Otty Sanchez so little treatment and help for her mental illness will try to execute her.
Dave Mann is a former editor of the Observer.
A Solitary Condition
Texas has banished hundreds of prisoners to more than a decade of solitary confinement, an extreme form of a controversial punishment likened to torture. Many of these prisoners aren't sure how—or, in some cases, if—they will ever get out. by Michael Barajas
5 Texas Criminal Justice Stories to Watch in 2020
"Progressive" prosecutors, bail reforms, and increased calls for accountability will all likely be in the news next year. by Michael Barajas
Report: Sexual Assault is Common in Immigrant Prisons, but Survivors Aren't Getting Help
Only three of 23 rape crisis centers serving areas where ICE detention centers are located reported providing therapy or other services to detainees. by Isabela Dias

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Concert "Spring is coming!" in Elista!
Ensemble of folk dance "Tyulpanchik" from Elista in Kalmykia (Russia) performed at the Festival in Finland.
Video HD quality 720 and HD quality 1080.
japantoday.com LIMA — Japan and Russia have agreed to promote tourism and ease visa requirements for each other's citizens under an economic cooperation plan proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in May, Japanese officials said.
The winner of the contest «The Treasure of Kalmykia 2015» was Veronika Egorova.
Veronika Egorova – «The Treasure of Kalmykia 2015»!
Vice Miss contest are 18-year-old Daria Sharipov and 16-year-old Almina Mangutova.
A powerfully atmospheric but narratively understated debut for talented Kalmykia-born helmer-writer Ella Manzheeva.
Kalmykia News: Would you like to learn to dance salsa with a passionate Spanish or with a hot Argentinian? I'm sure you would, even if you have no experience.
Two years ago I've decided to set up my own studio with dance teachers from other countries and cities. Without thinking, I went to New York to find some. I visited several dozens of studios, met many different choreographers and realized that it was the first step of creating something big.


Football fans will notice a different playing surface when they attend UNI or high school games at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls this fall.
Crews are planning to spend the next two months installing new artificial turf. The project is scheduled to start on May 11, 2017 and be complete by mid-July.
The turf will feature the UNI logo inside a shaded outline of the state of Iowa at midfield, along with a Panther head logo and the phrase "Panthers" in purple-colored endzones. The area outside the field and the coaching boxes will also be purple.
"The surface you play on is one of the most important elements in college football," UNI Head Football Coach Mark Farley said in a news release. "The investment in the new turf is an indication to the commitment of UNI to its student-athletes."
Total cost of the new turf will be approximately $900,000. The project is being paid for through a restricted use internal account that is available to address facility needs. The bid was awarded to AstroTurf for the project on Feb. 20.
The surface measures over 77,000 square feet and will come in 26 rollable panels that will be secured by a Velcro® system. There will be no infill required for the new surface. The conversion time for the new turf will be eight hours to install and four hours to roll up.
"We are pleased with the product that AstroTurf will supply for our use in the UNI-Dome," UNI Director of Athletics David Harris said. "First and foremost, it will be a safe and playable surface for our football program and for Iowa High School state playoff games. The well-being of student-athletes is always at the forefront of our decisions at UNI."
The current field turf inside the Dome was installed in 2009. Once removed, some of the surface will be re-purposed within the UNI Athletic Department.
UNI Athletics will provide a webcam on www.UNIPanthers.com that will show the new turf being installed from the beginning to end.


text:
Q: Ordering an aggregated query I have a table consisting of a pk, an id, an integer value and a type consisting ~160,000,000 rows.
Consider these data in the table:
CREATE TABLE foo(pk,id,value,type)
AS VALUES
    ( '1' , '1',  'A1' , 1 ),
    ( '2' , '1',  'A2' , 2 ),
    ( '3' , '1',  'A3' , 3 ),
    ( '4' , '1',  'A4' , 4 ),
    ( '5' , '1',  'A5' , 5 ),
    ( '6' , '2',  'B1' , 1 ),
    ( '7' , '2',  'B2' , 2 ),
    ( '8' , '2',  'B3' , 3 ),
    ( '9' , '2',  'B4' , 4 ),
    ( '10', '2',  'B5' , 5 )
;

I'm making a query like this:
SELECT
  min(pk),
  id,
  array_agg(value ORDER BY type) AS v
FROM foo
GROUP BY id
ORDER BY (array_agg(value ORDER BY type))[2] ;

 min  | id  |    array_agg
------+-----+------------------
 pk1  | id1 | {A1,A2,A3,A4,A5}
 pk10 | id2 | {B1,B2,B3,B4,B5}

The table can have whatever index required (currently all single columns are btree indexed separately).
Is it possible to order this query by array_agg[n] (n between 1 to 5) using a btree index so that it orders in reasonable time?

A: How do you expect to do ORDER BY (array_agg(value ORDER BY type))[2] on an index when type[2] isn't even on an index? It's a positional element  in an array construction. If you need that on the index, then normalize the value such that A2 and B2 are the same, perhaps 2. Then you left outer join the table itself..
SELECT t.*
FROM (
  SELECT
    min(pk),
    id,
    array_agg(value ORDER BY type) AS v
  FROM foo
  GROUP BY id
) AS t
LEFT OUTER JOIN ( SELECT id FROM foo WHERE value = '2' ) AS k
  USING (id)
ORDER BY k.id, min, id;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Das Zwischenlager Ahaus (vormals Transportbehälterlager Ahaus (TBL Ahaus)) ist ein Zwischenlager für stark und schwach strahlenden radioaktiven Abfall. Es befindet sich im westlichen Münsterland auf dem Gebiet der Stadt Ahaus, etwa drei Kilometer östlich des Stadtzentrums. Betreiber ist die BGZ Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung. Zuvor war die GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service von 1990 bis zur Abgabe ihrer Zwischenlageraktivitäten an den Bund zum 1. August 2017 Betreiber des Zwischenlagers.

Das Lager wurde von 1984 bis 1990 errichtet. Am 20. März 1998 kam zum ersten Mal ein Transport mit 106 hochradioaktiven Brennelementen aus laufenden Atomkraftwerken (Gundremmingen und Neckarwestheim) nach Ahaus. Gegen den Transport demonstrierten über 10.000 Menschen, etwa 30.000 Polizeibeamte begleiteten den Transport.

Lagerhalle

Die zentrale Lagerhalle ist 196 m lang, 38 m breit und 20 m hoch. Die Transportbehälter werden stehend aufbewahrt. Zum Transport der Behälter in der Halle dient ein Brückenkran mit einer Tragkraft von 140 Tonnen. Im Herbst 2008 ist ein weiterer Hallenkran mit 32 t Tragkraft eingebaut worden. Die CASTOR-Behälter mit hochradioaktiven Abfällen in der östlichen Hallenhälfte, dem Brennelemente-Zwischenlager Ahaus (BZA), stehen getrennt von Transportbehältern aus Beton, Guss und Stahl mit Inhalten geringer Radioaktivität und vernachlässigbarer Wärmeentwicklung in der westlichen Hallenhälfte, dem Abfall-Zwischenlager Ahaus (AZA).

Kapazität

Genehmigte Mengen und Abfalltypen
Im TBL Ahaus dürfen laut Genehmigung maximal 3960 Tonnen Kernbrennstoff in Form von bestrahlten Brennelementen aus Leichtwasserreaktoren (LWR) in Castor-Behältern auf 370 Stellplätzen eingelagert werden. Ähnlich groß ist die Lagerkapazität im Transportbehälterlager Gorleben (3800 t).

Die Bezirksregierung Münster hat der GNS im November 2009 die Genehmigung erteilt, im Zwischenlager Ahaus schwach radioaktive Betriebs- und Stilllegungsabfälle aus deutschen Kernkraftwerken zwischenzulagern. Hierbei handelt es sich um konditionierte Reststoffe mit geringer Wärmeentwicklung wie Bauschutt, Papier, Putzlappen, Metallschrott sowie ausgebaute Anlagenteile. Die Genehmigung nach Paragraph 7 der Strahlenschutzverordnung sah zunächst eine befristete Aufbewahrung für den Zeitraum von 10 Jahren vor. 2020 wurde die Genehmigung jedoch nahtlos bis zum 31. Dezember 2057 eine neue Genehmigung erteilt. Geplant für ursprünglich 2014 steht für diese Abfälle das genehmigte Endlager des Bundes Schacht Konrad bei Salzgitter zur Verfügung, das jedoch voraussichtlich erst 2027 fertiggestellt wird.

Derzeitige Lagerung
Am 31. Dezember 2002 befanden sich sechs CASTOR-Behälter mit LWR-Brennelementen im Lager.

Darüber hinaus werden Kugelbrennelemente des vorzeitig stillgelegten Thorium-Hoch-Temperatur-Reaktors in Schmehausen (ein sogenannter Kugelhaufenreaktor) in 305 kleinen CASTOR-Behältern auf weiteren 50 Stellplätzen aufbewahrt. 2 Castoren aus Hamm enthalten die Brennelemente eines in den THTR-300 integrierten Hilfsreaktors. Bei diesen Brennelementen handelt es sich um Uran/Aluminium-Metallplatten mit ca. 3,9 kg hochangereichertem (93 %) Uran. Auch die Brennelemente aus dem THTR-300 basieren auf hochangereichertem, waffenfähigem Uran, welches wegen der nur kurzen Betriebszeit des Reaktors nur unvollständig verbraucht ist. Daraus resultiert eine Proliferationsproblematik.

Des Weiteren werden Brennelemente aus dem ehemaligen Forschungsreaktor Dresden-Rossendorf in 18 Behältern vom Typ Castor MTR2 zwischengelagert.

Beantragte Lagerung

Beim Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz ist eine Genehmigung zur Lagerung von mittelradioaktiven Abfällen aus der Wiederaufarbeitung deutscher Brennelemente in Frankreich (Wiederaufbereitungsanlage La Hague) für das Zwischenlager Ahaus beantragt worden. Dabei handelt es sich im Wesentlichen um hochdruckverpresste Hülsen und Strukturteile – so genannte CSD-C – von Brennelementen deutscher Kernkraftwerke, zu deren Rücknahme die Bundesrepublik Deutschland sich völkerrechtlich verpflichtet hatte.

Weiterhin haben die GNS und die Brennelement-Zwischenlager Ahaus GmbH (BZA) auf Veranlassung des Forschungszentrums Jülich beim Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz einen Antrag auf Änderung der bestehenden Aufbewahrungsgenehmigung für das Zwischenlager Ahaus gestellt. Im Rahmen dieses Genehmigungsverfahrens soll geprüft werden, ob die zurzeit im Forschungszentrum Jülich lagernden 152 Behälter vom Typ Castor THTR/AVR mit Brennelementen aus dem 1988 stillgelegten Kugelhaufenreaktor AVR künftig auch im Zwischenlager Ahaus aufbewahrt werden können. Die im Zwischenlager Ahaus vorhandenen Handhabungs- und Überwachungseinrichtungen entsprechen den Anforderungen einer Zwischenlagerung auch dieser Behälter. Sie sind baugleich mit den bereits in Ahaus zwischengelagerten Behältern aus dem Thorium-Hochtemperaturreaktor in Schmehausen. Wie für diese Castoren gilt aber, dass bestimmte Reparaturen z. B. der Deckeldichtungen in Ahaus nicht durchgeführt werden könnten, sondern dass dazu die Castoren in Standorte mit Heißen Zellen transportiert werden müssten. Wegen mangelnder Qualität der Antragsunterlagen verzögerte sich jedoch das Genehmigungsverfahren für diesen Transport nach bzw. die Lagerung in Ahaus erheblich. Deshalb, wegen der 2013 auslaufenden Genehmigung des Jülicher Zwischenlagers, wegen massiver Proteste in NRW gegen den Transport von Jülich nach Ahaus und wegen der ablehnenden Haltung der NRW-Landesregierung beschloss der FZJ-Aufsichtsrat im November 2012, auf den Transport der 152 Castoren nach Ahaus zu verzichten, eine befristete Verlängerung für das Jülicher Zwischenlager zu beantragen, Planungen für ein neues Zwischenlager in Jülich zu beginnen und alternativ Verhandlungen zur Endlagerung der Castoren in den USA aufzunehmen.

Rückführung von Brennstäben nach Russland
Im September 2010 genehmigte das Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz die Rückführung von Brennstäben nach Russland. Dabei handelt es sich um 951 abgebrannte Brennelemente aus den früheren DDR-Forschungsreaktoren des Forschungszentrums Dresden-Rossendorf. Diese waren 2005 nach Ahaus gebracht worden und sollten – in 18 Castoren auf drei Transporte verteilt – zur Wiederaufarbeitungsanlage Majak (Ural) transportiert werden. Die Rückführung der Brennstäbe wurde aufgrund von Sicherheitsbedenken im Dezember 2010 vom Bundesumweltministerium untersagt.

Proteste

Vor dem Atommülllager kommt es regelmäßig zu Protesten. Die Bürgerinitiative "Kein Atommüll in Ahaus" ist Mitglied des Aktionsbündnisses Münsterland gegen Atomanlagen. Eine Bürgerinitiative im Rheinland kämpft unter anderem gegen die Verlagerung der 152 Jülicher Castoren nach Ahaus.

Weblinks

BGZ/Zwischenlager Ahaus

Einzelnachweise

Nukleare Wiederaufarbeitung
Bauwerk in Ahaus

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Bill Hawkey… honoured with an MBE (NZ) in 1974, he later received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2014.
THE Canberra and south-coast music communities are mourning ANU School of Music's former director Emeritus Prof William ("Bill") Richard Hawkey, who died at Moruya District Hospital over the weekend. He was 87.
Born and raised in Timaru, NZ, he studied music at University of Canterbury in Christchurch. There he played piano and the pipe organ and formed a choir in a disadvantaged suburb involving children of all ages, while serving as the accompanist and later conductor of the Christ Harmonic Society for 14 years. He led a group of 153 choristers to London, to represent NZ at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965.
After working as a music teacher St Andrews Presbyterian Boys School and later at the University in Christchurch, he moved to Australia to become the foundation head of performing arts at Torrens College of Advanced Education in the late '70s. He moved to Canberra in 1979.
As deputy director at the School of Music from 1979 to 1995, he was involved in establishing preschool, primary school and pre-tertiary music programs. He became director from 1996 to 1998.
He founded and directed the Canberra School of Music community choir, now The Llewellyn Choir. From 1980 to 1992 he was an organist and choirmaster at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church and served as patron and committee member with many arts committees, including Pro Musica Inc, Ausdance, the Australian National Operatic Aria Competition and the National Eisteddfod Society.
He was named Canberra Artist of the Year in 1996. In the same year he retired to Akolele on the south coast with his second wife Elizabeth Oliver-Hawkey – to "farm, fish and read", he said.
Once down at the coast, he quickly became involved in communal music activities, becoming conductor and music director of Montague Choristers in Narooma and The Nomad Singers in Merimbula and president of Sapphire Coast Music Society.
With his combined choirs he was able to introduce oratorios such as "Creation" and "Elijah" drawing on soloists from Canberra, the opera workshop at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and people from within the choirs in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado", "The Gondoliers" and "Trial by Jury".
Alongside the choral activities, with the backing of the Montague Choristers, he introduced the Visiting Artists Concert Series.
In addition to music, he and Elizabeth were also fundraisers for Mahboba's Promise and he became community representative on the Eurobodalla Cultural Infrastructure Feasibility Committee.
Honoured with an MBE (NZ) in 1974, he later received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2014.
After once again "retiring", this time to Dalmeny, NSW, he died surrounded by his family on the evening of Saturday, February 2, and is survived by his widow Elizabeth, children Sue, Chris, Dave, Jill and their families.
A service to celebrate his life will be held at the St Paul's Anglican Church, Tilba Street, Narooma, from 11am on Thursday, February 7.
Next articleMacklin / What the bloody hell is he thinking?


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This is a very old entry — images are small, formatting is off.
There is a New "W" in Town
Reviewed Jan. 10, 2011 by Armin
Industry / Sports Tags / #baseball#script#washington#wordmark
Originally home to the Washington Senators, not one (1901 – 1960) but two times (1961 – 1971), Washington's current Major League Baseball team is the Nationals, who were originally the Montreal Expos before they relocated to the U.S. as an expansion franchise. On November of last year, the Nationals announced new uniforms and new logos.
"From a brand perspective, our ability to develop the curly 'W' into something that's iconic and instantly recognizable and understood is exactly what we're about," COO Andy Feffer told the media. "And the more equity that we can build in that simple, easy to understood symbol and what it stands for — youth energy, authenticity… If we're able to communicate that in an authentic way that really resonates, it's a much more effective play. And oh, by the way, it looks great. You'll see it on TV, it'll pop, it's simple to understand."
— The Washington Post
The "W" has been part of the Nationals' identity since the beginning, when it appeared on the cap. Now it's the main identifier. The original logo wasn't too bad and it communicated "baseball" with the conviction of a denying steroid user. The new logo looks like a baseball logo in that it celebrates the scripty nostalgic goodness of the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers logo — emphasized blatantly and annoyingly in the new wordmark, above. In a way, the new identity fits better with the rest of baseball logos, where script lettering is more common than spiky beveled sans serifs — it's almost as if the new one identity is a throwback/retro version to a Nationals era that never existed, which is funny, in a manufactured sort of way. Nonetheless, it's a perfectly acceptable execution of all the elements. Except, perhaps the super American "W" below.
Thanks to Jay-Michael Sutton for the tip.
There is a New \"W\" in Town
Originally home to the Washington Senators, not one (1901 – 1960) but two times (1961 – 1971), Washington's current Major League Baseball team is the Nationals, who were originally the Montreal Expos before they relocated to the U.S. as an expansion franchise. On November of last year, the Nationals announced new uniforms and new logos.


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Microlicia elegans är en tvåhjärtbladig växtart som beskrevs av Charles Victor Naudin. Microlicia elegans ingår i släktet Microlicia och familjen Melastomataceae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Myrtenordningen
elegans


this account to ask that if you can find it in your heart to make a donation to assist with Paxton's memorial. Our little guy was taken from us in the absolute worst way, and we hope that his story will bring awareness to child on child crimes. We graciously appreciate your time and efforts ~The Davis & Jennings Family.


It's National Science Week this week in Australia!
Well, truth be told, it's pretty much science year this 2016 for me, what with my pledge to read 12 science books this year – a science book a month. Currently, I'm on Gaia Vince's Adventures in the Anthropocene, which I'm really liking – but more on this in my book reveiw at the end of the month.
For today, I thought I thought I'd share one of my favourite new apps – the Sky Guide app. A friend of mine showed it to me when we were down south in Yallingup and found ourselves under a winter sky dusted with a frosting of stars, bright and visible now that we were far away from the pollution of the city lights. It's a really cool app and I just knew I had to download it when I got home. The name of the app is pretty much self-explanatory – when you switch the app on and raise your phone to the sky, it will identify the stars and planets in whichever direction you're pointing, even trace out the constellations.


She said the police pulled over a drunk driver with a passenger in the car and learned that the driver had past DUI convictions that had not been. has also been multiplying rapidly. Meanwhile, New.
Interested in which cities are home to the most offenders, the data scientists at Insurify, a car insurance comparison shopping. and rideshare transportation.
His contract entitles him to the use of a city car. for DWI after allegedly hitting and killing an 18 year old pedestrian in Darien. 48 year old Jennifer Serrano of Irving is.
Witnesses stated that Norman was driving a black Pontiac Grand Am on East New York Street and crossed. Norman was cited for DUI, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident an.
Car Insurance Axa Reviews Digital Cameras Travel Insurance Car, Van & Bike Insurance. Best Private Dental Insurance 2018. We have in-depth health insurance reviews of Axa, Future Generali Car Insurance; Bharti Axa. Car Insurance Online. The digital mode of selling. will review pre-existing damages of your car before. Compare Car Insurance with Asda. AXA and Hastings, ^^Upon purchasing or renewing your annual Asda Money insurance policy with your Asda Cashback Credit. Owner Reviews. Sort cars by.


Devrait être rénové au plus vite!
So pleased to have you stay with us! Hope to see you back again next year!
Are they still currently undergoing renovations?
Yes. Stay far away.. the renovations aren't the reason.. crack heads wont even stay here.. I know.. one told me to get my family out of there.. so I did!
I only ask contributors with a 5 or better rating. If you had another room, might you change your opinion.
First room smelled like mold and mildew. I was told completely redone. The only thing remotely new was a shower curtain used for the closet door. Keep as we made our way to the fourth-floor, plywood over lots of the crumbling stucco and a boarded up elevator. Very unit doors were needing to be painted. And the only working elevator was filthy. I truly felt a bomb at went off and this was what was left. After refusing to sleep on 4th floor Ocean view with a balcony the front desk had us check out another unit. It was on the ground level. The inside "decor only" appeared a little better. Though as we opened our side door huge scaffolding was sitting there. Absolutely NO view nor access to the beach. I truly can't believe this building passes city inspections. The baloneys had jacks and posts holding them up! If you are thinking of buying a unit for an investment, I would reconsider. If you're wanting to gamble on staying there, ask to see the room they are trying to rent out before exchanging any banking information.
U said you would try again. Did you and if yes was it better?We are going down in November this year.
I was just there a week ago and i stayed in 421 a 1 bedroom it was great. Ocean front condo. They are still doing construction. I spoke with the HOA people and the construction is to repair hurricane damage after a battle with insurance and needed normal maintenance. The HOA is new and taking better care of the building. My relatives stay there a lot thats how i started staying there. And we never go through the front office. You cant be guaranteed the room you see is what you get like when you rent directly from the owners. I don't like roulette. Hope it helps.
Looking for recent pics of the renovations please! I am coming with our family of 6 and want to be sure it's a clean place to stay. Thanks!
I stayed there and they are clean. Try going through airbnb or vrbo. Rent from the owners.
We stayed on the 4th floor, don't remember the room #(412?)....the place is in pretty bad shape in my opinion, everything looks really old. I wrote a review on the place a few months ago. Your call but I would find somewhere else to stay.


I've only just scratched the surface of the plan so far, but from a quick scan it's clear there are lots of strands (resource discovery, content and data interoperability, infrastructure approach, funding approach, environmental opportunities) paralleling activitites in the UK.
"From the overview and worked examples it is clear that LLU on its own has considerable potential to give us savings connecting sites. Add Access Locate to the mix and the scale of build-out needed to give a quick ROI is reduced significantly. It is also clear that moving to Access Locate adds the potential to tackle aggregation in a systematic way using a single backhaul to good effect. The backhaul can be local to pick up a core site or PoP, or it can be inter exchange to a remote core node. Either way there are costs to be met but greater savings can be achieved over traditional point-to-point circuit topologies. By having both LLU and Access Locate space in an exchange you are able to take advantage of all the various types of Openreach tails, from a simple low cost MPF right up to 10GbE circuits over fibre. In every case the pricing for these is going to be the floor regulated price which is agreed with OFCOM and openly published on the web. This gives clarity of pricing that buying through third parties with all their associated mark ups does not. With a little bit of thought, an element of luck (EBD) and some hard work you can strip costs whilst improving both reliability and scalability of your networks...Getting all the various public sector groups to fund LLU/Access Locate and backhauls jointly could result in very substantial savings: with the PSBR being what it is and everyone needing to make spending cuts, this has to be a way forward."
"MPF" above means metallic path facility, or, more succinctly, copper phone lines, and EBD stands for Ethernet Backhaul Direct, an Openreach service offering permanently connected, point-to-point high speed data circuits that provide a secure and uncontended backhaul service. This is currently only available in around a fifth of BT exchanges, hence the comment above. In summary, the JANET LLU reports show there is huge benefit in "getting into" exchanges, with a mixed economy of copper and fibre provision offering a very cost effective way to provision last mile connections.
The advantages here are clear: the more you can get your hands dirty in planning and implementing your WAN, the greater the cost savings you can achieve by negating the need for more expensive managed services (which are themselves based on the same underlying products anyway). Folks "on the ground" have a detailed appreciation of local circumstances and opportunities, which can result in innovative bespoke solutions which wouldn't necessarily even have been considered by a telco.
Returning to the National Broadband Plan, I'm not sure whether it's encouraging or depressing. Probably both. What's encouraging is the detailed recognition and engagement with a wide range of educational issues and opportunties, and the consideration of how broadband infrastructure can address these. What's depressing is that there hasn't been similar detailed engagement within UK broadband policy development, other than to continually re-state the "importance of broadband to education".
It's now time to put some substance behind such statements?


Planning to buy property in France?
Thinking about buying a house in France?
Are you interested in buying in France? The France Show at Olympia London on 25-27 January is the perfect place to start your search – a guaranteed one-stop shop providing all the information and inspiration you will need to make your dream of finding that perfect property in France a reality.
Browse from thousands of properties for sale, throughout all regions of France. There is something to suit every style, location and budget.
Attend one of the free seminars in The Property Theatres offering expert advice covering a range of topics including banking, pensions and tax, legal, inheritance and succession planning and the impact of Brexit. The How to .. Forum will also host a daily programme of informative sessions.
The full timetable will be available in early December.
The show is an ideal opportunity to meet the property agents and the legal and financial advisors face to face and discuss your plans.
Don't forget to visit the Lifestyle section of The France Show too, enjoy the entertainment on the Flavours of France stage which includes chefs, authors, musicians and dancers , buy some goodies in the French market, taste a selection of fine wines, pick up language tips and holiday ideas and even play a game of pétanque.


Since October 2007 it has been possible for any unused Nil Rate Band to be transferred between spouses or civil partners. In this article we set out to clarify how this works in practice.
The Inheritance Tax (IHT) threshold or 'nil rate band' is the amount up to which an estate will have no IHT to pay. If the estate – including any assets placed in trust and gifts made within seven years of death – is more than the threshold, IHT will be due at 40% on the amount over the nil rate band.
If a person dies and their taxable estate falls below the nil rate band, any unused allowance can later be claimed on the death of a spouse or civil partner. The amount that can be claimed will be based on the proportion of the unused nil rate band at the time of death of the first spouse or civil partner but at the rate applicable on death of the second spouse or civil partner.
Any estate left to a spouse or civil partner is exempt from IHT, however, gifts to other beneficiaries, such as children or a trust, are potentially taxable.
For example, Bob died in June 1988 when the nil rate band was £110,000. He gifted £55,000 to his children in his will with the remainder of his estate passing to his wife and therefore 50% of the nil rate band was used at that time. His wife, Mary, subsequently died in September 2008 when the nil rate band was £312,000. Her estate was valued at £500,000. Mary's personal representatives were able to claim an additional £156,000 (i.e. £312,000 x 50%) in respect of Bob's unused nil rate band to bring her total non-taxable allowance to £468,000. Therefore only £32,000 of Mary's estate was subject to IHT (i.e. £500,000 less £468,000).
If an individual is widowed more than once, their personal representatives will be able to claim any unused nil rate band for all the deceased's spouses or civil partners, subject to a maximum additional limit of 100% of the current nil rate band.
Taking the above example, if Mary married Geoff in 1995, who then died in November 2000 leaving 60% of his nil rate band unused, on Mary's death her personal representatives would be able to claim an additional 100% nil rate band from the unused allowances from Bob and Geoff. Although the combined total unused allowances amount to 110%, the maximum transferrable nil rate band is 100%.
Any claim to transfer unused nil rate band must be made within 24 months of the second death (i.e. within 24 months of Mary's death in the above example).
There is no time limit as to how far back the claim for unused nil rate band can go, in fact a recent case has allowed a claim going back to the Second World War! However, documentary evidence will be required to support any claim and this will need to include as a minimum the death certificate of the first deceased, a copy of their Will as well as the grant of probate from that death. A claim for the transfer of unused nil rate band can only be made if the second death occurred on or after 9th October 2007.
This is a very brief summary of the provisions. Personal representatives will need to have detailed records of the deceased's estate and any gifts made in the seven years prior to death. The provisions do not exclude the need for effective Inheritance Tax planning which can ensure the effective use of available allowances and of course the distribution of assets as the deceased would wish.
If you would like to discuss the provisions further, either generically or specifically to a potential claim, please do not hesitate to contact us.


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Please check with our sales department for pricing and stock availability.
Copyright © 2014 Outboard & Marine Pte Ltd | All rights reserved.


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Ilkeston FC Signs Bermudian Dante Leverock
Bermudian international Dante Leverock has been signed by Ilkeston FC, and is set to join the squad for Saturdays clash against Blyth Spartans.
The club's announcement said, "Ilkeston FC have taken the opportunity to sign Dante Leverock who last season played for the Harrisburg City Islanders of the American USL.
"The 24-year-old 6'3 Bermudian international defender played two weeks ago in an international friendly against Canada.
Dante Leverock speaking before the Bermuda/Canada football game last month:
"The center back played 22 games for the Islanders last season, contributing to 9 clean sheets [4th best in the USL] and scored 3 goals. He has 6 caps and has scored 1 goal since his international debut March of 2015.
"Dante is familiar to Ilkeston FC as he spent time training whilst over studying in England a few years ago. He had a couple of other options to play in the USL again this season but he has grasped the Robins offer to join the squad until the end of the season.
"The Robins have secured international clearance this week and he joins the squad for Saturdays home clash against promotion chasing Blyth Spartans."
#BermudaFootball #DanteLeverock #GoodNews
Category: All, News, Sports
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Trump criticizes COVID relief bill, demands changes
David Brancaccio and Nancy Marshall-Genzer Dec 23, 2020
Heard on: Marketplace Morning Report
https://www.marketplace.org/2020/12/23/trump-criticizes-covid-relief-bill-demands-changes/
Trump assailed the bipartisan $900 billion package in a video he tweeted Tuesday night. Al Drago/Getty Images
President Donald Trump released a video Tuesday evening saying the $900 billion COVID relief bill passed by Congress is a "disgrace," needs to be reconfigured and that $600 per person in direct payments is not enough.
Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer has more on this from Washington. The following is an edited transcript of her conversation with "Marketplace Morning Report" host David Brancaccio.
David Brancaccio: Nancy, will this delay the relief checks?
Latest Updates : COVID-19
Nancy Marshall-Genzer: Possibly. Now, Trump did not specifically threaten to veto the COVID relief bill. If he were to sign it after all, the checks could go out very soon. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier this week that the money would land in Americans' bank accounts as soon as next week.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted Tuesday night that Democrats could vote this week on a bill that would increase the relief payments to $2,000. That vote could come Thursday. But then the Senate would have to approve it unanimously, which is unlikely.
Brancaccio:And what happens if Trump vetoes the bill?
Marshall-Genzer: Both the House and Senate approved the COVID relief package by veto-proof majorities — Congress can override a president's veto with a two-thirds majority in each chamber. But those votes would have to be scheduled, and many members of Congress have already gone home for the holidays.
Brancaccio: So, realistically, if the president doesn't sign this bill right away, people won't see those checks for a while?
Marshall-Genzer: Right. And even if President Trump does nothing — if he doesn't veto it, but also doesn't sign it — it still takes 10 days for the bill to become law without his signature.
What Senate Republicans are proposing for the COVID-19 relief bill
Where does Congress stand on another COVID-19 relief package?
Senate GOP blocks swift vote on Trump's $2K checks
Trump administration moves to halt evictions through end of year
Will the federal government extend the extra COVID-19 unemployment benefits?
Business leaders, groups denounce Trump after Capitol insurrection
COVID-19 Economy FAQs
What are the details of President Joe Biden's coronavirus relief plan?
The $1.9 trillion plan would aim to speed up the vaccine rollout and provide financial help to individuals, states and local governments and businesses. Called the "American Rescue Plan," the legislative proposal would meet Biden's goal of administering 100 million vaccines by the 100th day of his administration, while advancing his objective of reopening most schools by the spring. It would also include $1,400 checks for most Americans. Get the rest of the specifics here.
What kind of help can small businesses get right now?
A new round of Paycheck Protection Program loans recently became available for pandemic-ravaged businesses. These loans don't have to be paid back if rules are met. Right now, loans are open for first-time applicants. And the application has to go through community banking organizations — no big banks, for now, at least. This rollout is designed to help business owners who couldn't get a PPP loan before.
What does the hiring situation in the U.S. look like as we enter the new year?
New data on job openings and postings provide a glimpse of what to expect in the job market in the coming weeks and months. This time of year typically sees a spike in hiring and job-search activity, says Jill Chapman with Insperity, a recruiting services firm. But that kind of optimistic planning for the future isn't really the vibe these days. Job postings have been lagging on the job search site Indeed. Listings were down about 11% in December compared to a year earlier.
Coronavirus relief
COVID-19 checks


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Technology can fuel growth and create jobs in Cyprus
By Becca Roberts Last updated Nov 27, 2021
The technology sector can become the main source of growth for the Cypriot economy while offering young Cypriots high quality professional career opportunities, according to a study by the research organization IMR University of Nicosia.
The study, carried out on behalf of TechIsland, a non-profit association aiming to promote and accelerate the growth of the technology and innovation ecosystem in Cyprus, aimed to compare Cypriots' views and opinions on the technology sector as well as theirs other industries in the country.
800 people from all over the island took part in the study, 39 percent of them from Nicosia, 29 percent from Limassol, 16 percent from Larnaca, 6 percent from the Famagusta district and 10 percent from Paphos.
The participants were evenly divided between men and women, with four different age groups between the ages of 20 and 55 being represented.
"On the one hand, the results of the study show that the economy is now seen as the main problem facing Cypriots, who also share the need for the Cypriot economy to become independent from traditional economic sectors and to expand the number of sectors on which the country's economic model is based Techisland said on Friday.
"Technology, health and education in particular are at the forefront of citizen ratings, perhaps for the first time beating traditional sectors such as tourism, financial services and real estate," Techisland added.
The study also found that the vast majority of participants believe that Cyprus can attract high-tech international companies and professionals, while advocating expanding the country's incentive package to do so.
When it comes to diversifying the Cypriot economic model, a whopping 84 percent agreed that it is a very necessary move.
This was also reflected in a question about the sectors Cyprus should invest in, with healthcare ranked first at 61 percent, education second at 60 percent and information technology at 59 percent. Participants were asked to indicate their first choice among a number of possible answers.
Regarding the perceived impact of information technology on the Cyprus economy, 76 percent of respondents said the impact was quite high, while 24 percent said the impact was negligible or nonexistent.
When asked about the financial impact of Cyprus's future development as a technology center, a massive 86 percent said it would be a positive result.
The Paramount + animated wrestling film "Rumble" is getting an early premiere date
Small business Saturday, Hanukkah, college football
Norwood Fire Department Extinguishes Small Roof Fire at Unoccupied Moderna Technology…


Have a boat, you're bound to travel ! The Quintrex range of Explorers are perfectly suited for tender work, lake, river and estuary style fishing.
The go anywhere boat, light and easy to transport, this range will add an extra dimension to 4WD and camping activities. The perfect travel companion for all your adventures.
This Quintrex 2.50 Explorer is ideal for the back of the Ute or as a tender light (50Kg) easy to power up, goes quite well with a 4 hp or great with a 6 hp.
Very stable as a tender getting on and off the larger boat.


A. Apply the brakes quickly and firmly.
B. Apply the brakes in slow, steady strokes.
C. Shift to a lower gear, do not use the brakes.
D. Shift into neutral, do not use the brakes.
Explanation : To avoid skids on snow and ice, brake early, carefully and gently. `Squeeze` your brakes in slow, steady strokes. Allow the wheels to keep rolling. If they begin to lock up, ease off the brake pedal.
A. Use as much ramp as possible to get up to cruising speed.
B. Use the left lane of the highway to get up to cruising speed.
C. Wait for a large gap in traffic then speed up quickly.
D. Get up to cruising speed gradually so other cars will see you.
Explanation : If the entrance lane is too short to allow acceleration to expressway speed, the safest way to enter is to stop and wait for a large gap in traffic. Then enter the expressway and accelerate quickly.
A. Always slow down gradually.
B. Your first reaction is the best reaction.
C. Think before you act.
D. Apply your brakes immediately.
Explanation : The single most important rule in any emergency is do not panic. You have a better chance of handling the emergency safely if you do not let fear take over. In most emergencies, you will have a second or two to think before you act.
A. You do not have room on the other side to completely cross the tracks.
B. The railroad crossing is located in a city or town that has frequent train traffic.
C. You transport two or more young children in a passenger vehicle.
A. Pull onto the shoulder, then back up to the exit.
B. Drive to the next exit and leave the expressway.
C. Make a u-turn at the nearest emergency turn area.
D. Make a u-turn at the next service area.
Explanation : If you miss an exit, never back up to get back on the expressway. Get off at the next exit, and look for signs that tell you how to get back on the expressway going the other way.
A. Use your high beams at all times.
B. Drive within the range of your headlights.
C. Be ready to brake more quickly.
D. Watch for cars at intersections.
Explanation : Your headlights cover about 350 feet ahead. It is important that you drive at a speed that allows you to react and stop safely within that distance. This is called "driving within the range" of your headlights.
Explanation : Do not transport animals in the back of a pickup or other truck unless the animal is properly secured.
# 10. When driving in fog, you should use your ______.
A. Just as you get to the exit ramp.
B. 50 feet before the exit ramp.
C. 100 feet before the exit ramp.
D. When you see cars behind you in the exit lane.
Explanation : To avoid a last-minute lane change, check destination and exit signs, and get into the proper lane for your exit well ahead of time. Be sure to signal your exit at least 100 feet (30 m) before you reach the exit ramp.
A. Drive slowly enough so you can stop within the area lighted by your headlights.
B. Turn on your high beam headlights to better see the vehicles ahead of you.
C. Keep the instrument panel lights bright to be more visible to other	drivers.
A. Speed up to gain traction and then pull to the right.
B. Hold the steering wheel firmly, and ease up on the gas.
C. Apply the brakes, then shift into neutral.
D. Shift into neutral, then apply the brakes.
Explanation : If a tire blows out, hold the steering wheel firmly, and ease your foot off the gas pedal. If your vehicle skids, handle it as you would on ice or snow. Do not use your brake until your vehicle is under control.
A. Check your tires for correct pressure.
B. Check your speedometer to keep at the lower speed limit.
C. Stay twice as far behind other cars.
D. Change gradually to the lower speed limit.
Explanation : After you leave an expressway, look for speed limit signs and check your speedometer to be sure you`re driving within the posted limit. You are probably no longer on a 55 mph (88 km/h) road.
B. Within the distance you can see ahead.
C. Within the distance lighted by your parking lights.
Explanation : Make sure you can stop within the distance you can see ahead (the distance lighted by your headlights). This is called driving within the range of your headlights.
A. Some traffic signs are less visible at night.
B. More vehicles are on the road at night.
C. The distance we can see ahead is reduced.
D. Street lights tend to blur our vision.
Explanation : Night driving is more dangerous because the distance you can see ahead or to the side is reduced. You should drive slower than you would in daylight, especially in unfamiliar areas or on narrow, winding roads.
A. Brake quickly and keep the wheel straight.
B. Lock your brakes until you come to a full stop.
C. Steer in the direction you want the front wheels to go.
D. Steer toward the side of the road to get off the wet pavement.
Explanation : Turn the steering wheel in the direction you want the front wheels to go. If your rear wheels are sliding left, steer left. If they`re sliding right, steer right.
A. Avoid making fast turns and fast stops.
B. Test your tires' traction while going uphill.
C. Decrease the distance you look ahead of your vehicle.
A. You must think faster and handle your vehicle more effectively.
B. Trucks have to go slower on the expressways.
C. There is more of a tendency to exceed the speed limit.
D. There is more of a tendency to tailgate.
Explanation : Expressway driving usually combines high speeds with heavy traffic, and you must be alert. The higher speed and traffic volume require you to think faster and handle your vehicle more efficiently than in most other driving situations.
A. Apply the brakes firmly and steer gently to the left.
B. Ease your foot off the gas and brake gently.
C. Steer hard to the left and then gently to the right.
D. Apply the brakes firmly and stop completely.
Explanation : If your wheels drift off the pavement onto the road shoulder, do not yank the steering wheel back. Ease your foot off the gas pedal, and brake gently. When it has slowed down, check for traffic behind you, then steer gently back onto the pavement.
B. Apply brakes in a normal manner.
C. Keep foot off brake and let compression stop you.
A. Slow down to watch the workers.
B. Decrease your following distance.
C. Pass the construction zone carefully and not rubberneck.
A. Test their brakes before driving at expressway speeds.
B. Stop at the end to wait for a traffic opening.
C. Reach the proper speed before blending with traffic.
D. Test the pickup of their cars.
Explanation : Unless there is a STOP or YIELD sign or traffic light on the entrance ramp, use the ramp to accelerate to expressway speed and blend with traffic. Signal, then look over your shoulder for approaching traffic already on the expressway.
# 28. Anything that requires you to _______ could cause you to crash.
A. Looking to the lower right side of your lane.
B. Having the inside lights on to make the amount of light equal.
C. Looking at the spot on the lower edge of the steering wheel.
D. Wearing glasses with lightly tinted lenses.
Explanation : To help avoid the glare of approaching high beams, shift your eyes to the right. Use the road edge as a guide until the approaching vehicle passes by.
A. Try to pump it to build up the pressure.
B. Shift into neutral and shut the engine off.
C. Try to raise it by hooking your toe under it.
D. Apply the parking brake hard to stop the car.
Explanation : If your brake pedal suddenly sinks to the floor, try pumping it to build up pressure. If that does not help, use your emergency or parking brake - but use it gently. Shifting to a lower gear will also help your vehicle slow down.
C. Headlights on low beam.
D. Headlights on high beam.
Explanation : High headlight beams reflect off rain, fog and falling snow. This makes it even harder for you to see where you are going. For better visibility during these weather conditions, keep your vehicle`s headlights on low beam.
A. During a heavy downpour.
B. After it has been raining for awhile.
C. The first rain after a dry spell.


text:
require 'test_helper'
# CONVERTED
class TrackUserStatTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
  test "track_user_stat can't save without user" do
    track_user_stat = TrackUserStat.new(track: tracks(:valid_track))
    assert_not track_user_stat.save
  end
  test "track_user_stat can't save without track" do
    track_user_stat = TrackUserStat.new(user: users(:valid_user))
    assert_not track_user_stat.save
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
MEL ALLEN, EDITOR, YANKEE MAGAZINE, presented by WEDNESDAY ON MAIN
"The Power of Community & 40 Years of Yankee Stories"
In a most timely pairing, Wednesday On Main presents Mel Allen, Editor of the iconic and beloved monthly publication, Yankee Magazine, to share his insight on The Power of Community. Today's chaotic world can take our attention away from things that matter – family, town, neighbors and friends, and local businesses, all working to stay viable in their own way.
FROGTOWN MOUNTAIN PUPPETEERS: The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, presented by WEDNESDAY ON MAIN
http://www.frogtownpuppets.com/
In this comedic version of the classic Washington Irving tale, schoolteacher Ichabod Crane helps the Headless Horseman find a new head and a spookier image. Meanwhile, a jealous Brom Bones tries to run Ichabod out of town as they both vie for the affection of Katrina Van Tassel.
"The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow" features 20 of our hand-crafted mouth and rod puppets, and some shadow puppetry.
Length of show: approx. 50 minutes
Recommended audience: ages 4 and up
For a complete list of Wednesday on Main offerings:
Environmental Panel Discussion
The Future of Our Forests, Rivers, Lakes, Fields and Ocean
Hosted by: Maine Common Good Coalition
How is Maine's environment affected by current politics?
DESIGN NORVMBEGA: A MAINE LECTURE SERIES: COLLABORATION
Join us for another installment in the "Design Norvmbega: A Maine Lecture Series."
"Collaboration,"The Importance of Working as One."
Presented by Michael Boucher, ASLA
of Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture
OPEN TO ALL WITH FREE ADMISSION
WERU/Wednesday on Main: SUMMERTIME STORIES
WERU Favorite Summertime Stories
Story Tellers from around the State
(First hour Kid Friendly, 2nd hour - Unscreened.)
Come hear great stories told by talented local storytellers reflecting on summer experiences in the great state of Maine.
Doors open at 5:00. A suggested donation of $10 per person will be gladly accepted at the door. Light refreshments from The Good Kettle will be provided at intermission.
"EVERYBODY LOVES PIRATES" with the FROGTOWN MOUNTAIN PUPPETEERS
Brought to you by Wednesday on Main
https://www.facebook.com/bucksportwom/
Screening New England: 17th Annual Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium
From Thursday, July 21 through Saturday, July 23, 2016, the rich amateur and non-theatrical moving image history of New England will be the focus of the 2016 Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium. The NHF Summer Symposium is a congenial multi-disciplinary gathering devoted to the history, theory, and preservation of amateur and nontheatrical moving images. Presenters typically have 30-45 minutes in which to deliver their papers and engage in discussion.
Northeast Historic Film takes the show on the road to Bangor
Join Northeast Historic Film at 58 Main in downtown Bangor for some after work drinks and snacks and to learn more about the work we do at NHF collecting, preserving, and sharing the moving image history of northern New England. We will screen some fascinating archival footage of the Bangor region and beyond, and demonstrate some vintage projectors. No need to RSVP, admission is free and donations are gratefully accepted. Bring some friends and join us! Learn more on facebook,
May 25, 2016 - 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Historic Photographs and Film of Bucksport with NHF and the Penobscot Marine Museum
Historic photographs and archival film footage of Bucksport from the late 19th and early 20th centuries will be presented by Penobscot Marine Museum's Kevin Johnson and Brook Minner of Northeast Historic Film on Thursday, May 12, 6:00 pm at Alamo Theater, 85 Main Street, Bucksport.


text:
package com.paypal.psix.data;

import android.test.AndroidTestCase;

/**
 * Used as a basic test suit for tests involving the DB.
 */

public class DBTest extends AndroidTestCase {

    final static String DB_NAME = "PSix.db";

    void resetDb() {
        mContext.deleteDatabase(DB_NAME);
    }

    public void setUp() {
        resetDb();
    }
}


text:
Home » March Madness TV-rights price tag continues to soar
March Madness TV-rights price tag continues to soar
March 13, 2021 | Greg Andrews
Keywords Advertising / College Sports / Final Four / Media & Marketing / NCAA / Sports Business / The Rebound / TV
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CBS commentators, from left, Jim Nantz, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery preview an NCAA Final Four game in 2015 in Indianapolis. (AP photo)
The NCAA's multibillion-dollar March Madness media-rights deal with CBS and Turner Sports doesn't expire until 2032—an eternity in an era when the media industry is undergoing unparalleled change and other top-tier sports organizations are negotiating huge rights increases.
Yet media-rights consultants and other observers say the NCAA actually is well-positioned. Though new deals brewing for the NFL and recently struck for Major League Baseball might make March Madness' current rights fees something of a bargain, the delay gives leaders of the Indianapolis-based governing body for college sports time to see how the landscape unfolds.
"You want to see where this all goes," Daniel Cohen, who leads Octagon's New York-based media-rights consulting division, said of the flight of viewers from cable, the proliferation of subscription streaming services, and innovations that promise to reshape the sports-watching experience.
"Who knows? We might be watching March Madness in our new Tesla TVs in our cars in 2032."
When the NCAA finally does reach a new deal, Cohen predicted it will be richly rewarded—thanks to March Madness' continued power to attract a devoted and huge live audience, a rarity in an era when TV viewing increasingly is on-demand and splintered across a growing number of content providers.
"The numbers will absolutely be a lot bigger," Cohen said.
"I don't see a scenario where CBS and Turner don't want to renew this property," he said, but they'll surely face rivals waiting in the wings to dethrone them, potentially including cash-rich tech companies that have moved into programming.
Higher and higher
The March Madness contract numbers long have been on a sharp ascent. In 1994, the NCAA announced a seven-year, $1.73 billion deal with CBS, which has broadcast the tournament since 1982.
That was followed by an 11-year, $6 billion deal that started in 2003 and was supplanted by a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal announced in 2010.
That pact—in which CBS partnered with Turner for the first time—was supposed to run through 2024. But in 2016, the NCAA, CBS and Turner reached an eight-year extension that added $8.8 billion to the deal. (The cancellation of last spring's tournament took a bite out of the numbers, reducing from $827 million to $113 million the amount the NCAA received in 2020 under the contract.)
The arrival of Turner gave viewers for the first time the opportunity to watch any tournament game live, with coverage spread across CBS and Turner's TNT, TBS and TruTV. Games also are accessible through streaming services and an app, NCAA March Madness Live.
An April 2019 survey of 688 U.S. adults by PCMag and Sports Illustrated found that 65% still watch March Madness via cable, but streaming is on the upswing, with 60% of 18- to 24-year-olds opting for streaming.
Adapting to the shifting landscape is crucial to the finances of not only the NCAA but also of athletic departments across the country. That's because the NCAA distributes the bulk of the rights fees to Division I members, through conferences and directly to schools.
Because of the cancellation of last spring's tournament, the Division I distribution plunged from $611 million in 2019 to $246 million in 2020.
Story continues below graphic.
Holding tight?
The decision by the NCAA, CBS and Turner to renegotiate their contract in 2016—eight years early—begs the question of whether another renegotiation might be in the offing soon.
The parties aren't saying. The NCAA declined to comment for this story, and spokespeople for CBS (which is owned by New York-based ViacomCBS) and Turner (which is owned by New York-based AT&T) did not respond to requests for comment.
But industry observers don't see why CBS or Turner would want to reopen a contract that is proving quite profitable.
And for the NCAA, the deal has plenty of years remaining to give the organization a high level of long-term financial certainty—a key issue since in typical years the contract accounts for more than 70% of revenue.
If the NCAA locked in an even longer extension now, it might risk making a misstep that ultimately undermined the value of the March Madness franchise.
"Given the uncertainty in the media ecosystem, who some of the players are, and what rights will look like, I think it would behoove the NCAA to see how things shake out around them," said Michael Schreck, CEO of Port Chester, New York-based Collegiate Sports Management Group, which helps college athletic conferences and schools boost revenue.
Sports sensation
The 68-team NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament had been on a roll before the pandemic.
In 2019, the games carried by CBS racked up an average audience of 7.6 million, a 14.2% increase from 2018, Octagon's Cohen said.
He said eight of the top 10 telecasts on any network that March were March Madness games.
"The delivery that March Madness provides for Turner and CBS is astronomical," he said.
Indeed, national TV advertising alone totaled $910 million in 2019, more than enough to cover that year's $804 million rights fee.
And that doesn't count digital advertising and other important revenue streams. For example, TNT generates most of its revenue from the $2.20-per-month fees paid by cable and satellite subscribers.
That fee is second-highest in the industry, behind only ESPN's. Cohen said the fact TNT carries March Madness and the NBA is crucial to its ability to collect such a high rate.
CBS also is able to use its March Madness coverage as leverage to get higher "retransmission consent" fees from network affiliates.
Cable and satellite systems pay the fees to local stations in return for the right to carry their signals. But the stations have to split the money with the broadcast networks, which have been negotiating larger cuts.
Cohen calls the March Madness rights fees "extremely undervalued," based on what CBS and Turner get for their money.
Yet while TNT is reaping huge benefits from the contract, some observers say it isn't a perfect fit as a media partner, given it does not carry regular-season college basketball games. CBS is able to use its heavy schedule of college games to promote March Madness throughout the season.
TNT also is losing audience amid cable cord-cutting. Six million subscribers dropped pay-TV services such as cable and satellite in 2020, a 7.3% decline on top of a 5.8% decline in 2019, according to New York-based MoffettNathanson Research.
The trend helped drive down TNT's viewership 12% last year, following a 14% decline in 2019, according to Variety.
Even so, the NCAA has plenty of motivation to stay cozy with Turner's parent—AT&T—given that AT&T in 2019 was the No. 2 March Madness national TV advertiser, spending $64 million.
"Absolutely, it is something they have to think about," said Collegiate Sports Management's Schreck.
Advertiser appeal
March Madness is a feel-good cultural phenomenon that provides advertisers benefits they can get few other places, said Alice Sylvester and Jim Spaeth of Sequent Partners, which helps clients navigate the shifting media landscape.
"The tournament can be both mass and niche," Sylvester said. While it delivers a huge audience over the course of 2-1/2 weeks, "it is also a very local, intimate kind of event. That is where it gets its power as well."
With the proliferation of on-demand viewing, live sports has become one of the few forums to deliver a mass audience to advertisers seeking to disseminate time-sensitive messages, such as product launches, Spaeth said.
Michael Keenan, leader of the sports practice at the accounting and consulting firm PwC, agreed the benefits are hard to match.
"Live sports remains the original reality television. It is DVR-proof. You want to see the games immediately. You want to see them as they're being aired."
Some of the nation's biggest consumer brands unleash huge sums to seize the opportunity. The top March Madness national TV advertiser in 2019 was General Motors, which spent $75 million, according to London-based Kantar Media.
The rest of the top five—AT&T, Berkshire Hathaway (parent of GEICO), Capital One Financial and Coca-Cola—collectively spent $177 million.
Heating up
PwC's Keenan said he remains bullish on sports rights, despite the hit that rights holders and media companies took because of the pandemic mayhem in 2020.
At ViacomCBS, which is less diversified than AT&T, the impact of the cancellation of March Madness was particularly acute. Not hosting the Super Bowl, which had been on CBS in 2019, nor broadcasting March Madness chopped 21% off first-quarter advertising revenue, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows.
But media companies are viewing 2020 as an aberration, not a sign they should become more conservative bidders for marquee live sports.
That's certainly true at Turner, which in September finalized a seven-year, $3.7 billion deal with Major League Baseball under which it will pay an average of $535 million a year, up 65% from the prior agreement.
Media companies also are opening up their wallets to keep their current NFL weekly game slots.
Sports Business Journal reported this month that deals are on the verge of completion that would keep Sunday afternoon games on CBS and Fox and Sunday night games on NBC. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon Prime Video is on the verge of a deal that make it the exclusive broadcaster of many Thursday night games. In 2020, most Thursday night games were on Fox, The NFL Network and Amazon Prime.
The league, which had been pushing to double rights fees, appears on track to achieve that goal under the new contracts. For example, under 11-year deals, NBC and CBS each plan to pay about $2 billion annually, double the current fee.
Such deals are more affordable than they might seem, since it is the latter years of the pacts that drive up the averages, PwC's Keenan said.
"It goes up slow and steady. It is not like you have a huge spike in the first year. That is what helps make it work from the network side and the league side."
Still, to make such deals affordable, networks are likely to trim spending on rights for lower-profile sports and conferences, industry observers say.
Philadelphia-based Comcast, parent of NBC, acknowledged as much during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Virtual Conference on March 3.
"We're very excited about, hopefully, our relationship continuing with the NFL—that's a big priority," Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said during the conference.
"But there will be, therefore, tough decisions where we have relationships that maybe won't be continued. And that is going to be someone else's good fortune, perhaps. But we are going to be disciplined in trying to find a balance."
Turner Sports this week unveiled a new design for its NCAA March Madness Live streaming site, which is available across devices. (Photo courtesy of Warner Media)
Even before the latest round of multibillion-dollar deals, making the numbers work on media-rights deals increasingly required much more than selling TV ad slots on game broadcasts.
For example, Turner serves as the digital agency for March Madness, a role that includes managing NCAA.com, the NCAA March Madness Live website, the NCAA March Madness Live app and the tournament's social media interactions.
One feature of the app, which Turner created, gathers social media under a single umbrella, reducing fans' temptation to head off to other social sites.
CBS and Turner are doing a good job, Cohen said. But, in part to outflank tech giants that have moved into sports, they'll need to continue to innovate.
"Things are changing rapidly, and they are going to not only have to keep pace but outpace their competitors," he said.
"They will have to figure out new camera angles, new technologies around production, new social media content, and new alternative feeds and streams that are more customizable for the fans."
The NFL helped highlight the potential of alternative feeds in January when it carried a kid-friendly version of the Chicago Bears/New Orleans Saints Wild Card playoff game on ViacomCBS' Nickelodeon network.
The widely praised telecast featured SpongeBob and other Nickelodeon personalities, explanations of rules that adult fans already grasped, and the firing of digital slime cannons after touchdowns.•


Hurricane Michael is still rolling across the Southeast after it hit and devastated Florida and parts of Georgia, despite coming down to a tropical storm.
At least seven people were reported to be dead, one of whom is an 11-year-old girl.
Scott urged people to stay off the roads to ensure their safety and give first responders the space they need to carry out recovery efforts following the storm. While restoring power could take days, Scott explained that crews were already at work and reminded residents to never touch a downed power line.
The storm made landfall on Wednesday afternoon, moving quickly through Florida and into southeastern Alabama and southwest Georgia around 5 p.m. EDT, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). By Thursday morning, the storm had weakened to a tropical storm as it made its way over South Carolina.
As Michael continued its path up the East Coast, more than 350,000 people in Florida were left in darkness, their power knocked out by the extreme conditions of the storm. In Georgia, more than 182,000 customers were still without power on Thursday morning. Outages also spanned 10 counties in Alabama, leaving more than 50,000 people without electricity.
Hurricane Michael is the third strongest storm recorded in the history of the U.S. and was classified as Category 4 colossus with sustained winds of 155 mph.


text:
Guides,
World of Warcraft in Retrospect
by admin July 20, 2017, 9:21 am 97 Views
It all started in the late 1990s with the advent of widespread home Internet. Games such as Ultima Online from the classic Ultima Series and EverQuest created massive worlds that players can play and interact with along with other human players.
Gone are the days that gamers are traveling in their own virtual worlds interacting with nothing but scripted NPCs as they now share one great world filled with quests, dungeons, and loot with other people over the Internet.
It is the 23rd of November 2004, the 10th Anniversary of the Warcraft Franchise. Fans are clamoring outside games shops forming long winded lines amidst the cold winter night. All waiting to buy a copy of the MMORPG adaptation of their beloved game developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
What everyone didn't know at that time is that the adaptation they're looking forward to will revolutionize not only the MMORPG genre but also the whole of games media.
What is World of Warcraft?
Tracing its origins from games such as Ultima Online and EverQuest, it is the MMORPG adaption of the Warcraft RTS universe. In there exists the familiar Alliance and Horde fighting and struggling over control of the world of Azeroth. But what it did best is that it streamlined most of the older systems from the previously mentioned games and changed it in such a way that it is accessible for the masses.
Quests are clearly marked and the Areas are seamless to provide a sense of connectedness within the world. It has clear cut classes that goes back to the classic Dungeons and Dragons, wherein a certain class excels at doing certain things and not the other, something that the older MMORPGs didn't do in favor of classless and skill based progression.
Indeed, the demand for such game is astronomical. Within a few months, the game has already reached a million players, a number assumed by World of Warcraft developers to reach within 12 months. This continued on to be the case until the game has reached its peak in its third expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, released in 2010. At this point, the game has reached a staggering 12 million registered players with more than a million players online every single hour.
The Downfall
But with that, the game has declined by the middle of its fourth expansion, Cataclysm. From then on, the game has had massive dips on its subscriber base and at the end of Mists of Pandaria, the reported subscriber base has fallen to 5.5 million subscribers.
Though with the release of its sixth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, the game received a massive boost in subscribers putting it up once again in the 10 million mark. But the lack of continuous content of the said expansion and the abysmal garrison system has left a huge majority of the playerbase leaving, putting the game once again in the sub-6 million mark.
The Rise
With the unpleasant taste of Warlords of Draenor left in the playerbase, the announcement of the new seventh expansion met stark criticism. Thoughts such as the expansion will only be the same garrison system and there will be nothing but "content drought" during the expansion life cycle lingered in the minds of the players.
Legion, the Seventh Expansion of World of Warcraft, was then released. Set in the elusive Broken Isles, the game takes the players into a gripping adventure that goes into the heart of an imminent invasion of the Burning Legion. Hundreds of hours of story content available for the players on release along with a new raid every two months.
They also introduced a new system of side missions for players to complete to items and crafting materials, along with that Class Halls that are a new and improved version of the previous Garrison system.
The release has had an influx of players putting the game once again on its 10 million mark and has seen to have sustained it in the next months that followed. Indeed, the players' speculations were wrong and gladfully so.
With that in mind, the introduction of World of Warcraft has changed the way gamers play MMORPGs. It became a cultural phenomena, with the game transcending the video game space to a number of other media outlets such as the News and TV Shows such as South Park. Indeed, this success of World of Warcraft has made it the prime standard for any kind of MMORPG that came after it.
Despite that success, World of Warcraft has also had its fair share of ups and downs. From the explosion of subscribers in Wrath of the Lich King to the massive dips in Mists of Pandaria. Players seemed to have lost interest with the game they once loved.
But with the release of its latest expansion Legion, World of Warcraft tries to rekindle that faint light in the hearts of the people who first played the game in 2004. Certainly, World of Warcraft, being in its 12th year, is still pushing the boundaries of the MMORPG genre to new heights.
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